Manoj Jena is a crusader for Peace, Harmony and Human Rights from Odisha, India. An institution builder,he is one of the founding members of many civil society organisations whichwork for upliftment of the marginalised sections of the society. His work has been widely recognized with Awards like NyayJyoti Samman,SarvodayaSamman,Dr. BR AmbedkarRatnaSamman, National Human Rights Award,LoknayakSamman, RastriyaSadbhavanaPuraskar etc.
Manoj Jena was born in a socially backward caste Hindu family in Jajpur district ofOdisha in India, to Late Sri BabajiCharan Jena and SrimatiTulashi Devi, on 29th May1972. He did his post graduate course in Public Administration, Bachelor in Law from Utkal University,Bhubaneswar,Odisha and Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism & Mass Communication from Indira Gandhi National Open University.Manoj married Pratima Rout on 16 February 2004 and has a 15year old son, SwayamSekhar (Rajan) He loves reading and writing articles in newspaper, is a vegetarian and chooses an ascetic lifestyle. He decided to work for the society against his family wishes to carry his family business.
From the beginning, Manoj was averse to the caste system that is still rampant in the Hindu society. From very childhood he was inclined towards social work and community service.He was associated with Junior Red Cross Societywhen he was reading in class sixth. With friends, he used to clean village ponds and construct village mud roads, planting fruit bearing trees etc. When he entered high school, he became a cadet of Bharat Scouts & Guides and was attending regularly the service camps in various places of the State.
In the early college days he was inspired by the works and teaching of Swami Vivekanada, the great youth icon of India. So he formed “Vivekananda SevaSangh”in his village with few dedicated friends in which he held the position of the Secretary. The organization had taken up plantation drive in nearby villages, opened village libraries &study centres, organizing talent competitions among the school students, sent relief for Lathur earthquake victims in 1991etc. During the college days he was associated with National Service Schemes (NSS), he used to lead different service camps in the remote villages and festivals.
The continuing poverty of Odishawas always a nightmare for him. He recallsGandhiji when he visited Odishafirst time in 1921 was deeply shaken seeing the abject poverty of its people. He declared Odisha’s poverty was epitome of India’s Poverty. He decided to return to his State and work for the marginalised sections. So he joined Lutheran World Service(LWS) an international organization working for the development of rural & tribal upliftment. He had successfully dealt with many issues andengaged himself in relief and rehabilitation work during the super cyclone in Odishathe year 1999 and earthquake in Gujarat in 2001.
He formed an organization VinobaSevaPratisthan(VSP)in 2002 with likeminded committed people who believes in Gandhian way of development in which he held the position of General Secretary. For the last few years, the organisation has been working in remote villages in the areas of community health, child education, livelihood, governance, peace building, rights based issues etc. Under his dynamic leadership, the organization has also taken various advocacy programmes related to farmers suicide, resettlement and rehabilitation policies for displaced people, communal harmony etc.
