Ekta Parishad South India eNews Letter


Ekta Parishad South Ind!a News
  Issue – 001-, January – April 2010
Editorial

Dear Friends
Biju our sub editor of CESCI India News Letter has just returned to India after a long trip in Europe. He has returned with a lot of new ideas and new contacts. At the first meeting after his arrival, we have taken some major decisions:
1.      Our work in south India needs to expand beyond Tamilnadu and Kerala and should include Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Pondychery.
2.      There should be a large participation from south India in Jansatyagraha 2012.
3.      Biju will be appointed as our South India Coordinator to shape the climate for 2012 action. He will network with various dalit, women, adivasi, and youth organizations in south India.
As a result, the newsletter from now on will be called Ekta Parisahd South India News and I am sure you will enjoy reading more about all of south India and also being informed about our activities in this part of the world.
Geographical expansion demands more resources for training young people, more resources for supporting activist and more resources for travel. Your support is always welcome. Please contact us for information and we will get back to you with details.
Rajagopal.P.V

EP South India Perspective towards 2012
Participation form south India in Janadesh was very limited. The total number of people who participated was less than 1000 and the states which were represented  were only Tamilnadu and Kerala.
Our hope is to change this situation in 2012 by increasing the participation of people as well as the number of states.
Biju has taken over as a coordinator of South India and he will try to promote strategies in-order to make the south Indian participation more effective while strengthening the ongoing work in Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Pondychery and Kerala to network other organizations and link them to the 2012 efforts.
Because of the Forest Rights Act, it will be important to focus on networking with adivasi organizations in south India. With the help of Ms.Lillikutty and Ms.Srija, we will explore various possibilities in Kerala to involve women. The land agenda can be an important area for their coming together.
Youth mobilization among the middle class needs to be promoted to try to get schools and universities to involve young people in 2012. Swami Satchidananda, Dr.William Bhaskaran, Dr. S. Jeyapragasam, Dr. Vijayam of Vijayawada, Shri. Prabhat of NCRI, Dr. Kulandai Swami of Chennai are all good contacts in this context.
Involving dalit organizations in the next action will be important as dalit issues are forcefully articulated in south India. The relationship between dalit issues and landlessness can be an agenda to increase the dalits’ involvement in JS 2012 action. We will contact dalit organizations directly and also through Aadi Tamil Viduthalai Iyyakam which is a strong dalit movement in Tamilnadu.
Other than the above, major groups we will also contact include artists, media people, as well as political leaders in order to enlist their support to the next action.
Biju Europe Visit Report- Abstract
It was a great opportunity for me to travel to Europe to gain knowledge and comprehend Ekta Parishad from a distance as well as to upgrade my awareness about Ekta Parishad activities. While travelling in Europe I learned that there are a lot of people showing interest in the work of Ekta Parishad and looking at EP as a magnificent model to change the present situation of the world. During this three month travel time, I got an opportunity to meet many old and new friends of Ekta Parishad from Switzerland, France, Belgium and Germany.
In the first part of my stopover, most of the time I was in Switzerland. Till the end of January I was in the city of Bern (the federal capital of Switzerland) where CESCI foundation was organizing the India Forum program for three weeks in support to JS 2012 promotion. It was an exhibition with rice called ‘All The People In All The World’ along with other particular programs like podium discussions on food security, Janadesh video shows, an introduction to Ekta Parishad and CESCI, meeting with school children, general discussions, and Indian dance etc.  About 1700 people visited this Indian forum rice show program. Through this India forum, there was a good opportunity for us to meet and talk with many people about Ekta Parishad and JS 2012.
While I was in Bern I had a brief discussion with Ms. Iyvonne of Solifunds about their financial support to the EP Kerala activities and in general Ekta Parishad, Janadesh 2007 and our future action JS 2012. Based on this discussion she has agreed to support a small action (about the same amount like last year) in any part of India in support to Janasathyagraha for the 2011-2012 year.  
