Bharat Soka Gakkai (BSG) is the Indian arm of the global Soka Gakkai, an association of grassroots organizations that seeks to promote the values of peace and respect for all people. SGI comprises of more than 12 million members spread across 192 countries and territories.
With its Headquarters in New Delhi, BSG has over 2,70,000 members spread over 600 towns and cities across India. Drawing inspiration from each other, BSG members engage in their self-transformation with a belief that a fundamental change in a single individual can bring about a great transformation in society. BSG engages in various activities around the three pillars of Peace, Culture and Education. The driving force behind all these initiatives is the spirit of ‘heart-to-heart’ dialogue.
BSG has been active in promoting Peace and has been organizing Peace Symposiums since 2004. Every year several symposiums are organized in many cities across India. Many leading thinkers, educators and prominent personalities have participated in these symposiums and shared their perspectives. BSG also organizes various exhibitions that tour the country reaching out to school and college students. Panels on themes of Sustainability, building a Culture of Peace and on Human Rights Education, focus on the 'Power of ONE'.
Focusing on humanistic education which is based on the "happiness if the individual". BSG has conducted a range of interactive activities including discussions, workshops and seminars in various schools and colleges.
In addition, Campus Groups and Peace Clubs have been initiated in several leading educational institutions.
BSG members are also taking the lead to achieve the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) by 2030. BSG has promoted many activities under the tagline 'Towards 2030: Achieving SDGs through Sustainable Human Behaviour', to deepen the awareness and resolve of common people to create a better world.
Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals which provide “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”.
Reference: https://sdgs.un.org/goals
The SDG framework was adopted by the United Nations in September 2015 which represents a universal call for action to protect the planet, end poverty and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
First – The Spirit of Leaving No One Behind:
SDGs are about people. More importantly they are about the people who are most under-privileged and those who live without dignity.
With the determination to ‘leave no one behind’ being the central driving theme behind them, the SDGs epitomize the spirit of compassion to treasure each life and to be alongside those who are vulnerable and most in need of support.
Second – The Understanding of Our Interconnectedness:
Interconnectedness is an important element at the heart of SDGs. This resonates with the concept of dependent origination which teaches that, at the most profound level, all life is interconnected, that nothing exists in isolation.
When we realize the extent of the myriad interconnections which link us to all other life, we realize that our existence only becomes meaningful through interaction with, and in relation to, others. By engaging ourselves with others, our identity is developed, established, and enhanced.
We then understand that it is impossible to build our own happiness on the unhappiness of others. We also see that our actions affect the world around us.
There is a famous analogy of Indra’s net in Buddhist scriptures, which is an enormous net suspended above the palace of the deity Indra, with brilliant jewels attached to each of its knots. Each jewel not only exudes its own brilliance but contains and reflects the image of all the other jewels in the net, which sparkles in the magnificence of its totality. Indra’s net mirrors the kind of ideal society that can be realized through solidarity through inter-connectedness.
Third – To Foster Global Citizenship:
The spirit of global citizenship is vital to realizing the SDGs. Global citizenship is not determined merely by the number of languages one speaks, or the number of countries to which one has travelled. There are many people who could be considered quite ordinary, who have never travelled beyond their native place, yet who are genuinely concerned for the peace and prosperity of the world.
Fourth – To Develop ‘Sustainable Human Behaviour’:
SDGs can only be achieved by Sustainable Human Behaviour. The purpose of our life boils down to how our behaviour is towards others in the course of our life.
To develop Sustainable Human Behaviour means that no matter how others may treat us or what they may say, our challenge is to be the ones who generate and inspire unity, hope and happiness wherever we are. It is through such effort and behaviour that we can effectively realize the SDGs. Developing Sustainable Human Behaviour is at heart of BSG’s campaign to realize SDGs. This is the key driver.
Bharat Soka Gakkai is determined to open the way to realizing SDGs by 2030 and adorn the 100th anniversary of Soka Gakkai and create a world where no one is left behind.
Since the beginning of 2021, BSG has been organizing a virtual exhibition titled 'Seeds of Hope & Action (SOHA): Making the SDGs a Reality' every month in various schools and colleges of India, with the aim to spread awareness about sustainability to the young students of the country, encouraging them to overcome feelings of powerlessness, and highlight the fact that a single individual can initiate positive change. The SOHA exhibition, which is a joint initiative of the SGI (Soka Gakkai International) and the Earth Charter International, raises awareness on climate change, the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and the role of youth.
To know more about SOHA and other exhibitions organized by BSG, please visit the BSG exhibitions page.
‘SDG Clubs’ are student groups / student clubs / sociities initiated by BSG, which are formed in various educational institutes across India. These Clubs serve as a platform for students and educators of the institute to come together, interact and learn from each other about the various SDGs, as well as discuss innovative solutions on how we can contribute to the SDGs at our individual level.
It is young students who will effect a change in the world. It is young students who hold the passion and power to bring about a difference. Therefore, the SDG Clubs are being established with a heart to promote a culture of sustainability - strengthen the movement for sustainability and establishing respect for the dignity of all life in society by raising SDG ambassadors across the younger generation.
While the activities in the SDG Clubs are undertaken by the students (and faculty) themselves within their institute, BSG supports these Clubs by providing resource material on SDGs, training and guiding representative members of the Club on how to conduct the activities, and offering guidance and support for the smooth and regular functioning of these Clubs.
In case you’d like to initiate the formation of an SDG Club in your institute, we request you to kindly write to us at sdg@bharatsokagakkai.org
