LOKAYAN
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APPENDIX I I I
LOKAYAN GENERATED MATERIAL
FAfW
GROWTH TRENDS IN THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR
Darshan Shankar
MICRO-LEVEL PLANNING AND DECENTRALI
SATION - THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE
Darshan Shankar
VOLUNTARISM ANT DEVELOPMENT
Devdutt
11-967
X-777.
H-966
DEVELOPMENT AGAINST PEOPLE : A CASE
STUDY OF GARHWAL
Bharat Dogra
11-948
DEVELOPMENT AMIDST EXPLOITATION: A
STUDY OF BANDA
Bharat Dogra
H-949
PROHIBITION MOVEMENT AMONG ADIVASIS
OF BIHAR
Devendranath Sinku
(Forthcoming)
STIRRINGS IN BHOJPUR
Ramachandra Pradhan &
Bajrang Singh
(Forthcom ing)
ZAMINDARI IN NORTH BIHAR: A STUDY
OF THE ELITE IN BIHAR
Rameshwar Prasad
(Forthcoming, in Hindi)
0-968
K-969
S-970
AGENT, AGENCY & SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
Klshore Saint
H-971
GOVERNMENT SCHEMES AND PEOPLE
Vasant Deshpande
(Forthcoming, in Hindi)
H-972
AN INVENTORY OF ACTION GROUPS AND
ACTIVISTS IN GUJARAT
Ghanshyam Shah
GRAMllAN IN RAJASTHAN
Rajasthan Lokayan
H-973
X-974'
(Forthcoming)
FARMERS AGITATION & ACTION GROUPS
IN MAHARASHTRA
Y.D. Phadke
(Forthcoming)
K-978
PEASANT STRUGGLES : DYNAMICS OF SOME
Non-party formations
A Preliminary Note
AGRARIAN PROBLEMS: NEEDS AND DEEDS
S. Kadirvelu
S-581
A STUDY OF THE BAKASHT MOVEMENT
A Report on an important agrarian
movement in Bihar
Anil Misra
A-496
CAPITALIST FARMING AND THE STRUGGLE
OF COMMON PEASANTS IN MAHARASHTRA
Kumar Shiralkar
A-521
CASTE WAR IN GUJARAT
Achyut Yagnik
(Also available in Hindi)
G-33
'IRIEAL PROBLEM
I.P. Desai
0-81
KURA! GUJARAT - A SIATISTICAL PROFILE
Jlvanlal Jalramdas
T-82
ANTI-RESERVATION AGITATION IN GUJARAT
I.P. Desai
(Also available In Hindi)
K-981
SITUATION OF SCHEDULED CASTES AND
TRIBES IN GUJARAT
Jiwanlil Jalramdas
E-261
29
SOME THOUGHTS ON WHAT HAS COME TO BE
KNOWN AS "PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH",
"DIRECT INVESTIGATION" AND PERHAPS
"ORAL HISTORY"
Hugo De Souza
H-597
TOWARDS A NEW THEORY AND THE ROLE OF
SOCIAL MOBILIZATION GROUPS
Sunil Sahasrabudhey
(Also available in Hindi)
H-549
MOVEMENTS AND THE FUTURE OF POLITICS
D.L. Sheth
A REPORT ON THE KERALA SHASHTRA
SAHITYA PARISHAD .
Raju Sane
C-910
X-980
DEVELOPING VOLUNTARISM
Vasant Deshpande
V-515
SOCIAL MOBILISATION GROUPS - A REVIEW
Sharad Kulkarni
V-516
THE NEED FOR FORUMS FOR .INTELLECTUAL
CONCERNS
Hugo De Souza
11-514
THE GOA TRADE UNIONS AND TRADITIONAL
WORKERS' COORDINATION COMMITTEE
R-102Q.
- Claude Alvares &
Christopher Fonseca
A STUDY OF CHATTISGARH miikTI MORCHA
Nageshwar Patna Ik, Padmanabban
A PROFILE OF CHATTISGARH AND
CHATTISGARH MINES SHRAMIK SANGH
Narendra
THE BOMBAY TEXTILE STRIKE
Harsh Kapoor et al.
Claude Alvares & Dilip
K-975
K-976
K—97 7
30
31
TRADE UNION STRUGGLE IN SARSNI : AN
EXPERIENCE IN BUILDING UP A MILITANT
TRADE-UNION MOVEMENT
THE SHRAMIK SHAKTI SANGHATANA AND
THE POWERLOOM WORKERS OF BELGAUM
R-625
R-1021
- Claude Alvares
IMPACT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ON
INDIAN SOCIETY
S.N. Ghosh
D-626
SCIENCE AND THE OTHER : A STUDY OF
HEGEMONY - I
Shiv Vishwanathan
D-631
SCIENCE AND THE OTHER : A STUDY OF
HEGEMONY - II
Shiv Vishwanathan
D-632
AN EVALUATION OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
AS AN IDEOLOGY
PRK Rao & others
D-633
CONTENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - THE
CASE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY
Rathindra Nath Roy
D-636
THE TRANS-SCIENCE ASPECTS OF DISEASE
AND DEATH
(Also published elsewhere)
Manu Kothari & Lopa Mehta
D-640
JANUS WITH A HUMAN FACE
PRK Rao
D-641
RIGHT, LEFT AND CENTRE AS ASPECTS OF
NATURE
JPS Uberoi
(author Copyright)
D-642
PROLEGOMENA TO A FUTURE SCIENCE
Sunil Sahasrabudhey
D-208
SCIENCE AND OPPRESSION
Claude Alvares
D-645
TECHNOLOGY t VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS
Anil Date
D-982
32
TOWARDS A CALANGUTE STATEMENT
C.V. Seshadri
D-983
DEVELOPMENT AND TEHRMbDTNAMISS
C.V. Seshadri
D-984
THE IRRELEVANCE OF MODERN SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
Claude Alvares
D-985
TOWARDS A NEW PHILOSOPHY FOR SCIENCE
S.N. Ghosh
(Forthcoming)
D-986
NOTES ON A PROGRAMME
PPST
(Forthcoming)
D-987
TECHNOLOGICAL ALTERNATIVES
K.R. Datye
D-988
TECHNOLOGICAL ORIENTATION AND SOCIETY’S
VALUES
S.N. Ghosh
(Forthcoming)
D-989
INSIGHTS INTO FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN
MATHEMATICS THROUGH A COMPARATIVE STUDY
OF FOUNDATIONS OF MATHEMATICS IN INDIA,
CHINA AND GREECE
Navjyoti Singh
D-990
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY : AN APPROACH
S.N. Nagarajan
D-275
THE STATE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY IN
INDIA
S.N. Ghosh
(Forthcoming)
D-991
SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY FOR INDIA
S.N. Ghosh
(Forthcoming)
D-992
, Lokiq , Mad* .. <■
THE CHALLENGE OF MODERN SCIENCE AND
GANDHI
Sunil Sahasrabudhey
D-6O2
33
THE NATURE OF MODERN' PREDICAMENT
Ramashray Roy
F-684
GANDHI'S POLITICAL ECONOMY
Amritanand Das
F-685
POLITICS AND SOCIO-CULTURAL
RECONSTRUCTION IN GANDHI
K.J. Shah
F-686
UNGANDHIAN ELEMENTS
Pratap Chander
F-687
THE OSIER AND THE OAK
T.K. Mahadevan
F-688
"GOD IS TRUTH" AND "TRUTH IS GOD" AN INCOMPLETE EXPLORATION
Ramachandra Gandhi
F-689
GANDHIAN PERSPECTIVE IN THE
RECONSTRUCTION OF INDIAN POLITY
Ramamurtl
F-690
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND TRANSFORMATION
OF INDIAN POLITICS - THE GANDHIAN
PARADIGM
K. Raghavendra Rao
F-691
VALUE BASED DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA - The
THE GANDHIAN IMPERATIVE
Kishore Saint
F-612
SARVODAYA AFTER GANDHI: CONTRADICTION
AND CHANGE
Partha N. Mukherji
F-752
GANDHI AND OUR TIMES: SOME REFLECTIONS
K.K. Singh
F-778
MODERN DISCOURSE AND THE COLONIAL WORLD
LOHIA’S UNDERSTANDING
Suresh Sharma
F-993
A CREATIVE RESPONSE TO LOHIA
F-1022
U.R. Ananthmoorthy
RECONSTRUCTING HIND SWARAJ
Dharampal
SCHEDULED CASTES AND GANDHI
F-994
34
GANDHI AND TOTALITARIANISM
Sudhir Sonalkar
F-518
CONGRESS: FROM EMBODIED INFLUENCE TO
DISEMBODIED POWER
Ramashray Roy
C-996
MARXIST THEORY OF IDEOLOGY
Bikhu Parekh
F-931
THE COMMON GROUND OF MARXISM
RELIGION
P. Masani
AND
A LACUNA IN THE MARXIST LENINIST THEORY
OF REVOLUTION AND ITS ERADICATION BY
MEANS OF RELIGION
P. Masani
F-356
F-357
Ike
STATE OF INDIA'S ENVIRONMENT:
LAND - Anil Agarwal & Ravi Chopra
Q-1000(a)
DAMS - Bharat Dogra & Ravi Chopra
Q-lOOO(b)
URBAN HABITAT - Ujjayant Chakravarty & Q-1000(c)
Ravi Shanna
GUIDELINES TO FOREST POLICY
S.N. Ghosh
Q-lOOi
SOCIAL FORESTRY IN KARNATAKA
Jayanto Bandyopadhyay &
B.V. Krishnanurty
Q-1DO2
ECO-SYSTEMS RESEARCH IN KARNATAKA
B.V. Krishnamurty
Q-997
ON THE STATE OF GOA'S FORESTS
Claude Alvares & Lincoln Fernandes
Q-998
FOREST REPORT TO THE PRIME MINISTER
Goa Lokayan
Q-999
ECONOMICS VS. ECOLOGY TODAY
S.N. Ghosh
(Forthcoming)
N-1003
CANARA FOOD PROCESSORS-PRIVATE LIMITED
AND THE MOLLEM WILD LIFE SANCTUARY
Claude Alvares
Q-1017
35
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION & FORESTS IN GOA
S.S, Chana
Q-1018
ECOLOGY MOVEMENT NEEDS A PHILOSOPHY
S.N. Ghosh
(Forthcoming)
N-1004
Labour
FROM BONDAGE TO CONTRACT
Suresh Sharma
R-634
CONDITIONS OF IMMIGRANT AGRICULTURAL
LABOUR - A CASE STUDY OF THE MOGA REGION
(PUNJAB)
C.
V.
Bhutan!
