Republic Day Celebrations January 26, 2021

Women's Commission: Journey So Far

Vakiti Sunita Laxma Reddy was appointed Chairperson of Telengana State Women's Commission in January 2021, nearly two and a half years after the post fell vacant.   It has been over two years since #WomComMatters was founded as a pressure group for reinstating the Women’s Commission in Telangana. What started off as a small effort by a group of citizens turned into an organized movement of more than 150 volunteers committed to the cause of having a fully functional institution in place. The significance of this Commission lies in not j…

U-FERWAs Participation in HYSEA CSR SUMMIT

The United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations has participated in the HYSEA CSR SUMMIT 2021on 21st January in Novotel, in Hyderabad Convention Center, Madhapur HiTech city. The theme of the conference was to explore volunteering opportunities for corporate employees in the areas of education, environment, health and well-being.    In the stall allotted, U-FERWAS projected its different activities like RWA Volunteering, Swatch Bharath, rain water harvesting, healthcare, dry resource collection center management, community compost…

To Hold or Not to Hold : Gram Panchayat Elections

O n the National Voters’ Day January 25, 2021 the Supreme Court has come out with its judgment in favour of the decisions taken by the State Election Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh regarding the conduct of Gram Panchayat elections, we would like to express our following observations. The incumbent State Election Commissioner deserves to be commended for tenaciously pursuing his mandate as a constitutional authority, without bowing before serious political pressures from the government of the day, like Mr. Seshan who has alrea…

RWA Profile - Tirumalanagar RWA Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam

The Tirumalanagar RWA has been receiving accolades   with its continuous activities and recognitions at various fora over the years  In GVMC, the Zone V, Gajuwaka is the the biggest and the largest zone in terms of area and population. The RWAs in Zone V are very active in taking up various activities for the development of their colonies, besides many programmes of the Govt, viz Swachh Bharat, Swachh Sarvekshan, Beat the Plastic pollution etc, etc.  Among these the Tirumalanagar RWA has been attracting accolades with its continuous activi…

CoRWA Demands Choice for Citizens to Declare Themselves Secular in Census

The Confederation of RWAs (CoRW), has demanded that citizens have the choice of declaring themselves secular in the impending national census exercise. In a communication to the Registrar General of India, Dr Vivek Joshi, the national body of RWAs, has highlighted that in a secular state caste and religious identities should not be thrust on residents. At present as per the census forms to be filled, it is almost obligatory indicate one's caste and religion.  "In the interests of national unity and good governance these two identities…

National RWA Day Observed

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…

For a New Version of Ward Committees to be Effective in TS

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…

Unfair to Blame the Urban Residents

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…

Why did Hyderabad drown?

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…

Civil Society Pitches for Active Role for RWAs in Local Urban Governance

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…

A Manifesto for Atmanirbhar RWAs to Support National Development

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…