Dr Jill Carr-Harris is a member of the International Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and Peace at the Center for Socio-Cultural lnteraction’s campus at Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She is an activist with the Nonviolent Economic Network, and partner of the prominent Gandhian and social activist P.V. Rajagopal.
In an interview with The Wire, she talks about the implications of the transition from a growth-based economy and the principles of a nonviolent economy.
Could you tell us about the circumstances that led you to come to India from Canada and become involved in social activities?
I came to India from Canada in 1985 as part of a forestry project by the UNDP [United Nations Development Programme], which is an agency of the United Nations. This was a time when wastelands and areas affected by drought and desertification were included in multiple afforestation projects in India. At that time, T.N. Seshan was the Secretary of the then-Department of the Environment, and was collaborating with the Wasteland Development Board by supporting land conversion.
It was while working on this initiative that I realised that the stated goal of the project was to provide marginalised populations with labour and access to forest
— source thewire.in | A.K. Shiburaj | 19/May/2023