Tours by Indian Activists
Donations to Groups in India
Relief Work
Resource Center
Fiscal
Sponsorship of groups in the U.S.
A major activity of the foundation is organizing tours of the United States (and sometimes Canada) by individuals doing or addressing grassroots work in India, or working on issues concerning South Asian immigrants in North America:
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Anand Patwardhan the documentary filmmaker |
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Asghar Ali Engineer, religious scholar who has extensively studied communal conflicts |
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Rakesh Sharma, filmmaker |
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Ali Kazimi, filmmaker |
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P. Sainath, journalist and writer |
The tours allow the activists to speak to many people - college students, teachers, the general Indian community - about their work. The foundation also raises funds from the hosts and audiences, solely to cover the travel expenses of the visitors; any leftover money is given as grants to groups in India.
A second major activity is to support grassroots groups and activist individuals in India financially or through the purchase of hard-to-get but valuable equipment. Among those we have supported are:
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Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, which is doing yeoman work with victims of the Union Carbide gas disaster, providing medical care as well as documenting the continuing crisis; |
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Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai, producing periodic analytic reports on communal tensions and conflicts; |
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Bharathi Trust in Chennai, which works with tribals, slum women and unorganized workers, and has organized tsunami relief; |
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Drksakshi in Chhattisgarh, which works with Dalit and "tribal" women and children on issues of education, livelihood, health and community organization; |
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Rakesh Sharma, who made The Final Solution on the 2002 Gujarat pogrom; |
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Azad Reading Room in Secunderabad; |
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Anand Patwardhan, the independent documentary filmmaker; |
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CERAS in Montreal, which helps a wide range of grassroots groups in India; |
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Harsh Kapoor, web documentarian based in France; |
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SAHMAT in New Delhi; |
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Shri Prakash, Jharkhand-based filmmaker. |
The foundation also collects and transmits funds for relief after natural disasters as well as pogroms. Some instances: Bangladesh following the devastating cyclone and floods in 1998; Orissa floods of 1999-2000; Gujarat earthquake in 2001; Gujarat anti-Muslim pogrom in 2002; Tamil Nadu tsunami in 2004; Pakistan earthquake in 2005.
Also, the foundation collects media resources from India - magazines such as the Economic and Political Weekly, Issues in Medical Ethics, Communalism Combat, and PUCL Bulletin; video documentaries made by assorted activist groups around the country; audiotapes; books.
Another major activity of the foundation is to be the fiscal sponsor for fledgling grassroots groups in the South Asian community in the United States. We sponsor:
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Youth Solidarity Summer, a summer program for South Asian youth, held for a week each summer for a number of years in New York; |
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3rd I New York, which organizes films and other cultural programs on South Asia and on South Asians in the US; |
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ProXsa, the progressive south asian exchange website, as well as associated electronic discussion groups. |
The foundation has no overhead expenses. All labor is donated. No part of donated money is kept by the foundation; it is all disbursed to the intended recipients.