R-677
BONDED LABOUR IN SANTHAL PARGANA
Mahendra Narayan & Bajrang Singh
R-716
CONDITIONS OF ASIAD LABOUR
Nitya Ramakrishnan
R-804
BONDED LABOUR IN TAMILNADU
Vidya Sagar & K.Gopal Iyer
R-803
AN EXPERIMENT IN MOBILISATION OF
CASUAL LABOUR
Neerja Chowdhury
NATURE OF CONTRACTUAL LABOUR IN DHULIA
J.D. Sethi
(Report in Indian Express)
R-805
R-806
, Cix/il
SCHEDULED CASTES & CONVERSIONS IN
TAMILNADU
V. Anaimuthu
BRAHMIN QUESTION IN TAMILNADU
Shashtri Ramachandran
C-1023
C-1024
C-1025
HINDU RELIGION IN THE VIEWS OF THE
DRAVIDIAN PARTIES
K. S. Anandan
(Also available in Tamil)
C-1026
36
POLITICS OF LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC
STATES
Gun a
(Also available in Tamil)
C-1027
COMMUNAL PROBLEMS IN KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT C-1028
G. Jaganathan
MASS CONVERSION OF HINDUS : A CASE OF
MEENAKSHIPURAM
Devdutt
C-1029
COMMUNAL TENSION IN HYDERABAD
G. Narendranath
C-1030
ON POLICE AND ATROCITIES
Girish Kumar
C-1031
REPATRIATES FROM SRILANKA - THEIR NEEDS
AND ASPIRATIONS
Sivanandan
C-1032
MURDER BY ENCOUNTER: A REPORT ON
ENCOUNTER DEATHS IN INDIA
Smitu Kothari
C-1033
GUJARAT POLICE ATTACKS DALITS, DALIT
LITERATURE AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
Achyut Yagnik & Harshad Desai
B-201
CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF AGRICULTURAL
LABOURS IN TAMILNADU
Shashtri Ramachandran and
K. Ma'noharan
B-649
ON THE STATE OF GOA’S POLICE 1975-82
C-1034
Claude Alvares &
Linken Fernandes
NEEDS AND ASPIRATIONS OF THE BACKWARD
AND OPPRESSED CASTES AND THE RESPONSES
OF GOVERNMENT
V. Anaimuthu
E-568
DALIT WOMEN WORKERS IN THE TEXTILE MILLS
OF AHMEDABAD - 1920’s - 1970’s
Renana Jhabvala
J-1035
37
GLIMPSES OF AUTONOMOUS WOMEN'S
ORGANIZATIONS
Vibhuti Patel
J-1036
PROBLEMS OF WOMEN WORKERS AMD LIMITATIONS J-1037
OF WORKER'S UNIONS
Mukta Manohar
WOMEN'S LIBERATION STRUGGLE IN GUJARAT
Kalpana Shah
J-1038
WRITERS' ATTITUDE TO WOMEN CHARACTERS IN
POST-INDEPENDENCE GUJARATI NOVELS
Sarup Dhruv
J-1039
POSITION OF WOMEN IN GUJARAT AND INDIA
Vibhuti Patel
J-1040
UNORGANIZED WOMEN WORKERS IN TOBACCO
INDUSTRY
N.D. Zaveri
J-1041
REPRINT OF A 1933 ESSAY TITLED: PROGRESS
OF WOMEN IN 20TH CENTURY
Hansa Mehta
J-1042
REPRINT OF A 1936 POEM OF 200. LINES
TITLED: EVOLUTION OF WOMANHOOD A GLIMPSE
Suandaram (Tribhovandal Luhar)
J-1043
A STATISTICAL PROFILE OF WOMEN IN INDIA
- In 22 Tables
(Source SNDT Women's Centre, Bombay)
Vibhuti Patel
J-1044
STATISTICS: SOCIO-ECONOMIC SURVEY OF SELF- J-1045
EMPLOYED WOMEN IN AHMEDABAD CITY
SEWA Report
WOMEN AND MODERNIZATION - MYTH AND
REALITY
Renana Jhabvala
J-1046
MUSLIM WOMEN-WORKERS - A SURVEY
Renana Jhabvala
J-1047
WOMEN'S LIBERATION SONG (NARIMUKTINO
LALKAR)
Women's Organizations of Bombay
J-1048
PROBLEMS OF WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS
Ila Pathak
J-1049
38
WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN INDIA - A HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Rajni Bakshi
J-150
WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN INDIA - PROPOSING
AN ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Nandita Gandhi & Chhaya Da tar
J-1051
WOMEN AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION:
AN EMERGING PERSPECTIVE
Githa Hariharan
J-1052
INDIAN WOMEN ON WARPATH
Vibhuti Patel
J-1053
ATTITUDE OF PARENTS TOWARDS THE CAREER
ASPIRATIONS OF YOUNG FEMALES
J-1054
- S.K. Asopa
WOMEN'S LIBERATION A DISTANT DREAM —
MORE SO IN RAJASTHAN
J -1055
- H.C. Bhartiya
TRAINING RURAL WOMEN FOR COOPERATIVE
SOCIETIES THROUGH COOPERATION IN RURAL
ECONOMY
J -1056
- S. Almelu
SATI - AN UNCHANGING PRACTICE IN A
CHANGING WORLD (Background material)
Jr-1057
- K. Sangari & S. Vaid
VILLAGE WOMEN OF RAJASTHAN
(Background material)
J1-1058
- G. Morris Carstairs
THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION OF WOMEN
-J1-1059
- Premlata Shah
ADIVASI WOMEN: SOME SOCIAL PROBLEMS
1-1060
- Gulab Kothari
WOMEN AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
J1-1061
- Razla Tahseem
THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN RAJASTHAN
- Shainim Akhtar
[-1062
39
TRIBAL MEDICINE
S.P. Punalekar
U-I063
DRUGS AND PHARMACEUTICALS IN INDIA
Sponsored by Lokayan
W-650
HEALTH SYSTEM IN INDIA - A CRITICAL
REVIEW
Reena Fernandes
W-1064
PROBLEMS OF REHABILITATION
Bhanu Adhvaryu
Q-1005
VOLUNTARY AGENCY AND REHABILITATION:
CONTEXT AND ISSUES
S.P. Punalekar
Q-1006
PROBLEMS OF RESETTLEMENT OF DAM-EVICTEES
IN WESTERN HIMALAYAS
Bharat Dogra
Q-1007
THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE SRISAILAM PROJECT
K.R. Choudhry
K-520
ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENT OF IRRIGATION IN
INDIA
A.S. 'Charan
Q-1008
LEARNING FROM THE UKAI EXPERIENCE
Kashyap Mankodi
Q-1009
REHABILITATION POLICY AND PRACTICES
Vidyut Joshi
Q-1010
THE ROLE OF VOLUNTARY AGENCIES IN
REHABILITATION
Mathew Kalathil
Q-1011
REHABILITATION POLICY OF GOVERNMENT OF
ANDHRA PRADESH - NAGARJUNASAGAR TO
SRISAILAM
G. Lakshmi
Q-1012
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF IRRIGATION —
A NOTE
Q-1013
- Pradeep Kumar Bose
40
NEED FOR A NEW APPROACH TO REHABILITATION
Q-1014
A.C. Gandhi
REHABILITATION ACT
Bhagirath Shah
Q-1015
IMPACT OF IRRIGATION ON POWER RELATIONSHIP IN A VILLAGE : A CASE OF TUNDI
Priyavadan Patel
Q-1016
THE QUESTION OF BACKWARDNESS — A
TENTATIVE APPROACH
- Dharampal
AGAINST ECONOMICS
- Naresh Kumar
ON ALIENATION OF THE BAHISKRT MAN
- Sunil Sahasrabuddhey
(i)
INTERNATIONAL COLONIALISM:
THE ROLE OF MODERN SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY
(ii)
MODERN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
AND BACKWARDNESS
- M.D. Srinivas
A NOTE ON SCIENCE AND BACKWARDNESS
- S. Balaji
COMMUNICATION - THE EXPERIENCE OF AN
ACTIVIST
Kumar Shiralkar
P-84
A NOTE ON COMMUNICATING AND DEVELOPMENT
Smitu Kothari 4 Jai Sen
P-189
DALITS, DALIT LITERATURE AND WIDER
SOCIETY : A NOTE
S.P. Punalekar
E-664
ill
A REPORT ON A COLLOQUIM ON COMMUNICATING
AND DEVELOPMENT
Smitu Kothari & -lai Sen .
P-190
IND1ANNESS VS. WESTERNISATION
NIrma I Verma
KNOWLEDGE AND' POWER
Krishna Kumar
STATE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN UTTAR
PRADESH
H.R. Chaturvedi & Krishna Kumar
CULTURAL MILIEU OF TAMILNADU: PRESENT
SITUATION - AN EVALUATION
.K. Paliniswamy
T-276
»
WHERE ARE WE HEADING ?
Rajni Kothari
(in collaboration with PUCL, Madurai)
HINDU RELIGION TN THE VIEW OF DRAVIDIAN
PARTIES
K.S. Anandan
SCIENTIFIC TEMPER - CRITIQUES AND DEBATES
(Tamil version of the 11 articles in
Mainstream}
POLITICS OF LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC STATES
Guna
A complete list of Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi
papers will be published in the Hindi Bulletin.
ATROCITIES ON HARMANS: KUNVARPUR,
DEHUM, SADHUPUR
S.D.Pallwal, D.K. Joshi,
.lawahar et . al.
DEMOCRACY IN CONTEXT OF INDIAN
CIVILISATION
Bhawani Prasad Mlsra
BONDED LABOUR IN MANPUR, UTTAR PRADESH
Rana Kaushal
TRADE UNIONS IN KANPUR
Suman Raj (forthcoming)
CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES: QUEST FOR
POLITICAL SENSITIVITY IN THE CONTEXT
OF LOHIA
Pankaj
STUDY OF VANVASI PANCHAYAT
Surya Narayan Chaudhari
ON DEMOCRACY
Banwari
ON PLANNING
Banwar1
TRIBAL OCCUPATIONS IN SANTHAL PARGANAS
Hemant, Ghanshyam
POLITICS AND HUMAN SENSITIVITY
Raghuvir Sahay
SWADESHI, SWARAJ AND DEMOCRACY
Raghuvir Sahay
JHARKHAND MOVEMENT
Hemant, Ghanshyam
Lokayan, .Exchange Building, 13 Alipur Ro^jd, Delhi. 110 Oj'i
What you have now in your hands is a brief listing and description of events
that took place under the Lokayan auspices in different parts of the country
upto March 1981, and the follow-ups.
A detailed account of all minutes, workshops and colloquia (national level
consultations) is being prepared. A listing of all Lokayan documents as of
March 1981 is also being prepared and will be sent to you shortly. Some
reports are ready and will be made available to those interested. For this
you will have to read the following report carefully. Delay in bringing out
this preliminary report has been due to the problems of translating
transcripts from different Indian languages in which the dialogues were held.
The Lokayan Bulletin, of which this report is a primitive precursor, and
which will keep you automatically in touch with Lokayan activity all over
the country, will only start operating from June 1981.
Till that time, this brief listing functions as a well-meaning substitute.
Note:
A list of participants and others interested in the Lokayan project is being
prepared and would be circulated shortly. Addresses of people mentioned by
name in this bulletin are given in an appendix at the end. If you want to
know more about a particular event or activity, please write to the relevant
person.
The programme for 1981 is also being circulated for your information and
advice. Advice particularly is solicited, since Lokayan aims at being a
participative decentralized endeavour.
Should you want to know more about
any particular activity of Lokayan, please do not hesitate to write to us.
