Aid Delhi Newsletter April2007

Association for India’s Development Delhi Chapter Newsletter

Campaigns: AID Delhi RTI Cell

Table of Contents Editorial Campaigns RTI Cell Action 2007

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Objective

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The objective of the group is to:

Oraganisational Shuffle Project Updates AID Prayas Nai Disha Khoj Parichay Aasheyan

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Editorial First of all I sincerely thank all volunteers who have significantly contributed for taking AID Delhi to the next level. AID Delhi is also proud of AID Gurgaon Folks who have formed their own chapter. Highlights of AID Delhi’s April activities are. 1. 7th Annual Day Celebrations at Parichay where the children of Parichay on 4th April. 2. The RTI Cell which is shaking the PWD department with its series of RTI Applications. 3. Action 2007, in which lot of AID Delhi volunteers chipped in and attended the Dharna at Jantar Mantar, supported them by making logistics arrangements, documentation and also by interviewing activists from various parts of India. 4. Signature Campaign for showing condemnation against Nandigram Killing 5. A Candle vigil for the people who were brutally killed by Police at Nandigram as well as urging to remove the SEZ act on 21st April. 6. Fun trip of Prayas Children on 29th April. 7. Trip of Aashayen Children on 29th April..

Contributed By : Selva.

April 2007

1. Create awareness among people about the usage of RTI. 2. Use RTI to find the information about working of the government departments to make them more accountable. 3. Strive to reduce corruption from government departments. 4. Take up critical issues from the community where we work and make them aware of this act by enabling them to file RTIs. Strategy We started AID Delhi RTI cell in February. We have formed a team called Youth Task Force. This will bring in members from AID, Josh, and other colleges, and organizations, who are working on various RTI issues. The primary focus of our group is to inspect the work and/or to seek information for the documents of Public Works Department (PWD) of Delhi Government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools in Delhi. However, if a volunteer feels that there are other relevant areas where a significant impact can be made, we will take up those issues as well. We also plan to approach the people of the community where we work to discuss with them and create awareness among them by performing street plays, playing RTI songs, and helping them file RTI applications on critical issues. We are currently talking with the students of IIT (NSS), DU, LSR, and various other colleges of Delhi for cooperating with us. We are also trying to take help of civil engineers from IIT for the inspection of roads in Delhi. We have also arranged a workshop by Arvind Khejriwal for the volunteers of IIT Delhi (NSS). This will be a very important workshop because it will not only tell us about the importance of RTI, but will also teach us on how to file RTIs on different issues.

The 46 applications filed so far cover works on all roads including Outer Ring Road, Ring Road, NH-10, NH-24, and other PWD roads in the capital. We have filed 46 such applications seeking information and inspection regarding road works worth Rs 420 crore. We took a retired MCD civil engineer with us to check the strengthening work. Under pressure of 46 RTI applications, PWD for the first time told us that they would be allowed to pick up samples simultaneously with the inspecting authority. The endeavors of IITDelhi were covered by Times of India on the front page on April 22, 2007. We request people to be a part of our team. You can also make a valuable contribution by sharing your suggestions with us. Contributed by: Sanjeev Kumar Sharma RTI cell coordinator Aid Delhi

Campaign : Action 2007 An AIDer's experience at Action 2007 Have you seen activists, people fighting for their issues from different corners of the country voicing slogans, demonstrating against the injustice, coming together at the same platform? Well that's Action 2007. People from different regions, with different languages, dresses, cultures sat together under the vibrant colored canopy, listened to each other, listened to the activists who are asking them to be united, sang with each other, even shared foods with each other at Jantar Mantar, the "Protest Bhoomi". "Action 2007 is not an event but an idea and a long drawn process through sustained struggle towards collective national level people's movement to challenge the imperialist design of the State..... ..........It is within this context, that, all those struggling for justice and equality and against such process of human rights violation have decided to come together and launch an indefinite struggle in Delhi from March 19 2007"

