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| Jan.-Feb. 2006
: Vol.1 - Issue 18 |
“First they ignore
you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then
you win .” - Mahatma Gandhi
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Top
Stories: -
- People’s Critique:
Anti-communal groups, human rights organizations and
women’s groups expressed their strong opposition
to the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and
Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill which the UPA government
recently tabled in Parliament. Earlier drafts of this
bill were rejected by these citizen groups, but few
of their concerns have been addressed in the Bill.
- Tata Steel Must Own Responsibility:
For the tribal communities in Kalinganagar in Orissa,
the year began with the brutal killings of 12 of their
own, simply because they disagreed with the Orissa
Government's and Tata Steel's proposal to set up a
massive steel plant on their land
- Watch out for funding agencies
: : Environmental activist Medha Patkar has
asked Left parties to take a firm position against
the machinations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO),
International Monitory Fund (IMF), World Bank and
Asian Development Bank (ADB) whose funding programmes
``are aimed at changing our priorities and culture.''
- Goodbye Clemenceaui : Greenpeace,
and trade unions celebrated President Jacque Chirac's
decision to call back the decommissioned toxic aircraft
carrier Clemenceau to France.
- Free electricity for farmers : Chandrakant
Pathak of Pune has invented power-generation gadgets
tailored especially for rural energy needs. Today,
his first bicycle pump has evolved into several varieties
of bicycle-operated lift and spray pumps to suit different
needs. Some of the pumps are powerful enough to draw
water from a depth of fifty feet and pump it up to
a height of 100 feet
- Where has the water gone in Delhi?
: powerful nexus of politicians, officials
and water traders is actively engaged in profiteering
through sale and theft of water. It is this water
mafia who in collaboration with the enforcement cell
of the DJB is keeping the government taps dry
- Poverty Map of India ,
26 per cent or about 260 million (193 million in rural
areas and 67 million in urban areas) — of Indians
are still below the poverty line, according to India's
first Social Development Report.
- Awards: and who got them
- Media (Films, Plays, Photography)
and Print: what’s new and what happened.
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More News
: including what happened on World AIDS Day
CONNECTiNG
India for Bharat
The illusion that planners, policy makers and donors
have perpetuated over the last ten years is that
Bharat (rural) needs India(urban). Bharat has given
subsidised water, food, labour, raw materials to
India. At the expense of Bharat, India has developed
enormously.
An ever growing middle class, cities expanding beyond
limits, mass migration from villages into vast slums
in search of work, and millions forced to live in
inhuman conditions… that is the grim scenario
today.
What has Bharat received from India
in return? Doctors, teachers and engineers with
dubious degrees and paper qualifications,(if at
all) …who commute from nearby towns. They
exploit rural labour by not paying the minimum wages
prescribed under law by the State.
They (the urban literate, the politicians
and bureaucrats, and the rich farmer) grab land,
adulterate rations in fair price shops, embezzle
government funds for development, regularly absent
themselves from health centers and schools, and
make sure no social change takes place.
Millions of dollars every year are supposed to percolate
for “development” from Delhi through
the State to where the buck stops at the Block level.
Rather suggestively, he is called the Block Development
Officer (BDO). His job, though it’s not so
obviously spelt out, is to block development. That
he does very well. At the end of every year he fudges
figures of the work he has done with the money and
he/she is applauded for having spent the money.
How and where it has been spent no one wants to
know.
So on paper we have thousands of schools that do
not exist, phantom health centers full of doctors,
small dams full of water that have never been constructed,
villages covered by piped water supply that have
never seen a drop of water for years, and villages
electrified (?) …another colossal scandal.
Where villages have been claimed to be electrified,
the people have been using kerosene, wood and diesel
for lighting for years.
One would think the politicians would at least speak
out for their people. But corruption is rampant,
and getting more expensive to conceal. It speaks
volumes, that not one has seen the inside of a jail
since independence, even after being found out red-handed.
The hope in the next 20 years lies in the poor,
ordinary people, the illiterate but educated, who
need a spark to speak out against these abuses and
shame the powers- that- be into action.
The Right to Information campaign in Rajasthan galvanised
the poor to demand, through “public hearings”,
how funds in their villages were being spent.
The voices of these thousands of people who attended
the hearings were so strong that corrupt officials
actually returned the money! No law, not transfers,
no threats are as powerful as public humiliation.
Why do we need these paper-qualified experts in
the villages at all?
In the next 20 years the rural poor will demonstrate
the power and effectiveness of traditional knowledge,
village skills and practical wisdom for their own
development, thus reducing their dependency on India.
Bharat has the capacity and competence to initiate
a “barefoot” revolution where semi-literate
people with no paper qualifications from any college
or university can serve their own communities as
“barefoot” doctors, teachers, solar
and water engineers, architects, pathologists and
computer programmers.
When communities depend on one another’s skills,
when there is dignity and respect for each other
and development happens with a human face. India
will not be involved --it is all within Bharat to
manage, control and own the process by themselves.
(--adapted from an article in The Hindu. The writer
is the founder of Barefoot College, and an award-winning
environmentalist)
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A People’s Critique
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1. A People’s Critique-- The Communal
Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation
of Victims) Bill, 2005
(box)Imagine there's no countries,
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace......
You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one- John Lennon
Anti-communal groups, human rights organizations
and women’s groups expressed their strong
opposition to the Communal Violence (Prevention,
Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill
which the UPA
government recently tabled in Parliament. Earlier
drafts of this bill were rejected by these citizen
groups, but few of their concerns have been
addressed in the Bill which was hurriedly tabled
in the Rajya Sabha on Dec 5.
A demand for such a bill had been made in light
of an increasing atmosphere of communalisation
across the country and particularly in light
of the events of Gujarat 2002. On neither front
does the Bill deliver.
The Bill does not respond significantly to the
criticisms and fears voiced when its first draft
was released a few months ago outside Parliament.
The government instead appears bent on diluting,
even subverting the spirit of one of its most
important commitments on being voted to power.
The basic problem with the Bill is with the
foundation of objectives on which its entire
edifice is constructed. The preamble of the
Bill itself states that the Bill aims ‘to
empower the State Governments and the Central
Government to take measures to provide for the
prevention and control of communal violence
which threatens the secular fabric, unity, integrity
and internal security of the nation and
rehabilitation of victims of such violence’.
What people needed instead was a law that enhanced
the powers of citizens in relation to such governments,
and not of the governments in relation to its
citizens.
They needed a law that did not merely enable
their governments to act when communal violence
unfolded. They needed a law which made it mandatory
for the government to act, and which made failures
of these
governments to act, criminal acts for which
they can be
charged, tried and punished.