Please address all correspondence to:
Annie Joseph, LOKAYAN, Exchange Building, 13 Alipur Road, Delhi 110 054
3
The First National Dialogue
The first national dialogue meeting in the project was held in Delhi
in the premises of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi,
in May 1980.
Those who attended included Raj Krishna, J.D. Sethi, Ela Bhatt, Suresh
Sharma, Jai Sen, Claude Alvares, Vijay Pratap, Fr. Kappan, Giri Deshingkar,
D.L. Sheth, Ramashray Roy, Smitu Kothari, Y.D. Phadke, Rajni Kothari,
Kishore Saint.
I
I
|
I
The minutes of this meeting have already been circulated but those
interested who may not have received it, may request a copy. It was out
of this meeting that some of the present ideas and structure of Lokayan
grew.
4-
Gujarat Dialogues
The Centre for Social Studies (CSS) Surat, is the consociating
centre for Lokayan activities in Gujarat. Ghanshyam Shah (Director,
CSS) in cooperation with Achyut Yagnik (Ahmedabad) and Babubhai Desai
(Surat) have undertaken the responsibility for Gujarat Lokayan. Two
dialogues were held: one in Surat on November 29-30, 1980 and the
other in Ahmedabad on 24-25 December, 1980. The Surat Dialogue was
mainly confined to the activists and academics from the southern part
of Gujarat and the Ahmedabad one to those from the northern part of
Gujarat. Some participants, however, were common to both the
dialogues.
About 40 activists and a small number of about 10 academics and
professionals attended the Surat Dialogue. The activists came mainly
from Surat, Bulsar and Dangs districts of south Gujarat and some from
Baroda and Broach districts and one each from North Gujarat and
Saurashtra. Their activities range from work among the Dalits, the
tribals, the landless labour and the small and marginal farmers to
the unorganized and semi-organized urban workers working in small
industrial units. Organizationally the participants ranged from
non-governmental organizations working towards eradication of rural
poverty, those engaged in the adult and social education programmes,
and the Sarvodaya organizations to those engaged in struggle and
organizational activities among the rural poor. Also included were
the organizers and the grass-roots workers from some religious
(Christian and Hindu) organizations working among the deprived
sections of the rural poor in Gujarat.
The Surat Dialogue was mainly focussed on the Lokayan concept
and the nature of voluntary group activity. The participants also
discussed the difficulties and constraints they face in their work,
and plenty of experiences were shared. The dialogue, which involved
participants of varied ideological persuasions, highlighted the need
to combine the struggle (sangharsha), reconstruction (rachana) and
development (vikas) activities for any honest action aimed at elimi
nating rural poverty. Both ideologically motivated action and action
based on constructive work and relevant developmental programmes, it
was agreed, have to ultimately find meaning in the real lives of the
rural people.
Like the Surat meeting, the composition of participants at the
Ahmedabad dialogue was also heterogenous. The Ahmedabad Dialogue
however, had a thematic focus that was decided upon in advance in
consultation with some participants. The theme was "Changing Profile
of Rural Gujarat: the challenges of the eighties and the immediate
tasks before the activists".
The discussions highlighted the nature of social and economic
conflicts that marked the developmental process in Gujarat, and the
need for new models of social intervention that could deal with the
social-structural bottlenecks that systematically prevent the socially
peripheral and economically oppressed groups of the rural poor from
deriving the benefits of development. It was generally agreed that
issues of development can not be separated from those of social
transformation, and a rather animated discussion took place on the
issue of identifying or creating right kinds of agents and agencies
to carry out these tasks. It was in this context that the role of
social research was also discussed.
Follow-up Action: A small group of activists-and concerned
academics, to be called the Gujarat Lokayan Sankalan Samiti has been
formed to sustain the Lokayan idea in Gujarat. This group will
perform the planning and advisory role for Lokayan work in Gujarat.
A proposal was also made to form a platform (Manch) of Gujarat
activists engaged in working with the rural and the urban poor,
outside the Lokayan framework.
The beginning was made by convening a group which will work out
organizational details of joint action on these issues: (i) protecting
the rights of the displaced population due to the Narmada Dam project;
(ii) creating linkages between the urban and rural action groups
involved in organizing the poor; (iii) the problem of land distribution,
especially with reference to the village common land (known as Gochar).
These developments, though outgrowths of the Lokayan meetings, are
expected to take organizational shape outside Lokayan and will act
independently of it. The recent developments surrounding the anti
reservation agitation in Gujarat which has almost totally polarized the
Gujarat society on caste lines, however, has proved to be at least a
temporary setback for these activities.
Almost entire attention of this group is currently devoted to
counter the anti-reservation movement that in Gujarat is now solely
aimed against the Dalits.
In consultation with the members of the
group Achyut Yagnik has prepared a paper describing the origins and
development of the agitation and analyzing its implications for the
wider society. Copies can be had on request. Ghanshyam Shah is
preparing a historically based analytical paper on the issue. Some
leading members of the Group, Bhanubhai Adhvaryu and Dr. Anil Patel
(of Medico Friends), are busy creating informed public opinion on the
issue. A Gujarat bulletin for Lokayan participants is in offing.
Process records of both the meetings are available in Gujarati
and have been circulated among the participants in Gujarat.
CSS has
also received some very thoughtful reactions on the meetings and
suggestions about the future Lokayan action in Gujarat and these have
been circulated to the participants.
If you need a copy write to
Shah.
Bihar Dialogue
The Institute for Rural Development, Patna, is the consociating
centre for Lokayan activities in Bihar. Ram Chandra Pradhan of the
Institute has undertaken the responsibility for Bihar Lokayan.
The Bihar dialogue was held in Patna between 12 and 14 December,
1980.
The participants came from various action-groups engaged in
developmental, reconstructive (Gandhian-Sarvodaya) and struggle
activities. Some socially committed academics and individuals active
during the Bihar Andolan also participated.
The discussion was focussed on the issues of organizing the rural
poor for their own upliftment and the role of action-groups, movements
and individual activists in this process.
A critical appraisal of
approaches and programmes of various organizations working in rural
Bihar was undertaken in the broad context of their relevance for
empowering the poorest and the most oppressed. This gave rise to a
spirited debate on such issues as ends-means relationship, indoctrina
tion versus energization of the people and improving physical quality
of life through governmental or voluntary action versus raising
consciousness of the people through organizing them for struggles. It
was generally agreed that if the problems were viewed from the vantage
point of the people themselves there was no basic contradiction
involved between constructive work (rachana) and struggle (sangharsh);
and the vehicle of transformation moved on both the wheels. As for
the development programmes addressed purely to achievement of physical
targets, it was felt that they neither succeed in delivering goods,
for they by themselves can not remove the social-structural bottlenecks
that prevent percolation of developmental benefits to the very poor,
nor can they generate any political or cultural awareness among the
people without which development remains directionless.
In fact
developmental programmes increase the dependence of the people on the
government and the elite and thereby incapacitate them for any worth
while action for social transformation.
With regard to voluntary groups a felt'need was expressed for
bringing people involved in non-electoral political work on a common
platform. A doubt was expressed in this context by many a partici
pant, about the possibility and desirability of a joint forum of
groups engaged in "development", "reconstruction" and "struggle"
activities. A majority opinion was that the "struggle" approach was
a more fundamental mode of emancipation than developmental or recons
truction approaches.
A bulletin in Hindi (as in Gujarati) is in the offing.
A process recorded report in Hindi is ready and can be had from
Ram Chandra Pradhan.
7
Maharashtra Dialogue
The Maharashtra Dialogue was organized in cooperation with the
Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule Pratisthan, Pune. Y.D. Phadke undertook the
responsibility for organising it.
Though a larger group was scheduled to attend the Maharashtra
meeting held in Lonavla in the final week of December 1980, eventually
about 20 people attended. The participants included some politically
active intellectuals, academics who had studied the activist movements
in Maharashtra, activists engaged in movements of social and cultural
transformation and those engaged in the organizations and struggles of
landless labour, women, etc.
Dialogue among activists and intellectuals of varied ideological
persuasions on basic issues of social transformation was no new
experience for the Maharashtra participants. What was perhaps new
was the joining-in by some activists and intellectuals from Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Goa and Delhi who in the course of
the dialogue were sensitized to the intellectual and ideological
contexts of voluntary action in Maharashtra.
Two concerns dominated the Maharashtra dialogue. First, in any
attempt at evolving a common platform for voluntary action a distinc
tion should be made between action that is aimed at lubricating the
present unjust system and action that is aimed at total transformation.
Secondly, the role of voluntary action cannot be conceived in isolation
from the wider political and ideological forces that continually
impinge upon them. Neglect of these forces would render voluntary
action, however unwittingly, either as a lubricating device or as
fragmentary, episodic activities unrelated to the basic forces of
change.
Although the dialogue began along the lines of classic debate in
Maharashtra between the social and the political radicals, the
discussion gradually got focussed on some vi’tal issues affecting the
action-movement groups in the state.
The first issue pertained to the "caste versus class" frame of
reference in the theorization and practice of struggles by the
action-movement groups. The predominant view was that the issue of
economic exploitation would remain intractable if it was conceived
purely in terms of inter-class relations. The basic issue was of
social oppression (which made even worse forms of economic exploita
tion possible between castes belonging to the same class) and the
role of voluntary action lay in promoting movements for social
equality leading towards a pervasive cultural revolution. This meant
struggling against the trend towards "social fascism".
s
In the above context, several specific problems affecting the
action-movement groups were raised and discussed. One of the major
problems discussed was the ways in which the caste factor operated
within the action-group themselves and distorted their working and
sense of priorities. Although "de-classing" may be the preferred
practice, was not so easy. The upper caste thought structures and
workways of the leadership continually alienated the grass-roots
workers and people of the lower Castes, especially the Dalits, for
and among whom they often work. It was felt by some participants
that unless the upper rungs of leadership of these groups were
filled by workers from the lower castes, their capability for
social transformation would remain limited. A further problem was,
how to evolve such programmes and pick up such issues as would
untie the sub-castes among the oppressed. Yet another problem was
that electoral politics carried along caste-lines often washed out
the work of the voluntary activists. Promises made by the politi
cians and their patronage networks seem far more attractive to the
people than years of hard work by the activists.
' The second issue was the relationship between voluntary
activists and the political parties. The role of voluntary action
was explained in terms of disillusionment with electoral politics
and political parties. Most activists preferred to stay away from
them. However, after working for some time, most activists began
to feel stagnant in terms of ideas and isolated from national and
international issues. This perhaps explains the interesting
phenomenon that while political parties were losing some of their
workers to social action groups outside the party framework, some
activists were seeking affiliation to political parties.
It was felt that voluntary action conceived as non-electoral,
non-party political and social action, could create a force which
would have an impact on the orientation of the political parties
and the government, and eventually develop into a movement for
total transformation.
Even after such a transformation there would
always remain the role for political and social voluntarism because
parties and government would never take up certain important acti-
I
The Inter-Regional Dialogue in Delhi
Nearly sixty participants of varied backgrounds and sensibilities
from Delhi and its rural vicinity, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh
|
and Madhya Pradesh, came together for three days (19-21 December 1980)
to listen, and speak out their doubts, anguish and hope about our
contemporary situation.
j
Vikas Ki Disha aur Janjivan (Dynamics of Development and Our Life
Situation) provided the thematic thread around which the dialogue
gradually built up. The participants may broadly be grouped under the
following categories:
"
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(a)
A few of the concerned urban intelligentsia (journalists,
writers, teachers, students etc.)
