Social Activist And Barefoot College Founder Bunker Roy Dies At 81 In Rajasthan

Renowned social activist and Barefoot College founder Sanjit Bunker Roy died at his home in Tilonia in Rajasthan's Ajmer district on Tuesday morning. He was 81. Mr. Roy passed away peacefully at 6:15 a.m. in the presence of his wife, noted social activist Aruna Roy, and others close to him, family members and fellow activists said in a statement. Activist Nikhil Dey said the funeral will take place in Tilonia at 4 p.m. Born Sanjit Roy in 1945 in an upper middle class Bengali family, he was educated at Doon School and St. Stephen's College in Delhi and was a three-time national squash champion. A visit to Bihar during the 1966 famine upended his worldview, leading him to spend nearly a year and a half traveling across the country before settling in Tilonia. In 1972, he founded the Social Work and Research Centre, popularly known as Barefoot College, to demystify technology and put its control into the hands of the rural poor based on Gandhian philosophy. Barefoot College trained rural people in solar energy, water conservation, education, healthcare and traditional crafts, placing particular importance on empowering marginalized women. One of its best-known initiatives trained rural women, including those who had never attended school, to install and maintain solar lighting systems, a program that later expanded globally. In 2010, Time magazine named Mr. Roy one of the 100 most influential people in the world in the 'Thinkers' category.

Context

Bunker Roy's pioneering work demonstrated that rural communities and individuals without formal education can acquire technical skills to solve local problems. His institution grew from a small village school in Rajasthan into an internationally recognized model for sustainable rural development.