By Nadia Aleemuddin
Ramesh Jaipal belongs to the Hindu community of Rahimyar Khan and like other minorities of the country, faced same challenges in life. Currently, he is in the US on Humphrey Fellowship which will be ending on June 5, 2018, and he is returning to his homeland on June 6.
The position at which he is in life has been achieved after a lot of hardships, hard work, struggle and hurdles. I contacted Ramesh Jaipal on social media and he shared his life experience and story with me.
At the start of the conversation, which was informal, he shared his personal views as he was hopeless from the condition of minorities either it be Hindu, Christian or any other communities. Ramesh told me that his actual date of birth was Dec 1984 but that in documents was Jan 1981.
In 1990, his parents sent him to UAE as a camel jockey due to weak economic conditions. His father was a stamp vendor in a court of Rahimyar Khan and he has eight siblings. His father was unable to provide any basic facilities to such a large family and Ramesh used to send five hundred dirhams to his parents after every two months. He also shared that while leading the life of slavery, he saw many children die.
He returned to his homeland in the 90s when UNICEF banned camel races and brought back all children to Pakistan. His schooling started at the age of ten which was another great challenge for him. To adjust in kids younger than him and he also belonged to the underprivileged class. He completed two grades in a year but even in educational institutions faced segregation and discrimination on every step. His schooling stopped after the eighth grade and he started working and sold balloons, kites and worked as a newspaper hawker.
During these crises, he passed matriculation, and after graduating with a political science from Islamia University Bahawalpur later, did his Masters in Sociology and another Masters in rural development from the same university.
In 2004 he started working for ASR – an NGO based in Lahore – and in 2006 made his own organisation Har-e- Rama foundation with a mission to work for the betterment of underdeveloped communities.
In 2008, he made a network – currently the largest Caste Rights movement of Pakistan – having 0.72 million members. Hindu Marriage Bill which was introduced in Pakistan in 2017 was written by Jaipal as well.
As he is returning after the successful completion of his fellowship, he aims to open Ramesh Jaipal Literacy center – a non-formal school – with a focus on female students.
