Navsarjan Trust is a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

Dalit organisation based in

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was founded in 1989 by

Martin Macwan Martin Macwan (born c. 1959) is a Dalit human rights activist in Gujarat, India. Life and career He is one of 11 children. As a student, he watched assaults and killings of fellow Dalits, which motivated him to become an activist for Dalit right ...

to empower

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

s in Gujarat and beyond. Since November 2004, it is led by Manjula Pradeep who has been working in the organisation since June 1992. Navsarjan Trust has established 'Dalit Shakti Kendra' in Gujarat.Navsarjan’s core work is to create awareness among the marginalised and oppressed communities in such a way that people are able to develop independent thinking about the world around them, so that they can fight oppression and inequality without the organisation’s support. To this end, the field staff is incessantly involved in mobilising and organizing meetings and training programmes. Women’s rights groups, land rights groups, youth groups, village paralegals, agricultural workers’ groups, etc. are formed and trained to exist independently of Navsarjan, though Navsarjan’s support remains intact. Navsarjan is one of the largest grassroots organizations in Gujarat, active in more than 3,000 villages, as well as in major Gujarat cities. A field staff of about 80 women and men — most of whom come from the communities in which they work — keep Navsarjan in tune with the needs of the people. Our outreach is spread out across India. We are associated with national and international platforms and networks. Navsarjan works to strengthen the movement for equality, and believes that energy's for all such movements must come from within the oppressed marginalised communities. In its more than two decades of work, which include setbacks and successes, Navsarjan has grown to be widely recognised locally, state-wide, nationally, and internationally

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Navsarjan Trust
* http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Navsarjan-Trust Non-profit organisations based in India 1989 establishments in Gujarat Organizations established in 1989 Organisations based in Gujarat {{India-company-stub