Invite: Kriti Film Club screenings 19-20 Feb

 

Kriti Film Club

 

invites you for two days of documentary film shows

 

- the American Documentary Showcase

 

Day 1, Feb19th: Themes - Conflict…Identities…Personal Journies…

Day 2, Feb 20th: Themes - Films for Children, Creative expressions, Theatre, Film making, Autism, Corporatisation, Control over natural resources…

 

Friday, 19th February 2010

 

4.00 pm – 7.30 pm: Conflict…Identities…Personal Journies

 

4.00 – 4.45 pm: "CHILDREN IN NO MAN'S LAND"

DIRECTOR: Anayansi Prado/ 39 mins./ 2008

 

SYNOPSIS: Follows The Plight Of Unaccompanied Minors Who Travel Into The United States. Two Young Cousins Attempt To Cross The Us/Mexico Border Alone To Reunite With Their Mothers In The Midwest.

 

4.45 – 5.30 pm: Snack/ Chai and Browsing time @ inhouse Kriti ecocafe and Gestures docushop stall

 

5.30 – 7.30 pm: "THE BETRAYAL"

Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath/ 97 mins./ 2008

 

SYNOPSIS: Filmed Over 23 Years, Tells The Story Of A Family's Epic Journey From War-Torn Laos To The Mean Streets Of New York. Thavisouk Phrasaveth Tells His Own Story Of Struggling As A Young Man To Survive Both The War And The Hardships Of Immigrant Life, As Well As His Mother's Astonishing Tale Of Perseverance.

 

Saturday, 20th February 2010

 

11.00 am – 1.15 pm: Docus for children…for creative expressions in theatre and film making

 

11.15 am to 12.15 pm: "THE HOBART SHAKESPEAREANS"

Mel Stuart/ 56 mins./ 2005

 

SYNOPSIS: Year After Year, The Hobart Shakespeareans Excel. They Read Passionately, Far Above Their Grade Level; Tackle Algebra, And Stage Shakespeare So Professionally That They Often Wow Actor Sir Ian Mckellen.

 

This Takes Place At A Large Los Angeles Public Elementary School. Few Of The Children At Hobart Elementary School Speak English As A First Language And Many Are From Poor Or Troubled Families.

 

12.30 – 1.00 pm: "BEGINNING FILMMAKING"

Jay Rosenblatt/ 23 mins./ 2008

 

SYNOPSIS: A Portrait Of A Very Young Artist And An Enthusiastic Father Who Discovers Truth In The Clich "Creative Differences" When He Attempts To Teach His 4-Year-Old Daughter About Filmmaking. Ella Learns What She Wants To, Discards What She Doesn't, And Is Determined To Be A Star In Her Own Mind.

 

1.15 – 3.00 pm: Lunch time/ Browsing time @ inhouse Kriti ecocafe and Gestures Docushop stall

 

3.00 pm – 4.45 pm: Special Documentary - "AUTISM, THE MUSICAL"

Patricia Regan/ 93 mins./2007

 

SYNOPSIS: Follows Five Autistic Children And Their Families Over The Course Of Six Months And Captures Their Distinct Personal Struggles, Pressures And Triumphs As The Children Write, Rehearse And Perform Their Own Full-Length Musical.

 

4.45 pm – 5.15 pm: Snack/Popcorn/ Chai/ Coffee time @inhouse Kriti ecocafe and Browsing time @Gestures Docushop stall

 

5.15 pm – 6.45 pm: Politics of corporatisation...control over resources

"THE GARDEN"

Scott Hamilton Kennedy/ 80 mins./ 2008 (Won Grand Jury Award At Silverdocs Documentary Festival)

 

SYNOPSIS: Follows The Plight Of Mostly Immigrant Farmers From The Tilled Soil Of The United States' Largest Urban Farm To Los Angeles City Hall, Telling The Story Of Back Room Deals, Land Developers, Green Politics, Poverty, Power And Racial Discord As The Farmers Organize And Speak Out While Bulldozers Are Poised To Level Their 14-Acre Oasis.

 

Some chai and eats could be accessed @ the inhouse Kriti ecocafe before you leave for home!

 

Kriti Film Club is an independent and educational documentary viewing and sharing initiative of Kriti team, which works as a knowledge and skill support group on development and human rights.

Open for all. Confirmations requested as seating is limited. 

Call for venue details. 011-26033088/26027845 space.kriti@gmail.com
http://krititeam.blogspot.com

 

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MoEF DECIDES TO ISSUE SHOW-CAUSE NOTICE TO SHREE MAHESHWAR HYDEL POWER CORPORATION LTD.

 

Narmada Bachao Andolan,

2 Sai Nagar, Mata Chowk, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh,

 Tel: 09425394606, 09425928007

 Press Release, 16^th February 2010

 

HUNDREDS OF VILLAGERS FROM NARMADA VALLEY DEMONSTRATE IN DELHI AGAINST MAHESHWAR DAM

 

Environment Ministry decides to issue show-cause notice to Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Limited (SMHPCL) to suspend work on the dam

 

Around thousand villagers from the Narmada valley arrived in Delhi today to take part in a two-day dharna under the aegis of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. The gathered villagers demanded that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests should immediately suspend the construction work on the Maheshwar dam project, which has far outstripped the progress of the rehabilitation and resettlement measures. The oustees said that if the MoEF fails to implement the conditions of the environment clearances accorded to the Maheshwar project and suspend the work, the villagers would have to embark on an indefinite protest action in the capital beginning mid-March.

