the ant was started on 13th October 2000 by Sunil Kaul (who had been a medical doctor in the army and later left to work in villages first in Rajasthan and since 1996, in Assam) and Jennifer Liang (a trained social worker of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai who also came to the northeast in 1996). The two were supported in forming the ant by (Late) Sh. Ravindranath Upadhyay, a reputed Gandhian of the Sarvodaya Movement who had worked in remote villages of Assam for over 40 years. They came together to start the ant, the main goal of which was to work for the development of the northeast region through voluntary action