Evescape

WOMEN as LEADERS for CHANGE Despite comprising more than 50 percent of the population, women continue to lack access to political leadership opportunities and resources at all levels of government. Women’s equal participation in decision-making is not only a demand for simple justice or democracy, but a necessary pre-condition for women’s interests to be taken into account. Governance structures which do not result in the equal participation of men and women, or their equal enjoyment of benefits from state interventions are by definition neither inclusive nor democratic. Recognizing that over the last century women’s gains in the political arena in India has been slow and inadequate & realizing the fact that political parties formulate policy and set governance priorities and are therefore strategically placed to address the concerns of women -- the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sought to make women’s political participation one of its foremost priorities. As AAP fundamentally ...

Eternally grateful to you Adv. Sonak The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them  -- Czeslaw Milosz (The Issa Valley) S ometimes a single meeting can change the course of one's life. For me, my encounter with Adv. Satish Sonak, in the May of 2005, was such a meeting. Some people had come together at Azad Maidan in Panaji to discuss current issues afflicting the State -- from politics to environment to issues of governance and policy decisions. I was a working journalist then and out of curosity slowly slipped into the gathering wanting to know what was in it for me. I heard many of those gathered speak -- sharing their impressions, discussing and debating without end.  Then I saw a man in his 40s. His voice was rather hoarse, but he gave the impression of being completely at ease. At first, I couldn't grasp what he was talking about, but then he made penetrating comments on different topics, from the burning questions of daily life ...

In Goa, AAP is "work in progress"   O n that afternoon of May 22, 2016, some 14,000 people from different walks of life descended on the Campal ground, near Panaji, to hear Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) national convener & Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal (AK) put forward a bold alternative to conventional politics -- his first meeting in Goa ever since AAP Goa unit started in 2012, soon after its launch in the national capital with the promise of a difference -- of ringing in an era of alternative politics. T o recall, AAP was formed on November 26, 2012 to bring honesty and transparency in politics-- stuff people had stopped believing politicians possessed. A key point of AAP's vision said: "Politics itself is not a dirty word - it is our current breed of politicians who have made it dirty. AAP wants to make politics a noble calling once again." This vision helped him put together a formidable crew of non-political people promising a fresh ...