And it has been immensely successful in accomplishing that. There have been Jan Sansad, Human Chain, Candle Vigil. There also have been mass arrests and mistreatment by the govt. Over 60 activists gathering were arrested on 22nd March by the police. Their fault? They had sought an appointment with the Planning Commission and didn't get it ... and they were peacefully demonstrating in front of the planning commission building. That's when the police arrested them, and in the process manhandling several, even about 50 women. The arrested were transferred to Tihar Jail. The charges under which they were booked included rioting and violation of act 144. For some people like Medhadidi, old charges were brought up again. It was good that many people all over the city reacted promptly at this outrageous incident, and most of the people were freed after 2days. On the last day of the Jan Sansad there were some very informative and to-the-point presentations made by people from Orissa, and also by the people from Manipur. The theme was state militarisation and repression. An audience comprising of ordinary people struggling for years against adversity (brought on by the administration) listened with rapt attention to the description of how the Armed Forces Special Powers Act had been making life unbearable in Manipur ( manipurfreedom.org is a good site on this struggle). And that's the beauty. There were people from Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharastra. And they all listened to each others' problems. After the Jan Sansad was over, Anand bhai announced the good news that the arrested people were being released on bail and that they would be welcomed by all present with red handkerchiefs. 147 oganisations joined Sangharsh. Everyday thousands of people gathered at Jantar Mantar. They stayed there for nearly a month. Learned each others problems. Now they are back at their states. And they will continue the struggle from there. They all learned that they are not alone. The problems are different but the sufferings are same. So is their struggle. Narmada se le ke Nandigram tak ki ladayee ek hai ek hai Awaaz do hum ek hai........ Contributed by: Satabdi Das AID Delhi, AID Kolkatta

Organizational Shuffle There has been an Organizational Shuffle at AID Delhi in the past couple of months and here are the list of our New Coordinators.. Overall Volunteer Coordinator: Chirag Noida Coordinator: Darshan Mehra, Anuradha Prayas: Arun Raj, Anuradha, Dharmendra Nai Disha: Rajat Agarwal Khoj: Anwesha, Deepika Pant RTI Cell: Sanjeev Sharma Publications: Selva As AID Gurgaon has become a separate Chapter, we expect separate newsletter from their publications team soon.

Project Updates: AID Prayas Activity Highlights We focused on the following activities this month: 1. Rotation of leader every month: The decision has been taken to allow maximum participation by all volunteers. We also hope this would reduce dependency on any one person. This month saw Arun Raj leading us and we have learnt some new strategies from him this month. 2. Responsibilities of the leader: ™ Providing regular updates to AID ™ Coordinating volunteers for project activities ™ Tracking children’s development with respect to curriculum ™ Ensuring attendance of team members in key AID events ™ Maintaining and developing team interest and focusing on project objectives ™ Maintaining and developing relationships with children's families 3. Picnic to be planned for kids: We plan to organize a visit to the zoo at Delhi. Selva has suggested considering Meal Packets to be provided by Parichay.

4. Curriculum for Prayas: Neha and Darshan would soon visit Parichay to understand the curriculum pattern followed there. Suggestions and ideas are invited for Non-Formal Education pattern form all. We hope to close the curriculum planning by Sunday, May 6. Volunteers: Darshan, Arun Raj, Anuradha, Neha, Raj, Pratyush, and Selva New Noida Coordinator: Darshan Mehra

Project Updates: Nai Disha Activity Highlights 1. The new academic session has started and the kids are extremely enthusiastic about resuming their studies. 2. In the current academic session, we would focus on developing the linguistic skills of the kids. To this end in view, we have already started teaching English grammar and some basic structures in English. To help them with the basics of English grammar, we plan to combine the fourth and the fifth standard students and teach them collectively. 3. As most students have gained the basic knowledge of computers, we intend to build on the computer course for 5th standard. Volunteers: Shammi, Pheroza, Rajat, Arun, Rinku, Priyanka, Hemant, Preeti, Bul Bul Saha. Note: AID India played a significant role in managing the funds for the students during the last year. The same level of support is expected out of us this time as well. We request all our supporters to contribute generously toward the cause. You may also contact your friends/organizations, who might help us collect muchneeded funds. Please contact the following for any queries/suggestions: Rajat (Noida): 91-9810994596 Shammi (Noida): 91-9899443774 (Mobile) Email: [email protected] Pheroza (CT, US): 203-339-7076 (Business Phone) Email: [email protected]

