Civil society and resident welfare bodies reiterate demand for constitutional recognition, Demand due recognition for contribution to society on the occasion of National RWA Day Every year the 23rd of November is celebrated by the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) across the country in a big way. It is customary to organise a national conference of RWAs (NCRWA) around this date every year. But owing to the prevailing COVID19 pandemic, this year the Meeting was held as a Webinar, organised by the Confederation of RWAs (CoRWA), in coordinat…
By Dr. Rao V.B.J. Chelikani & Prof. T. Tirupati Rao, former Vice-Chancellor, O.U. Hyderabad. Recently the Government of Telangana made some amendments to the composition of the Ward Committees by a Municipalities Act 20 of 2020 , which simply says that there would be four ward committees for senior citizens, women, youth and eminent citizens. Each contains 25 members from among the resident welfare associations, community-based organisations, and other such groups and individuals by rotation annually. We welcome this initiative of the…
Rao V.B.J. Chelikani About 46.5 per cent of the Hyderabadis have gone to the polling stations to vote in the GHMC elections on 1st December. The figure is understandable and even slightly higher than that of 2016. Nothing warrants us to expect more and be disappointed. Even among those 34 lakhs who voted, 80% are living in populous and low-income areas or 'bastis' and they have voted because the political parties have collectively spent some Rs 320 crores on them, along with promises to do other things. Others voted because of…
Public memory is short lived. And as such it is important to document epochal events not just for posterity to recount, but also for planners and policy-makers to be reminded of their follies, lest they too forget and repeat mistakes in the immediate future. In this context it is seminal that in a collaborative effort the University of Hyderabad (UoH) and the Confederation of Voluntary Associations (COVA), have come together to produce a short documentary detailing the deluge that the Twin-Cities encountered last month. It was three days…
In a bid to strengthen the role of the RWAs in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area, civil society representatives submitted a memorandum to the decision-makers in the Telangana state, including the GHMC Commissioner, Director of Municipal Administration, Principal Secretary of the Department and to the minister in charge of the portfolio, and also to the chief minister of Telangana State. Prepared based on inputs provided by Col. T.P. Tyagi, Major Shiv Kiran and B.T. Srinivasan, the memorandum is also proposed to serve as a…
Illustration by Photo by Claudio Schwarz The Confederation of RWAs (CoRWA), the national body of resident welfare associations, has released a manifesto to aid the dialogue and collaboration with government bodies towards a National Development Framework. The same was shared with all constituent bodies of the CoRWA on Monday, October 19, 2020 to enable them to carry forward the movement. What is an RWA? All civil society organisations are non-governmental and are composed of active citizens who voluntarily participate in many aspects o…
HelpAge India HelpAge India is extensively organising Online Digital Literacy programme for senior citizens, regularly. Minimum 20 elders are required in a batch. Each batch will have 3 sessions and each session is for 2 hours. Any interested association can call on : 9963716618. i). A Zoom Interactive Webinar on 10th August trained them using Google Pay, How to pay Utility bills, Accessing Groceries online, Booking Taxis, Medicines & Online Safety measures, social media, email, How to download the Apps, etc. No need for any meeting …
Shri Sukthankar to continue as Patron AGNI-Mumbai Mr. D. M. Sukthankar IAS (Retd), AGNI Chairman and Managing Trustee, has decided to lay down his office. Pressed not to cut off his association, Mr. Sukthankar has agreed to be Patron. He was formerly Chief Secretary of Maharashtra State after functioning as Secretary, U r ban D e v e l o p m ent, GoI and Municipal Commissioner of Greater Mumbai, after having held other numerous offices of high responsibility in government.
Civil societies play a role in sparking a change for the better in society. This has been proven once again by the announcement made on Tuesday Sep 30, 2020 by the State Election Commissioner C. Parthasarathi that the Commission is contemplating provision of e-voting for senior citizens, disabled and election staff during the coming GHMC elections in view of the Covid -19 pandemic. This announcement is consequent to the meeting of the 'Ennikala Nigah Vedika' (Telangana Election Watch Wing) of SCOTRWA. The team met with the SEC on S…
This Vijayadasami day, on October 26, 2020, will mark a victory in ways more than one. For starters, apart from the festive reason for celebrations for the victory of good over evil, it will also be the day when Dharani, the Telangana Government’s Integrated Land Records Management System, is expected to be inaugurated. More importantly, it also marks the success of the soft persuasive approach of Civil Society bodies in the state to pursue much needed land reforms and the way the revenue system was managed so far. In a landmark (no pun …
As a lasting solution for any crisis, small or big, and for life after the crisis, we should absolutely organise one or several networks of mutual social protection by way of contributory insurance institutions Rao VBJ Chelikani We have to invent many more ways for people to express their innate sense of human compassion and social solidarity, directly and continuously which would promote more trust and faith in each other among those who are living together in a given community. Struggling together to obtain something or sharing something whi…
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