Minutes of 11/15 meeting Attendees: Charu, Manoj, Vidhi, Zeena, Aravind, Ashutosh, Sai, Ravi K, Murali New attendee: Prabhu meeting start: 6:30 pm I. Voting on the contents of the 93rd amendment proposed by NAFRE (National Alliance for fundamental right to Education): The Fundamental Right to Education _______________________________________________________________ Article 21: ages 6-14: free compulsory education- changed from a directive Principle to a legislative entity. Unanimous agreement among members. ages uptil 6- Core education by parents, such as child care (? speculation)- a directive principle! Does this need to be a fundamental right that the State should enforce? Why not make education a fundamental right for ages 0-14? Equal allocation of funding by the federal center to the States for a required standard of education. What is this standard? How and on what basis was this standard placed? Article 51a: Parents have to provide education to children between ages 6-14. Is it justified for the State to enforce its morals on parents? A fine line between 'discriminating freedom' and 'discriminating despotism'. However, agreement that in case of the rural majority in India, such a clause could finally grapple with the literacy/education issue and provide greater choices to our new generation. Many debatable, controversial issues were raised with regards to above; more discussion needed. Other questions raised: Where is this proposal going to be submitted?- Parliament/ legislature/ where? Who/ what comprises the NAFRE? What role does Asha play in the NAFRE? How much money is being proposed that the State should spend on education? NAFRE proposed a minimum of 6% of the GDP. Currently 3.8% of GDP. 26th November deadline for giving in Asha-Madison's vote: in general, the 93rd amendment proposal seen as a positive step toward the future, albeit not without some controversial issues. II. Apne Aap Review by Aravind Parihar _____________________________ Short term Goals of Apne Aap: -prevent rampant prostitution among children/ women. -provide daily meals, medical supplies (high incidence of AIDS), and vocational training for women/ children. - 30 women being targeted currently - 5 K requested: $3K provided by AID: Minneapolis. $2K asked from Asha-Madison - where is Param when we want to know the current Asha-Madison bank balance? we miss you! - $2K asked for nutritional supplies, travel Questions: Can Apne-Aap look at other existing/ relatively successful models/ groups fighting the same issue? Vidhi talks about a group that is fighting for legalization of prostitution: Counter-Intuitive, but powerful way: but very hard since there very, very little precedence to this. - Fund-Raising for Apne-Aap: Is this a viable Asha-Stars project? Long-term goals very vague. Need to communicate with the Apne-Aap people: Aravind, Vidhi will set up conference call. III Recent FCRA (Foreign Contributions Reulations Act news to note _______________________________________________ The HIndu, Nov. 14th edition, notes that there is currently a bill being discussed which will do away with the existing laws in place for the above. The new bill proposes to initiate greater controls and holds in order to prevent influx of funding to terrorist groups, CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES, media organizations and NGOs. A state of displeasure with the current FCRA. Apparently, its being misused by the agencies stated above. We are surprised at the blind eye that the govt. has turned to numerous social activist NRI groups such as Asha, AID in the US. The bill is not in force yet, discussions ongoing, it will be brought up early next year. How will the new bill affect our current protocols of funding? Details please, we need details of this new bill- what is being changed exactly? IV War and Peace: Anant Patwardhan in the US ___________________________________ Center for South Asia is interested in bringing in film-maker, Anant Patwardhan, well known for his socially relevant movies. There is also proposed a showing of his movie: War and Peace. Asha-Madison as a co-organizer of this event. An opportunity to meet with Anant Patwardhan. Consensus interest: we should follow this up. Vidhi in contact with Center for South Asia. V Fund Raising and Misc. _________________ -Murali: Email proposed in last meeting to be sent out is 2 pages long: disadvantage. Consensus among members to send the letter along with newsletter instead of emailing. - Charu, Srini, Ashutosh working on Newsletter. Shoot to get it out by the end of November. - Local dancers could be used to host a fund-raising event next spring. We need to think more concretely about this: Vidhi mentions that dancers will be willing to choreograph pieces if we provide them with socially relevant music. Vidhi/ Murali will contact Aparna Sindoor to get better ideas on socially relevant music. - Videofest issues: Manoj proposes theme: Terrorism in India. Vidhi mentions availability of videos from Drishti Media Collective. - ASM funding problems with Sindhoor concert: ASM has not received invoices from Music hall for the event and for printing: hence the delay in paying. Sai talked with Music hall people, and they will be sending invoice directly to ASM. _____________________________________________________________________ Next meeting: Wednesday Nov. 21st. 2001