My Father Gouri Shankar Rajhans Wrote For The Masses: Wrote For The State Of Bihar As Well

My Father Gouri Shankar Rajhans Wrote For The Masses

With the avowed aim of giving insights on how employment could be given to masses my father Gouri Shankar Rajhans wrote extensive stories from time to time. Employment was something he was concerned about with no regime at any point of time having looked at from the prism of initiating long lasting solution and he wrote with the intent that powers that be gathered tools at their disposal to break this unemployment chain. Bihar the State that he came from had seen surge in migration in the '90s and continuing to date much to do with lopsided policies of leaders which led to large scale resistance from industries spread across wide canvas to set their base and the ground reality summed it all. 

The fate of migrant workers and the schism between the administration and them had for long not been addressed something reflected in my father's writings. His writings mirrored the apathy that administration had shown against migrant workers and what all needed to be put in place to address their grievances. The Scourge Of Pessimism that India went through from time to time be it the droughts/floods that affected swathes of territories, the hate campaign that made inroads in different territories bothered my father and he wrote with the intention of bringing these issues under spotlight. 

In the '70s and later in the '80s he had the fortune of visiting different cities/territories in India like Ahmedabad, Allahabad and Kashmir. The Kashmir Sojourn was at a time when peace was no luxury in the Valley and the alacrity that people by and large amassed reaped huge dividends for a long time. His odyssey to Kashmir coincided with a regime at the Centre that was open to their ideas that emanated from far and wide terrains of the Valley. Novel Salma that he penned is inspired by his Kashmir Sojourn.

Abhijit Banerjee who scaled new heights and won Nobel Prize in Economics in October 2019 was mentioned in his story in Hindi publication Haribhumi in its Bilaspur edition. Abhijit Banerjee shared this honour with Esther Duflo and Michael Krumer. This story was published on Oct 18, 2019 . Abhijit studied in Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and later taught there as well and there was mood of celebration when news broke about Nobel Prize. As my father noted Abhijit in his research underscored the point that children of poor parents need not remain poor and if conducive environment was provided to them they could easily outmanoeuvre children coming from affluent background and the need of the hour was to alleviate their suffering. My father further noted how his research is utilised by nations across world would be interesting to watch.

In Haribhumi in Delhi Edition on November 7, 2019 my father wrote about all pervasive pollution in Delhi and NCR and with the intervention of court solution should come sooner than later. This story was published in Hindi Publication Aaj in Varanasi Edition. In Haribhumi in September 2019 he wrote about forced conversion and how this challenge should be met. My father often raised the issue of those coming from Hindi Heartland like Bihar and UP and step motherly treatment that was given to them for the sheer reason that they were poor. I would often observe that none were original residents of Delhi as those who claim to be so actually came from Pakistan and here who had the gall to give step motherly treatment to those coming from Hindi Heartland hadn't seen frail side of humanity.

My father spent his lifetime raising issues related to common man and given his humble background and accomplishments he cherished and they are worth noting. His stint in Sultanganj in Bihar bring out interesting tales and despite limited means the entire family excelled in whatever they went out to do.