AID News for Apr 29 2004
aid...@aidindia.org
AID News for Thu Apr 29 2004
AID News for Thu Apr 29, 2004
-->
AID News for Thu Apr 29, 2004
Today's Headlines
1) Elections Special : A compilation
2) Balaji Sampath at College Park
3) Your voice counts: Bhopal week of action
Today's News
1) Elections special : A compilation
'Development Is Sexy'
As elections issues go, no party can forego economic growth now. Is it an idea whose time has come? Or will it be back to populism, post-poll? In UP then, the vox populi is development, development and development. BSP in the state doesn't stand for ex-CM Mayawati's party anymore, but bijli, sadak, pani. Power, roads, water. Development, in other words. It echoes all over the country, in states prosperous and poor. Some 58 years of waiting for basic minimum needs has worn off the toughest apathy and the longest patience. The voters are now demanding: forget politics, forget religion, give us what we need everyday—jobs, power, water, roads, health.
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20040426&fname=QEconomy+(F)&sid=1</a></p>
<p>'Our flawed democracy'
Democracy in India has mistakenly been identified exclusively with the electoral process. Without effective constitutional governance across the length and breadth of the country, and without the iron rule of law, democracy is at best a legitimising charade for transient kleptocracies. The world's largest democracy is going to vote once more, and as the campaign gathers momentum, so do the reports of rising violence and intimidation in wide areas of the country affected by terrorism.
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20040419&fname=kps&sid=1</a></p>
<p>One reason Naidu may lose: dead farmer Nagi Reddy
Not one of Naidu’s Vision 2020 schemes works in this village, govt interface: updating death figures
kurugunta: If Mr Chandrababu Naidu loses Andhra Pradesh this time and if he decides to find out why, he should take this journey: turn right from the National Highway after Anantapur town and travel 9 km through a landscape dotted with the desert’s acacia and, occasionally, the light-coloured stubble of a dead crop. Here lived Nagamani Reddy, the rock of the village. He was a six-foot-tall, well-built man who everyone in the village turned to in times of trouble. At home, when it came to the crunch, he told his wife to cut down on meals rather than stop his three children from going to school. He lifted earth from 6 am to 10 pm to make sure his son got a chance to join the Army and his daughter could become a teacher. On February 19, Rs 2.2 lakh in debt, Nagi Reddy killed himself by drinking pesticide.
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=45636_
BBC's election special
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2004/india_votes_2004/default.stm
US Indians optimistic about elections
Much of the Indian diaspora in the United States is looking on with confident optimism at the mother country's general elections. Some US-based children don't know the difference between these two For the first time, they say, India looks like an international powerhouse, not a shrinking, complaining country unable to deal with the rest of the world.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3632085.stm
Elections and Health
In March, a national coalition of health groups attempted to meet with political parties on a minimum standard of health for all Indians. The NDA and the Congress were absent. But what plans and promises on 'health for all' have the NDA and the Congress offered this election cycle? Abhijit Das takes a closer look.
http://indiatogether.org/2004/apr/hlt-polls2004.htm
The millions who cannot vote
By having elections at a time when people are forced to migrate in search of work, we are simply excluding an ever-growing number of citizens from the vote, says P Sainath.
http://indiatogether.org/2004/apr/psa-novote.htm
Why this election is different
As India's massive election exercise begins, citizens watch committees have teamed up to help voters assess and make sense of the candidates' disclosures.
http://indiatogether.org/2004/apr/gov-cewnums.htm
Despising politicians is dangerous
Elections 2004 are around the corner and Jayaprakash Narayan points out that the 'hate-politicians' attitude is perilous to democracy itself.
http://indiatogether.org/2004/mar/opi-politics.htm
EVERY general election has a theme or acquires a defining characteristic. The first three were about affirming and reaffirming faith in the Congress, the natural party of governance after Independence. The 1967 election marked the first real chink in the electoral armour of a party that had fashioned its dominance through the support of a heterogeneous ensemble of voters. In 1971, an election held after the Congress split, Mrs. Indira Gandhi set the tone for the poll through an unifying and overarching campaign theme: ``garibi hatao''. It was a smart manoeuvre to outwit her detractors who had tried to personalise the election with slogans such as ``Indira hatao''; and it paid off.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/mag/2004/03/21/stories/2004032100100100.htm
-- with contributions from Hema Swaminathan
2) Balaji Sampath at College Park
**************************************************************
Association for India's Development (AID) invites you to meet
BALAJI SAMPATH & KALPANA KARUNAKARAN
Talk and Discussion
HOW BIG IS A 1000?
