Azamgarh
An army of largely illiterate and rustic women from Azamgarh can teach a thing or two on polio eradication to the high profile WHO and UNICEF teams. The district, which gave jitters to the state health machinery for having topped the polio tally in 2001-2002 with 81 recorded cases, has thrown up only one case this year. The credit for the transformation in all fairness goes to the concerted saas-bahu power.

It was basically an experiment by Mukesh Kumar Mesharn, district magistrate, who hit upon the idea of organising saas-bahu sammelan to ensure 'peaceful households around'. "Azamgarh, with an unusual men-women ration - 1026 women against 1000 men vis a vis 889/1000 UP ratio - faced a major problem of domestic discord. As most of the men go to the metros or Middle East in search of jobs, verbal or physical duels among the female members were order of the day," he told Times News Network on Sunday.

The percentage of immunisation in the district was found to be as low as 26, while 85 per cent women, random check-up camps revealed, suffered from severe anaemia. The only solution was to take the women folks into confidence, he said adding that "since the mom-in-law would not have taken kindly to the soirees by the daughter-in-law or vice-versa, the only way was to invite them together." And that was what they did. "First few get-togethers did lead to some howlers," confided Madhuri Singh, whose NGO Sangini has been actively involved with the project.

Madhuri, swears by the efficacy of the 'two-pronged' strategy which cuts across the class, caste and community barriers, including the troubled minority pockets known to be resistant to polio drops. Mesharn particularly recalled a sammelan in Sarai Mir for the sea of burqa clad women who thronged the venue or at Faria where they came out defying men. "My greatest moment," says Singh, "was when I administered polio drops to 18 children of a family in Faria at one such sammelan. The same family had shut the doors on the WHO team earlier the same day."

Mesharn is also trying to broad base the endeavour by educating the women about their rights and "they are fast learners". The success of saas-bahus sammelans may eventually lead to similar experiments in others parts of the state - Manjari Mishra, Times News Network.

A few of the 70 who responded (less than 10) liked the Bizarre ad.
"It's a strange idea, quite different and nice," said one person. Another said - "We need to see more such sexualized images of women in our ads." Another said - "The Bizarre ad is sort of an anti-ad isn't it? and that's why it's so good as an ad for the store and line of clothing, it's an unusual image of a woman to find in our times and that's what I think the ad is trying to say about the store too. I think it's cool!".

Most people had a strong adverse reaction to the ad. "I generally don't favour ads being banned, but this one is a lawsuit screaming to happen," said one respondent. "It is unquestionably the worst, most exploitative image of women I've seen in a long time." Others found it hard to figure out what product was being advertised. "It's not clear what product is trying to sell," one person said. "It went over my head completely. The lines, the girl, her clothes. The product? Was it for a bath tub?"

Many respondents noted that the ad was based on inducing "a repulsive attraction in this competitive market" and strongly associated it with rape, violence, death and suicide. "Women are bodies, womb, legs, breasts - without mind or integrity of body, and the first speaks eloquently to this," said one person. "All that is needed is the physical body eternally available for sexual assault - even in death."