Similarly I also had a small meeting with the friends from Swiss Aid while we were at the podium discussion at the India forum program. Swiss Aid is also interested to support EP programs in the direction to JS 2012 action.  
Second part of my main program was visiting some French organisations in the cities of Grenoble, Lyon and Chambery. In these cities EP is relatively popular and most of the people know very well Ekta Parishad and Rajaji. Even in far away villages, I have seen people who knew Rajaji and are inspired by the work of EP. The French organisations I visited were trying to get some inputs from Ekta Parishad to organise foot marches in France on the issue of homeless people in France. They have many social centres there to help the homeless people supported by the city government. But the social groups are demanding the Govt to change their housing policies to benefit the needy people and secure the habitation. Mr. Adrian will come to India to learn about the youth camp and mobilization from Ekta Parishad and he is already in communication with Elodi in this regard. Mr. Manu Bodiner is a good friend of Rajaji and he was coordinating the Gandhi tour program in the October 2009 at the cities of Grenoble, Lyon and Chambery etc. He is interested to support EP and its activities.  
The last two weeks of February I came again to Switzerland. During these weeks I visited many friends and small groups who are already part of our EP family. I can see the interest and enthusiasm of the people here and they strongly believe that EP can do something very great to change the situation of the poor people and secure the food security in India and become a model to the world to change. Towards this end they see the importance of each and every action and program. For example, in support of JS 2012 and future action programs of EP, setting up a media centre in India is something very important in the international context. In this connection they are trying to find very good quality volunteers like Boris to help and to create a national-international communication platform through media work. They have a long list of volunteers in their file to work for the development of media centre in India in support to JS 2012.
Teachers like Eva Sutter and her friends are very much interested to support Ekta Parishad. In support of Janadesh, their school Bullach Kantons Schule organised a big foot print action and raised some money to support our action.  Even after two years of Janadesh, they are still keeping the information in their notice board about Janadesh and its results. It is so interesting to see such beautiful things here far away from India. The teachers are highly concerned and they want to continue their support to Ekta Parishad.
Similarly teachers from the Zurich International School wanted to support Ekta Parishad and its programs. They came to know EP through the film by Hans Jurg. Maggie organised a meeting with some of the teachers and the students of this school. The school may organise some events to raise some money to support JS 2012 action programs.
Franziska of Reck Film Company wanted to make a film on EP. In this regard we had a discussion with their film company along with Kude.   They wanted to visit India and to meet people from the villages who have benefited of EP intervention. Mr. Christoph Staub may visit to India in June 2010 and would like to visit Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Tamilnadu and Kerala in this connection.
Mr. Karl Saurer, the filmmaker, wants to continue his film production work with Mr. Gautham of Chennai on the theme of non-violent action.  
CESCI friends (Barbara, her husband Urs, Andrea Herold, Margrit Buchi, etc) from St. Gallen organized a wonderful meeting with a group of about 50 people. Mr. Bruno the co-architect of CESCI building was also there in the meeting. It was so nice to see such good friends of Maja and their support to our good work. The Tamil and Swiss friends came together and cooked a wonderful dinner for the meeting and have collected some money to support JS 2012.
In support of promoting Tamil and Swiss peoples’ integration in Switzerland, Kude is planning a theatre production with the children of his theatre company called Purpur. In connection with this production we had a meeting with a small group of theatre personalities. Theatre artist Mr. Shanmugaraja from Tamilnadu, may be invited to Switzerland to reproduce the play like Chippichung (CESCI village children’s play) with Swiss Tamil children’s.
Para theatre is another theatre form that performed with the participation of the audience. It is a way of story telling (maybe for us to talk about the problems of the world) with the audience. The performance will happen the whole night or throughout the day like a casual life. We may have to train our people during the theatre festival programs to enhance their knowledge of such theatre activities.
Basel carnival was another major attraction for me and it makes me to think to make use of our padayatras partially with this kind of carnival style. When we organize such huge rallies, these kind of carnival costumes and colours may give us media attraction and we can make use of this as an opportunity to imitate the politician’s false promises and the real people’s problems.
