Course on Grassroots Democracy

COURSE ON 'EMPOWERING GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY'

A course for activists and students of social movements offered by Asha Ashram
14th to 20th December, 2007 Friday to Thursday
Venue: Asha Ashram, Village Lalpur, Post Atrauli, District Hardoi, U.P., India

Click here to register for the course: http://ashaparivar.org/cms/comment/reply/30/174.

Course Schedule:
Date and Day Topic Instructor
14th Dec., Fri. Right to information To be confirmed.
15th Dec., Sat. Role of journalism Shahira Naim, ‘The Tribune’ and Suman, ‘Jan Morcha’
16th Dec., Sun. Right to food and work Jean Dreze/Reetika Khera/Kavita Shrivastava
17th Dec., Mon. Dalit, Gender, human rights Kavita Srivastava
18th Dec, Tue Field Work
19th Dec., Wed. Agriculture, land & related issues in the context of Globalization, TBD
20th Dec., Thu. People’s struggles & strategies for change Medha Patkar

Programme Coordinators: Arundhati Dhuru, M: 9415022772, arundhatidhuru@yahoo.co.uk and Sanat Mohanty, mohantysanat@yahoo.com

Asha Ashram
A Universal Place for Learning
Location: Rural area of Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh, India and other areas of social movements.
Postal Address: Asha Ashram, Village Lalpur, Post Bharawan, District Hardoi, U.P. (60 km from Lucknow)

How to reach: Nearest railway stations – Lucknow, Sandila, Hardoi (on Lucknow-Delhi route). Private buses from Ghantaghar in Chowk, Lucknow and Sandila take one to Bharawan and/or Atrauli. Asha Ashram is located 1 km inside from the road connecting Bharawan and Atrauli and is walkable distance from either places. Buses also run between Hardoi and Sandila.
Telephone: 0522-2347365, 9415022772 (in Lucknow), 9451209863, 9451148061 (in the rural Hardoi area). e-mail: ashaashram@yahoo.com

The idea of Asha Ashram, conceived as a global place for learning, is to create an atmosphere where an individual could learn about and do research on various streams of knowledge while living as part of a rural community so that human life is enriched. Individuals, activists and scholars are welcome from around the world to come and live in this area, teach or attend courses and do research. The Asha Ashram is integrated into the community and our belief is that any knowledge acquisition or generation process must take place in a real community setting. The objective of such an exercise should be to create a just human order. To look at the mission of Asha Parivar, an organization which supports Asha Ashram please visits www.ashaparivar.org

Scholars, activists and individuals coming to spend time at Asha Ashram will be expected to live with some family associated with Asha Parivar and be part of the community. We expect that visitors or resident scholars will contribute physical labour towards the activity of the family for its sustenance. Most of the families associated with Asha Parivar are poor, belonging to Dalit community and do farming.

We hope to provide modest library and computer facilities in future to support educational and research activities. It is expected that the area of study chosen by scholars and individuals will aim a solving some real problems of the people and tangible results could be produced demonstrating benefit for the people. It is hoped that the scholars and activists coming here will leave the community enriched by their participation in the community life. In the process they will also get enriched.

It is intended that Asha Ashram will provide an opportunity, especially for local children, to complete their education from the primary to university level.

Areas of Interest at Asha Ashram for academic and activism work: Right to Life, Right to Food, Right to Employment, Right to Information, Transparency and Accountability in governence, Human Rights, Communal Harmony, Traditional rights over natural resources of local communities, South Asia and Global peace and nuclear disarmament, gender equality, Decentralized political and economic systems, renewable energy, community health, humane education system, sustainablility of human activities and life, just human order.

Financial Aspects: We expect the visiting scholars and activists to pay for their own travel and personal expenses and make a voluntary contribution towards the activities of the Asha Ashram. Financial contributions to Asha Ashram may be made in the name of ‘Asha’ (please note ‘Asha’ only and not ‘Asha Ashram’) and sent to:
Vallabhacharya Pandey, Village Bhandahan Kalan, Post Kaithi, Varanasi-221116, U.P., India, Mobile: 9415256848, Ph: (0542) 2618201, 2618301, 2618401, ashakashi@yahoo.com

The Asha Ashram team of activists and scholars: Mahesh Pandey, Ram Sagar Verma, Neelakamal, Chandralekha, Suman Gautam, Mohan Lal, Ram Bharose, Bagwandeen, Ram Babu, Ashok Bharti, Yeshwant, Jitendra Dixit, Jagdish, Arvind Murti, Keshav Chand, Jaishankar, Nandlal, Prem Kumar, Faisal Khan, Ram Krishna Raju, Gurdial Singh Sheetal, Vallabhacharya Pandey, Saeeda Diep, Aslam Khwaja, Bobby Ramakant, Shahira Naim, Sanat Mohnaty, Rajana Ghosh, Sirish Agarwal, Priya Ranjan, Sharique Hasan, Ravi Gangavarapu, Netika Raval, Melliyal Annamalai, Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey.

We invite learners and participants to:
(1) A week long programme from 14th to 20th December, 2007, “Empowering Grassroots Democracy,” primarily focusing on Right to Information, Right to Food and Right to Work campaigns.
(2) Two weeks to a month long programme in Summer (June/July), 2008, (exact dates to be announced) “Empowering Grassroots Democracy.” Sessions will include:
(i). Theory/lectures on (potential topics)
a. Dalit Empowerment.
b. Right to Food.
c. Right to Information.
d. Right to Employment.
e. Struggles by local communities to maintain right over natural resources.
f. Alternatives to economic liberalization.
g. Healthcare for the people.
h. Gender in Democratic Processes.
i. Nuclear Energy and Global Warming.
j. Role of Information Technology in Strengthening of Democracy.
(ii). Workshops (potential topics include)
a. RTI
b. Organizing a social audit
c. Gender Consciousness
d. Setting up cooperatives
(iii). Grassroots projects (can be done individually or in a group) during the course would be encouraged. The projects would be related to issues affecting local communities (Example: Help poor families access their subsidized quota of food grains from the Public Distribution System – a popular movement currently strong in rural Hardoi area).

There will also be time available for participants to lead and facilitate other topics of discussion.

If participants would like to come with children, please let us know so arrangements can be made accordingly. We are expecting to limit the first such program to 40 participants.

For more information please contact Sandeep Pandey (ashaashram@yahoo.com), Sanat Mohanty (mohantysanat@yahoo.com), Sirish Agarwal (sirish.in@gmail.com) or Sharique Hasan (shasan@andrew.cmu.edu).

Past News Items:

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day Event in Princeton
http://ashaparivar.org/cms/HNDAY

Course at Carnegie Mellon University
http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/global/2007/summer/building-democracy.shtml
Sandeep Pandey Visits Heinz School
Indian activist Sandeep Pandey recently taught a three-day course, "Building Democracy at the Grassroots in India," at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy and Management. During his visit, he also held an open discussion with students.