JOIN USAddressing the ActionAid International Assembly meeting held in the City on Tuesday, she said the path to modernisation had resulted in suppressing the issues of the poor. “Democracy is also about empowering people to participate. It cannot be dissociated with the rights discourse,” she opined.
Speaking about strengthening the democratic systems, she said it was important not to be instrumental in destroying the State, but changing laws that were anti- people to help the marginalised sections.
Anand Mazgaonkar of the National Alliance of People’s Movement spoke of the campaigns conducted to help the marginalised sections, especially of those in the tribal regions. “Until the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the government had suppressed the fact that 25 million people had been displaced due to various development projects and nearly 65 per cent were tribals.” Lately, he claimed, there was a clinical insensitivity to violence and furthermore, there was an increasing justification of violence perpetrated by the system.
Another speaker, P V Rajgopal of Ekta Parishad spoke about the ‘feudal mindset’ of the government, which wanted to run a welfare state and was unwilling to invest in a self-governed community system.
ActionAid is an international, non-governmental agency whose aim is to fight poverty and is functioning in 42 countries. Around 70 activists are attending the conference to cover critical developmental issues that not only confront India, but also have international relevance.