The Growing AID-India Scandal

[G.Subramaniam]

http://www.geocities.com/aid_india_info/AID_DOC.html

Purpose
Documents
2.1 Fund Only DYFI Libraries
2.2 Marx For Beginners for Children, no to story books
2.3 AID Flip-Flop
2.4 Sandeep Pandey (ASHA Founder) at Naxalite Conference
2.5 About AID
2.6 "DYFI does not receive funds from AID"
2.7 AID Does Fund DYFI
2.8 AID co-sponsors an event with CAIR
2.9 AID chapters host talks by a Marxist ideologue
2.10 AID takes care of DYFI's fund problem
2.11 How to match donations without paying a dime
2.12 Article in a Houston weekly accuses AID of "AIDing & abetting communists"

Purpose
AID India documents which AID higher ups find embarrasing have the habit of dissappearing. We have attempted to store some such articles here and also articles from other sites that have useful information about AID.

Document: Fund only DYFI libraries
Description: An AID document describing the status of the much vaunted 50 block plan a project funded in part by AID.
Content: This document has generated much controversy because of this statement of Balaji Sampath (emphasis ours) :

We should have a minimum of 2000 registered libraries for viability. All health and credit groups of Samam would be registered. As a policy encourage libraries only where linked to such an activity or to an active TNSF/AIDWA/DYFI/PWA group or activist. Start only with Samam or TNSF but at local level keep the scheme open for other organizations also.

Source: AID website (google cache, see top portion of the document for URL). Link not permanant.
Date Archived: 28th December 2004
Useful Info: TNSF is Tamil Nadu Science Forum run by prominent AID India leader Balaji Sampath. AIDWA is All India Democratic Womens Association, the womens wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), DYFI , Democratic Youth Foundation of India is the youth wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist). PWA is the Progessive Writers Association, an association of Marxist and other leftist writers.

Document: No to story books for children, yes to Lenin For Beginners
Description : A collection of AID Dallas Chapter Emails
Content : In this document a prominent AID leader in India tells volunteers volunteers what kind of books to send for an ongoing AID project, again this is a controversial document because given the document, allegations of use of AID funds for Marxist indoctrination cannot be ignored. Scroll to page 21, (all emphasis ours)


Abt purchasing books in second hand shops:
(a) Never purchase children’s books (story books, etc) - it is not easy to tell which is useful and which is not.
(b) Purchase all the following: (first two very good and useful)
---> All books (multiple copies ok) by Micheal Apple, Ivan Ilich (Deeschooling Scoeity

and After Deschooling),
Philippe Aries (Social history of Childhood), John Holt, Maria Montessori,
Danger:School, and all books on
educational expts (the ones that fight against the system of education, not for it) in
the US.
---> All Cartoon Books in the Beginners series - Marx for beginners, Budhha for
Beginners,
Trotsky for beginners, Einstien for beginners, Totstoy for beginners, Freud for
beginners,
Lenin for beginners, Ecology for beginners, etc. Just get any of these books.


Date Archived: 27th December,2004
Source: AID website (see top of document for URL).
Useful Info: Michael Apple is a professor of education in Wisconsin, well known for his leftist/progressive viewpoints, more about Ivan Illich here, the book Deschooling Society is available online, more on Philippe Aries and her book Social History of children here, Marx for Beginners is cartoon book which introduces Marxist thought to children in an easy to understand format, similar statement holds for other books in the beginner series. Almost all of the books mentioned in the relevant email concerning social issues have a strong leftist tilt.


Document: The AID flip flop.
Description: AID deleted references to DYFI. The complete story here

Document : Yes, Sandip Pandey did attend the Naxalite conference
Description: Not directly about AID, but about another favorite of AID leadership, Sandeep Pandey. The famous rediff article does not convince many, for them here is the truth straight from the horses mouth, from CPI(ML)'s mouthpiece liberation.

Content: The liberation article clearly mentions that
Renowned NAPM activist and Magassassay Award winner Sandip Pandey stressed the need of unity of revolutionary communist organisations like CPI(ML) and social movements to take on fascist danger.


Date Archived: 6 January,2005
Source: CPI(ML) website.
Useful Info:

Document: About AID (unzip and open with IE)
Description : A friend of a former AID volunteer raises some interesting questions about AID's financial practices in Bharat Rakshak forum
Content: Here is an excerpt from the post (we have not reproduced personal attacks against certain AID leaders, the archive above contains the complete post, note that this is the opinion of a person claiming to be knowledgable about AID)


tskswamy
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 1
Posted: 06 Jan 2005 Post subject: About AID
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I normally don't participate in message boards simply because it requires me to visit a website, login, etc. - mailing lists are much easier! I was prompted to visit this board because I was informed of discussions going on about AID (Assoc. for India's Development). One of my close friends was a former volunteer for AID and was actively involved for several years and is the primary source of information (a lot of which can be verified) for the following:

1. AID is NOT a relief organization. The way AID works, the money collected for tsunami relief is unlikely to be spent anytime soon. For Orissa super-cyclone AID collected more than $175,000 of which about $100K to $120K was spent on actual cyclone-relief related projects. Most of the rest was spent on other unrelated projects in Orissa. And this much happened in over two years. A small portion was still left unspent after two years and this was rolled over into their general account to be used for other projects and campaigns. Similarly for the Gujarat EQ AID collected more than $570,000. Of this around $300K was spent on EQ relief and rehab. Again this happened over a span of 2 years or longer. When the riots happened in Gujarat following the Godhra carnage, AID unlitaterally decided to divert the money collected for EQ for "riot-relief" (this while several EQ projects were still pending). There was a lot of discussion about this unethical diversion of funds on AID lists. Senior AID volunteers, including one of the founders apparently commented that AID "was not accountable to its donors" and should "feel free to spend the money as AID see fit". Even after all this close to $100K was (is?) still left in the "Gujarat pool" as AID calls it.

AID has already collected over $1.6 million for tsunami relief. It is simply not capable of disbursing that much money in an efficient way because AID does not work that way. The process of funding a project is fairly involved and requires detailed reviews including background checks on the NGOs carrying out the project in India. This is actually one of the reasons several donors give money to AID. But what this means is that in times of urgent need, either the money doesn't reach the people in need in a timely fashion, or the review process is watered down so all and sundry NGOs may get funded. If the past experience is anything to go by, of the money collected for tsunami relief, not even a quarter will be spent on actual relief. Rehab projects which are actually long term projects will probably get about 50%. That leaves about 25% (will be more than $500K by the time the deluge of donations stops) in AID's coffers for use in its "other activities" which includes sponsoring trips to India by senior AID volunteers (which AID counts as project expenses), trips to the US by globe-trotting "activists" like Setalvad, Arundathi Roy, d'Souza, etc., and its various "campaigns".

Source: Bharat Rakshak Forum

Document: We don't give money to DYFI, claims AID FAQ
Description: AID FAQ claims that they do not give money to AID.
Content: After the controversy about AID's connection to DYFI, AID added this to their FAQ(emphasis ours) :


Q. How does AID work with other groups on the field? Is AID associated with
DYFI?
In Tamil Nadu, AID is sending funds through AID-India which has taken up massive coordination work with several groups on the ground. This includes reputed science movements such as Tamil Nadu Science Forum, Pondicherry Science Forum, community health organizations involved in the People's Health Movement, local women's and youth organizations, advocacy groups such as India Together and Environment Support Group, and individuals from various companies and groups.

The tremendous coordination work involved is described in the detailed report written by Dr. Balaji Sampath, one of our chief full-time organizers in India.
www.aidindia.org/updates/6.html

There have been questions about the mention of DYFI (Democratic Youth Federation of India) in some of the reports, in light of their political affiliations.

Firstly, note that DYFI does not receive any funds either from AID or AID-India. It is one of the youth organizations whose volunteers are involved in the relief work.

Secondly, as described above, AID-India is working with a variety of groups on the ground, and our approach is described in the report from AID Jeevansaathi Dr. Balaji Sampath.

