Note on Karmayog 4th Anniversary Get-together held on
June 27, 2008 Group: 3

Dear Citizens, Social Activists, Group Members,

First & foremost on behalf of all I, wish Karmayog.org very happy anniversary &
eternity for its community services. While gathering for group 3, one member
said that the name “Karmayog” is very appealing & asked “what do you mean
by it?” I had only instant reaction that we must understand true meaning of
slok 47 of chapter 2, of Shrimad Bhagwad Gita, which itself is known as Karmayog
& slok 47 is nectar of Karmayog. We all are most fortunate to be human beings &
gathered here for some good deeds (satvik karma). Only human beings are
privileged for doing such karma those uplifts them to ultimate stage of
liberation, contrasting to that leads to repetitively downfall. With this short
interaction, the fellow member preferred to be part of our group meet & shared
our concerns.

As decided, following are short listed concerns expressed by our group members:

1. Corruptions in govt. departments & meaningful usage of RTI tool to
counteract it,

2. Share individual concerns with group members & others to redress them
effectively,

3. To get support of NGO where representations to authorities are warranted
for issues concerning to common causes. To have public meetings regularly for
mass movements for better governance & accountability,

4. To get legal assistance through NGOs for serious social concerns/ national
interest,

5. To extend helping hands to senior citizens, BPL & others for their
grievances & war against evils of tobacco in national interest,

6. To decide for future meet of group members with due interactions.

Following conclusions were made with interactions amongst the group members:

With regard to 1st concern, corruptions in govt depts. & others are massive.. It
can be counteracted effectively with social awareness & conscious efforts of
citizens. It is not only a cancer but swelled into entire body. It is rather
impossible to eradicate unorganised corruptions but organized corruptions can be
contained effectively with mass awareness & dedicated efforts. Group members
short listed such organised corruptions in Co-operation Dept, MAHADA, BMC, Trade
Practices and Police Dept etc.. One group member narrated his dedicated efforts
for last two years for exposure & containment of fully dormant corruptions in
Co-operation Dept. His dedicated efforts have reached to very advanced stage of
filing criminal writ petitions & PIL in view of serious violations of Supreme
Court judgements & provisions of various Acts as their normal modus operandi...
Fruits of his dedicated efforts can reach out to 54,000 co-operative housing
societies permanently
with due assistance from esteemed NGOs. Copy of his Representation is attached
herewith with a request to circulate to others for social awareness & garner
support from aggrieved members to best extent.

Similarly, specific issues related to corruptions in MAHADA, BMC, Traffic
Police, & Common Trade Practices vis-Ă -vis government officials were also
brought to notice during group interactions. It was suggested that such
aggrieved members must upload their grievances on karmayog@yahoogroups.com &
e-mail them to group members for their interactions & share their views,
experiences & endeavour to resolve them. If need be, joint representations can
be planned as social concerns & should be pursued through NGO. During
discussions, members were acquainted with effective tool in the hands of common
man, in form of RTI Act, but lots are desired for which I attach herewith
suggestions made during RTI Meet held in the past. It is hour of need to pursue
these suggestions & implementations. Moreover, it is most serious concern that
Chief Information Commissioners & State Information Commissioners are out of
purview as public servants & given status of judges,
though they are ranked par at Government Secretaries & below, drawing salaries
as public servants. This has seriously affected implementation of RTI Act in
true perspectives & continuation of their autocratic approach towards citizens.

One Group member rightly expressed his concern & stated that the only way to
improve things is to have regular interaction between authorities & public with
massive press/ media coverage. When people see such interaction, many more will
come forward & it will become a mass movement. Only public pressure works most
effectively. Corruption is the root cause of most of sufferings. He suggested
public meetings must be held once every month with ACB, where public can put
forward their complaints & experiences. Once things are discussed in open, then
automatically exposures will be made & some kind of deterrence will form & it
will keep on growing. After this, others Like Police, Municipality etc can also
be taken up & that can lead to simple Governance, straight forward & easily
available to every citizen.

With regard to 2nd concern, it was deliberated & opined to share individual
concerns with group members & seek their guidance to resolve in best possible
manner.

With regard to 3rd concern, group members strongly felt need for support of NGOs
for social causes & in national interest. We draw urgent attention of NGOs &
their trustees to attached Representation “Fight against Corruptions & Social
Awareness” as referred above so as to get permanent relief for over 54,000
Co-operative Housing Societies & their lakhs of members. Similarly, status of
CIC & SIC must be reviewed through legal process.

With regard to 4th concern, to get legal guidance/ assistance through NGOs for
very serious social concerns affecting national interest, it is covered above
under 2nd & 3rd concerns. Group members expressed their concern about usage &
issue of orders by various authorities in Marathi. It is observed that many find
difficult to interpret same. It is therefore suggested that NGOs must make some
arrangement to overcome such difficulties as common cause.

With regard to 5th concern, to extend helping hands to senior citizens, BPL &
others for their grievances & war against evils of tobacco in national interest.
It was felt by the members that combined efforts must be made by all NGOs to
achieve desired results in national interest.. Group member handed over an
Inaugural Issue on “TOBACCO KILLS & GOVT. SUCCUMBS TO TOBACCO LOBBY”
sponsored by Action Council against Tobacco. We, group members request all NGOs
to join their hands & extend fullest support to break such powerful tobacco
lobby & ensure implementation of Supreme Court Rules as notified on July 5, 2006
for mandatory warnings on packs of tobacco products in national interest.

With regard to 6th concern, to decide for future meet of group members, it was
agreed to suggestion to have due interactions on karmayog@yahoogroups.com & to
arrive at suitable conclusions for further deliberations. Lastly, please excuse
me, if I have overlooked any important matter that was discussed & not included
in this note. Please send me your feed back & oblige.

Best Regards,
Mukund Parikh, 

Representation for fight against corruptions & social
awareness:http://www.karmayog.org/redirect/strred.asp?docId=16265

Suggestions for better implementations of RTI Act:
http://www.karmayog.org/redirect/strred.asp?docId=16266

For response of this email : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/karmayog/message/39428