The year started with challenging activities we have undertaken with theGovernment Departments among them the highlighting activities are a two dayState Level Workshop with Social Workers and Legal Counselors appointedunder Women Development and Child Welfare Department, meeting with theSecretaries from Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad Districts of AP Legal ServicesAuthority.

ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN

You can reach us at

Bhumika Women’s CollectiveHIG II, Block No: 8, Flat No: 1, Baghlingampally, Hyderabad – 500044, Tel: 040-27660173

Email: bhumikahyd@yahoo.com / bhumikahyd@gmail.com

Website: www.bhumika.org, http://helpline.bhumika.org

Two days State Level Workshop on Counseling Skills & PWDVAct, 2005 on 21st and 22nd January 2011 with all the LegalCounselors and Social Workers appointed by the WomenDevelopment and Child Welfare Department, A.P. in all thedistricts at Youth Hostel, Secunderabad. The workshop has beenvery educative, informative as there were sessions on counselingskills and about the PWDV Act, 2005. Dr. Kiranmayi, ClinicalPsychologist and Counselor spoke extensively about theimportance of counseling wherein it has been emphasized thatit should not be taken as problem solving mechanism but shouldbe dealt as a tool for self actualization and self realization for the client or victim. Sri. Sitaram Avadhani,Senior Faculty Member, A.P. Judicial Academy interacted with all the participants and explained abouthow the Government thinks of woman. Day II commenced with the talk by Ms. Sucharita of Centre forWorld Solidarity (CWS) shared the study they have undertaken on Domestic Violence all over A.P. Themeeting concluded with the feedback from all the participants who were very satisfied as it was an addon experience for all to meet everyone and to get a first hand information about the issues each andeveryone is facing which are as follows:

• Since 9 months they are not getting salaries, travel allowance, and in some places they do not havehome guards for sending summons.

• In few places they don’t have enough staff as per the norms mentioned in the Act.

• In the Court legal counselors are not given importance by the Magistrates and they don’t have anypower to take any decision.

• Counselors do not have a proper place for counseling.

• Magistrates need to be given training both on the aspects of gender as well as on the Act.

• There should be a common format for all the Magistrateswhile taking up the DV cases.

• More and more awareness needs to be created about theAct.

Suggestions given by Ms. Usha Rani, Director, WomenDevelopment and Child Welfare Department, A.P.

• All the counselors should meet the District Judges fordeveloping a rapport

• Coordination at District levels is very important

everyone has been doing. The Exhibition was inaugurated bySmt. Aruna D.K Minister for Information & Public Relations,Cinematography, A.P. Film, TV & Theatre DevelopmentCorporation along with Sri. T.V Parthasardhi, Commissioner,Information & Public Relations Department, Hyderabad.

Press Meet at Basheerbagh Press Club organized by DeccanDevelopment Society (DDS) on 8th March 2011 on the eve of 100years of International Women’s Day Celebration to introducethe distinguished media community to Kumari Masanagari

News Television (NT) Awards 2011 for which Ms. KondaveetiSatyavati has been one of the Jury member for judging the NTAwards which was based on three criteria: Concept, Journalismand Execution. The awards would be given to those channelswhich show campaigns on social, environment awareness andsocial development campaigns. To reward the best of TelevisionNews produced between the periods 1st January – 31st December2010.

Visit to Sri Vidhya Centre for the Special Children is a nonprofitorganization whose goal is to impart holistic education thatincreases competence and independence to Children with intellectual and related developmentaldisabilities. The prime focus of is to train and equip children with significant and chronic learningdisabilities to become as independent as possible and enable them to integrate into the wider community.It was started by Mrs. Shanthi Venkat in the year 1999, an experienced Special Educator and a group ofparents joined forces to form a special school for children with disorders who require specializededucation programs.

Workshop on Strategies to Address Violence against Women and Girls on 29th March 2011 at St. Anns’Generalate, Secunderabad by Andhra Mahila Samatha Society (APMSS) with an emphasis to work onthe strategies and the focus was on four institutions which are Family, Community, Workplace andState with different categories of analysis like Rules, Practice, People, Resources and Power. The emphasiswas on working on the category of Practice which will help in bringing a change in other categories.

IPAP Partners Meet at Lucknow from 28th – 29th 2011 with all the partners at the national level to sharethe learning’s about the violence pertaining among dalits and marginalized. So all the partners sharedtheir experiences and the session was a good learning experience.

Mayuri a ten year old village kid, a child prodigy, a unique accomplisher who hails from Dalit communityand documented two films namely Dhanwarlo O’ Avva and My Farm – My Classroom which havebeen screened at International Film Festival.

Invitation from Ladies Club, Anantapur on the eve of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2011where Ms. Satyavati has been the Speaker who spoke about the issues pertaining to women and theway Bhumika Women’s Collective has been undertaking the work.

Invitation from Central Crime Station (CCS), Basheerbagh on the eve of International Women’s Daywhere Sri. A.K. Khan, Commissioner of Police have acknowledged all the women police personnel forthe work they have been doing along with the staff from the Support Centre who were felicitated by theCommissioner with momentous.

CONTENTS

Activities

Undertaken

Reach Us

A common representation of all the issues mentioned above needs to be submitted in written to theDepartment both at Regional as well as at National level so that an immediate action can be taken

To conclude an Association has been formed where Bhumika Women’s Collective has been selectedas a State Level Convener and 7 members were selected at regional level as Conveners who wouldcontinuously have a dialogue among each other.