Here are excerpts from some of the responses to the BIZARRE ad:
Response 1: "I can't see why clothes should be sold by associating them with death, rather than life. Specially the murder scene is too close to the real life violence that fills the cities. Personally I don't believe that advertisements should trivialize violence."
Response 2: "The woman looks as if she has been raped just before the picture was taken She looks drugged to me. She is trying to look HOT, but she is not. In fact its quite an unpleasant image, perhaps its a kinky's idea of seduction. May be she is dead - maybe she actually IS DEAD."
Response 3: "This one takes the cake. On the one hand, the advertisement seems to be saying that anyone can wear anything at any time. On the other hand, the subtle message going across is that if you dress like this, you will find yourself dead. Dead not of any natural cause, but in some violent way. In my mind the only connection that I can make is that one can get raped."
Response 4: "It just depressed me and I think it would be most successful in appealing to a certain teenage morbidity and a sort of deadened fake sophistication. So I felt horror and disquietude and a deep sadness because in a sense it exemplified how a lot of young girls are becoming obsessed with their appearance so that there is actually a suicide of the self that happens thereby. Not what the ad intended me to feel am sure."
Response 5: "It reminds me of c-grade x-rated films where violence against women/killing them in the most gruesome ways seems to be the main theme. The woman looks drugged (eyeballs rolled up), chained (neck - and the fishnet blouse thing), beaten/stabbed/killed (blood dripping from her mouth?) in the bathtub. Message - violence against women is both fine and fashionable (so what if you are being slaughtered in a bathtub - you just need to look sexy!). The woman here is a passive recipient of things done to her. She has very little agency. Drugs and violence turned into fashion statement. Disturbing."
Response 6: "The stilletos, the net, the bra and last but not the least, the vampire look. So the image seems to me to cross over between the dead woman and the blood sucking vampire there is nothing that frees women from the sexualized image, not even in bizarre situations can they really be bizarre! But she is thankfully not spread eagled in the tub. Talking of the tub, isn't that a major fantasy area for men. Killing women in tubs, I've seen many films from Glenn Close, another thriller, What Lies Beneath, where he keeps trying to drown her in the tub."
Response 7: "In the first image - the black and white one - the scene is set to resemble shots from 'snuff' movies (porn movies where the woman is gagged, raped and murdered). Her eyes, almost dead, are meant to suggest a kind of gagged bliss, I guess, whereas her (dead?) body, simulating both passive surrender, as well as frontal pleasure, slumps in its seat, accepting its captivity and its stillness. The 'props' to this show - the ceramic tub, the knife, the faint smear of blood(?) are of course 'bizarre', but what is fudged here is the fact of sexual hurt. The woman's clothes are standard bondage attire, though modified - the picture utilises an 'aesthetics' of indulgent sexuality, so celebrated by a certain sort of feminism (the defenders of porn as a right to self-expression, for instance), to a purpose that is classically patriarchal. Apart from disgust and horror, it is important to note how the image resonates with the present (the contemporary) - female desire - particularly when wedded to fantasies of powerful nasty, women - is no more taboo, bad women are 'in. This is evident from our television serials, from advertising, the celebration of the beauty business. 'Bad' in these instances, is accorded a certain social and cultural indulgence, as if one were guiltily yet happily playing with the forbidden.
Response 8: This seeming 'readiness' of modern Indian (sic) women is subtly displaced to another related, yet, distinctive visual context. Promiscuity and pornography are willfully confused - and the visual result is utilised in the service of selling a commodity, as well as a point of view.

We hope some of these responses have presented you with different ways of seeing - Point of view. Contact: www.pointofview.org

The SEARCH has begun
"Degrees" were presented to 100 semi-literate village women in Maharashtra who had enrolled in a 15-month programme to be trained as barefeet neonatoligsts". The ankur project initiated by SEARCH (Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health) - an NGO in Maharashtra. After 10 years of experimentation and planning the teaching model in Gadchiroli, the model is now being perfected.

The programme has led to a positive decrease in infant mortality rates in the district from 121 per 1000 live birth to 39. Initiated by a doctor couple, Rani and Abhay Bang, the Ankurmodel - a collaboration between SEARCH and seven NGOs in the state- is now proposed to being adopted b the Union government which has so far failed to make an impact in the area of infant mortality in the country.

Kool Kareem
In a small town Parappa in Kasargode district, Kerala, in what used to be a wasteland, a travel agent, P.Abdul kareem, has made the wasteland into a green forest. From a dry well, he now gets enough to be able to sell water! And all because he began to plant saplings in the wasteland which suddenly sprouted four years after he began to live there. The temperature around his land is 8 degrees cooler, the air is cleaner and the plants gets no unnatural fertilizers.

He's proved that if you leave nature alone, it will replenish itself, and give more!
BANGALORE: It is a plan to take literacy to all the children regardless of their social status. The Joint initiative of Akshara foundation, Bangalore and the Karnataka State Government started a small project in 2000 and today reaches out to 20,000 children. The state government identifies the centre for learning in their schools while the programmes are executed by Akshara. The Foundation has 4 learning progarammes from, the ages of 4 to 12, along with a remedial education course for slow learners in Maths languages in classes 1-3/ The classes are conducted by volunteers in English and Urdu at the 205 Kannada medium centre and 145 Urdu centres. The method used is the Pratham model, using short stories to explain words etc. The Foundation has a remedial programme and a Bridge course - both of which are headed by teachers who can identify slow learners. Volunteers are paid Rs 500 per month. The project has been sponsored by its chairperson Rohini Nilekani and Citibank. Next on the list is to start an Intervention Programme for primary school students and a special learning programme for 6-14 year olds in extremely poor areas. Contact: 080-548 5800.

As each February and March rolls around, it's not uncommon to look around a non-profit organization and find that practically
everyone's work revolves around getting the annual report out. It can be a pretty stressful time. Many organisations in India suffer from lack of adequate documentation, or worse, poor and inaccurate documentation. Often, this is more due to a lack of time and skill than a lack of intent. Staff in organisations is generally busy getting ahead with the actual programme and left with very little
time to document the accomplishments. But come January and the pressure to get the information out and co-ordinated with other departments, as well as the budget, begins to build. The information is often written up from memory and invariably by people who have not been involved directly; the net result is, well, a disaster within glossy covers!

