Annual R epor t 2 0 0 1 – 2 0 0 2
1 . R ef ugee W at ch:
1.1 Refugee Watch contained to be publis hed fr om Mahanir ban Calcutta Res ear ch Gr oup (ther efor e CRG) dur ing 2001- 2002 and r eceive inter national acclaim (the lates t being a commendation fr om S ar ah Gr een of the Univer s ity of London). We have r eas ons to believe that the j our nal has r eached a s tage when we can feel j us tly pr oud of what I des cr ibed in the las t annual r epor t as, our ‘flags hip publication’. I n all 4 is s ues (Number s 13, 14, 15, 16 publis hed in Mar ch, June, S eptember and December of 2001) came out in this year . T he fir st thr ee is s ues dealt with s uch themes as ‘ the dis placed in the nor theas t’,
‘power , fear , ethics in r efugee pr otection’, dis placing people, nations mar ch ahead’ r es pectively. T he las t iss ue was s or t of a mix ed bag in which s uch questions as r elief and r ehabilitation in Wes t Bengal, Pales tinian r efugees in Lebanon and as ylum seeker s in Austr alia wer e dis cus s ed. S ome of the themes that have figur ed in the above-mentioned is s ues ar e: r efugees and inter nally dis placed per s ons in the nor theast with s pecial emphas is on the Chins and Reangs of the nor theast, r efugee pr oblem in Afr ica and the Mus lims of Fr ance, the Mohaj ir s of Pakis tan, the plight of the r efugee on the US - Mexico bor der , media and immigr ation in the nor theast, the Bur mes e inter nal r efugees , I DPs of S r i Lanka etc. While the inventor y gives us a fair idea of how var ied the themes could be they wer e effectively tied up with s er ious and theor etically minded paper s as , ‘power , fear , and ethics ’. I n shor t, RW tr ue to its obj ective tr ied to become a combination of the academic and activis t genr es of wr itings on the s ubj ects of its inter es t. S ome of the ex per iments intr oduced in the last year r elating to the des ign, layout, columns and editor ial featur es wer e car r ied out in this year als o. I t is s till pas sing thr ough a trans itional s tage and the EC agr ees the impor tance of impr oving it fur ther .
1.2 A pr opos al for r enewal of our annual contr act for br inging out RW along with s ugges tions for impr ovement of the j our nal was s ubmitted to the S outh As ia For um for Human Rights (S AFHR), Kathmandu. We ar e thankful to S AFHR for s har ing concer n for impr oving the j our nal fur ther.
1.3 T he year 2001- 2002 has to my mind, been a cr ucial year in the life of CRG.
For it is pr ecisely in this year that CRG took off fr om a s mall gr oup of socially committed r es ear cher s and activis ts pr imar ily bas ed in Calcutta to a body that has s pr ead its wings acr os s I ndian and other S outh As ian countr ies . Our S outh As ian Editor ial Body of RW is illus tr ative of this . We ar e in cons tant contact with s ome of the fines t minds of S outh As ia, who have agr eed to become its member s . We r ecor d our hear t- felt thanks to all of them.
2 . P r oj ect s
2.1 CRG under took a pr oj ect on “I ndian bes t pr actices on as ylum and r efugee tr eatment’ in collabor ation with the UNHCR dur ing this per iod. T he pr oj ect has continued accor ding to plan dur ing this per iod. Pr eliminar y meetings with r esear cher s wer e held in November and December . Dr aft of paper s will be r evised accor ding to s ugges tions and editorial comments . T he pr oj ect is expected to finis h in 2002- 2003. T he member s will be glad to know that CRG
has alr eady enter ed into an agr eement with S age Publications to br ing out know that CRG has alr eady into an agr eement with S age Publications to br ing out the book. Ranabir S amaddar will edit it. S amir K. Das and Paula Baner j ee have been the j oint coor dinator s of the pr oj ect. Pr adip K. B os e was r equested to be the inter nal evaluator .
2.2 Another pr oj ect on ‘I nter nal Dis placement in S outh As ia’ was under taken dur ing this per iod in collabor ation with the B r ookings I ns titution, Was hington D.C. Our coor dinator of this pr oj ect is S abyas achi B as u Ray Chaudhur y. T he wor k has j us t began – dir ect dis cus s ions and dis cus s ions by mail wer e held in the per iod with s ever al r es ear cher s. T he concept of the wor k was finalized.
