Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Resolution: Fixing Date, Time and Venue of AWAZ Meetings


Protest Dharna regarding RTE


REALISING THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION

Article 21-A of the Constitution ordains the state to provide free and compulsory elementary education. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 is a step ahead in this direction.

The right guaranteed in the Act specifying amenities, teacher-pupil ratio and other qualitative provisions, is not a mere empty right to enrolment, but a substantive entitlement to meaningful, quality education.

Yet, government expenditure on education in our country is a pittance and the state of elementary education is in a mess, defeating the essence of this right. Further, the government’s discriminatory policy of huge disparities between governmental spending on central schools and other schools is violative of the Right to Equality.

Private schools on the other hand enjoy a free hand in extorting money from parents of school-children in most of the states.

All India Parents Association (AIPA) in association with Social Jurist, a civil rights Group led by legal activist Adv. Ashok Agarwal, has given a call to hold a PROTEST DHARNA on Sunday, 9th October, 2011 from 10 AM to 1 PM at RAJGHAT, NEW DELHI demanding:

(i)Upgradation of all government schools all over the country to the level of Central Schools;
(ii)Enactment of central law to regulate fees in unaided private schools.

We appeal to the conscience of everyone for participating in this protest and assuming an active role in the crucial, historic and morally compelling struggle for RIGHT TO EDUCATION.
  
Mr. Ashok Agarwal: juristashok@gmail.com; Nisha: nisha31389@gmail.com

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Answer scripts accessible through RTI


The horizons and meanings of transparency in the system are widening. In the much awaited and land-mark judgement of Central Board of Secondary Education & anr v Aditya Bandhopadhyay & ors dated August 9, 2011, the Supreme Court of India has upheld the Calcutta High Court verdict and ruled that evaluated answer-scripts are covered under ‘information’ under Section 2(f) of the RTI Act and not exempted under Section 8(1)(e) of the Act. The result is that you can now inspect your evaluated answer-scripts and/or seek a certified copy of the same by filing an RTI application. But remember, accessing another candidate/examinee’s answers-script by an RTI applicant would be subject to the concerned candidate/examinee’s consent, by operation of Section 11 of the RTI Act. So go ahead and make use of this valuable right!!

University of Delhi students can address their RTI applications concerning DU to the PIO, University of Delhi, New Administrative Building, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007. Applications may either be sent by speed-post along with an Indian Postal Order (available at all post-offices) of Rs.10 value enclosed therewith; or hand-delivered at the New Administrative Building near Dean Student Welfare’s office, along with the RTI fee of Rs.10. The RTI application should contain “application under RTI Act 2005” as Subject, the information sought along with the necessary particulars such as name of the examinee, exam roll number etc in case of accessing answer-script and should be signed by the applicant. The application may be printed/typed or hand-written in Hindi or English.  You need not file separate RTIs for separate papers; you can easily seek more than one answer-scripts through a single RTI. A printing cost of Rs.2 per page would be chargeable for each page in excess of five.

REMEMBER TO FILE YOUR RTI TO ACCESS ANSWER-SCRIPTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, AS THE UNIVERSITY AS PER RULES DESTROYS THE RECORDS/ANSWER-SCRIPTS AFTER A CERTAIN TIME.

AWAZ...


...is a University of Delhi based youth collective working towards greater efficiency and transparency in public life through the medium of the Right to Information Act, 2005. AWAZ is not an NGO, is not affiliated to any college and/or institute, government and/or corporate body or students’ union and/or organisation and is premised purely on the input – monetary and creative – of its members. AWAZ was constituted in 2006 and has been endeavouring since then both to make our public institutions more accountable to the everyday citizen as well as to make citizens more aware of their rights and public institutions of their duties vis-à-vis the RTI.

For the current academic session 2011-12,
AWAZ
invites members of the student community
– regardless of their institutional affiliations –
to become part of it.

Interested persons are welcome to
join us
on
Thursday, the 1st of September
in
Law Faculty lawns (in front of Campus Law Centre Building)
from
1:45 P.M to 2:45 P.M.

For more details, mail to awaz.du@gmail.com
Or call: NISHA: 9911738450; ANUBHAV: 9999105003      


                                                                                                                          

Sunday, April 10, 2011

AWAZ Constitution

AWAZ Constitution


1. Name
This organization shall be called as "AWAZ".

2. "AWAZ"- Aims & Objectives
"AWAZ" is a Delhi University based students' initiative trying to ensure just, transparent and accountable administration in the university. "AWAZ"

§ Is not an NGO.
§ Is a student's movement for reinforcement of democratic values.
§ Stands and strives for strengthening of practices and systems which encourage participatory democracy including transparency and accountability.
§ Does not accept any project based funds from any donor organizations.
§ Runs on time, money and ideas contributed by the students.
§ Meets its financial liabilities through contributions made primarily by students.