(b)
Ac tivists engaged in constructive work and struggle.
(c)
A few of the concerned citizens living in situations which
are the subject of debates on social transformation,
poverty and the struggle against exploitation (factory
workers, small farmers, primary school teachers etc.)
i
I
’!
i
The Delhi meeting was the first Lokayan experiment with an interregional dialogue. An unusual feature of the meeting was the participation of ordinary people, who have so far just been recipients, at
best mere subjects for both Government and voluntary activity. A
sketch spelling out the implications of the main theme was circulated
in advance to suggest a tentative framework for the dialogue.
j
I
I
I
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I
I
I
The dialogue began with three exceedingly suggestive presentations
woven around the tradition of 'seva and satyagraha' as recreated during
the freedom struggle led by Gandhiji.
The hopes and sensibilities
nourished by the experience of the freedom struggle were vividly invoked
in the context of our contemporary predicament.
Discussion on the manifest indicators of development and their consequences elicited passionate response informed by an almost instinctive
sense of the profoundness and totality of the challenge posed by the
industrial upheaval. A whole world and way of life was being sundered
and fragmented. The 'new word' in the making was simply intimidating.
The dynamic which determines its direction and content was always
beyond their reach. Facts — like a personal testimony by a participant
of having known a dacoit with an M.A. degree — which in the usual social
science discourse register simply as abstract oddities emerged as vital
issues of human faith.
I
Several participants were apprehensive about the near inaccessibility
of the benefits and power that flow from modern science and technology.
But it did not imply a rejection of science and technology. An implicit
expectation seemed to be to find ways to harness its power without loosing
control over one's destiny. Technological innovation and the socialcultural context of its origin aroused keen interest. In this context
vj
the experiences of a participant, himself a gifted technologist, were
most illuminating.
In a community of tribals, almost untouched by
technology, innovative technical skills were spontaneously released
as soon as they grasped the links between technical innovation and
their own needs.
A section of the rural participants persistently sought to define
the entire political, economic, and social problems in terms of a
'rural-urban contradiction. The 'city' symbolised power and exploita
tion. But other participants from the rural areas, particularly from
the proposed strata saw in this an attempt to overlook and perpetuate
the injustices inherent in rural society.
Reservations for the scheduled castes and tribes as an instrument
of social justice led to a fierce and prolonged debate. Thirty years
of reservations had created a small but intensely self-conscious and
articulate stratum among the Harijans. But the overwhelming majority
of Harijans were still condemned to an inhuman existence barely on the
brink of survival. And the most tragic aspect, of their situation is
that they invariably become the targets of attack without ever coming
anywhere near the benefits of reservations.
Many participants felt that exclusive reliance on the State as
the principal agent of social change and development was frought with
grave consequences. Excessive concentration of power was bound to
lead to evil.
In fact the quest for social justice often involved
struggle against vested social interests and executive authority.
But as the discussion progressed a deep ambivalence regarding the
possible and desirable role of the State surfaced again and again.
Whenever the existing social will was felt to be too weak to secure
social justice the way out was generally sought in some form of
state intervention.
The concluding session was an attempt to delineate the basis of
hope for a way out of our present predicament. The discussion began
with a critical appraisal of the basic categories that define in the
world today the relationship between man and man; and between man and
nature. Gandhiji's critique of some of the basic premises of the
modern industrial civilisation as it had been shaped in the West,
aroused keen interest. Many participants were pleasantly surprised
that things which seemed to affirm their own inchoate quest found a
significant place in the Dialogue. As a participant put it, serious
discourse simply did not take their existence into account. It is
indeed instructive that participants could discern even in such a
sweeping, abstract discourse reflections of their own feelings of
vague unease and hope.
The Delhi workshop was organised by Lokayan (Suresh Sharma) and
Lokniti (Pankaj).
Lokayan in the South Indian States
RUSTIC (Rural Study and Transformation Society) in Goa is the
consociating centre for Lokayan activities in the South Indian
States. Claude Alvares of the RUSTIC has undertaken the responsi
bility. Efforts are on to associate one more centre either from
Tamilnadu or Kerala or both.
A large part of 1980 was spent on the preparatory work and
several small meetings of field workers, activists and academics
were held to acquaint them with Lokayan and to seek their advice on
programmes.
TAMILNADU: About ten people met for a preliminary meeting in
Tamilnadu in January. This group will plan the proposed Lokayan
dialogue in Dindigul on May 23-24, 1981.
The minutes of the
January meeting have already been circulated to the participants.
A wide range of activists, intellectuals and village level workers
are associated with the Lokayan initiative in Tamilnadu.
KARNATAKA: Two preliminary meetings have been held, contacts
have also been established with several individuals and organiza
tions. Lokayan has also held consultations with the Samudaya
theatre group and the Bandaya (Rebel) Society.
It has been decided not to hold an all-Karnataka level meeting.
Instead the suggestion is that Lokayan associate itself with sponta
neous district level initiative in the state. According to this
proposition, there have been proposals to prepare an alternative
development plan for the development of North Kanara, in the light
of the agitation around the Bedthi hydel project, through an inter
disciplinary team of scientists and other concerned people in
Karnataka. A smaller Lokayan meeting has been suggested for two
groups working in the Mangalore area; one with fishermen, and the
other with tenants and students. A similar meeting may also be
held in Hubli, Dharwad and Belgaum, but this is not certain and the
local group in Dharwad is exploring the possibilities.
The discussions on Ecology have yielded a modest research effort
on organic farming in Karnataka. An attempt is also being made to
study the farmers agitation and to work out a programme with the
Bandaya Society, to bring together dalit writers of Karnataka in a
two days camp.
ANDHRA PRADESH: Explorations were made by a Lokayan staff member,
who travelled extensively through Andhra Pradesh, meeting people who
may be grouped as follows:
(a)
activists in the political groups generally left of CPM.
(b)
voluntary agencies engaged in building awareness among
the exploited.
(c)
dissidents in traditional development oriented voluntary
organizations including Sarvodaya type of organizations.
Apart from these groups, there are also:
(d)
individuals — mainly university based and actively
associated with these organizations; and
(e)
organizations fighting for civil liberties.
The tentative thinking at the moment is that Lokayan should hold
meetings of only small groups. There is also a suggestion that Lokayan
should help in the production of a small Telugu bulletin that will
disseminate much needed material for the various groups on local,
national and international matters. Since the civil rights movements
are quite active, Lokayan would like to initiate a dialogue through
them.
GOA: Two preliminary meetings have been held in 1980 and another
in 1981. Those attending included people ffom the traditional fisher
men, toddy tapper, mineworkers, tribals and student groups.
The issues selected were the following: technology, since increased
mechanisation in the fishing, mining and other industries is posing a
threat to the livelihood of people traditionally engaged in these
industries; ecology, for Goa is being ecologically ruined on a gigantic
scale (forests cut down, mining activities etc.); and development (could
we have "another development"?)
The 1981 meeting was on the 15 year Perspective plan prepared for
Goa by the Administrative Staff College, Hyderabad. Strangely in the
entire process of framing this plan no Goan seems to have been consulted.
In this context an alternative development plan for next fifteen years,
based on the expressed needs and aspirations of the common people, and
also involving sympathetic experts and planners assumes relevance and
urgency. Two more meetings are being held on this issue under Lokayan.
KERALA: Thus far Lokayan has only made preliminary contacts in
Kerala. A few Individuals and institutes have been contacted but
much will have to wait till
further meetings and contacts. There
is a great deal of interest, but involvement in important state
issues seems to preclude for the moment large involvements like
Lokayan.
CONCLUDING
About 250 political and voluntary activists, academics, profe
ssionals (communicators, doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.) from
different parts of the country have so far attended these meetings.
These individuals are expected to participate in the action-part of
the project on a more or less continuous basis. The academics and
professionals will make research and consultation inputs for the
activists involved in decentralized and constructive developmental
programmes — through a series of face-to-face meetings and circu
lation of pamphlets and other materials by the project, selecting
relevant materials (articles or journals published by other groups
engaged in developmental activities with a decentralised, democratic
perspective) and its dissemination which has already been undertaken
in a small way.
Colloquia are held with a view to bringing together activists,
concerned professionals and experts (including Government officials)
and the academics on a common platform to discuss certain national
issues and in particular how they affect the oppressed and peripheral
segments of society.
The assumption is that so many micro-movements to which the
action-groups are drawn or initiate themselves, are a response to the
mal-developments generated by the working of the established political,
bureaucratic and developmental structures. Though at the surface these
movements may appear anti-developmental, they represent rudiments of
an alternative model of development. There is a need to articulate
these responses of the micro-movements into a systematic critique of
the established models and a frame of action towards an alternative.
In 1980, two preliminary attempts were made in this direction.
One, of bringing together activists in the field of mass communications
engaged in countering the impact of the established media with the
concerned Intelligentsia and other socio-political activists; the other
bringing together ecological groups in organizing the affected popula
tions in the forest and the hill areas.
ENVIRONMENT
In the Environment colloquium, held on December 23 and 24, 1980,
about 20 young persons in the environment movement in different parts
of the country for protection of forests, promotion of reforestation
and conducting movements to influence policy making and building
public opinion participated. The meeting was organised by Kalpavriksh,
a Delhi based action group of young students. Among the groups that
were represented were the Chipko movement, the Society for Clean
Environment (SOCLEEN) in Bombay, the Sarvodaya in Pindwal in Gujarat,
the Mitti Bachao Abhiyan in Madhya Pradesh and others. The focus of
the meeting was on how to sensitize and organize local populations
everywhere for the environment movement. Whereas local agitations
are coming up all over the country, yet there are many obstacles —
government indifference and vested interests, cock eyed plans,
inefficient implementation, public ignorance, and possibly the whole
system itself — that have to be cleared out before such activities
can succeed. Kalpavriksh and other groups that had gathered together
decided to follow up on this preliminary meeting through action plans
which would in course of time lead towards unifying various regional
efforts into a strong national environmental movement.
COMMUNICATING
In the "Communicating and Development" colloquium, held from 31
December 1980 to 3 January 1981, about 25 participants from all over
the country representing various groups in the field of communication
and development as well as action-groups participated.
The groups included people from fields such as film, television,
folk-art, journalism, creative literature, fine arts, adult and social
education, and the action-groups involved in organizing the rural poor.
The focus of the discussion was on experimenting with the forms
and processes of energizing local communities for decentralized action
for social justice and development.
The issues discussed at the
meeting covered a very wide range — from the strictly individual to
the national and the international, from intense personal experiences
to the social and political contexts of the "crisis" we are gripped
in.
Among other things the discussion highlighted the point that the
forms of communication need to be consistent with the content (even
determined by the content). The importance of this becomes clear when
we find that those who began their work with a recognition of the
need to humanise one's conduct with the poor ended up with establishing
dehumanised relationships with them — primarily due to an attitude of
'saving the souls' of the poor and in the process forgetting what was
happening to their own souls.
A vigorous plea was made not to view communication as an instrument,
even for radical ideologies.
