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.

News of Current Activity:

FINDINGS OF SOCIAL AUDIT OF NREGS IN BHARAWAN AND SANDILA BLOCKS OF HARDOI DISTRICT IN U.P. DURING 25TH NOV.-2ND DEC., 2006

Conducted by Asha Parivar

NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act)

(1) Most of the people in the 50 Village Panchayats that were covered during the Social Audit exercise in Bharawan and Sandila Blocks of Hardoi District were not even aware of the NREGA. In fact, some Gram Pradhans also did not have a complete knowledge of all the provisions of the Act. Most of them were treating it like any other government scheme.

JOB CARDS

(2) Most of the people had not applied for Job Cards. Those who had, were still awaiting to get their Job Cards. The Gram Pradhans are usually favouring their family members and people who voted for them during the Panchayat elections for making of the Job Cards, like it happens in selecting beneficiaries for most government schemes.

(3) Names of all adult members of the family, especially the women members, are not being mentioned on the Job Cards. No Job Cards were issued to any woman even in women headed households. Name of only one woman was mentioned in a Job Card in Tiloiyakalan Gram Panchayat. The husband of the Gram Pradhan of Purwaman Village Panchayat deaclared in an open meeting that it was not possible for him to make Job Cards in the name of women.

(4) In almost all Gram Panchayats, people had to submit their photographs or pay money to the Pradhan to get their photographs affixed to the Job Cards.

(5) There is a discrepancy between the number of Job Cards shown to be issued in the Block Office records and the register which is available with the Gram Panchayat Vikas Adhikari (VDO). For example, in Atsalia, Atwadanda, Chhanoiya, Gogadev, Dhikunni, Kanaura Aant, Rudauli Newada and Lalamau Gram Panchayats the Block Office record shows, respectively, 269, 222, 301, 255, 270, 245, 240 and 260 Job Cards issued whereas actually only 121, 95, 164, 70, 100, 143, 187 and 180, respectively, cards have been issued. This implies that the official figure of number of Job Cards issued in Sandila and Bharawan Blocks being reported by the Block Office, 13,812 and 12,475, respectively, is probably exaggerated by more than two times.

(6) The Job Cards in all Village Panchayats mostly were with the Gram Pradhans or VDOs and some of them distributed them to people just before the arrival of social audit teams in the village. Still, most Job Cards, even if they have been made, have not reached the rightful owner.

(7) In some Gram Panchayats, like Sahgawan, Narainpur Sunda and Mavai Musalmanan complaints were received of money being charged in the range of Rs. 25-100 for issuing Job Card.

(8) In Gram Panchayat Jamu reports were received of Gram Pradhan having cancelled the Job Cards when the workers did not report for work. This was denied by the BDO Nafees Ahmad. Since the workers did not have the Cards with them the truth could not be verified.

(9) In most Gram Panchayats Job Cards of people who have worked were found blank, there were discrepancies among the Job Card entries, muster roll entries and workers’ testimonies. Name and description of work and wages paid were not shown on the Job Cards.

MUSTER ROLLS

(10) Muster rolls reflected a higher amount paid to the labour. This is a common way of embezzlement of funds. However, in addition to the corruption, under NREGA it also implies reduction by the number of exaggerated days out of 100 days of guarantee to the concerned worker and hence should be considered a crime.

(11) Payments have been registered in personal diaries and signature/thumb impression were taken either on these diaries, private registers, blank sheets or on blank muster rolls.

(12) Names of people who have not worked on the site are shown on muster rolls. Their Job Card numbers have been entered even though they are not aware of any such document. Some of them have worked on private jobs of Pradhans.