CRG has pr opos ed to B r ookings a wor ks hop to be held on r eceiving the s tudies , s o that r evis ion can take place on agr eed s ugges tions and guidelines, and the volume cab be pr epar ed for publications . T he pr oj ect will be hopefully completed in 2002- 2003.
2.3 T he wor k of the S outh As ian S tudies Reader under the editor s hip of Ranabir S amaddar is almos t over . T he Ms s have been s ubmitted to and accepted by the S age Publications . I t has alr eady founded a mention in the S age’s global aler t’ on publications . I t is ex pected to come out by 2002. T he publication will cer tainly add to our pr es tige as a intended to s er ve as a r eady r efer ence for the s tudents and r es ear cher s engaged in the filed. CRG’s leader s hip in this r egar d is cer tainly commendable. While this is an intr oductor y volume, the pr es ently conceived thr ee other volumes will deal with s pecific is s ues of peace agr eements , gender , and human r ights in that or der .
2.4 T he fir st peace and human r ights dialogue pr ogr amme for eas t and the nor theas t was held in Calcutta on 13- 14 October in Calcutta 2001. T he r epor t has been made s epar ately available. I t was held in collabor ation with Konr ad Adenauer S tiftung and Foudation for Univer s al Res pons ibility of New Delhi.
T he par ticipants of the dialogue r es olved to car r y for war d the pr ogr amme in or der to cr eate a networ k of peace activis ts of the r egion. CRG accor dingly with its par tner s has been engaged in car r ying out the tas ks r es olved in October 2001.
2.5 Member s of the Gr oup pr esented paper s , par ticipated, in and chair ed var ious s es s ions of national and inter national s eminar s and wor ks hop on migr ation, r efugee r ights, conflict and peace in the nor theas t, par tition, dis placed women, and for ms of j us tice; they als o took par t in the var ious r es ear ch pr ogr ammes and planning committees . CRG became mor e known thr ough thes e activis ts of its member s.
3. T he pr oces s of launching a webs ite in pur s uance of our ear lier decis ion has begun in r ight ear nes t. S uggestions and pr opos als in this r es pect ar e always welcome fr om the GB member s .
4. But many other things that we have decided to do r emain to be done. We have s till not been able to launch the Bengali Jour nal (Nyaya O Adhikar ) that we had planned to br ing out. Our monthly s eminar ser ies could not take off in s pite of our commitments.
5. All of you agr ee will that CRG can function pr oper ly and achieve its obj ectives only when we have an appr opr iate office infr as tr uctur e. We have alr eady s tar ted over hauling and r estr uctur ing the office. T he wor k ethic is als o impor tant. B ut the tas k is far from being over . T he impor tance of r egular employees in this r egar d can har dly be exagger ated. At this stage, we ar e still unable to maintain r egular employees . We ar e taking s teps t impr ove it.
6 . P lant f or 2 0 0 2 -2 0 0 3 :
6.1 T o continue the pr oj ects alr eady under way and to complete them within the time fr ame.
6.2 I n pur s uance of an under standing with the I nter national Center for Ethnic S tudies , Colombo to wor k on a ‘S outh As ian Regional Compendium of I nstitutions / S cholar s and their S cholar ship and Minor ity Publications’.
6.3 T o s tr engthen the peace dialogue pr ocess , and develop an educational and r esear ch pr ogr amme on cultur e of peace with emphas is on women.
6.4 T o continue publication on for ced migr ation
6.5 T o put emphas is on the publication of CRG’s Paper S er ies 6.6 T o develop webs ite.
6.7 T o hold monthly s eminar s
6.8 T o initiate pr ogr amme on r efugee s tudies in I ndia 6.9 T o initiate the Bengali j ounr nal
6.10 And, to evolve an appr opr iate adminis tr ative infr as tr uctur e and cultur e conductive to r es ear ch and other activities of CRG.
S amir Kumar Das S ecr etar y
Mahanir ban Calcutta Res ear ch Gr oup
