Centre for Equity Studies:

A Report to the Indian People

Certain publications such as Organizer, the Legal Research Organization and Op-India have been publishing incorrect and misleading articles  about the Centre for Equity Studies (CES), which are being amplified in the social media by hostile trolls. The articles charge CES variously with promoting religious conversions; undertaking no humanitarian work;  funding the anti-CAA protests, and a range of  described variously as Hinduphobic, Jihadi,  Naxal, and anti-national.

To put the matters in their correct perspective and to allay misinformation and unwarranted defamation the CES is issuing the following factual statement for public information.

The Centre for Equity Studies was established in 2001 with the objective of attempting to influence public policy and law in favour of people sufferingthe greatest disadvantage. CES is driven by the belief in the inherent and intrinsic equal worth of every human being; and seeks to enquire into the nature and causes of social and economic injustice and inequity and to collectively, through research and action projects, find methods of moving towards a more equitable, just and humane world. Its founding members included  Ghanshyam Shah, Jean Dreze, Usha Ramanathan, Shekhar Singh, and Harsh Mander.

Its present chairperson is Justice AP Shah, its Secretary Sejal Dand, its Treasurer Niranjan Pant, its Director is Harsh Mander, and its Board members are  Zoya Hasan, Keshav Desiraju,  Bezwada Wilson, Dipa Sinha, Amitabh Behar, Radhika Alkazi, Sajjad Hassan, Loitongbam Babloo Singh and Harsh Mander.

The first Distinguished Fellow of CES is Dr Neera Chandoke.

Through the implementation of a wide range of research and advocacy projects, alongside the operation of homeless shelters, health and recovery clinics, the Centre for Equity Studies aims to analyse, inform and alter public policy and law for sustainable and humane long term solutions toward the rights and care of underprivileged and dispossessed sections of society.

CES’s flagship project is the India Exclusion Report (IXR), an annual publication that examines access to public goods and the exclusion of vulnerable groups. Because of valuable expert contributors from the fields of social sciences, human rights, public policy, social and economic exclusion and citizen-centric budget analysis, the report has contributed to a wider understanding of inclusion and exclusion from public goods and the marginalisation faced by the most vulnerable social groups in India. The sixth edition of Report is due for release shortly.

Along with the India Exclusion Report and an important annual report on implementation of the right to information, and another significant report on the condition of minorities in South Asiam and a range of policy research and advocacy central to the mandate of CES, it undertakes signficant humanitarian interventions with the most marginalized, in a spirit of solidarity and establishing policy models. In the current year, for instance, two-thirds of our budget is devoted to humanitarian work. This has been for extensive Covid relief work comprising feeding programs, transport for migrants and Covid clinics, and on-going work for the health care and shelters of urban homeless people . A third  of the budget is on the IXR and other reports, and on research and communication about the lives, struggles and rights of informal workers, religious and caste minorities, and gender rights.

The work with the urban homeless has always been close to our hearts and lies at the core of CES’s work at the crossroads of humanitarian and policy concerns. From developing a national model for the protection and education of street children, the development of a working model of best practice for urban homeless shelters, the model of street medicine reaching out to the ones in needs in the city streets, and the scanning and recovery shelters for tuberculosis, CES has done what is acknowledged as pioneering work nationally for making visible and enhancing the rights of one of the most marginalised sections of our population.

The CES team, as stated, rose to respond to the intense humanitarian crisis unleashed by the nationwide lockdown responding to Covid-19. We were on the streets with our solidarity feeding programs from the second day. From this solidarity feeding that served nearly 10 million meals across the country to those most critically battling hunger during the lockdown, to the arrangement of safe travel by bus to their homes, we reached out to as many as we could around the country among those who were most desperately stranded, hungry and abandoned.

A small research unit has been dedicated to carefully interrogating the role of the State in securing equitable access to public goods to all peoples, and to combat exclusion, injustice, exploitation, poverty,vulnerability and deprivation. Apart from qualitative and quantitative research unpacking the layers of exclusion, it also focuses on disseminating the same through public discussions, reports or articles. It anchors the India Exclusion Report.

