Sunil Deshpande – Sewa and commitment personified

Sunil Deshpande with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

His dedication and commitment to the cause of uplifting the people of Melghat, a backward region of Amravati Division in Vidarbha and his relentless efforts to identify the potent skill of those Korku and Gond janjati people and to engage them a respectable activity which earned them livelihood also, will be remembered forever.

Starting his career in social service from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), in the 1980s, Sunil Deshpande acquired all the necessary skills required for a social worker. He along with his wife Nirupama worked untiringly for the development and progress of the people of Melghat and to erase its identity as a ‘hopelessly malnourished region’. And with sheer dint of commitment and dedication they succeeded in their mission.

Before launching his mission in Melghat, Sunil spent some years of his life in Bihar working with another senor ABVP activist Mahesh Sharma in rural and backward regions of the state. Later he worked with the late Nanaji Deshmukh’s famous Chitrakoot Gramodaya Prakalp for some time. Enriching his life with the practical experiences from these two endeavors, Sunil selected Melghat region as his ‘Karmabhumi’.

Melghat is a beautiful forest area but sadly malnourished and backward with no development works. The Korku and Gond janjati people who inhabit this remote and difficult area had lived in such conditions for years far away from the fruits of development even after independence. Malnourishment, backwardness, poverty, lack of healthcare services etc. had affected the social life of this region. The skills of these people did not see the light of the day due to apathy of the rulers of the day. Sunil singlehandedly decided to the transform this image and set up the “Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra” at Lavada in Melghat.

Meanwhile, he got tied into wedlock with Nirupama who, like him also exuded interests in social service. Together they plunged themselves into their mission.

‘Srushtibandh’ Rakhi made from bamboo by the women of Melghat became so famous a brand that it soon became popular globally. The Melghat women had an opportunity to travel all the way to Delhi, meet the Prime Minister and tie this famous Rakhi to Sri Narendra Modi. All this was possible because of Sunil and Nirupama beyond doubt.

Sunil did not stop at that. He would always come out with new ideas. He started the ‘Sipna Shodh Yatra’ in 2015 to study the ‘jal, jungle, jameen’ of the Sipna valley and make their use to better the life of the people. Sipna is the lifeline of Melghat region and as such an important factor of their environment. He would invite students and youth from the urban areas and cities like Pune, Nagpur, Amravati etc. to participate in this Sipna Shodh Yatra and stay among the janjati people for at least a week. Many students and youths have participated in this unique ‘yatra’ and expressed their willingness to work for the backwards region.

Meanwhile, Sunil happened to meet Sri Ravindra Sharma “Guruji” who worked among the rural artisans in and around Adilabad in Telangana. Together they decided to launch a ‘Karagir Panchayat’ to gather the local artisans together with a view to preserve and protect their traditional skills and make them commensurate with the changing times without losing their soul. Sunil would tour all over the country in this mission of identifying the skills through his ‘Hunar Khoj Yatra’. With his sincere and dedicated efforts, he succeeded in getting the ‘Engineering material’ status for Bamboo.

The janjati people of Melghat were given training in constructing bamboo houses and this expertise was utilized when a powerful quake struck Gujarat’s Bhuj to provide immediate shelters to those who had lost everything in the devastating quake. The activists of Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra worked tirelessly day and night to provide these bamboo houses to those hapless people.

Sunil had very close association with seniors in the RSS and BJP and also among the Gandhian leaders because of his unbiased approach and loving character. He became one with the Bamboo and artisans of Melghat as he dedicated his life to the people of that backward region. He became one with the local people and culture.

Sunil dedicated his abilities and leadership for the social uplift of the artisans in Melghat and other parts of the country because he had immense feeling of oneness with them. Together with Ravinda Sharma ‘Guruji’ they contemplated in expanding their ‘Karagir Panchaya’ activity. But the destiny had willed otherwise. Ravindra Sharma breathed his last in 2018 due to cancer and two and half years later now Sunil is no more. His sudden exit has orphaned the ‘Karagir Panchayat’. However, work does not stop with the passage of personalities. New leadership emerges to carry forward the mission till it reaches its ultimate stage of accomplishment. The future generation of workers will draw inspiration from Sunil’s life and dedicate them to the service of the forest-dwellers and bring about a social transformation envisioned by Sunil Deshpande and Ravindra Sharma.

Sunil’s sudden and unexpected exit from the mortal world has come as a rude shock to his mother, wife Nirupama and daughter Mugdha along with the Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra, Gram Gyan Peeth and Karigar Panchayat. We pray to God Almighty to give sufficient strength to them to bear the loss of his departure from our midst.