Asha Parivar

TEN-DAY FAST IN PROTEST AGAINST THE BLACK LAWS AND FOR RELEASE OF Dr. BINAYAK SEN, AJAY T G AND OTHERS
(16th to 25th June, 2008)

To sign up for solidarity fast or to endorse the campaign to free Dr Sen, visit here: http://www.ashaparivar.org/petition/binayaksen/

Dear friends,

A 10-day Fast beginning 16th June, 2008, is being organized at Raipur in Chhattisgarh to express solidarity with Dr. Binayak Sen (Medical Doctor), Ajay T G (Film Maker) - both members of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and many others detained under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (1967) amended in 2004.

These draconian laws sanction the violation of due process by the state, and thus contravene internationally accepted norms of jurisprudence as well as democratic governance. As Senior Advocate K G Kannabiran, National President of PUCL, India, argues in his letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the CSPSA and UAPA operate by criminalizing the very performance of civil liberties activities, and culpability is decided upon not by direct proof, but through guilt by association.

The PUCL-Chhattisgarh Unit, with Dr. Binayak Sen's active leadership as its General Secretary, had exposed the government sponsored so-called campaign Salwa-Judum in Chhattisgarh which legitimizes extra-constitutional violence and pits adivasis against adivasis.

- Detailed Data for 34 Village Panchayats and summary of findings from Social Audit of NREGS Expenditures in Behender Block, Uttar Pradesh, May 2007
www.ashaparivar.org/cms/files/SocialAuditNREGA_Behender.doc

Muster Roll Data from Samoudha panchayat of Behender Block
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/Muster_Roll_Samoudha_2006_153.xls

- Village wise data tables and field reports from Social Audit of NREGS Expenditures in 50 Village Panchayats of Bharawan and Sandila Blocks, Uttar Pradesh, Nov 2006
www.ashaparivar.org/cms/files/SocialAuditNREGA_Bharawan_Sand_2006.doc

Data provided by Government and data available from physical verification of govt records as audited by Asha Parivar volunteers

NREGS

Govt muster roll and measurement books data

Social Audit data

MLA and MP LAD Funds

Income Expenditure Details
- Village Panchayat
- Block Panchayat

Zila Panchayat

BPL and Antyodaya Scheme Beneficiaries List

Indira Awas Beneficiaries List

RIGHT TO INFORMATION CAMPAIGN IN ANDHRA PRADESH

Organiser: United Forum for RTI Campaign – A.P.

Dates: 21st May to 26th May, 2007

Venues: Outside District offices including that of Collector’s, Mandal offices, Municipal offices all thoughout Andhra Pradesh.

Activities: Volunteers, including members of civil society organisations, will help common citizens understand the RTI Act, in drafting their applications under the Act and getting it submitted to the concerned Public Information Officer or Assistant PIO.

Since the last 2-3 years i have been thinking to get associated with some group as Ashaparivar and be of some help to people who actually need it...It gives me great satisfaction and happiness when i see organisations such as this working so sincerely & whole heartedly towards betterment of the society and solving the common people's problems in a systematic way.I feel Ashaparivar is a great platform to work for the general mass and to be the connecting link between the government and the people.I hope to keep working with the organisation as long as i can and contribute in my own little ways.

- Detailed Data for 34 Village Panchayats and summary of findings from Social Audit of NREGS Expenditures in Behender Block, Uttar Pradesh, May 2007
www.ashaparivar.org/cms/files/SocialAuditNREGA_Behender.doc

Muster Roll Data from Samoudha panchayat of Behender Block
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/Muster_Roll_Samoudha_2006_153.xls

- Village wise data tables and field reports from Social Audit of NREGS Expenditures in 50 Village Panchayats of Bharawan and Sandila Blocks, Uttar Pradesh, Nov 2006
www.ashaparivar.org/cms/files/SocialAuditNREGA_Bharawan_Sand_2006.doc

Data provided by Government and data available from physical verification of govt records as audited by Asha Parivar volunteers

NREGS

Govt muster roll and measurement books data

Social Audit data

MLA and MP LAD Funds

Income Expenditure Details
- Village Panchayat
- Block Panchayat

Zila Panchayat

To: Public Information Officer
Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur
Dated: 10th October, 2007

From: Sandeep Pandey
A-893, Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016
Ph: 0522-2347365, M: 9415022772, e-mail: ashaashram@yahoo.com

Sub: Request for information under RTI Act, 2005.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Kindly provide me the following information u/s 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005:

(1) How many daily wages workers or non-employees of IIT Kanpur have suffered injuries and/or untimely deaths on campus during its history?

