Samvaad: A Conversation

Friends,

Young India itself does not have a relief fund but we want to let you know of reputable and trustworthy organizations (see Disclaimer at end of posting) through which you can provide direly needed assistance. The extent of the tragedy is enormous. I'll write more about the on-the-ground reaction in a few days. I am currently in New Delhi where the government is trying its best to cope up with the situation but is falling short of people's expectations. Information is not being appropriately communicated leading to panic. Not to forget the pathetic evacuation job, which was non-existent in most areas. But there will be enough time to point fingers and hold people responsible. Right now people are fighting for sheer survival.

Some links to assist the victims -

* The Hindu Relief Fund (South India's Largest Daily Newspaper)
* AID-India (Association for India's Development)

India Together has an informative site as well - Tsunami Relief

Please donate generously and refer as many people as possible to this site and others that are trying to help the victims. Any and all help is appreciated.

Peace.
Rohit.

**Disclaimer: Young India cannot receive funds on behalf of any of the organizations listed here. These organizations are not part of or affiliated with Young India in any formal or legal manner, and their inclusion here is not an endorsement by us of their efforts. **

We present to you a Young India special bulletin on the US
Presidential Election - America Speaks:2004. This bulletin analyzes
the reasons behind the verdict and shares with you our view of the
future. It's been a month in the making and we are glad that it took
us this long. We were able to analyze things away from the heat of the
election and to have a more long-term vision. True to our spirit of
seeking solutions we put forward ideas that could become the basis for
policy initiatives that help achieve our goals of improving
representative democracy.


"America Speaks: 2004"


This bulletin is the concluding effort of our 2004: THE DEBATE FOR
DEMOCRACY initiative. The momentous political events of this year
inspired us to undertake this endeavor that started last fall with
Mr.Mani Shankar Aiyar's visit to Washington. During the course of the
last twelve months we have held two Congressional briefings on the
Indian election, been invited to speak on Capitol Hill, televised
specials on the US Presidential election, in addition to being part of
many coalition efforts for peace. It has been a rewarding experience.
The year ahead has even more in store.

We feel this bulletin will assist in focusing our conversation about
democracy even more. In the coming year we intend to open another
front for our work - Indo-US relations. We think it is essential for
forward-looking ideas in both political systems to come together to
shape policy that will not only impact citizens in both nations but
will also have a positive impact on international affairs as well. Do
keep checking back with us through our website. We'll keep you posted
as well.

We sincerely hope you find our work useful and share it with many
more. We would love to hear back from you. Feel free to send us your
comments to info@yidream.org. Last but not the least we need your
support. You can assist us financially by sending checks payable to
YOUNG INDIA to PO Box 1791, Germantown, MD 20875-1791, USA. Any and all contributions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your support and encouragement. We look forward to sharing with you our journey down the road of democracy.

Peace.

Young India Team.