Legal services scheme for disaster victims mandates multi-pronged response

Letter to Member Secretary, State Legal Services Authority, Chhattisgarh, by the Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad:

***

Greetings from Centre for Social Justice.
You are well appraised of the worrying situation of migrant labourers, students and other people who migrate and travel inter-state for work as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Presently, four categories of people need support.

People who are stuck in various places because of transportation not being available.
People in transit, on foot, for distances as far as 400 kilometres.
People who have returned and are not being allowed to enter their villages.
People who have come back and are either not properly examined or even if examined need to isolate themselves for two weeks and are either not advised or have no such options.

NALSA Scheme For Legal Services To Disaster Victims mandates a multi-pronged response to address the needs of disaster affected people. This includes, amongst other things, facilitating safe transportation, uniting with family, coordinating with various departments etc. Click HERE
NALSA Legal Services to the Workers in the Unorganized Sector Scheme, 2015 mandates setting up of special cell to identify, register, counsel, inform and facilitate the entitlements available to the unorganized labour under various government schemes. Click HERE
The two schemes read together provide the most needed response mechanism to address the immediate and long term needs of the people affected by the lock down.While we realize that the respective DLSAs are under equipped / resourced to implement the two schemes most relevant in today’s time, with partnerships with local NGOs and colleges, it is possible to reach out to the vast majority of people who need the support.
Our efforts at seeking a collaboration in various districts have not been successful. Given the gravity of the situation, we draw your attention to the following and seek immediate action:

Proactively seek NGO assistance, seek their list of village volunteers and replace them with the existing non performing-on-paper list of PLVs under the Paralegal Volunteer Scheme.
Set up a help line and ask the TLC and DLC to track routes on which people are walking to reach their destination, organize food and resting facilities and make arrangements for safe transit. While it promising to see that SLSA’s national 15100 helpline is playing an active role, our experience so far suggests that the phone is under resourced. The response could be strengthened by engaging with law college students/NGOs to bolster capacity.
Set up spaces like prathmik shala, community centres, panchayat bhawans, schools etc. as spaces where people can stay in isolation for two weeks.
Involve colleges to create audio-visual print material on entitlements announced from time to time and circulate these to create awareness amongst beneficiary groups.
Compile a list of workers registered under various laws like the Unorganized Worker Social Security Act 2008, Interstate Migrant Workmen Act 1979, Building and Other Construction Workers Act (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 1996, Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970 etc. as a base for facilitating their claims in the future. Develop appropriate communication and outreach strategy for facilitating their claims once the lock down is over
Design a three stage response strategy: First stage: ensuring immediate needs of food and shelter; Second stage: creating awareness of various entitlements; Third stage: monitoring and facilitating access and removing systemic issues

To effectively implement the three pronged-approach discussed above, we would like to propose that Centre for Social Justice conduct telephonic training for PLVs associated with DLSAs. This would take the form of a 3-4 hour input session, followed by regular feedback/information and action sharing follow up calls. Considering the exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in, a collaboration of this nature would allow us to synergise efforts and resources, and ensure the best possible response for those most affected by this lockdown.

Comments

Crucial to revisit roots, embrace core Hindu principles: love, compassion, harmony

A note on religious leaders' Satya Dharam Samvad in Haridwar: *** In a groundbreaking gathering, more than 25 religious leaders including Swamis, Acharyas, Pujaris, Gurus, and Sadhvis from all over India convened to discuss the tenets of Hinduism on September 16th, 2023, in Haridwar, to discuss and discern the current trajectory of Hinduism. This brand new initiative, the Satya Dharam Samvad, was inspired to organize its first assembly in response to the December 2021 Dharma Sansad, where hate speech and calls for violence against the Muslim community contravened the essential principles of Hinduism. Religion is being used to incite riots among Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, etc. In the face of such hatred, Swami Raghavendra felt that something meaningful should be done in the present climate.

Maoist tendency of mechanically adhering to Chinese path ignores Indian conditions

By Harsh Thakor The C.P.I. (Maoist) formed in 2004 with merger of the C.P.I. (M.L) Peoples War and the Maoist Communist Centre has demonstrated courage in intensity compared to any great revolutionary struggle in the history of the world. It leads the largest armed movement of a Peoples Guerrilla Army in the world today and proved themselves as the true torch bearers of the Indian Communist movement.

