The annual AID-India conference was recently held on Dec.23, 24 and 25 in Chennai. More than 100 people from 11 chapters in India participated in the conference. In addition, there were folks from US chapters too. The venue was the exciting and heavily wooded IIT Madras where one could walk along with spotted deers and black bucks !

Day 1:
The conference started with a welcome note by Ravishankar followed by introductions by different chapters. Dr. Vasanthi Devi, president of AID-India shared her thoughts on how much AID-India has progressed since its presence and the milestones we keep reaching. Then chapters shared their experiences with lots of questions, suggestions and commendations thrown their way. New chapters such as AID Kakinada joined the conference this year and decreased the average age of the attendees considerably! The highlight of the first day was the keynote speech by Arvind Kejriwal who impressed upon the AIDers that while RTI is a powerful tool, it is but a step in the fight against corruption and the need for the next level strategization. In the parallel sessions, Ravi Kuchimanchi and Pramod gave an overview on the salient features of NREGA and shared their experiences in auditing NREGA in Orissa. Prasanna explored the impact of globalization in food security and health through the interventions in PDS and privatization of health care. In education, Chandra discussed the issues and solutions on working with the government. In ICT For Development, Rajesh and others discussed how computing technology can be used to link different stakeholders in agriculture extension services.

 

Day 2:
The second day started with a few chapter presentations followed by a report on AID-India HQ and structure. Balaji Sampath reported on the work of AID-India Headquarters in Admin and Treasury session. In the afternoon session on water privatization, Nandlal from Anti Coca-Cola movement in Varanasi, Krishnan from Joint Action Committee on protection of Thamirabarani river and Nityanand Jayaraman from Collective on environmental, social and economic justice linked various aspects of water privatization through the issues of Coca-Cola plant in  Mehndiganj, Gangaikondan and the ongoing Tiruppur privatization and explained impact on life and livelihood of communities. During the AID India planning and vision meeting led by Ravi Kuchimanchi, several action items were brought out and committees were formed to work on the action items.

 

Day 3:
The trips to Koovathur and Vembakkam was a great experience where AIDers met with full timers, children from Eureka schools, watched children use the activities and perform experiments and conducted experiments themselves to learn some science. From feedback received so far, it seems to have been a great success and wonderful finish to the conference.