DEMOCRACY IN INDIA, August 25th – 26th 2007
Venue: Room No. 300, Wallace Hall, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544-1013, Ph:6092581522
Organized by Asha Parivar and Association for India’s Development
INTRODUCTION:
India's democracy is at a key moment; with global, national and local issues all becoming the focus of important struggle over power and accountability. The Indo-US nuclear deal marks a fundamental shift in Indian foreign and energy policy that commits India to a strategic partnership with the United States and expanded reliance on nuclear energy, but the decision has not been debated or approved by parliament or the country. Economic policy is focused on encouraging private investment, exports, the service sector and the urban upper and middle classes, rather than addressing the needs of India's majority, who live in rural communities that see starvation deaths and poor farmers commit suicide in increasing numbers. But democracy is also gaining strength as across the country, people are using the new Right to Information Act to make policy makers and bureaucrats accountable in new ways. The right to a social audit in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is an admission that people have the right to see and challenge how public funds are being spent by local government officials.
This two day workshop will discuss these struggles in India between global, national and local forces of dominance, and people's needs, aspirations and power. The workshop will reflect on the importance of these processes of organizing and taking a stand against inequality and injustice. We will try to understand how this can shape a more democratic balance between people and the state in India, and a better role for India in the world.
AGENDA:
August 25, 2007
Registration and break fast: 9.00am - 9.30am
Session I: 9.30 am to 12:30 pm
Topic: Rights of local communities over natural resources
Screening of film 'Holy Water' (20 mins), made by Ekelund Lotta from Sweden. The film will be followed by a discussion on assertion of rights over natural resources by local communities, the anti-Coca Cola struggle in Mehdiganj, and resistance by farmers to Special Economic Zones.
Discussions on: Special Economic Zones and Anti-Coke efforts
Speaker(s): Dipti Bhatnagar, UC Berkeley
and
Ray Rogers, Director, Campaign to Stop Killer Coke
LUNCH BREAK: 12.30 pm to 1.30 pm
Session II: 1.30 pm to 4.00 pm
Topic: Indo-US Nuclear deal
Is nuclear energy a solution to global warming? What are the implications of Indo-US nuclear deal?
Speaker(s): Zia Mian, Princeton University.
COFFEE BREAK: 4.00 pm – 4.30 pm
Session III: 4.30 pm to 7.00 pm
Performances on Social Issues
Play: Reality Check
The play questions the prevalent notion of development advocated by the pundits of economic theory and institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. It questions the perspective of the economic analysis we find in The Economist, Forbes, etc., which promotes the Thomas Friedman-style adulation of the India.
Artists: Shirin Shirin, Sameer, Neha and Kavita
Play: Spirit Plays
Spirit Plays is a traveling performance project that explores the intersection of art, politics, and daily breath. Through dance, poetry, prose, and music, the project addresses US-led violence and imperialism throughout the world, and visions of how to create a more peaceful, community-grounded way of life. The project is both an interactive performance and a workshop space involving everyone present.
Artists: Malavika Tara Mohanan and Denali Degraf
Dinner: 7.00pm
August 26, 2007
Breakfast: 8.30am - 9.00am
Session I: 9.00 am to 11.30 am
Topic: Right to work, food, information, education campaigns
Screening of film ‘Rozga adhikar yatra’ (30 minutes) produced by Monna Pawar, Panini Anand, Avinash Raghuvanshi and Anurag Singh. The film will be followed by a discussion on the role of movements for right to information, work and food in empowerment of poor communities.
Speaker(s): Reetika Khera, Princeton University.
Presentations:
1. 'Janata Soochana Kendra': Enabling People Participation Through Information and Verification; by Sirish Agarwal, Asha Parivar
2. Right to Education
LUNCH BREAK: 11.30 am to 12.30 pm
Session II: 12.30 pm to 2.00 pm
Topic: Political intervention at the grassroots. Role of people’s movements and common citizens in electoral reforms.
Speaker: Sandeep Pandey, Asha Parivar.
