Dalai Lama Fellows
Abinash Mohanty
Leadership Vision
Being compassionate to create more compassion in action agents.
Project Description
Project Anwesha is centered around the Tanga community - a traditional horse cart community based in Rajgir in the Nalanda district of Bihar. Rajgir is of immense importance to historians, pilgrims and tourists. Tangas are one of the primary modes of transit in Rajgir, both for local inhabitants and tourists. The preservation of this community is not only important due to the prospective danger of its disappearance, but also because of this community’significance in Rajgir’s tourism and cultural promotion. Anwesha aims to address, not one, but several problems. First, it will improve the economic viability of Tangawalas by providing the technology and tools to generate electricity for their homes from horse manure collected from horse carts during their day of operation. In addition, Anwesha will conduct animal welfare and sensitization training on how to take proper care of the horses, i.e., to be compassionate towards the horses as well as the tourists that they convey on their Tangas. Finally, Anwesha will find ethical community leaders who can become agents of compassion who can lead and inspire the community. The module aims to bring all the stakeholders together so that the community becomes engaged and empowered compassionately, leading to economics of ethical leadership.