The July 2013 himalayan flood in the state of Uttarakhand killed estimated 10,000 people and thousand of people lost their lives. Please visit our Uttarakhand reporting page for latest updates.

http://www.aidjhu.org/uttarakhand_floods

As several cases of violence against women in India are increasingly highlighted in the world media efforts are also on increase to stop it. AID has been in forefront of women empowerment and rescue from several years. AID has consciously supported projects where women are at the forefront or equally benefited from the efforts.
AID JHU has supported Short Stay Shelter for female survivors of violence in Rajasthan with AID Partner Tara Ahluwalia of Bal Evam Mahila Chetna Samiti (Child and Women Welfare Committee). This shelter will give temporary relief to women rescued from sex trafficking, rape cases and sexual assaults. Tara Ahluwalia also provides legal assistance to the survivors. Violence against women in India come in several forms and cases are related to such as Dowry, Female Infanticide, Child Marriage, Rape, Sexual Assaults, Trafficking, Witch Hunting, Nata Pratha (Divorce settlements) and Prostitution. 

Over 700 women were killed across India in 2007 after being declared a witch. Tara Ahluwalia’s work against witch hunting led to anti Witch Hunting Act in Rajasthan State Assembly called ‘Dayan Virodhi Act’. A case study of Chandi Kumhar (2001).

Sex determination test of fetus is banned in all clinics in India to curb the rate of female Infanticide. Several doctors had been caught secretly providing sex of the fetus by Tara Ahluwalia sting operations.
Few of the statistics are

• 3 women are killed publicly in Bhilwara every year.
• 4 cases of witch hunting every month. 
• 62 cases of witch hunting registered by Taraji.
• Assistance in 370 cases in the last 2 years.

Often times tribal people are wrongly associated with the reason for deforestation in India. So here is a project which is restoring the forest via tribal initiatives in remote Melghat region.

Melghat is one of the home to the last remaining Tigers in India and known for it's malnutrition related deaths over years.

Nearly 190 hectares of forest land now is maintained by village Panchayat of Paivihir according to the Forest Rights Act of India.

After two years of efforts the villagers of Paivihir will be planting and sustaining 50,000 trees in the Paivihir Eco Village.

Thanks to the initial success, government of India has awarded AID partner KHOJ $1,25,000 for biogas connectivity to two villages in the area. This will help the village to become energy self sufficient. We have also provided a projector to spread the message about this project in the surrounding region.

Khoj is consulting Srinivasan C, an expert resource person in afforestation, for this effort in the Melghat region. 

Talk by Harsh Mander at Association for India's Development at Johns Hopkins University.

Date: Oct 26, 2013 7 pm to 9 pm