Charkha, Delhi : Newsletter for January – February 2007
Greetings from Charkha!
There is unanimous acceptance of the fact that jubilation at Indias fast-paced economic growth is not shared by all of India; poverty continues to be a reality for millions of Indians. Seeking a balance between these two contrasting truths remains a daunting challenge. The Union Budget for the fiscal year 2007-08 indicates a growing commitment to development needs, with a 34 percent increase in allocation for education and 22 percent for health and family welfare. In the final analysis, it is the peoples voices that establish whether this increased focus has translated into effective changes on the ground. It is these voices that Charkhas work endeavors to highlight.
Development in Areas of Conflict is a programme working towards facilitating the mitigation of conflict by enabling communication between the different stakeholders involved in the context of any conflict situation. Presently being implemented in select parts of Chhattisgarh that are affected by Left Wing Extremism, Charkhas Programme Team conducted a Writing Skills workshop at Kanker in January 2007, with participants from across the affected districts of Dantewada, Bastar and Kanker. The response was enthusiastic and encouraging. In addition to print as a medium of communication, opportunities are also being explored for using the audio medium through the use of Radio that is often the only means of transmitting information in remote areas where newspapers have inadequate reach and large numbers of people are unlettered.
Distant Areas Programme is another programmatic area that seeks to integrate the communities residing in remote parts of the country with mainland India in a bid to build bonds between Indias diverse communities and make available information that will enable these distant communities to make informed choices that enhance their development processes.
This programme is being initiated with a Pilot Project on one select island in the Andaman and Nicobar Group of Islands. An exploratory visit was made by a team of two to this global biodiversity hotspot in January 2007 and partnerships are being forged with other organizations to complement capabilities and develop an effective programme of activities on the Islands.
A second Urdu Writing Skills Workshop, this time at Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, has set the tone for many more workshops in the coming months. The overwhelming feedback received from the participants of this and other workshops conducted during the last many months, especially the women, at a Post-Assessment Meet held in Delhi in mid-February 2007 has confirmed our faith in the powers of writing and the empowerment this can provide to individuals.
Even as we at Charkha highlight the myriad shades that give India a unique and inimitable identity, we continue to seek answers that will help resolve the inequitable benefits accruing from the present development model of the nation. Inspired by the belief that self-determination is the only means to ensure that development is appropriate and sustainable, adequate expression and dissemination of peoples voices will hopefully pave the way towards this ubiquitous goal.
Anshu Meshack
Email – charkha@bol.net.in