Sarah Hammerli is a student from Thune and she got interested in Ekta Parishad through one of her family friends called Mrs.Ingrid. As part of her studies she has decided to do her MATHURA on the topic of CESCI and EP relations for social change. She has collected a lots of materials and made many data collection forms at the Indian forum at Bern. She may become a good contact for EP Europe in future.
In March I traveled to Belgium and Germany to meet more people in those countries to talk about our work in India. In Belgium Jacques Vellut took me in to cities like Bruxels, Louve de nouve, Namur and Liege. There I got opportunity to meet many interesting alternative groups like slow food groups, slow travel groups, simplicity living groups, and many wonderful personalities. One day, I had an opportunity to share a dais with the great writer and the ex Iranian minister Mr. Majid Rehnama (who wrote the book –power of poor) and Mr. Thierry G Verhelst, writer (No Life without Roots) in a podium discussion about poverty. I can see that Mr. Jacques Vellut and his friends are spending lots of their time and energy to support Ekta Parishad and its activities. Mr. Alan, Ms. Emiline, Ms. Alina, Mr. Dominique, and there are many other friends are very much interested to come to India and participate in the programs with EP. Ms. Daniele from alternative voyage is an interested woman to collaborate with EP to organize trips to the Indian villages to benefit the villagers directly and create connections with the village community. She is doing this type of program with South American countries for the last 10 years. Along with alternative travel they are trying to preserve the local traditional artisan skills and knowledge of the local community. There is Peace University in Namur, where Mr. Luc (who visited CESCI in February this year with a small Belgium team) has some connections. There is a possibility to connect IGINP project with this Namur peace university and people here badly needed the philosophy of non-violence in their daily life.
From Belgium I came to Cologne, Germany.  Dr. Julius Reubke and Dr. Susanne Reubke was my host there; they have created a supporting group in Germany called friends of Ekta Parishad. Dr. Julius Reubke has just arrived from Thailand, therefore he didn’t have much time to call or organise various meetings. Here I got some time to really interact with Dr. Julius Reubke and understand their expectations from Ekta Parishad to the world. He is in a process of writing one more book about the work of Ekta Parishad.  We were discussing the different dimensions and beauty of EP in the direction of understanding my perspective on Ekta Parishad. From the discussion I understand that, people still have too much dependency on Rajaji for various functions of the organization. It is something is to be handled in a responsible way. So we have to really take the responsibility and have to share the information and have to develop the leadership in all levels to continue the work of Ekta Parishad.   
On the 26, 27th of March, I participated in the EE meeting at Geneva. This was a good opportunity for me to get to know all the wonderful people who are supporting the work of EP. (There will be separate minutes available for this meeting).
Coming back to Zurich in the last part of my visit, with Maggie I met Ms. Rahel at the ETH university with a group of students of the anthropology department. Rahel was in CESCI during August 2009 with a Swiss students group and she got inspired by the work of CESCI. She has organized some fundraising programs in her university and has collected some money for the CESCI village program activities. In the meeting Maggie and I made a brief presentation about Ekta Parishad and JS 2012 action followed by a video presentation. Rahel and her friends group are very active and serious and I am sure she will be a good contact for the work of EP.
Finally in a discussion with Kude I was asked to carry two important messages to Rajaji concerning the vision to develop the dream project: an Ekta  Media Centre and an Ekta Media Manch. The Ekta media Centre can be established in Gwalior or in Bhopal. It will be a service and production centre for all media work within Ekta Parishad and for the media world in India and in the global network. Under the banner of Ekta Media Manch, a Media Festival can be organized with various media people and social activists are interested and capable to understand and implement the media work on the grass root level.
Carrying all these wonderful experiences and beautiful memories with me, I left for India from the Zurich airport on the 2nd of April with Emirates air lines via Dubai and arrived in Madurai safely.
