NATIONAL FARMERS CONVENTION-2009

CIFA India’s National Farmers Apex Organization, focusing on 600 million small farmers by networking them as producer groups and providing access to technologies through linking with markets, is organizing the 6^th NFC for the following objectives:-

1 Charter of Demand issues of Farmers and Industry for inclusion in the Union

Budget 2010-11.

2 Prepare CIGs and State Federations programs for training & Technology

Transfer.

3 To identify market connectivity through Contract Farming, Processing &

Commodity Trading.

4 Lobby with policy makers for favorable policies.

5 Join International Farmers Organization for mutually beneficial programs.

For details: www.nfc2009.org

Commonwelath Games are Not Green Games !!

INVITATION

A drama called Green Common Wealth Games is being enacted in Delhi on 30^th October, 2009 on Delhi Ridge. At 4:30 P.M tomorrow, Delhi Government shall be planting tree saplings at this place.

The venue shall be Bandh road, Ayanagar.

Youth for Justice, Natural heritage First, Ridge Bachao Andolan, Yamuna Satyagraha, and many other NGOs and RWAs shall join in to protest against this farce. This tree planting ceremony by Delhi Govt. shall coincide with a simultaneous tree sapling plantation programme held in London. The objective is to declare these Common Wealth Games as the first ever Green games.

We are tired of this drama by the authorities and will protest against it.

Many thousands of full grown trees have been cut in Delhi and some are waiting for axe to make way for Common wealth games related projects in Delhi.

Some numbers are as follows:

- Covering Sunherei nala and Kushak Nala for parking facility - 3800

- Ring Road By pass from Salim Garh Fort to Yamuna Velodrame

for Park & Ride Scheme - 3700

- At Siri Fort Complex for building Badminton and squash courts - 900

- India Habitat Centre to Seva nagar for Road widening for access

to Jawahar lal Nehru Stadium - 180

- Fly over Construction over Bara Pullah nala - 120

Another big blow to environment came from the site chosen for Common Wealth Games Village. It is being built on Yamuna Flood Plains. The flood plains are a vital water recharge area to meet the water needs of the city. It is also a sensitive eco- Zone.

The above are some of the major instances that show that these games are something other then green.

All of you are invited to join in the event. Please send your name at the earliest so that we can show it in the list of participants.

Venue: Bandh Road , Aya Nagar

Route: From Andheria More, take to Mandi Road. Reach Jauna Pur. From middle of Jauna Pur goes a Bandh Road. Take that. This road reaches a T- Junction. From here take left turn. This takes to the venue

Time: 4:20 P.M

Date: 30^th Oct, 2009

Are we Ready for the Games?

By: Kapil Mishra
Are we ready to the games?
Seven girls have died in a Delhi Government school following a stampede. This extremely sad and painful incidence is being handled as if it is just another accident.
Seven families have lost their beloved daughters and they don’t even know whom to blame for it.
Sudden death of these girls when they were in school is shocking and simply unacceptable. Accountability should be fixed and culprits should be punished severely. Authorities can not turn away from their responsibilities.
We all know that this is not going to happen and similar incidents will keep taking place in future also. If we look at the school and the locality where this school is located, we find that this school was situated in a poor unauthorised colony where there is no basic infrastructure available. Most of the students who study in this school are from lower socio-economic strata of our society. This is one of the most neglected areas in the city.
There are 1600 unauthorised colonies, hundreds of J.J. Clusters and rural villages in the city and more than 70% of the population of the city lives in these areas. They do not have access to piped drinking water, most of these areas are not connected with regular sewage system, and these areas do not have access to primary health centres and other basic infrastructure.
Sending their girl child to school is never an easy decision for parents from these backgrounds. Most of the girls who go to schools in these areas are first in the history of their families to attend school. Fear of uncertain is the biggest fear that stops parents from continuing the education of their girl child. Everywhere in Delhi eve teasing is a common phenomenon outside such schools. Most often girls do not even tell incidences of eve teasing to their parents because of the fear that if they will share it, their parents will stop sending them to school. A distant dream that this education may help them change their fate and make them come out of the vicious circle of poverty is the motivation that makes these girls so brave that in spite of all odds they keep strive for better education and opportunities. Every girl who is continuing higher education in these schools is doing so at her own risk.
Insecure environment, lack of basic infrastructure and fear of uncertain are common barriers to their path apart from religious and social traditions. Any such incidence may shatter the dreams of many others who are bravely facing all barriers and are struggling their way out of this system. Who is responsible for the death of these girls? Who is accountable for murder of thousands of innocent dreams? People who have this responsibility of creating an enabling environment and also of ensuring that every citizen especially weaker ones like these girls from poor most strata of society are feeling safe and are getting equal opportunities, namely our political leadership and bureaucrats are simple shrugging off their responsibilities. They have more important work to do i.e. the organisation of Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Around 12 years back more than 30 school children died in Delhi when a school bus fell into the yamuna river apparently because of a age old narrow bridge at wazirabad. Government and authorities have immediately announced that a new and wider bridge will be constructed at that place. But nothing has happened even after twelve years of the incident.
In a city where more than 60% population do not get piped water supply, where equal number of people do not have access to basic health facility, where quality education is still a luxury afforded by only 10% people of the society, where sewage, pakka road and complete nutrient diet are still a distant dream for a major section of population, where labour rights are alien concept, this question naturally comes to the mind of concerned citizens of delhi “are you ready for the games?” and the only definite and sensible answer to this is “No”.
Death of these girls should wake up the authorities to the hard core realities of poor standards of infrastructure and administration in our society and we should take urgent actions to address these issues, hiding away into the unrealistic world of games is surely not the way to go.