CES also helps bring out an important annual report based on emperical field assessment of the implementation of the Right to Information Act. Again this report is widely recognized as a one of a kind initiative that attempts to keep a close people’s vigil on the implementation of the crucial and empowering RTI Act.

CES is also associated with the research and publication of a significant report on the conditions of minorities in South Asia, recognizing and documenting the conditions of minorities – religious as well as caste, ethnic, linguistic and sexual. across South Asia.

CES has authored many important books. These include On Their Watch: Mass Violence and State Apathy in India published by Three Essays Collective (which documents how justice was withheld in 4 major communal massacres, in Nellie 1983, Delhi 1984, Bhagalpur 1989 and Gujarat 2002)[1]; Splintered Justice: Living the Horror of Mass Communal Violence in Bhagalpur and Gujarat by Three Essays Collective (again about the conditions of survivors of Bhagalpur 1989 and Gujarat 2002)[2]; Living Apart: Communal Violence and Forced Displacement in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli published by Yoda Press (written on the basis of field investigations into the refugee camps after the Muzaffarnagar violence recounting the horrors of neighbours turning hostile)[3]; and Unequal Life Chances: Equity and the Demographic Transition in India published by Sage Publications (it describes the gaping inequalities in our society, for which the youth in this country encounter gross disparities in their life chances and in their opportunities to realise their fullest potential)[4].

CES has also organized a number of important public discussions in 3 series. The first is the Policy and Equity Debate series, which included discussions on agrarian crisis, chronic joblessness, changes in Labour Codes, an ethical refugee policy, higher education and equity, and so on. The second was Conversations with the Margins, including discussions withconstruction workers, circular migrants on the move, the homeless and life in the streets, sex workers, domestic workers during pandemic, and so on. The third is the Pandemic and Equity Discussion series that so far have addressed the question of hunger, public health, stifling of democratic voices, the broken economy and the way ahead.

A more detailed report is attached in Appendix1

Appendix 1

Detailed Report

  1. WORKING with the URBAN HOMELESS:

[1]     Yadav, A. (2016). On Their Watch: Mass Violence and State Apathy in India by Surabhi Chopra and Prita Jha, eds. Three Essays Collective

[2]     Farasat, W., & Jha, P. (2016). Splintered Justice: Living the Horror of Mass Communal Violence in Bhagalpur and Gujarat. Three Essays Collective.

[3]     Mander, H., Chaudhury, A. A., Eqbal, Z., & Bose, R. (2016). Living Apart: Communal Violence and Forced Displacement in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. Yoda Press.

[4]     Mander, H., Bhattacharya, A., Mishra, V., Singla, A., & Siddiqi, U. J. (2019). Unequal Life Chances: Equity and the Demographic Transition in India. Sage Publications Pvt. Limited.

CES has done pioneering work on a national scale for the rights and care of urban homeless people, a highly deprived population which remained virtually invisible to policy makers for the first half-century of the republic.