There is virtually nothing in the law that does
this; indeed, this is not even the stated intention
of the law. That is why this Bill needs to be
rejected in its entirety and replaced by a law
of very different objectives, which genuinely
protects the human rights and security of citizens
in communal contexts and enables them to hold
their governments accountable for their acts
of omission and commission.
The Bill does contain one clause for punishment
of public officials who fail to perform their
duties.
There are however two fatal catches to this
otherwise promising segment of the Bill. It
neglects to hold accountable the command authority
of elected leaders like the chief minister and
home minister for these lapses, and at best
can result in the mild punishment of some junior
policepersons. Even more fatal is the proviso
that no court shall take cognizance of an offence
under this section except with the previous
sanction of the state government. In the context
of state governments with communally driven
malafide intent, the chances of even police
officials being punished under this clause are
very remote.
In any case sections 217 to 223 of IPC cover
offences by public servants such as the shielding
of criminals, preparing false records, making
false report in courts, initiating false prosecutions
and allowing criminals to escape.
It is critical that the immunity granted under
sections 195, 196 and 197 of the Criminal Procedure
Code be omitted in any statute on communal crimes.
No junior officer should be allowed to take
the defence that he was ordered by his superior
to commit the crime. Nor should any commanding
officer be allowed to take the defence that
he or she was unaware of the crimes that were
committed on one’s beat.
ANHAD, HRLN, Jan Vikas. Contact ANHAD 011-23327367
email anhadinfo@yahoo.co.in
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Tata Steel Must Own Responsibility
: - |
For the tribal communities in Kalinganagar
in Orissa, the year began with the brutal killings
of 12 of their own, simply because they disagreed
with the Orissa Government's and Tata Steel's
proposal to set up a massive steel plant on
their land. For long, communities displaced
for mining and industrialisation have not been
adequately compensated or rehabilitated, including
by Tata Steel.
Fearing their fate would be the same, the project-
affected communities of Kalinganagar wanted
to be properly compensated first before being
dispossessed.
Tata Steel Ltd (TSL), has been allotted 2400
acres in Kalinga Nagar for the construction
of a six million tonne plant. The land that
the government purchased at the rate of Rs.
37,000/- per acre in 1994
was sold to the Tata Co. for Rs. 3,35,000 per
acre (The current market price ranges between
Rs. 5,00,000 to 7,00,000 per acre). It was this
dispute over compensation that was on the negotiation
table till
Jan.2 and was the reason why the people had
assembled-- to prevent the bull-dozers from
destroying their houses and taking over their
lands that fatal day. On the land-rights question
the Adivasis were
in possession of the land making any entry on
their land illegal. They were in their right
to question the operations of the Orissa Government
and Tata Co. on their land on that day.
At the time of the talks, one of the tribals
tripped on a string of a dynamite planted by
Tata Steel in the football field where people
had gathered. The dynamite went off destroying
his leg and caused panic. As anger spread, the
police started lobbying tear gas shells and
also opening fire without warning.
Six innocent bystanders, including women and
children were shot through the back, clearly
indicating they were retreating. Six injuredwere
taken by the police ostensibly to a hospital.
But they never
came out alive. Their bodies were returned later
and found to be without hands, breasts (in the
case of women) and genital organs in the case
of men.
Tata Steel has disowned any responsibility
in this crime. Sanjay Choudhry, a Tata spokesman
has commented in an email: "…industrialization
is imminent and the only way to improve the
standard of life of all the people of the area.
The only issue is that of resettlement and rehabilitation
at mutually agreed terms."
To ensure that Tata Steel took some responsibility
for the brutal massacre,
in Bangalore, representatives from Environment
Support Group, Equations, CIEDS
Collective and various individuals walked into
the Tata Steel office to submit a representation
on Jan 30- Martyrs Day.
Three children aged 4, 5 and 8, nine women
and five men walked into the Tata Steel office
in Bangalore peacefully holding placards with
messages such as: Tatas: Making Steel out of
Blood; Tatas Benefit
over Tribal Rights; Tata Steel: Strength over
Justice; Tatas: Look your Hands are Bloody!;
etc. The office was filled with over fifty men
of Tata Steel who surrounded this group, shouting
violently
at the women and children. Tata Steel was reminded
that they were well within their rights to call
the police if they wished to. Then, two women,
three children, and four men were locked in.
Tata Steel employees were repeatedly told that
the purpose of this entry into their office
was to submit a representation, in protest against
the Kalinganagar killings, to a key representative.
Eventually, women police were called in about
an hour after the protestors had been locked
inside and were allowed to go.
A symbolic peaceful protest in memory of the
12 killed in Kalinganagar became an issue, for
the people of Kalinagar now proclaim: "We
will not allow OUR habitat - land, water and
forest-that supports our life- to be overrun
by industrialists or the State" .(Shades
of ‘Rang de basanti’!!!)
We demand immediate halting of the plant, punish
the guilty police and district administration
officials and engage in a dialogue with the
people. The state should give priority to the
life and livelihood of the tribals, dalits &
common people and must not hand over land, forest,
water and other natural resources to corporate
powers.
National Alliance of Peoples Movements, Lok
Raj Sangathan, Kashipur Support Group, India
Centre for Human Rights and Law, Shoshit Jan
Andolan, Initiative, Samajwadi Janparishad,
Girangaon Rozgar Haq Samiti, Peoples Political
Front, Ladaku Garment Mazdoor Sangh, Narmada
Solidarity Group, Zhopadi Bachao Andolan, Hind
Navjawan, Chemical Mazdoor Sabha ICHRL"
<documentation@ichrl.org>
Environment Support Group Bangalore Telefax:
080-26341977 Email: esg@esgindia.org
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.Watch out for funding
agencies- Medha Patkar : - |
Kottayam Environmental activist Medha Patkar
has asked Left parties to take a firm position
against the machinations of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO), International Monitory Fund
(IMF), World Bank and Asian Development Bank
(ADB) whose funding programmes ``are aimed at
changing our priorities and culture.''
Addressing a public meeting, Ms. Patkar stressed
the need to turn to `desi' alternatives wherever
possible and pointed out that political and
administrative establishments were part and
parcel of the globalisation drive. "We
may not be able to change it overnight, but
it is time to take a stand in favour of `desi'
alternatives in our country," she said.
Ms. Patkar said local struggles against exploitation
could no longer be seen as micro-level agitations.