"At this point I would like to add that the enormity of the problem is so much that one must try and work with every sincere group that is doing work on the field, whether NGOs, Govt, local unions and organizations, or other youth and women's organizations and even groups that might have some political affiliations. One cannot afford to be fussy about working with different groups (as long as they are sincere and work efficiently). What matters now is reaching relief and rehabilitation to all those who need it."

Thirdly, people with questions about any particular group should understand the entire context in which the work is going on, as described in the above report. For example, AID-India organized about 350 volunteers to pick up unattended corpses and dispose them, while noone was willing to do this work a couple of days earlier. In a remarkable incident, FOUR days after the tsunami, volunteers rescued 3 people who were alive under the debris; AID-India volunteers worked alongside DYFI volunteers to accomplish this.

We are in constant touch with our grassroots workers in AID Chennai, who are developing and evaluating their interactions with various groups in light of the dire need of volunteers at the grassroots.

To re-iterate, DYFI does not receive any funds either from AID or AID-India. It is only that volunteers of DYFI are participating in the immediate relief efforts, which are co-ordinated by AID Chennai.

Date Archived: January 8, 2004

Note: Mr. Balaji Sampath says, "One cannot afford to be fussy about working with different groups (as long as they are sincere and work efficiently). What matters now is reaching relief and rehabilitation to all those who need it." We are impressed that Mr Sampath is not fussy about working with DYFI, an organization he likes so much that he refuses to use AID's money to fund libraries not linked to it or to organizations closely related to it.

Document: We are sending them funds. Original link

Description: Balaji Sampath has claimed in the AID FAQ that he is not sending money to DYFI, in this document he clearly mentions providing them with funds. What is the truth?

Content: Balaji writes (emphasis ours)

Locally DYFI and TNSF have collected some materials and started the distribution. We have sent them some immediate funds and I will be taking more funds and relief materials with me today.


Date Archived: January 7,2004
Source: medico-international website

Document AID co-sponsors an event jointly with CAIR.

Description: CAIR is an organization known for the extreme views of its leaders. One person strongly associated with CAIR has been sent to jail for being a member of the Lashkar E Toyiba and has been sentenced to twenty years in jail for illegally acquiring firearms and explosives in order to train for terrorist missions against India in Kashmir. Amazingly an organization describing itself as Association for India's Development India co sponsored an event with them. For more details click here

Document: AID hosts a talk by a Marxist ideologue

Description: Many AID chapters organized a talk by Dr. Parameshwaran, "a strong believer in Gandhian, Marxist and Socialist philosophies" as he has been described in the AID document. Among other things, Dr. Parameshwaran is credited with building the All India Peoples Science Network, an organization with stong links with CPI(M). Dr. Parameshwaran was a member of the CPI(M) till February 2004 (the talk took place in 2003) when he was expelled from the CPI(M) following theological differences with the party. In many cases AID chapters have borne transportation and other costs for organizing talks in their chapter, AID almost never mentions that it organizes such talks using during their fundraisers.

Document: AID takes care of DYFI's fund problem (link to rediff article)

Description: An article by a pro-AID journalist Amit Varma..
The following excerpt is especially illuminating

DYFI is a grassroots level organisation, and it has hordes of volunteers who have scattered themselves all across the state. Dr Narasimhan, the doctor who was doing such a brave job at Nagapattinam, is one of them. DYFI suffers from the drawback of not having a high profile and, consequently, having rather low funds. But AID takes care of that.


Surprisingly, Mr. Varma forgets to mention that DYFI is an affiliate of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Document: "Matching" donations given a whole new meaning by AID-Sulekha combine

Description: Sulekha recently claimed to match donations made to AID, dollar by dollar. When a company claims to match your contribution dollar for dollar what exactly do they mean? Especially if they send you send an email which says


SULEKHA.COM-AID TSUNAMI RELIEF FUND: Your Contributions Matched Dollar-for-Dollar
URL: http://www.sulekha.com/aid

You assume, of course, that the company will contribute one dollar for each dollar of yours. Alas, you missed the fine print. All that Sulekha did was create two funds, one for AID and another "matching donations fund", then it diverted some donations to the "matching donations fund", and then used it to match the donations. Simple and brilliant isn't it? Why not have a single fund, why this charade of mixing , matching and taking credit for other peoples genorosity?

All this blew up in the face of AID when a blogger got angry and wrote this

Bogus Matching Fund Claim??
by Srini Veeravanallur
Posted on December 30, 2004 12:4 PM EST
Accessed 222 Times
Hot List Score: 93

I recently donated $500 through Sulekha's portal & was shocked to see my contribution listed as a matching donation though I made no such explicit choice.
It appears that donations of $500 or more are automatically channeled to the matching fund. the matching fund section has $99K while other donations (of less than $500) totalled only about $85K. Thus, only $85K out of the $99K is now effective leaving $14k in surplus in the matching fund.

Thus when sulekha claims that they have matched $85K in donations, they have done nothing of that sort. Of the $184 K donated, they have divided $99K into the matching fund of which only $85k will go to relief efforts & $85K into the other donations fund.

Sulekha & AID, please explain this inappropriate (&illegal?) financial manipulation. Why are you claiming that you are matching every donation? My donation was clearly not matched...

Srini Veeravanallur


AID was forced to put a clarification on its website. Sulekha is unruffled.

Document: Article in a Houston weekly accuses AID of "AIDing & abetting communists"". Link to the article
Excerpt:
AID is also working with the Students Federation of India (SFI) to rebuild two villages in Tamil Nadu. SFI is the student wing (not to be confused with the “youth” wing: DYFI) of the CPI-M, and it has been involved in not only violent and criminal activities like DYFI, but has even displayed treacherous tendencies. Here’s another list detailing some of the “grassroots” activities of SFI:

In December, 2004, SFI voted against a resolution condemning China for repeatedly showing Arunachal Pradesh as not being a part of India at the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union meeting. In August, 2002, SFI cadres beat up students belonging to Rabindra Bharati University for being “inappropriately dressed”. In July, 2002, SFI students were allegedly behind an article appearing in a college magazine in Kerala that praised Osama bin Laden as the “crusader of the poor Muslims the world over”. In September, 2001, 31 SFI activists were arrested on charges of “public property destruction, unlawful assembly and violation of the Explosives Act”.

[utepian]

AID - Latest rebuttal.

http://www.aidindia.org/AIDRebuttal/

[Guest]

Amit Varma's flip-flop link

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The politics of social work
In all the writing that I did while travelling through the tsunami-affected areas of Tamil Nadu about a month ago (archived here), I had plenty of occasion to praise AID India, a relief organisation that did excellent, focussed work amid the devastation. Unfortunately, though, the social work that they do has got mired in politics. They’ve been criticised by a handful of their donors in the US for associating with a leftist organisation called The Democratic Youth Forum of India (DYFI).

Now, here’s what the situation is. AID India have relatively good funding, and their relief and rehabilitation planning is excellent – but while they have no shortage of urban volunteers, they don’t have as many volunteers in the villages as they would like. DYFI, on the other hand, lacks the resources of AID India, but has plenty of local volunteers to offer in the villages of Tamil Nadu. The synergy is obvious, and the two organisations did some wonderful work together after the tsunami struck.

I had written about this in a number of posts, and a sentence in this one (also archived here, and published on rediff here) is now at the center of a controversy. I had written: “DYFI suffers from the drawback of not having a high profile and, consequently, having rather low funds. But AID India takes care of that.”

This was taken by many people to indicate that AID India funds DYFI, which is not true. AID India does not fund and has never funded DYFI, which was something that A Ravishankar, one of their key functionaries in Chennai, had told me during my trip. Instead, by including DYFI volunteers in their relief umbrella, AID India enables DYFI to play a more productive role in the relief work than they otherwise would have been able to.