यमुना पर नौजवानों का तीन दिवसीय आवासीय शिविर
रिवर्स ऑफ द वर्ल्ड फाऊंडेशन, वाटर कम्युनिटि इंडिया, गान्धी स्मारक निधि, पट्टी कल्याणा और लोक सेवक मण्डल (दिल्ली) द्वारा एक त्रि-दिवसीय आवासीय शिविर का आयोजन किया जा रहा है जिसमें ग्लोबल वार्मिंग, पर्यावरण एवं नदियों के तेजी से गिरते जलस्तर तथा उसके दुष्परिणाम पर बातचीत होगी।
यमुना एक जीवनरेखा नदी(समस्या, प्राणवान बनाने की चुनौतियां, कार्यक्रम और संगठन) पूरे कार्यक्रम का मुख्य बिन्दु होगा।प्रमुख हस्तियां जो कार्यक्रम में भाग लेंगी - प्रो। रामकोदुरी (जल एवं पर्यावरण विशेषज्ञ), प्रो. विक्रम सोनी (नेचुरल हेरीटेज फर्स्ट),श्री ओंकार चंद (लोक सेवक मंडल), श्री महेश दत्त शर्मा (गांधी स्मारक निधि ), श्री दीवान सिंह( यमुना सत्याग्रह), श्री कपिल मिश्र(यूथ फॉर जस्टिस ), श्री राजेश डोकवाल(नेचर फाउन्डेशन), फिल्म निर्माता श्री राकेश खत्री, श्री शम्भु दत्त शर्मा (गांधी सत्याग्रह ब्रीगेड)
कार्यक्रम स्थल - प्राकृतिक चिकित्सा केन्द्र, पट्टीकल्याणा आश्रम, नजदीक समालखा, दिल्ली की तऱफ से 18 किमी पानीपत से पहले

YOUTH FOR JUSTICE respects the SC order on YAMUNA RIVER BED

Today Supreme Court has allowed Commonwealth Games Village on Yamuna saying that it is not on Yamuna River Bed.
We at "Youth for Justice" respects the order.
Yamuna Satyagraha has lost its purpose long before, when it was decided by a few of people to file a court case against the will of majority of the Satyagrahis. NOW THE COURT CASE HAS BEEN LOST AND SAME PEOPLE ARE BLAMING THE JUDICIARY AND THE SOCIETY FOR THE DEFEAT IN THE COURT.
Since the beginning of Satyagraha there was a consensus among Satyagrahis that court case will not be filed and Satyagraha will be utilised as the tool to achieve the objectives of the movement. Mr. Vinod Jain from Tapas has filed a case and has almost got an order against the construction on river bed but suddenly a case was filed by again these few members of Satyagraha. It affected the proceedings of case filed by Shri Vinod Jain and both cases were given to a double bench of High court. We all know what happened after that. If we see the observation given by the Judge in the case filed by Shri Vinod Jain, one could easily say that second case filed by people from Satyagraha was a mistake (intentionally or unintentionally) that has helped the authorities to go ahead with the construction.

2 YEARS OF YAMUNA STAYAGRAHA :Chronology

Chronology of YAMUNA SATYAGRAHA by YOUTH FOR JUSTICE
2 Aug to 15th August 2007
Youth for Justice, farmers of Yamuna khaddar and Sunil Parbhakar joins Yamuna Satyagraha. The farmers admirably took responsibility to maintain the Satyagraha sthal. Youth for Justice provided the much needed youth energy for the movement.
Press conferences, folk songs, inviting people/NGOs/polticians from Delhi and outside to sit on satyagraha. Foreign media too troops in. On 15th august, we staged a march to the stream of Yamuna to hoist tri-colour. Yamuna was in good flow but devoid of its flood plains. Unable to meander like a river and recharge the flood plain aquifers.


