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| Bunker Roy | |
|---|---|
 Sanjit Bunker Roy at Time 100 event, 2010 | |
| Born | (1945-08-02) August 2, 1945 (age 79) Burnpur, present-day West Bengal |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Social activist & Founder of Barefoot college |
| Spouse | Aruna Roy 1970 – present |
Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy is an Indian social activist and educator. He was selected as one of Time 100, the 100 most influential personalities in the world by TIME Magazine in 2010.
In 2002 he was selected for Geneva-based Schwab Foundation's award.
Early life
Bunker Roy was born in Burnpur Bengal, present-day West Bengal. His father was a mechanical engineer and his mother retired as India's trade commissioner to Russia.
He attended The Doon School from 1956 to 1962 and St. Stephen's College, Delhi from 1962 to 1967. He earned his master's degree in English. He became the Indian national champion in squash for three years, also representing India internationally in the sport. He then decided to devote himself to social service.
Career
Roy, after his education, decided to work in the villages. He founded the Barefoot College. The buildings used for the school have dirt floors and no chairs so that "poor students feel comfortable". Barefoot College has provided informal training to several thousand illiterate / semi-literate people to become solar engineers, teachers, midwives, weavers, architects and doctors.
Controversies
Aga Khan Foundation award
In an "unseemly controversy" in 2002, Bunker Roy's NGO had to return their prize money after a young Architect Neehar Rana complained to the Aga Khan Foundation when he found that his name was missing in the award citation which listed only some barefoot and illiterate villagers.. Raina also described the barefoot "architects" as masons and supervisors who merely executed the design he had prepared for the campus. In one of his letters to Jack Kennedy of the Aga Khan Foundation, Raina ridiculed the claim of Bunker Roy and his colleagues of having created the new campus of Tilonia as an attempt to "make a mockery of architectural profession as well as the Aga Khan Award for Architecture". The dispute was taken to the Council of Architecture the statutory body which regulates the profession of architects in India. Several noted architects in India , such as Raj Rewal, were furious with Roy's attempts to denigrate their profession, stating that Roy himself had no formal qualifications himself and he was an impostor and his institution was bogus and the jury had been misguided. In the face of this professional onslaught, the Council sent Romi Khosla a senior architect to investigate. It emerged during the enquiry report, from documents submitted by Raina, that he had been deputed by CAPART a Government controlled technology transfer NGO as the "architect" for the project and had been paid Rs. 72,000 as his fees. Raina refused to be designated as anything other than an "architect" and declined to be termed as "designer" which was the compromise proposed by Roy's side. Consequently, for the first time in the award's history the Aga Khan Foundation withdrew the award and cited Raina as the architect for the project, a decision Bunker Roy disagrees with.
Awards
 | This section needs expansion with: years in which he won the awards and reference cutations to such awards. You can help by adding to it. (June 2012) |
Roy has received:
- The Tyler Prize.
- The St Andrews Prize for the Environment – 2003
Articles
References
- Thinkers:Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy TIME, Apr. 29, 2010.
- The Hindu : Swiss award for Bunker Roy (2002-09-22)
- Peoples World Peace Project – Bunker Roy. Pwpp.org. Retrieved on 2012-06-02.
- http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/sustainableenergyforall/home/members/Roy
- http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail783.html
- Mortenson, Greg. (2010-04-29) . TIME. Retrieved on 2012-06-02.
- Mortenson, Greg. (2010-04-29) . TIME. Retrieved on 2012-06-02.
- http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1915/19150380.htm
- http://www.architexturez.net/doc/ea66f06d-9049-2314-696e-8ed01d4daf3f
- http://itc.conversations.com