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Showing posts from January, 2022

EdelGive Foundation’s GROW Fund for Utthan, 3 others from Gujarat among India’s 100 NGOs

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the GROW (Grassroots Resilience, Ownership, Wellness) Fund will invest up to INR 100 crores in two years to build capacity and support future readiness of 100 NGOs. The NGOs selected from pan India, work in the areas of advocacy, governance and research, climate, ecology and animal welfare, community development, art and culture and sports, differently abled, education, gender rights and equality, health and sanitation, livelihood and poverty. An Utthan-Edelgive note: *** In a first-of-its-kind opportunity, 100 NGOs doing critical and credible social impact work across the nation have been selected to receive grants from the GROW Fund, which is anchored by EdelGive Foundation along with several reputed funding partners. Every NGO, chosen to be a part of the initiative’s cohort of 100, will receive INR 80 lakhs over two years to direct resources to building its capabilities, resilience and future readiness. With registrations from over 2300 organisatio

VS Hospital budget doesn't reflect proper use of Ahmedabad tax payer contribution

By Rupa Chinai, Brijesh China, Jay Sheth, Dr. Nishith Shah* This is with reference to the Budget of over Rs.173 crores (Rs.17331.96 lakhs as stated) for the financial year 2022-23 for Sarabhai General and Chinai Maternity Hospitals, Ahmedabad. We are constrained to point out, as we have done regularly in recent years, that this budget does not correctly portray the appropriate usage of Ahmedabad’s tax paying public. Neither does it support the health needs of poor citizens for whose benefit this institution was created. In fact this Budget is intended to ensure the death of the Sarabhai General and Chinai Maternity Hospitals (VSH). This Rs.173 crore budget is designed to cater to a 500 beds hospital whereas with lesser amounts, our Board was running an 1155 bed hospital that was brimming with patients and was lauded for the 90 years of “glorious service” it provided to poor citizens. Hence we are compelled to ask where the funds are being funnelled back. Even a cursory study of this

Successful women leaders inspire, share stories at global healthcare summit

By Ajay Ghosh* “A woman is defined by her courage and self-confidence,” Dr. Tejaswini Manogna, Miss India-Earth 2019 and the titleholder of Divine Miss Earth India 2019, in her eloquent and inspiring keynote address at the Women’s Forum told the hundreds of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) delegates during the Global Healthcare Summit in Hyderabad earlier this month. “Be brave to voice your choices and do not give up your goals. Speak up. Do not suffer in silence. Be bold and brave to voice your opinion. If a woman can lead at home, she can lead the world. Dream to do something for others. If I can do it, you all can do it,” Dr. Tejaswini Manogna said. The Women’s Forum organized by Dr. Seema Arora, Dr. Udaya Shivangi, Dr. Meher Medavaram, Dr. Malati Mehta and Dr. Uma Jonnalagadda, had a galaxy of successful women, who shared with the AAPI delegates their own stories of growing up and facing challenges with conviction and courage, and have today become role mo

Islam’s precepts similar to those enshrined in UN human rights declaration

By Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai* In order for us to do justice to the topic of Islamophobia, it is imperative that we understand what fear implies. Fear is defined as “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.” In line with this definition, it would not be wrong to claim that many in the Western world are currently living in a state of fear of Islam. However, one needs to acknowledge that the threat Islam is seen as posing to the world is imagined rather than real. Unfortunately, though, the repercussions of this irrational fear of Islam are not only affecting individual Muslims in the form of increased discrimination, harassment, and persecution, but also infiltrating into foreign policy decisions worldwide. The West has numerous misconceptions about Islam, particularly with regard to human rights. Often human rights violations in certain dictatorial regimes in the Muslim world are cite

Bihar, where poverty alleviation programmes hardly work

By Rohit Rakshit* Imagine yourself living in a remote village for ages located inside dense forests, in the 21st century, without any basic amenities such as proper roads, health care, education facilities and safe drinking water. The nearest primary school is located at a distance of seven kilometers and you have to pass through a dense forest without proper roads and then take a boat to cross a dam in order to reach your school. Even in the case of an emergency, you will need to take the same path and travel ten kilometers more in order to reach the nearest health centre, which still does not guarantee that you will receive treatment from a qualified doctor. Now that you have imagined, which you would certainly call a nightmare, do you think it is possible for anyone to progress in life without these basic amenities? Such has been a reality for the people staying in several villages and hamlets in Rajauli Block of Nawada district in Bihar. The area is known for illegal mica mining, w