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

1) Sandeep Pandey
A. Summary of Activities and Biography

Sandeep Pandey’s work is pro-poor and pro-people. His objective is to empower the marginalized so that the poor can have a voice. His actions - from education to grassroots democracy to peace to promoting local ownership of resources - are all guided by that basic philosophy, and governed by an ideology that is Gandhian and humanitarian.
One fundamental basis of his work is community ownership. Sandeep does not see the work he does as something an organization “does” for the community - in his view the community is the organization and there is no line between the two. The community owns and directs the work, resulting in empowerment of the community to make changes in their lives. This is the key to making the changes permanent.
Below are some of his areas of work. They include education, peace, communal harmony, human rights, grassroots democracy, right to information, right to food and right to employment.
Asha for Education The beginning of his work can be traced to when he co-founded Asha for Education with Deepak Gupta and V.J.P Srivatsoy while working on his Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley in 1991. Asha today has over a 1000 volunteers in 65+ chapters across the world and continues to work within the principles defined by the co-founders - democracy, the strength of debate and discussion, a non-hierarchical and egalitarian structure, and the spirit of volunteering. On returning to India after his Ph.D, Sandeep started Asha in India and has since initiated chapters/centers in Guwahati, Mumbai, Varanasi, Devria, Chandoli and Hyderabad. Asha world-wide today has 1000+ volunteers and raises $3 million per year which it disburses to over 250 projects in India.
Right to Information His work since 1997 has focused on Hardoi district in U.P. starting in the village of Lalpur, 60kms from Lucknow. The work gained momentum when Sandeep initiated the Right to Information (RTI) activity in the area. The RTI movement has resulted in openness and transparency of the operations of the pradhans (village heads) and other administrative officials in the area, resulting in better functioning of a variety of services from borewell and road construction projects to primary health care centers and government schools. The impact of the villagers’ awareness over the last 8 years of their rights, and the changes they can bring about, has been such that in the current atmosphere in the area, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a pradhan to win an election without pledging to have open accounts and meetings involving the villagers. After a recent set of panchayat elections, several newly elected panchayat presidents and council members attended a unique ceremony – watched by the District Magistrate, they took an oath of ‘office and transparency’ as opposed to the customary oath of ‘office and secrecy’. Democracy is thus being strengthened at the grassroots with transparent and good governance in panchayats, a very significant achievement.
The RTI movement itself and embodies the same principles. All organizational meetings are public, all accounts of the movement are transparent. Practicing what they want to get done is at the core of all of Sandeep’s work. The movement has grown to cover a large part of Hardoi district. During the recent nationwide anti-bribery campaign, 10,000 of the 20,000 applications filed in the country overall where filed by the communities in Hardoi district.
Employment Guarantee Scheme Using the weapons of transparency and awareness Sandeep has worked to make the Employment Guarantee Scheme by the government a success. He has mobilized the community to get access to ‘muster’ roles (lists that maintain accounts of wages given for local public works. These are traditional areas of rampant corruption and transparent access to these lists plays a crucial role in the implementation of the Scheme, which in turn is critical for the long-term success of the Scheme. Success of the Scheme in the long-term will have a long lasting impact on the marginalized in India. 1000 job cards were issued as a direct result of pressure from the community initiated by Sandeep, and 3000 more have been promised job cards. A social audit was concluded on December 2, 2006 in Hardoi helped bring pressure on the government bureaucracy by pointing out several flaws in implementation.

Right to Food Again, the weapons of transparency and awareness have been used to address the corrupt public distribution system. A social audit of ration shops that are part of the public distribution system was initiated in 36 panchayats.
Education Sandeep’s viewpoint on education rapidly changed after he returned to India. To him, education should lead to self-reliance and values for a just society. It has not been easy to reconcile these goals with those of the conventional education system, which trains people for largely non-existent jobs, and aims to bring out the competitiveness in people. Education activities he has initiated include 14 non-formal centers serving the needs of 600 children in the Lalpur area and 300 children in Lucknow slums teaching reading, writing, math, sciences, and awareness of one’s environment. All centers are run by community youth. Teachers’ interaction and training camps are underway in the region to develop improved teaching methods and appropriate curriculum. He was invited by the Indian government to participate in the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) to contribute his ideas to education in schools across India.
Peace and Nuclear Disarmament To Sandeep, being patriotic means being true to the interests of the common citizen of India, a majority of whom are fighting a desperate daily struggle for survival. He opposes the whole idea of security based on arms and the military because it takes away crucial resources from the poor. To further this goal, he works on peace and harmony amongst all nations and peoples in South Asia. The philosophy underlying the work has been involving the common citizens of the South Asian countries, and his tool has been peace marches to provide a unique opportunity for people to intermingle and negate the destructive tendencies of distrust, hatred, and enmity. He and fellow activists undertook the Karachi(Pakistan)-to-Delhi(India) Friendship March in 2005, and in 2005, they marched from Delhi (India) to Multan (Pakistan). During these marches he initiates discussions at villages on issues related to peace between Indian and Pakistan. An offshoot of this work has been a group actively working on visa-free borders between India and Pakistan. In 1999 he walked over 1500Km in 88 days from Pokhran, the site of India’s nuclear tests, to Sarnath, the site of Buddha’s first teachings, creating awareness of the impact of nuclearization. In 2003 Sandeep and fellow activists hosted children from the Khaldunya school in Islamabad in Lucknow for a week (they continue to exchange emails with the friends they made in India).
Communal Harmony In 2002, he marched from Chitrakoot to Ayodhya in the aftermath of the Gujarat carnage, to give the message that the common citizen is religious but not communal. The march held several public meetings along the way to discuss what the people have practiced for centuries – tolerance for religion.

