HRW Committee 2009

Dr Milind Vaidya
Prof Jyotika Ozarkar
Prof Ritika Sachdev
Dr Suhasini Asokan
Dr Charanjeet Kaur
Prof Sonia Varandani
Dr Sheela Ahuja
Prof Nitin Arekar
Prof Aarti Pasarkar
Prof Meena Menghrajani
Prof Ruby Kuriakose
Dr Deepa Mishra
Prof Prashant Kelkar
Prof Vijay Umrani
Prof Pradeep Gangurde
Prof Neelam Parab

“ ‘Freedom from Fear’ could be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights”

(Dag Hammarskjöld)

Sixty years and more since the UN Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), the concept of freedom has been increasingly strengthened and there is greater awareness around the world that people have fundamental rights and that those rights are enshrined in law both domestically and internationally (Tom Malinowsky).

CHM College initiated the commemoration of Human Rights Day on 10 December 2007 with a weeklong Programme, “Pathways to Empowerment” which came as a follow up to the International Conference on “Empowerment of Women through Adult Education” which sought to highlight the importance of empowering women to take up a more active role in social and political spheres. In 2008, the euphoria created by the election of Mr Barrack Obama as the first coloured President of the US resounded in the bristling panel discussion and competitions on the theme of social and political equality during our second HRW.

With a galaxy of dignitaries – Ms Annericke Owen of the American Consulate, Ms Elizabeth Kauffmann, Director, ARIC, Ms Lynne Gadkowski, Deputy Director, AIRC, Ms Usha Sunil, Director, American Library, the association of the AIRC with our HRW was strongly established and continues to this day. Among the eminent intellectuals that have graced the HRW in the past two years are Dr Larry Diamond, Professor of Political Science, Hoover Institute, US, Ms Beth Bronson, Political Analyst and Special Economics Advisor, AIRC, and Mr Gaurav Bansal. The contribution of Mr M Janardhanan, Programme Advisor and Ms Tejaswini Karadkar, Reference Librarian, has been invaluable in strengthening this partnership.

This year (2009) the theme of the HRW was “Victories of Peace” and it has been dedicated to the publication of Hind Swaraj, the seminal book on Gandhian philosophy which completed 100 years of its publication. At the Inaugural ceremony on the 10th, a leading authority on Gandhian Ideology and Hind Swaraj, Prof Douglas Allen of the University of Maine, US, and his peace activist wife, Ms Izle Patersons spoke at length on the role of Gandhiji in the context of human rights. Dr Ivan Reid, Professor Emeritus (Sociology) at Bradford and Stanford University addressed the gathering on the co-relation between education and human rights. The Keynote address of Prof Douglas Allen on Hind Swaraj and Human Rights set the appropriate intellectual tone for the Week that was to follow. At the valedictory Function on 17 December 2009, Prof John E Parkerson (Jr), Director, International Exchange Programmes and Dr Augustine Ayuk, Department of Political Science, both of Clayton State University, US emphasised the role of working towards human rights realisation at the grassroots level and focussed upon the eradication of poverty, healthcare and the right to education and career opportunities in the fulfillment of the project of human rights.

The programmes at the HRW every year offer a broad spectrum of activities which include panel discussions, debates, essay competitions, elocution competitions, film shows on Gandhiji and social issues, documentary film competitions on social issues, anemia drive in association with the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, psychological assessment and counseling, poster competitions and the like. A major highlight of the HRW is “Envisage” the Posters Exhibition that is put up by the students of the Mass Media for the HRW and which has being growing strong for the past three years.

The programmes of the HRW are coordinated by the UGC sponsored Women’s Studies Centre of the College in collaboration with the Gandhian Studies Centre. The Departments of English, Mass Media, Political Science, Psychology, Science Association, the Women’s Development Cell, NSS have been at the forefront in the organization of the annual HRW.

Apart from the AIRC, the active partner of the HRW of the college has been the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, which is been actively associated with all our Community Outreach programmes. The contribution of Dr Gopal Zinde and Dr S Relwani, Medical officers in this direction deserve special mention.

We invite all students to involve themselves even more actively in the HRW in the coming years. At the valedictory of HRW 209, Prof John E Parkerson declared the theme for HRW 2010 as “Prevention of Female Foeticide”. So let’s start with the process of sensitising the youth to the burning issue and reinforce the idea of “Save the girl Child.”

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high...
Into that heaven of freedom, my Lord, let my country awake”
( Rabindranath Tagore)