 

In a surprise action today, around 500 of the affected people gathered at the Ministry of Environment and Forests to protest against the inaction of the Ministry and to demand that the Ministry take immediate action to suspend work on the Maheshwar dam. A delegation of people met the Union Minister, Shri Jairam Ramesh, and gave their representation to him, demanding that the work of the Maheshwar Dam be immediately suspended until the relief and the rehabilitation of the people is completed. The Minister said that they would issue a show-cause notice by 4 pm today to the Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The notice would demand a reply from the company as to why the construction work should not be suspended due to non-compliance with conditions of the clearances given. The Corporation will have 15 days to reply before action is taken by the Ministry.

 

The Maheshwar dam, one of the large dams being built in the Narmada valley in Madhya Pradesh, is slated to submerge the lands and the homes of almost 50,000 – 70,000 peasants, fisher people, boat people and landless workers in 61 villages of the area. This project was privatised and handed over to the S. Kumar’s Group of Companies in 1992. The environmental clearances were issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, first in 1994 and then again in 2001. The statutorily binding provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, held the State Government of Madhya Pradesh and S. Kumar’s Group of Companies accountable for the rehabilitation of the villages, and required them to provide the affected families with minimum land holdings of 2 hectares of agricultural land, resettlement sites and other benefits.

 

The conditions of the clearances required that a comprehensive Resettlement and Rehabilitation plan, along with the details of the agricultural lands should be submitted by December 2001, and the implementation of the R&R measures were to be conducted at the same pace as the construction work. However, in clear violation of these conditions, such an R&R plan is yet to be submitted to date. It may be pointed out that the project authorities have also neither offered not allotted agricultural land in accordance with the R&R policy to even a single oustee till date. Instead the project promoters illegally purchased the land in the submergence area, compelling the oustees to sign documents waving their R&R benefits, as per the R&R Policy. This was stopped in May 2009, by the order of the Hon’ble High of Court of Madhya Pradesh, which held that such a practice was exploitative and unconstitutional.

 

It may be also be pointed out that the actual extent of submergence of the Maheshwar Dam is also being suppressed by the project authorities. Thus although the updated project report and the techno-economic clearance of the project record that almost 1435 hectares of land was required for submergence, the project authorities are now falsely claiming that only 873 hectares of land is now under submergence. The project authorities are also refusing to get the back-water surveys completed in time. Thus even the actual area, and accordingly, the population affected, the financial and land resources required for the R&R are not known till date. Thus, although the financial closure of the project has been done and 80% of the project construction is complete, only 3% of the rehabilitation of the affected persons has been done till date.

 

In light of the above, on the 29^th of October 2009, the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Shri Jairam Ramesh, wrote to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, stating that since the R&R works are lagging behind and still in their preliminary stage, but the work on the dam is 80% complete, the Ministry is deeply apprehensive that the private company, Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Ltd. will relinquish its responsibility, leaving the affected people in a lurch. As a consequence of the grave violation of the conditions of the Environmental clearances, the MoEF proposed to halt the construction work on the dam until a comprehensive R&R Plan is submitted to the Ministry and the R&R work is bought up to pace with the construction work of the dam. In his reply to the MoEF, Chief Minister Madhya Pradesh also confirmed that only 3% of R&R measures have been completed. The Monitoring Committee constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests which visited the area in recent weeks has also confirmed that the R&R measures are dismally lagging behind in schedule and the required R&R plan has not even been submitted.

 

Yet the MoEF, which has statutory power and is under a statutory duty to stop the construction of the dam until R&R work is duly implemented is not taking any steps to do so.

 

It may also be mentioned that the Maheshwar project which was approved at techno-economically viable Rs. 1673 crore, is not slated to cost around Rs. 2800 crore. Thus the cost of the electricity generated from this project will be prohibitively higher and will not benefit the common people of Madhya Pradesh. However, due to the power purchase agreement of the State Government with S. Kumar’s, the State of Madhya Pradesh will have to purchase and pay for this expensive power for the next 35 years.

 

In Solidarity,

 

Alok Agarwal || Chittaroopa Palit || Ramkuwar Rawat || Gajraj Singh ||

Narmada Bachao Andolan, Khandwa

 

For more information, please contact: Sherry (9953466107) or Purnima Ramanujan (9711178868)

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Good to Eat, Good to Think: Changing Food Practices in Contemporary India - Lecture at IIT Delhi

Subject: Reminder: HUSS Seminar Series, Feb. 16th

You are invited to attend a seminar in the Department of Humanities and
Social Sciences, Committee Room, on Tuesday February 16th, 2010 at 3:30
pm.

Speaker: Dr. Amita Baviskar

Title: Good to Eat, Good to Think: Changing Food Practices in
Contemporary India.

Abstract:  The multiple routes of Indian modernity can be traced through
shifts in the modes of producing and consuming food.  This talk attempts
to analyse some of these shifts through a selective discussion of
changing food practices in post-Independence western India.  It locates
these changes in the context of the political economy of agriculture since
the Green Revolution which brought about a profound
re-articulation between food producers and consumers.  The talk
delineates the widening circuits of food as a commodity form within the
home and outside, spanned by the growth of processed foods and the
practice of 'eating out'. It examines the multiple meanings of food for
different social groups by drawing upon ethnographic, archival and
literary sources.  It attempts to interpret western Indian food
practices within larger debates about globalization, culture and identity.

Dr. Amita Baviskar is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Institute of
Economic Growth, Delhi.

--
Dr. Farhana Ibrahim
Assistant Professor
Sociology and Social Anthropology
Department of Humanities & Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Hauz Khas
New Delhi 110 016
India

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