About Us

We're passionate about global peace and harmony

The current economic system is an extractive and unjust system as it instils violence on the people and the planet. It has led to huge income inequalities, ecological degradation, climate crisis, social imbalance and cultural erosion.

The looming crisis requires a just transition towards a more equitable and environment conscious world.

Nonviolent Economy

A Nonviolent Economy is based on reciprocity and mutuality, cooperation and sustainability and seeks to value a balanced nature and peacefulness and not simply making money at the expense of others. This requires shifting from a wealth-centered economic system to a human and nature-centered economic system. The Nonviolent Economy is a path of transition and not an end result, therefore it requires an openness to trial and error and self-correction. Community and social enterprises and small producer groups are vehicles for transition towards Nonviolent Economy.

Throughout the southern part of India, there are diversity of experiments such as: organic and natural farming, traditional seed collection, traditional medicine, village industries, eco-architecture, water conservation, heritage arts and crafts, non-timber forest products, local eco-tourism and so forth. These have been seen as micro actions mostly without a macro-narrative leading to reduced recognition and support. Thus, an enabling environment for paradigm shift towards a Nonviolent Economy which is bottom up and driven by Gandhian ideology is the need of the hour.

Nonviolent Economy Network:

The Nonviolent Economy Network is an initiative to build a network of multi-sectoral small-scale producer groups and civil society organisations focused on equitable, community based and environmentally conscious enterprise models and livelihood programs in South India. It is a platform for multi-sectoral actors and multiple stakeholders (Community/Fair trade/Social enterprise, Educators and Researchers, Civil society organisations & Gandhian organisations, Resource providing agencies – Impact Funders, Youth, Women, Consumers, Government & Policy makers) from the 6 states of South India to come together, engage, lend solidarity and build a support ecosystem. The network shall cater to the needs of community/social enterprises in their journey towards Nonviolent Economy.

Objectives of the Network:

To build a narrative for Nonviolent Economy in South India as a lineage of Gandhi and J.C. Kumarappa’s values and as part of the response to climate crisis
To bring together multi-sectoral producer groups and stakeholders to share experiences and expertise and support each other
To facilitate an enabling environment for small-scale enterprises and producer groups to develop their enterprise
To engage and create awareness among students and youth on Nonviolent Economy and inspire them to choose it as a career path
To build knowledge, develop frameworks and conduct action research for nonviolent economy leading to evidence-based policy advocacy

Advisory Team

Mr. Rajagopal P. V., is a well-known Gandhian, former Vice Chairman of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi and the founding member of Ekta Parishad. Rajagopal started working alongside Gandhian stalwarts J.P. Narayan and Subba Rao to disarm 578 dacoits in Chambal region of India in 1972. Thereafter he has been working with Adivasis, bonded labourers and other landless communities affected from poverty and exploitation for almost 5 decades

Dr. K Panchaksharam has been involved in social enterprises and Fair Trade for over 5 decades. He holds a Master’s in Economics from Madras University as well as an honorary Doctorate in Social Entrepreneurship. He is the founder and Managing Trustee of Federation of South India Producer Associations (SIPA), is serving as President of Fair-Trade Forum-India, and has been part of the founding team of WFTO Asia.

Mr. Anantha Sayanan is renowned Safe Food and Sustainable Agriculture activist and social entrepreneur, working on farmers and artisan’s issues and creating organic markets. He has been instrumental in the organic agriculture movement in India and has founded Restore (Organic store), Organic Farmers market (cooperative of organic stores) and Tula (hand-spun and hand-woven organic cotton clothes).

Dr. Y.V. Malla Reddy is a Fulbright Fellow, Indo American Environmental Leadership Programme, USA and a social worker working in agriculture, drought management and rural development for over four decades. He is the active Director of AF Ecology Centre since the last 20 years.

Dr. Jill, originally from Canada, has been working on community and international development in India for the past thirty years. Jill has worked at the grassroots level as well as at the policy and research level on environmental issues, eco-health and its impacts, gender and women’s equality, and land and resource rights. Jill has also completed her doctoral dissertation on Gandhi’s Nonviolence in Educational Leadership from the University of Toronto, Canada.