Globalization Sandeep has been active in voicing the concerns of various communities against exploitation by various multi-national organizations and institutions in this era of globalization. In particular he has been facilitating the community protest against Coke at Mehindiganj, UP, where the ground water levels are being rapidly depleted by the Coke bottling plant. This struggle is gaining support from other world-wide groups fighting Coke in different parts of the world. As with the other issues, a key focus has been the common citizen, such as explaining the situation to small businessmen who will then voluntarily remove Coke from their shelves. In March 2006 an indefinite dharna was organized outside the Coke bottling plant. Twenty villages in the vicinity came together to embark on this indefinite vigil, and only left after some promises from Coke.

Affiliations Sandeep’s formal associations include: (1) Founder member, Asha Parivar
2) Volunteer, Asha, India (the work on community empowerment and education is part of his work with Asha)
(3) Government committee: Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE) and its sub-committee on Girl Education and Common School System of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India (Nominated Member)
(4) Gandhian Institute of Studiesï in Varanasi funded by ICSSR (Member, Board of Management)
(5) People’s Union for Human Rights (President)
(6) National Alliance of People’s Movements (National Convenor) (the Coke struggle and peace and nuclear disarmament activities are as part of NAPM)
(7) Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (Member, National Committee)
(8) Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (Member, National Committee).
He was awarded the Magsaysay Award (also known as the Asian Nobel prize) for Emergent Leadership in 2002. The award recognizes individuals forty years or younger for outstanding work in the issues of social change in his or her community.

Detailed activity reports on Sandeep’s work are at:
http://www.ashaparivar.org/
http://www.thesouthasian.org/asha_parivar.html
http://www.ashanet.org/pandey/visit2005/
http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=22
http://www.ashanet.org/india/lalpur-1.htm
Speaking tours in US and Canada
http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/2005/sandeep_pandeys_itinerary.htm...
http://www.ashanet.org/pandey/visit2005/
and
http://www.ashanet.org/canada/sandeeppandey/

B. Awards
2002 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership http://www.ashanet.org/pandey/citation.html
2005 ICA-USA Recognition Award for Sandeep’s life’s work dedicated to education or marginalized children, promoting communal harmony in India and working for nuclear disarmament and India-Pakistan peace.
http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/2005/icausa_recognition_award_2005...
and
http://www.charityfocus.org/blog/cf/arch/local_events/000909.html

C. CV of Dr. Sandeep Pandey
SANDEEP PANDEY
Social Activist
Date of Birth: 22nd July, 1965
Contact: A-893, Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016, U.P.
Telephone: 0522-2347365, 3949406, Mobile: 9415022772 (with wife Arundhati Dhuru)
e-mail: ashaashram@yahoo.com
Areas of Interest: Education for underprivileged children, Human rights, Empowerment of marginalized communities, Struggles for strengthening Democracy, Right to Information for Transparency and Accountability, People’s politics, Governance, Communal Harmony, Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, India Pakistan Friendship, Corporate Accountability
Work Experience: (1) Community empowerment in rural areas of Hardoi district since 2000.
(2) Grassroots work in rural areas of Ballia district, 1994 to 1998 in the area of education.
(3) Work with a construction workers’ cooperative and on communal harmony in Kanpur, 1992 to 1993.
(4) Teaching and Research at IIT Kanpur from 1992 to 1993 in Mechanical Engineering.
Important Events: (1) Global Peace March for 1500 km in 88 days from Pokaran to Sarnath between 11th May and 6th August, 1999 with the objective of global nuclear disarmament and peace.
(2) March for Communal Harmony for 500 km in 26 days from Chitrakoot to Ayodhya between May and June, 2002 in the aftermath of violence in Gujarat and Godhra with the objective of containing spread of communal feelings.
(3) March to protest exploitation of underground water resources by Coca-Cola from Ballia to Varanasi between 15th November and 24th November, 2004.
(4) March for strengthening peace and friendship between India and Pakistan from Delhi to Multan between March 23rd to May 11th , 2005.

