Monday, March 24, 2008

A Day in the Life of Amit Jogi



People often ask me what I do for a living. This is what a typical work day looks like (thanks to SNT):

16th February, 2008
1100: 100th Anniversary of Christian Mela, Matkudeep (70 kms)
1200: Teravi function of Siyaram Kaushik's father, Bilha (30 kms)
1400: Anjor Singh's father's Dasgatr, Dalli Rajhara (70+90 kms)
1700: Dedication of Bajrang Bali temple, Parkhanda (Kurud) (90 kms+40 kms)
2100: Ankit Bagbahra's wedding, Raipur (40 kms)
2130: Prakash Pagaria's son's wedding, Raipur

On this day, for instance, we drove about 400 kms across four districts (Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Dhamtari) to attend 2 weddings and 2 funerals, & 2 public functions where I was required to make speeches. Not surprisingly, by the time we reached Parkhanda, we were already 4 hours late.

Most visits follow a pattern: you are welcomed to shouts of Zindabaad, drum beats and the lighting of fire-crackers, then you walk in a procession to the venue where they seat you on a stage, about 40-50 people- the notables of the village- garland you as people come to you with applications and other sorts of requests, then the speeches begin ending with yours, following which the organizers present you with a shawl or some such memento. After that- if you've still got time- you might be taken to the organizer's home for tea, snacks and a photo-session with his family and followers. This pattern, I believe, has endured unchanged from the days of Mahatma Gandhi, India's first mass-politician (if not before!).

The stage, for me, presents a dilemma: on the one hand, it does increase your visibility (i.e., even the back-standers can see you) but the flip-side is that it creates a 'distance' between the people seated on the ground and those atop the stage. That is why I make it a point to go through the crowd where it is at its thickest- shaking as many hands as I can while chatting with them randomly (specially the youth and children)- on my way to and from the stage. More than anything else, this last aspect tells me what I need to really know: to share in the lives- the joys and sufferings- of the people who've given my family so much love.

This clip above shows pictures of my visit to Parkhanda.


AJ



Sunday, March 23, 2008

SNT's Holi Milan: I Dance!



SNT threw one helluva Holi party last evening. Anuj got his friend, Vivek Tank, the national award winning flutist, to perform for us; Amit Tiwari organized bhajias and thandai; and VN flew in some excellent kebabs from a joint in Mumbai. Needless to say, the occasion called for a certain amount of joie de vivre: in this clip, the youthful Dr. Farishta (Saibel's father) persuades me to dance.

Readers will note that despite my best efforts, I am no Travolta.

AJ

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Happy Holi from the King of Buffoons!

(l-r, Asif Memon, Yogesh Tiwari, Amit Jogi, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Anuj Sharma, Milind as Vedanti)

The Youth Congress invited me to attend their annual Holi Milan party. I accepted, blissfully unaware that they had decided to crown me the King of Buffoons in a very farcical public ceremony! Needless to say, the Crown (and the garland of vegetables that came with it) was well deserved.



Happy Holi!

AJ

[Photo courtesy: Navbharat, Raipur]

Kanha Escapade



After an exhaustive non-stop tour that began on the 16th of December last year, I decided that it was finally time for some rest. Consequently on the 25th of February, SNT, VN, Anuj and I sneaked off to the Kanha National Park: we spent one very happy day (and night) in the wilderness before a phone call rudely interrupted our brief idyll. These are some pictures of that time.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

SHOWCASE: Sketches from my Jail Diary (2005-07)

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Comeback: केशकाल में दुकाल

One of the posts I had published on this Blog last month was stolen: in total disregard of my request not to reprint it without taking my prior consent, Sunil Maheshwari, the editor a local Raipur-based eveninger, printed it on the front page of the “Daily Chhattisgarh” under the headline “Amit ne Internet pe virodhiyon ke saath hisaab chukta kiya” (Amit settles scores with opponents on Internet). Thereafter, it was free for all: other newspapers- including three columnists and at least one cartoonist- were quick to follow in Mr. Maheshwari’s footsteps; there was even some talk of my so-called ‘opponents’ posting their own counter-reply on the Internet (this, however, is yet to materialize).

His explanation, given to a mutual friend, was that “you can’t put posters all over town and expect people not to talk about it” makes some sense: the internet, after all, is public domain; nothing on it is, technically speaking, private. Intellectual Property Rights, in praxis, don’t account for much, I guess, especially in a world inhabited by the likes of Mr. Maheshwari. My grudge, if one can call it that, was not that the post was published; but with who published it, and the somewhat myopic perspective given to that publication. Surely, a writer ought to have control over that much at least.

In any case, I think removing the post from the Blog wasn’t right: it has, I believe, sent the wrong message; that writers can be hounded into submission by a self-proclaimed dictatorship of pseudo-intellectuals, or that intra-party democracy is dead in the Congress party. Neither of these assumptions is true.