The first step is to actually plan the report itself - what goes into it, who writes it and how will it be presented. At present unlike the
corporate sector, there are no standard norms or regulations that regulate the content and dissemination of annual reports by voluntary organisations.

Annual reports are to be made available for public distribution. However the definition of the word 'public' varies from one
organisation to the next; therefore it is up to the voluntary organisation to decide whom their report should be made available to.
The organisation must define its own constituency, stakeholders and other groups. Organisations can restrict distribution of the annual reports to persons outside their constituency. However, transparency and credibility are best served if reports are made available to anyone who asks for them (subject to funds available to print and distribute copies).

The guidelines listed here are categorized as 'Minimum Norms' and 'Desirable' ones. No particular order to present the information
is recommended - that is up to each organisation to decide for itself. The content for the Minimum norms can be limited to two sides of A4 paper; and twice as long if the Desirables are included too. Some organizations will want to produce one copy based with only the minimum norms listed; others will want to produce a longer report. Some organisations will want to produce both types. The length of the document, and the creativity invested in it, are quite discretionary.

Annual Reports for Voluntary Organisations - Content guidelines
Organisational Information
Minimum Norms: Name of organisation, registration date and number (as applicable to various Acts), registered address of the organisation and address for communication if different to the registered address. Names of board members, role in the organisation (President etc) Names and addresses of main bankers, auditors Numbers of staff (full-time and part-time, male and female ratio, paid and voluntary). Networks/linkages with other organisations Historical details - origins, brief history, vision, mission of the organisation.

Desirables
Area of competency of board members, number of board meetings attended in the year (to be indicated in brackets). Names of legal advisors (if applicable) Organisational structure or organogram Gender of Board members.

Programme Information (Minimum Norms )
Objectives and descriptions of main activities undertaken during the year including communities and beneficiaries served and areas of operation.
Review of the progress and results achieved in the year (facts and figures demonstrating achievement at local, state, regional, national and international levels).
Major plans for the future (if any).
Information regarding internal or external evaluations/ audits conducted on programmes (if any).
A summary of the way the organisation operates, number and type of staff, network/linkages with other organisations etc.

Financial Information (Minimum Norms)
Abridged Balance Sheet and Income and Expenditure account. The report should state which basis of accounting has been used (cash or accrual). Information on previous year's accounts to be presented. (See attached recommended framework).
Annual Report to be made available within eight months of end of the fiscal year.
Complete audited statement of accounts with schedules to be included in annual report or to be made available on request, or for a fee.
Annual Report to be made available within three months of end of fiscal year.
Percentages to be mentioned next to said amounts in financial statements and graphs and charts to facilitate easy understanding of information.
Main financial and or physical achievements/observations to be shown separately as 'performance highlights'.
Appeal to be included in the Annual Report to reinforce the point that the organisation is looking for funds; also a statement of
thanks to donors and an invitation to visit the organisation.

Governance related Information (Minimum Norms )
The following to be disclosed as notes in the Annual Report:
Total amount of remuneration and reimbursements to board members/ trustees and number of board members who receive remuneration from the organisation.
Gross remuneration (salary and benefits) of the CEO/Director.
Total cost of national and international air travel by all personnel (including volunteers).
Relationship between board members.
Gross remuneration of the three highest paid staff members and the lowest paid member.
Distribution of staff according to salary levels.
Details on international travel, name of traveller, purpose, sponsorship details etc.

Other information
Stories of change in Annual reports give a personal touch and help the reader understand the work your organisation is doing.
Statement of achievements/ list of your organisation's major achievements in bulleted points will summarise the significant
accomplishments in the previous year.
Say 'Thank you' to donors and well-wishers; donors of large amounts and small and interesting visitors, may be mentioned by name. Possibly even include a quotation from a donor's letter or remark from the visitors' book. An invitation to visit the agency can also be included. The most important three words in your report could be 'We welcome visitors'. A geographical map of where your office is situated.
- Aarti Madhusudhan http://www.indiatogether.org/2003/jun/ngo-annreport.htm (Aarti Madhusudhan is a graduate of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and a fellow of Board Source's International Nonprofit Governance programme. She consults for nonprofit organisations around issues of boards and governance and has conducted the first known survey in India on board composition and governance practices.)

