Linked with Virginia/Ginny Shrivastava – India.
ASTHA is an organization with ‘Faith in the People’. Astha is a Hindi word, which means “deep faith or conviction”. We have “faith in the people” – faith that people have abilities, strengths and knowledge to solve the problems they face. Poor people are marginalized, exploited, deprived, and usually do not recognize their strength – but Astha does!
The Mission of Astha is to help People to organize, expand their capacities and equip themselves for the struggles they must wage to overcome the various deprivations under which they live.
Astha works for Structural Change:
- Bringing into being new structures of the poor (organized and aware), which changes the “structure of society” – before, there was no organization of the poor that society had to deal with, now there is.
- Bringing changes in some of the laws and policies, rules and regulations, that form part of the root causes of injustice, deprivation, exploitation and marginalization. And so Astha’s work includes research, documentation and networking to prepare for the advocacy work it does, along with others, to bring changes in those laws and policies in need of change.
Contact: Astha, 39 Kharol Colony, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. 313 004 – Phone 91 294 245 1348, Fax 91 294 2451391, write astha39 atsancharnet dotin.
Astha does not parallel the Government, does not do what the government should be doing. Astha’s role is to help the poor, marginalized, deprived and exploited to access government schemes and resources, to make use of government laws intended to help the poor. This is part of the work of helping the poor to become organized and aware, and to work effectively on the problems they face. (Read all the rest on ASHTA).