Significant step towards empowering and particularly engaging with informal workers

ActionAid note on drive to empower informal sector workers Odisha with the support of District Labour Department: *** The Odisha Unorganised Workers Social Security Board (OUWSSB) facilitated an Unorganized Workers Awareness Camp at the Red Cross Bhawan in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The event took place in collaboration with the District Labour Department at Khordha, Centre for Child and Women Development and ActionAid Association. This informative event aimed at empowering informal sector workers by disseminating crucial information regarding their eligibility for various social security schemes provided by the Government of Odisha.

We need to resurrect Neruda, give birth to poets of his kind amidst neofascist rampage

By Harsh Thakor On 23rd September we commemorate the 50th death anniversary of Pablo Neruda, whose contribution to revolutionary poetry was path breaking. Pablo Neruda’s poetry manifested the spiritual essence of revolutionary poetry and how poetry was a weapon for a revolutionary struggle. The story of his life illustrated the spiritual transformation undergone a human being to transform him into a revolutionary and how environment shapes the lie of revolutionary.

Grassroots NGO enlightens people of Kupwara with intricacies of Right to Information

J&K RTI Foundation and Founder Civil Rights Movement Kupwara note on how RTI Pend is empowering Kupwara with insights on Right to Information Act: *** RTI Pend, the grassroots initiative aimed at democratizing access to information, hosted its 2nd event in Kupwara. On the request of the Civil Rights Movement Kupwara, this event was tailored to enlighten the people of Kupwara with the intricacies of the Right to Information Act, presented in their local language and dialects. The event successfully bridged both offline and online participation, addressing queries on the spot and offering applicants practical solutions.

Dev Anand ably acted as westernised, urban educated, modern hero, as also anti-hero

By Harsh Thakor On September 26th we celebrated the birth centenary of legendary actor Dev Anand. Dev Saab carved out a new epoch or made a path breaking contribution in portraying romanticism and action in Bollywood cinema, giving his style or mannerisms a new colour. Arguably no Bollywood star manifested glamour in such a dignified or serene manner or struck the core of an audience’s soul in romantic melodies. Possibly we missed this evergreen star being cast in a Hollywood film. Dev Anand is like an inextinguishable soul of Bollywood. Although not as artistic or intense as Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor or Ashok Kumar ,Dev Anand surpassed them all for liveliness or flamboyance, with his performances radiating g energy on the screen, in realms rarely transcended. In his own right, Dev Saab, was a craftsman, like his classical contemporaries, with a characteristic composure. Perhaps never was a Bollywood star so suave, bubbling or charming as Dev Anand, who often looked like an Indian versi

Abrogation of Art 370: Increasing alienation, relentless repression, simmering conflict

One year after the abrogation by the Central Government of Art. 370 in Kashmir, what is the situation in the Valley. Have the promises of peace, normalcy and development been realised? What is the current status in the Valley? Here is a detailed note by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties , “Jammu & Kashmir: One Year after Abrogation of Art. 370: Increasing Alienation, Relentless Repression, Simmering Conflict”:

Agro-biodiversity through seed identification, conservation, replication, crop selection

By Kuntal Mukherjee, Basant Yadav, Shivnath Yadav* This article is mainly based on a journey of the three of us since 2010 based on field experience, study of different articles, reflective journeys with local community based organisations, villagers and practitioners in Chhattisgarh. The slow growth of Agriculture in India with near stagnation in productivity since mid ‘80s in contrast to the remarkable growth during the green revolution period has come to the front as a great concern. In post WTO era Indian Agriculture has been witnessing structural changes, uncontrolled influx of agriculture goods and commodities from foreign countries due to open market nature. The gradual reduction in subsidies from internal production leads to increasing cost of production of agriculture produces at the farm gate. It causes gradual decrease in internal production as well as productivity and posing threats to small farm and stakeholders.

Indian youth can choose political career which offers tremendous opportunities

By Sudhansu R Das The Indian political sector is growing faster than any other sector in the world. This sector has been fully liberalised. Political career in India is open to any age group starting from 25 plus to 90 plus; people with any educational background, even an illiterate person can contest election in India. An old man or woman with multiple organ failure can become leader of a political party; they can control party workers from the hospital bed also. Social status, physical and mental ability seldom stand in the way of a political leader. Advanced age is not an issue which can be reversed with effortless ease.

Commodification of road accident deaths: The hidden health hazard of motonormativity

By Chandra Vikash* Jahnavi Kandula, an Indian student from Andhra Pradesh, studying in America was killed in a road accident by a police motor car in January 2023. Now, 8 months after the accident, a bodycam video of Daniel Orderer, who is the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, has gone viral on social media. He was laughing at her death and saying that “she was 26 years old, anyway… she had limited value… just give her $11,000 (ie Rs 9.13 lakh)”.

Search This Blog