Sri Prasanna
Shri. Prasanna was born on 23rd March, 1951, at Anavatti Village in Karnataka. He presently lives at Shramajeevi Ashram, Heggodu, a village on the Western Ghats in Karnataka.
Education:
He completed M.Sc (Chem) with Distinction from Bangalore University. Also completed diploma in Drama from National School of Drama, New Delhi with specialization in Direction.
Professional Experience:
He worked as the CEO of Independent Television Company (ITV), New Delhi
He is working on Theater in education (TIE)
He is currently the president of Indian people’s theatre association (IPTA)
He also worked as a visiting profession in the National School of Drama (NSD)
He served as Director of Rangayana, Mysore
He has served as the Managing Trustee of Desi and Charaka and presently serves as the Founder Trustee of Desi and Charaka.
He has authored several books in the field of theatre and sustainable living.
He has also directed numerous plays. Some of his works have been translated and performed in Hindi, English and various Indian languages. He has recently published a major work, Lessons for an Indian actor, in Kannada. Has major Theatre productions to his credit, such as Ek Lok Katha, Tughlaq, Shakuntalam, Gandhi, Fujiyama Lal ghas Per Neele godhe, Uttara Rama Charitham… etc. in Hindi.
Kadadida Neeru, Taayi, Gelileo, Haddu Meerida Haadi, Hamlet… etc., in Kannada.
Road to Mecca, Cupids Broken Arrow… etc in English.
He has conducted many acting workshops (Acting shastra).
Social Activism:
Back in 1975, spurred by the political situation of the country during emgergency, started a theatre community called “Samudaya” (means Community) with some like-minded friends. This group traveled across the state of Karnataka and performed several thought-provoking plays. This had a significant influence on the minds of people during the emergency leading to the election of 1978.
He is also the founder Kavi-Kavya Trust, Charaka Women’s Multipurpose Industrial Co-operative Society, Ontidani Prakashana and Desi Trust. He served as Managing Trustee. And presently, looking after all the activities of Desi Trust as Founder Trustee.
Charaka is a society managed by women where in the yarn is dyed in natural colours and woven on handloom and then the cloth is converted into readymade garments which are sold in the brand name of Desi. He is strong follower of Handloom with natural dyes. He is fighting for handloom development in various forums at national level including planning commission. Recently, he represented handloom weavers’ meeting held at planning commission New Delhi under the chairmanship of Textile Minister. He opposed strongly for inclusion of power-loom in the name of handloom.
As a part of the All India Federation of Handloom Organizations, Mr. Prasanna spearheaded the Handloom Satyagraha in 2013-14, which was represented by thousands of weavers from Karnataka and Andhra. They demanded the Government to implement the Handloom Reservation Act of 1985 to safeguard the livelihood of Handloom weavers. The Satyagraha was marked by Padayatras and Hunger Strikes in support of the weavers. The Government of Karnataka heeded to the demands and agreed to help the weavers, but soon backtraked on their promises.
In 2015, the Handloom Satyagraha was expanded to include all organizations working towards sustainability into this campaign. Sustainability in agriculture, environment, labour, gender, language, folklore, culture and education, along with Khadhi and handlooms, is our motto. Badanawal Satyagraha became a joint campaign of all consumers and producers of a sustainable production range. It was a joint campaign of the city people and the village poor.
As part of this Satyagraha, meetings, workshops, street performances and visual art campaigns were conducted all over Karnataka from March 21st onwards. Several Padyatras (long march) were undertaken from 12th April onwards, culminating at Badanawal for the National Convention for Sustainable Living on the 19th of April, 2015.
A declaration was passed during the event and a resolution was undertaken to approach the Government collectively.
The Badanavalu Declaration
“The meaning of the word ‘Growth’ has often been distorted by Governments, political parties and bureaucrats. They think that industrial growth, market growth and the growth of money is all. G.D.P is a pathetic indicator of human happiness. A true measure of growth should be able to register cultural continuity and social stability. Badanawal Satyagraha demands that practices of traditional societies such as cattle herding, cooking and hand spinning should also be treated as wealth generators, thereby promoting equitable and sustainable economy”
Honour and awards received:
He was awarded with Central Sangeeta Natak Academy Award
He was awarded the Rajyothsava Award by Karnataka State
Nandikar Award for Excellence in Theatre Calcutta
Nataka Akademi Award of Karnataka State
Chaduranga Award for Literary Excellence
Karnataka Pu.Ti.Na. Literary award for Poetry
Karnataka Books award of the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi
B.V. Karanth Memorial Award, National School of Drama, New Delhi
Membership:
Member of working Group on Handloom, Planning Commission, Govt. of India.
Member of AIACA, New Delhi
Member, National awards Jury for craftsmen of India.
Member working group on Handloom Advocacy, Planning
Member Swarnajayanthi Rojgar Yojana Implementation Committee of Karnataka State… etc.
Founding director of the Archival project of the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.
And the founder of Samudaya in Karnataka.
Attended :
International Conference of UNESCO, on oriental theatre, at Beijing. Theatre Meet at Weimar, Germany. International meet on Educational Television at Stockholm. Theatre Festival & Seminar at Kathmandu. Indian Author’s delegation to Sweden. Authors delegation to Greece. Authors delegation to Germany and France, Russia
