Messages Received from
National and International
Organizations and Friends
“It’s like saying goodbye to a man who
was a movement.”
── THE TIMES OF INDIA
“The community that constitutes
all of us – progressive, left, socialist,
those fighting for justice, rights for
the people of this country – has lost
one of its important members with
the passing away of Vinod.”
Kavita Srivastava
People’s Union for Civil Liberties
“Vinod Raina combined in himself qualities of a
practitioner and a thought provider; a pragmatic
lobbyist for education and a visionary. He had an
obsessive concern for education, and breathed it to
the last.”
Prof. Shantha Sinha
Former Chairperson of NCPCR
“A man with great insight
and grand vision who
brings his values and
influences to the suffering
regions around the world.”
Leo Lin
Hao Ran Foundation
Taiwan
“Vinod with his comrades paved the way for the
space that we use of today for expressing our
ideas. His loss is irreplaceable in the Indian and
Asian people’s movements.”
Dr. Anuradha and Kamal Chenoy
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi
“A wonderful human being,
and a great friend of all of
us fellow travellers in the
movement! Thank you
Vinod for being who you
were!”
Dr. Ravi Narayan
Society for Community Health, Awareness,
Research and Action (SOCHARA)
“Thank you, Vinod Raina, for all your resistances,
thinking, contributions and struggles which helped
to make this world a better and just place.”
Tom Kucharz
Ecologistas en Acción
Madrid, Spain
“Educationist Vinod Raina
wasn’t just an activist, but a
link in the chain of thought
on what ideal schooling
should be.”
Sreelatha Menon
Business Standard
New Delhi
“To my mind, more than all the specific
contributions, important as they were,
Vinod’s role as a pioneer in the social
movement firmament stands out.”
D. Raghunandan
President,
All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN)
“Vinod was more than
someone who dedicated his
life to a cause and remained
consistently devoted to it, or
a cherished comrade to
some or a teacher to many.”
Dr. Jayati Ghosh
Eminent Economist
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi
“I have always admired his conviction,
passion and drive to see justice for humanity
and for our children.”
Urmila Sarkar
UNICEF India Country Office
“We will sorely miss Vinod’s
friendship, his solidarity with the
struggles of the poor in the US,
and his commitment to making
Another World Possible.”
Jennifer Cox
US Social Forum
United States of America
“Vinod Raina will be
remembered for his
invaluable contribution to
literacy efforts and more
particularly to the Bharat
Gyan Vigyan Samiti.”
Bharat Dogra
Institute of Social Sciences
New Delhi
“As George Orwell once said of Mahatma Gandhi,
what a clean smell Vinod leaves behind.”
Ramachandra Guha
Writer and Historian
Bangalore, Karnataka
“His unwavering social
commitment, empathy with the
downtrodden and relentless
struggle for justice will be
remembered by all those who
have known him.”
Sharad Chandra Behar
Educationist
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
“We mourn death of friend
Vinod Raina. He was great
campaigner for promoting
scientific temper and was
one of foremost architect
of RTE.”
Shabana Azmi
Film Maker, Artist & Social Activist
“Vinod was a person that we all loved
strongly for all his fantastic qualities.”
Dr. Samir Amin
Third World Forum
Egypt
“A poor child in a remote village that has
found an access to education may never
know his name, but its impulse, progress
and struggle to march ahead would sure
reflect the success of the commitment
and dedication invested by unsung
heroes like Raina.”
S V Venugopalan
Indian Bank Employees Association (BEFI)
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
“We feel the void due to Vinod’s passing, will
learn to overcome it, but will not forget him.”
Dr. S. Chatterjee
Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Bangalore, Karnataka
“His humility, mild manners and smile
defused many tense moments and kept the
struggle floating.”
In solidarity,
National Alliance of People’s Movements
(NAPM)
“I remember Vinod as one of the most loving
and intelligent participants in the World Social
Forum. Over the years I learned much from his
insights. Thank you, Vinod.”
Dr. Teivo Teivainen
University of Helsinki
Helsinki, Finland
“The highest tribute that we can pay to
Dr. Vinod Raina is to continue the
struggle to reconstruct India’s education
system on the basis of the Constitutional
principles of democracy, secularism,
equality and social justice!”
Madhu Prasad
All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE)
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
“For a person to accept the
possibility of the future and for
making it changing with the
context and supreme to its previous
modus operand, Dr. Vinod does
deserve an honorable goodbye.”