"They are part of the larger struggle against
encroachment on the sovereignty of the nation
and the
freedom to take decision on our own terms,"
she said. She urged people not to give in to
the propaganda that `there is no alternative'
to the prescriptions of the WTO, World Bank,
IMF, ADB and other multilateral
and bilateral lending agencies who are here
with “their own agenda of privatisation
and maximisation of profit”. By pumping
money into India in the name of Urban Renewal
Mission or River Linking Projects, they are
trying to privatise land and water.
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SUCCESS:Goodbye Clemenceau
: - |
Delhi: Greenpeace, Corporate Accountability
Desk and trade unions celebrated President Jacque
Chirac's decision to call back the decommissioned
toxic aircraft carrier Clemenceau to France.
The Clemenceau has become an icon of toxic trade
between the developed and developing countries.
President Chirac's decision shows how governments,
when confronted with the truth and pressurized
by public opinion, take corrective action.
" This incident should set the precedent
not just for ship-breaking, but for all toxic
trade, from electronic waste to biomedical wastes
and beyond," said Ramapati Kumar, "With
the Clemenceau, both France and India have had
a close brush with international law. Although
we've successfully avoided a transgression in
this case, it nonetheless points to the need
for governments worldwide to commit themselves
to protecting human rights and the environment,
and ensuring that multilateral agreements like
the Basel Convention are upheld with the strictest
discipline."
"It is a victory for the workers in the
ship breaking yards across Asia who will be
beneficially impacted by this decision,"
a CITU spokesman said.
"The French President has eventually capitulated
to a demand that the Indian government should
rightfully have made, but failed to do. The
MoEF, especially, has shown itself up as indecisive
and dysfunctional. Instead of fulfilling it's
assigned role, the ministry positions itself
as a clearing house for industry and has shown
that it can no longer be trusted as the custodian
of our environment," said Kumar.
Ramapati Kumar, Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner
09845535414
Caption: Greenpeace activists board the carrier
ship Clemenceau 50 nautical miles off the coast
of Egypt hanging a banner that reads 'Asbestos
carrier stay out of India.’Greenpeace
was protesting against the decommission of the
Clemenceau, which was being sent to India for
decommissioning despite widespread outrage at
the highlevels of asbestos and other hazardous
materials it contains.
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. Free electricity for
farmers :- |
Mumbai: Chandrakant
Pathak has invented power-generation gadgets tailored
especially for rural energy needs. As Pathak's
gadgets are gaining popularity in rural areas
of Pune district and several neighbouring districts
in Maharashtra, state energy development agencies
are taking note.
. "Free electricity for farmers is quite
an easily achievable goal," remarks Chandrakant
Pathak casually, "What is more, the costs
too are nominal.". He has invented power-generation
gadgets that can be operated manually or by bullock
power, and even installed into bullock-cart wheels.
He has modified power-consuming gadgets of every-day
use, like motor pumps, flour mills and even electric
vegetable shredders to run on manual power.
Tailored especially to suit rural energy needs,
Pathak's gadgets are recognised and subsidised
by the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency,
and he has received several awards for his work.
In 1995, Pathak started his own institute, the
Modern Technical Centre, in Pune, with the aim
of devising gadgets for power self-sufficiency
in rural areas.Today, his first bicycle pump has
evolved into several varieties of bicycle-operated
lift and spray pumps to suit different needs.
Some of the pumps are powerful enough to draw
water from a depth of fifty feet and pump it up
to a height of 100 feet. Anything between 15-40
litres of water can be pumped per minute.
After the bicycle, Pathak turned his attention
to the other source of rural power, the bullock,
and invented a bullock-cart-mounted and powered
'Jaladhara pump', a mechanical contraption which
can be used to spray insecticide and to run four
sprinklers simultaneously forspray irrigation.
The pump is powered by the motion of the bullock
cart, and is mounted on the cart itself, along
with a barrel for water or insecticide.
He also found ways to operate other rural machines
requiring electricity, like the floor mills, winnowers
and threshers on manual and bullock power. He
also devised a floating turbine that uses the
power of a running river or stream to pump water
from the same stream. Generate power, don't buy
it, he says.
Run in the same way as the oil-presses of old
(Kolhu in Hindi, Ghani in Marathi one of his machines
converts the 2 RPM input from a bullock into a
1500 RPM output with the help of a simple gear
box.
This machine is extremely versatile -- it can
be used to run a fivehorse-power centrifugal pump,
and all small machines like a 1 KVgenerator, a
flour mill, an air compressor and so on. A single
machinecan run the entire water supply system
of a small village. Run for two hours, it can
keep ten street lights burning for the whole night.
On a sudden inspiration, Mr Pathak landed on the
swing "The to and fro movement of the swing
can be used to run a piston pump ten times as
powerful as a hand-pump," says he. The swing
pump is Mr Pathak's latest innovation,and can
pump water from a depth of 10 metres and up to
a height of 30metres at the rate of 20 litres
per minute. Some 10-12 schools in thePune and
Ratnagiri districts are using this pump effectively
to pump their drinking water. The swing also has
great potential in the area of air-compression
and power generation, and Pathak is currently
exploring these possibilities.
. The bullock energy machine, for example, the
most expensive of his gadgets, costs just Rs 20,000.
Theproducts further save the farmers a packet
in electricity bills in the bargain, have found
wide acceptance among the rural people of WesternMaharashtra.
What distinguishes Pathak from other inventors
is the fact that he has not drawn a patent on
even a single one of his inventions. "These
machines are all based on very simple principles.
I want to spread this knowledge, not hoard it."
Recently, at an agricultural fair in Latur, 100bullock
power machines were booked by farmers, personally
as well as collectively by villages or communities.
His own institute, the Modern Technical Centre,
employs 9 people., but for the past two years,
the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency has
been giving subsidies of 50 per cent on the products.
The Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Agency
and the Punjab Energy Development Agency are also
interested.Contact .Modern Technical Centre is
at: 114 Narayanpeth, Kasat Chowk, Kelkar Road,
Pune 411030. Tel: +91-20-4452620/4452448.
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Where has the water gone
in Delhi? : - |
New Delhi: Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials
assure that Delhi has enough water for its residents.
The scarcity then is artificial and the result
of the theft of public utility supplied water.
The leaked water finds itself into commercially
bottled drinking water bottles, water tankers
and water cans, available round the clock, but
of course at a price. The turnover, by all reckoning,
is impressive.
The fact is that a powerful nexus of politicians,
officials and water traders is actively engaged
in profiteering through sale and theft of water.
It is this water mafia who in collaboration
with the enforcement cell of the DJB is keeping
the government taps dry..