I felt the need to clarify this because there’s been too much controversy recently about AID India’s relationship with DYFI. Frankly, I think it is all a fuss about nothing. AID India have set certain objectives for themselves in terms of socal work, and using DYFI’s manpower can help their achieve those goals. I am strongly opposed to communist parties like DYFI in the political and economic spheres, where I believe their naïve and misguided ideas can cause a lot of damage. But in terms of social work, they do a fantastic job. That is the only sphere in which AID India associate with them.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-utepian+Feb 9 2005, 04:35 PM-->QUOTE(utepian @ Feb 9 2005, 04:35 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> AID - Latest rebuttal.

http://www.aidindia.org/AIDRebuttal/ <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And they rebutt themselves by lying again
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->About the Chennai Update III: In the first week after the tsunami, the website was being dynamically maintained by several volunteers working frantically on a large number of updates and reports. It is possible that a volunteer made a <b>judgment error in putting an edited version of the report</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[narayanan]

I think a listing is needed, of the funny stuff from these contradictions of contradictions of contradictions (all inadvertent non-edited website postings by exhausted party-goers in Maryland, of course).

Crooks are funniest when they try to explain how pure of heart they are.

BTW, I didn't know that "some of their donors in the US" have slammed them. This is too funny for words. So THAT EXPLAINS THE FRANTIC WEBSITE DELETIONS. An article which properly explains this in a timeline should be most appropriate.

Big point to note is: the pompous asses sneer at the DYFI people who do (did) the actual work while they (pompous asses) parked themselves in front of BLOGS...

I think a collection of AID's political activities would complement this frantic squirming rather nicely.

[utepian]

Another amusing flip-flop right in rebuttal #1.

Story books, Marx and cartoon books - what is missing?

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Buying storybooks in the US is easy for a well-meaning person, but most of them are of little use to a village child in India. It is clearly understood by educationists that <b>story books for young children </b>should make sense in their cultural context<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Then

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Beginners series are not for young children.... are for adults! They are for college students,<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

OK tell us once and for all, are these books for children or for college students?

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->They are delightful cartoon books written on complex topics -<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Cartoon books for college students - indeed. And I thought the "for dummies" series was low enough.

[G.Subramaniam]

Why donations to ASHA and AID may not be US tax deductible

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p526/ar02.html#d0e1127

--- snip ----
You cannot deduct contributions to organizations that are not qualified to receive tax deductible contributions, including the following.

4. Communist organizations.

[Guest]

From Sulekha
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->From: "Balaji Sampath"
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 22:14:21 +0530

Dear Friends and AID Volunteers,

At a time when so many people have been so understanding and have come forward to help in all ways they can and when so many volunteers from AID and the other groups we are working with have been working day and night to provide relief to the people affected by the Tsunami, it is sad to see this slander campaign against AID.

As I had mentioned frequently in my reports, we are working with DYFI (along with many other organizations) on the immediate relief efforts.   DYFI is affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which is a legitimate parliamentary political party in India. Most of DYFI members are just ordinary laborers who have joined by paying a Re 1 membership fee - they are not even members of CPI(M).

When the Tsunami hit we were faced with the daunting task of providing immediate relief to a large number of villages across the state.  The only effective way to do this was to link up with organizations that had a local base and to help them reach out to the villagers, while ensuring that
there is no discrimination or sectarianism and that we reach the most needy.  To think about political affiliations at that point meant delaying the reach of relief materials to the most needy.  This we were not ready to do.  This is not just what some of us at AID-India felt - we had over 1000 volunteers
from software companies, working in many multi-nationals from Chennai and Bangalore - who worked alongside DYFI volunteers.  Almost all of them found the DYFI volunteers working extremely hard and sincerely and ensuring quick relief reaches the most needy.

AID and DYFI are very different kinds of organizations. AID draws heavily on a large number of volunteers from the middle class who want to work with and help the poor.  DYFI has mostly volunteers drawn from the poorest sections. The way the two organizations function are very different.  AID is not affiliated to any political party and is an independent organization. Right
from the start we all saw the AID-DYFI collaboration as a clear short-term collaboration for ensuring quick relief to the most needy in remote areas. And it is not only that AID volunteers have problems working with DYFI in the long run. DYFI volunteers also have many problems working with AID!

But long run problems should not prevent us from reaching immediate relief where necessary.  AID has been working not only with DYFI but with many other organizations - TNSF, PSF, Vidyarambam, Pratham, Sneham, Sneha, Bhoomika, Malar, AIMS, Nesa, etc. The point was to link up quickly with as many groups as possible to reach out relief efforts to all those who need it.

Some people have used this fact as an excuse to initiate a slander campaign against AID.  They have called AID communist and have thrown around words like naxalites and violence.  When I mentioned this at the AID office, our volunteers burst out laughing!

First DYFI and Naxalites don't go together.  CPI(M) is a parliamentary constitutional political party.  DYFI is linked to CPI(M) and is law abiding.  Naxalites by principle are not.   Any of the thousand different volunteers from the various companies can tell you that the DYFI volunteers
they worked with were simple, mild-mannered people - very far from indulging
in violent actions.

Secondly, AID is not affiliated with DYFI or any political party.

Thirdly, AID firmly opposes the use of violence both in principle and practice, as shown by 13 years of work.

AID is a very open organization - a large number of first time volunteers from many MNCs and software companies landed up at our office and took on important responsibilities and many of them went to work with the DYFI (and to also work in pure AID centers as well).  All our reports are put up on the web.  Even our thought processes and discussions are on the web.

We had people from the United States Consulate office volunteering at the AID office. We had people from Colgate-Palmolive working with AID and DYFI volunteers in Nagapatinam.  We had a large number of volunteers from software companies working side by side with DYFI volunteers lifting dead bodies.  Even the district government has been utilizing DYFI's help in debris clearance and relief distribution. All these people are working with DYFI because DYFI volunteers are doing good work in the relief areas - and that is the priority now.

Independently of AID, I found the CII (Confederation of Indian Industries), working with and helping DYFI volunteers working on the relief efforts in Cuddalore.   I suppose that these people who slander AID would now say that overnight the entire Indian Industry has turned communist!

It is so heartening to see people from all sections of society come together to help the people suffering because of the Tsunami. It is really sad to see that even at this time there are some who would rather spread rumors instead of working on actions to help.

It is time we learn to ignore such rumors and move on with our work. There are many who want to help - we must work with them, improve our efficiency and continue working with the poorest and the most needy.

Thanks,
Balaji Sampath
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[G.Subramaniam]

Some discussions on AID
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->See the quote

So, this is what many AID volunteers recieved
Quote:

At each chapter, we should make a concerted effort to become members of local listservs of various organizations (student bodies, cultural organizations, places of worship etc). Then we can post positive reports about our work, as well as counter any negative propaganda.


So, AID members have been instructed to join various listservs and groups with an agenda unrelated to the original purposes of the group, that Shailabh is known as *infiltration*.


AID TSUNAMI EFFORT : CLARIFICATION

Author Message
PROUDER_INDIAN

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 2
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 10:31 pm    Post subject: AID TSUNAMI EFFORT : CLARIFICATION  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statement on Anti-AID smear campaigns

The volunteers of the Association for India's Development (AID) reject the smear campaigns on some email lists and media. AID's coordinators in Indiainclude professors at IIT Chennai, IIT Mumbai, IISc Bangalore, Jagannath Institute of Technology Management, professionals from local companies as well as reputed full-time workers recognized by both local people andagencies such as UNICEF and the government Relief Commission. In the US, AID volunteers are active members of the student and professional community at universities, corporations and organizations.

We thank all those who have positively supported AID's work, and we expect that our work will be judged on its merit. We caution the community that there are some deliberate attempts to misrepresent our work and take things out of context, exploiting the emergency situation caused by the tsunami. In short, AID categorically states that it is not aligned with the communists or any other political party, opposes violence by any group, and has given an open account of its relief work on its website. We are issuing this detailed statement in order to inform everyone about the true spirit and the specifics of AID's work and our stand for peace and non-violence.

