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According to WHO statistics (2000) there are an average of 52 annual donations of blood per 1,000 population in industrialized countries. In countries like India, the figure is 1–3 per 1,000. Based on WHO methodology, for total self-sufficiency in blood products, India needs an average of 30 blood donations per 1,000 annually. Normally, all healthy men and women aged between 18 and 60 can donate blood four times a year. However, due to prejudice and ignorance, even educated people rarely come forward to donate blood. Severe shortage and inadequate screening procedures result in widespread harm: patients are forced to buy blood, and often many impoverished and undernourished individuals donate blood as a means of earning a livelihood.

For nearly ten years, a unique Humanist experiment in this field has been conducted in the semi-arid district of Anantapur, also home to the notorious god-man Satya Sai Baba. Amarnath Reddy of the Anantapur Rationalist Association, a printer by profession and a staunch rationalist, and Jana Vigyan Vedika, a pioneer left-wing science education group in Andhra Pradesh, founded Mamata, an organization that promotes the donation of blood, educates people about AIDS, and denounces popular superstition. Volunteers use radio and cable television, and organize lectures and miracle exposure camps at schools. Over the years, Mamata changed its name to Manavata (Humanity) and now coordinates 31 blood donors’ associations in the district. Religious and non-religious groups, film-star fan clubs, and auto-rickshaw drivers’ associations are among those now joining hands to promote blood donation. “Drinking water may still be a problem in this district, but today Anantapur has no scarcity of blood,” a volunteer told me proudly.

Like the Atheist Centre in Vijayawada, which also runs an eye bank, Amarnath Reddy sees his work as a means to take the Humanist message to everyone: “Blood knows no caste or religion and those involved in the movement naturally rise above petty considerations.” Manavata achieved resounding success even among the Muslim community. Saleem Malik, a Humanist recruit from a Muslim locality, told me proudly that in his housing colony today there was at least one registered donor per family. “Even in frenzied moments one can be touched by acts of blood donation. Did you see the report from Gujarat when Muslims were being massacred by Hindus?”

Ruksana Bano’s family fled Baroda city (Gujarat) and reached the Relief Camp where a mob of 8000 crazed Hindus attacked them. As the family members ran to the nearby jungle to save their lives, one amongst the marauding assailants recognised Ruksana’s brother-in- law as the one who had donated blood and saved his life several years ago. He pleaded with the leaders and convinced them that the family should be allowed to leave the place safely in a truck. Their lives were saved in such strange circumstances.

--Report on the Gujarat Genocide of 2002