18th Aug- "YOUTH FOR YAMUNA" WAS LAUNCHED WITH STUDENTS FROM DELHI SCHOOL OF SOCIALWORK
19 August,

SATYAGRAHA IN WELL
Satyagrahis barricaded inside the games village site, pressured to move out. In protest, Sunil Parbhakar(25 years) get down in an abandoned dry well and resumes his satyagraha inside the well, with a chameleon and a snake as his co satyagrahis.

Medha patkar, Ch. Ramkaran solanki( head of 360 villages of Delhi), Govindacharya, C.V.Rajagopal and others gather at the satyagraha sthal.

18th September
STALLING PROCEEDINGS OF DELHI ASSEMBLY.
Sunil Parbhakar and Kapil Mishra and other young boys and girls from Youth for Justice along with Diwan Singh from Natural Heritage First enter Delhi assembly and stall the proceedings, demanding discussion on Yamuna. Boys taken into police custody. Then there were long discussions on Yamuna in Assembly
27th September
Yamuna satyagraha co-organises a function along with Shahid Bhagat Singh Brigade at Sur Ghat near Wazirabad. The function was organized on birth day of Shahid Bhagat Singh.
2nd October
300 people march from Yamuna Satyagraha sthal to Raj Ghat.
10th October
March to Supreme Court- students of Aravalli Inst. Of Manamgement, Jal Biradari, Youth for Justice, NHF and others totalling more than 200 marches to supreme Court to demand justice for the river. Outnumbered and surrounded by police.
24th October
24 hours Yamuna satyagraha starts at NH-8, opposite hotel raddison at Mahipal Pur. Harvinder Rana , a local youth volunteer and his friends take the initiative.

Youth for Justice organizes a huge aarti samaroh for Yamuna at Wazirabad with more than 500 people joining it on the bank of river Yamuna at Sonia Vihar.
12th November
A delegation led by Shri Kuldeep Nayar including Dr. Vikram Soni and Diwan singh from NHF and Manoj Mishra from Peace Institute meets the Group of Ministers.
18th November
Candle march organized by Youth for Justice at Central Park in Cannaught Place, warning the government against turning Yamuna Flood plains into another Nandigram.

22nd November

TEMPORARY MORATORIUM – Dr. Vikram Soni and his team’s efforts tastes success. At a meeting of YRDA attended by 40 technical experts from various fields, the LG declares temporary moratorium on further constructions on Yamuna Flood Plains subject to further studies. CGWB commissioned to do further studies and directed to work with Dr Soni’s team.

1 Dec to 9th Dec
Yamuna Bhujal Bachao Yatra organized in all the villages and colonies along both banks in Delhi. Led by Rajender Singh, NGOs and farmers join hands to spread awareness about the significance of Yamuna for ground water recharge.

Dec

Message to save flood plains displayed at the back of more than 125 Auto Rickshaws with the help of NyayaBhoomi. We can still find these.
Dec
NHF and Youth for Justice and farmers of Yamuna Khadar protests the dissection of yamuna Flood plains by building slip roads in a wrong manner at Vikas Marg.
21 Feb, 2008
Panel discussion at Indian Women Press Corps(IWPC), co organized by NHF, attended by Kuldeep Singh( former Justice, SC), Kuldeep Nayar, Rajender Singh, Dr. Vikram Soni, Vandana Shiva, M.C.Mehta and Bhure Lal. The topic was preservation of natural resources in Delhi.
March
We could not afford to stand mute witness to laborers’ death at Games Village site. Youth for Justice and NHF raised the issue, agitated against unhygienic conditions at the construction site. With support from media, we managed to force the authorities to clean the site and make it hygienic and the deaths stopped.
21 March
Activists burn effigy of Shiela Dixit on occasion of Holi to protest construction of Games village at flood Plains.

Dr. Soni meets Shri Kapil Sibal, heading the ministry of Science and Technology to seek his support for protection of natural resources of the city.
5 June
7 day Yamuna Yatra from Delhi to Agra launched. Organized by Youth for Justice with support from farmers, and NHF, the yatris did overnight stay in the villages or towns along the Yamuna and enjoyed hospitality of local people. It helped in lot of sensitization and awareness raising. Crucial for future campaigns.