1. Context of Tsunami relief efforts: The Tsunami saw neither caste nor creed nor religion nor political affiliations when it struck India and other
parts of Asia. The Tamil Nadu and Indian governments are coordinating with various groups, including mass-based, religious and social organizations.

AID's relief efforts began within hours of the Tsunami. By the 27th of December, AID-India's Chennai office had become the hub of activity for
coordinating relief efforts from AID as well as several other groups working in the districts of Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Chennai, Kanyakumari and Pondicherry. Simultaneously, hundreds of volunteers in the US have worked to give updates through a dynamic website and solicit help from the community. AID's efforts in both India and US have been well recognized by independent observers as well as the government [See references].

2. On the question of working with DYFI and SFI volunteers on tsunami relief, AID has made its approach clear in the FAQs at its website http://survivors.aidindia.org but some have continued to misrepresent the work.

In several villages AID-India was one of the first groups to reach [Ref A]. The choice was whether to do things that help the people, like finding survivors, burying/cremating the dead and addressing relief needs, or to be on the scene as spectators or worse still, do post-mortem analysis on the internet while people are to be saved. AID chose to work with various groups including local villagers affiliated with DYFI whose help was critical to find survivors, bury the dead and reach the poorest among the survivors.

The TN government, Collector's office and even corporate groups from Colgate Palmolive and Confederation of Indian Industry worked with DYFI and other field groups. Many independent observers and reporters have described positively the cooperation between individuals from various backgrounds during relief work. When groups collaborate it doesn't necessarily mean that there is an exchange of funds, since each group comes with its strength and resources.

The focus of the immediate relief work is to ensure that the needs of the survivors are met, and that the government relief and compensation reaches all sections, especially the poor and most disadvantaged. AID has no plans of collaborating with DYFI or SFI beyond this relief phase.

3. AID has not sent any funds to DYFI or SFI. Statements quoted selectively and out of context are being used to mislead people by the slander campaign. During the coordination of relief efforts, AID-India exercises full, independent control of funds to purchase relief material, transporting and distributing it. AID is working with several long-term partners to provide long-term rehabilitation. The strength of AID is to work closely with the local communities with their full participation.

4. AID-India has worked with people from various backgrounds - more than 800 city-based volunteers and executives from corporations have worked hand-in-hand with villagers in the first 3 weeks. This work has been widely recognized by Chennai citizens, independent reporters as well as the district Collectors and the Relief Commissioner of Tamil Nadu.

5. AID has been open about all its work with about 50 field reports available on its dynamic website, and regular updates to donors. These reports from a variety of sources provide a good picture of the various
groups that are working together, as well as our long-term plans. We urge everyone to visit http://survivors.aidindia.org - our only request is that you read the reports in full, in order to overcome the selective
misrepresentation and avoid taking things out of context.

6. AID is an organization inspired by Gandhi's teachings - particularly non-violence, identifying and working with the most disadvantaged sections, and insisting on social justice. In the past, AID has condemned the violence in Godhra and rest of Gujarat, the attack on Akshardham temple, bomb blasts in Mumbai and attacks in Kashmir, and called for peace and communal harmony. AID opposes use of violence by any group.

7. AID is not affiliated with any political parties or their organizations. AID is an independent public organization working for the interests of the
marginalized sections of people, on various issues such as education, health-care, natural resources, people's rights and democracy, livelihoods and income generation, women's empowerment, and environmental protection. An example is our micro-hydel collaboration which brought electricity to the Bilgaon village for the first time, and provided inspiration for the movie Swades [Ref G].

In fact, AID has been involved in campaigns on behalf of people's organizations against specific unjust policies of the government,
irrespective of the party in power. Examples are: fish-workers' campaign
against degradation of Sunderbans in West Bengal, right to primary education all over India, displacement without rehabilitation in Narmada valley in Maharashtra, MP and Gujarat, depletion of water resources in Kerala due to Coca Cola plant, election reforms in Andhra Pradesh, communal violence in Gujarat and justice for victims of Bhopal gas disaster.

In conclusion, AID rejects the gross misrepresentation of its work, and urges the community to get involved in AID's efforts and judge the work on its merits. We hope that our relationship is as strong as the challenge that AID faces to assist the tsunami survivors.

References:

A. "...decide to try the last address... AID India. How I wish I had gone there first ... AID is providing relief to the very remote coastal villages
that few have reached ." - Manjeet Kriplani, chief of BusinessWeek's India Bureau
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflas..._1576_db017.htm

B. "...enormity of the problem is so much that one must try and work with every sincere group that is doing work on the field... What matters now is reaching relief and rehabilitation to all those who need it. " - Dr. Balaji Sampath, coordinator AID-Chennai.
http://www.aidindia.org/updates/6.htm

C. "Serving the nation Cometh the hour, cometh the man. U.S.-educated engineers like Balaji Sampath, and their calling in development work in their homeland."- Sudhish Kamath, The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/edu/2005/01/03/storie...10300301100.htm

D. And now, a wave of compassion... "Students, lawyers, doctors, slum-dwellers, IT professionals... help is pouring in from all quarters for post-tsunami relief works" - Shonali Muthalay, The Hindu.
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/01/06/stories...10600990100.htm

E. Relief is on the way - By Mark Hansel, Cincinnati Post "AID would like to develop a network of agencies working together to provide relief. The group is trying to organize fund-raisers, multidenominational prayer vigils and other activities to help victims."
http://www.cincypost.com/2005/01/03/mercy010305.html

F. Focus on rehabilitation: NGOs - R.K.Radhakrishnan, The Hindu, on meeting between Tamil Nadu Relief Commissioner and key NGOs.
"The organisations that participated in the meeting organised by the
Bhoomika Trust include Christian Counselling Centre, Vellore; Abhiyan/KVMS from Gujarat; NIMHANS from Bangalore; IIT-Madras; Indians for Collective Action, U.S.A.; Association for India's Development, U.S.A.; The Banyan, SMILE and Samanvaya, all based in Chennai, ActionAid, People's Watch and SIFFS Tamil Nadu Fishermen's Society."
http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/03/stories...10310240500.htm

G. Are NRIs Non-Returning Indians? - Chidanand Rajghatta, Times of India "Swades is inspired in part by a Maryland-based Association of India's Development (AID) effort that saw two of their 'jeevansaathis' - Aravinda Pillalamarri and Ravi Kuchimanchi... work on micro-hydel project in Bilgaon. Director Ashutosh Gowariker visited their project and acknowledges them in the credits."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/article...4,prtpage-1.cms

    
Proud_Indian

Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Posts: 11

Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:33 pm    Post subject: Donating to AID is Anti-American  

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This Clarification from AID does not really mean anything. The person who posted the clarification on this boards regarding Aid's alledged Anti-American activities has not answered the key allegations about the organization.

Why is AID even associated with an organization like the DYFI? Why did they try to associate themselves with an Anti-American communist organization like the DYFI? Are they not aware of the Anti-American nature of these organizations?

AID's links with DYFI as well as the attempts by "AID volunteers" to hide their affiliations with the communist party in India from their website are well documented in the internet. Please visit the following websites to enlighten yourselves how money collected here in Pittsburgh is being used to fund organizations that are inherently Anti-American

Since there are many such sites, I will only list a few of them here)

http://www.varnam.org/blog/archives/2005/0...ing_the_co.html

http://www.indiacause.com/columns/OL_050117.htm

http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/06amit2.htm

and of course the main site to track AID's activities:

http://www.geocities.com/aid_india_info/AID_DOC.html

(This rediff article neatly documents how deep a relationship AID has with DYFI. Note particularly the sentence: "DYFI suffers from the drawback of not having a high profile and, consequently, having rather low funds. But AID takes care of that."

It is very obvious what "that" means. Is it not??

A person has to be an idiot to believe that AID is not working with communist organizations like DYFI and SFI.


AID must explain to its donors here in the US why it is collecting "tax-free" money here in the US and then using it to work along side Anti American communist organizations overseas.

