A British Deputy High Commissioner’s wife to do Dandi March

20 October 2010

Eighty years after the original Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi as a symbolic gesture of defiance towards the British salt tax law, a British social activist has got inspired by it. Jill Beckingham, wife of British deputy high commissioner in Mumbai Mr. Peter is planning to walk next month to raise funds for the charity.

Jill Beckingham is associated with the social work in Mumbai. The money raised during Jill’s Dandi march will be used for the welfare of leprosy patients, tribals, hearing impaired as well as for a school next to a garbage dump in Mumbai.

Mahatma Gandhi had led the historic Dandi march at the age of 61. He walked 390 kilometres from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on March 12, 1930 and reached to the coastal town of Dandi in south Gujarat near Navsari after 14 days . Jill would begin her march on 18th November when the atmosphere in this region remains moderate cool and pleasant.

Jill has already walked a distance of 60 miles from London to Brighton for raising money. On the advise of some of the volunteers working in Vadodara she has decided to take up the cause of leprosy patients. Dandi was chosen on account of its historical importance.

Jill is a specialist in helping children with reading difficulties. She is also the Patron of the Philippine Community Fund, helping children on dump-sites, and also taught abused girls in Manila

Merinews