Yugaantar – A Think Space for Young India

This conference launched the Yugaantar Resource Hub, a journey we are embarking on, with the faith that many co-travellers will join in and enrich and add to the offerings through the Resource Hub that is being launched.

The purpose of Yugaantar is to make available to youngsters and educators selected meaningful material on ecological living in an engaging and authentic format; Great books and documentaries can be found in the public domain, but we need shorter, simpler versions, set in the Indian context; we need short videos, documentaries, material for social media, stories and articles so that they become accessible to the majority of school and college students.

The first Yugaantar Conference was held in 2016 at Bangalore to support the creation of such a Resource Hub. Its theme was “Foundations for an Ecological Age” focussing on Philosophy, Livelihoods and Education for an Ecological Age. It was preceded by a three day workshop with some of the pioneering spirits who were thinkers, authors and activists on these themes, which also supported the videographing and documenting of issues shared.

Some of the speakers who brought these themes alive were:

Satish Kumar, Eco-Philosopher, Editor – Resurgence & Ecologist Magazine and co-founder, Schumacher College, UK
Aseem Shrivastava, Ecological Economist, co-author, Churning the Earth - The Making of Global India
Ashish Kothari, Founder of Kalpavriksh and Vikalp Sangam; co-author, Churning the Earth – The Making of Global India
Devinder Sharma, Journalist, writer, food analyst; chairman, Forum for Food Security?
Helena Norberg Hodge* Activist, author of The Economics of Happiness and Ancient Futures (participated through skype)
G. Gautama, Director, Pathashaala Centre, Krishnamurthy Foundation of India?
Sonam Wangchuk, Education activist and founder of Students’ Movement (SECMOL) in Ladakh
Seetha Ananthasivan, Founder Trustee of Prakriya Green Wisdom School & Bhoomi College & editor of the Eternal Bhoomi Magazine