     

Proud_Indian

Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Posts: 11

Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:57 pm    Post subject: Posting lengthy clarifications is of no use.  

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I would also like to state that posting lengthy clarifications is of no use if the clarifications completely miss the point.    


ShailabhNagar


Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 4

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 6:19 pm    Post subject: Here's a short reply then  

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Read
http://www.aidindia.org/AIDRebuttal

for a detailed demolition of all the nonsense thats been posted by the anonymous "Proud_Indian"......


Proud_Indian

Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Posts: 11

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:02 pm    Post subject: DO NOT DONATE TO AID  

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ShailabhNagar is probably following the instructions of this senior "AID leader" who sent him this email:

http://www.geocities.com/aid_india_info/doc14.pdf

Anyways, as mentioned before, it seems AID does not want to admit its connections with the communists in India, which have now been exposed beyond doubt.

Terming hard evidence against AID as "smear campaigns" is not going to help.

Issuing long rebuttals that completely miss the point also do not help.


AID volunteers need to clarify why they collected funds (tax-free) here and then used them to work along side Anti American communist organizations overseas.

To give just one example of the Anti-American nature of DYFI, please visit:

http://pd.cpim.org/2003/0420/04202003_ko...rotest.htm

Several Anti- US protests have been organized by DYFI in the past outside the US consulates at India. Several more such protests will continue to be organized by this AID supported organization in the future, about which there should be no doubt.

What AID needs to do is tell us why they cheated people and not issue lengthy meaningless clarifications.

Proud_Indian
  


da_deepend
Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 11

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:11 pm    Post subject: AID Helping victims  

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The way I see it..AID exists to help the underprivedged in India, and that's what they are doing. It really doesn't matter to me, if they are aligned with communists, since communism isn't a major factor in the rest of the world anymore. As long as they keep helping the underpriveledged in India..I am ok with them.
And Mr. Proud Indian, who are you aligned with? The Society of Paranoid Indians? You can actually leave your house now and not be scared that everyone is watching every move you make..even though it was funny seeing you pick your nose and lick your finger last week on the webcam spying on you.

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peace_needed



Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 5

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:48 pm    Post subject: Re: AID Helping victims  

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What AID leaders are doing is completely wrong - knowningly and on purpose.

RSS workers are the first ones to respond with a helping hand on any disaster struck region. AID could have certainily taken 'help' from them (as they did in the past).

AID officials are not able to counter this argument - there were many organizations as soon as disaster struck - WHY NOT GET HELP FROM THEM? AID only chose to go with people who appease their political ideology - communists.

Having taken this course and defending it, AID officials are duping its volunteers and more importantly its donors.

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ShailabhNagar



Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 4

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:26 pm    Post subject: Diversions do not help  

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Whether AID will/wants/should have worked with RSS is completely irrelevant.

The website you cite and the claims you make are all based on the allegation that AID funds DYFI. Are you still sticking to this claim despite the clear denials listed in the AID rebuttal ?

Another interesting aspect of all the allegations is that the people making them choose to remain anonymous. Don't they have enough confidence in their stand that they can clearly state who they are ? Proud_indian is a laughable attempt at not taking taking responsibility for your statements and postings.

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peace_needed



Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 5

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:58 pm    Post subject: Re: Diversions do not help  

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> Whether AID will/wants/should have worked with RSS is completely irrelevant.

Absolutely NOT. This is, I think, the integral part of the story. AID officials involve in heavy politics at the expense of volunteers and donors - without their knowledge. Poor volunteers have to stick up to their actions even if wrong/doubtful.

How politics one might ask? Just give it a thought, like a child: pure and unbiased.

1) Tsunami strikes
2) NGOs offer help - RSS, DYFI, hindu/christian/Buddhist/Muslim (RSS being the first one on ground zero)
3) Out of all these, AID picks DYFI and SFI.
4) DYFI has a dark and violent history too (as you might claim RSS has).
5) AID could have collaborated with RSS or its affiliates even for a short term.
6) Instead, people who "oppose religion" in general and the RSS are chosen (communists).
7) It has not been made clear why DYFI is in collaboration with only AID.
8] DYFI did most of the 'hands-on' work so why would they even need someone like AID other than for financial help?
9) If DYFI only provides volunteers, where are the funds going?

Bottom line: WHY ONLY DYFI - dont tell me whatever was available was used!!! cause thats a lie.

AID might want to answer some (or all) of these questions to come out clean.


> Another interesting aspect of all the allegations is that the people
> making them choose to remain anonymous.
Name calling is completely irrelevant.

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ShailabhNagar



Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 4

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 7:32 pm    Post subject: Bottom line is that peace_needed hasn't read the report  

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peace_needed asks: WHY ONLY DYFI ?

Clearly you haven't fully read even the report which is being used to allege the DYFI funding. Otherwise you would atleast know that AID worked with several organizations on the field. See the last page of
www.aidindia.org/updates/6.html

and you'll see that AID worked with Tamil Nadu Science Forum, Pondicherry Science Forum, Bhoomika Trust, Vidyarambham, Sneha, CSG, Fisherman's Society amongst many others.

I can't help it if your prejudices make you notice only DYFI/SFI.
Please read the reports in full....atleast get your facts right.

Anyway, looks like you've made up your mind what to believe. We can argue for ever - unless you go to Chennai, I won't be able to "prove" to your satisfaction that no money was sent from AID to DYFI (incidentally you stlll haven't answered a simple question whether you still think AID FUNDED DYFI)

And why you continue to mix the AID DYFI issue with RSS beats me.
How would working or not working with RSS make any difference to the alleged wrong done by AID working (not funding) with DYFI ? Suppose AID had worked with RSS...would that make working with DYFI alright ? If yes, then you're effectively saying that RSS is in the same category as DYFI (so some sort of "balance" has been reached). If no, then how is it relevant ? I'm guessing from your attempts to seek AID approval of RSS that you don't think RSS and DYFI are similar. Then tell me again, how does any of that matter ?

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peace_needed



Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 5

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 9:22 pm    Post subject: Re: Bottom line is that peace_needed hasn't read the report  

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> and you'll see that AID worked with Tamil Nadu Science Forum,
> Pondicherry Science Forum, Bhoomika Trust, Vidyarambham, Sneha,
> CSG, Fisherman's Society amongst many others.

These NGOs dont form AID backbone as DYFI does. Listing them just increases the number of NGOs who work with AID and does not quantify who is involved how much.

And mind you, even you have not been to Chennai and seen for yourself where the money is being utilized! You cant argue on that lame point.

Let alone funding DYFI, even being affiliated to political parties like DYFI pose serious questions on AID claim that they are a non-partisan, non-political group.

I am sure DYFI volunteers did what Mr. Balaji says - unparalled work. But even Hamas does some philanthropic work. Does that mean one should get involved with them too? If one does, they are clearly taking political sides.

> How would working or not working with RSS make any difference to
> the alleged wrong done by AID working (not funding) with DYFI?
It does. Thats what matters. Supporting one over the other is getting into politics!!! Thats what I have been trying to say: WHY DYFI? For politics! That AID is not indifferent in choosing NGOs and thus driven by political agendas. That AID chooses not based on work done by them but by their ideology. Again, it goes against their mission statement! I would stand by people who at least stand for what they say.

P.S: I agree that AID did not fund DYFI - as per AID official statement.

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ShailabhNagar



Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 4

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:23 am    Post subject: From facts to speculation  

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I'm glad atleast peace_needed finally agrees that AID did not fund DYFI. If that central allegation of the website/docs is false, what does it tell you about the rest of the claims ? Go figure. If you're still not convinced, read the rebuttal again.

As for working with Hamas and RSS and whoever else you can think of, I have only this to say. Speculating about what AID would or wouldn't do in a hypothetical situation doesn't have any meaning and indulging in it is a waste of time.

The only thing that matters is what AID has done. All the money collected has been used to help the affected people. None of it has gone to support DYFI. As simple as that.