I am thankful to the whole family of Ekta Parishad for providing me with this great opportunity to travel to Europe, all the friends of CESCI foundation, Switzerland and Ekta Europe who happily provided food and shelter during my stay and made use of my time and spared their valuable time to keep me busy towards the common cause.
Endorsement Letter
Dear friends
First of all let me thank you for all the support that you gave me personally as well as to Ekta Parishad in organizing a long march of 25,000 people from Gwalior to Delhi I October 2007. It was your support that made the march a successful action.
Though a National land Reform Council was established as a result of this long march I am sorry to inform you that the council was not able to deliver an effective land reform policy. The Forest Rights Act announced immediately after the march is also not implemented properly.
Ekta Parishad has decided to raise this issue again through mass mobilization. A foot march will begin from Orissa on the 2nd of October 2011 and will reach Gwalior after covering a distance of about 6000 Kms. One lakh people are joining at Gwalior on the 2nd of October 2012 for a long march to Delhi.
Needless to state that, the Ekta Parishad cannot do it unless we receive your active support. You can support Janasathyagraha 2012 in the following ways.
  1. By endorsing the march.
  2. By sending people from your organization to participate.
  3. By circulating the news about the march to friends and media.
  4. By organizing support programs in your district in October 2012.
  5. By sending a donation to support the action.
  6. By sending a letter to prime minister of India to implement pro poor policies announced by the Govt.
  7. By joining this campaign as a full timer for the next two years.
I hope you will understand that the anti-poor policies that are being promoted in the name of development need to be challenged by the people of India cutting across party level. I am sure I will receive your full support in organizing Janasathyagraha 2012.
With warm regards
Rajagopal. P.V

Expansion of CESCI Village work

Lalitha the village work coordinator explained that the works going on in the villages around CESCI are progressing well in different directions like Women, Children, Employment generation etc. Based on this experience report the committee of CESCI has decided to approve the idea of slowly expanding the work into another four more villages and also linking different institutions with village program. Dr. Razak a veterinary doctor from Algeria was with us for about two weeks and visited some villages with Lalitha and also found that the villagers can make use animal husbandry as a good income generation activity. Based on his visit to the villages he formulated a proposal in the direction to help 20 farmers in animal husbandry. Those who are interested to support this needy project and to get a copy of the proposal please contact Mr. Biju, the coordinator (cescimadurai@gmail.com) 


Announcement
International Gandhian Institute for Nonviolence and Peace (IGINP) is inviting applications for joining a one year diploma course in Nonviolence and peace through distance education. Those who are interested to join please contact Dr. S. Jeyapragsam, director, IGINP to his email: majabetsy@gmail.com


CESCI Organics oil processing unit Visit Report
By:  Dr. Razak 
Mr. Natarajan is the new Project Manager since last October (15th of October 2009).  Mr. Natarajan, had improved the relationship with the hostile neighbouring population. He is a very talkative person and doesn’t hesitate to talk with the neighbours, to listen to them and explain the meaning of the project each time the possibility came.
He is fully involved in the oil processing unit, which is the only lasting activity of CESCI organic project (all the other activities had been stopped, to focus on the processing unit and start the production as soon as possible).
There are two buildings; Building 1 at the entrance; used as office and to host the team and any guest. Building 2, where the machines of the oil processing unit are installed is situated at a distance of 100 meter from the entrance. A telephone connection is available
Establishment of a connection with the electric network:
Mr. Natarajan has approached the Panchayat to register the building in order to have a door number. After paying the different taxes, the Panchayat accorded a door number and approved the future economic activity. That was in November 2009.
Once the door number was accorded, Mr. Natarajan approached the competent authority and sent a request for a connection to the electricity network. A triple line phase is needed for the oil processing unit. An initial deposit of Rs.13.500 was asked to study the request. An engineer of the District came and made an estimation for the triple phase line for the oil processing unit. The amount to be paid was Rs.42.000.
The Nagapatinam district had accorded a triple line phase and the real connection with the electric network has been established at the end of February 2010.