Project Updates: Khoj

Project Updates: Parichay

Activity Highlights 1. Trip to Appu Ghar: Khoj organized a fun trip on March 27 for the students enrolled in the non-formal education program. The trip was thoroughly enjoyed by the kids as it offered them a respite from their usual 7-day work routine. 2. Classes at Various Centers: Inspite of volunteer crunch, classes are being held regularly at all the centers. As the mercury is soaring very rapidly, we have scheduled for two shifts of classes – morning and evening. Classes at Jor Bag and Ber Serai are being held with utmost regularity while the classes at Dilli Haat Center are somewhat irregular because most children are out of station these days. 3. New Volunteers: 4 new volunteers have joined our team. 4. Weekend Team: A weekend team has been formed with the aim of interacting with children every weekend. They will visit a center every weekend to help out the children with various activities like storytelling, drawing, theater, games, and review of the curriculum done in the past week. Present weekend team comprises of Adil, Vishesh, Raghavan, and Sumeet. Adil will be the coordinator for the current weekend team.

Activity Highlights 1. Volunteer Crunch: There are no regular volunteers at Parichay these days. Except Naval, all other volunteers have been irregular so far. 2. Nutrition Program: With AID’s support, Nutrition program is running smoothly. 3. Annual Day Celebrations: Parichay celebrated its annual day on April 4. Both the children and the women of the community presented various events. Everyone in the community had a gala time as the day was celebrated in a festive spirit. 4. Stalls: Stalls at STMicrolectronics have been regular so far. Sachin’s also helped us put up a stall at HCL Noida. 5. Bulk Orders: We received two big orders from Allison and AID Tempe for handicrafts and other products. 6. Expansion of Product Range: We have added some new masalas – Sambhar masala, masala for stuffing, etc. Some pickles have also been added to the list. In addition to this, we also have various types of saunf suparis on offer. Volunteers: Naval, Shashank, Navneet, Puneeta and Swina

Plans for Upcoming Months 1. To develop an understanding of current events and to improve on the reading habits of students, we have set a task for ourselves for the next quarter – we would guide the students to read atleast one Hindi daily. 2. We are yet to reach a decision on some important issues regarding curriculum and teaching aids. 3. We also plan to follow up with IHE students. 4. Crunch of volunteers would vanish by May end.

Activity Highlights 1. A health check up camp was organized for around 100 children on 11 March 2007. The doctors have also helped us create a report for each child, and we have documented the ailments of the children and the cure for the same. 2. 4-5 dedicated volunteers have joined our project in the last quarter, and we are targeting to receive an equal number of volunteers for this quarter too. 3. Proposal to start our classes on Sunday will soon be implemented. 4. We are using Pratham kits and the storybooks regularly for the last one month. Needless to say these aids have helped us with the teaching process and the retention among the children has also improved. 5. A trip to Rajghat/Science Museum for the community children has been planned for 29th April. 6. We are on a lookout for finding a good teacher within the community.

Stars of the Month 1. Pawan, Zubair, and Santosh have shown great commitment toward the responsibilities taken up by them. They are volunteering full time these days. 2. Ritu did a great job during her tenure with Khoj. She almost rejuvenated Khoj.

Project Updates: Aashayen (Timarpur)

Feedback: [email protected]

Web: http://delhi.aidindia.org

DONATE TO AID Online: E-transfer to ICICI Bank a/c 602201200299 By Cheque: Mail cheques in favor of AID-India to :AID Delhi,c/o R. Selva Ganapathy, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi - 110016

Phone: +91-9213797167

Publications Team Editors: Selva and Puneeta Coordinator: Selva