Expanding micro-level efforts to a 1000-village scale
... and going beyond
WHEN: May 1 (Saturday), 3 PM
WHERE: 1201, Physics Bldg, Univ of MD, College Park
*************************************************************
Balaji Sampath is an AID JeevanSaathi, who returned to India in 1997
after a Ph.D. from Univ of MD and a crucial role in building AID
chapters across the US. He has been working full-time with AID-India
and Tamil Nadu Science Forum (TNSF). A captivating speaker, Balaji is
on a short visit to US to share his experiences. Kalpana Has worked
with TNSF for several years, playing a key role in the women's savings
movement MALAR, with 7000 members in Kanyakumari district.
schedule
1st - 3rd Maryland AID-CP, AID-Baltimore.
4th - 8th Princeton, NYC, NJ, Cornell. AID-Princeton, Asha-NYC-NJ, Asha-Cornell
9th - 12th Boston AID-Boston, Asha-MIT/Boston
13th -16th San Diego AID-San Diego
17th - 18th Los Angeles AID-LA
19th - 23rd Bay Area AID-Bay Area, Asha-Sunnyvale, Asha-Stanford, Berkeley.
3) BHOPAL WEEK OF ACTION: APRIL 26TH--MAY 3RD
**Tell Union Carbide and Dow Chemical to obey the law by appearing for trial in Bhopal, India.**
Take Action!
- Serve the members of Dow's Board of Directors with the official summons that the Indian Government has published, calling for Union Carbide to appear for trial in Bhopal!
1. Visit http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/ServeTheBoard.htm to print off copies of three documents:
---> The official summons that the Government of India published in the Washington Post in 1992, demanding that Union Carbide appear for trial before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Bhopal;
---> A copy of the letter that 18 members of the US Congress sent to Dow in July of 2003, demanding that Dow produce Union Carbide for trial in Bhopal and stating that its continued refusal to do so is in blatant disregard for the law.
---> The testimonial of a Bhopal gas survivor who, like tens of thousands of other gas-affected people in Bhopal, has been waiting for justice for nearly 20 years.
2. Include any personal comments that you may have and post the documents to the homes of Dow's Board members. The addresses of 13 of Dow's fifteen Board members are available on the website, and we urge you to send a copy of the documents to each one of them. If you want to make sure that the Board members receive them, ask your Post Office for signature confirmation; for each of the envelopes (it costs an additional $1.80 per letter).
3. Urge your friends and family members to send copies of the documents as well--the more letters that we can stuff in their mailboxes, the more visible the strength of our movement becomes and the more likely Dow's decision-makers are to listen.
For more information: http://www.studentsforbhopal.org
-- Contributed by Ryan Bodanyi
----
That's all folks,
Regards
Arun Sripati
Just another quote:
When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
P.S. The AID News archives are available at AID News website
http://www.aidindia.org/hq/publications/aid_news.htm
P.P.S. Please visit the AID News site for more details on addition,
subtraction from the list and also to send in comments or if you
prefer email, the editor's email id is
aid...@aidindia.org
P.P.P.S. Access articles quoted in AID News: AID News Links Page
http://www.aidindia.org/links/
P.P.P.P.S. Disclaimers - The views expressed in AID News, including
disclaimers, are not necessarily those of AID. Chapter, BoD or EB
decisions are sometimes conveyed in AID News. The views of the
editor do not necessarily reflect those of AID and the views
expressed by others do not necessarily reflect those of the editor.
=cut