Posters, Panel discussions, Bookmarks, “Chatting-over-Coffee”, Street plays…

If you’re sensing a “much ado about nothing”, read on…

• Two million Indian kids will die before they celebrate their first birthday
• More females will be killed at birth
• At least 35 million minors (aged 6-14 years) will not attend school

(Simulated futuristic statistics of the Indian minor)

Now doesn’t that paint a picture befitting our national “inflated” progress?

And if your mind sees red in this, you know what’s following-

History proudly recounts having used, abused and exploited children. The little souls agonise for reasons too many: hunger, homelessness, ill health, mortality incidence and several other woes entailed.

A pitcher full of innocence, trust and hope, yet we choose not to hold out even a promise of education to them. They deserve a childhood of dreams, an adolescence of opportunities and a life thus designed. They are citizens in their own right and are entitled to the full spectrum of human rights. Unless we take a stand for child rights we can expect nothing better than the continued tag of a ‘developing’ nation.

Which is essentially why, CSA came out with bookmarks bearing messages of child rights.

A bit of a background now–The Charter of Child Rights (CRC) declared the following as child rights across the world:

1. Right to Survival (to health, nutrition, name and nationality)

2. Right to Development (to education, care, leisure and recreation)

3. Right to Protection (from exploitation, abuse, neglect)

4. Right to Participation (to expression, information, thought and religion)

Last week, our major focus at CSA (Christ College) was to recognize every child’s right to education. We put up street plays that utilised contemporary techniques to grab students’ attention and eventually strike a chord in their hearts. ‘Chatting over Coffee’ saw spirited discussions voicing the relevance of education for holistic development. The panel discussion was centered on the topic, ‘Child Rights: Where did we go wrong?’ Subject experts namely, Kavita Ratna (Concern for Working Children), Usha and Nitya (Alternate Law Forum) triggered thought provoking discussions, by presenting their experiences.

From 8th to 12th July, CSA did their little bit to make the college sensitized on the various issues surrounding children.

By Shalini Chandy

CSA is observing

Child Rights Week

in the college from 8-12 July ‘08.

This week’s COC (chattin’ over coffee)

will be a child right’s week special

on the topic:

The myth of a child’s right to education

4 pm, Seminar Hall, Christ College, Bangalore

See you there!

The new troop leaders for the year are:

Boopalan R (III CME)

Mohan K Pillai (II FEP)

Congrats to the new leaders! God bless and we expect much from you, and not to forget the treat.

Tue 1 July, 2008

Whether you like coffee or not, it might help being there. No, it will help. How? That’s for you to decide.

The Discussion Forum (with it’s discussions, of course ) and the kiosk (with their coffee) got into business on Tuesday by screening the documentary ‘War on Democracy’ (By John Pilger), followed by a discussions and some coffee. Lenin (III BA) moderated the discussions.

The intention of the Discussion Forum is simply to discuss issues thrown into oblivion by the media, to notice them and spark a thought process. Sparking a thought process. As simple as that. In the process, the forum hopes to help students to listen to each other, notice the unnoticed issues, read between the lines, become politically aware, form networks across classes, inspire friends to become vocal about their opinions on social issues, etc. It’s been too long that the youth have been dumb about matters which affect the society we live in, which is exploited by the forces of the capitalist market, power politics and domination of dangerous social phenomena like patriarchy, gender bias and narrow mindedness.

High hopes, we know. But we would like to start the process. And we have.

Do join us on Thursday at 4 pm. We hope to end it by 5pm. And the best part? You don’t have to be a CSA volunteer to join us. Just call your friends along, grab a coffee inside and speak or simply sit there listening. It is not an intellectual club or a bunch of social scientists, but a group of students who may or may not know the issue, want to keep their thoughts open and active, and some times love coffee( not mandatory). We know that your mind will be processing.

Just walk in.

End note: Yes, we messed up saying last week that it was going to be on Thursdays - the reason is that this Thursday is a holiday, so we advanced it. But next week on, we are sticking to our guns - Thursdays it is, and don’t forget, 4 pm.

28.06.08 Saturday

CSA activities for the academic 2008-’09 began with a modest function at the DVK auditorium, in the neighbouring Dharmaram campus. The State Secretary for Youth Affairs I.M. Vittala Murthy inaugurated the year’s activities in the presence of in the presence of the Principal Fr. Thomas C. Mathew and the Pre-University College Principal Dr. (Fr.) Jose C.C., the CSA Co-ordinator Johny Joseph and the year’s volunteers.

Fr. Mathew, who presided the meeting called CSA the silent but “effective group which made an impact in the campus”. He also added that the organisation helped the institution cultivate social responsibility. Thanks for your support, Father!

Vittala Murthy in his inaugural speech emphasised on being empathetic to people and being ready and skilled to help others, especially in time of emergency or crisis like natural calamities. He gave hope to the youthful audience by explaining that the Indian youth population stood at 660 million currently, double the number that of USA; in 2020, the average age of an Indian would stand at 29 and that of China, 37. He pointed towards harnessing the youthful population to grow, bring about social, political and economic changes and develop the country in the years to come. He also qouted the effective work done by JAFS (Japan Asia Friendship Society) in the grass root level of our country by improving sanitation facilities and infrastructure in rural schools. He exhorted the volunteers to take up the unnoticed issues which needed to be looked into. He concluded by reaffirming his belief in the nobility and immense potential of youth and the need to provide a platform to be able to make the change, which was what CSA is doing.