3. Membership
There shall be three levels of membership. They are: -
i. Executive Member.
ii. Primary/Basic Member.
iii. Associate Member.

i. Executive member
a. First executive members shall be the
founder members of AWAZ.
b. The executive members shall appoint another set of
executive members by majority decision at the end of every academic year i.e., each new executive member shall be appointed by the majority vote of the existing Executive members.
c. Only the outgoing executive members shall have right to vote.
d. Any person who aspires to participate in any election process
shall not be eligible for executive membership.
e. The eligibility for executive membership is being a Basic member for a period of 6 months (1 semester).

ii. Basic member
a. Any one who shows allegiance to the aims and objectives of AWAZ and is also ready to commit and endeavour for the achievement of those aims and objectives shall be competent to become a Basic member.

iii. Associate member
a.    Whosoever is supporting the cause in any way whatsoever shall be eligible.

4. Structure
a.    There shall be one convener and one co-convener among executive members.
b.   There shall be one treasurer who shall be in charge of funds of AWAZ.
c.   Convener and co-convener shall be elected by the executive
members through majority voting.
d.   Treasurer shall be elected through majority voting by executive as well as Basic members.
Explanation:-
ØConvener should be a student of final year.
ØThere can be a joint co-convenership by two executive
members if the Executive members by simple majority deem fit.

5. Meetings
a. At least two meetings shall be conducted per semester. Nothing in the above article should stop the competent person/persons to call any emergency or informal meeting.
b. Any meeting convened shall proceed with the agenda only if at least half of the executive members are present.
c. Notwithstanding whether these entire executives are present or not any
decision or decisions in the meeting shall be taken in accordance with the
majority opinion of the executives.
d. Any decision taken in any such meeting shall be required to be formally
accepted by the majority of the Basic members in a meeting of Basic members convened separately.
e. It shall be mandatory for the convener to conduct an issue based contingency meeting if three or more executive members so desire.
f. It shall be the duty of the convener or co-convener to ensure proper
notification of any meetings of AWAZ, at least two days before the meeting.

6. Powers and Duties

1.   Convener:
a. He/She shall be the chief spokesperson of 'AWAZ'.
b. He/She or in his absence the co-convener shall be responsible for maintaining the decorum of meetings conducted by AWAZ members.
c. He/She shall be the in charge of displaying the decisions taken in the meeting on notice board so that the members shall know about the proceedings of AWAZ. All the notices shall be signed by the convener.
d. Convener or on his/her behalf any executive member alone shall have the power to display any notice or any printed material in the name of AWAZ. Any such notice should bear the signature of the convener or the co-convener, with the approval of convener.
e. He/She shall coordinate with other members and bring out the AWAZ magazine every year.
f. Convener shall have the right to invite anyone interested in the meeting of AWAZ.

2.  Treasurer:
a. It shall be the duty of the treasurer to maintain detailed accounts of the expenditure incurred by AWAZ and to disclose the status of funds every three months to ensure transparency.

3.   Members:
a.   All members shall be guided by the aims and objectives of the organization.
b. No executive or primary/basic members shall participate in any political activity within his/her educational institution.
c. In case of such participation he/she shall lose his/her executive or primary membership, and shall cease to be a member of AWAZ and AWAZ will not be responsible for any of his/her claim or act.
d. The members may observe the surroundings and raise the relevant issues in the meetings and should also come up with the solutions. If the solution is accepted as it is or with some alteration, the member who made the proposal should be ready to lead the implementation process.
e. It shall be the moral duty of each member whether executive/basic/associate to create awareness about Right to Information.
f. All the members shall undertake such RTI projects allotted to them and approach actively to the projects.
g. The executive members shall have the power to amend the AWAZ constitution with the 2/3rd majority vote.
h. All members shall coordinate and help the executive members in bringing out the AWAZ annual magazine.

7. Miscellaneous
a. Every executive, basic and associate member shall contribute Rs. 250, 50 and 10 respectively towards the AWAZ fund.
b.  There shall be six executive and ten basic members and their names shall be published in the AWAZ magazine every year. Basic members can exceed ten to accommodate the interested first year students at the beginning of each academic year.
c. Any member can be impeached by 2/3rd majority of total executive members on ground of breach of duty or incapacity. It shall be the duty of the convener and responsibility of the other executive members to disqualify any member who takes part in any election process.
d. All executive and basic members should read and imbibe the constitution
of AWAZ, shall know the duties they are bound by and should constantly
endeavour to meet those obligations.
e. Definitions
i.   The expression "participation" in any election process/political activity, for all purposes, means participation as a candidate for any post and not any other involvement.
ii.   The expression "incapacity" means consistent failure to be present at meetings without any reasonable explanation or incompetency to handle the assigned projects.