There has been mention in Sulekha Newshopper that AID India is a charity that uses DYFI for its work. DYFI is the youth wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). To look for this, I scanned the AID India website and there was no mention of DYFI anywhere. So for example if you look at the despatch from Chennai you get to read
After the initial shock and chaos, we are now quite well organized to handle the relief efforts. A number of organizations have started working together to handle the relief work – AID, TNSF, Pondicherry Science Forum, Vidyarambam, Pratham and the PHM Organizations. We have formed a quick informal coalition to coordinate this work. As of now the state level coordination is being done from the AID-India office in Gopalapuram Chennai. [Update from Chennai-III]
But then if you look at the cached page from Google, you see that the word DYFI was taken out from the same paragraph.
After the initial shock and chaos, we are now quite well organized to handle the relief efforts. A number of organizations have started working together to handle the relief work – AID, TNSF, Pondicherry Science Forum, DYFI, Vidyarambam, Pratham and the PHM Organizations. We have formed a quick informal coalition to coordinate this work. As of now the state level coordination is being done from the AID-India office in Gopalapuram Chennai.[ Update from Chennai-III (cached version)]
The same editing is seen in the Update from Chennai and its cached version.
Why is AID India removing this DYFI word from all its documents ? Is it because they are no longer working with them or are they trying to remove the Communist link or are they supressing information ? Can anyone from AID India answer ?
From various reports I have been reading they seem to be doing excellent job on the ground and seem to have very little overhead.
Update:
AID India, an organisation I can
As an AID volunteer, I would like to drop a note and say that rest assured AID is not associated with the communist party or any other political parties for that matter. Here’s a response another volunteer wrote, and I fully agree with her:
The scale of the relief efforts after the disaster in Tamilnadu are beyond anything AID has worked with in the past. During the Gujarat earthquake, Orissa cyclone etc. AID entered the scene about about a week later, at which time we vetted every group we were working with. This time around, due to our presence on the ground, some temporary co-ordination has been established with groups that we do not have full confidence in. As we shift towards medium and long-term relief, we will move away from these groups. At the moment, to ensure that relief materials sent in from Chennai and Bangalore reach the affected people, teams on the ground are often making on-the-spot decisions. Not all AID volunteers are comfortable with this, which is why we have removed the information from our public website. We appreciate your concern and feel it tenfold. We will resolve this matter in the next few days.
Manoj, If you look at the reports at indiauncut.blogspot.com you will find that AID India money goes to both DYFI and SFI – both members of the Communist Parivar.
The parent company for DYFI (The viral minority politics party CPI-M) has come out in open for their intentions with Tsunami.
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=62057
CPM spins its own tsunami story on BJP
For rationalist comrades, killer wave is “culmination of legacy of hate”
DIPTOSH MAJUMDAR
Posted online: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 at 0204 hours IST
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 3 : Linking natural disasters to perceived sin appears no longer the preserve of the religious right. Even, CPM, sworn enemies of religious bigots and bigotry, has said in an editorial in its latest issue of People’s Democracy that the tsunami is the “culmination of a legacy of hate and destruction” that was overcome politically this year.
The clumsy, convoluted text:
“The tsunami striking us in the last days of 2004 must be seen not as an ominous signal for the future, but as the culmination of a legacy of hate and destruction that we, the Indian people, unitedly and finally overcame in the political sphere in 2004.”
What does the tsunami have to do with the electoral defeat of the BJP-led NDA? When contacted, CPM general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet reacted with a long pause. “I will go through the piece tomorrow and then comment,”he said.
The paragraph appears in the editorial of the latest issue of People’s Democracy published last Saturday.
The article, entitled “2005 : Meet Challenges
Steadfastly”, grieves the death of the thousands
washed away by the killer waves on December 26 and
pledges support for the government in relief and
rehabilitation.
…
AID Relief Update from Chennai-III
http://www.aidindia.org/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=63
Dear Friends,
BELOW IS A EMAIL FROM AKHILA RAMAN , a Pro Pakistani Kashmiri activist in USA .
http://geocities.com/EnemiesofBharat
_______________________________________
This email proves that AID is hand in glove with communists organizations and also NAXALITES . Beware of FOIL = Federation of Inquilabi Leftists
_____________________
Reporting from Chennai about the Relief efforts on the Tsunami hit
areas.
After the initial shock and chaos, we are now quite well organized to
handle
the relief efforts. A number of organizations have started working
together to handle the relief work – AID, TNSF, Pondicherry Science
Forum,
DYFI, Vidyarambam, Pratham and the PHM Organizations. We have formed a
quick informal coalition to coordinate this work. As of now the state
level
coordination is being done from the AID-India office in Gopalapuram
Chennai.