Effective Boards make a difference
"An effective board of trustees can make the difference between a long-running successful NGO and one that becomes stagnant". Establishing the roles and responsibilities of various Board members and letting them know before hand what these are can help Bard members set the right direction and guide an NGO in the right direction. The Board can ensure resources- human and financial, insist on transparency and accountability and be effective advocates for the organization to the outside world.

The one-day workshop on Effective Boards went a long way in explaining and understanding the different kinds of boards, how to build them and how they should ideally function to the 25 participants. Organised in Pune by the Centre of Advancement of Philanthropy, the workshop was conducted by Dr. Marilyn Wyatt of Boardsource.

Bombay Leprosy Project (BLP) organised a seminar on "Serological Tests for Early Diagnosis of Leprosy".. A thorough review of the status of laboratory tests to diagnose leprosy early, was presented by scientists from the Foundation for Medical Research (FMR) viz. Dr Mridula and Ms Christina revealed that these tests are useful to diagnose and even classify leprosy. Utility of such tests is however restricted to identify mostly progressive forms of the disease. Diagnostic challenges posed by early leprosy remain unsolved by serological tests so far.
Ms Ratna Mangroelal, a medical student from the University of Amsterdam who is collaborating with BLP presented the principles of a recent test to detect antibodies against the germs causing leprosy. This test may be the likely answer, due to the simplicity of the test which can be performed under field conditions. The investigations are however not complete. The importance of research in this area is most crucial in leprosy elimination but funds are needed to harness the immense potential.
Contact: BLP - 2522 0608/2522 3040.

WANTED: The Bombay Leprosy Project has invited applications for their three month long computer course for the physically challenged at its vocational training and rehabilitation centre, Pratiksha Nagar, Sion, The course starts in June for those who have studied upto Std. 10. Call BLP: 2522 0608/ 2522 3040.

Seeds of Love is a community project that works with street children The organisation is collecting used child-friendly books, computers, cupboards, toys, etc for the children. Contact: 98203 04161/ 2836 3329.

SOSVA, an organization that encourages volunteerism is looking for people are willing to dedicate two to three hour of work per week for any social cause they want. Contact: 2527 0127/ 2524 2115.

The Voice and Vision Task Force for children with deafness, blindness and other disabilities inaugurated its first master training course at the Helen Keller Institute for deaf and deaf blind at the Aditya Birla Centre, Navi Mumbai. The Voice & Vision Task Force is a collaborative network of national bodies and NGOs in India working the field of multiple impairments.

Barefoot project in Himalayas wins environmental prize
The Solar Electrification Project of the Barefoot College won the Environment Award in the Stockholm Challenge http://www.challenge.stockholm.se/right.asp, one of six categories of innovation awards presented October 10, 2002 in Stockholm, Sweden. More than 500 projects from around the world were submitted for judging in this annual event. The Challenge is a unique awards programme for pioneering technology projects worldwide. Judged by a panel of 31 experts from around the world, projects are evaluated on their benefit to society and the environment in their local context. Categories include e-government, culture, health, education, e-business and environment.
Contact: http://www.barefootcollege.org/html/news.htm

The NASDAQ Stock Market Education Award was presented to Bunker Roy, Director of the Barefoot College, at the Tech Museum Awards 2002 ceremony in San Jose, California. The awards honor innovators from around the world who are applying technology to address global challenges and assist the developing world.

For his outstanding contribution to Global Tobacco Control, the World Health Organisation conferred the Director-Generals award on Mr. K. Srinath Reddy, founding member of the Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control (AFTC). The award is being given for the first time in the history of WHO and MR. Reddy was nominated from the South East Asia Region, The award will be presented to Prof. Reddy, (he is Professor of Cardiology at AIIMS, Delhi) at the World Health Assembly on May 21. Prof. Reddy was a member of the Indian delegation to the international negotiations on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and is the co-ordinator of Hriday Shan, an NGO that promotes health awareness among school students.

Winner of last years Bilt Skins Challenge Trophy, Vijay Singh has donated his entire tournaments prize money for the development of underprivileged children through, "Pratham" Delhi. Vijay Singh, a 39-year old Fijian has family roots in India, and had taken part in the Skins Golf tournament in Delhi in November, 2002.

Kirandevi Saraf Trust donated 80 sewing machines to set up five sewing classes in municipal schools at Shivaji park, Wadala, Sion, Kurla and Dharavi for the empowerment of needy women.

A free library for the deaf has been started by the ENT Charitable Trust at Koshish School, DB Lane, (off Daftary Road), Malad (E). Contact 2844 6448.

