Satinath Sarangi


Satinath Sarangi was born in Chakradharpur, Jharkhand, India, on 25 September 1954. Since 1984 he is living in Bhopal. He has been involved with the multiple activities run by a network of local, national and international groups, pursuing health and economic needs, fighting legal claims, providing medical support and reminding the world that the Bhopal disaster of 1984 happened. Sarangi is the founder of several activist organisations. He is also the founder and manager of Sambhavna Trust.

Studies

Educational Qualification: Master of technology , Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi. He enrolled for PhD in 1980, but dropped out in 1984.

Activism before 1984

Sarangi's work as a campaigner started early as he became involved in various campaigns including indigenous people’s struggle for self-determination in Bihar and the Society of Social Workers, students involved in organising low caste agricultural workers.

Activism in Bhopal

Sarangi arrived in Bhopal the day after the Bhopal disaster, the gas release the night of 2–3 December 1984. He immediately got engaged in issues on health care and the rights of the victims. Thus, he was one of those exposed to the violence of police and authorities. When other activists left Bhopal, he stayed on. Being well educated, he supported the victims and their organisations.
Already in December 1984, he was a founder member of Zahareeli Gas Kand Sangharsh Morcha, an organization of survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal Bhopal disaster. In 1986, he founded the Bhopal Group for Information and Action. In 1989, he made a campaign tour to USA, UK, Ireland and The Netherlands.
He was a member of the organizing committee for Bhopal session of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Industrial and Environmental Hazards and Human Rights in 1992, and the National Organizing Secretary for the International Medical Commission on Bhopal in 1994.
In 1996, he finally could fulfil his dream of providing free and proper health care for the gas victims. That year, the Sambhavna Trust was inaugurated. At the 20th anniversary in 2004, he presented the new buildings and the garden to be. Sambhavna clinic also undertakes community health work. It is the only organisation currently researching the long-term effects of the Bhopal gas exposure.
Other important activities were the marches to Delhi and hungerstrikes in 2006 and 2008. In 2009 he participated in the Bhopal Europe Bus Tour. In his work, he interacts closely with survivors’ associations.

Awards

Addressed public meetings, seminars and conferences in Czechoslovakia, France, Hong Kong,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, United Kingdom and United
States of America, including at the following Universities: University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Stanford University, San Francisco, Columbia University, New York, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, University of the District of Columbia, Washington DC, London School of Economics, London, University of Sussex, Brighton, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands and other places.

Websites

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