After the Delhi government abandoned its plan
to privatise the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the
next step of the Sheila Dixit government has
been to set up an expert committee to examine
water sector reforms in Delhi. It has invited
Right to Water Campaign, an NGO, which had carried
out a robust campaign against the Delhi government's
decision to privatise the DJB. The idea that
competition in the market forces the private
players to provide quality service and the market
decides the price of the product is not possible
in case of a public utility monopoly. Arvind
Kejriwal, president, Parivartan, an anti-corruption
group warns, "the privatisation of monopolies
can never work. Private sector monopoly can
become a great demon and play havoc in the lives
of ordinary citizens."
The Delhi water privatisation fiasco holds lessons
for the other 20 states and union territories
where the privatisation of water boards is in
various stages of completion. Water supply in
three districts of Karnataka has already been
privatised. The experience the world over has
proved that water tariffs had shot up wherever
water utilities had been handed over to private
water companies, be it Manila, Cochabamba (Bolivia),
Sofia (Bulgaria) or Valencia (Spain) and the
experiment has proved disastrous.
Delhi's problem is not technical. What is needed
is mere internal accountability. Delhi has 670
million gallons per day (MGD) of water supply
(which would go up to 810 MGD after the Sonia
Vihar project). And if divided by the 150 million
people, the population of Delhi, it comes to
220 litres per capita per day (almost 11 buckets).
No city has this kind of availability of water.
Government says that they lose 50 per cent of
water. If so, where is this 335 million gallon
of water going? If it goes underground, the
water table should rise, which is not happening.
So where exactly is the water going? Where is
this water?
The serious lack of accountability is quite
evident in case of Delhi Jal Board functioning.
Delhi has been divided into 21 water zones,
each headed by an executive engineer who is
provided with the fixed amount of water and
a budget for his zone. Yet, he is not held responsible
for the water/money invested in his zone. There
is no functioning bulk water metre in the zones--Who
can tell who is getting how much?
- Sandeep Yadav Delhi
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Poverty Map of India :
- |
26 per cent
or about 260 million (193 million in rural areas
and 67 million in urban areas) — of Indians
are still below the poverty line, according to
India's first Social Development Report. Punjab
has the lowest incidence of poverty (6 %). Orissa
has highest population below poverty line(47%).
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan
account for two-thirds of the infant mortality
rate in the country .Rural Kerala tops the States
in social indicators. In the urban scenario, Himachal
Pradesh tops the list. The 21 indicators taken
into account while grading the States included
demography, health care, education, unemployment,
poverty and social deprivation.
Kerala has the lowest infant mortality rate of
11 deaths per 1,000 births. Orissa has the highest
IMR of 83 deaths per 1,000 births.
Among disadvantaged classes, the IMR is higher
among Scheduled Castes (83). A similar trend is
witnessed with regard to the mortality rate of
children under five, underweight children, children
and women with anaemia.
Kerala has the highest literacy rate of 91%. Bihar
has the lowest literacy rate of 48%. Rajasthan
has shown a large gap in gender literacy of 32
%age points.
Punjab has the lowest child sex ratio of 798 girls
to 1,000 boys.The traditional societies, including
tribal communities, have an impressive sex ratio
of 975 girls to 1,000 boys (Chhattisgarh).
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Awards : - |
Janaki Devi Award
Smt Chetna Gala Sinha, founder Mann Deshi Mahila
Sahakari Bank Ltd, Satara District was awarded
the Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar 2005 for Rural
Women Entrepreneurs, for successfully developing
a culture of micro-entrepreneurship among women
in the drought prone areas of Maharashtra. The
Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank Ltd founded
in 1997 was the first rural women’s bank
to get a license from the RBI to operate in
Maharashtra. The co-operative bank run by and
for women has provided the tools for achieving
financial independence and self-sufficiency.
The Mann Deshi Umbrella also has two other organizations
in its fold: The Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha
which gives scholarships and vocational skills
training, and the Mahila Bachat Get Foundation
which currently caters to 300 SHGs. The award
function was organized by the Ladies Wing of
the Indian Merchants Chamber.
Nominations for Outstanding Women Panchayat
Leaders 2006
The Institute of Social Sciences seeks nominations
for the Outstanding Women Panchayat Leader Awards
2006. These awards were instituted in 1999 to
recognize women panchayat representatives' contribution
to public life and development of their panchayats.
The 2006 awards will be presented on the occasion
of Women's Political Empowerment Day Celebration
that will be organized in Delhi on April 2-25,
2006. The last date for submission of nominations
is 1 March 2006. Contact: Dr. Bidyut Mohanty,
Institute of Social Sciences, Tel. (011)26121902,
26121909, Fax: 26137027 Email: issnd@vsnl.com;
Padmashree Award
India's national government recently awarded
Sister Sudha Varghese the Padmashri --the country's
highest civilian award, -for providing education
to girls from the Musahar community in the village
of Jamsaut, Bihar. These girls belong to one
of the most destitute and marginalised groups
in Bihar and Sr Sudha Varghese has been sending
girls to school from the Musahar community for
20 years. Her institution, Nari Gunjan, has
more than 1,500 girls enrolled and runs over
50 centres.
Oracle Excellence Awards
Twenty-two Indian e-Government projects were
declared winners of the Oracle Excellence in
e-Governance awards at the Oracle Open World
. The 22 award-winning projects included Andhra
Pradesh government's the rural e-Seva project,
e-Panchayat and the land record management information
system (LR-MIS), IT in judiciary, the customs
department, the passport division and the computer-aided
Administration of the Registration Department
(CARD), among others.
Winner of Animal welfare award
The VMAAF awards are an attempt to appreciate
the hard work and efforts by individuals and
organisations in the field of animal welfare.
They are also aimed at sensitising the general
public about animal rights and creating a much-needed
awareness about animal care. The Venu Menon
National Animals Award is the principal award
that recognises the work of an individual who
has contributed most significantly to the cause
of animal welfare
Twenty nine year old Rahul Sehgal gave up a
lucrative career in the hotel management industry
to devote his time to the care of animals. Within
a short span of three and half years, he has
helped set up an organisation that has 28 employees,
three veterinary doctors and ambulances, has
treated over 18,000 animals and birds, and completed
over 10,000 sterilisations. He has played an
important role in stopping the sale of exotic
pets by the Ahmedabad zoo and the passage of
a car rally through the prime habitat of the
endangered wild ass. In a state that is known
more for its extremes, Rahul Sehgal, comes as
a breath of fresh air. http://www.vmaaf.org/pages/award_vmaaa.htm
© 1999-2005 VMAAF.. All rights reserved.
Contact: vmaaf@yahoo.com.