  1. CES advocated and demonstrated that the surest way to ensure both protection and education as a right to homeless street children is to open government schools in cities to street children to live in its safe spaces 24×7; and to be bridged to eventually join the same school during the day. By demonstrating that this is feasible with model building, CES was able to get this radical idea included as part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan 2006, India is the only country in the world, as a result, which has a public program to redeploy public schools as open, non-custodial residential schools for homeless street children.
  2. CES undertook the first Planning Commission study about the conditions of the urban homeless in four cities in 2007. It followed this up with a number of other path breaking studies, including on homeless deaths, homeless health, homeless access to food, homeless people and religious food charities, and homeless vulnerability to TB, among others.
  3. It was interventions of CES in the Supreme Court in 2010, along with the suo-moto rulings of the Delhi High Court, which paved the way for path breaking directions of the Supreme Court and High Court to build enough numbers of well-serviced homeless shelters as an extension of their right to life. CES developed a manual for model homeless shelters, and this was accepted by the Supreme Court. This resulted also in a large national scheme for homeless shelters being included in the National Urban Livelihood Mission by Govt of India for the first time. At least 1000 homeless shelters have been created around the country as the direct outcome of this intervention across India. CES has facilitated for the Delhi government a monitoring and audit report on night shelters in Delhi in 2017.
  4. CES also initiated a model of street medicine, of medical teams walking the streets at night to reach homeless people in need of health services, and providing these on the streets. Today CES runs street medicine programs in four cities – Delhi, Patna, Jaipur and Hyderabad – and this is considered a global model. Over 3 and half years, this has helped reach health care to over 17000 homeless people approximately
  5. In their ground research, CES found very high levels of TB among homeless people. If a homeless person gets TB, death is very likely because the person has no home and no family to ensure his rest, regular medication and nutrition. CES therefore developed a model of recovery shelters, in which homeless people with TB, HIV and orthopaedic injuries are taken in, treated and cared for, and discharged only when they are strong in body and spirit. With the support of the Delhi government, CES runs a 100-bed recovery shelter in Delhi that also admits homeless people with orthopaedic injuries for extensive recuperation, failing which they would be permanently disabled. This has also been extended to homeless women, and has being extended to Jaipur, Hyderabad and Patna. CES also collaborated with the University College of London and Medanta to undertake active acse finding for TB among homeless populations in Delhi, and found extremely high incidence of TB.
  6. CES is collaborating with Medical Sans Frontiers to start a special covid identification clinic in Delhi for homeless people, and a comprehensive referal and support system for homeless people found to be covid positive.
  7. CES is starting passive Covid and TB screening and referrals of shelters residents and homeless at Yamuna Puhsta, and Meena Bazar in New Delhi. More than 1000 homeless will get benefit from the clinic. This initiative has started from 15th Sept 2020 onwards.
  1. HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION IN DISTRESS CAUSED by LOCKDOWN and PANDEMIC in 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic has emerged not only as a health crisis but also an immense humanitarian and economic disaster. In India, the countrywide lockdown, announced with barely 4 hours’ notice on 24 March, 2020, left millions of daily wage labourers and working-class people stranded without access to work, home or food.

By the end of September 2020, India has recorded over 6 million cases of Covid-affected and 95,000 deaths. The economy is in shambles with a GDP plunge of 24% and over 4 million jobs lost.

Overall Relief Work
Our network of volunteers are working in Delhi NCR, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Despite the constraints of the sudden lockdown and the threat of Covid19, these teams continued to reach out to those in distress and relentlessly provided aid.

Solidarity Feeding
Since the lockdown started in the last week of March 2020, nearly 10 million meals have been served all over India by staff and volunteers of CES and a number of partner solidarity groups and formations, thanks also to the generous contributions from several thousand individual donors from India and around the world and some leading philanthropic organizations.

Emergency Cash Transfers
We also offered emergency relief through money transfers to vendors and service providers for people with emergency health and survival needs, specially people with injuries, pregnant women, babies and the elderly.

Long distance travel by bus and other transport
CES and the network of supporters also organized travel by buses from cities to the home districts of migrant workers, taking them home with safety and dignity. We have sent over 60 buses with 40-60 persons in each.

Future Plans for Relief
The intense humanitarian crisis created both by the rising pandemic and also the destruction of livelihoods and food systems by the punishing lockdown will only grow to even more grave levels in the coming months. These are further complicated by the complete exclusion from a nearly broken public health system of the working poor and the homeless; and by the official targeting of vulnerable communities.

We have disbursed significant relief resources to our state teams to be able to respond to the challenges of food security, livelihood, health and education within their communities.

CES has also staretd a covid clinic specifically for the homeless in Delhi in collaboration with Medical Sans Frontiers and the Delhi government, with extensive field identification of symptomatic persons, testing, quarantine and referrals. We hope gradually to extend this to other cities as well.

