Dear friends,
We had a meeting on 16th Feb, saturday at EQuad
Princeton University.

Attendees : M.V.Ramana, Zia Mian, Eligabeth Bernier,
Steven Andrews, John Franklin, Pradyumna Singh, G. M.
Smith, Sriram Muthukumar, Aswini Ramkumar, Graziella
Di Cristo, Didisha Chattopadhyaya, Vikas Sawant,
Rajesh A Elayavalli, Shankar Krishnan, Scott Anderson,
Amardeep Dhanju, Manoj M P, Kedar Swadi, Amit Sahai,
Amrish Garg, Vinay Iyengar, Sumathi Iyengar.

Proceedings:
1. We watched and reviewed the documentary "Buddha
Weeps in Jadugoda". 
2. Discussion with Ms. Varsha Waishampayan. She is one
of the organizers of an indian music-dance program -
'Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani', to be held in West
Windsor North Middle School on May 18th, 2002. Their
group wants to donate the proceedings of their program
to our chapter.(Please see details below). CHAPTER
VOTE NEEDED for -- Instead of having another
fundraiser, shall we make this our main fundraiser ? 
Please send your vote As Soon As Possible (preferably
today).

1. "Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda"; Director-Shri Prakash &
Producer - Kritika :

The video is a comprehensive documentary about the
devastating side-effects of uranium mining and faulty
radioactive waste disposal(in tailing ponds) in
Jadugoda, Jharkhand state(formerly part of Bihar).  A
synopsis of the video, some pictures and brief clips
can be found at
http://www.jca.ax.apc.org/~hiroko/jadugoda/jadugoda.html
. and also at http://www.unaff.org/2000/F-Buddha.htm

The adivasis living in Jadugoda and nearby villages
are suffering from severe health problems. This is
clearly due to the poorly constructed and badly
maintained 'tailing ponds' and improper mining &
transportation of ore & extracted uranium. The health
problems include severely burnt skin in adults and
children because of exposure to radioactive gases,
high incidence of miscarraige, children born with
physical and mental disability, children born with
additional/deficit fingers/toes, infertility among
couples, and several others. They were not told of the
side-effects of mining and waste-disposal, nor are
they being given regular health checkups. The govt.
officials shrug off the health problems there  blaming
it on alcoholism and unhygienic living conditions! The
adivasis have held several public demonstrations to
bring attention to their problem. Several prominent
social workers including Ms. Medha Patkar have visited
the area. The documentary concluded with the words of
an adivasi leader - "Buddha was born in this land.
With children, women and men here suffering like this
and dying premature deaths, the Buddha must indeed be
weeping". 
Dr. M.V. Ramana led a discussion following the
documentary. He answered questions from attendees. The
public outcry in response to adivasi protests and
demonstrations forced the authorities - Uranium
Corporation of India Ltd.(UCIL), to put up proper
fences around tailing ponds, to prevent children from
venturing into them. The latest development has been
the filing of a Public Interest litigation in the
Supreme court of India against UCIL. The state of
affairs in Jadugoda shows how the govt. of India is
treating the adivasi people as less important. Their
lands are snatched away from them and their area is
being poluted with radioactive waste, threatening
their survival itself!
 
2. Discussion with Ms. Varsha Waishampayan:
She came to the meeting to tell us about their
music-dance-program and their will to donate the
proceedings to Asha Princeton. They are a
philanthropic group which wants to use its talent to
raise money to help the needy. The organizers of this
program are Ms. Varsha Waishampayan and Mr. Krishna
Sheshadri. Theirs is a music & dance program that will
concenterate on the theme 'Phir Bhi Dil Hai
Hindustani'.  They have singers, dancers and a
professional band already in place. The dancers are
from the Kathak-dance-troupe of Ms. Padma Khanna, a
hindi actress of yester-years. The program venue has
also been decided.. West Windsor Middle School on May
18th. The date has been blocked there. Still an
advance needs to be given. The seating capacity of the
hall is 900. All the
incurring-expenses(singers/band/dancers/Hall etc) will
not exceed $5,000. 
The organizers have good experience organizing such
programs. The troupe performed in Rutgers University
last year, and also this year on Jan 26th. They were
very successful both the times. The programs have
attracted both indians and non-indians. 
Asha Princeton volunteers present at the meeting
unanimously agreed that it would work best for the
chapter to work with this group to raise funds. In
other words we could make this program our main
fundraiser, instead of having another one with the
Surbahaar-group(Surbahaar will tell us on monday(18th)
whether they can perform for us). Our aim is to raise
as much money as possible. This group has had
successful programs before and they are keen to donate
their proceedings to Asha. If we are able to get 900
people to attend the program, we can raise all the
money we need for this year. 
So shall we make this one our main fundraiser ??
Please let me(sumathivinay@yahoo.com) know. If you
have any concerns please share it with the rest of the
chapter. Would be great if you could send me your vote
by tonight.

Best Wishes,

Sumathi Iyengar