Mr. Vineet Narain is, founder and the Chairman of The Braj Foundation (www.brajfoundation.org), actively involved in the restoration of Braj-the land of Lord Shri Radha Krishna. Braj is the cultural area within the three districts of Mathura (UP), Bharatpur (Raj) and Palwal( Haryana) area. This 5000 years old cultural heritage, within the Golden Triangle of Delhi, Jaipur and Agra, has been grossly neglected and partly destroyed.
Narain was 18 when he went to work as a volunteer, in Amarpurkash a village in Western Uttar Pradesh along with several others of his age, who had come from Europe, during the summer vacations. An Indian Project Director of an NGO, with his Australian wife, was running a village education and rural orientation programme. At this age he got close exposure of the problems of ordinary people . This left a lasting impression on his mind and in following years the high society life of Delhi could never influence him.
During this period he also got trained into the techniques of investigation, people’s mobilization, social survey and writing reports about mismanagement in the rural India. This invaluable practical experience, at such young age, changed his perception of life. Instead of striving for personal gains he has since been working like a missionary journalist highlighting the problems of the common men.
While Narain was studying at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, he started regularly compering a TV show titled ‘Yuv Manch’ (Youth Forum). It was broadcasted on Doordarshan. Those days this was the only TV channel in India which used to telecast in black and white and only for a few hours everyday. Within the limited freedom available Narain did his best and earned kudos from the media for “innovative presentations”. The producer of his show was Ms Neerja Guleri, who is among the top independent producers on Star TV channel. It would be worthwhile to mention that except two or three of the today’s known faces on different TV news channels in India, none other was anywhere close to the TV medium at that time. So it was a privilege to be on the screen. Yet he did not pursue the career because he found too much of governmental interference in his editorial work.
After having fought corruption in the highest echelons of power for so long, Narain again after a gap of thirty years took to work at the grass root levels in Braj – the land of Lord Krishna. Inspired by a 70 year old revolutionary saint of Braj, Sri Ramesh Baba of Maan Mandir Barsana (Mathura), Narain is spearheading a wider Braj restoration movement. These days, he is dedicating most of his time and energy to Braj work besides his journalistic pursuits His commitment and achievements have impressed some of the wellknown corporate giants to join hands with him. For details you may visit www.brajfoundation.org .
In 1996 he got several Union Cabinet Ministers, Leader of Opposition, Chief Ministers, Governors and senior bureaucrats charge-sheeted in the Jain Hawala Case.