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Media : |
Films
One Show Less - Hindi/19mins/MiniDV/2005
Dir by Nayantara.C.Kotian/National Institute
of Design, Ahmedabad/ India. The film won the
first prize at the 9th Mumbai International
Film Festival (MIFF) in February 2006 and is
about the increasing numbers of single screen
cinemas that are shutting down all over the
country because of the multiplex invasion, depriving
the masses of the incomparable experience of
watching cinema on the big screen.
Fight for Survival - Gujarati-Hindi/MiniDV/20minutes/2004
Dir: Dakxin Nandlal Bajarange. It won the second
prize at MIFF, and is about the Madari community
in Gujarat which depends on traditional business
of snake exhibition and performance in villages
and cities, fairs and haats. However, the Animal
Cruelty Act and other animal Acts have made
it difficult for the madaris to keep snakes
for public performance and it has now become
a question of survival for the entire community.
In Search of a Job - Assamese-English/14 minutes/Beta/2005/
Dir:Mrinal Talukdar
Assam has a long tradition of domestic elephants
used for logging business for centuries. The
1997 Supreme Court order of banning all sorts
of felling of trees has changed the whole scenario.
Overnight these elephants and their mahouts
have become jobless and helpless as law does
not allow transfer or sale of any animal like
the elephant.
Research internships
The Center for Civil Society (CCS) organises
“Jeevika” with multiple objectives:
to take stock of films already made on livelihood
issues; to encourage established filmmakers
and particularly the youth to find interest
in livelihood issues and make documentaries
on them; and to provide them a
platform to maximise the impact of their documentaries.
CCS is a research and educational think-tank
working for sound public policy solutions in
the areas of education, livelihood, governance,
environment, globalisation and rule of law.
CCS is offering research internships for students
and recent graduates who are interested in working
on related issues. Contact: www.ccsindia.org.
City Farming - film on Urban Agriculture
Duration 16 mins - Produced by Centre for Education
and Documentation (CED)
City farming is an innovative technology which
deals with farming in urban areas --on terraces,
balconies and even on the walls of civil constructions.
Dr. R T Doshi has perfected a method of growing
fruits and vegetables for domestic consumption,
which involves relatively low labour input,
organic production methods and very high yields.
For a copy, write to nalini@doccentre.org
Namma Kadalkarai, Namma Urimai (Our Coast,
Our Right) was screened in various parts of
the Tsunami affected areas. CED has edited the
film and the new version includes the feedback
of people and activists. This film is aimed
to educate local communities, promote the right
to information, people’s right to know,
determine and participate in their own development
particularly their re-development/rehabilitation.
Contact: nalini@doccentre.org
Film festival on environmental issues
This year's film festival is slated for the
first week of November 2006 on environmental
documentary films both Indian as well as international
made between 2004 -2006. Interested filmmakers
contact Mob. 9811864256, Email: pragya@toxicslink.org
International Community Film Festival 2006
Submissions are invited for the Northampton
International Community Film Festival 13-16th
July 2006, University of Northampton, Great
Britain. The Festival showcases the best community
film-making from around the world and is looking
for short documentary or promotional films that
deal with one or more of the festival’s
nine themes for 2006:
* Community empowerment projects
* Citizenship and local democracy
* Neighbourhood renewal
* Combating prejudice or discrimination
* Voluntary groups or charities - making a difference
* Building social capital
* Equality and diversity work
* Improving community cohesion
* HIV/AIDS
Films of 8-15 mins, (shorter or longer submissions
may also be accepted) must be submitted on Mini-DV
tape or DVD and arrive before 24th April 2006.
Free festival tickets and bursary opportunities
will be awarded to the top ten community film
makers. Contact: Dr Ian D. McCormick, Festival
Director, Email: ian.mccormick@easynet.co.uk
Student Film Awards
Hitesh Kewalya, a NID Film & Video student,
won the Best Fiction Film up to 75 mins / National
Competition Award (he gets the Golden Conch
and a cash prize of Rs.1,50,000/-) for his NID
Diploma film "Nothing Happens on this Turn
/ Is Modh Par Kuch Nahin Hota" at the 9th
Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for
Documentary, Short & Animation films held
in Mumbai this Feb. Amit Shah also a NID Film
& Video student jointly shared with another
documentary film the National Jury Award for
his NID Diploma film 'Hoon'. He gets a cash
prize of Rs.50,000/-.
Plays
Host a performance
"Laadli - A voice of countless unborn girl
children” - a play on sex selective abortion
in Hindi is available for staging in March 2006.
The play is written and directed by Manjul Bhardwaj
and performed by The Experimental Theatre Foundation.
The duration of the play is one hour, and 20
minutes on the street or open space. Contact:
9820391859, Email: etf@bom3.vsnl.net.in
Photography exhibition (pix)
With the objective of changing the world through
images, Drik India is presenting two photography
exhibitions related to social conscience on
the theme 'Women' with the support of Chobi
Mela III, the International Festival of Photography
in Asia, a unique initiative of Drik Bangladesh.
Both works have a commonness, the very distinctive
representation challenging typical 'western
image of eastern women'. The exhibition, Naxal
Women, an ongoing project of the renowned photographer,
media-activist and entrepreneur Dr. Shahidul
Alam, seeks to understand and evaluate the rightful
role of Bangladeshi women activists in the Naxalite
Movement by recording their stories and lived
experiences.
In Returning the Gaze by the noted Iranian photographer,
Shadi Ghadirian, photographs are constructed
images to depict the monotonous and paradoxical
lifestyle the women lead: materially surrounded
by modern paraphernalia and psychologically
burdened by cultural shortsightedness. Like
Every Day is another series which place women
in her domesticity where she is identified with
pots, pans and vacuum cleaners which inevitably
find their way in her life after marriage. Contact:
Suvendu Chatterjee, Drik India, Tel. (91-33)
2454 5596, 2475 5391, Mob: 9831035158 , email:office-india@in.drik.net
www.drik.net , www.drik.com
Books/Publications
SCARRED: Experiments with Violence in Gujarat
by Dionne Bunsha,
Penguin Books India
This book was released at a function Feb 8 at
Wilson College, Mumbai, followed by a discussion
on Life in Gujarat's Hindutva Laboratory. N.
