Our Founder - Shyam Sundar Das
Shyam Sundar Das, the founder and moving spirit of CLAP was a lifelong Gandhian and an eminent non-jail going freedom fighter who dedicated his entire life for making of a sarvodaya order of society based on non-violence, truth and peace. His public work commenced immediately after Indian independence in 1947. He joined Bhoodan Movement and served as the translator for Vinova Bhave during his march for land gift movement in Odisha in 1952. He accepted voluntary poverty as a way of life after receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce and Philosophy from Rajendra College, Bolangir and Bachelor's Degree in Law. He worked in the remote tribal areas of Koraput District for liberation of bonded labour and worked with Anna Saheeb Sahashrabudhe to run the first and only Non-Governmental Development Block in Boipariguda. During this period he started the first ever Cooperative Society and became a Director of it for a decade apart from establishment of the then largest Khadi productio