The sudden demise of Padma Vibhushan Nirmala Deshpande —‘didi’, as she was known to most of us — has created a void in persuasive peacemaking efforts in critical conflict areas in the country and in South Asia. The country has also lost a staunch follower of Vinoba Bhave. Known to take controversial positions, Nirmala didi held on to her convictions till the end.

Born to well-known Marathi writer and parliamentarian P.Y. Deshpande and Vimalabai on October 17, 1929, she studied in Ferguson College, Pune, and obtained her M.A. in political science from Nagpur University. She served as a lecturer in political science in Morris College, Nagpur, but soon gave it up to join Vinoba Bhave in 1952 in the Bhoodan Yatra — a march for asking for the gift of land for the poor. Didi travelled 40,000 km with Vinoba, covering the length and breadth of the country. This gave her rich insights into India’s rural society and the problems it faced. She primarily worked in two areas — for rural development and to bring peace among conflicting groups and regions, including Punjab, Kashmir, Pakistan and, more generally, South Asia.

Nirmala didi was one of the founder members of the Akhil Bharat Rachanatmak Samaj, of which she was also the founder president. The Samaj worked for tribals and Scheduled Castes in the fields of education, employment and empowerment. She was also president of the Harijan Sevak Sangh. She made efforts to organise peace work (through the Shanti Sena) in times of communal riots and tension. As director of the Peace Training Institute (Shantisena Vidyalaya) at Kasturbagram, Indore, she had to her credit many success stories of women and young girls, plunging into peace activity in any situation and establishing peace. The aim was to work for ‘Gram Swarajya’ in India.

... contd.