AID is strongly committed to pluralism, non-violence, democracy and decentralized participative decision-making. So if you don't agree with any of these ideals, we'll just have to agree to disagree and continue working in our own separate ways.

Enough of the facts have come out that people can decide for themselves. I'm sure we both have better things to do so lets end this here.

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peace_needed



Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 5

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 3:54 am    Post subject: Re: From facts to speculation  

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Oh please, truth is far from being disclosed. A legible reader can only make the following judgement: AID is a communist inspired/assisted organization and associates (if not funds) with other organizations with similar interests. True to its ancestry, it operates in disguise of pluralism, non-violence and democracy. All this at the expense of unsuspected volunteers and donors.

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proudest_indian



Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 7

Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 1:54 am    Post subject:   

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It appears you are here a Kirankumar Vissa's bidding.
So, this is what many AID volunteers recieved
Quote:

At each chapter, we should make a concerted effort to become members of local listservs of various organizations (student bodies, cultural organizations, places of worship etc). Then we can post positive reports about our work, as well as counter any negative propaganda.



So, AID members have been instructed to join various listservs and groups with an agenda unrelated to the original purposes of the group, that Shailabh is known as *infiltration*.

No wonder AID volunteers are buzzing all around like flies.

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proudest_indian



Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 7

Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 2:11 am    Post subject: AID JHU leader calls for the economic boycott of Patels  

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Here is slew of emails (we know where this comes from, don't we Shailabh Nagar  ), the posts by SRIRAM ANANTHANARAYANAN have been put in bold.
SRIRAM ANANTHANARAYANAN is leader of AID JHU see http://www.aidprojects.org/projects-view.a...in=guest&id=188

Kaleem Kawaja, the initiator of this exchange is well known for his support to Taliban, in this article
http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/010...200254.htm
where he asks his brother to spare tears for Taliban.

Note the presence of Pakistanis like Ms. Toor in the exchange.

These are kind of people AID guys interact with. People are known by the company they keep.

Of course if you have any doubts about AID's leftisit connections visit
http://www.geocities.com/aid_india_info/AID_DOC.html


Quote:

Kaleem Kawaja
Email : kawaja@worldnet.att.net
Date : Jan 30 , 2004

Friends:

The butcher of Gujarat 2002 Narendra Modi has been invited by the Asian American Hotel Owners of America (AAHOA), an organization comprising mostly of people from the state of Gujarat who own thousands of motels in US, as the chief guest in their convention in March.

It is time for all like-minded Indians regardless of who they are to band together and take concrete action in this regard. The following actions can be taken.

1. Write letters to the US State Deptt requesting that based on his criminal & murderous record he should not be given a visa to visit US.

2. If he receives the said visa, we can group together to hold a massive protest against him when he visits US. When he visited London last year the Indian folks there organized a massive protest.

3. Let us not remain silent. Let us organize.

A few weeks ago I read an article in India Abroad by Prof Jyoti Motwani, a top Indian-American community leader and top leader of Overseas Friends of BJP, in NYC, who justified the killing of 2000 Muslims following the Godhara train burning incident as a "strategic necessity for India".

Kaleem Kawaja

Kaleem Kawaja
Email : kawaja@worldnet.att.net
Date : Feb 16 , 2004

Hello all:

As some of you may have heard, Narendra Modi, the butcher of Gujarat, is likely to visit US to be the chief guest at the AAHOA convention in Ft Lauderdale, FL, on March 24-26. A coalition of several Indian humanitarian organizations is planning to organize a protest campaign against Modi/his party BJP/those who are funding the campaigns of oppression of the minorities and secular folks in India. Part of the campaign is publishing advertisements in US newspapers to inform the US public about how the above culprits have violated the human rights of a segment of the preople of Gujarat and India.

The Coalition needs the support of everyone who believes in the basic humanity of mankind and believes that these human rights violations are awful. You can provide this support in many forms: Contribute financially so that an advertisement can be published in US newspapers; attend the public protest meetings/rallies (date, venue to be announced).

With only 1 month to go time is very short. Some volunteers have started the development of the advertisement. At this time the first and urgent need is to collect donations for the publication of the said advertisement. It will cost quite a few thousand dollars. So your immediate and generous donations are earnestly requested. You may send your donation to the Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM), one of the members of the above mentioned coalition.
Kindly mail your checks to:

Association of Indian Muslims of America
PO Box 10654, Silver Spring, MD 20914.

Many thanks for your generous help.

Kaleem Kawaja

Name : Nicole Poyyayil
Email : npoyyayil@yahoo.com
Date : Feb 16, 2005

Initiative: No Visa for Modi

Dear Friends
I am very concerned about Modis`visit to the USA. As you are fully aware, AAHOA has invited Modi as the chief guest to the 2005 annual convention which will be held on march 24-26th at Ft.Lauderdale, Florida. I strongly emphasize that all possible actions should be taken to prevent Modi from entering the USA. Therefore it needs immediate actions by all of us. On my part, I have already contacted the US Embassy, where the responsible Mr. Scott Hartmann will act accordingly. As to him, it is very important to provide him with detailed facts and proved reasons why Modi should not get a visa to enter the USA. Beeing a swiss citizen, I am compelled to act through the US Embassy in Switzerland. I am counting on you and hope to get your support for this very important action.

What could you do:

- Please send me a list / summary of detailed facts (incl. sources etc) on Modis criminal actions (past and present).
- Please send me the informations as soon as possible
- You could also submit the informations directly to Mr. Scott Hartmann to the US Embassy. If you wish to do so, this is the addresse: US Embassy, Visa Section, To the Attn. Mr. Scott Hartmann, 3001 Bern, Switzerland.

I strongly believe that any possible actions must be taken and I will definitely do so.

Best wishes
Nicole Poyyayil

Name : Kamala Visweswaran
Email : kvis2001@yahoo.com
Date : Feb 16 , 2005

!PeoplePeoplePeople!

Multitudes, minions, and apparently sleeping masses. Time to do something about Modi's visit.

I am ashamed and embarassed at the relative silence on this list about Modi's visit, and the fact that Muslim and Christian organizations have so far had to take the lead in developing the Modi campaign. This is neither fair, nor tactically sound, given the vulnerability of the Muslim community in the US after 9/11. Secular organizations have to step forward to do the work, planning, and to shoulder responsibility. We need to build a broad coalition fast, which includes POI, CAC, CSFH, YSS, DRUM, Mango Sisters, Sakhi, Manavi, Worker's Awaaz, etc. etc.

We should definitely make all efforts to get his visa denied, but we cannot expect that it will be. We should write editorials and articles. But we need more. I propose:
1) We aim to mobilize 10 busloads of protesters to converge on Ft. Lauderdale March 24-25. Let's organize some freedom rides down the East Coast and into Florida to make M-24 Indian diaspora anti-genocide day. We need to issue a call immediately, rent the buses (maybe ANSWER has some discount rates we can avail of), literature, street theatre, drumming (Raja is hereby nominated) and agit prop. (I will try to mobilize a bus from Texas).

2) We tell AAHOA that if they persist in "honoring" Modi, we are organizing a massive boycott call of all AAHOA owned hotels in the US and Canada. We will take out ads, jam the diaspora list-servs, and show up unannounced at Patel Motels everywhere with signs, stickers, and literature explaining the boycott and listing alternate hotels in the area to be patronized.

I propose we form two commitees to organize each mobilization, and further propose that the East Coast FOILers who are more numerous and have more critical mass TAKE CHARGE NOW. We have 5 weeks to pull off something massive.

Please, people let's have the next slew of e-mails be people signing up to do work on either committee. We can debate the finer points of the mobilizational strategies in the work groups; let's not do it on the listserv.

Kamala



Name : SRIRAM ANANTHANARAYANAN
Email : sriram@jhu.edu

i'm in. particularly with committe number 2. do you have a list of action items? should we start by writing out an appeal of sorts, maybe a letter to send to aahoa bigwigs, and the participants in the trade show? what about letters to the state regarding the visa stuff?

once more people have signed up, maybe we should have a phone conference one of these evenings to thrash out action items.

sri


Name : Kamala Visweswaran
Email : kvis2001@yahoo.com

Hi Sri:

You are hereby nominated to head up the Boycott Committee; thanks.  Who else is joining?