Education: Ph.D. in Mechincal Engineering from Univeristy of California, Berkeley in 1992.

Writings: (1) Various articles in Hindi and English newspapers of the country published from 1994 to present.
(2) South Asia Nuclear Audit, a report co-authored with A.H. Nayyar, a Pakistani Physicist.

Affiliations: (1) Member, Central Advisory Board on Education, MHRD, Government of India.
(2) Member, Sub-committee on ‘Girls Education and Common School System’ of CABE.
(3) National Convenor, National Alliance of People’s Movements.
(4) President, People’s Union for Human Rights.
(5) Member, National Committee, Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace.
Founder of Asha in 1991 at University of California, Berkeley campus and in 1992 in India an organization dedicated to work for education of underprivileged children.
Visits to Jails: (1) 1994, Dhulia, Maharashtra for 4 days, arrested from satyagrah of Narmada Bachao Andolan.
(2) 2001, Kanpur for 1 day, arrested from fast with textile workers of British India Corporation.
(3) 2002, Faizabad for 2 days, arrested before the organization of a workshop on communal harmony.
(4) 2003, Faizabad for 7 days, arrested from Tulsi Chaura temple while on a fast to protest use of Ayodhya issue for political purposes.
(5) 2003, Varanasi for 2 days, arrested from Mehdiganj while protesting against a Coca-Cola bottling plant.
(6) 2004, Varanasi for 4 days, arrested from Mehdiganj while protesting against Coca-Cola bottling plant.
D. Publications

From 1994 he has numerous articles in Hindi and English newspapers in India and in other Asian countries, and he co-authored a report ‘South Asia Nuclear Audit’ with A.H. Nayyar, a Pakistani Physicist.
Links of 9 articles written by Dr Sandeep Pandey, published in 3 southasian countries during past 6 months----------------------------------I N D I AHINDUSTAN TIMES:March 19, 2005: Rediscovering each other http://www.sacw.net/peace/Sandeep_Pandey19032005.htmlKASHMIR TIMES:May 5, 2005: Editorial: We will return to finish the marchhttp://march4peace.blogspot.com/April 18, 2005: Editorial: Priorities in India, Pakistan relationshttp://march4peace.blogspot.com/2005/04/priorities-in-india-pakistan-relations.html (Original Kashmir Times Editorial article link is not functioning)TEHELKAAn unfinished march http://www.indianet.nl/indpk153.html#20050507c ***************B A N G L A D E S HTHE DAILY STARMay 31, 2005: Dual India-Pakistan citizenship?http://www.thedailystar.net/2005/05/31/d50531150397.htmJuly 9, 2005: We will returnhttp://www.thedailystar.net/2005/07/09/d507091502106.htm P A K I S T A N The NewsMarch 21, 2005: Moving towards a durable peacehttp://jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2005-daily/21-03-2005/oped/o3.htmApril 11, 2005: India-Pakistan Peace Marchhttp://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2005-daily/11-04-2005/oped/newspost.htmApril 26, 2005: View from the groundhttp://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2005-daily/26-04-2005/oped/o4.htm
Other Publications (Partial Listing)
1) Magsaysay Award Response
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Response/ResponsePandeySan.htm
2) More than Schooling
http://www.indiatogether.org/opinions/pandey.htm
3) Bureaucracy stands in the way of benefits
http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/feb/gov-hardoi.htm
4) Pradhans under the eyes of Asha Ashram
http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/nov/gov-ashawatch.htm
5) India Today Conclave 2006: Bridging the Divide
Topic: Government vs NGOs?
http://www.indiatodayconclave.com/sandeep-spe.htm
6) Right to Information receives legitimacy
http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/2005/right_to_information_movement...
7) Beyond boundaries: Oneness of Civilization
The Times of India, October 28, 2006
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/190374.cms
8) Cleaning up polls
http://www.siliconeer.com/past_issues/2005/november2005.html#Anchor--SOC...
9) The Right to Know: Keeping Government Accountable
http://www.siliconeer.com/past_issues/2006/september2006.html#Anchor--SU...
10) Three Postings on intentblog.com
http://www.intentblog.com/author.php?author=Sandeep%20Pandey
11) Disappearing Water Levels
http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2006/2057.html

2) Jayshankar Samajsewi
Coordinator Chandauli District RTI, NREGA and Education efforts
Village---kurai
Post-----Baburi
Dist-Chandauli Pin -232102
Mob No. +919839016248
Jayshankervns@yahoo.com.