Yerramalla Manasa Shanta
TERI University
New Delhi
“A comrade who was so integrally involved in
his local work, yet also put in all the hours –
and suffered all the travel inconveniences – so
that he could contribute to the international
movement in any number of ways.”
Dr. Patrick Bond
Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
“Dr. Vinod Raina was a steadfast, militant
internationalist, devoting his entire life to the
liberation of the oppressed of the world,
fighting till his last breath. He is the model
for us to emulate.”
Dr. Tiejun Wen
Renmin University
China
“I learned so much from him
and will treasure forever the
many times we spent together
discussing, working, and trying
to create a better, just, and more
humane world. ”
Dr. Eduardo C. Tadem
Asian Center, University of the Philippines
The Philippines
“There was a flower there was a bird
There was a song in lips of the bird
There was honey in the flower
Bees were dancing on the flower
The flower is gone and bees rest
The bird has returned to the nest
── Vinod has returned to the nest.”
Mohiuddin Ahmad
Community Development Library (CDL)
Bangladesh
“A comrade who was clear in his partisanship
towards science, towards knowledge and its free
access, towards the values of democracy that
shuns the poisonous influence of sectarian and
fundamentalist politics.”
Dr. Amit Sengupta
Delhi Science Forum
Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA)
“He was a wonderful, wise,
warm and witty man. Will
be very much missed by
several movements across
the world.”
Alex Wilks
Avaaz
Bristol, UK
“I learnt a lot just by listening to him at meetings
and various discussions on RTE. We must all
continue to work tirelessly and remember him not
just for his work but for the person he was.”
Sriranjini Vadiraj
Activist
Bangalore, Karnataka
“It is very rare that we have such a person
amongst us fighting for the cause of the
downtrodden and the marginalised. Vinod
Raina’s ideas and memories will guide
People’s Science Movement of India for a
long time to come.”
Dr. C. P Narayanan
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
“Vinod was a special
human presence that
carved a space of hope
in this almost hopeless
world. That space shall
not be closed.”
Muto Ichiyo
Asian Peace Alliance (APA)
Japan
“His passion for making
society as a whole to come to
an adequate understanding of
the nature of technology is
unequivocal and contagious.”
Kwok-Ming Ma
Department of Cultural Studies
Lingnan University
Hong Kong
“A gentle soul and an inspiring activist. A real
loss to the Peoples Science Movement in India.”
Dr. B Ekbal
University of Kerala
“A very soft-spoken and in real
sense a democratic in nature.
Apart from his knowledge he also
enthuse activists with his lucid
voice and always approachable.”
Vinaya Malati Hari
BGVS, Maharashtra
Pune
“His equanimity, perhaps, or his empathy or
his reflexiveness, were what I looked at in him
for inspiration.”
Dr. Giuseppe Caruso
Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights
University of Helsinki
Helsinki, Finland
“I share the very deep sadness of all
comrades at the passing of one of
India’s finest education activists, the
main architect of RTE, a charismatic
leader of literacy and people’s science
movement, and for me a fine comrade
and friend on more than 30 years.”
Harsh Mander
Aman Biradari
“Vinod is my comrade, my
teacher and my friend.
Long live revolution, no
matter here it is a long way
to go, we will continue to
fight for equity and justice.”
Rezaul Karim Chowdhury
EquityBD
Bangladesh
“We lost a most respectable and admirable
intellectual, teacher, activist who fully
devoted his knowledge, time, and energy
to and for the underprivileged.”
Dr. Siu-leung Li
Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University
Hong Kong
“Sh. Raina had a progressive mind
and contemporary thoughts on
education which he articulated
persuasively and eloquently. His
amiable demeanour and
effervescence always struck me.”
Jagmohan Singh Raju
Joint Secretary & Director General
Department of School Education & Literacy
Ministry of Human Resource Development
New Delhi
“I believe that Vinod IS forever, and IS even
before he came to this Earth. As the Wise
Ones have taught us along history, only our
body perishes.”
Dr. Marcos Arruda
Instituto Políticas Alternativas para o Cone Sul (PACS)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
……And many many more messages from
Dr. Vinod Raina’s friends, comrades, and
fellow activists all over the world.
A book in memory of Dr. Vinod Raina
will be published by BGVS very soon.