March 2007 Edition
Civil Society News
New Delhi
The voluntary sector plays an important role in protecting the interests of common people, but NGOs need an image makeover with greater accountability and a willingness to find solutions to problems through negotiation and dialogue.
These indications of how common people possibly regard NGOs emerge from an opinion poll conducted by GFK Mode for Civil Society in six metropolitan cities. The poll showed that people had high expectations of NGOs with nine out of 10 respondents saying they had an important role to play. The young were particularly positive on the role of NGOs.The respondents overwhelmingly supported the need for NGOs in health, education, urban development, rural development, rehabilitation, fighting corruption and protecting the environment.
But there was concern over personal agendas pursued by NGOs and their failure to deliver results. An important finding was substantial support among respondents for talks with the private sector on matters of dispute.
Civil Society News
New Delhi
THE National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS) in Pune has anchored a widely signed letter to the Union government spelling out why the policy on setting up special economic zones (SEZ) should be scrapped. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) have put further SEZs on hold. The NCAS letter is addressed to Pranab Mukherjee, chairperson of EGoM, urging him to examine issues being raised by farmers, communities and people’s movements on SEZs. It asks for repeal of the SEZ Act and cancellation of approved and noti-fied SEZs. The letter urges the government to talk with panchayats, people’s groups and communities on how to develop local economies.
Shankar Venkateswaran
MY mainstream newspaper reading habits are somewhat limited but in all the news stories around the protests about Tata Motors and Singur, Mamta Banerjee hogged the headlines, with Medha Patkar being a distant second. Sadly, I do not recall reading anything about what NGOs had to say on the issue. Whether the sector did not say any-thing or whether what it said was not covered, I don’t know, but in either case does it suggest that NGOs are becoming irrelevant?
A competent and respected NGO working in a north Indian state had a hair-raising experience recently. Asked to submit a proposal by the state government for a government-funded programme, four of its staff members were held hostage and threatened in a government office by goons led by a local politician who threatened them with dire con-sequences if they did not withdraw their proposal!
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How to make a one lakh car is the wrong question. The question should be, how best can we design transportation for different sectors of the country? Let us get out of medieval age thinking. Our leaders should think about growth and relevance. Poonam Bir Kasturi A well known
newspaper stated
that children of a
nearby village were
dying of malnutrition.
We checked door to door
but did not find a
single case. We never Meera
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Susheela Nair
Periyar (Kerala)
EXCHANGE your smoky, noisy city for a few days of absolute bliss. Go to Spice Village, on the fringes of the Periyar Tiger Resort in Kerala. A cottage with a roof of elephant grass awaits you inside a deep, dark forest. Birds sing a symphony of songs. Cool gentle breeze wafts in carrying the aroma of cinnamon and vanilla. Set in the plantation town of Kumily, Spice Village is a resort where you can have a wild time. You also get material comforta lovely room, excellent food, a swimming pool, a smoky bar and lots more. Combining the best of Indian tradition and Western comfort, this world renowned resort has consistently won acclaim for its service, cuisine and the experience it offers. Spice plantation resorts are now on the global tourist map, thanks to Spice Village. Cottages here have been designed like jungle dwellings of the Oorali and Mannan tribes of Periyar. The cottage that houses the office is an original tribal hut which has been modified. The architecture merges into the forest. Each cottage is surrounded by a verandah from where you can see stars, fruit bats and fireflies. The cottage is a home away from home. Interiors are simple and spacious with terracotta tiled floors, whitewashed walls, plaid upholstery and furniture from pine. You don’t need piped music when there
Civil Society News
New Delhi
THE tiny village of Ranidhera in Chhattisgarh’s Kabir Dham district has never known what it is to have electricity and has experienced no develop-ment. But when lights do go on in the huts of its 120 households at the end of February, Ranidhera will be catapulted into a world class league of users of renewable energy.
The power it will get will be generated from the oil-rich seeds of jatropha trees that the villagers have been growing. Ranidhera’s backwardness is a terrible shame. Its power solution on the other hand is a triumph of innovation, useful technology and social entrepreneurshipIt will be the first example of an entire village’s electricity needs being met through the use of a biofuel.
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Susheela Nair
Cochin
HERITAGE at its monumental best is what the visitor is privy to in Kerala, God’s Own Country. Head for Fort Kochi. Stroll down its winding streets to discover the old-world magic of this erstwhile trading colony where Chinese fishing nets still
haul a good catch and shops flaunt antiques on Jewish Street. The bungalows, centuries old, are a tribute to the rich culture of the area – a medley of portuguese, Dutch, Keralite and even Chinese influences. Their foundations are redolent of ancient history. One such heritage home is Koder House.
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Madhu Gurung
New Delhi
BEING Male, Being Koti’ by first-time film maker Mahuya Bandyopadhya is a half-hour documentary that explores what it means to be a ‘gender variant’. The film celebrates the lives of a group of Kotis, a sexual minority, who are biologically men but through mannerism and emotions conduct themselves with an enhanced degree of feminism. The film has been shot in Kolkata with Pratyay, a rights-based support group. The documentary is just one of 52 made every year with funds from the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT), a group that gives film makers a chance to produce thoughtful films on contemporary India. “I had done years of research but never trained to be a film maker. While shooting did not take long, what was difficult was to translate written words into notions of identity on a visual medium. PSBT trusted an individual like me and let me put across a point of view without overt policing,” says Mahuya Bandopadhyaya, a teacher of sociology at Miranda House, Delhi.
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