Consequently, “केशकाल में दुकाल ” makes its comeback on ½ Freedoms! I am sorry it was removed in the first place.

AJ
Read More (आगे और पढ़ें)......

Friday, March 07, 2008

Amending the Indian Youth Congress Constitution

NOTE: You can also comment on this here, on the IYC blog.

I have spent the better part of the past two months redrafting the Constitution of the Indian Youth Congress. It has not been changed (or for that matter- read) since it was first adopted in 1983: consequently, the late Smt. Indira Gandhi continues to be lifetime chairperson of its penultimate Central Advisory Board. Some of the provisions suggested, like having two-yearly elections to fill organizational posts, have never been put into actual practice. More than a quarter of a century since its adoption, the overall feeling one gets from reading the document, therefore, is that it belongs to another age; and is hardly suited to the needs of our own time.

In all, I have proposed more than 27 major and several minor amendments. Suggestions I had proposed in an earlier presentation (Blueprint for Building a New IYC) have also been incorporated. Below is a brief 15-point Synopsis of the Amendments:

1. Membership rules have been changed to incorporate one common Form (as opposed to three for becoming primary and active members and for renewal of membership) to be filled annually by members; performance-determined levels of membership have been assigned; and strategies have been proposed for substantially enhancing the number of women members. (Art. VIII)

2. Form A has been made digitally readable and includes blood group-type information and an eye-donation form. This will transform IYC into India's biggest blood bank and eye-donor agency.

3. Schedule One contains the algorithm that the digital-reader would follow for determining membership-level based on information supplied in Form A. (Art. IX)

4. To increase organizational-penetration at the grassroots level, two new primary units have been introduced: booth-level Rajiv Gandhi Shakti Kendras (RGSKs) and panchayat-level SHGs called Indira Gandhi Svasahayata Samitis (IGSSs). (Art. XI A and B)

5. RGSKs are purely political bodies dealing with booth-management during elections.

6. IGSSs are self-sustaining, income generating, socio-economic units ultimately aimed at creating what could possibly be the largest multifaceted NGO in the country: personally I can think of no better way to counter Ekal vidyalayas, Vanvasi kalyan ashrams and other such RSS outfits that have infiltrated the rural belt of India. They combine a distinct social welfare agenda with innovative income-generating asset-creating techniques within the political framework of the YC.

7. IGSSs are governed by a separate subsidiary constitution provided in Schedule Two.

8. Both the RGSK and IGSS networks will be sort of a proto-cadre of the Congress.

9. A formula has been worked out for the number of elected and nominated posts in IYC, PYC, DYC and BYC executive committees; precise rules for work allocation have been framed; specific tasks assigned; monitoring and feedback mechanisms are in place; and guidelines for setting up departments and their functions have also been specified. (Arts. XI C, XII, XIII, XVI, XIX)

10. The election process itself has been overhauled completely: a CEC (Central Election Committee) has been created as an autonomous body; precise schedules, guidelines, and modus operandi have been laid down; executive committees are proposed to be dissolved to prevent any overriding interference/tweaking with the election process; the block level elections would be direct; executive committee members thus chosen would elect the DYC executive, who will in turn elect the PYC. All elected executive committee members- Block, District and Pradesh- would then be delegates at a national convention where the national committee would be elected. (Art. XVIII)

11. Differential Criteria has been fixed for who can vote and contest- based primarily on their involvement with the organization (to eliminate the possibility of candidates making members only for the purpose of getting themselves elected while also ensuring that performance- merit- gets rewarded). (Art. VIII, IX)

12. Dates- and time- have been specified for simultaneous nationwide meetings of executive committees; & block, district, state and national-level conventions; agendas- and formats of minutes- have been set.

13. A permanent training facility (Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Prashikshan Kendra)- and a monthly magazine- have been incorporated in Schedule Three of the constitution.

14. A comprehensive Budget has been proposed: new sources of revenue have been created; collection points identified; and precise function-based distribution of revenues done. (Art. X)

15. A definitive target-oriented socio-political agenda has been incorporated into Art. III (Functions) based on additional institutions and functions that have been inbuilt into the constitution.

Below I reproduce the text of the 1983 document; followed by my comment, and the proposed Amendment. Your suggestions are, as always, welcome, particularly with respect to Art. II dealing with the OBJECT (AIM) of the IYC.

Amit Aishwarya Jogi
Read More (आगे और पढ़ें)......

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CONTACT ME. मुझसे संपर्क करें

Amit Aishwarya Jogi
Anugrah, Civil Lines
Raipur- 492001
Chhattisgarh, INDIA
Telephone/ Fascimile: +91 771 4068703
Mobile: +91 942420 2648 (AMIT)
email: amitaishwaryajogi@gmail.com
Skype: jogi.amit
Yahoo!: amitjogi2001