We are together working on relief efforts in Chennai, Cuddalore and
Pondicherry, Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari.
The relief work is planned in 3 phases:
(1) Immediate Relief – food, clothing, blankets, temporary shelter,
medicines and health camps for emergencies and epidemics
(2) Second Level Relief – Construction of huts and houses and health
needs
(3) Third Level Relief – Livelihood needs for the families affected –
forming cooperatives and providing livelihood support like boats, nets
etc.
Right now all our focus in on the first phase.
In Chennai – we have divided ourselves into 3 teams:
1. Collection and Information Team: This team will handle calls,
receive donations of money, clothes, medicines, blankets and vessels
and
send receipts, give information on the current status of relief work.
This
team will also give out press releases, send out email reports and call
for
further donations based on the needs. This is the team that people
from
outside must contact.
The people to contact:
Name
Phone Number
Bharati/Manohar/Hari (AID office )
044-28350403
Ravishankar (IIT Prof)
94440-84910
Chandra Anil
9382330752,
044-28350403
Smitha Kalyani
98401-73800
Vibha Ravindran
98402-63275
2. Allocation and Distribution: This team will get the needs from
various field locations, sort the materials collected, divide it up for
different locations based on the need and send it to the field
coordinators
for distribution.
3. Field Team: In each area we have a team of volunteers who will
be
coordinating the relief efforts and distribution of materials.
In Chennai we have started the relief work in 5 areas:
1. Pattinampakkam (Foreshore Estate),
2. Tiruvanmiyur ,
3. Olcott Kuppam,
4. Kottivakkam, and
5. Royapuram
In each area we have allocated 2 people to coordinate with the
distribution.
These 2 people are taking down names of people, family survey, needs
survey
and what is being distributed. The idea is that this individual
rapport
that is built will be useful in working with the people over the next
few
months – ensuring rehabilitation and livelihood as well. Every day as
the
collections are being done, the field coordinators will go to the
relief
camps to provide the people with what they need.
This is the plan everywhere – we work with a community, get a rapport
during
the initial relief phase and then work with them on the house
constructions
and livelihood rehab phase.
In Nagapattinam district – which is the worst hit in Tamilnadu – we
have 3
organizations on the field working: Tamilnadu Science Forum,
Vidyarambam
and DYFI. We are also trying to get other orgns and the dist
administration
into a joint coordination effort. Many of our volunteers of who are
from
fishing villages have died and so have many of the children studying in
the
support centers. Ranganathan from Vidyarambam left yesterday from
Chennai
with a van load of clothes and relief materials. Locally DYFI and TNSF
have
collected some materials and started the distribution. We have sent
them
some immediate funds and I will be taking more funds and relief
materials
with me today.
In Cuddalore district – we have TNSF, PSF and DYFI working together. A
cholera epidemic seems to be starting in both Cuddalore and Nagai – we
are
sending out preventive information pamphlets and are also taking
medicines
for the people there. Senthil Babu has gone there yesterday.
In Kanyakumari – MALAR is coordinating the relief efforts. Many of the
villages where they are working have been washed away. We have sent
Rs.
30,000 yesterday and will be sending more.
I am leaving in a truck with Charles, Damu and Jagdish – with the
relief
materials collected here today. Will be leaving from AID office by
about
5:00 pm. I will first go to Pondicherry and then to Cuddalore There we
will
meet with the local TNSF and DYFI and other teams to plan the relief
rehab
work for the next 1-2 weeks. Damu will stay there to continue helping
with
the work there as well as to keeping giving the collection/allocation
teams
in Chennai info about what is going on and what are the current needs.
Then the truck will go to Nagai and meet with the teams there – to plan
out
a joint relief coordination and also plan for the long term rehab work
needed. Charles and Jagdish will stay there for at least a week or ten
days
and work with the teams there – and also send us back information about
what
is happening.
AID Bangalore volunteers have collected funds and a truck load of
relief
materials – they will be coming to Nagai and Cuddalore directly today.
I am sending some of the photos that we took yesterday at the Chennai
relief
camps. You can use these for further collections.
What we need in terms of collections:
1. Money – for buying quick relief materials as well as
for the long term. There are many people contributing and wanting to
contribute. Please collect it from people and send it to the AID
office:
Cheques can be made in the name of AID-India and sent to:
AID-India
Old No 132, New No 242,
Avvai Shanmugam Road
Gopalapuram, Chennai – 600 086
(In the US – collections are being done by AID-US – you can contact
1-888-TALK-2-AID for more details. Vibha is also doing
collections for this.)
2. Clothes – particularly blankets
3. Food – rice, wheat and dal – as grains for cooking and using
over
the next one week.
4. Medicines (antibiotics, ORS, bandages, cotton, etc – basic
first
aid).