Programs……….

1. Right to information.
2. National rural employment guarantee act.
3. Right to food campaigning(mid day meal, PDS)
4. Education for all and different activities on primary education.

Aims………….

1. Aware common people about the above programme and activities and to take all welfare schemes of government to all the needy people.
2. To robust Transparency and Democracy and make politicians and beaurocrates accountable towards common people.

Work……………….

1. To aware all masses about the use of right to information act.
2. To arrange seminars, meetings about all the above issues.
3. Slogans and wall writings.
4. Provide employment to rural workers through ‘National Employment Rural Guarantee Scheme’.
5. Distribute pamphlets about –RTI, NRGS among the common people.
6. Cycle march in rural areas.
7. To arrange meetings between Panchayat members and common people.
8. To arrange meetings of primary education committee for improvement of primary education and making it easy and impact-full.
9. aware farmers about the different government schemes for their welfares through chopal.
10. Running of different village libraries.

Accomplishments

1. Study of nine blocks of distract. Navgarh , Chakiya , Sahabganj , Nemtawat , SAkaldiha,Dhanapur, Chahaniya, Bharahani,Chandauli etc..

2. To arrange one to one interaction between women committee of five villages member strength around 250 members. – Block navgarh, meeting place –parsia and barwadi.

3. 200 villagers of musheer community( schedule tribe) of village Bodalpur and Kushai block chakiya provided with employment card under the national employment rural guarantee scheme.
4. 300villagers of gram panchayat kurain block chandoli were aware about the RTI and NREGS act.
5. Participated in World Social Forum in Karachi –Pakistan between 24 to 29 march.
6. Have participated in social audit padyatra in dist. Dungarpur –Rajasthan. Dated between 12 the April to 30 April.
7. 35 youths have participated in a workshop related to RTI and NERGS village pachparawa block niyamtavd.
8. 70 youths have participated in a workshop related to RTI and NERGS village chahiniya block chahiniya.
9. One day dharna protest at office of the distract programme officer village chandoli for protesting about illegal distributation of ’Bal Pushta Ahaar’.
10. Running a non formal education programme (Asha samajik vidhyala) with the strength of 30 children of ‘bend’ schedule caste village-manohar ,block-niyamtabad.
11. Running a National campaign about RTI between 1 July 2006 to 15th july 2006 called ‘ghoose ko ghoosa ‘. At dist. Headquarter (vikas bhawan) dist-chandoli in which 121 complain have been lodged, 300 participated directly, 250 participated through phone and supported by 11 volunteers.
12. One day campaign in tahasil –Sakaldiha about RTI . In which 25 complaints have been lodged, 110 peoples have been participatd directly and 60 through phone calls. Supported by 5 volunteers.
13. Three days campaign on 25th , 26th and 27th July about RTI in block – Navalgarh (Naxalite affected area), in which 60 cases have been lodged ,200 peoples have been participated directly and 100 through phone calls. Supported by 9 volunteers.

Success Stories of RTI

Mr. Umesh Tiwari Principal of primary school gram panchayat –kurai village Chandoli, was not taking his classes from 1992 and had appointed a teacher on ad-hoc basis at his place and running his own coaching classes for IAS and PCS elementary examination at his own village which is 30 km away from his school.
The villagers have lodged so many applications and complain against him but everything was in vain. But after the use of RTI he started taking his classes from 15th august and also making proper arrangement for mid day meal for the student.
This story has been covered by national DD news.

2.Shiv Tapasya Paswan MLA of Chakiya distract-chandoli U.P. granted fund for Baburi-dharauli marg after lodging an RTI application about the MLA fund. And he is taking kneen interest about the slandered of thru road.

