1. Messages Received from National and International Organizations and Friends

2. “It’s like saying goodbye to a man who was a movement.” ── THE TIMES OF INDIA

3. “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

4. “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

5. “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

6. Dr. Anuradha and Kamal Chenoy Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi “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.”

7. “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)

8. “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

9. “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

10. D. Raghunandan President, All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN) “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.”

11. “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

12. “I have always admired his conviction, passion and drive to see justice for humanity and for our children.” Urmila Sarkar UNICEF India Country Office

13. “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

14. “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

15. “As George Orwell once said of Mahatma Gandhi, what a clean smell Vinod leaves behind.” Ramachandra Guha Writer and Historian Bangalore, Karnataka

16. “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

17. “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

18. “Vinod was a person that we all loved strongly for all his fantastic qualities.” Dr. Samir Amin Third World Forum Egypt

19. “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

20. “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

21. “His humility, mild manners and smile defused many tense moments and kept the struggle floating.” In solidarity, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

22. “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

23. “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

24. “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

25. “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

26. “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

27. “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

28. “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

29. “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)

30. “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

31. “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

32. “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

33. “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

34. “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

35. “A gentle soul and an inspiring activist. A real loss to the Peoples Science Movement in India.” Dr. B Ekbal University of Kerala

36. “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

37. “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

38. “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

39. “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

40. Dr. Siu-leung Li Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University Hong Kong “We lost a most respectable and admirable intellectual, teacher, activist who fully devoted his knowledge, time, and energy to and for the underprivileged.”

41. “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

42. Dr. Marcos Arruda Instituto Políticas Alternativas para o Cone Sul (PACS) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil “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.”

43. ……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.