The recent communal violence in Gujarat has claimed over a thousand lives, and has affected scores of people belonging to all communities and different sections of society. It has also terrorized more than one lakh people into abandoning their homes for ill-equipped refugee camps. Several inmates of these refugee camps have endured extreme physical or sexual violence and other deeply traumatic experiences.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, a group of reputed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) responded to the acute humanitarian crisis. Activists from these NGOs worked to provide immediate relief to the riot victims at considerable personal risk; their efforts were especially valuable as the refugees were initially abandoned by the state machinery. This group of NGOs included established organizations such as BSC, ActionAid, and MARAG. We at the Association for India's Development (AID), in the US, are working closely with these organizations and have been involved in raising funds to support the grassroots relief and rehabilitation measures.

These NGOs have had a long history of service in Gujarat; several of them were among the first to seek out and provide aid to victims of the 2001 earthquake. Confronted by the enormity of the human tragedy wreaked by the recent violence and by continuing governmental indifference, 34 of these NGOs have organized themselves into a coalition called the Citizen's Initiative.

The Citizen's Initiative aims to provide both immediate relief for the riot-affected as well as long-term assistance to help the unfortunate victims rebuild their devastated lives. The initiative also seeks to provide emotional and legal support to the affected people and, when possible, to help rebuild the shattered bridges of trust between communities. The NGOs of the Citizen's Initiative have organized themselves into two main groups to tackle distinct aspects of this enormous task. The first group will be concerned with relief and rehabilitation. The second group will work towards the longer-term objectives of providing psychological support and legal aid.

Relief: In the initial days of violence, NGOs of the Citizen's Initiative were instrumental in providing food and medicines to refugees of both communities in the camps. The Citizen's Initiative continues to provide food assistance to daily labourers driven to the point of starvation by the disruption of their livelihood.

Rehabilitation: Besides losing all their assets and their homes, many of the riot-affected victims have also lost their source of livelihood. The Citizen's Initiative has drawn up a program to facilitate the physical and economic rehabilitation of riot victims in the coming months. The rehabilitation program will begin with a survey of riot victims to identify potential resettlement locations, each family's preferred source of employment and the feasibility of the preferred employment option in the potential resettlement areas. Financial assistance in the range of Rs 10,000-20,000 will be provided to help these families restart their lives. Assistance in tapping government schemes and credit facilities will also be provided. This program, spread over a six-month period, will cater to 10,000 families living in 20 camps in Ahmedabad city. The total project budget for relief and rehabilitation is estimated at Rs 20 crores.

The second group is the Aman Samuday initiative, which will work towards long-term rehabilitation of the riot victims. Some of the objectives of this program are: ensuring the legal rights of the riot victims, providing psychological counseling and support for the traumatized and facilitating access to government entitlements. These objectives will be accomplished through a cadre of young volunteers drawn from all communities. Professional groups comprising counselors, lawyers and psychologists will train the volunteers to help victims in filing cases to ensure access to justice; and in providing psycho-social counseling. Teams of three volunteers will be responsible for around 100 families each. 150 young volunteers from different communities have been trained and are already at work. A training module on psychosocial counseling has been completed by faculty from NIMHANS, Bangalore. Training on the procedural aspects of claiming compensation packages from the government is currently underway. In order to care for the needs of 12,500 riot-affected families in Ahmedabad city, an estimated 500 volunteers are needed, who will each be paid a minimum wage allowance of Rs 2,000-3,000 per month. The total budget for this project for one year is Rs. 5 crore.

Association for India's Development (AID),has been working towards raising funds to support the relief, rehabilitation and bridge-building efforts of the Citizen's Initiative. We appeal to all humanity and Indians in particular from across the US, to aid their beleaguered brothers and sisters by making monetary contributions to the cause.

Please donate generously to the cause. You can send in your checks/DD/MO to Association for India's Development (AID-Boston), PO Box 390884 Cambridge MA 02139. To make credit card donations please call Anand Sivaraman at 617 821 6229 for further information. All donations to AID are tax-deductible in the U.S.A. Our federal tax ID number is 52-1863480. All donations will be used to support the initiatives of Citizen's Initiative and ActionAid. Please send us your email and/or mailing address to which we could send regular updates on the implementation of the relief, rehabilitation and bridge-building initiatives. For more information on AID, please visit http://www.aidboston.org

If you wish to contribute direclty to the NGO's working at the ground level:

TO CONTRIBUTE TO RELIEF AND REHABILITATION WRITE YOUR CHEQUES TO THE CITIZENS INITIATIVE, AT The Citizen's Initiative St. Xavier's Social Service Society St. Xavier's College Campus Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 38009

TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS THE AMAN SAMUDAY PROJECT (LONG TERM REHABILITATION) WRITE YOUR CHEQUES TO ACTIONAID INDIA SOCIETY #71, Uday Park, New Delhi 110049

========================================================= More information about the Citizen's Initiative, and praise for their work in the media can be found on the World Wide Web at the following locations.

1. Frontline article mentioning CI's work in the riot relief camps
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1906/19060160.htm

2. The main page of the janpath citizen's initiative and their earthquake relief programme:
http://www.onlinevolunteers.org/relief/janpath-plan.html

3. Praise for the Citizen's Initiative earthquake relief effort
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1861000/1861423.stm

The Citizen's Initiative is a coalition of the following Non Governmental Organizations:
The NGOs associated with CI is as below:
1. Behavioural Science Centre (BSC);
2. St. Xavier's Social Service Society (XSSS);
3. Centre for Development (CD);
4. MARAG;
5. Abhigam Collective;
6. Action Aid;
7. Saath;
8. ANALA;
9. Ahmedabad Community Foundation;
10. Janvikas;
11. Navsarjan;
12. Darshan;
13. Vishwa Gujarat Samaj;
14. St. Xavier's College;
15. Gurjarvani;
16. Samarth;
17. Eklavya Foundation;
18. Prashant;
19. Unnati;
20. SWATI;
21. INSAF;
22. Vikas Adhyayan Kendra;
23. CEDRA, Nadiad;
24. SEED;
25. Ashadeep, Vidyanagar;
26. Sanchetna;
27. Anandi;
28. Shree Chetna Sangh, Borsad
29. RCTD, Nadiad
30. Diocesan Youth Office, Lotia Bhagol, Anand
31. Jyotir Nilaya, Lotia Bhagol, Anand
32. Jan Chetana Sangh, Matar
33. Manav Garima, Mariampura
34. Shraddha Trust, Karamsad

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