The Mahavir Heart Foundation wants to help poor persons who need to undergo heart surgery with funds up to Rs 15,000. Contact: 2401 4268/ 2403 3172.

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS
Bhau gets a Bajaj!
It's a rundown 1872 Palladium style building with an ornate Victorian style interior and it contains artifacts, models and dioramas and old books which are a wonderful panorama of Bombay's historic flora and fauna. The Bhau Daji Lad museum stands in the Byculla zoo which may be one reason for its major neglect all these decades.
Now the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation has decided to take thing in hand and is contributing Rs 1.5 crore for the restoration of the museum under the supervision of INTACH. The Bhau Daji Museum, incidentally was initially called the Victoria and Albert Museum and its counterpart in London has promised all support in organizing seminars and shows at the newly restored museum when it reopens May 2004!

Cementing Relationships
The Corporate sector has been constantly involved in communities that they work with or around. The Ambuja Cement Foundation set up 10 years ago has been involved in various water resource development schemes ranging from simple irrigation schemes and rainwater harvesting in Chandrapur District, to combating salinity in Junagadh. In the rural areas, they have also been encouraging animal husbandry and self help groups. On the education front they have the Ambuja Manovikas Kendra at Ropar which already has 3 children. A vocational institute in Chandrapur also gives the village youth a chance for a different life. The foundation also added infrastructure-many roads at Ropar and Rabriyawas and teaching Gujarat villagers how to make low-cost cement concrete blocks to make strong houses. Contact: Ambuja Cement Foundation:

Infosys donates hospital
Bhubaneshwar: Bangalore based Infosys Foundation donated a 150-bed pediatric hospital to the capital Hospital - the main government-run hospital in Bhubaneshwar. The unit was inaugurated by the President Abdul Kalam in May. Built over an area of 30,000 sq. ft. and estimated to have cost over Rs 3 crore, the ultra-modern high capacity pediatric unit was constructed in a record 6 months. There will be 80 air-conditioned beds and 70 non-air conditioned beds. The hospital will be equipped and run by the Capital Hospital authorities who will be in charge on the OPD, administration as well as treatment of patients. The Infosys Foundation also donated a CT scan machine to the Capital Hospital. Earlier, the foundation had constructed 14 cyclone shelters on the coastal areas of Orissa which were devastated by the cyclone of 1999.

Films
Chords on the Richter Scale - Documentary
Produced by People's Media, Initiative & directed by Shyam Ranjanker.
A report by - Manjula Jagatramka.

There is "ALI" in "DIWALI" and "RAM" in "RAMZAN", this must have been the understanding between the two community groups residing in Kutch since last many centuries. Even the partition could not evoke hatred enough to divide the communities. Till the quake hit this land of unity during January 2001, both Hindus and Muslims had lived together in amity. The artisan class were Muslims whereas the traders have been all Hindus.

The films quite clearly states that the relief work was the starting point of the communal split. People have shared their first hand experiences as to how the Jains were rehabilitated by the Jains, While RSS would only select the Hindus and provide relief. Similarly the Muslims would be taken care of by their community groups.. One really starts wondering how a human can be differentiated from another one on these lines. While nature could never make any distinctions. All were treated at par by nature.
The film shows how in the name of rehabilitation people have been exploited and a handful of fanatics used this as an opportunity to evoke hatred amidst two communities.

This is a must film for every thinking individual. We can not be indifferent. Such a film is a real mirror of what's happening around us, and how people like us are made to split and suffer. Contact People's media initiative 022-2635 1905.

Books
Making a difference by K.J. Alphons.
Viking Pengiun India, 1996,
Pages 305, Rs.300.

It's been a long time since the book was written, and a long time since we heard from K.J. Alphons. The enfant terrible of the IAS, Mr. Alphons managed to buck the odds merely by making a success of wherever he was by simply doing the right thing. If it all sounds too simple, it is. To put it in a nutshell: "I received tremendous public support for what I did". Whether it was making Kottayam the first 100 percent literate city in India; or building a cancer hospital with public donated funds, as the CEO of the Kerala Milk Federation setting up five new milk processing plants and two cattle feed manufacturing plants increasing the turnover 300 percent, or as the commissioner, Delhi Development Authority. He was fearless because he knew he was right and because he knew the people for whom he was working supported him.

His autobiography should be compulsory reading for all IAS officers so they know what can be achieved. How politicians can be quietly tackled…"No politician or bureaucrat has ever told me to do something or not to do something, All the politicians who get in touch with me are overflowing with courtesy. Even most of those whose buildings I have demolished have become friends of mine After all I have not done something which was irrational or arbitrary. I have only enforce the law of the land. Even they realize that….I have disproved the myth that anybody who does his job is bound to get kicked out."