Followed by the inauguration and Fr. Jose’s felicitation, Johny Joseph introduced the activities of CSA and it’s style of functioning through a presentation. The plan to resurrect a dormant Discussion Forum named ‘Chatting Over Coffee’ was also announced, placing it at 4pm on Thursdays.The programme closed with an opportunity for the volunteers to meet up with members of the various CSA groups and chat with them in order to discover their area of interest.

Street theatre and Activity Centre saw the largest number of volunteers with them while Samveditha and the Publications team also found a few but enthusiastic enquirers (which gave the other two groups a reason to joke about their capability to maintain interest!)

New students have been pouring in to the various courses at Christ College. The volunteers at Centre for Social Action are kicking back into full fledged action by spreading the word and message of CSA. Catchy posters have been put up all around campus, and senior volunteers have been visiting each first year class to invite the students to join CSA.

And yes, it has been effective so far! More than 60 new volunteers have filled in the enrollment form, says Mr Binu, the new student co-ordinater.

We at the Publications Team are keeping our eyes open looking for ‘journalistic’ and ‘editorial’ talents coming our way. Hoping for a wonderful year ahead, and a lot of new enthusiastic volunteers, aloha!

Hello all,

The Future Leaders India 2008 programme organised by Better Future, initiated by Fortis, officially ended on Saturday, 21st June. The Indian participants are back, and the Dutch participants have already arrived in Holland. Yesterday, almost all of the participants were in Bangalore shopping and catching a bit of the city life.

The solutions for the four case studies were presented on Friday in the Stakeholders meeting, which was attended by the various case owners, stakeholders, Christ College students, and various other guests. These solutions are to be implemented in the course of one year. Fortis will be forwarding $1000 USD per project to kick off the implementation.

We wish the ‘Future Leaders’ all the best in their ventures!

The Future Leaders India 2008 programme is going strong and ends this Sunday (22nd June). All the 20 participants have been assigned projects in groups and are undergoing intensive training. They are currently working on their projects, doing their bit of research, meeting other NGOs and making their project strong. They are also being trained by business leaders from Netherlands.

We hope that their project goes well and benefits each one of the them in becoming better leaders and social entrepreneurs.

Hello all,

A new academic year has dawned for Christ College (Autonomous), Bangalore, today, but Room No 213 (i.e. the CSA office) had its lights on throughout the night even during the vacation period. The usual projects were going in a full swing, the staff thoroughly appreciating the lack of noise due to the lower number of student volunteers.

However, throughout the past three months, CSA has been gearing up to host the Future Leaders India 2008 programme, organised by Better Future (Netherlands), and funded by Fortis Meespierson.

It is a social entrepreneurship and leadership development programme in which 10 Dutch students and 10 Indian students will be trained by the Better Future team and business leaders from Netherlands about what it takes to be a successful social entrepreneur. The programme will give hands on experience to the participants by presenting case studies, on which they have to work, and find a solution. The solution should be implemented within the course of a year.

The 2 week programme will kick off on Sunday (8th June 2oo at 3PM in the Syndicate Room. The participants will be taken to a resort in Hoskote and they will be working in the project areas of CSA in the Hoskote taluk.

CSA volunteers have been planning and arranging the logistics for the programme for the past three months. Among the 10 Indian participants are three CSA volunteers.

The CSA Publications Team wishes all the best to all the participants of the programme! Cheerio!

You really don’t want to miss this!

ISFiT - The International Student Festival in Trondheim, Norway is the world’s largest student festival with a thematic focus. About 450 students from all over the world attend the festival. The themes have changed over the years, but have always been related to social and political topics with international relevance.

World figures often attend ISFiT and past speakers include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, former Director-General of WHO Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Dr José Ramos-Horta and Professor Wangari Maathai. Using modern technology, both former US president Bill Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr Desmond Tutu have relayed their thoughts about the global significance of ISFiT to plenum ceremonies at the festival.

As students are the future leaders of the world we believe that their voices should be heard and international networks established. Thus the purpose of ISFiT is to be a meeting place for discussion and debate, an arena where ideas are born, friendships are made, and valuable lessons are learned. The festival aims at fostering inspiration and being a starting point for international cooperation amongst students. ISFiT is a non-profit festival.

The ISFiT participants take part in different workshops, which highlight the festival theme in various ways. Several lectures and thematic meetings will be arranged, where well-known international speakers share their views with the participants and others. The ISFiT audience is also welcome to join a vast cultural programme of concerts, art exhibitions and performing arts.

In order to organize ISFiT, more than 350 students in Trondheim work voluntarily, making sure every detail goes as planned. ISFiT has been arranged in Trondheim, Norway every second year since 1990.

The next ISFiT will be arranged from 20 February to 1 March 2009. The main topic this time is peacebuilding.

(Taken from the Isfit website:http://www.isfit.org/article/show/3

For more information check out www.isfit.org