Ram, Editor-in-chief, The Hindu Group of Publications
presided over the function with speakers Haseena
Sheikh, community worker and refugee from Pavagadh
village Bharat Panchal who lost his wife in
the Sabarmati Express tragedy Tanvir Jafri son
of late Ahsan Jafri, ex-Member of Parliament
and Rohit Prajapati peace activist, Paryavaran
Sukarsha Samiti, Vadodara. Contact: Tel. 98203-01643,
98201-91197, email: dionnebunsha@gmail.com
Small Change- (pix)
(pix) SopanStep- “the Mouthpiece of Rural
India”--probably the first glossy on India’s
rural life, published by INFORDS ((India Foundation
for Rural Development Studies) in Hindi and
English. Editor: K.A. Badarinath. Feb Issue
discusses the proposed bill on land rights for
tribals, the rising in Kalinga. Pages 48, Rs.
20. Published from Delhi, contact 011-41607472,
email sopanstep@gmail.com
Issues in Islamic Feminism by Asghar Ali Engineer,
Islam and Modern Age, Feb. 2006
This article in the Feb issue provides a deeper
examination of Qur’anic verses makes it
clear that it firmly upholds dignity of women
as that of men. It does not discriminate between
two sexes. In fact it was social environment
in which Shari’ah formulations were made
that affected Islamists’ viewpoint about
women rather than the Qur’anic teachings.
Today’s social environment is radically
different and women awareness of their rights
has increased phenomenally. There is nothing
wrong in revisiting Shari’ah formulations
regarding women today and attempt to reformulate
issues in the light of contemporary social milieu.
Contact: csss@mtnl.net.in
CED Publications
The Centre for Education and Documentation (CED)
is bringing out four monthly dossiers - collections
of clippings on issues of slums, child rights,
textile industry and tribal issues. Other DocPost
volumes are available on Legal Rights, Habitat,
Disasters and Critical Concerns. Contact : Jacintha,
Tel. (022) 2202 0019, Email: jacintha@doccentre.org.
CED & RDCs
CED, in association with Architecture and Development
(A & D), Praxis & ISED is setting up
resource development centers (RDCs), focusing
on the rehabilitation and the long-term development
needs of tsunami-affected communities in South
India. They have launched a website aiming at
information dissemination among its partners,
local organisations and activists. For more
details check website www.rdc.net.in Contact:
CED (022) 2202 0019, Email: jacintha@doccentre.org
Development Digest
The latest issue of Development Digest #12
examines the following:
The Business of Hunger by Devinder Sharma
Water! Water!! Everywhere!!! But for Everyone?
Bhakra Dam - A Different View, Siddharth Narrain
reviews Shripad Dharmadhikary's Unravelling
Bhakra: Assessing the Temple of Resurgent India
Managing Water, A. Vaidyanathan reviews Ramaswamy
R Iyer's Water: Perspectives, Issues, Concerns
Water Sector Reforms in Mexico: Lessons for
India's New Water Policy by Tushaar Shah, Christopher
Scott, Stephanie Buechler
Leapfrog Beyond 'Modern' Water Paradigm by Sunita
Narain
Contact: Tel. (022) 2202 0019, Email: jacintha@doccentre.org.
Gender-responsive budgeting in education
Authors: Oxfam, Produced by: Oxfam (2005)
This paper uses the Gender-responsive budgeting
(GRB) approach to explain how governments and
donors can promote gender equality in education
through their financing decisions.
The paper deals with three categories of GRB
to discuss how education budgets in different
countries have tried to promote gender equality:
* gender-targeted expenditures: e.g., special
scholarships for girls
* staff-related employment-equity expenditures,
e.g. spending on training for female teachers'
career development
* mainstream expenditures, e.g. spending on
compulsory education and the provision of early
childhood education.
The paper concludes with some recommendations
for governments and NGOs. Available online at:
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20776
Women, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights
Indian Anthropological Association, Delhi has
brought out a special volume of its journal
Indian Anthropologist on Women, HIV/AIDS and
Human Rights, vol.35, no.1& 2, 2005. Contact:
E.mail iaadelhi@rediffmail.com www.indiananthropology.org
Achhut Kanya, 1936. Visualising Indian Women
Edited by Malavika Karlekar
Oxford University Press
Pages 121, Rs. 1500
Directed by Franz Osten, this Hindi film, Achhut
Kanya, belongs to the genre of the ‘classic’.
It made Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar the most
famous screen pair of the times. In a period
of political and social unrest, the pertinent
theme of tragic love between an untouchable
girl and a Brahmin youth touched a chord of
sympathy amongst the audience. The book Visualising
Indian Women edited by Malavika Karlekar, captures
the different facets of the life of women in
India from 1857 to 1947. Arresting visuals of
prominent women and their role in social and
political history make this book a collector's
pick.
Special issue on Urban Poverty in India, Web
journal E Vikalpa December 2005 by,Vikas Adhyayan
Kendra, Mumbai. See the website http://www.vakindia.org
Because I have a Voice
Edited by Arvind Narrain and Gautam Bhan.,
Yoda Publications.
This is a collection of essays ranging from
the conceptual to fiercely personal. The introduction
puts forward the salient debates of the Indian
queer movement, situating it not as a minority
politics but in the larger framework of human
rights and the politics of class, gender and
religion. They delineate ways in which the movement
has become more visible - in fighting discriminatory
laws; undertaking protests; queering culture
through the arts and the media. This same sex
love includes not just gay men and lesbians,
but any identity based on non-heterosexual desire.
Contact: gbhan02@yahoo.com
Muslims and India
by Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer.
Published by Gyan Publishing House, 2006,
price Rs 540. (Tel.011-23261060/ 23282060, gyanbook@vsnl.com)
Includes seven chapters on Historical Backdrop,
Socio-Political context, Muslim Women and Modern
Society, Contemporary politics, Secularism and
Riots, Gujarat Imbroglio and Legal Framework.
Contact: Centre for Study of society and secularism
Tel (022) 614 9668) Email: csss@vsnl.com www.csss-isla.com
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Books : |
BOOKS
Management Development in NPOs (pix)
By Vijay Padaki and Manjulika Vaz
Pgs: 283
Rs. 480
Publ. Sage Publications www.indiasage.com
The Governing Board of an NGO can play an important
part in the development of any NGO but because
NGOs consider themselves to be “action-oriented”,
this area invariably is neglected This book
draws upon the author’s broad experience
in consultancy to identify the needs of governing
boards and offers a programme designed to meet
their needs. It is a practival, comprehensive
reference manual for board members using an
FAQ format.
For organic farmers
The book, Krushi Jnana Pradeepike (KJP),
now available in print, is unique. It was written
based on the time-tested practical knowledge
of farming. Ghanamatha Nagabhushan Shivayogi
Swamiji, the author of this book, hailed from
Daroor, in Andhra Pradesh. He had spent a good
part of his life in northern Karnataka. The
350-page text is full of practical information
to help farmers grow a variety of crops, to
prepare manure and to conserve soil and water.