The book also includes short biographical sketches of people he admires from Mother Teresa, Verghese Kurien, Anna Hazare to Kiran Bedi. After he began his Jana Shakti, things seem to be quiet. If anyone knows of his whereabouts, please do let us know.

Dance dramas
Komal Gandhar wins hearts - "Keeping us marginalised is a tool society has been sing so we felt that to empower ourselves teach individual sex worker has to gain the confidence to reclaim her/his voice." They are well known in their hometown Kolkata but in Mumbai, the 20-strong troupe from Kolkata, Komal Gandhar, made a strong impression when they performed daily at the Positive Lives exhibition art the Nehru Centre. The troupe performed their favourite, "I am that woman", a dance drama that specifically says that all the injustices heaped on any woman is heaped on all women. The troupe, formed in 1998, is the cultural front of the sex workers movement, the STD/HIV Intervention Project (SHIP)-and was formed so that sex workers and their children could express themselves through music, dance, plays, painting and writing.
Contact: Komal Gandhar 033-543 7560/543 7451 email: ship@cal.vsnl.net.in.

No Human Rights in Gujarat
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman A.S. Anand expressed utter anguish at the Gujarat government's constant refusal to heed to the NHRC's recommendations following the Godhra carnage, but, at the same time, said the commission didn't have the powers to force the state government to implement its recommendations.

At a day-long meeting with NGOs of three states, the former chief justice of India said all its recommendations, on being that special courts be set up to try select cases of carnage, are lying dormant. "Despite repeated reminders, the Narendra Modi government doesn't seem keen to secure speedy justice for the riot victims," Anand said, adding that this is apparent from the government's constant refusal to heed to any of the NHRC's recommendations.

The NHRC's recommendations include; handing over of some riot cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI); judges of the special courts be hand-picked by the chief justice of the Gujarat high court; special prosecutors be appointed, if needed; and special efforts be initiated to depute responsible officers, particularly women officer, to assist in handing cases of traumatized victims. It has also recommended that specific time-frame be fixed for thorough and expeditious completion of investigations, besides involving NGOs to collect material.

A.S. Anand called upon non-governmental and other voluntary organization to play a leading role in filling the lacunae left by government agencies in human rights affairs. Speaking at a day-long consultation with leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajashtan and Gujarat here, the former chief justice of India said, "Considering growing human rights violations, the role of NOGs has assumed importance."

Hinting at the Godhra carnage, where the state government in yet to implement the recommendations of the NHRC, he warned that human rights would soon become an elitist slogan if effective steps were not taken at the earliest. "This is where the NGOs and other voluntary organization can play a vital role," he reiterated.

Special reporters of the NHRC, P.G.J. Nampoorthri, and Chamanlal said regional consultations will help the commission identify thrust areas relating to human rights for intervention by the NGOs.
- By Siddhartha Dutt Kashyap (Pune, Times News Network)

Issues
GANDHIANS RECEIVE A CHALLENGE FROM SANGH PARIVAR
Lucknow: The Sangh Parivar through the HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi has presented a challenge to the Gandhians. The Sangh Parivar wants to either take possession of or shut down the Gandhian Institute of Studies which is located within the campus of Sarva Sewa Sangh in Varanasi. The Board of Management of the Gandhian Institute of Studies, chaired by Acharya Ramamurti, had to conduct it's last official meeting in mid-April in the verandah of the main building of the Institute and later on the adjoining campus of Sarva Sewa Sangh, because the Institute infrastructure is inaccessible to anybody . else. Now it is not merely a matter of saving an Institute established by Jayaprakash Narayan in 1960. But for those who believe in the philosophy of Gandhi-Vinoba-JP it is now a matter of rescuing the Sarvodaya from the devastating assault of fascism. In the context of this ideological conflict, the fight to save the Gandhian Institute of Studies will not be limited to bureaucratic and legal ways, rather the struggle will have to move out in the open public domain.
Dr. Sandeep Pandet www.thinkersnet.com. Contact (0522) 234 7365, (05854)-281 920, 0 94150 22772 (Arundhati Dhuru) Email : ashaashram@yahoo.com
Dr. Lenin. Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), Phone: 91-542-258 6676, 688 . Email: pvchr@yahoo.com, pvchr@rediffmail.com