Presentation and Discussion: Human rights in democracy, moderator Ravi Gangavarupu
[Post-Workshop session on Database and Interface Design for Janata Soochna Kendra
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, Sunday Aug 26
A detailed session on Janata Soochna Kendra work will be held after the conclusion of Princeton Workshop. ]
Speakers Bio:
Dipti Bhatnagar, UC Berkeley: Dipti is a student at UC, Berkeley and has served as a volunteer for the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
Ray Rogers: Ray is the founder of Corporate Campaign, Inc., which has a long history of labor, human rights and environmental activism and established the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke in 2003. Ray has appeared frequently in media outlets worldwide. In 2006, *Business Week* described Ray as a "legendary union activist" and *Time* magazine wrote in the '80s that Ray has "brought some of the most powerful corporations to their knees, and his ideas are spreading." *The Nation*, in a May 1, 2006 cover story on the Campaign to Stop Killer
Coke, stated: "The Coke campaign has grown into the largest anticorporate movement since the campaign against Nike for sweatshop abuses."
Zia Mian, Princeton University: Prof. Zia directs the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia, in the Program on Science and Global Security, at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. He has edited and co-edited a number of books on South Asia.
Reetika Khera, Princeton University: Reetika holds a Ph.D. from the Delhi School of Economics. Her dissertation examined drought-related government interventions (especially public works programs) and was based on fieldwork conducted in four districts of Rajasthan in 2002-3. She is currently a visiting fellow at Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton university and working with Angus Deaton (in collaboration with Jean Dreze, Delhi School of Economics), looking at the factors that affect mortality and fertility in India.
Sirish Agarwal volunteers for Asha Parivar and other development groups to promote rights of communities and their participation in public planning and administration. His current focus is to place tools for such input within easy access of people.
Sandeep Pandey, Asha Parivar: Sandeep is the recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, 2002, for his work for the rights of the poor and the underprivileged in India. He is also the co-founder of groups Asha for Education and Asha Parivar. He is currently a visiting researcher at the Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University.
Artisits:
Shirin Shirin from Justice in South Asia (JiSA). Shirin has over two decades of experience doing theater for public education on issues ranging from HIV-AIDS to globalization. She teaches theater at schools and universities and works with non-governmental groups that use theater for public outreach.
For more information - http://www.thepilgrimageproject.org/artistalliance/aapeople.htm
Malavika Tara Mohanan has trained in Bharatanatyam since age eight, studied theater in Singapore and California, and explored various other movement traditions in recent years. Denali DeGraf is a musician and instrument-builder living in Patagonia, Argentina.
For more information - http://spiritplays.org/
Venue:
Room No. 300, Wallace Hall, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544-1013, Phone : 6092581522
Registration:
Register for the workshop by leaving your details at: www.ashaparivar.org/cms/Regis
Directions:
http://www.princeton.edu/main/visiting/
http://www.princeton.edu/%7Epumap/buildings/153.html
Wallace Hall (venue), Ph:6092581522
Parking:
Campus Parking on Weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. is free to visitors. Visitors may park in most of the University's numbered parking lots. Lots 10, 3 and 2 are close to Wallace Hall (adjacent to Lot 33).
Parking directions - http://www.princeton.edu/main/visiting/aroundcampus/parking/
Visitor parking map - http://www.princeton.edu/main/visiting/aroundcampus/parking/parking-map+.... Parking lots on the map are colored red.
Call 732-887-6914 if you need directions.
Accommodation:
We will try to accommodate as many volunteers as possible in and around Princeton area with AID and Asha volunteers. However, please note that we have a shortage of volunteers and hence if you happen to have friends and family in the area, it will be helpful, if you could make your own accommodation arrangements.
Wallace Hall (venue), Ph:6092581522
Resources:
2001 workshop resources http://www.ashanet.org/princeton/talks/meeting01/
2006 workshop resources http://www.ashanet.org/princeton/talks/workshop2006/
Asha Parivar - www.ashaparivar.org
Association for India’s Development - www.aidindia.org
Asha for Education- www.ashanet.org
Additional Reading Material at: www.ashaparivar.org/cms/Reading
For more information, please contact:
Ravi Gangavarapu, 609-897-0431 (Land line), raviemail@gmail.com
Brunda Kattekola, 609-240-9347 (cell), brunda.kattekola@gmail.com
Sharique Hasan, shasanx@gmail.com
Wallace Hall (venue), Ph:6092581522
Hansa Shah, hansa@go2g2.com
Sandeep Pandey, ashaashram@yahoo.com