(Eradicate Drought : Save Humanity)
January 01, to February 28, 2006
The
Padayatra is now going on well. it has gone over 180 km in the last 8 days and
there has been no major hitch. Barring a couple of stray cases, the response
from the people has been encouraging. Yesterday, the Padayatra was in a village
called Choramba in Beed district. The village has the now usual tales of woe to
narrate … migration of 60% of the work force in search of work, caste tensions.
However there are some positive that also came up.. The young Sarpanch of Choramba is very dynamic.
He wants to ensure that his village makes progress. He is willing to mobilize
people and get them involved in the development of the village. Discussions in
this village were wide ranging. The villagers and the Padayatris talked about
sanitation and cleanliness in the village, water management, livelihoods
generation in the village, EGS and how to make it more effective and education.
This type
of discussion is not an exception. In the last 8 days, the Padayatris have
interacted with over 3000 people in these villages and towns where the
Padayatra has passed through. Almost everywhere there is a welcome curiosity. People
are interested and are willing to put in efforts to solve their own problems. This
means that the pressure on civil society organizations is that much more. The
expectations of people are high. We need to move fast to meet these
expectations. This is what we need in the short term.
We need to ensure that information reaches the people
ASAP:
This
means that we need leaflets, booklets, posters, banners, brochures etc in large
numbers. These materials could be in Marathi or Hindi. Some English
material, especially if the pictures are very informative would also do. These
can be on a wide range of issues including
We
have no desire of raising money to find this information and print these
posters, banners etc. The reason is that these information and public education material are
available already in large numbers all round the country. The more sensible
thing to do is to collate these.
This
is the thrust of this sit-rep. Please get back to us and give us any and all
material that you have on these and other related issues. Give us multiple
copies. Please try and send these to
the following address as soon as possible
‘Kalyan’, 32, Natraj Society,
Karvenagar, Pune 411052. Maharashtra. India.
In
case it is not possible for you to send them, please get back to us anyway and
we will try to see whether they can be picked up from your offices.
Contribute
to the MAHARASHTRA VIKAS NIDHI (MAHARASHTRA DEVELOPMENT FUND).
Watch this
space for further updates. Do also watch the blog at www.greenearthconsulting.org/padayatra.htm.
A number of the CSOs participating in the Padayatra are partners of the Poorest
Area Civil Society (PACS) programme. Stories and updates of the Padayatra are
available at the PACS website www.empowerpoor.org
grnearth@vsnl.com, 020-25466103,
09422521703
On behalf
of Dushkaal Hatawu : Manoos Jagawu
January 09,
2006