[Select Clippings Click here]
[What's new | What's news at CED Click
here]
in
focus
Farewell,
Laurie Baker!
We first encountered Laurie
Baker (1917-2007), many years ago, when we
travelled down to Trivandrum and other parts of Kerala,
with a group of masons from Shramik. We went to meet the man himself,
but he was very very ill at that time, so could not meet us.
Yet
he touched us deeply. We saw the church that he built in Allepey, and
perhaps a score of houses.
The trademark exposed brick, with detailing work made out of naked
brick, changed our whole sense of aesthetics.
He used odd bits
of old material for door knobs, frames, lintels and so on, but wove
them into a texture
that reminded us of the old grandmother in us,
which keeps things, can express itself anew,
with a beauty of its own,
bringing out the joy of creating with human hands.
Much later when we set up the Centre in Bangalore,
the very same masons
we took this journey with,
built our new premises at Domlur.
So, as we
sit in this space,
we remember Laurie Baker.
John, Doccentre
For those who never had the opportunity to meet Laurie Baker, we
have Joginder Singh
taking us past
the various facets of the work of Laurie Baker, who identified himself
with the locals through his work - building homes for the people.
Read on ...
below are some of the other stories that we have picked out
for you this month.
[Issues in Focus Click here]
[What's new | What's news at CED Click
here]
select clippings
Stepping
Beyond Civil Society:
Prospects for the Multitudes of Resistance: Increasingly
traditional civil
society is relegated to a marginal,
merely nominal role in the greater scheme of things. The
concept of civil society has
become subservient to
established political elites and economic hierarchies. By helping these
elites to maintain antiquated institutions and processes of political
order, civil society is draining itself of its democratic potential.
Glenn
Brigaldino,
Towardfreedom.com, April 05, 2007.
Beyond
the Judiciary - Reservation as
Reparation: ... reservation is not just a
demand,
but historical reparation
obligation. At its heart lies not
the questions regarding the
efficacy of reservations. At its heart lies the question of social
order maintenance that thrives on discrimination. The sick medical
students and arrogant doctors that went to strike last year are the
questions to be solved. Reactionary right wing NGOs like Youth for
Equality (who forever fail to understand that they are the root cause
of inequality) are the questions to be solved. The judicial system that
has no business with social justice is the question to be solved. Saswat
Pattanayak, radicalnotes.com, April 19, 2007.
.
The
secession
of the middle and upper classes: What we're
witnessing is the most
successful secessionist struggle ever
waged in independent India — the secession of the middle and upper
classes from the rest of the country. It's a vertical secession, not a
lateral one. They're fighting for the right to merge with the world's
elite somewhere up there in the stratosphere. They've managed to
commandeer the resources, the coal, the minerals, the bauxite, the
water and electricity. Arundhati
Roy in coversation with Shoma
Choudhary, Tehelka, March 31, 2007.
.
Questions and Answers on Micro
Financial
Sector Development and Regulation Bill 2007: A
Bill to regulate micro finance,
many of us thought, will clearly
state the obligations of the government, ensure fair, equitous and
ethical practices by MFIs, cap interest rates and ensure their
democratic functioning. Further one was expecting the Bill to pave the
way for a programme framework to ensure inclusion of the poorest that
are left out. The preamble reveals in the very first instance the lack
of any such intent. Thomas Franco, by email, April 2007.
The
Truth about subsidies: Vijay Jawandhia of
the Shetkari
Sanghatna in Wardha recounts how he was
once asked what he would
like to be reborn as, in his next life. Without batting an eyelid, he
replied: "A European cow!" Seeing the bewilderment on the face of the
questioner, he amplified: "A European cow gets $ 2 a day by way of
subsidy: that is more than half the world's population gets." A Swiss
cow gets a subsidy that will allow her to fly first-class around the
world! And Queen Elizabeth gets farm subsidies of over $ I million
annually. Two humorous anecdotes about farm subsidies sum up
their absurdity as well as their paradoxical nature.
Darryl
D'Monte,
Infochange News and Features, April 2007.
A
mortal blow to
Panchayat Raj:
A hurriedly passed amendment to the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act
last week gives MLAs unwarranted powers over panchayats, which are
themselves a separate tier of local goverment. The authors say
the amendment is contrary to the spirit of decentralisation and the
Constitution. Nandana Reddy & Damodar Acharya,
Indiatogether.org, April 21, 2007.
[Issues in Focus Click
here]
[Select Clippings Click
here]
what's new | what's news at CED
|FILM|
Veerabagupathy-
A
community in transition English,
28 minutes
Disasters cause great upheaval, and acute misery. But the concerted
efforts at relief and rehabilitation give an opportunity for
the people to voice their concerns. The aftermath of the tsunami of
2004 bears testimony to
this.
This film showcases tsunami affected Veerabagupathy village in
Kanyakumari District. In a very
peculiar case, the villagers here did not wait for the government. They
bought the land and chose the agencies that would help them. The film
also highlights the Rat Trap Bond and Filler Slab technologies used
here which were met with reluctance initially. The low cost technology
houses are up and the people have moved in. But there are new
milestones to be met.
CDs
available at CED
|CED's Monthly
Compilations|
Just to remind you of Docposts
(DPs) - our monthly outputs: Legal
Rights | Critical
Concerns | Habitat
| Disasters
Each collection keeps you abreast of
the latest developments month after month. The unique format of the DPs
is
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