Any value-laden super-imposition of
contents was a subtler form of exploitation.
Instead it was emphasised
that the need was to comprehend the spontaneous or unstructured communi
cation among the people and give it voice.
Another point, however, was that even people's spontaneous response
or initiative was only the starting point, and leadership required skills
of its own kind. What one could do was provide "information" and perhaps
assist in drawing implications thereof for action, remembering all the
time that the aim is participation in and sharing of experiences.
The substantive discussions were followed by a demonstration of some
materials used by communicators as part of their efforts to evolve rele
vant forms of communication, illustrating the problems involved in
experimenting with building an alternative communication structure for
people's movements.
77
The proposed programme for 1981 was suggested by the steering
group of Lokayan consisting of people convening dialogues in
different states.
It is a tentative programme and therefore liable
to change.
We welcome comments and look forward to your continued interest
and involvement.
The address of the persons responsible for contact and communi
cation is given in the appendix. You may contact him/her directly.
A.
DIALOGUES
1.
In 1980 the meeting of activists representing different types
of action-groups were held in Gujarat, Bihar, Maharashtra and
Delhi (where activists from Haryana, U.P., Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Rural Delhi participated). These meetings served
three purposes (i) providing
a much needed platform for
activists to discuss some basic issues of ideology, organization
and the future with a view to finding space for action that can
be relevant at the national level; (ii) to sensitize academics
and researchers to the need for new kinds and modes of academic
activity by bringing them face to face with these issues through
active interaction, on a basis of equality and in a spirit of
learning, with the activists; (iii) to establish in course of
time a Lokayan community of individuals and groups spanning the
country through personal contacts and the emergence of an
identifiable platform around areas of common interest, concern
and hopefully, joint action on specific issues.
To complete this first phase of establishing contacts and
initiating the process of dialogue among groups it is proposed
to hold similar meetings in the states in which they have not
yet been held and for which preparatory work has already been
done. All these meetings will be held in 1981:
(i )
Madhya Pradesh
Vijay Pratap
(ii)
Rajasthan
Ramesh Thanvi
Kishore Saint
(iii)
Uttar Pradesh
Vijay Pratap
(iv)
Tamilnadu
K. Manoharan
Goa
Claude Alvares
No dialogues of the earlier sort will take place in those
states in which a state-level meeting has already, occurred.
Attention will be paid to follow-up action meetings and/or
workshops among field-level workers and organizers of groups
on specific themes:
(i )
Problems of organizing the rural poor
(ii)
Organizational and other related problems
faced by the groups
These will be held in the following states:
Two workshops in Gujarat
Ghanshyam Shah
Achyut Yagnik
Two workshops in Bihar
Ramchandra Pradhan
D.L. Sheth
2.0
3.
There will be no state level meetings for the year either in
Karnataka or in Andhra Pradesh as per the advice of a number
of people we have personally contacted in these two states.
Instead a few small meetings with individuals and groups
working in specific regions, activities or movements will be
held:
Two meetings in Andhra Pradesh
G. Narendranath
Claude Alvares
Two meetings in Karnataka
Somashekhar Reddy
Claude Alvares
These meetings will concentrate on small groups (often
splinters from big organizations) struggling to get out from
conventional welfare and developmental activities and focu
ssing on training of workers and on consciousness raising and
organizing the exploited populations in the states. Special
effort will be made to build on ongoing, locally generated
initiatives.
4.
The following colloquia have been proposed for 1981 and 1982.
1.
Perspectives on action-groups
and micro-movements: A meeting
of persons studying and
working with various groups
Sharad Kulkarni
The issues of Reservations
Achyut Yagnik
Science and technology as
an issue in alternative
development
Rajni Kothari
Ashis Nandy
A critical evaluation of
voluntary action in
situations of natural
disasters (floods, draughts,
famines)
Amrita Rangasamy
Crisis of Social Research
D.L. Sheth
Datta Salve
Problems of village common
land
Suresh Sharma
Political Economy of
Irrigation (water management)
Ghanshyam Shah
The 'tribal problem' in the
perspective of national economy
I.P. Desai
D.L. Sheth
2.1
5.
Working Groups: During 1981 or at the beginning of 1982 it is
proposed to set-up Working Groups (so-called "Task Forces") on
major areas relevant to Lokayan concerns and activities which
call for sustained effort at dialogue and dissemination. This
is suggested in view of the fact that the meetings component
of Lokayan will be reduced after 1981 and progressively the
dialogues and dissemination activities will have to be organi
zed around some specific problem areas. The idea is to identify
a few problem areas relevant for the eighties' and constitute
groups consisting of intellectuals and activists who will
conceive and plan activities and programmes for concerted
national attention on these issues.
It is also suggested to convene a national convention some
time in 1982 of the activists who have already participated in
the various state-level dialogues, colloquia and workshops of
Lokayan and a few others.
Your
suggestions on both these proposals are solicited.
DISSEMINATION
Lokayan Bulletin: This will begin operation in June 1981 and will be
issued each month.
It will serve the function of informing everybody
associated with Lokayan of any activity taking place that month.
The bulletin will also report on issues and concerns of relevance
to Lokayan objectives; it will reproduce ideas from other journals,
in India or abroad.
It will also carry Lokayan participants' comments
on the various activities taking place in different parts of the
country. Summaries of material generated at Lokayan meetings and of
Lokayan oriented books and articles will also find a place.
It may be possible that the bulletin may turn later into a
journal of some sorts, but the discussion at the steering group
meeting was inconclusive.
A strong point was made to work with
existing journals and strengthen these.
Lokayan Inter-change: This will be put into effect this year. The
idea is to facilitate the exchange of activists from one organization
to another so that better cross sharing and observation of other
peoples' experiences can be held. The exchange programme may be for
a week or month or even longer.
Some proposals have been made, but if any activist would like to
leave his setup for a while and see how another similar group some
where else in the country is functioning, he or she is welcome to
write in to D.L. Sheth at Lokayan office in Delhi providing details
on the proposed interchange.
1
Lokayan Exchange of Ideas and Information: Papers significant to
the work of those at the grassroots, case studies and other
relevant commentaries will be sent out to those interested. This
will be mainly through pamphlets. To save cost, initially a list
of items will be sent out indicating sources (in many case the
Lokayan office) and brief description. On hearing from you the
items you would like to have, these will be sent out. In some
cases there will be a cost for a particular item.
We give a lot of importance to this Exchange and would in
particular welcome papers, notes and comments from you which you
would like to share with the Lokayan community. We urge you to
do this.
Commissioned Papers and Studies: People qualified either through
study or intense experience will be invited to prepare special
papers on Lokayan related issues for circulation through Lokayan
Exchange. The following people are currently working on such
problems: e.g.
(i )
On Centralization and
Decentralization
Rajni Kothari
(ii)
Agents-Agencies of
Transformation
Kishore Saint
(iii)
Micromovements: Problems
and Prospects
D.L. Sheth
(iv)
Relevance of Gandhi
Sunil Sahasrabudhey
(v)
Development Schemes and
the People
Vasant Deshpande
(vi)
Ecological Movements and
the Problems of Survival
for the Rural Poor
Claude Alvares
(vii)
The Farmers' Agitation
in Maharashtra
Y.D. Phadke
(viii)
The Future of Voluntary
Action
Dev Dutt
The Caste-war in Gujarat
Ghanshyam Shah
The Assam Movement
Sanjiv Barua
This list is based on firm commitments made. We are contacting
others for similar contributions and will report on them in the
next Bulletin.
2.5
/*
C.
3
RESEARCH
Lokayan is not a research sponsoring organization. The research
component of Lokayan is conceived only as inputs to dialogues
and dissemination activities. It can, therefore undertake and
facilitate only very low budget, quick, participatory research,
preferably by the activists themselves on the basis of the felt
need of the activists.
The Lokayan group in any particular
state will therefore decide about such unconventional research
in the light of the issues raised in various regional dialogues
and colloquia, and prepare specific proposals.
I
The general guideline is that the research proposal must be
related to ongoing Lokayan activity in the state, in the group,
or to any of the colloquia. The main idea is to fill gaps
in our knowledge in the process of confronting real issues; not
"research" in the conventional academic sense.
The following areas of research, for instance, have been
suggested by action groups in Bihar and Gujarat:
1.
Political Geography of Struggles in Bihar
3.
Access to Opportinities for Scheduled Castes,
Tribes and other Deprived Groups in Gujarat:
Pattern of Land Transfer in Some Bihar Villages
( i)
Employment in Organized Sector
(ii)
Health and Education
2A-
fXK, 0 -’ST- 3
BOJGLYAN :
Dialogue o£ the People
Project on Democratic and Decentralized Development
(Sponsored by the Centre for the study of Develop
ing Societies)
Lokayan, a project for the 1980's, is conceived
as a response on the part of concerned intellectuals,
activists and opinion-makers to the national and
international situation facing us in the 1980's.
This situation arises out of;
a)
b)
c)
a development and planning process that has
produced a world of extreme dualism and depri
vation, with massive increases in absolute
poverty and marginalisation of millions of
human beings, to a large extent because of
the prevailing thinking on development,
a model of science and technology that has
undermined the autonomy and dignity of
diverse peoples, their sources of sustenance,
their community organisations and their
traditions of mutual help and self-reliance,
a political process that has centralised
power, undermined democratic institutions,
led to highly manipulative forms of populist
rhetoric, devalued moral standards and norms
in public life, and through all this, made
the state an instrument of vested interests.
and,
2
d)
an international system based on corporate
capitalism, superpower penetration, cultural
homogenization and militarization of major
regions of the world, each of these reinfor
cing centralized structures of elite domi
nance and mass manipulation and repression
in individual societies.
Against these powerful structural and cultural
forces which threaten to undermine democratic insti
tutions, and the self-reliance of peoples there are
also some rather far-reaching developments of a
positive kind of work which need to be identified,
strengthened and consolidated.
Among these are:
a) A far-reaching process of mass awakening,
challenging age-old hegemonies, asserting
the democratic rights of hitherto under
privileged people, and willing to join
battle against sources of dominance and
exploitation,
b) a cognate process of social-and political
consciousness among some sections of the
educated classes who are willing to question
earlier assumptions about development, are
engaged in a variety of grass-roots experi-r
ments along alternative modes of social and
economic organisation, and are willing to
join forces with the underprivileged in
their battle against vested interests,
c) a growing realization among a section of
the intelligentsia and the opinion-makers
of both the grave distortions that have
set into the institutional framework of the
Indian state over the last decade as well as
of the basic weakness that were inherent in
the original me .el of Indian d mocracy,
planning, education and administration,
d) a heightened sense of impending breakdown
of the "system" that is widely shared and
the consequences of which can strike at the
roots of our democracy and at all efforts
to create a just and humane society and,
c) a related feeling that is also growing,
including among sections of political parties
and the administration, that the existing
political organizations have shown serious
limitations in moving towards a new demo
cratic crystallization and that there is
need to draw upon a wide array of activists
outside the usual political and governmental
framework - in voluntary institutions, in
new experiments at the grass-roots and in
local and regional movements for social
transformation and dignity.