CSJ’s work on cyclone Tauktae in Gujarat: Critique of compensation package

A Centre for Social Justice note examining the shortcomings of the Gujarat Government’s compensation package for the cyclone victims, based on CSJ’s work on disaster management in the districts of Amerli, Rajula, Una, Gir and Somnath: *** TIMELINE 17.05.2021 – 18.05.2021 – From 17th -18th May 2021, Cyclone Tauktae hit the coastal belts of Amreli and Gir Somnath district of Gujarat. 20.05.2021 – 25.05.2021- Our team visited the coastal villages that were affected due to the cyclone and met the local people, local CBOs and identified the issues faced by them. 26.05.2021 – 01.06.2021- The cyclone had completely destroyed the electricity connections. We provided generators, fuel, water motors and solar lamps in the affected villages of Rajula, Jafrabad and Una. 05-06.2021 -15.06-2021- We collaborated with various local leaders, CBOs and NGOs for distributing ration kits. Around 500 ration kits were distributed in the coastal villages of Rajula, Jafrabad and Una.05.06.2021 – 25.06.2021- The

Threat to PM's life completely concocted, he shouldn't make irresponsible statements

"BJP protesters were closest to PM's convoy" Farmers call PMO lie: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha on the events related to the visit of the Prime Minister to Punjab on 5th January: *** 1. On receiving the news of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to Punjab on January 5, 10 farmer organizations affiliated to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha had announced a symbolic protest for the arrest of Ajay Mishra Teni and other outstanding demands. For this purpose, programs of protests and effigy burning were announced at village level across Punjab on January 2 and at district and tehsil headquarters on January 5. There was no program to stop the Prime Minister's visit or obstruct his program. 2. As per the pre-determined schedule, peaceful protests were held at every district and tehsil headquarters of Punjab on 5th January. When some farmers were stopped by the police administration from going to the district headquarters of Ferozepur, they protested by sitting on the

Ken Betwa project will harm and not help Bundelkhand region

By Himanshu Thakkar* People of Bundelkhand certainly need better water access and management as claimed in the Media Briefing Note on the occasion of Union Cabinet clearing the project on Dec 8, 2021. But the Ken Betwa Link Project (KBLP) is not for Bundelkhand, of Bundelkhand or by Bundelkhand. The project will bring unbelievably huge adverse impacts for the Bundelkhand and promises benefits that were promised decades ago, but never realised. In fact much better, cheaper, less impactful and faster options for Bundelkhand exist, if only the government had the will. Law of the land says that before taking up a project for implementation, it must have all the required clearances including Forest Clearance, Wildlife clearance and any pending legal challenges are resolved. In case of KBLP, it does not final forest clearance, very fundamental questions have been raised about its Wildlife Clearance by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court and SC has yet to take a decisio

Sharp rise in out of pocket expenditure per delivery in public health facilities

By Sampurna Kundu, Prof. Sanghmitra Sheel Acharya* Despite the efforts of the Reproductive and Child Health Services (RCH), that provided free or nominal cost public health services, the average out of pocket expenditure (OOPE) per delivery in public health facilities has increased for many states. States like Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram and Assam, which are in the North-Eastern region have shown increase in average OOPE per delivery in public health facilities over the past 5 years. On the contrary, there has been a decline for West Bengal, where it has been observed that the average OOPE per delivery in public health facilities is around Rs. 2700 for both urban and rural areas in West Bengal. For the other states where OOPE has increased, it is observed that in urban areas it is higher than in rural except for Tripura where it is higher in rural areas. The institutional births have increased for the past 5 years in public health facilities, which is quite evident because of the improve

Can Vande Mataram spirit, which inspired freedom fighters, rejuvenate youth today?

By Sudhansu R Das The famous nationalist writer, Bankim Chandra coined the most powerful mantra “Vande Mataram” which had inspired thousands of Indians to fight the mighty British Empire. The writer had done this to arouse patriotism among the Indians. Men, women and children chanted the mantra and became fearless to face the bullets, swords, boots, hoofs and batons of the marauding British soldiers who were backed by a large number of Indians for whom patriotism was a taboo. Those nationalist writers, poets and thinkers will be in terrible pain if they find the present condition of Bharat Maata who is being torn apart due to caste, language and religious divide in the country. Cross border terrorism, hunger, unemployment and decadence of the ancient Indian culture would have hurt the nationalist thinkers more than the British atrocity. The Mantra, “Vande Mataram” which had united the common man to achieve freedom should be revived to build strong Indians who can think freely, innova

The 5Ws (Why, What, When, Where, Who) of Wednesdays for Water

By Dr. Mansee Bal Bhargava* Wednesdays.for.Water (WfW) is a think tank and communication series initiated as a citizen’s collective. The idea of the WfW is to connect the water worries, wisdoms, and the warriors through dialogues/discussions/debates. On January 05, WfW shall step into its month nine of webinar series happening every Wednesday at 5.00pm. Prof. Anil K Gupta, Padma Shri will join as a keynote speaker to talk about ‘Grassroot Innovations in Water Management- part II’. The December 29 session felicitated by Dr. Anil Prakash Joshi, Padma Bhushan, with a keynote speech on, ‘Grassroot Innovations in Water Management-part I’ was the completion of the eight months and the 2021. We started on April 28 of 2021 also with a keynote speech by Dr. Rajendra Singh, the Water Man of India, talking about ‘Water Management in the Grassroot Level’. In these thirty-five weeks with thirty-one sessions, several topics are discussed spanning from the hard sessions like, \ Forest and Water Gen