15 June, 2004
India’s civil society seeks answers from new regime
New Delhi – ActionAid International, India, will be part of consultations between civil society organisations and newly appointed cabinet ministers on the regimes’ recently announced governance agenda during a daylong seminar in the Indian capital on June 11.

Ramesh Singh, Chief Executive, ActionAid International, will be amongst the many activists and academicians who are part of the forum that hopes to work collectively to evolve pro-poor policies and enable people to access their rights.

India’s HRD Minister Arjun Singh, Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, Food and Agriculture Minister of State Kantilal Bhuria, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister of State Subbulakshmi Jegadeesan and Congress Party’s Salman Khurshid will represent the government’s stand on key issues of concerns to activists.

The meet – "Towards Inclusive Democracy" – will bring together and initiate a process of interaction between representatives of the state and civil society and articulate development sector’s response to the ruling alliance’s agenda of governance or Common Minimum Programme.

"We hope to draw attention to the burning problems of India’s poor and marginalised people," said Prof Babu Mathew, Director, ActionAid International India, which is spearheading the initiative.

The meet will enable newly appointed ministers to interact with think tanks in the campaign for right to education, right to food, right to participatory governance and right to social and gender equity. Some of the other speakers will be Madhusudan Mistry (Member of Parliament), Shanta Sinha, Dr. Suman Sahai, Prof. Kumkum Roy, Dr. Virginius Xaxa, Syeda Hameed, G. Mathews, D. Bandhopadhya, Prof. SK Thorat, Jadhyala B.G. Tilak, Rita Sarin and Prakash L. John Samuel, Director, ActionAid International, Asia, will give an overview.

Some of the organisations who have already joined hands are: Centre for Dalit Studies, New Delhi; Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi; NCAS, Pune; Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, New Delhi; Indian Social Institute, New Delhi; Jagori, New Delhi, and ActionAid International India. It is expected that more will join the effort and the civil society alliance will grow.

The list of issues and problems confronting the poor and marginalised people in India is large. However, a few issues require urgent intervention on the part of the state. As a start, the alliance will focus on the issues of food security, education of children (especially those left-out of the education system because of social, cultural and economic considerations), pro–people governance and of inequality and discrimination.

The above choice of people’s issues makes it imperative that the alliance engages with the ministers and officials in the ministries of Rural Development, Human Resource Development, Panchayat Raj and Social Justice and Empowerment.