Saturday, November 20, 2010

Today 5 pm, Colaba: Disgusted with Scams? Time to Reclaim your Citizenship!

CWG, Lavasa, 2G spectrum, mining contracts, Adarsh… The skeletons keep tumbling out with mind-numbing regularity, and each delivers the same message: Eternal vigilance is the price that we citizens must pay for freedom… or else! If we remain passive spectators, we will lose our collective self respect and wealth. So the buck literally stops with ‘We the People’.


Too often in the past, we citizens failed to participate in governance. We left it all to politicians and bureaucrats while we withdrew into our comfortable private worlds. The results of our collective neglect are now all around us, too squalid to ignore.


Mr. & Ms. Citizen, isn’t it high time we dusted off our 60-year-old contract with the State, called the Constitution? Isn’t it time we re-looked at the meaning of our fundamental rights and fundamental duties? Isn’t it high time that we invested some energy and resources into enforcing our rights and delivering on our duties?


Isn’t it time we stopped nervously watching from the sidelines, and stepped into the centre-stage of non-electoral politics and governance reforms?


Come, Rediscover your Constitution, Reclaim your Citizenship. We invite you to participate in our forthcoming meeting.

Date & time: 20 November, 5 to 7.30 pm

Venue: Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA),

Cooperage, Near Oval Maidan, Colaba

Landmark: Gate opposite PVM Gymkhana on the road that comes straight from Churchgate

RSVP & Enquiries: Krish 98215 88114


The Constitution is the blueprint of India’s democracy. Although 60 years have passed since it was painstakingly drafted and enacted, few of us ever laid hands on it. We remain unaware of the role that it plays in our daily lives and the strength it can provide to our struggles against bad governance. Come, let us look at some landmark cases that the Constitution helped people win… and how these have changed the way we live. Let us look at the essential tools that we can use in challenging and changing the way in which we are governed.


Come. Let’s review some of our own beliefs as citizens that have contributed to the squalid reality around us. And then let’s move towards creating a new reality.


NOTES:

  • This is part of a series of interactions in Mumbai and other cities being held every month until 26 January, 2011. The series is anchored by Vinita Singh and Krishnaraj Rao. Vinita has been working in the area of social development for 16 years, largely among the urban and rural poor. Krishnaraj is a professional journalist, publisher and campaigner for proper implementation of Right to Information and other crucial rights & duties of citizens.
  • This meeting at Colaba is organized with support from Kishore Jagtiani & 3rd – 4th Pasta Lane Residents’ Association, Kunti Oza & Oval Cooperage Residents’ Association (OCRA), Colaba ALM (CALM) & Cuffe Parade Residents Association.