(2) How many of the abovementioned were given treatment by the Health Centre of IIT Kanpur?

(3) In how many of the abovementioned cases enquiry committees were constituted to ascertain the cause of injury and/or death? How many of these enquiries have been completed?

PRESS RELEASE

Dated: 22nd September, 2007

THIRD DEATH UNRAVELED AT IIT KANPUR

More skeletons are falling from the cupboard of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The prestigious and world renowned Institute seems to have a practice of suppressing information about untimely deaths of daily wage workers on the campus.

Following the revelation of deaths of 12 years old Rohit by snake/scorpion bite followed by refusal by IIT Medical Centre to treat him on the pretext that he was not an employee’s son and 24 years old Udayvir Yadav by electric shock from his own welding machine on 26th and 30th August, 2007, respectively, information about whom IIT administration first tried to suppress, there were murmurs of a third death. Now it is confirmed that Mohammad Rustam, resident of Malda, W. Bengal, aged between 50-55 years, died around 26th July, 2007, due to snake/scorpion bite in the early hours like Rohit. He is survived by 3 sons and 3 daughters. He used to work at the Core Lab construction site near Wind Tunnel and SIDBI Centre on campus. His dead body was shipped out silently of the campus in a tractor trolley and buried in a graveyard near a Mosque in Naramau. The Mukhiya of his village was summoned and the matter was ‘settled.’

The nexus of IIT administration and contractors first tried to summarily dispose of these case so that neither are liable for the deaths. In spite of the best efforts by IIT Director to strangle right to expression by placing a ban on anybody from IIT officially approaching the media, the news about three deaths leaked out. Some IIT professors also feel indignant that the stories of deaths have been revealed to the outside world. They are not so much concerned about the families of the dead or the poor working conditions of the workers who have made it possible for them to enjoy world class material facilities on the campus.

The insensitive and cold attitude of IIT community to the deaths of daily wage workers and shoddy manner in which they are dealt must by strongly condemned. It shows IIT in very poor light so far its respect for human rights record is concerned. The guilty at the Medical Centre, at least in the case of Rohit’s death, must be punished and dependents of deceased must be immediately compensated. The IIT administration must put in place a transparent and verifiable system for ensuring due rights of the daily wage workers under the law of the land. Health care for families of workers, education for their children and good quality housing (to prevent incidents like snake/scorpion bites) is the minimum basic responsibility of IIT if it is to live up to its reputation of a world class institution.

Sandeep Pandey
National Convenor, National Alliance of People’s Movements

Join the solidarity fast or endorse the campaign: Click here to go to the petition page

View the Report of the First Day of Solidarity Fast in Imphal
View the Report of the Second Day of Solidarity Fast in Imphal
Additional reports of the Irom Solidarity Fast Campaign

COURSE ON 'EMPOWERING GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY'

A course for activists and students of social movements offered by Asha Ashram
14th to 20th December, 2007 Friday to Thursday
Venue: Asha Ashram, Village Lalpur, Post Atrauli, District Hardoi, U.P., India

Click here to register for the course: http://ashaparivar.org/cms/comment/reply/30/174.

Course Schedule:
Date and Day Topic Instructor
14th Dec., Fri. Right to information To be confirmed.

PRESS RELEASE
NAPM Opposes the India-US Nuclear Cooperation Agreement
August 9, 2007

The National Alliance of People’s Movements, a network of over two hundred people’s movements in India working for social and economic justice, believes that the India-US nuclear deal has grave consequences for India’s national security and sovereignty, for India’s relations with its neighbours, for India’s economy, for the health of its people and for the state of its environment. It will directly impact the rights and well-being of the people of India for generations to come. On the anniversary of Quit India call given in 1942 and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, we demand that the Government of India withdraw from the India-US nuclear deal and reject strategic partnership with the United States.