3. 200 rashan cards have been reissued by B.D.O of village –devwkhat block navgarh after lodging an RTI application.
4. Dheerja devi W/O Rama Shanker bind (SC) chairperson of ‘Mahila Mangal Dal’ village –negura block –dhanapur is supposed to get caution mani from ‘Yuva Khel Awam Pradeshek Kalayan Vibhag-Chandoli’ in 2000 .but the department officers and gram pradhan both have swelled up the money, but after the use of RTI act the present gram pradhan fond them guilty and return money to the actual person.
5. Because of the use and awareness programme runned by our organization, Mr. Vasudev yadav with his 4 member team have joined our campaign as a volunteer .He is a Bhojpuri tribal /folk singer who are presenting their programme since 1991 on Doordarshan and Aakashwani Varanasi.
6. I am giving training on the use of RTI act to different 415 youth groups ‘Navyouvak Mangal Dal ‘ around 1600 members of chandoli dist.

Because Chandoli is affected by Naxali movement and from geographical viewpoint, it is filled with forest and valleys. Rivers, Dams and rocky terrain, some where there is unfurtile land, you have to even struggle to get clean drinking water.
Commencing any program here is very tough as this area is surrounded by two states (Bihar and Jharkhand).

http://www.localgovernance.org/jayshankar0.html

3) Ajay Patel
Name: Ajay Patel
Father?s Name: Sri J.B.Patel
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 10-11-1975
Marital Status: Married
Address: Village- Mankaiyai
Post office Mirzamura
Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh,
221307
Contact Number: 09935684290
E-mail address: aasravns@yahoo.com
Educational Qualification: B.Com, 1997
University of Allahabad
Work Experience:
1999-2002
? I worked individually for children education (Musahar community) in Jogapur, Mankaiya,Barki, Dudhawa, (Varanasi Dist.) NarainPur (Mirzapur Dist.) Chaury (Bhadohi Dist.) who live under the tree and 100% illiterate and I worked for educational right (Now also the children belong to this community are not allowed inside the school if they want to study also. With our compulsion, these children inside the classroom are treated as untouchables and separated from the other students.
? I worked for three years constantly among these community children by getting registered their name in the Government record because there is no identification for this community so not any support received from the Govt. So the school is not taking the children for admission.
? I worked for this community for their livelihood in providing food, grains collected from the local village people. The main occupation was making leaf plate. Getting leaves from the forest to earn their food. They eat only one time with much difficulty.
? One of the members in cultural team (Abhinav Natya Sanstan) representing social problems in the form of drama. And honored by Central Human Recourse Develop Minister (Govt.of India) and Hon. Governor (U.P.)
I started an Organization AASRA working for development of Musahar especially for quality based education and self-business. Two-education center and a Sewing centre in Varanasi.
2003-Till now (Asha for Education- Lalpur)
? In lalpur (Hardoi) a movement by lalpur student for their scholarship of two year which was stopped by Officer and Panchayat.
? In lalpur, I am working on Right to food, Right to work.
? Right to food, campaigning on filing an appeal to Supreme Court.
? I am working for a movement against Government to implement the policy on stoppage of wine.
? Leaded a Cycle rally by 1400 kms against corruption and political crimes. It also for the murder of Sateyedra Dubey (IIT- Kanpur), 2004
? Participated in peace march from Delhi to Multan, 2005
? I am working with the primary school students regarding corruption in school fees, scholarship and mid day meal at primary level.
? And involved in other activities of Asha.
? Now working for tsunami effected area (Nagapattinam dist.)

