Jagat Singh Mehta was a person who believed in action and in doing. He had great faith in democratic functioning and following of procedures. He believed in change and was hungry for new ideas and new possibilities.

He was not afraid to take decision and had ability to convince people and make them understand democratic values.

He respected and encouraged initiatives and was impatient with those who were content with maintaining the status-quo.

As an educationist, he believed that education was not merely what was done in the classrooms and through textbooks. Education included adventure, taking responsibility, learning to play – ‘win and lose’, express through writing, debates, drama, thinking about what goes on around and taking decisions.

He worked with several NGOs where he often argued that unless we are able to provide better quality of life and better governance to the villages, their unhappiness could be destructive.

Jagat Mehta was for dialogue. He had learnt in his rich experience that dialogue was a key to solution of problems that seemed intractable from the outside.

He was keen to support to any movement that was meant to protect democratic freedom and natural resources.

He laid a lot of emphasis on voluntarism and recognized the worth of contributions that people made on their own violation. He also helped make possible all kinds of facilities to ensure that volunteers from across the world come and contribute to the development of the people.

Contributed by Anil Mehta