Date: 09 Aug 2000 00:20:51 EDT
Subject: An Appeal for Legal Center in India


From: "Sujan DasGupta" <dasguptas-AT-worldnet.att.net>
Subject: An Appeal for Legal Center in Calcutta, India
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 00:03:31 -0400

P.O. Box 2131,Union, NJ 07083-2131
(908) 687-2662  Fax (908) 687-1868  E-mail  HYPERLINK mailto:manavi-AT-worldnet.att.net manavi-AT-worldnet.att.net

August, 2000

Dear Friend:

	Imagine a world where the inalienable human-rights of all individuals are secured and all lives are honored.  A world where no one has to live in fear -- of the employer, local political leaders, or one's intimate partner.  It does not matter if you are a woman, whether you have money, or what kind of job you have to perform in society.

	This is the world all of us at Manavi have been dreaming about.  Since 1985, Manavi has been working on behalf of battered South Asian women who face family violence in the U.S.  At the same time, we have been supporting one women-led and women-focused project a year in a South Asian country.  This year we are coming to you to support a project to create a Legal Clinic for women in Calcutta, India.  The National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) has approached us with this project that will assist women who have no access to the legal system of the country due to poverty.

	The NFIW is a network of organizations and individual activists.  It was founded at the national level in 1953 and a year later in Calcutta.  NFIWís vision is to create ìan egalitarian society where all women can have equal access to food, shelter, health, education, income, security, property, and freedom from persecution, social and political exclusion.  NFIW dreams of a world in which no one is deprived of oneís basic rights because of class, caste, ethnic, religious, and gender identities.î

	The experience of NFIW is that women, especially poor women, are routinely deprived of their legal rights in the Court of Law.  The technical complexities and prohibitive expenses of legal processes have practically made the law inaccessible to women.  To remedy the situation, NFIW has proposed a legal clinic for women in Calcutta, which will provide:

Legal education for women;
Sensitivity training for lawyers on gender issues, especially in cases of family abuse;
An opportunity for women to consult with lawyers; and
Pro bono attorneys for women.

	The budget for set up and running this project for one year is $10,000.  You can help to bring justice in women's lives in West Bengal.  Your tax-deductible contribution of $50 will take NFIW's dream one step closer to reality.

	Please make your check payable to Manavi, Inc.  (Please mark it for "Calcutta Legal Clinic") and send it to:  P.O. Box 2131, Union, NJ  07083-2131.

Thank you.

Shamita Das  Dasgupta, Ph.D., DVS


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