Issues/Environment
A gathering of water warriors
For a little over a year now Rajendra Singh, the man who woke up a river asleep for 40 years, has been traversing the country trying to awaken Indians to an emerging danger. Before the Central Government published its National Water Policy on April 1, 2002, he says he was assured that a categorical undertaking would be included in it stating that water rights will not be privatised. In the published policy however there was no such undertaking. The Magsaysay Award winner's suspicion have been aroused. He believes private interests --Indian and foreign-- will take over river and water source management. The Government will then step aside and turn India's citizens into 'consumers' who will have to purchase water from private owners. Rajendra Singh's fear is confirmed by the recent grand talk of inter-linking India's rivers. He says there are thousands of local solutions possible to stem the water crisis. Village management of water sources, water shed development, rain water harvesting etc. are all proven, low cost technologies that will create local jobs and solve the problem. Instead of trying these there is talk of the grandiose linking of rivers.

CERS, Suit against Spectrum Magazines
Ahmedabad: In response to a complaint involving deficient service and unfair trade practice, filed by Consumer Education and Research Society(CERS), Ahmedabad, and over 110 others, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi, issued notice to Spectrum Magazines Ltd., New Delhi. Eight complainants, who had subscribed to the various magazines of the company, complained against its services to CERS to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Mumbai. Spectrum Magazines is a public limited company publishing several magazines, including A & M, Design Digest, etc., and, to increase its sales, brings out different schemes from time to time, promising various gifts to its subscribers. The subscribers complained that the company's incentive schemes for gifts were false and deceptive, that they had not received, for months, neither the various magazines published by the company, nor the promised gifts. Or, they had received gifts other than those promised. The company had also inordinately delayed the refund of cancelled subscription and often published the monthlies as combined issues covering 2-3months.
(From INSIGHT - The Consumer Magazine)

CERS, Petitions GERC for Power Utilities' Accountability
Ahmedbad: Gujarat has been facing power shortage through the major part of the year. Agricultural consumers have been hardly getting electricity for four to six hours a day, whereas the Gujarat Electricity Board says it has been supplying electricity to farmers for 12 hours a day. Besides, the quality of power, where voltages remain very low, has extensively damaged motors and other electrical equipments used by agricultural and industrial consumers as well as domestic electrical appliances. In view of the consumers' plight arisen out of the poor quality of power supply and deteriorating consumer services, Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS), Ahmedabad, has petitioned the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) for establishing the accountability of the Gujarat Electricity Board(GEB), Ahmedabad Electricity Company (AEC) and Surat Electricity Company (SEC). It has demanded the introduction of the Quality Index, which is a ratio of the number of hours/power supply not provided in a month to the number of consumers in that area. These three utilities should submit the value of the Quality Index to the GERC and publish it in all local newspapers every month. The petitioner has highlighted the obligation of utilities to provide quality and uninterrupted power supply to its consumers.
(INSIGHT - The Consumer Magazine)

Whose eye is it anyway?
MUMBAI: The Ghaswala Vision Foundation was started in June 2002 and supports various activities related to eye care and blindness in general but the initial focus of the foundation will be fighting corneal blindness.

The foundation aims to provide solutions to ethical challenges faced in our country regarding eye donation and eye banking. The words "Eye Donation" have confused many. In recent years, with the advances in medical sciences, donated eyeballs undergo a series of tests / analysis which ensure that only "technically healthy" corneas undergo surgery.

While the burden of eyeball collection from the deceased still remains with the eye banks, the cost of eyeball processing, surgery and hospitalization is passed onto the blind recipient (barring government hospitals) and ironically yet remains termed as an "eye donation"
In an attempt to boost the eye donation movement, the Ghaswala Vision Foundation will pay the surgeon's fees, the cost of surgical material and the costs of hospitalization to make it a "true eye donation".

Saas, bahu take on polio menace
Azamgarh: An army of largely illiterate and rustic women from Azamgarh can teach a thing or two on polio eradication to high
profile WHO and UNICEF teams. The district, which gave jitters to the state health machinery for having topped the polio tally in 2001-2002 with 81 recorded cases, has thrown up only one case this year. The credit for the transformation in all fairness goes to the concerted saas-bahu power.

It was basically an experiment by Mukesh Kumar Mesharn, district magistrate, who hit upon the idea of organising saas-bahu sammelan to ensure 'peaceful households around'. "Azamgarh, with an unusual men-women ration - 1026 women against 1000 men vis a vis 889/1000 UP ratio - faced a major problem of domestic discord. As most of the men go to the metros or Middle East in search of jobs, verbal or physical duels among the female members were order of the day," he told Times News Network on Sunday.