Can you come up w/a list of action items, maybe brainstorm w/some Alliance people? Who else is signing up to work on this committee.

Yes, there is a letter being drafted to the AAHOA suggesting that a boycott will happen. It will circulate soon.

Can also get you the membership list of AAHOA id the committee wants to do mailings to them.

Good idea to do a conference call in the next few days to consolidate ideas and strategy.

Kamala

Name : SRIRAM ANANTHANARAYANAN
Email : sriram@jhu.edu

among others, these are some of the action items i could think off
straight away:

1) boycott letter needed.

2) checked the aahoa website (http://www.aahoa.com). i think we should concentrate our emails more on the founding sponsor list (under "allied directory" on the left hand side). these have people from all over the country, and from different companies who can ill-afford bad publicity. this is in direct contrast to the board of directors (out of 9, 8 are patels), the exec committee (out of 10, 9 are patels), and the regional directors (out of 18, 17 are patels). all these can be found under "about aahoa" on left hand side. it is very likely that many of these people are quite entrenched with the sangh's philosophy, else they wouldn't have invited him in the first place.

3) we should consider contacting newspapers (particularly the investigative journalists) in atlanta (aahoa hq) and fort lauderdale (conf venue). there are 5 major newspapers in atlanta and 4 major ones in ft lauderdale. we could use the letter as a template, you know talk of the pogrom that took place in gujarat, the modi-govt's complicity, as well as the support the sangh recieves from expats in the states and request them to do an investigation, and a write-up.

4) we should also i think try and send the letter to managers/employees in the various companies that are there as founding sponsors of the aahoa.

5) maybe think of sending it to investigative journalists in other newspapers as well.

6) send it to hotels that are NOT under the aahoa. if nothing else they would like to help in hurting their competition.


please add more as you see fit. we should probably have a conf call this weekend.

thanks,

sri

Dear Sri:

These items are a terrific start. Am not sure that the other letter will circulate after all, but perhaps it's not bad to have multiple letters to AAHOA.

Great idea to send letter to the sponsors and to non-member hotels of AAHOA.

I think we should also think about what a long term successful boycott would look like. Can we draw up a two year time frame?

I think we may need to do a little research for the longterm:

1) What are the strategies used by other successfu boycotts: i.e. UAW boycott of grapes, GLBT boycott of Coors, etc?

2)How much money do AAHOA hotels make a year? Do they derive any part of their business from Universities, which we use student pressure to boycott? We should research the Ft. Lauderdale hotel/university connections first: if we find a link, we can use that to mobilize students in the area.

3)what percentage of the hotels are roadside POTELS? If we find that a alrge number of them are distributed along interstates, we will need to figure out a way of publicly identifying them.

--Kamala



Saadia Toor
Editor http://ghadar.insaf.net
(Pakistani Activist)

Email : saadiatoor@yahoo.com

may i also suggest that we mobilise support through other, non-south-asian social justice channels? for instance, if we can send a press release or action alert out to indymedia or z-net or something, that will help spread the word, and help in fund raising should we decide to go with any of the crazy ideas i'm about to throw out. i think it's best to have a base of support that is not limited to south asians or people of south asian descent... or at least hope that we can. and maybe this sounds very ambitious or whacky, but what about sending something, a short op-ed piece or a letter to the editor, to _the nation_? also, i think we may need to consider taking ads out in a newspaper or magazine? i have no idea how much buying space on a major newspaper would cost, but if we could manage to pool the resources of all or most of the organisations and groups fighting hindutva in the US, couldn't we manage something? having our message out there in a major newspaper conveys some!
thing about our strength and sends a message to the powers-that-be within the US political scene as well. and as long as i'm throwing out crazy ideas, how much does renting billboards cost? i can get in touch with ad-busters, whose raison d'etre is subversive anti-advertising, for help. we could do posters and flyers (and billboards?) using modi's words and the obnoxious cheery posters of the gujarat tourism board (which hit me as soon as i came out of the international terminal at JFK last year) in which modi invites people to come to gujarat for garba ras!!

saadia




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peace_needed



Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 5

Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:35 am    Post subject: Peoples Science Movements are "AGAINGST RELIGION"!  

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DYFI activist like Meera Nanda are lobying Peoples Science Movements (PSM) (Heavily funded by AID) to teach anti-religious (in the name of Gandhi - a religious personality) curriculum.

1) "They have to be employed as weapons against religion".

2) "It is important, indeed, not just to address ordinary people and children to motivate them to think scientifically, it is important to challenge the priests, the pandits, the astrologers directly"

3) Exact numbers are simply not available -for no one is keeping count -
but I challenge you: visit ANY modern guru or ashram, be it the
reformist Ramakrishna Mission or a charlatan such as Sai Baba. You will
find well-educated, well-known scientists, with Ph.D.s in advanced
topics in cutting edge sciences drinking in the obscurantism of these
gurus.

4) There was a tradition of Marxist philosophy of science
which emphasized sensory experience and naturalism to question the
soul-stuff. But it died when its major proponent (Debiprasad
Chattopadhyaya) died. Since then, the trend has been in the other
direction:

5) While they are overly eager to demolish the personal
God of Abrahamic faith, Hindu intellectuals have refused to cast a
critical look at the Vedantic conception of God as disembodied
soul-stuff.

It goes on and on.... very upsetting.

Challenging is fine - but AID doesnt make sure that it tells its donors that anti-religion is being tought along with science. Hinduism and science dont disagree with each other (unlike Christianity/Islam). Converesly, the only target is Hinduism!!!

Hail (and fund) the Marxists - Destroy India.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

AID: charity or terrorist front?

[Guest]

from an another forum

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->As many of you know, there have been several postings on different lists and blogs maligning AID recently. Most commonly, they accuse AID of funding communist groups. Some have gone to the extent of labeling AID as a terrorist group that should be investigated by the FBI. Many of them quote the following web-site which claims to be a repository of "important AID documents".

http://www.geocities.com/aid_india_info/AI...html#aid_letter

Most of the information here is taken randomly out of context and  grossly mis-interpreted. Some of the allegations are completely false  and baseless. AID had the following response to the  mis-information on  this web-site.

http://www.aidindia.org/AIDRebuttal/

In addition we also sent out a statement on the  smear campaign a  few weeks ago.

http://www.aidindia.org/AIDstatement/

Please feel free to forward the above statements  from AID if you come  across any such slander emails or get queries from friends or donors.

Tracking down this slander and responding is taking  up a huge amount of  volunteer time. The AID media team and the  first-responders team is  handling this across AID. The media team is also  trying to promote  positive articles about AID's work and our projects.
I urge you to start thinking about the projects you co-ordinate  and see if you can  write about the progress or success achieved. Priya  Keshav is  co-ordinating the positive campaign as part of the  media team.

Srikanth
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

ASHA asking funds of the Ind-Pak boondongle <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Ind Pak Peace march - Funding request!

[utepian]

http://www.kcdesi.com/html/modules.php?nam...viewtopic&t=130

[shamu]

Just heard while having at a restaurant. AID is planning a cricket match in Bay Area to raise money for their India activities.

I asked them if they knew AID money goes to communists, and they were ignorant about that. I asked them to google.

[Guest]

x-post:
Denials, Diversions amongst Leaders Indelible Deeds by Veera Vaishnava

[Guest]

Saag.org Forums
----------------
Sandeep Pandey is short of funds by about 5 lakhs and
the Peace March starts March 23rd! Could you please
forward to your elists and help towards this effort?
address to mail checks is enclosed in the end.

thanks, akhila

--- asha wrote:

> dear akhila,
> the preparations for the march are in final stages.
> also, see if you can raise some funds from other sources. we have
> received a commitment of about rs. 3.5 lakhs till now. the budget is attached at
> the bottom of this message.
> sandeep
> ---------------------
>
> INDIA PAKISTAN PEACE MARCH
>
> DELHI TO MULTAN, 23rd MARCH- 11th MAY,
> 2005

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->thanks, akhila
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Who's this? The same Bay Area resident who morphed from kamputer expert into a 'Kashmir' expert overnight? Anyone with details about her latest 'research activities'?