Ten pages are allotted for soil and water conservation
and drought-proofing. The book, in Kannada,
was published only after Shivayogi Swamiji's
death. So far, it has sold more than 40,000
copies. Says D.D. Bharamagaudra, a well-known
organic farmer of Yelavatti, Karnataka, "KJP
is the scripture for the farmers pursuing dry
land agriculture in Karnataka.”
In 1969, Mallikarjuna Swamiji of Sangapura Mutt,
Gangavathi, realized the importance of the book,
and had it published. Since then, it has seen
9 editions, and has already been translated
into English. Efforts are on to bring it out
in Hindi and Telugu as well. Mallikarjuna Swamiji
can be contacted for copies of KJP in Kannada
or English, at (08533)321168
Drought proofing-India style
From decades, farmers of Hungund taluk
have been spending 20 to 30 lakh rupees annually
for soil and water conservation as well as drought-proofing.
At least half a dozen workers trained under
the late Shankranna Nagaral have full-time employment
in this task. Directly or indirectly, at least
500 families in the taluk earn their bread from
drought-proofing work. All this work is carried
out without a single paisa of subsidy from the
government. Though a bit expensive, wherever
construction of bunds, waste-weirs etc. was
taken up systematically, no drought was able
to snatch away a particular farmer's harvest.
When this success story of drought-proofing
was brought to light at the recently held jalajatha
- a water-awareness mass campaign of Bagalkote
district - Mallanna was a star attraction in
the rural meetings. Now the Bagalkote District
Collector K S Prabhakar is planning to bring
out a video documentary titled 'best farming
practices' including the drought-proofing techniques
demonstrated by Nagarals. Contact Shree Padre
Mallanna S Nagaral at (08351) 260303..
Sahasnama
A book on struggle and courage of women
Author : Rajendra Bandhu
Publ : Vikas Setu Group
pages: 72
Price: Rs. 50 Only ( Rs. 80 by V.P.P.)
'Sahasnam' is focused on the struggle and courage
of 15 women who represents gram panchayat, janpat
panchayat or district panchayats of Madhya Pradesh..
Vikas Setu is a group of people who are active
in media and NGOs. They are closely allied with
grassroot issues i.e. panchayat, water, land,
forest agriculture and gender. The book is their
effort to providing a place to grassroot issues
in media. Contact E-Mail: rajbandhu@rediffmail.com
Resource book of services for children
in Mumbai
Rs. 25/-.
Vatsalya Trust Mumbai has published a Resource
book of services in Mumbai for children with
special needs. Copies of this book are available
with us . We have compiled information of more
than 300 services in Mumbai. Contact: Vatsalya
Trust,Mumbai Email: dotrec_vatsalya @yahoo.co.in
Telephone: 25782958
'Love's Rite'
By Ruth Vanita.
It's the first book to examine the history of
same-sex weddings and the same-sex suicides
of women in India. It explains them in the context
of the debate and discourse on same-sex marriages
in the West It moves away from esoteric explanations
of sexuality and gender to concentrate on 'Same
sex marriage in India and the West', in her
own words.
'With Respect to Sex'
Gayatri Reddy
The book is a doctoral thesis of a very perceptive
and densely written subject on hijras, kotis
and other "multiplicity of sexualities
and gender in India". The author takes
a close look at Hyderabad's hijra culture.
Critical Concerns (pix)
Critical Concerns was formally launched
on Sept 26 in Bangalore at CED, Bangalore. Raajen
Singh, rights activist from Mumbai, helped evolve
this package and demonstrated how the monthly
collation of news clippings about the NGO world
could be useful for NGOs. Some of the people
who attended the launch were Ms. Saraswathy
Ganapathy (Belaku Trust), Ms.Vanaja Ramprasad
(Green Foundation), Ms.Sheela Ramanathan (Human
Rights Law Network, Bangalore),Dr. Kshithij
Urs (APSA) and many others.
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Globalizing India
Perspectives from Below
By Jackie Assayag, and Chris Fuller
Price:£16.99
288 pages
Series: Anthem South Asian Studies
This book is one of the first to present a collection
of writings on the effects of globalization
on India and Indian society.
The concept of globalization itself needs critical
examination. Assayag and Fuller have assembled
a team of eminent academics, who present a series
of critical discussions about important issues
of economy and agriculture, education and language,
and culture and religion, based on ethnographic
case-studies from different localities in India.
This challenging collection also includes a
major study of the history of globalization
and India that sets current trends in perspective.info@wpcpress.com
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MANUALS (pix)
1.Working with Men on gender, sexuality,
violence and Health-Trainers manual
2.Training manual for Health care providers
on Women centred counselling in a Gynaecology
clinic
3. Policy Briefs- Reproductive and sexual health
in a public Health System
Publ. SAHAJ. Contact chinu@wilnetonline.net
Tel: 0265-340223
Price Rs. 150 each
The manuals are excellent guidelines for training
personnel- laymen and professionals to work
with women (and men) through a woman centred
approach. The book has been written after the
Project completed their work in a Mumbai Public
Hospital.
Manual for Counseling MSM,
Publ: The Humsafar Trust, Tel. : 022-26673800
Price: Rs. 200 with a self-addressed A4 envelope.
The manual is for health delivery professionals
in handling issues faced by MSM and the problems
encountered during counseling them. This manual
will also be useful for counselors in general
health settings and enable counselors to ask
for same-sex behavioral histories, during pre
and post test counseling and help familiarize
themselves with the issues of MSM.
Breastfeeding (pix)
By Lakshmi Menon and Sarah Amin
Publ: WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding
Action) waba@streamyx.com
This publication aims to situate breast feeding
within the women’s reproductive health
and rights agenda ,and looks at both issues
as a common concern to the Womens’ health
movement as well as the breastfeeding movement.
Religion In South Asia
A Liberative Perspective
Edited by Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer
Pages: 240/-
Price Rs.495/-US$20.00
Publs; Hope India Publ. Haryana E-mail: hope_India@indiatimes.com,
Tel. 0124-2367308
Though Liberation Theology has yet not struck
its roots in South Asia, some scholars have,
however, started taking deep interest in it.
As a result, we have begun to see the liberation
content in every religion in the region. The
present book offers the researches of some of
these enterprising scholars. All the major religions
in South Asia, -- Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism
and Christianity have been covered -- their
liberative content, which was hardly discernible,
stands exposed for people to make use of.
