Membership of ACORN- 83 new members enrolled (mostly rickshaw pullers and ragpickers)

Homeless Shelter– ACORN with its local partner is managing a Govt. sponsored temporary shelter for homeless. On an average, more than 50 homeless (mostly rickshaw pullers) are using the shelter to escape from extreme weather. All users have become member of ACORN. Membership card of ACORN has been issued to all of them.

Dues Collection-A total of INR 3600/- has been collected from members as dues.

Other financial support-Delhi Govt. support of INR. 6000/- per month going to the ACORN organizer as part of salary from December 2010 till now.

Campaign-ACORN joined other organizations to ensure counting of homeless in the national census of 2011 (census is carried out after each decade since 1871 to help formulate states policy and programmes. ACORN worked closely with census authorities and consequently authorities visited its night shelter and camped for the whole night to enroll all users of the shelter.

FDI Watch Forum-successfully lobbied with political forces and met many important national politicians and policy makers to thwart American and European Govt. and corporates’ attempts to liberalise retail trade in India. It organised a meeting with European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and took them to street markets to help them understand ground realities of India. It paid back and the EESC endorsed our concerns and demanded European Parliament and European Commission to commission studies on likely impact on informal workers particularly street vendors.

thanks

Dharmendra Kumar

Delhi, India