Name of Fellow: Nalin Mishra
Genre: Social and Economic Justice
Area of Work: Ramgarh and Ranchi in Jharkhand
Nalin Mishra is a Ramgarh and Ranchi based astrologer and orator working towards spreading communal harmony. He was a civil services aspirant before taking up social work through astrology.
Nalin comes from a family coal mine workers from Ramgarh. As his father was a grader operator. His was growing up with five sisters so it was difficult for his father to manage the whole from whatever he earned. Despite that Nalin pursued his studies and came to Delhi to complete his masters in sociology.
As an UPSC aspirant he was deeply immersed in studies. But in 2014, he noticed that sudden change was taking place and the people were becoming distrustful towards people from other faiths. he began to think that the secular values of the country were being replaced by communal hatred.
He had started his activism as student demanding changes in structure of UPSC exam and rules. He also participated in month-long sit demonstration in Delhi to press the government to change the UPSC examination rules. However, when he realized that the communal forces in the country were disturbing social coherence, he began to interact with people at various places like tea stalls or other places where sitting arrangements were there.
As student of sociology, he has been aware of the fact that Indian secular values must be protected. When he returned to his home town in Gadva in Jharkhand from Delhi after 11 years, he continued his practice of interacting with young people who were gravitated towards communalism and spreading hatred.
As he is an astrologer, it was easier for him to get involved in the conversations where the young people were talking communal and hateful things towards Muslims. He started to talk to them and make them sensitise about the community. People started to listen to him about communal harmony because he was connecting them with astrological concerns.
He has been continuing this practice of interacting with youth about communal harmony and preserve the secular fabric of India. He believes that convincing people about co-existence is need of the hour and he is using his own method to influence the young people who have been misled by communal forces.
He intends to interact with Hindu youths who are gravitated towards Hindutva majoritarianism. Through his oratory skills, he imparts values of secularism among them. He has been able to make some engagement with such youth in Ramgarh. However, he has shifted to Ranchi where he intends to continue his work with the Hindu youths.
Nalin is trying to create public spaces for the open discussion about social justice and secularism. From “Chai Tapris” to “Chaupals” Nalin is trying to create spaces for open public discussions on constitutional values, peace and harmony among the communities. As a result of his effort an example of communal harmony was demonstrated last year in Ramgarh, where members of Muslim community contributed in building a ghat for Hindus during Chhat Puja.