Liberative Undercurrents in Hindu Thought: A
Preliminary Inquiry- M.C. Dinakaran, Hindu Liberation
Theology: A Blueprint for Reform-- Swamy Agnivesh;
The Buddhist Way to Liberation of Society -
Kuliyapitiye Prananda; Christianity in the Cause
of Liberation - Errol D’ Lima;. Domination
– Liberation: A New Approach - Enrique
Dussel; Religion, Ideology and Liberation Theology:
An Islamic Point of View - Asghar Ali Engineer;Sikhism
and Human Liberation - Gurbhagat Singh
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More News : |
The Mumbai Marathon (6 pix)
As in every year, the city of Mumbai showed
their spirit. On Sunday January 15 they ran
for fun, they ran for health and they ran for
a cause. Here are some of those who took part.
There were 20000 runners and over 100 registered
NGOs. The marathon was sponsored by Standard
Chartered Bank and organised by Procam.
Empowering Vadodara
Vadodara: Over 100 NGOs, government agencies
police etc took part in a fair in February,
“Empowering Vadodara” to tell the
city how they work to empower citizens. The
brainchild of architect Karan Grover, and inspired
by President Kalams message to Empower India,
among those who took part in the fair were United
way of Baroda, Tree Lovers Foundation, Akshar
trust, the Baorda Citizen Council, Vikas Jyot
Trust
Musical cheers (pix)
Bangalore: Zakir Hussein played and Birju Maharaj
and his disciples danced at the Koramangala
National Stadium in February to raise funds
for Premaanjali. Premaanjali runs a home for
destitute children, a foster care programme
and day care centres for children of stone quarry
workers. The programme was sponsored by the
Puravankara group and extremely well organized
and attended. Contact 08025567333 email: home@premaanjali.org
ART for global concern
Caption: An art exhibition of paintings done
by KP Mukundan was held at Mumbai Art gallery
at Andheri to raise funds to raise cancer awareness.
Hearing-impaired Olympics
Mumbai: Around 300 hearing impaired students
from city participate in all-India sports meet
Special Olympics for Hearing Impaired (SPOHI).
There was a march past but no band. There were
races but no gunshots. There was a crowd but
no noise pollution.Everything was a pleasant
surprise at the University grounds at the event
organised by the Bombay Round Table 19. This
year's SPOHI was attended by 500 children from
elsewhere, and 300 kids from Mumbai.
Forum celebrates golden jubilee
Mumbai: Begun as a forum to discuss freedom
inenterprise at a time when business was tightly
controlled, the Forum of Free Enterprise celebrated
its 50th year with a series of events involving
business and the common man. The 3rd Nani Palkhivala
Memorial Lecure delibered by Dr Bimal Jalan,
former governor, RBI discussed :”Separation
of Powers: the myth and the reality”in
January and was followed by the presentation
of the first Nani Palkhivala Memorial award
for the preservation of Civil Liberties inIndia.
The award was presented to PUCL-Delhi and was
accepted by Nawaz Kotwal. Contact email ffe@vsnl.net
or Tel: 22614253
AIDS management course at IIM-A
Ahmedabad, The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmeabad,
has introduced a short course on managing
HIV/AIDS programmes for health professionals.
The weeklong course is meant for government
health policy makers, voluntary groups and others
working in the field of HIV prevention and care,
said Bakul Dholakia, director of the school.
"The focus of the programme is on managerial
challenges involved in conducting HIV/AIDS prevention
and care and their implementation," he
said. IIM Ahmedabad already has a centre for
management of health services, which conducts
research on mental health and stress.The institute
is also working on a course for officials in
Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh to help them
streamline their HIV/AIDS programmes.
Celebrating good works and deeds (collage box)
A group of friends, associates and businessmen
got together some years ago to make their services
and time available for fund raising for deserving
institutions. These dedicated men identify each
project they get information on and then make
a report and decide on how to raise funds for
the organization. At a small function was held
recently to honour and introduce their beneficiaries,
beAmong the organisations they have adopted
(so to say) are Baba Amte’s Anandwan with
whom they began a long association. They spread
their activities subsequently and now support
the Parivaar Education Society Kolkata, run
by ex-IIT graduate Vinayaka, whuich rehabilitated
destitute children for red light areas of Kolkata;
Snehalaya runby a group of college students
in Ahmednagar which is working with commercial
sex workers to stop trafficking in 3 areas around
Ahmednagar. The Sane Guruji Arogya Mandir in
Mumbai exhorts and teaches students from the
slum areas in Santa Cruz to study in a stimulating
atmosphere. The Vasundhara Public Trust in Mumbai
emphasizes on science for rural areas and a
Mobile Science Laboratory covers 60 school in
the rural areas. Srishti in Orissa has been
active in starting a village high school. a
cottage hospital and dairy Societies and is
presently working on a potable drinking water
project in the tribal areas of Orissa, Samaritan
Help Mission working with Muslim and other youth
in the slum areas of Howrah. Samaj Pragati Sahayog
in MP started by a group of professionals focuses
on watershed development, soil conservation
and preservation of eco bio-diversity, SAMPARC
which works with children in Pune.
Neelima Mishra returned to her village of Bahadarpur
in Jalgaon after her post graduation and began
a project to change the lives of the villagers
through education, vocational employment, SHGs
and organics agriculture. Vanchit Vikas, run
by Vilas Chaphekar, in Pune, similarly has grown
and expanded its work from Maharashtra to MP
working in nearly sections he has come in touch
with. You can contact Mr Ramesh Kacholia Tel
28216366 email glorimex@vsnl.com
Loksatta at work
Ahmedabad; The Loksatta Gujarat chapter is currently
focusing on two activities (Projects): Improvement
in governance of Urban Health Centers (UHC)
in Ahmedabad City which included survey of about
700 slum/low income group households, located
in four wards of the city. Eventually 8 wards
of the total 43 wards of the city are scheduled
to be surveyed by March 2--6. Volunteers of
SAATH, conducted the demand side survey of households,
and Loksatta volunteers with students of Nirma
Management Institute conducted the supply side
survey. A report on ‘Gaps in Governance’
of the UHC’s. will cover recommendations
to bridge the Gaps. with concerned Stakeholders,
facilitation of formation of local community
groups to work out a ‘Road Map’
with other wards, NGO’s, Ahmedabad Municipal
Corp., the State Government etc..
A focused team is currently working on a strategic
plan and activities to promote RTI. Interactive
Panel Discussions with State officials NGO’s
SEWA, SAATH and media have been held to explore
ways to work together. SEWA have agreed to work
with us to achieve RTI objectives across their
members in the state.
UTI Lifeline
Mumbai: : On Feb 11 a Workshop on Emergency
Medical Services – was organisesd by UTI
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