Hyderabad, October 07: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) will organise a meeting to commemorate the first death anniversary of the late civil liberties activist K Balagopal at the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram here on Oct. 8. Former Union energy secretary E A S Sarma will deliver the keynote address on ‘Paradigm of destructive development’ and HRF vice-president Prof Burra Ramulu will speak on ‘Balagopal’s contribution to the human rights movement’. Human Rights Forum president S Jeevan Kumar will preside the meet.
Three books by Balagopal would be released on the occasion: Concept of Human Rights, Communalism and State-Welfare, a compilation of his speeches. The books are published by HRF, Hyderabad Book Trust and Perspectives respectively.
The HRF will also release its 11th bulletin, which is a special issue titled Maa Balagopal. Release of a two-set DVD of Balagopal’s speeches and interviews in English titled Democracy Dialogues brought out by Article 21 Communications will is also scheduled.
Balagopal was general secretary of the AP Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) for 15 years and later became founder member of the Human Rights Forum in 1998. He was HRF general secretary for four years, from 2005 to 2009.
Balagopal entered the legal profession in 1996 and argued the cases of adivasis, women, dalits and labour creating spaces for those who could not otherwise access justice in the courts, HRF state president S Jeevan Kumar said in a press release.
–Agencies