5. Doctors – people willing to stay in Nagai and Cuddalore and
treat
people in health camps.
6. Vessels
For the second and third phase we are planning on community groups and
cooperatives that will jointly construct housing and buy boats, etc.
The total immediate relief budget (from my initial estimate) is about
Rs. 20
Lakhs ($40k). This may go up to about Rs. 40 Lakhs ($80k). (This is
what we
need –
ourselves and the other NGOs and community groups that we are working
apart
from what the government is providing.)
The long term relief budget needed is more than a few crores
(almost a million dollar) – but whatever
we can get we can make use of. One boat for 50 people costs about Rs.
1
Lakh ($2500). We will need about 10 boats for each community and will
be
working
with about 100 communities – a total of about Rs. 10 crores (two
million
dollars).
Housing will cost about Rs. 50,000 ($1000). There are more than 50,000
people who need this help. You can calculate the total budget required!
We
will
of course also use the government relief support and try to reach to
the most
needy. But in spite of government funds, there will be a lot of need
for
rehab support that we will need directly as well.
Please use the information above to raise funds and collect the
materials
and to send out appeals. You can also draft short proposals to submit
to
your companies and other groups that may be able to give grants for the
above purposes.
There has so far been a great response from all our volunteers and a
lot of
individuals from everywhere are contacting us with offer for help.
People
from Bangalore, villages in Vembakkam and Banavaram, Colleges in
Chennai
(Stella, Ethiraj, IIT, etc), volunteers in the US, Software
professionals,
people from slums in Chennai, people living in flats, people from
different
NGOs, individuals, etc. But the scale of the problem is so much that
we
will need all the help we can get.
We will keep you updated with the information from the field regularly.
Thanks a lot for all your help. If you need more specific info please
contact:
Name
Email
Phone
Ravishankar
ravia@alumni.cmu.edu
94440-84910,
28350403
Chandra
chanvish@yahoo.com
9382330752,
044-28350403
Smitha Kalyani
smithakalyani
@yahoo.com
98401-73800
Vibha
vibha_ravindran
@rediffmail.com
98402-63275
Kalpana
kalpa@vsnl.com
044-28361033
Balaji Sampath
(Only be
available
in new year)
balaji_sampath
@hotmail.com
94440-61033
Bye,
Balaji Sampath
I am a former AID volunteer. The reason I quit is because of AID’s political affiliations, specifically its links with communist parties. AID volunteer Manoj above is either not being truthful or is ignorant of the ideologies that drive the leaders of his organization (people like Balaji Sampath).
I found that most AID volunteers work primarily at the chapter level and don’t get involved beyond local fund-raising. As such they never find out about the ideological underpinnings of most of the work done by AID in India. The lower level volunteers unwittingly become foot-soldiers in the service of the communists at the helm.
A closer look at all AID projects in the past few years will reveal that most of them are with communist affiliated NGOs. A glance at the speaker list and/or the agenda for any AID conference or event in the US will confirm the communist links.
I found another link documenting AID’s link with Communist organization : http://www.geocities.com/aid_india_info/AID_DOC.html
A Houston weekly also has an article on AID.
AIDing & abetting communists
By Dharam Singh
At the time of this article, over 150,000 people have lost their lives and several million have been rendered homeless in Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Africa by the horrible tsunamis unleashed by the 9.0 earthquake on Dec. 26.
During this time of crisis, there has been an incredible outpouring of sympathy and compassion from the entire world community. People from all religions and nationalities have come forward to help with relief and rehabilitation efforts. Some of these organizations have a well-established record of accountability, credibility and integrity. However, there are some organizations working in the affected areas that have displayed suspicious behavior and whose credibility deserves questioning.
The organization in question is Association for India
Folks,
Read AID’s response
http://www.aidindia.org/AIDRebuttal/
http://www.aidindia.info/
We all are aware of the “work” done by AID. But very few are aware of the work done by organizations such as Ekal Vidyalaya (http://www.ekal.org), which are working hard day and night to eradicate illiteracy from India.
Within last 10-15 years they have set up nearly 15,000 schools and they are educating 500,000 children. Yes, it is half a million children! They plan to expand and have 100,000 schools. I don’t think organizations such as AID and ASHA can even dream of these kinds of numbers.
We all want to make ASHA & AID go away one way or another. However stopping contributions to ASHA & AID is not the only way to do that. To effectively finish them we have to support organizations that are doing real work of educating Bharat.
Check out two videos of Ekal Vidyalaya work. I will upload more soon. Remember to make a line smaller, we have an option to draw a bigger line too 🙂
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/?v=9oSomiwKVC0
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/?v=PYPSEFGLRqI
There are tons of more videos. I will upload them soon too.