A meeting on the protection of women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace has been organizedon 29th January 2011, at Hotel Akshaya, Himayatnagar, Hyderabad. The speakers were from differentfields who spoke extensively about the Bill and the lacunae’s it has which needs to be inserted in theBill. Around 65 representatives from various fields have made their presence felt by contributingtheir valuable experiences. These are the few recommendations which have been chalked out:

• There should be inclusion of domestic workers / house maids in the Bill

• The section about punishing the victim once she is proved wrong should be removed

• The section about settlement or reconciliation should be removed as it effects her individualityand lessens her dignity

• Women with special needs like physically, mentally,visually challenged, widows, single parents etc., shouldalso be of prime focus and should be clearly stated in theBill

• Emphasis should be on imparting gender sensitizationprograms/trainings to all with a major focus on Police,Judiciary and Administrative departments as peopleapproach to these departments whenever there is any crisis

• A common helpline should be there for women wherein,1091 helpline needs to be strengthened and made tofunction properly

• Under the curriculum the students should be educated about the rights of women and the actsimplemented

• Every organizations should keep a detailed information of the committee members

To conclude a State Level Committee got formed for suggesting uniform recommendations to theState, Policy Makers on behalf of Andhra Pradesh state and Bhumika Women’s Collective has beenselected as the Head unanimously by all the participants with members from the field of NGO, Law,Academics, Media, Writers etc.

Workshop on Social Exclusion was for three days from 24th – 26th February 2011 at ni-msme,Yousufguda where all our partner organizations have participated. The concept of “Social exclusion”in social science literature is of recent origin. Social exclusion is a complex and multidimensionalconcept having social, cultural, political and economic consequences. These dimensions areinterwoven. The relations of social exclusion can be differentiated in several ways. Each day therewere few issues and on the first day it focused on Dalit Issues where Ms. Vizai Bharathi, RetiredDirector, Telugu Academy spoke about the historical perspective of the issue which followed byMs. Gogu Shyamala, Anveshi spoke about the practical aspects pertaining to the issue and the workthey have undertaken on these aspects. Ms. P. Madhavi, Faculty, Kasturba College spoke about

Pilupu shared the work they have been doing for physically challenged and trying to mainstreamthem. Ms. Hema, Head, Tapasya Charitable Trust spoke about the work she has been undertakingwith all the differently abled people. The last day was on the issues pertaining to Muslim womenwhere Ms. Jameela Nishat, Shaheen spoke extensively about the problems Muslim women are facingand how their organization is working on mainstreaming them and empowering them. The workshophas been very educative as it covered lot of issues with women perspective.

Review Meeting was at Hotel Akshaya on March 23rd 2011followed by celebration of 5 years completion of BhumikaHelpline. Few Volunteers, Advocates were felicitated by Smt.Sunitha Laxma Reddy.V, Minister for Indira Kranthi Patham,Pensions, Self Help Groups & Women Development, ChildWelfare & Disabled Welfare, Juvenile Welfare whocongratulated the entire team for their commendable efforts.

an agenda to discuss the issues pertaining to Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (PWDV)Act, 2005 and about Legal Assistance. It was suggested that regular awareness campaigns on legalaid system needs to be done on a large scale, legal literacy camps needs to be organized, legal aidshould be available at nearest place to the victim, registered mediation centres need to be formed ineach district with proper infrastructure.

NETWORKING ACTIVITIES

Inauguration of the solo exhibition called Pink and Beyond at Beyond Coffee, Hyderabad of Ms.Aparna Malladi a Filmmaker who makes women oriented films. She got inspired with ‘Gulabi Gang’,Uttar Pradesh which protects the powerless from those who abuse their power. They retaliate againstviolence of brutal husbands, they crack down on those who abandon their families. They fightcorruption and they force reluctant police officers to register cases for underprivileged people on12th January 2011 at 6:00 pm and the money she gathers from selling out the paintings she donates theamount to the Gang.

Roundtable Discussion organized by the Gender Studies Area, Centre for Human Development,Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) on “Skilling Poor Women for the Informal Sector in India:A New Model” by Prof. M.S. Ramanujam, Sr. Fellow, Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations andHuman Resources, New Delhi on 28th February 2011 where Ms. Satyavathi has been part of thediscussion. Study benchmarked best practices in training women and has suggested a comprehensivetraining strategy to enable women to access decent work through pre-vocational training and posttraining help.

Participation in Dharna at Indira Park on extending solidarity to the Kakaraplli poor people whohave been killed under police firing on 1st March 2011.

Participation in Naveena Mela at Lalita Kala Thoranam on 5th March 2011 on the eve of 5 yearscompletion of Naveena Program by TV9 where 40 NGOs have participated to display the work

Meeting with the Secretaries of A.P. State Legal ServicesAuthority on 26th March 2011 at the office premise of BhumikaWomen’s Collective from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm with Dr. K.Narasimha Rao, Incharge Secretary, Principal Senior Civil JudgeRR District Mr. Bhavani Prasad, Secretary, City Civil Court,Nyaya Seva Sadan, APSLSA Metropolitan Legal ServicesAuthority, Hyderabad and Mr. Chandra Sekhar Prasad, InchargeSecretary, District Legal Services Authority, RR District with

social exclusion under the Human Rights perspective. II daystarted with a topic on tribal issues where Mr. VattamNarayana Dora, State Director, Thudumdebba spoke in detailabout the problems they are facing under the developmentalprojects as many are getting displaced and are migrating todifferent places for their livelihood. Ms. Anasuya, MLA spokeextensively about the exclusion tribal women have beenexperiencing and is struggling for mainstreaming them. Ms.Asha, Yakshi shared her experiences while working with thetribal women. Mr. Kolli Nageswara Rao, Editor, Vikalangula