Security guards at Games Village not paid salary. Again an instance of injustice right next to us. The poor youth who had come from far away villages in country to serve as security guard at the Games village were subject to exploitation. We again agitated, went to Police etc. Finally, the guards got their salary.

Meeting sports minister Mr.M.S.Gill. Shri Kuldeep Nayar used his good offices to arrange this meeting.

NHF has completes a video film on the water recharge potential of Yamuna Flood Plains and the’ PRESERVE and USE’ scheme proposed. The film is shown to the LG
28th,29th,30th July
Rajender Singh decided to take the message of Yamuna satyagraha to the entire country and launched the ‘nadi sangrakshan satyagraha’. Three day camp was organized at Bal Bhavan in Delhi. Water activists from all over the country attended it.

Cash for vote scam- Youth for Justice and NHF participated in the protest demonstration at India gate. Kept in police custody till late mid night.

Candle march in Central Park organized by Youth for Justice and Aryan Foundation against apathy of judiciary towards the Yamuna cause.
1 Sept
George Fernandez visits Yamuna Satyagraha sthal and admits mistake of NDA in permitting Akshardham Mandir on the flood plains
11 Sept
March to PM’s address venue- satyagrahis taken into custody
Youth for Justice, NHF, and farmers stage protest march to Vigyan Bhavan, the venue of Ground water Congress addressed by Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh. The marchers taken into police custody for through out the day.


23rd September

MORATORIUM SEALED- At the concluding meeting of YRDA, CGWB presented conclusions of its study in response to the study by Dr. Soni’s team. CGWB accepts the water recharge potential of flood plains. The Lt. Governor announces sealing the moratorium.

28th September
Diwan Singh represents Yamuna Satyagraha on World Rivers’day at a function held at Budwani in M.P, organized by Narmada Bachao Andolan.


6th October
At a function held at IIC, Lodhi Road, the LG once again announces his commitment to preserve the yamuna Flood Plains for water recharge and bio-diversity and lauds the role played by Dr. Soni and his team.
Onwards
Since then our activities have mainly been confined to a passive mode. The farmers along with some satyagrahis have been maintaining the satyaraha sthal and continuing with relay hunger strike to demand stop to work on Common Wealth Games village.

PLANTATION IN NAJAFGARH

KULDEEP NAYYAR AND DIWAN SINGH DURING PALNTATION DRIVE

PLANTATION DRIVE in BAKKARWALA VILLAGE, NAJAFGARH, NEW DELHI

A desiltation and tree plantation drive is organized at water bodies near Bakkarwala village. The event is organized by local residents of Bakkarwala village, Gurdayal Vihar colony and Chanchal Park. Besides the local residents, the participating groups are- YOUTH FOR JUSTICE, Natural Heritage First, Tapas, Gati, PRASAR, Sangrakhshan, Students of University School of Bio technology( I.P.University)and IIT, Delhi.

Senior journalist Shri Kuldeep Nayyar accompanied by Dr. Vikram Soni(Research scientist at NPL) and Vinod Jain(Tapas) will launch and participate in the drive.

Protection of Local Natural Resources to deal with water scarcity. - The residents and the NGOs feel that these water resources are crucial to water security. They believe that the age old culture of desilting and preserving the water bodies need to be revived if we have to deal with water crisis which is increasing year by year in this city. Desilting is a necessary exercise as it would augment recharge of ground water. This function in olden days was performed as a voluntary service by our forefathers in our villages every year before the monsoons arrived. Tree plantation is necessary as it helps purify and hold water.

These water bodies signify culture, history and environment, all come together.

There are four water bodies on a 26 acre tract of Gram Sabha land in village Bakkarwala. The land had been leased to DTC for a depot cum dump yard to accommodate for new low floor buses. However, the residents were strongly against it as the plan would destroy the four water bodies and take away the last available common space in the area from them. The residents want the water bodies to be preserved and protected and tree plantation in the area which would serve as a catchments area for the water bodies and at the same time as park and playground for children and elderly.

However, it also to be noted that construction on the water bodies is also violation of Delhi High Court orders.

Thrice in the past, the administration had tried to take possession of the area but it was thwarted by the residents. On 11May, 2009, the administration came with a 250 strong police force but the residents were not cowed down and they managed to send the administration back without allowing demarcation/possession of land.

The latest is that the administration is not pressing for the land. Meetings with local M.P Mahabal Mishra and CM, Shiela Dixit have indicated that the administration is looking for an alternative site. The matter is also in High Court. The High Court has issued notices to Delhi Govt. in the month of May, 2009. The next date of hearing is 20^th Aug, 2009.

YOUTH FOR JUSTICE ACTION HEROES DURING PLANTATION DRIVE