Vikas Maitri
Voluntary Development Society in Jharkhand
|
www.vikasmaitri.org |
website for rural and tribal development |
|
|
|
|
|
Vikas Maitri |
||
|
Voluntary Development Society in Jharkhand |
The Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Valley Movement) has appealed to all friends, co-workers, youth, students, members of various people's movements, those displaced due to various projects, labourers, tribals, dalits, sensitive citizens, artists, journalists and media persons to come to the spot and verify for themselves the truth from 25 - 27 April 2006. There will be welcome in villages, overnight stay in the farmers' houses, visits to tribal villages on the banks of the river, tribal dances and travel through the boats in the river followed by a long march in Badwani and a torch rally. Those interested may contact the organizers. See the Invitation. Other events
that are being organised are: NATIONAL RALLY AGAINST FORCED EVICTIONS AND
DISPOSSESSION Friday 28 April at 11 A.M. Rajghat to Rashtrapati Bhavan and
CANDLE LIGHT VIGIL on Sunday 30th April 6:30 PM at Jantar Mantar. See
Invitation. A two-day workshop was organised by Centre for World Solidarity Jamshedpur starting from 10 April at Social Development Centre Ranchi. Among the speakers were Aravind Kumar, Dr. Kailash, Dr. A.K. Basu, Dr. S.K. Singh, Dr. Palit, Dr. R.K. Mishra, Dr. Saran and Dominic Bara. A summary of the recommendations will be presented at the end of the workshop. The speakers emphasized the importance of equal participation of women and people's participation in promoting the agriculture policy. Mr. Dominic
Bara who was invited as resource person for development of
sustainable agriculture policy commented that alternative agriculture is
often branded as marginal and said that on the contrary alternative
agriculture is much more productive and competitive than the conventional
agriculture. However, experimenting with alternative agriculture also
requires considerable time and money than expected. Maintenance
of organic matter level of the soil in Jharkhand is important as the soil
has already been deteriorated to reach the critical stage. As per the Church Policy on HIV/AIDS "Commitment to Compassion and Care" Vikas Maitri organised three-day workshop on Human behaviour and prevention of HIV/AIDS, starting from March 22, 2006. Altogether 58 representatives from different NGOs from Jharkhand participated in the workshop. The programme was inaugurated by Dr. D.P. Taneja, Joint Director, Jharkhand State Aids Control Society. He informed the audience of the different schemes of assistance to NGOs by the State. Mr. Dominic Bara, Director of Vikas Maitri presented the welcome address highlighting the objective and the Church Policy on HIV/AIDS. He said the present programme is a consequence of the policy of the church. Senior Journalist Mr. H. Singh, Editor of Hindustan Times spoke about the ethical side of preventive measures of HIV/AIDS. The other resource person for the workshop were: Dr. S.P. Singh, Dr. Suresh Agrawal and Dr. Binita Jaya Ekka. Two HIV infected persons also participated in the workshop and shared their experiences.
Adivasi Sanyojan is a tribal people's organisation in Jharkhand specially active in Chotanagpur region. Its main purpose is to organise the tribal people. This is important because traditional tribal unity is in danger mainly because of clan divisions and increasing communalisation of communities. Adivasi Sanyojan makes an endeavour to address this issue through organising state wide annual conventions on topical issues. The latest such a convention was organised in a village near Lohardaga from 11 - 14 March 2006, attended by about 300 delegates from different parts of the region. The three day function was attended by nearly one thousand people of the locality.
Economic Survey 2005-06 shows that in the ranking of
Nations India has slipped three places to 127 in the social indicator
ranking of 177 nations. India is far behind China, Sri Lanka and
Indonesia. This was despite higher economic growth and income
level. There is a need for accelerated improvements in education and
health, the survey pointed out. The Economic Survey was presented to
the Parliament recently. The Supreme Court held that
the child of a tribal woman married to be a non-tribal man cannot claim
status of a Schedule Tribe. However offspring of a marriage between a
tribal father and non-tribal mother will be entitled to such benefits it
held. The Court rejected the appeal of one Anjan Kumar, son of an
Oraon tribal mother and a Kaystha father for claiming benefits. An all Jharkhand workshop of women delegates is going on (10 -12 Jan.) under the auspices of Vikas Maitri to address issues such as declining social status of tribal women, exodus of women, their exploitation, maltreatment and violence, sexual harassment, biases in economic opportunity and their probable role in coming Panchayati raj system. Mrs. Roseline Lakra, retired Director of Akashvani Ranchi inaugurated the workshop. Mr. Dominic Bara, Director Vikas Maitri gave the welcome address. He also addressed the audience on the first topic: declining status of adivasi women and their present problems. Sr. Gemma highlight the plight of women by presenting case studies with which she had to deal with in the course of her work. Some of the cases she described presented a horrific picture of the situation. The workshop was attended by 65 women delegates coming from Hazaribagh, Deoghar, Dumka, Pakur, Simdega,Singhbhum and Jamshedpur besides Ranchi. |