The percentage of immunisation in the district was found to be as low as 26, while 85 per cent women, random check-up camps revealed, suffered from severe anaemia. The only solution was to take the women folks into confidence, he said adding that "since the mom-in-law would not have taken kindly to the soirees by the daughter-in-law or vice-versa, the only way was to invite them together." And that was what they did. "First few get-togethers did lead to some howlers," confided Madhuri Singh, whose NGO Sangini has been actively involved with the project.

Madhuri, swears by the efficacy of the 'two-pronged' strategy which cuts across the class, caste and community barriers, including the troubled minority pockets known to be resistant to polio drops. Mesharn particularly recalled a sammelan in Sarai Mir for the sea of burqa clad women who thronged the venue or at Faria where they came out defying men. "My greatest moment," says Singh, "was when I administered polio drops to 18 children of a family in Faria at one such sammelan. The same family had shut the doors on the WHO team earlier the same day."

The success of saas-bahus sammelans may eventually lead to similar experiments in others parts of the state. (Manjari Mishra, Times News Network)

Bombay Leprosy Project (BLP) organised a seminar on "Serological Tests for Early Diagnosis of Leprosy".. A thorough review of the status of laboratory tests to diagnose leprosy early, was presented by scientists from the Foundation for Medical Research (FMR) viz. Dr Mridula and Ms Christina revealed that these tests are useful to diagnose and even classify leprosy. Utility of such tests is however restricted to identify mostly progressive forms of the disease. Diagnostic challenges posed by early leprosy remain unsolved by serological tests so far.
Ms Ratna Mangroelal, a medical student from the University of Amsterdam who is collaborating with BLP presented the principles of a recent test to detect antibodies against the germs causing leprosy. This test may be the likely answer, due to the simplicity of the test which can be performed under field conditions. The investigations are however not complete. The importance of research in this area is most crucial in leprosy elimination but funds are needed to harness the immense potential.
Contact: BLP - 25220608/ 25223040

Tribal route
A medical camp was held at the Karnal tribal village by Samarpan Charitable Medical Trust, an NGO working among the poor and needy. Around 60 children and 100 adults were treated, free medicines given.
Contact 2811 0364 email: samarpantrust@hotmail.com

Walking the ramp
Since 1992, the Chennai-based Shakti Foundation has been championing the cause of integrating the physically-challenged into the social stream. The Foundation Project Ramp has been campaigning for the need to put up ramps in public places, to enable those with Disabilities, gain easy access.
The Foundation identified with the Adhiparasakthi Medical and Research Hospital, l92 kms from Chennai as its sole project. The treatment is totally free. In the city of Chennai, the Foundation aspires:

• To have ramps compulsory in all public buildings by implementing the Disabilities Act of 1997 (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights, and Full Participation).
• To have separate parking lots for the physically-challenged.
• To have separate toilets for the physically-challenged.
• Suitable amendments in trains, aircraft's, and public transport to accommodate the wheelchair bound.
• To devise a way an ambulance can reach a hospital quickly when it houses a patient in a critical condition.
• To provide access for all kinds of physically-challenged Citizens at Zebra crossings whereby they get some systems to reach the other side of the roads.

Contact: The Shakti Foundation, # 9, Manickeswari Road, Kilpauk, Chennai - 600 010. Phone:044-2641 2842, 98400 36993.

"Positive Lives" in Mumbai
Mumbai: "This is the real war and we must fight it like any other war -with all our might" Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said while inaugurating "Positive Lives" --the international exhibition of photographs depicting people with Positive HIV/AIDS infections and film festival, at the Nehru Centre on May 2. Seminars on Women and HIV; HIV and the Media; Corporates and HIV AIDS followed attended by over 250 participants from 30 NGOS from 27 districts of Maharashtra.

The highlight of the exhibition was a dance drama by Komal Gandhar of Calcutta (see Media section) The exhibition ran till May 6. Organised by Apne Aap Worldwide and DRIK in partnership with WISE, the exhibition was supported by AVERT Society, UNDP, CRS and the Rotary.
Contact 2267 0777.

Summer camps
NGOs have been at the fore organizing summer trips and camps for the underprivileged. Among those who organised trips were the Red Spastic and Parents of Downs Syndrome Association who planned a six-day summer camp for mentally challenged individuals to help them develop self-confidence from May 19-30. Activities included yoga, art and craft, puppet shows etc.
Contact: 2630 1393/ 2632 2457.

Vidhi, a social organisation held a marriage seminar for the physically challenged, hering and visually impaired on May 11. Contact: 2635 5497.