The inner wiring had been finished on March 20th, 2010 and so the connection of the different machines to the electric power network.
Acquisition of the machines:
The 4 machines have been purchased in 3 different places.
  • 1 Decorticator machine => from Dindigal district on December 2009,
  • 2 Rotary machines Tricharaparalli district, on mid-December 2009,
  • 1 Oil filter machine from Selam district, on February 2010.
The installation of the 4 machines was achieved on the end of February 2010.
Once the machines were installed, the connection to the electric network was established and the inner wiring installation finished and made a first trial test on the 31st of March 2010. A bag of 40kg of groundnut was processed successfully. A second trial test on the 6 of April 2010 by Mr. Natarajan was also successful.
According to Mr. Natarajan, the marketing of the oil and other products (like groundnut cake) is not at all a problem, and the access to the market is easy. He added that there is a big demand in Chennai, which is  4 hours distant form Nagapattinam District.
Oil Processing activity:
The project manager will make an announcement by speaker in the different villages surrounding (at a distance of 20km) for the 450 farmers cultivating groundnut; to announce that the processing unit activity will start soon.
There will not be a formal contract between the farmers and the processing unit. He had prepared a notice for the farmers and he will distribute it this week for the farmers. He will go himself to meet the farmers at the village level to introduce the activities of the processing unit and the different services for the farmers.
The capacity of the processing unit: 8 bags of groundnut /1 hour
6 bags of neem seeds/ 1 hour
Rhythm of activity: 8 to 10 hours/day
150 kg for the crushing
According to   M. Natarajan, the harvesting season will start soon, and he is planning to purchase 100 bags of groundnut (each bag has a capacity of 40kg) from the surrounding farmers.
The oil processing unit will also process neem seeds. The Decorticator machine will be use both for crushing groundnut and neem seeds, while one of the two rotary machines will be exclusively used for groundnut.
Need of investment:
For a better accommodation, there is a need to;
  • Transform the two shower rooms in bathrooms with toilet.
  • Construction of stairs in the processing unit building, so there will be a possibility to build a toilet under the stairs.
  • A construction of bore well (the well and also plumbing needed).

Reports from South India for the month of April 2010

1.      On my arrival back after three months visit in Europe I had a meeting with Rajaji at CESCI on the 5th of April 2010. In this meeting I have decided to take responsibility of Ekta Parishad South India coordination along with CESCI Centre coordinator. We have drafted an EP south Indian project perspective for the year 2010-11. (Copy of the same is available). In-order to work as a south Indian coordinator, it is important to get the Ekta Parishad national coordination support, for that a letter was forwarded to the national convener to seek his support and help.
2.      It was decided to change CESCI India news letter as Ekta Parishad South India News letter, to begin the process of South Indian EP coordination work. An editorial was drafted by Rajaji.
3.      In-order to support JS 2012 action CESCI can offer a carnival workshop in November 2010 instead of theatre festival. We can invite 100 activists and train them to make a Carnival before the JS 2012 action on the route Gwalior to Delhi and also during the JS action. Shanmugaraja, theatre artist will develop a concept and plan in consultation with other resource persons. We need a confirmation from the EP national team to organise such a carnival workshop at MGSA resource centre in November 2010.
4.      On 10th April I had a meeting with Mr. Udayan and Mr. Suresh babu at KGNS office. They were just back from the tsunami area visit and have an impression that the project should continue as a separate federation or a small organisation by empowering the team. EP has done substantial work in the field of the tsunami area and it is important to continue the work by empowering the team and it is also not easy to withdraw from that villages. KGNS will continue its work in the direction of networking with its nine partner organisations, adivasi and land agenda, tsunami rehabilitation, women empowerment, youth mobilization and anti liquor campaign in Kerala. They have money available for three months for some limited activities and need support to continue the work. Jill madam has formulated some five proposals and is waiting for its response from the donor agencies.