  1. SANKARAN UNIT FOR RESAERCH ON EXCLUSION AND INEQUALITY

The Research Unit at the Centre for Equity Studies was established as a tribute to the work of the legendary SR Sankaran (1934-2010), who in his capacity as a civil servant, a moral people’s leader and a concerned citizen throughout his life struggled to uphold the rights and dignity of marginalised and oppressed people.

The Sankaran Unit for Research on Exclusion and Inequality has been team of researchers dedicated to fact-based knowledge production and practice by carefully interrogating the role of the State in securing equitable access to public goods to all peoples, and to combat exclusion, injustice, exploitation, poverty, vulnerability and deprivation. In our work over the years we have highlighted the relevance and importance of research itself, especially in the context of policy making and the significance of research that is socially sensitive. As such we have contributed to a pool of actionable research by engaging in thorough field-based and immersive research.

The areas of interest broadly has been rural livelihood and agrarian crisis; labour, decent work and migration; urban poverty and homelessness; land, forest and tribal rights, manual scavenging and sewer work; gender; social justice and Dalit rights; minority rights and social harmony; hunger and food security; Constitutional values and morality; unpacking specific vulnerabilities of particular marginalised groups; and so on.

  • The India Exclusion Reports (2013-2020): Being our annual flagship project, this is a collaborative effort involving institutions and individuals working with a shared notion of social and economic equity, justice and rights. The report seeks to inform public opinion around exclusion and the role of the state; and to influence policy making towards creating a more inclusive, equitable and just society. It is also meant to bring to the fore particular vulnerabilities faced by marginalised communities and groups, their lives and struggles. It also comprises a citizen-centric budget analysis of the central government. This endeavour seeks to support public action for the greater inclusion of and justice for the oppressed and the marginalised peoples of India.

We have gained strength as more and more scholars and activists, and institutions, from India and around the world, have joined hands to both contribute to and collectively own this enterprise. We have also tried to share the findings of the reports to influence and inform public debate and opinion, through teaching materials in universities, opinion pieces, video reports, and even a graphic format for young people.

  • Reports, articles & books: Be it on hunger during lockdown, or on the plight of disabled women in rural India; be it on the state of manual scavengers, or on the implementation of Food Security Act; be it on instances of communal violence, or on perpetuating inequalities of opportunity in India, we work on a range of reports, news articles, books and community booklets based on qualitative and/or quantitative research. These research pieces are intended both to inform public opinion, learn from and also equip community level organizations or unions, as well as serve as advocacy outputs to shape public policy.

In lieu of listing all of it, illustratively the range of work may be indicated as follows:

