Kathmandu, October 02: On the 140th birth anniversary of the father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi, India reached out to one of his disciples in Nepal to help realise her vision.
On Friday – the occasion now celebrated worldwide as the International Day of Non-violence – the Indian government made a grant assistance of NRS.204 million to the Nepal Srijanatmak Kala Guthi (NSKG), an NGO founded three decades ago by a Gandhian to promote equality and social justice.
India’s Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood laid the foundation of a new building for the Silk Research Centre run by the NGO as well as a women’s hostel that will be constructed with the aid.
NSKG was founded by Urmila Upadhyay Garg, who spent her formative years in the Gandhi Ashram at Sewagram, in Wardha district of India. Her family was exiled by the autocratic Rana prime ministers of Nepal and after her initial education at the ashram, Urmila did her diploma from the JJ School of Arts in Mumbai.
After the end of the Ranas’ rule, Urmila returned to Nepal and held her first solo exhibition when, to her amazement and delight, most of the paintings were bought by the then king, Mahendra. The money helped her go to Paris where she met Pablo Picasso and learnt etching from British abstract artist and printmaker Stanley William Hayter.
In an interview to Nepali daily Republica, Urmila said it was the Gandhi ashram and Hayter who imbued her with the spirit of giving. When she got married, Hayter gifted her two of his etchings, telling her to use them when she needed money.
NSKG she founded on her return to Nepal trains women in weaving. The NGO has a sprawling silk farm with more than 50 looms, most of which have been brought from Varanasi, the Indian city where her family spent their days in exile.
The farm also boasts of the biggest loom in Nepal, measuring almost 100 inches in length.
The latest Indian assistance will be used to build a new double-storeyed building with machinery and power back-up and a three-storeyed women’s hostel to help the NGO continue with its four-year diploma course in textile and sericulture. The course is recognised by Nepal’s Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training.
–Agencies