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->akhila,  Anyone with details about her latest 'research activities'? <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Last I heard, she was still busy with Ghulam Nabi Fai ,Angana Chatterji and Ahmad in Kashmir cause, showing slides on Indian Army atrocities in Kashmir, especially rape cases by Indian Army (which turned out to be fake rape cases). She is also supplying material to Indiantogether another commie masterpiece.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+Mar 20 2005, 08:10 AM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ Mar 20 2005, 08:10 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> Saag.org Forums
----------------
Sandeep Pandey is short of funds by about 5 lakhs and
the Peace March starts March 23rd! Could you please
forward to your elists and help towards this effort?
address to mail checks is enclosed in the end.

thanks, akhila

--- asha wrote:

> dear akhila,
> the preparations for the march are in final stages.
> also, see if you can raise some funds from other sources. we have
> received a commitment of about rs. 3.5 lakhs till now. the budget is attached at
> the bottom of this message.
> sandeep
> ---------------------
>
> INDIA PAKISTAN PEACE MARCH
>
> DELHI TO MULTAN, 23rd MARCH- 11th MAY,
> 2005 <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
k.ram,

Rajeev's blog has some details.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Check out this mail where he solicits funds. He needs Rs. 1 lakh for
fuel (for 2 vehicles) and this is just for the indian leg of the
march.

The distance between Delhi and Wagah is approximately 450 kilometres.
So the round trip is 900 kilometres and for two vehicles it works out
to the amount of fuel needed for 1800 kilometres. Even at a poor rate
of 10 kilometres to the litre, you need just Rs 7200 (assuming 40
rupees per litre)

<b>Guess where the remaining 92,800 goes! That is 92.8% overheads</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Perfectly acceptable standards per watchdogs like Charity Navigator <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

Was forwarded via email..

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->From: "shrinaath"
Subject: Time to reflect

Folks,
I urge you to simply give some patient thought to this long posting,  as an appeal coming from someone who has a spent a fair amount of his  adult life (more than 10 years) with AID.

Opponents of AID support to the peace march- please do not consider  this as a criticism of your opinions, from a person who just happens to disagree with you on the issue of the peace march...

1. Respect for our Leaders and their vision

There would be no AID or ASHA without Ravi Kuchimanchi or Sandeep Pandey. Don't dismiss this by saying there would be other organizations founded by others- I'm saying this specifically with the full pride of how AID (in particular) and ASHA are different from the average "funding" organization or charity. The vision of these founders was not just to "do good", but to be a force of real change in people's lives. Having witnessed the nascent growth of AID & ASHA, I can tell you that it was anything but easy to even convince people that they should spare some money or spend their free time for working on issues related to poverty & education in India. Ravi (& Sandeep, I believe) was both optimistic, yet practical in setting up the organization as an open and debating forum (unlike some other NRI
orgs), with the deep realization that the awareness and real change should occur at least as much in our views & lives here (and through us to the extended communities) as in the lives of the poor & marginalized in India. Think about this- if you don't like AID supporting the peace march you can disagree, debate & worst case you have the "luxury" to just not support the cause or even AID any more.  But what about the people along the border villages where the march take place...do they have the right to ask the armies on both sides to just get out? Did they get a chance to debate or vote on whether they want the Kashmir issue resolved before they can get a few days of peace?

It is a wonderful situation for us that people like Ravi & Sandeep  have taken the "next step" in returning to India to work full-time  for their causes. So when they, with all their excruciating knowledge  of how difficult it is to raise money here or to raise awareness  about various issues, feel that a particular cause in India be it the  struggle against the Narmada dam or the peace march is important  enough- not only for them to get personally involved, but also  involve the AID/ASHA community in the US- that deserves a certain  amount of respect and responsibility.

So when we raise questions about the "inappropriateness" of the  budget for the peace march, shouldn't we first get a clarification  from the people on the ground? Cincinnati, you seemed to have based  on your vote on the fact that budget was too high for certain line  items- did you wait for the clarifications from Sandeep? Others who felt that the march was a "good step" but just not within the  boundaries of "development" for AID- did you then express your moral support to Sandeep & others who are probably placing their lives at  great risk for the hope that many others may live in peace! What is  your reaction when you read negative & extremely vulgar attacks by  anonymous cowards on people like Sandeep- is it one of solidarity  with Sandeep or a silent agreement of "he shouldn't have gotten  involved in such issues..."?

2. Understanding of AID

When most of us say, AID should do this or should not do this, it is obviously because of our attachment to AID, but have we thought about spending more time with senior volunteers (senior in terms of total hours spent with AID, not just calendar years) in understanding what AID is all about- why it has taken up some issues and some causes in the past, and how its collective understanding of grassroots issues has grown with time & experience? When one goes to volunteer with most other organizations in the US or in India (including many of our projects)- you are simply given tasks- you don't have much say in what they (the organizations themselves) do or don't. And in many cases, even if some of what that organization does conflicts with what we believe, we just find enough common ground & respect for their overall vision that we gladly spend our time & resources for them. So when we have a greater freedom to easily disagree or opportunity to shape the consensus in AID, doesn't it involve a  greater responsibility to understand the vision of our founders &  senior volunteers?

New Orleans, you have quoted from our by-laws to "validate" your opposition to the peace march, but did you take the time to talk to some senior folks to find out what they mean & imply? You haven't even read the by-laws fully to realize that you need a quorum of "atleast 6 voting members" to take a vote! And do you know why we need atleast 6? Let's think about our by-laws more deeply than just using it to "validate" a pre-determined mindset we may have!

3. Accountability
Accountability to our donors is often the claim made about why we shouldn't support or fund a cause. There's clearly no arguing that we should be accountable to donors. But what does that accountability mean? How are we accountable to the marginalized & the poor in India? Aren't they our very reason for existence? To me, with respect to the nature of projects we do or causes we support, our primary responsibility & accountability is to the villagers, the Adivasis, the Dalits, the marginalized, the refugees  (yes, including the Kashmiri Pandits), and the people in the grassroots who are working with them- our Jeevansaathis, Saathis, NGO partners and other collaborators. When a few volunteers from Boston & elsewhere saw that we were totally leaving out a region of India from our mission- the Northeast, they formed the Northeast Cell, worked very hard to establish contacts in the region, get good proposals and Anand Sivaraman even made a visit to the remotest part of Assam amidst threats of violence, so that we could do projects there- that's accountability! Before you bring up the plight of Kashmiri Pandits next time just as an excuse to vilify Pakistan, spend some time to look for a good, non-communal effort that helps  alleviate their suffering or rehabilitate their livelihoods.

Not to say that we are not accountable to our donors- but there is a different relationship and there are different ways to show that accountability. We should show our accountability by working harder on our processes to receive & encash their checks, renew & protect their credit card information, keep them informed through our newsletters (Next time you feel accountable to a donor, write an article for Dishaa about the latest project your chapter has done!), keep our donor database updated, set up tables at community events to tell donors what we do, and so on. In my experience over 10 years, there have been very few complaints from our donors that they didn't like our projects, there have more questions about whether we have deposited their checks or deducted their credit cards on time.

Our accountability to our donors & to the villagers in India can also be expressed in the way we read and come prepared for project discussions, the time we take to learn more about the issues that affect our projects, the respect & speed with which we review and approve or reject projects, the care with which we treat their confidence in sharing information with us. Next time you feel accountable to a donor, make a pledge or plan to visit a project for at least 2 days in your next trip to India!

May the force be with AID,
Shrinaath<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->