India student journalists hit the streets

…amidst wild protestation
Charles Takyi-Boadu reports from New-Delhi, India
The killing of a 25year old television journalist in India, Soumya Vishwanathan has sparked a demonstration in the capital, New Delhi.
Students of the premier journalism school, the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) yesterday took to the street following her death to protest against the perpertrators of this dastardly act.
They also urged the state police and the authorities concerned to step-up their efforts in bringing to book the faceless people behind killing.
The protest, which started around 12:30pm, saw the students blocking access to the main Aruna Asaf Ali Marg road for close to 30minutes amidst the chanting of “we want justice.”
Their message was simple; the police must do everything possible to bring the perpetrators of this act to book.
Soumya who worked with ‘Headlines Today’, a television channel in the capital was shot dead in her car on her way home (Vasant Kunj) on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 after a late night shift around 3:00am at dawn.
She was rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre where she was pronounced dead. But police sources say that a post-mortem released on Tuesday morning revealed that “a bullet was lodged below her right earlobe,” said a senior police officer.
Local newspapers including the ‘Hindustan Times’ reports that Police said they got a call from an auto-rickshaw (Tuktuk) driver about the incident at 3:41 am.
“Her Maruti Zen had hit the divider of the road. The front wheel on the right side was punctured. The windowpane had shattered,” said a senior officer.
Forensic teams were called in to examine the car. A case of murder has been registered against unknown assailants at the Vasant Kunj Police Station.
DCP Southwest Shalini Singh said, “We have registered a case of murder and conducting further investigations into the matter.”
Initially the death looked like an accident, but further investigations led to the discovery of a piece of her scalp and hair which were found on the back seat of the car.
However, the police remain tightlipped on the motive behind the incident and say it is investigating every possible angle. Soumya had been working as a journalist for the last five years.
Her father M.K Vishwanathan is employed with a multinational company and mother Madhvi works with a public sector undertaking.

RAJASTAN NGO PUTS DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRE-STAGE

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
JAIPUR: For the people of Jaipur and its surrounding areas in the vastly populated state of Rajastan who have been struggling with multiple problems of acute water shortage, poverty, child labour and increasing spate of abortion for an extensive number of years, it is extremely difficult to underestimate the relevance of an organisation as the Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants Society (CECOEDECON).
At a time when the activities and operations of many Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) has raised eyebrows over the effective utilisation of funds for their intended purposes, the organisation has risen to the occasion. In effect, it has been able to transform the lives of several individuals and group of persons who otherwise would have been languishing in quagmire.
With a core aim of facilitating the processes of empowerment of partner communities- indigenous people, the landless, small and marginal farmers, deprived women and children-through both direct and indirect interventions to enable them take action independently and effectively to secure their rights and long-term well-being, the organisation has lived up to its expectations. The testimonies of individuals and corporate entities which in a way or the other have had stint working relations with the NGO speaks volumes of the significant feat and the niche the organisation has carved for itself in the speck of time. Born in aftermath of the devastating flood that hit parts of India in 1982 under the Rajastan Societies Registration Act 1958, CECOEDECON as is affectionately called has made significant impact on the government and people of this area.
Within time, the organisation has managed to provide skilled/vocational training to lots of individuals in villages areas, working in partnership with various Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and NGOs to assist them to build their capacity to carry out grassroots and advocacy work more effectively through the provision of training and organisational development support.
The organisation does this by initiating and strengthening public advocacy efforts throughout the state, whilst building coalitions groups to work on common issues involving those related to livelihood rights, social security, in addition to natural resources. In recognition of the gravity of arguably the world’s most dreaded enemy, HIV/AIDS virus, it has outlined a number of strategies to mainstream the issue in order to reduce its spread, with an intensive campaign in toe. Considering the immense role-played by the youth in the progress of a nation, and cognisant of the fact that they are the agents of change, the organisation has also drawn a programme, which enables them to catalyse the development process and provide them with avenues for contemporary traditional change in society. At the community level, it has devoted itself to give higher concentration and preference to underprivileged and marginalized groups including children, women, and landless agricultural labourers whilst at the state, national and international level it engages various operational, organisational, public advocacy and networking activities with key institutions and groups to champion the course of the poor and the vulnerable in society.
Whilst admitting that it is totally impossible to eliminate the obviously high incidence of poverty in Jaipur, let alone the state of Rajastan and India in entirety, CECOEDECON has however managed to reduce its prevalence.
This, it does through community mobilisation, civil society groups, capacity building, advocacy for policy reforms etc. Presently, the organisation is working with various youth groups, ordinary peasant farmers, and unemployed to run health programmes, water-harvesting projects, and drought mitigation measures to help their communities as well as to enable these individuals to earn a living. For some who could afford three square meals a day, CECOEDECON is a ‘messiah’ in disguise, since it has lifted them from their woes.
In its resolve to increase assistance to especially the rural poor, it is currently making conscious efforts to move from its project-based approach to a more comprehensible and flexible approach with the view of achieving greater effectiveness and efficiency. This is intended to integrate various components of rural development and further build the process of community empowerment. Now operating in 10 districts and 855 villages for marginalized people in the areas of health, natural resource management, child development programmes, institutional development, capacity building among a host of other equally important areas, this Non Government Organisation (NGO) has adopted a multi-faceted approach to curb the basic challenges confronting humanity and life.
Like other NGOs in the developing world, CECOEDECON, largely depends on the support of multi-lateral donor organisations and institutions for funds to sustain its programmes and activities. Among the stream of donors that support its activities include the World Bank, Oxfam, UNDP, Indian government, DFID, UNICEF and a host of others.
Unlike most NGOs in developing countries who line their individual pockets with donor monies meant for intended projects, CECOEDECON has put in place an internal self-correctional mechanism to monitor and evaluate how these monies are utilised or to see if the funds are being used to help those they intended for. For the management and staff of the organisation, the issue of monitoring and evaluation is not a one-time activity but something that takes place on a continuous basis whilst keeping a close-eye on the financial expenditures of each and every intervention to be in line with provisions of budget allocations.
It therefore comes as no surprise that CECOEDECON brands itself as organisation “where action speaks louder than words.”