5.      A group of 20 teachers from SAWRD (a partner organisation of KGNS) wanted to take participate a Nai Talim training program at CESCI Madurai. IGINP can invite these teachers to participate in their regular non-violence and peace programs. (It discussed with Dr. Jeyapragsamji and decided to organise the training during 14,15,16 May at CESCI).
6.      Visited CESCI organics on 14-15 of April along with Dr. Razak (Algerian Vetinary doctor) to understand its development. The oil unit is fully functioning now and it needs further investments to continue the work. Razak has prepared a small report with some photographs and it can be forwarded to Solidarity along with account report.
7.      Dr. Razak has visited CESCI villages along with Lalitha and found that the possibility to integrate animal husbandry as an income generation activity for the village community. He has developed a small proposal in this direction to benefit 20 farmers from the beginning. (copy of the proposal is available at CESCI office)
8.      On 16th April, I had a meeting with Mr. Raja of ARUDECS. He is interested to work for EP by working among the paliya tribals. Through this course of action he wants to bring about 2000 people to JS 2012 action. He needs some scholarship and program support. He will get Rs 3,000/- per month from April onwards to this task. He is in a process of developing a program proposal in this direction. There will be a separate committee for working on Adivasi agenda and will focus on JS 2012 mobilization and participation.
9.      Participated KGNS board meeting on 28th and 29th to understand the program direction of EP Kerala.  KGNS will move in a direction in to women leadership empowerment with its network partners and federation groups with a perspective on socio-economic development. The newly elected executive committee will have 19 members (16 network members + 3 individuals).
10.  On the 29th afternoon we had an EP Kerala workers meeting along with Jill madam. (Suresh, Vijayan, Mhalaxmi, Anu  Srija, Vasu waynad, Biju, Jill madam).
11.  Mahalaxmi will continue her work among the tsunami project area and will try to mobilize people to participate JS 2012 action. She is planning to bring about 200 people to Delhi. She needs support in terms of programs and finance. Udayan and Suresh babu will visit her project area and will help her to develop a program plan.
12.  Srija is planning to bring about 500 people to JS 2012 from EP kerala Mahila manch working areas. She also needs program and financial support. Srija will organise a MM leaders meeting and will develop a plan of action for the year 2010-11 and will forward to the EP MM national office and Jill madam for their support.
Peoples’ Energy for Nonviolent Action
Jan Satyagraha is built on Janadesh.  The idea is to direct peoples’ power to bring about policy change the larger level.  The idea is also to direct peoples’ energy for nonviolent action.  Making the State accountable is a task that needs to be addressed across the globe.  Generally people are active at the time of election.  Janadesh and Jan Satyagraha are based on an understanding among the people need to be vigilant and active all the time.  A vibrant democracy can become a reality only when the people are constantly active in driving the government to the needs of the deprived section of the society.
In a globalizing world like many other countries India is also an active player.  The democratically elected government is compromising the interest of Adivasis, Dalits and Poor people of India in order to create wealth for the rich and powerful.  This is opposite to the theory of Mahatma Gandhi whom we project as Father of the Nation.  In the recent past many policies are formulated in a way that the natural resources get transferred to national multinational companies and the poor people are forced to migrate to the cities and slums.  Basically this is the development model that Jan Satyagraha is to challenge while organizing people for nonviolent action.  We are also giving various proposals to the government for consideration.  Basically the demands are to redistribute land the landless who are agricultural labourers and also to reformulate various anti poor policies to reduce the burden of development on the poor.
Though the action is going to be in India we have a re-concern about world community.  Poverty being a larger issue we cannot leave the responsibility of addressing the issue only to the government.  The civil society need to develop ideas and methods to address this issue of poverty with and without government.  So the proposed action in India will have dimensions that may help the world communities to shape and reshape their strategies.
I think it is important for the thinkers, actors and decision makers to come together not only to look at the world problems but also to find solutions in a participatory manner.
Rajagopal. P.V
Published by:
Ekta Parishad South India
Chief Editor: Rajagopal.P.V
Sub Editor: K. Biju
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