Press conterence of GOG .A social group in association with 51 Citizen group the organisaloin is headedby Rahud Bose ant sushma Reddy at cci .ck naidu hall on 19th March 2009.
ABOUT THE GROUP OF GROUPS
The Group of Groups was formed in response to the overwhelming amount of committees, rallies, coalitions and NGOs in Bombay that stood up in protest against the attacks of 26/11. Here was a perfect opportunity to get all disparate groups under one umbrella speaking in one voice to government. Thus the first meeting on 22nd December held great significance. It would hold a mirror up to Bombay’s civil society, and ask one question – can all of us passionate, vocal citizens with different ideologies, bind together this time even if it is for the broadest of issues that 26/11 threw up – governance with respect to security and accountability? The answer so far has been yes and no. fifty four citizen groups are now part of the GoG, an impressive piece of tenacity and belief on the part of its constituents. Yet there are many professional social activists and organizations, most major, and a few minor, who prefer to pursue their own, often brilliant, agendas. This despite the GoG collectively deciding that its formation in no way hampers or supercedes the work of organizations who choose to band with it. Be that as it may, the first five plenary sessions have yielded pretty quick movement for a monolith of this size. First up, a Common Minimum Programme has been settled on, as well as a list of corresponding Action Points. As opposed to simply being a charter of demands, (GoG believes the time for simply that is well past), this is a checklist of what this coalition of citizen groups will set out to start, engage in and complete. These action points have emerged from the work eight sub-committees divided by function, have been working on for the last three months. The sub-groups are : Voting, Police Reforms, Legal Resource, Mass Mobilization, Local Area Group Activation, Political Intervention, Media and Web Presence.
The reason why the GoG has kept silent all these weeks despite working furiously behind the scenes is because we believe a lot of preparation, co-ordination, clearheaded thinking and plain old hard work was needed before we subjected ourselves to public curiosity and media scrutiny. Now we are ready. In the weeks to follow you will see sensible, no-nonsense actions taken on the ground by this group either in partnership with some of its member NGos or through some uniquely GoG initiatives that our members will carry out specifically under the GoG umbrella. In conclusion we would like to say that regardless of how effective our future actions will be, this much we already know – if this city is laid to siege in any way tomorrow, at a click of a button, 54 NGOs, citizens committees and scores of informed Mumbaikars will assemble and chart a single, cohesive plan of action on the ground as well as, literally on the streets. Imagine tens of thousands of people assembling at the Gateway of India with one clear, sane, compassionate and constructive ideology fuelled by the desire to see a discrimination-free, corruption free, just and equitable Indian state. (Our website is www.gog.org)
The Key members of this esteemed organization are as follows:
* Rahul Bose – Convenor, GoG. Founder, The Foundation.
* Teesta Setalvad – Secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace. Head, Anti-corruption sub group, GoG.
* Dolphy D’Souza – President, The Bombay Catholic Sabha and Head, Mass Mobilisation sub group, GoG.
* Sushama Reddy – Head, Administration, GoG.
* Debi Goenka – Spokesperson, Gog. Member, CAT. Head, Police Reform sub group, GoG.
* Kamal Malhi – Spokesperson, GoG. Member, Police Reform sub group.