4) Keshav Chand - Resume? & Asha Work
Name: Keshav Chand
Father?s Name: Sri. Surya Deo
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 12-8-1979
Marital Status: Unmarried
Address: Village- Malhani
Post office Bhat par ? rani
Deoria district, Uttar Pradesh,
274702
Temporary address: i) Asha Ashram, Lalpur
Post office Atrouli, Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh,
274702
ii) A-260 Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016
Contact Number: 09839883518
E-mail address: ashadeoria_keshav@yahoo.com
Educational Qualification: M.A Sociology, 2001
University of Lucknow
Work Experience:
1995-2000
? Worked as a Chairperson in Youth Committee (Registered) for against using drugs among youths by creating awareness to stop using drugs.
? Worked as a volunteer in teaching the village children in a common place with the help of other team members in Malhani village.
? One of the members in cultural team (Malhani village) representing social problems in the form of drama.
? Initiated in cleaning and construction of roads in Malhani village without any financial support with the help of youths.
? Sports team of Youth Committee participated in district level.
2000- 2001
+ Elected as a member of village panchayat of Malhana village. I mainly worked on organising open meeting to discuss on village development.
? In Uttar Pradesh, first time to have a balwadi in two revenue villages mostly in Dalit areas. My contribution is to get sanction from the Government to construct the balwadi in those areas.
? I made arrangement for two Dalit girls marriage, from poor background and without father.
2001-2002
Protested against increasing of school fees in Government schools, which affected the
children education and forming a new syllabus in schools. In the campaign, the students participated from school to university level.
2002-Till now (Asha for Education- Lucknow and Lalpur)
? Worked for two months in taking survey in Majhareta village, Hardoi district
? In private and Government schools, the level of knowledge among primary school children, a detailed survey was taken for comparison.
? In lalpur, I am working on right to information, right to food, right to work, right to land, right to live and anti-corruption movement in 40 villages.
? Visiting the school centres (Asha centres) and government schools also.
? In Hardoi and Sitapur district, movement against anti-corruption among Government officials.
? In Lucknow, I am involved in right to information in all aspects in 20 districts.
? Right to food, campaigning on filing an appeal to Supreme Court.
? Participated in march against chemical mixing with drinking water.
? Leaded a Cycle rally by 1400 kms against corruption and political crimes. It also for the murder of Sateydar Dubey (IIT- Kanpur), 2004
? Participated in peace march from Delhi to Multan, 2005
? Campaigning for peace in Gujarat against religion struggle.
? In March, two times in Lalpur areas, cycle rally and padyatra participated for community awareness.
? Coordinating for employment guarantee yatra from Lucknow to Shahjahanpur.
? I am coordinating the Six centres in Deoria and Kushinagar running for dalit children education for past one year.
? Three years back, I started a Ramanand Girls Junior High School in Malhani village, Deoria district.
? I have made various site visits of Asha projects and involved in other activities of Asha

Budget for Janata Soochna Kendras

http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/Budget_Jan_Soochna_Kendra.doc

Total Requirements (One time + First Year): $86,225

Photos of the Asha Ashram Lalpur, by Melli Annamalai, June 2006

More pictures at
http://www.ashanet.org/india/lalpur-pictures.htm

Fissile Materials in South Asia: The implications of the US-India Nuclear Deal , Zia Mian, A.H. Nayyar, R. Rajaraman and M.V. Ramana http://www.fissilematerials.org/ipfm/site_down/ipfmresearchreport01.pdf

Information on ‘Janata Soochana Kendra’: http://ashaparivar.org/paic/concept.html

2001 workshop resources: http://www.ashanet.org/princeton/talks/meeting01/

2006 Princeton workshop on Right to Information: http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/RTI_Workshop_Notes.doc

Has Indian Democracy Failed? by Smitu Kothari: http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/portal/2007/08/1099
"We take pride in that defining moment in 1950 when, despite a recognition of the enormous challenges of knitting together a 'nation' out of a staggering diversity of communities, ethnicities, languages and disparities, we decided to take the bold political step by pledging India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. What remains today of this pledge?"

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

Template for Muster Roll Data in Spreadsheet (.xls) format for use by people's groups and NGOs:
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/Muster_Roll_Template.xls

Below are examples of information that will be available from the Janata Soochna Kendras - physical locations providing access to information. Most of the data will also be posted on this website in Hindi and English as possible.

Both the government data and the details produced by activists after the audits of government data will be available. All this data will be arranged by block and village.

1) Templates of the data available from Government:

a) MP and MLA Funds Government Data Template: (Sample)
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/mp.xls

b) NREGA Muster Rolls Data as provided by Government: (Sample)
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/musternic.asp.htm

c) NREGA Work Application Form
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/NREGA_Work_Appform.doc

d) NREGA Work Application Form (in Hindi)
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/App_form_NREGA_pdf.pdf

2) Data templates for highlighting discrepancies collected through social audits by people's groups:

a) MP and MLA Funds Template for data from Social Audits
TBD

b) Template for Discrepancies in Muster Roll
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/AuditResultTemplate.doc

Other templates will be uploaded as available.

Supplementaty Material:
a) Muster Roll Watch - Guidelines for Verification of NREGA Muster Rolls (in English)
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/mrwatch06guidelines.doc

b) Muster Roll Watch - Guidelines for Verification of NREGA Muster Rolls (in Hindi)
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/files/MR_Verification_Guidelines_Hindi.pdf