Lokayan is based on the belief that both course
corrections and alternative modes of social action can
be built by drawing upon the latter set of forces. It
seeks to do this by engaging the various elements
identified above - intellectuals, grass-roots activists
voluntary organizations and opinion-makers at various
levels and political and administrative cadres - in a
series of dialogues in various regional contexts as
well as across regions on major issue areas, backed
by the necessary input of information and analyses,
and moving step by step towards a new crystallization
of opinion around specific proposals for action and
implementation.
4
Lokayan will also organize similar dialogues with
movement groups in neighbouring countries of South and
Southeast Asia as well as other Third World countries
and prepare the basis for a larger international consul
tation on the global context of the present crisis.
Lokayan will have a research wing which will engage
in dialogues with a cross-section of the people in
various regions with a view to bringing the thinking,
values and aspirations of our people as inputs into the
dialogues among activists and opinion-makers.
Lokayan..will also put out and circulate as widely
as possible the results of all these activities, as well
as opinions and positions that the participants in the
project would like to offer, so that once again step
by step a new ideological crystallization tha.t is sen
sitive to the specific situation facing us in the
coming decade emerges and .provides a basis for action
at various levels and in various fields.
Finally, and this follows from all that is said
above, Lokayan would like to contribute to ending the
isolation and fragmentation.that divides the various
centres of creative work and to foster cohesion and
unity in the ranks of those who would like to act
together but are, for various reasons, unable to do so.
From this may emerge a larger national movement.
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LOKATABJ
a project of the centre for the study of developing societies
Exchange Building
13 Alipur Road Delhi 110054
Telephone: 223940
AN OVERDUE LETTER TO ALL THOSE IN THE LOKAYAN NETWORK
The Lokayan Bulletin, scheduled to appear in June, 1980, will appear in
the third week of July, 1980.
I was to take charge of the Bulletin but got stuck in my village in Goa
longer than planned due to a campaign initiated against the fair-price
dealer in the village who was not giving the people their rations. The
campaign ended successfully on the 20th of June when the dealer's
license was suspended and some 4,000 people received their rations for
the first time in a new shop.
So much for the delay.
Lokayan meetings are carrying on all over the country; the bulletin
will carry news about future meetings and reports of the meetings held
upto July, 1981.
We are also carrying an "Access" section, in which readers will come to
know about interesting papers, reports, studies, etc. generated by
people both within and outside the Lokayan network.
The Research-cum-Documentation centre has also begun functioning and we
will try to get you information on any written or published (material
you may require in relation to your work.
Always get in touch with us at the address above.
Claude Alvares
LOKAYAN, DELHI
-t=f/V€.to —^q-
LIST^QF PARTICIPANTS - LOKAYAN_ IN KARNATAKA
Name
Address
1. ST Somashekhara Reddy
Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore - 560 027
2. Narendra Singh
Campus D—10, CFTRI, Mysore 13
3. Jayakumar Anago1
Secretary to Chief Minister
Department of
Science and Technology,
Bangalore
& Secretary,
4. LT Sharma
57, KHB Colony, Sirsi,N Kannada
5. Vandana Shiva
Indian’ Institute of Management
Bangalore - 560 027
6. Janaki Nair
34, Lavelle Road, Bangalore 1
7. Ravi Narayan
St.John's Medical College
Bangalore 560 034
8. K Dileep
Khasbag, Belgaum 590 004
9. Sheila R
Glenmore, Fainir, Mangalore 575001
lO.Reena Fernandes
'Jerina* Silva Lane, Kankanaby,
Mangalore - 2
11.John Devaraj
36/44, I Main Road, Chamarajpet
Bangalore 560 013
12.JC Bhatia
Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore 560 027
13.KN Harikumar
173, Subbarama Chetty Road
Bangalore 560 004
14.Mohan Isaac
"Memories", No.138, Indira Nagar
Bangalore 560 033
15 . CR Chandrashekar
Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry
NIMHANS, Bangalore 29
16.Ajit V Bhide
54, Menks Hostel, NIMHANS,
Bangalore 560 029
17.SV Iyer
Social Worker, Subramanya Nilya
Subramanyanagar, Sidlaghatta,
Kolar District 562 105
18.MM Kumarswamy
SEARCH, 256, 7th Cross
Jayanagar 1st Block
Bangalore 560 011
....2
2
19.GSR Krishnan
501, 19th Main, 4'T* Block
Jayanagar, Bangalore 560 011
20.EP Menon
Vallabhniketan, Kumara Park
East, Bangalore 560 001
21.GS Chandy
Ecosystems, 29, Museum Road
Bangalore 560 001, Tel:52593
22.BV Krishnamurti
93-96, Rajmahal,Vilas Extn.
Bangalore 560 030
23.CS Prakash
133, III Road, 3th Cross
Chamrajpet, Bangalore 560 013
24.PN Srinath
No.9-4-36/277, Kakathiyanagar
(Safarjung Colony) Hyderabad
25.SN Nagaraj an
2O/5tn East Cross Road
Katpadi Township, Tamil Nadu
26.M Shadaksnararadhya
484-C, 33rd Cross, 9th Main
4 th Block, Jayanagar
Bangalore - 560 056
27.VR Ramakrishna
No.234, 1st Cross, Cambridge
Layout, Bangalore 560 003
23.M Shivananjaiah
Kootagal, Ramanagaram Taluk
Bangalore District
29.R Puttaramaiah
Kootagol, Ramanagaram Taluk
Bangalore District
30.Mrs.Vanaja Ramaprasad
Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore 560 027
31.Rajani Kothari
CSDS, Delhi
32.DL Sheth
CSDS, Delhi
33.Claude Alvares
RUSTIC, Thane, Velpoi-GOA
34.G Narendranath
CSDS, Delhi
35.J Bandyopadhyay
Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore 560 027
3
l£J^iYiduals_interestted_in_Lokayan_bat_could_ngt. -participate
in the meeting:
Name
———---------- —.—----- ------------
Address
■------- --------------- - ---- —-----------------------------------
1. Prof.Madhav Gadgil
Geologist
Center for Theoretical
Studies
Indian Institute' of Science
Bangalore — 560 012
2. Dr.PK Mishra
Regional Director
.Anthropological Survey of India
paparam House, Jayalakshinipuram
Mysore
268, 16th Main, Mysore 9
3. Mr.ullas^ Karanth
4. Mr.Vinod Shanbog
Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore 550 027 .
5. V Balasubramaniam
Director
Command Area Project
Ghata Prabha Proj ect
Gulburga
6. Prof.Vinod Vyasulu
Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore 560 027
7. Valerian Rodrigues
C/o Sheila R Rebello
Glenmore, Falnir
Mangalore 575 001
8. Mr.RL Kapur
Department of Psycaiatry
NIMANS, Hosur Road, B'lore 27
9. Dr.DK Subramaniam
Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore 560 012
l§FORT_OF_THE_EXM;ORATgRY_MEETING_OF_LgKAYAN_IN_KARNATAKA
'The exploratory meeting of Lokayan in. Karnataka was
held on 21st May 1981. Dr. Rajani Kothari of OSDS explained
broadly the aims and perspectives of Lokayan Project. After
good amount of discussion it was decided that given the
presence of a big chunk of intellectual activists and few
representatives from voluntary agencies at the meeting
lokayan will more fruitfully address itself to thematic
issues such as science and technology, ecology and environ
ment, land relations, politics of health, etc., that are
not only relevant to activity in Karnataka but also to the
colloquium at the national level. It was also resolved
that more efforts be made to involve activists groups and
a beginning is planned by meeting groups in the Belgaum
area and Mangalore area. It was anticipated that for
dialogues to be meaningful for activists, such selected
issues should be taken up which are complementary to their
organisational activity". To this extent the activists at
the gross-root level may request few research groups to
work on specific issues selected by them which would pro
vide support to the ongoing struggles. Examples of such
issues which were identified are political geography of
struggles, occupation health of powerloom workers etc.,
The research activists in Karnataka were already
involved in working on problems of relevance to people.
These research activists could be consolidated by holding
thematic workshops. One such workshop could be on the
exploitation of the rural by the non-rural. The venue
for this proposed workshop is Southern Mysore District.
2
The methodoxogy for identifying aid solving issues
was also highly discussed. The summary was that there
should be no more meetings to discuss just the lokayan
project as such. The shape lokayan is to take in Karnataka
is expected to get clarified through more focussed dialougues. The dialogues, workshops'etc., are conceived of
at two levels - one with full autonomy of a local activist
groups with primary participation and decisions being made
by such activists at regional level. Such decisions in
clude what issues will be discussed, who will participate,
what will be communicated to the lokayan net work etc.
The second level being primarily . aatic seminars or
workshops will lend themselves in less selective parti
cipation and communication. The possible workshops and
the convenors are given below :
Workshops
1. Politics of Health
2. Science and Technology
5. Rural and Non-rural divide.
(including issues of ecology)
Convenors_
Dr. Ravi' Narayan
Dr. Vandana Shiva
Prof. B.V.Krishnamurthy.
Themes and Issues Discussedwith Dr._RaJni Kothari
Regarding Future Lokayan Activities in
Karnataka
Date: July 13, 1981
The planning of Lokayan activities in Karnataka during
the coming one year was discussed in Bangalore in the presence
of Dr.Rajni Kothari. The general wealmess of Lokayan linkages
in Karnataka with action groups is to be removed by intensive
tour and discussion with these groups. For this purpose
regional dialogues are to be organised in Belgaum and Mangalore
regions in September and November 1981. Sri ST Somashekhara
Reddy will organise these meetings. The general strength of the
Lokayan contacts in Karnataka are to be utilized in three natio
nal level dialogues to be organised by the Lokayan in Karnataka.
The topics for these three dialogues are as follows:
a)
Exploitation of Rural Resources by the
Urban Complex,
b)
Political Economy of Science and Technology
in India today,
c)
Organisation of Alternate Health Strategy
for India.
The first national dialogue is planned during Dec.12-13,
1981, in Nanjangud and Dr.B.V.Krishnamurthy will organise it.
Issues on this theme will be discussed in the background of
micro-level studies already completed.
The topics for these
studies will be like deterioration and liquidation of rural
resource base, agricultural pricing, impact of sericulture
social forestry, dairy development, irrigation schemes etc.,
on the rural resource endowment and the livelihood of the
poorer people. The second national dialogue is planned
during January - April 1982 through a series of exchange of
ideas through written communication ending in a final
discussion and meeting, the dates for which will be fixed
2
in due course of time.
This will be organised by Dr.V Shiva
The issues to be focussed on are those about which debate has
not taken place in India, (for example, nuclear technology)
or those that increase the availability of new commodities
while eroding the resource base for survival of a large number
of marginalised people (for example land use for industrial
purposes and luxury goods production). While the detailed
case studies will provide the background for the dialogues it
is expected that this would throw light on the general debates
on the organisation of science and technology, on modes of
knowing, on the role of foreign technology and issues of tech
nology transfer. The third dialogue on alternate health
strategy will be held during April-May 1932 and will be orga
nised by Dr.Ravi Narayan and Mrs.Vanaja Ramprasad. This
dialogue will deal with the development of indigenous resource
base for health care, food policy and health care and occupa
tion and environment induced ill-health. Each coordinator
will initiate the formation of a group of 5 or 6 interested
persons to take up the planning and organisation of the dialo
gues.