Democracy
In July 2005, President George Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a deal to exempt India from US laws and international rules that for almost three decades have sought to prevent states from using commercial imports of nuclear technology and fuel to aid their nuclear weapons ambitions. These rules were created because India secretly used nuclear materials and technology that it acquired for peaceful purposes to make a nuclear weapon. The deal is of profound importance since it allows for India to import nuclear fuel, reactors and other technologies, and will enable India to expand both its nuclear weapons and nuclear energy programme.

The US Congress took a year and half to discuss and approve the new US policy and change existing US laws to enable nuclear commerce with India. In India, the government simply told parliament that it had made a deal with the United States. Subsequently, the US and India have negotiated a ‘123 agreement,’ a treaty that will cover nuclear cooperation between the two countries. But while this agreement will have to be approved by the US Congress, India’s parliament will not be allowed a vote on it.

NAPM believes that the people of India have been denied the right to debate the nuclear deal and the larger changes in foreign policy and other issues that it involves, and to express their opinion through their elected representatives. The nuclear agreement should not be accepted under these circumstances.

Foreign policy
The United States sees the nuclear deal with India as part of a process of building a strategic relationship between the two countries. The US seeks to use India as a client state in its new confrontation with a rising China and to achieve other strategic goals, for example putting pressure on Iran.
NAPM believes that India should not compromise its national sovereignty or its long standing tradition of an independent non-aligned foreign policy. The India-US strategic partnership and the nuclear deal in particular will escalate the nuclear arms race between Pakistan and India, and upset the India-Pakistan peace process. It will also create serious tensions between India and China, instead of helping improve relations. The deal with the US also threatens India’s relations with Iran, which the US considers to be a rogue state. The US in particular is opposed to an Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline that could improve political and economic relations among these three countries and provide relatively cheap, clean energy to India.
Economy
The US –India nuclear deal was first announced as part of a larger package of agreements that included a commitment to “deepen the bilateral economic relationship” between the US and India, and create in India an enhanced “investment climate” so that “opportunities for investment will increase.” The US sees India as an increasingly important source of cheap labour and high profits for its corporations.
NAPM believes that privileging business interests means pursuing neo-liberal economic policies which favour the interests of Indian and US corporations. These policies include the creation of Special Economic Zones and other such measures that come at the cost of the poor. These policies have been followed for almost twenty years and have failed. In 2006, India was ranked at number 126 among 177 nations according to the United Nations Human Development Index. NAPM believes India should follow policies that will promote a just and equitable social and economic development aimed at meeting the needs of India’s poor and disadvantaged.
Energy
The nuclear deal assumes that nuclear energy is an economic and safe way for producing electricity for India. Nuclear energy has failed in India and offers no solution for the future. After 60 years of public funding Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) produces less than 3% of India’s electricity. For comparison, in less than a decade and without state support, wind energy now accounts for about 5% of India’s electricity capacity.

To escape its failures, the DAE plans to import large nuclear power plants and fuel. The US, France, Russia and Japan hope to profit from this. This pursuit of nuclear energy comes despite that fact that the cost of producing nuclear electricity in India is higher than non-nuclear alternatives and each reactor adds to the risk of a serious nuclear accident and worsens the problem of radioactive nuclear waste. The DAE’s budget is ten times more than the budget for development of renewable energy technologies. India must reverse its priorities and invest more in wind, solar, biomass and micro hydel energy resources.

NAPM believes that the real energy challenge facing India is to meet the needs of the majority of Indians who still live in its villages. India needs an energy policy that works with the rural poor to develop and provide the small-scale, local, sustainable and affordable energy systems that they need. Renewable energy resources are better suited to fulfill this need.

Major General (Retd.) Sudhir Vombatkere, D. Gabriele, Aruna Roy, Medha Patkar, Sr. Celia, Suniti S.R., Ulka Mahajan, Mukta Srivastava, Thomas Kocherry, N.D. Koli, Sanjay M.G, Anand Mazgoankar, Geetha Ramakrishnan, P. Chennaiah, Arundhati Dhuru, Hussain P.T., Uma Shankari, Sandeep Pandey