History

Historical background

The history of the Centre for Education and Documentation goes back to the sixties and seventies when as

part of students movements, and youth social work organisations, a few friends decided to work full time in social work. They formed an organisation called VISTAS, which worked in villages in Maharashtra, a state in India. At that time there were hardly any independent NGOs as such. Those that existed were either linked to the Church, religious organisations, or they were standard Associations like Lions Clubs set up by rich persons in their free time.

One of the felt needs of the organisation as soon as they started work in the villages was information, analysis, on the local and larger situation, as well as knowledge on what other groups were doing in the villages. These groups were influenced either by Gandhian thought (Sarvodaya), Marxism (including Naxalism) or by radical movements inspired by liberation theology.

From the Blog of Joe Pinto

Today in 1978, I am 27 and disillusioned. I went hopeful to the villages in 1973. Our raw idealism collapsed in the face of the brutal assault by Sanjay Gandhi. We realised we were soft boys and girls, pampered and spoiled in the cities. Within 20 months, the Emergency (June 1975 – January 1977) made us men and women.

Now my first taste of direct resistance and protest on the streets is in the form of the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR). I am working to set up a Centre for Education and Documentation (CED), which will set up a library of clippings for use by activists and journalists. (extract from the Blog of Joe Pinto: http://sangatizuzay.blogspot.com/)