“The incidents of Kandhamal are a national shame and a complete defacement of humanity”, said Justice A.P. Shah, the head of the Jury for the National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal. Along with Justice Shah, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, there were 11 other prominent citizens of the country in the Jury. The tribunal held on 22-24 August 2010 was organized by the National Solidarity Forum (NST) - a countrywide solidarity platform of concerned citizens and civil society organizations to assist the victims and survivors of the Kandhamal violence 2008 to seek justice, accountability and peace and to restore the victim-survivors’ right to a dignified life.

Madhya Pradesh JESA feeling the need to reorganize and strengthen civil societies, peoples’ organizations and other likeminded movements for people centric advocacy initiatives in the area of livelihood rights of the adivasis organized a two-day training program on “Indigenous People and their entitlement to Constitutional Provisions” from August 28 – 29, 2010 at Pastoral Centre in Jashpur District of Chattisgarh. More than 100 participants from different civil societies and peoples’ organizations attended the training.

Thirty Jesuits and their collaborators from 13 Social centres of Madurai Province along with their Provincial Fr. Devadoss came together for their Annual General Body meeting of JESA on 28-29th August at IDEAS Centre, Madurai. The 2-day discussion focussed on three major issues: a) Challenges before the assembly election in Tamilnadu next year; b) Situation in Sri Lanka and c) Strategies for Madurai Province JESA in the future.

“I am speaking on behalf of all the participants of this Para Legal Training. We are feeling very happy and fortunate to have had a chance to participate in such a training. We feel we could face the world now confidently and help our world to become better!” were the words of Hannaben as she was happily sharing her experience of the training with the audience.

At the initiative of the Madurai Province Task Force for the Humanitarian Aid and Advocacy for Sri Lankan Tamils, Loyola College, Chennai has launched a new website for promoting the Just cause of the Sri Lankan Tamil sisters and brothers. It is yet another attempt of the concerned citizens to keep alive the cause of the battered and wounded Sri Lankan Tamils for a dignified living in their own country.

The 20 Province/Region Coordinators of Social Action and the Directors of Indian Social Institutes and the Central Zone Coordination Centre, Bagaicha will come together along with JESA Secretary for their annual Meeting from August 20 (Evening) to 23 (noon) at the Retreat House, Bandra, Mumbai. Fr. Bertram Rozario, Provincial of Pune, will also participate in this meeting as a representative of JCSA.

National Solidarity Forum (NSF), a forum of around 60 different solidarity networking groups, including South Asian Peoples’ Initiatives (SAPI), ISIs (Delhi and Bangalore) and other Jesuit Social Action groups from Orissa, is organizing a National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal (NPT) from August 22-24, 2010 at the Constitution Club, New Delhi. It will bring together about 250 people including 50 victims from Orissa, experts, media persons, activists, researchers, international observers, legislators and others during the Tribunal proceedings. Fr. Tony S. Raj, who has been very much part of the NSF in Orissa will be bringing a few people to participate in this tribunal.