The Sarvodaya Movement from the 1960s to the 1980s

This chapter introduces the five phases of the Sarvodaya Movement as Phase 1: 1960s–1970s – Early post-independence demands for modernisation, Sarvodaya’s inception and a model of development based on Buddhist values; Phase 2: 1970s–1980s – Modernisation, free-market capitalism and Sarvodaya’s alternative model of Five-Stage Village Development; Phase 3: 1980s–1990s – Political upheavals, religion-based nationalism and Sarvodaya’s attempts at mass-consciousness raising; Phase 4: 1990s–2000s – Conflict resolution, sustainable development and Sarvodaya’s spiritual development approach; and Phase 5: 2000s–mid-2010s – Climate change, Sarvodaya’s post-disaster reconstruction, and holistic framework of development and risk governance. The chapter develops Phases 1–2 of the Sarvodaya Movement in depth, with a focus on the history of Sarvodaya and its responses to developmental challenges and risks during the post-colonial to the early modernisation period in Sri Lanka.