If the wealth of mineral extraction is funding social welfare spending, The Economist should ask why ordinary rural communities, like those I met in Jharkhand’s Karanpura valley, persist in a six year struggle to keep coal mining companies and thermal power plants from their land. And too why resistance groups like Jharkhand Mines Area Coordination Committee would sooner face imprisonment than capitulate to myths about development. People living in places like the Karanpura valley are not stupid. They have seen their mineral wealth shipped out to benefit others. They understand better than anyone else that local communities must be at the forefront of the decision making process if they are ever to challenge the powerful interests that exploit Jharkhand’s wealth and continue to deny human rights to those who are being forced from their land.

We have heard it before and we keep hearing. And we keep believing all those big talks of how they help in protecting our future or how much they spend on enhancing our lives. Now, head over to see and read this excellent photo essay at Tom Pietrasik’s blog on the reality of mining in India.

Dr. Gaurva Chhabra had shared a link to his 2 minutes long short film through FB. The short film is titled The Mudcake. Watching the video has brought a smile (as most of us can relate to the childhood memories of playing with mud – I don’t think that kids these days do it though) and it certainly left something to think about towards the end of the video. Garurav has submitted this video in a U.S. Govt, Video contest @ Exchanges Connect and he needs around 150 more votes before 28th Dec (10 AM, 29th Dec, IST) to go to next stage. Voting happens when you ‘Rate’ the film. It requires a ‘Sign up’, ‘email confirmation’ by clicking on the sent link and then ‘Rating’ by clicking on ‘Stars’. Go ahead and do it if you like the film. I just did.

There is an NGO called Jananeethi in Thrissur that works in many areas such as micro-credit, self-help groups etc. and their primary focus is on bringing help to poor people for legal assistance. For the past 2 years, they are in a financial crisis and even the staff is working without salaries. They are looking for more project funds from government and other sources, but in the meantime to survive they need private donations.

Now they have come out with a plan and are looking for a contribution of Rs. 5000 per year and for 3 years. Those who would like to make monthly installments of payment can also do so. The bank account details are as follows:

SB A/c No. 9387, Catholic Syrian Bank, Main Branch, Thrissur – 680001.

Jananeethi is a charitable society registered under the provisions of the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act XII of 1955, Reg. No. 193/92 TCR. All contributions can avail tax exemption granted under 80 G of Income Tax Act, 1961.

Here is their website for more info: http://www.jananeethi.org

Here is a music video directed by K P Sasi that talks about the present day exploitation of tribal land and forests in the name of development. This video is inspired by a song by Bhagwan Maaji, leader of the adivasi struggle against bauxite mining in Kashipur.

Playing For Change: Peace Through Music is a project where a song travels around the world and people from different countries add their part to it – vocalists and instrumentalists. The whole process is captured in video as well. Check out this beautiful video of a cover of the Ben E. King classic, Stand By Me, by musicians around the world. This and other songs such as “One Love” will be released as digital downloads soon; followed by the film soundtrack and DVD early next year.

Sign up at www.playingforchange.com for updates and exclusive content.

Plan India is a Child-Centred Development organisation that works towards promoting Child Rights and improve the quality of life of vulnerable children. They have launched a campaign “Learn without Fear” against violence faced by children in schools and homes. This campaign is currently being launched in seven states (Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh & New Delhi) in which Plan works, and will aim to directly improve the lives of millions of children in India.

This campaign is about preventing all forms of violence against children in schools. It includes corporal punishment, sexual abuse, neglect, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, bullying, peer-to-peer violence, youth gangs, use of weapons, and harassment in school and on the journey to and from school.

Plan India, has also set up a Children Advisory Board (CAB) wherein children from different stratas of society meet every month and discuss problems faced by them in schools, share their experiences and views and suggest solutions. They are also planning to work within communities, parents, teachers and children to end violence in schools.

Key findings of the study by Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India 2007*

1) 69 % children reported physical abuse, including corporal punishment, i.e. two out of three children were victims of corporal punishment

2) 62 % of the corporal punishment was in government and municipal schools

3) Most children did not report the matter to anyone

4) 53.22% children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse

5) 21.90% child respondents reported facing severe forms of sexual abuse and 50.76 % other forms of sexual abuse

6) The states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi have almost consistently reported higher rates of abuse in all forms as compared to other states

* Study based on experiences of 12, 447 children, aged 5-18 years across13 states.

(Image courtesy: PlanIndia.org)
(Thanks to Kanika Kohli for the info)

A group of people from Chennai have started a forum and a community blog to discuss/preach/rave/write about Energy, Ecology and Environment related things. The team also includes Mr. T Jayaraman, who is a renowned expert on Energy saving Concepts and Controls. In one of their posts, Don points out to the hypocrisy of Citibank who says this on their website: Save Trees ! Say No to Paper ! Get your statement on e-mail.

Wouldn’t you love, respect and worship a kind of woman like Veronica Guerin? If you haven’t seen the movie based on her life (which has the lovely Cate Blanchet as Ms. Guiren), you should. I’ve been watching it today for the nth time. Now check out this beautiful song which I heard first in this movie. This song, is called The Fields of Athenry, is an Irish folk ballad set during the Great Irish Famine (1845-1850) about a fictional man from near Athenry in County Galway who has been sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay, Australia, for stealing food for his starving family. The song is sung in the movie Veronica Guerin, by Brian O’Donnell, then aged 11, a street singer in Dublin.

(Image credit: www.independent.ie)

Freedom Walk is an effort to mobilize social activism to claim, ensure and preserve freedom in our society. A team of campaigners is walking from Kasargode to Trivandrum. I am always skeptical of the “walking” campaign concept, but the excerpts from their website about the walk makes me feel that this sounds good.

Excerpts from their website:

During the journey we will also be actively promoting the free software movement in each district in Kerala. We are looking forward to cooperating with different Free Software User Groups throughout the state and replicate our successful efforts in the building of the GNU/Linux Users Group, Trivandrum.

The second objective that we are trying to achieve is to promote social activism. We expect to meet and collaborate with interested individuals and organizations at various points during the march to express our solidarity and extend our offer to work together in areas where they can utilize our core competency – Information Technology – to enhance their effectiveness and competency. We will also try to push this message through seminars hoping that we will be able to inspire the next generation to grow into responsible citizens.

We also would like to reach out to individuals and organizations who share our vision in preserving the environment. We will be offering to extend our help and technical competency to organized groups like nature clubs, social forestry clubs etc., to help them grow and make use of the power of technology in effectively growing and spreading the message of conservation. These groups can also utilize our efforts to actively network among similar groups across the state.

As part of this effort we will be offering free technical consultancy, web hosting and related services for all these groups. If you are a member of any of these above mentioned groups and you are interested in availing this opportunity please get in touch with us by phone at 9446069446 or using the contact form.