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| About Us |
| MAJOR EVENT OF 2007-2008 |
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The third Volken Memorial Lecture was held at ISI on October 31, 2008 on ‘Food Crisis and its Effect on the Food Security for the Poor in India’ by Dr. Jayati Ghosh. The text is published as a booklet as we did with earlier lectures and is available at ISI. Annual Orientation talk for the staff was given by Mr. Leo F. Saldhana on ‘Global Warming and Climate Change’ which highlighted the need of ecological balance for the future of the earth. We had three 15-day training programmes on Socio-cultural Analysis, Visual Communication for Social Change and Legal Resources for Social Action and Empowerment. 60th year of Declaration of Human Rights was celebrated with a three-day programme in collaboration with St. Joseph’s of Arts and Science College and SICHREM. Our newsletter, Critique came out thrice during the year. The ‘Impact of Globalisation on Tribals’, a book authored by Mathew Aerthayil S.J. and published by Rawat Publications, Delhi was released in last December in the presence of the staff. Fr. Jothi co-authored a book on ‘Campus Culture of Colleges in India – a Comparative Study’ as part of a project of Xavier Board of Education, India. Mathew Aerthayil and A. Joseph Xavier published last year several articles in national and vernacular journals on current socio-economic topics. |
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PROGRAMMES OF 2008-09 |
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The overall objective of all our training programmes and research are capacity building and cadre formation of marginalised groups like Dalits and tribals so that they are empowered to work for their rights and emancipation. In this, we take into account the context of our country – the global financial crisis and its impact on the globalisation process in our country, the alarming communal situation in many parts of India and the threatening situation of ecology in the world. The particular socio-political situation of each state where our outreach programmes are conducted is given due consideration. |
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Considering the rising communal situation of our country we have planned a national seminar cum workshop on “Growing Threat of Communalism”. We have proposed it to be organised in collaboration with ISI, Delhi. |
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There are 56 training programmes in the coming year lasting from 3-45 days of duration each. Of them six are of 15-day programmes, two by Karnataka and one by Tamil Nadu outreaches, Training unit, Human Rights unit and Research unit. Research unit is also organising one 45-day social research methodology course. |
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There are 15 issue-based training programmes including those on threat of communalism, SEZ, tribal land problem, and coastal management zones and fishworkers. We organise these programmes in collaboration with people’s organisations and NGO networks wherever it is possible. Most of our training programmes in outreaches are collaborative programmes. Besides, visual communication for social change is organised in collaboration with IDEAS, programme for domestic workers in collaboration with Alternative Law Forum and Domestic Workers’ Organisation, and the 15-day socio-cultural analysis in collaboration with Jesuit Social Action of South Asia (JESA). Our advocacy work and our civil society interventions are mostly in collaboration with other organisations
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WORLD SOCIAL FORUM, BRAZIL AND GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS |
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Fr. Jothi and myself attended the Word Social Forum (WSF) in January 2009 in Belem, Brazil as part of the 29-member team of South Asian People’s Initiative (SAPI) comprising of mostly Dalit and tribal leaders and Jesuits from all over India. It had special significance since it was organised in the background of the global financial crisis, a fall out of globalisation. WSF was initiated in 2001 in Brazil under the leadership of Lula de Silva, the present President of Brazil as a reaction to globalisation with the slogan “Another World is Possible”. The global recession reveals the crisis of neoliberalism imposed by western countries as panacea for all economic ills of the world. WSF proposed alternative forms of economic systems and new ways of living through hundreds of workshops, cultural events, films etc. Heads of seven Latin American countries met and discussed this problem on the sidelines of the WSF. |
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WSF also focused on Amazon region which is the richest area for bio-diversity and ever-green forest in the world. It reduces a good percentage of carbon content in the entire planet. But deforestation is causing havoc which can adversely affect the climate of the earth itself. Therefore, it is the responsibility of all countries and all of us to preserve this ‘world heritage’ as part of the ecological concerns. Our interaction with the indigenous people of Amazon region was a rich experience, as we understood the similarity of problems like land alienation and displacement faced by indigenous people all over the world. |
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The effect of world economic crisis is being felt by India too. Many people are loosing their jobs as industrial growth rate has drastically come down. The Union Government has announced several packages, but they are not sufficient for social and infra-structural facilities. The country should take it as an opportunity to spend generously for education, public health, rural infrastructure and agriculture so that the majority of the common people will benefit and thus the economy will revive. It is the responsibility of the new government after the general election to take up this challenge and to make bold and necessary changes in the policies of globalisation which is the immediate cause of present economic crisis. We hope that a stable government which responds to the crying needs of the majority of people especially the marginalised, emerges at the Centre. Organisations of people and civil society have a great responsibility to make the new government follow a policy of greatest good of the greatest number of people. |
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In solidarity |
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Dr. Mathew Aerthayil S.J.
Director. |
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| Upcoming Programmes |
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| Open Programmes |
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| Site Under Modification |
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