Lokayan participants are invited to send suggestions
and take up generation of materials for the dialogues and write
to me in this respect.
J. BANDYOPADHYAY
Postal Address:
Indian Institute of Management
Bangalore - 560 027
Social Accountability and Social Audit of NGOs
f'itJ" ~f*
Some loud thinking for an approach to conduct it.
NGOs (or Voluntary Organisations[VO], as some of them insist on calling themselves - to
distinguish themselves from private commercial organisations which, also,, in a way, are non
government by status and therefore NGOs) come into existence because (they strongly feel) that
something needs to be done to harness "progress" of the society in a meaningful and appropriate
manner, "Something critical is wrong! Something critical is lacking! Something critical is side
lined! Some sections of society are wronged or neglected or cheated and something needs to be
done to address these issues". These (and other compelling) issues trigger initiation of VOs.
In many ways these VOs arc self-appointed and are simultaneously ’independent’ (in being selfappointed) and yet answerable to society (which is their raison-d'etre). They are also answerable
to the society and to themselves to ensure that their practices and endeavour moves appropriately
in the direction towards 'ideal' society (they proclaim to cherish) and also the values generally
attributable to humane society e.g. secularism, egalitarianism, pluralism, transparency, honesty,
and most importantly humane interactions.
VOs use monitory, human and other resources (of the society) in their “social" entreprunership.
These resources arc tools) and tools can be 'used', 'mis-used* and 'abused'.
In any enterprise, the
function and (with it), the importance of audit is self-evident
1.
Fiscal audit
Mandatory (legal) requirements call for fiscal (and monitor}') accounting and fiscal (and
monitory) audits. Fiscal audit has the longest history' and have continuously developed into
more and more sophisticated exercises. The important feature of this type of audit is that it is
more or less standardised and universally accepted
Because of this reason it is also
relatively easy to conduct.
Unfortunately, with its sophistication, fiscal accounting practice(s) has (have) also carved out
ingenious methods for 'hiding' / or camouflaging / or colouring fiscal picture. Auditor's work
(in this area) is to 'monitor1 'access' and "point out" variances in the fiscal picture and to
ensure that 'legal requirements are complied with before certification or to give 'qualified'
certification. Audited report may not be 'transparent' In this case the auditor is not expected
to ‘penalise’ In fiscal audits, the auditor merely checks, monitors, reports findings and makes
qualified certifications
2.
Management audit
The next in line has been the management audit. With important strides in techniques of
management (of resources and people), management accounting and management audit has
grown ii. importance and harnessed in practice. The area has been nurtured and developed
mainly to usher in 'efficiency' and 'effectiveness' and navigation towards the goals set.
There are many important tools and concepts that have been generated through the development
of management science (and art) but the most important for the purpose of the discussion here is
the concept of'optimal'
"Optimal". We use the word 'optimal' to distinguish from the word 'minimal' I 'maximal'/
'average'.
To my mind "optimal" means that which "appropriate with holistic considerations".
(What is optima! keeps changing from time to time with changes in the situation). It takes into
under its wings considerations of (I) economically sustainable, & (ii) harnessing of resource e.g.
fiscal, time, effort, personal and personnel etc., on the one hand and creation of space and
opportunities for nurture, growth and development of individuals and Organisation.
3.
Social Audit
1 do not know if the term 'Social Audit' is precisely defined. Which is good for now because
it gives one a lee way to define it as one pleases. 1 would define it as auditing the existence
(and performance of Organisation / individual) in terms of meaningful value to the society
and its 'idealised' future.
What would that include. 1 do not know for sure, but for brain storming 1 am enlisting some
'heads' and elaborating on these wherever I can. (See below)
•
•
Worthiness Indices
Investment.worthiness index
•
In an Organisation like CEHAT the funders invest money, the staff its time and effort and
the peer Organisations their 'concern and support' (whatever that means). To each of
these segments, a repeat of investment would be reason enough to signal an increment in
'worthiness ' Again the more investors would mean a signal for greater perceived
worthiness by that investor segment. A scale would be drawn out based on this 'repeated'
2
or continued investment. A scale could also be drawn out based on the number of such
investors. Larger the base, the larger would be the perceived worthiness to that segment.
Based on the score of each of these a "Worthiness Index’ (for this segment) could be
const met cd . This index could be Hom the investor's angle l ikewise Iheie could be those
from the point of view of (1) social action angle (which could be sub-divided into
sections as I have tried to list below.
•
Social action angle
•
Support to existing social action
•
Research for new avenues for social action
•
Lobbying facilitation
•
Academia facilitation / support
Debt : Equity ratio (A little diversion for the moment)
This is a thumb rule popular within the Corporate circles. "If the Share-holders are willing to
invest 'x' amount of funds (i.e. investment) then the 'lenders’ would brave a risk of'2x' and all
this '3x' would be worthwhile, if the product of the enterprise is valued at
least '300x'
Perhaps if one is able to give 'value' representations to the efforts (and time) put in by the
Organisation in terms of'money' (That is already done because the Organisation pays 'salary
'where the notion is based on converting effort into 'money' - even if this is Hobson's choice.
The difficulty would be to set values (in monitory terms) to producLof enterprise.
Honesty index
It will take some time and effort to develop on this. I have put it here for brain-storming
exercise.
Transparency index
The term "Transparency" is well known and abundantly used. And yet, 1 suspect everyone's
notion of transparency is slightly (and sometimes widely) different. Thankfully across the
board there is a common consensus that the greater the transparency between the interacting
entities the better it is.
I shall therefore qualify what I presume transparency means in the context of Organisational
behaviour. Used in the context of Organisational behaviour, it entails that entities interacting
"with" and "within" the Organisation know (or have access to) information that is (or can be)
relevant to the interacting entity.
Does this mean everything that goes on within the
Organisation is out on display? 1 think not. There are a number of matters that need to be
shielded from exposure on ethical grounds (eg. confidentiality of the personal working
within the Organisation and many such matters) or on grounds of vulnerability to
competition (commercial grounds), but transparency demands that these area be demarcated,
notified to the entities interacting and be substantiated with appropriate explanation
(particularly the ethical merits for such non-disclosures). The commercial (or political)
shields against disclosures must also be spelled out with adequate explanations. The more the
disclosure the more Open would he the Organisation. One could workout a scale for
Openness of the Organisation based on this concept.
Likewise, there could be non-disclosures scoring also.
Positive scoring for ethically
appropriate to null score for commercially / politically appropriate to negative for
unacceptable reasons.
(4—i—»—f / +++ /++/ + / 0 / - / — / — /—)
Based on the Openness
score ( 0 % to 100%) and the Non-disclosure score an index of transparency can he worked
out.
CE1IAT is (I am told) planing to have a ’web page' on the internet. ’ On the web page, it is
common fo have a sub-site titled "about us", In this 'about us' what is the site visitor able to
access information (even if that calls for a payment of a fair fee) about CEHA T would give
a degree of "Openness" and if properly extended transparency of the Organisation.
fairness index
1
Is the Organisation fair to employees
2.
Is the Organisation fair to funders
3.
To the society it uses for its work (e g community in field research)
4.
Is the Organisation fair to the society in which it operates (country)
Equality index
To be developed
Sensibility index
To be developed.
Reference index / Reference score (no. of citations of research products)
CEHAT is a research Organisation It publishes papers and other publications which are to be
referred to and quoted. Based on the densityf?) of citations a score can be constructed.
New approach index :
Different positions > common goals (Hospital accreditation)
In Hospital accreditation programme - a new approach to zero-in segments from varied
"positions" to common acceptable and workable level is - to my mind an innovation - value
that could be constructed for 'worthiness index.
•
Universal publication (on the internet) access to beat plagiarism? (Web page) (Floppy)
(data publication in Journals)
This is yet another innovation to defeat copy-right madness.
subjected to 'scoring'
♦
Outreach accessibility
This 'value' could be
,
;
i
To be worked out.
°
Internal democracy - How much? How effective exercised? How fruitful in nurturing
internal 'pluralism' A score could be devised
®
Interdependence - support index
)
CEHAT has liased with a number of Organisations ( programmes) - complimentary / and
supportive functions for a common goal. These inter-responsiveness could be subjected to a
value score.
•
Optimisation index (?)
To be developed.
®
R ipple (meaningfulness) effect index
®
Immediate next group > next immediate group > so on. Each Organisation builds its
ethos. The founding members (are presumed to imbibe this ethos maximally). The next
proximal segment (say, the stall) is expected to be influenced
next and so on. For
instance practising doctors (who founded the Forum for Medical Ethics FMES) are
expected to fully contribute to the ethos of I-MES. The next proximal groups is expected
to be influenced more preferentially in relation to the distal groups. Audits could aim at
exploring the reality of this presumption.
•
Personnel growth and development index.
(In house poll Entrance poll / Exit poll) The entering stall’ and the exiting stall’ of the
Organisation have their 'picture' of the worthiness of the Organisation. Some times this is
coloured by personal fancies or prejudices. These prejudices or fancies arc at their high point
immediately (on entering) or (on leaving). Some Organisations (or their representative) try
and evaluate the perceptions of these segments after a cooling period, say of 6-months This
score (it is believed) is useful..
•
Intra-Organisation personality gradient. - Space score / involvement score / 'belonging' score
•
In house value nurture index - ethics-ethos I social justice index / empathy index / open-,
mindedness index
•
There coald be more areas that could be included, with further work in this area.
One method of scoring
(Many of these indices are intangible in character. It is difficult to make measured scoring. The
approach adopted in sports like gymnastics or figure skating is that there are 6, 8, orlO
evaluators. They record their instant score. The highest and the lowest scores are weeded out
and an average of the rest is drawn out for arriving at score of that individual).
1.
10 evaluators to cover the range of proximity levels (very close to very distant). Evaluators
who are dose to Organisation and those which are not_dosc\ foim a team of evaluators.
2. On each index organise score gradient (highest to lowest) Leave out the highest and the
lowest and add the rest and divide by 10 (or eight) to get score for each. It-is expected that
scoring of individual evaluators follows a
If it happens to be otherwisc\^y/ the
evaluators need to be changed.-
3.
Organise indexes score wise and divide the range into 3 components The highest segment
4.
need to be sustained and middle segment needs to be fortified and the lowest needs to be
urgently addressed to for improvement.
5.
There are some indices which may need monitoring throughout Some may need to be
moderated on the basis of age of the project. Some based on the category of the'project.
Some through correspondence. Some through personal interview
Grading of project vis-a-vis meaningfulness
6.
•
to social action
•
to academia
•
to lobbing value
•
to peer Organisations
7.
Slippery slopes and Iceberg technique.
It is important to be aware of areas with slippery slopes and Iceberg technique could be
harnessed to investigate these areas. Some such areas that come to my mind arc:
•
Asset-building - an exercise for sustenance and necessity or for ego and avarice.
Anusandhan
A note for (potential) Social Accountability Group (SAG) members for CEIIAT.
Relevant History
Anusandhan Trust was envisaged and formed in 1991. Though, the thinking then was to engage in.
rigorous research in the areas of health - {research, particularly from the pro-people (particularly the
disadvantaged) perspective) - there was a clear understanding that the outcome of research should make
enabling environment for social action Also, (additionally) (it was conceived) that it was important
(where existing social action was not evident) to research and establish data that could lead to initiating
social action.