  1. Urban homelessness & hunger: Book on hunger in urban slums, Reports on the homeless in the streets, on homeless deaths, on status of shelters in cities, on urban school nutrition; studies on urban housing, urban health care, street children, exclusion in urban water supply and sanitation, migrants in urban spaces, labour chowks in cityscapes and so on.
  2. Labour and migration: Studies on distress migration, rights of circular migrants, bonded labour, Exclusion from decent work, the educated unemployed, urban informal labour, home based women work, sewer and sanitation work, changes in labour codes and labour laws, educated unemployed, construction workers and so on.
  3. Manual Scavenging and sewer work: Handbook on ending manual scavenging; report on implementation of MSA 2013; Stories of deaths of manual scavengers: a series; Studies and writings on waste workers, on the struggle of manual scavengers, on the endemic question of caste based exploitation.
  4. Gender: Studies on exclusion of women from just conditions of work, on single women in India and their plight; Report on women with disabilities; On transgender exclusion in law and policy; Study on sexual harassment in work spaces and the right to safe work environs.
  5. Minority rights: Reports on past instance of communal discord and need for social harmony; on accountability after mass violence; Reports on condition of relief camps and relief efforts post communal violence; On systematic betrayal of justice for violence affected families; writing on the necessity for a legislation addressing communal and targeted violence.
  6. Social Justice & entitlements: Report on exclusion in school; Book on unequal life chances; Articles on caste based exclusion in higher education; Articles and studies on old age and pension; on universal basic income; on job security and diminishing social security; Study on food security, hunger and survey of implementation of Food Security Act.
  7. Agrarian question & Tribal rights: Report on tribal land alienation, writings on prospects of tribal children. Study on exclusion or alienation from land and the plight of marginal and small farmers.
  • Public discussion series:
  1. The Conversations with India’s Margins by Centre for Equity Studies, in collaboration with India Habitat Centre and NewsClick, aims to initiate a dialogue between members of vulnerable communities, public policy experts, and academicians. The primary objective of these series of events is to bring forth the struggles and success stories of these communities, at the same time provide policy makers and academicians the scope of learning from the experience of the people themselves. It is imperative to engage with the members of the communities directly and comprehend the difficulties they face through their own vocabulary and experience. By inviting the members of the communities directly, the dialogue aims to provide a character in the form of flesh and bones to the imagined idea of the “marginalized”.
  2. The Policy & Inclusion Debate Series has been part of our collective endeavour to expand the basket of opinions that inform public policy making so that it doesn’t remain an exclusive prerogative only of “experts” with their technocratic lens. Having brought together planners, academicians, ground activists, elected representatives and social thinkers with varied perspectives under one roof, we believe we have to some extent been able to add the nuances necessary to democratize any discussions around policy making.

The main beneficiaries of our work are policy makers, government bodies both at the Centre and state levels, legal activists, academics, students, civil society organisations. The effort also is such that concerns grasped by us through such studies do not only remain in books and reports accessible to few, but are made available in formats (graphic, video, or journalistic forms) that are easily disseminable.

  1. REPORT CARD OF INFORMATION COMMISSIONS

CES, in collaboration with other groups including Satark Nagrik Nagrik (SNS), has been carrying out evidence based assessments on the implementation of the Indian RTI Act. The assessments focus on the functioning of information commissions set up in the states and at the centre as the apex appellate authorities to hear appeals/complaints of citizens against violations of the provisions of the RTI Act.

A national assessment termed “Report Card of Information Commissions” is published annually. The report analyses the functioning of all 29 information commissions across the country in terms of the number of cases dealt with, pendency of appeals/complaints, time taken for disposal of cases, use of penal provisions in cases of violations, proactive disclosures by the commissions and the composition of these bodies. The reports are compiled on the basis of analysing information accessed under the RTI Act and from the websites and annual reports of commissions.

In addition, from time to time, reports on the quality of orders of the Central Information Commission (CIC) are also brought out. These are based on a detailed analysis of a sample of orders passed by each commissioner.

These reports are widely used by the media as an objective assessment of the RTI Act. The findings are also used by groups and individuals across the country to seek better implementation of the RTI Act. Public meetings are held in different states where the findings are also discussed with information commissioners. The reports have been cited in ongoing litigation in courts regarding the implementation of the RTI Act.

F. FILMS

CES has also produced short films on migrant workers, homeless persons, the pandemic and the lockdown.

  1. SOUTH ASIA MINORITY RIGHTS

CES is also the secretariat for the South Asia Collective – a platform of human and minority rights researchers and activists across South Asia that document the condition of the region’s various minorities – religious, ethnic, linguistic, caste and sexual – publish authoritative reports, use the evidence for undertaking in-country, regional and international advocacy working with like-minded platforms, and also support local and regional platforms working with marginalised minorities in each country, to access rights and services. The South Asia State of Minorities Report is the flagship publication of the SAC, now in its 5th run. 2020 edition focused on the shrinking civic space in South Asia (previous editions having been on the theme of citizenship /statelessness and socioeconomic rights, among others). SAC also produces a quarterly bulletin of updates on situation of region’s minorities, and has recently started providing support to small minority-focused and led entities across the region.