To Anusandhan. it was clear that all pro-people work was important and restricting itself to areas of
research would not suffice and hence whilst drawing the Trust Deed a wide spectrum of possible areas to
work in were included. It was envisaged that initially there could be a centre for research, but if the need
arose, Anusandhan would initiate other centres as well. CEHAT (Centre for Enquiry into Health and
Allied Themes) was started some three years later and is engaged in research and action in areas related to
health. Over the past six years CEHAT has grown spccdilj.
Whilst initiating its endeavour. ANUSANDHAN pledged itself to die values of (1) transparency (ii)
honesty, (iii) openness, (iv) democratic functioning, (v) collective governance, (vi) constantly improving
standards for quality output and (vii) social accountability in all its units. When CEHAT was started,
structures for implementing these values were gradually put in place.
The Trust Board of Anusandhan - since the very beginning - realised that merely constructing structures
wvas not enough to ensure their effective purposes. Anusandhan believes that just as featuring of financial
audit report is mandatory in a company's report to die public, social audit report must also be a
responsibility of an organisation in its report to die society in which and for which it exists. Nonetheless,
Anusandhan also is alive to the ground realities. While norms for financial audit are tangible and
quantifiable and by and large universally accepted, diose for social audit arc not yet sufficiently well
developed.
Largely, this is because of three reasons xiz. (1) organisations themselves have not laid
enough priorities and efforts in developing these aspects (ii) there arc no existing paradigms on setting up
social audit procedures and (iii) outcomes relevant to social benefits & harms arc difficult, if not
impossible to quantify and measure.
Rather than wait until such procedures are set up, Anusandhan thought.it best to subject its 'efforts' to
social accountability. It was envisaged to set up a Social Accountability Group (SAG) of persons with
inttt^ity, sensibilities and ability to critically review ail tfaat went into the work of its centre and along
with it the output of its work. It would be mandatory to include (attach) report of SAG along with the
Annual Report of that year. As response to SAG report. Anusandhan would carry (in its next annual
report) the action taken report on the recommendations of the SAG report. This way Anusandhan would
have the benefit of critically evaluated appraisal for improving its own endeavour on the one hand and
would serve to social accountability report before the society it aims to work for. by making it accessible
to anyone
requires it and requests for the report
In time, perhaps, parameters (to build up a system)
for social audit would (may) also emerge.
In 1994 (checkthe year / date). the first SAG - comprising of
Dr.Ashwin Patel. Dr. S L Shetty
Dr. Nccra Desai, Dr.S.K.Pandya,
& Dr Ravindra Soman was constituted and served until now' (a tenure
of 5 years). A worthy exercise was an outcome of this SAG. But this was the first SAG and Anusandhan
requested this SAG to assess the Trust's centre in the way the SAG deemed it fit.
For this purpose,
CEHAT provided extensive material that was generated in the centre (c.g. all papers I reports published
and unpublished , minutes of the Trust Board Meetings, the Staff meetings, rules & regulations & salary
structure of CEHAT, etc.)
Reviewing the exercise of SAG now, the Trust now feels that specific & critical evaluation of the
Centre (from SAG) in important areas would be helpful to the Trust and the Centre for development and
direction in which the Centre moves. T his note attempts to list out these areas and also suggest procedures
for intcractions between the Trust, the Centre and SAG.
CEHzVT's working structure
1
’ present, CEHAT has offices in Mumbai & Pune and other field offices in Maharashtra and
MP
2. The Centre has as its chief administrator the Co-ordinator.
He / She has duties &
responsibilities towards (a) the Trust (b) the administrative wing (accounts / personnel etc.),
the research wing, the external contacts. I le I she is authorised to depute anyone to this work.
In addition, the Co-ordinator has his / her own research responsibilities on the Research
Projects he/she is involved in.
3.
Wage structure and Rules and Regulations are written down and arc available for anyone
(even outsider) who asks for a copy. A new employee is furnished with these. These could
serve to foster transparency. Whenever, revisions in die wage structure arc made, a meeting
with staff is organised and the subject is thrown open to debate.
4.
In order to nurture collectivism, democratic practices and effective space for communication
within personnel and to evolve leadership qualities within the staff, the Centre has instituted
a Working Grout) (WG). WG has elected representatives from both the Mumbai and Pune
offices. The WG meets once a month. ’Hie Co-ordinator is an ex-officio member of the
WG. Expenses (travelling etc.) are bome by the Centre. Elections to the WG arc held every
2
year and any member of the staff is eligible for this. The tenure of the member is 2 years
with one-third retiring each year. Care is, however, taken to ensure that both the Mumbai &.
the Pune offices are represented on WG. Work on the WG entails responsibilities in addition
to the work that the individual on the WG has. However, for this additional work
the
members do not get any allowance. 'Hus is made explicit to the individuals on the WG.
5.
In addition to the WG meetings Staff Meetings arc held twice a year. These arc organised
as residential meetings at some resort that is both convenient and economical.
The agenda
for such meetings try’ and incorporate presentations of the work done by the staff, changes in
administrative / accounting as also the hurdles and difficulties in the procedures etc. And any
other personnel matter. Offen the agenda tries to include a lecture from someone outside the
Centre or a workshop.
These meetings try to provide space for the staff to have a general
awareness of die status (as also the difficulties, challenges etc,) of the work of other members
of the staff.
It also can (and hopefully docs) provide space for harmonising personnel
matters.
6.
The Centre has put in place the Grievance Rcdrcssal Structure (GRS). This is currently under
review.
7.
The financial accounting and reporting is the responsibility of the accounts wing and Co
ordinator heads this wing. Chartered Accounting Firm is entrusted to oversee and certify the
financial accounting. This accounting is done on the half yearly basis but the certification of
accounts by the Chartered Accounting Firm is only done afler the financial year ends. The
Centre has an FCRA account and accounting for this purpose also forms the part of the duties
of the accounts w ing.
8.
Research Projects arc submitted by the Centre for funding, these projects arc drawn out by
the Principle Investigator (PI) and discussed within the staff and the WG. For every research
project (involving primary data collection) setting up of
Ethics Committee (EC) is
mandatory. This EC reviews the work at the beginning (planning stage), intermediate stage
and final stage. As a procedural requirement all research and action work is subjected to a
peer review at various stages and the work discussed threadbare. Copies of publication of
these works (and any other publication brought out by the Centre) is sent to SAG members
9.
The Trust Board sends the minutes of its meetings to the SAG. CE11AT sends the minutes of
the Staff’meetings to SAG and the Trust Board Members. CEI1AT also sends the minutes of
GRS to SAG members and the Trust Board.
10.
The Trust Board Members and the SAG members are encouraged to meet the stalf.
.1 rust Board and the constitution of new SAG.
Trust Board of Anusandhan has laid great importance to the report of SAG and its (SAG’s) report along
with the ATR will be a part of Anusandhan’s Annual Report this year. Learning from the experience, the
1 rust Board recommended some inputs to address the issue. For one. it has to facilitate the co-ordination
between SAG and the Trust Board on the one hand and to make Trust's requirement written and itemised
for facilitating SAG report. T his note is for that purpose.
Anusandhan Trust seeks to have SAG opinion /evaluation / recommendations on the following areas:
•
On meeting core objectives of CE11AT
•
On transparency of CEHATs work within the Centre and with the outside environment.
•
On Worthiness of the output of CEl IA T - preferably with respect to individual projects and
administration
•
On honouring ethical concerns
•
On the aspect of CEHATs
provision of space for nurturing excellence and leadership
qualities of individuals on the Staff.
•
•
On CEHATs interaction with other Organisations
On the space and nurturing of democracy and collective functioning within the Centre and
between Trust Board and Centre.
•
•
On CEHATs growth and development
the Gricvcncc Rcdressal mechanism and functioning and effectively of it.
•
On the quality of research and shortfall in the area.
•
Other areas that SAG may think pertinent and important.
Anusandhan believes that with a written request to SAG. it may facilitate the SAG to include the items in
its report to the Trust on the one hand and to the Public on the other. It will be a binding for Anusandhan
Trust to publish (as attachment to its own Report) the SAG report and to state its response to SAG report
in form of ATR and what is not taken up for action with explanation to the Public.
Facilitating the functioning of SAG.
For facilitating the functioning of SAG. CEHAT had been furnishing to SAG (on a regular basis) (a)
reports of the research work published and unpublished (b) the minutes of Staff Meeting and any request
that SAG makes. The minutes of WG arc not sent (because these take place every month and arc mainly
relevant to the staff co-ordination) (chcck’if this’i/correct) but if the SAG makes a request these also can
be sent to members of SAG. The Trust Board furnishes (on regular basis) the minutes of the deliberations
at Trust Board meetings.
CEHAT helps SAG in organising venues for SAG meeting and reimburses the expenses incurred for
travelling and organises hospitality. Anusandhan Trust has now resolved the ethical hurdle of making
allowance payment to members of SAG. Allowance for the SAG members for the days of meeting will
be borne by Anusandhan Trust - not from CEHATs funds. Also to facilitate administrative work of the
S.AG. - particularly in the 3,J year (when the written report of the SAG is sought) the Trust will provide
funds for a secretariat (of one or two persons) that the SAG may like to set up. The Trust urges SAG to
appoint a Chairperson to co-ordinate its activities and to facilitate liaison between Co-ordinator CEHAT
arid Managing Trustee Anusandhan and SAG.
This note is for preparing a foreground to initiate the new SAG. It is hoped that in the first meeting
between SAG members, Trust Board Members and Co-ordinator CEHAT a complete protocol will
emerge.
Anil Pilgaokar, eJuly 2000
Ravi Duggal, cAugust 2000, minor modifications
Following section added by Ravi Duggal
Modalities of SAG
It is suggested that the SAG should have five members. These members should be sensitive to social
research and action and must have made some significant contribution in it. They will' select a Convenor
from amongst themselves. The tenure of the SAG would be for three years, at the end of which a social
audit report will be produced.
The SAG will get ail secretarial assistance needed by them from CEHAT. CEHAT will provide SAG
members all documentation, reports, papers, minutes etc., to members once every quarter for review of
work. The SAG should meet once a year to take stock of the work of CEHAT and discuss amongst
themselves. Also they should meet and hold discussions with all staff members at this meeting. The SAG
members may choose to review the work of CEHAT selectively as per their area of interest etc.. This the
SAG members must decide at their first meeting At this meeting they must work out how they would like
to structure tlicir working and distribute responsibilities and the process of review to be followed etc..
At the end of each year a brief report after their annual meeting must be sent to the Trustees. The
members arc also free to send feedback to the Trustees as and w hen they desire. At the end of three years
the SAG should carry out a formal social audit for which Anusandhan Trust will provide resources to set
up a Secretariat with an anchor person of the SAG’s choice, if such a person is necessary. Once the social
audit report is ready it will be presented to the Trustees at a meeting and discussed. Once it is finalised the
SAG report will be made public. 'Hie Coordinator and Managing Trustee will subsequently prepare an
• Action Taken Report and both these will be published in die next Annual Report of CEII AT / AT.
Ravi Duggal
24“*: Oct. 2000
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