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| Dear Moneylifers, |  | |
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| Greetings! I hope you all had an enjoyable Diwali. Let me start on a happy note by telling you about a lovely ending to a sad tale. When we saw this heart-breaking video of Vasudev Babasaheb (Bandu) Markad destroying his pomegranate crop when traders refused to pay even Rs10 per kg for his rain-starved fruit. |
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 We decided to find out the story of the farmer and find ways to help him. I am delighted to tell you that people opened their hearts and wallets to him and as of 4th November, he had over Rs1.79 lakh in his account. |
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| What is even more heartening is that this money is more than what he needed to pay back his loan for the water tanker and to buy the supply for this season. While we helped one farmer, many others are just as distressed due to the water shortage. So Bandu, along with the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana has decided to pass the help forward and help several other farmers pay back their water-debts. | |
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 There have been many wonderful people who chipped in to make this happen, from Sayantan Bera, journalist from The Mint, who verified and tweeted the story, to Nandkishor Maske, the manager of Maharashtra Gramin Bank's Madhi branch and Sharad Markad, Pathardi taluka president of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, who came up with the idea of distributing our contribution to a larger group. We are keeping tabs on this through Mr Maske and will keep you updated. |
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| Now lets move on to our core activities. We are finding out that advocating people's rights is a long process. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) reluctant, non-response to the Supreme Court orders in our public interest litigation (PIL) on unfair bank seems set for a continued battle in court. We had raised the issue of banks providing lower interest rates to new borrowers while not reducing the rates of existing borrowers even after a reduction in policy rates by RBI. We will update you on developments based on legal advice. |
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 The work on our Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on LIC's Jeevan Saral policy is also in progress. If you are a Jeevan Saral policy holder and are over 50 years of age, do read our cover story to learn more about the issue. (Read: Life Insurance: LIC Jeevan Saral: A Toxic Product) |
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| Meanwhile, we are almost through with renovations in our office and will soon return to conducting daily clinic sessions in our Knowledge Center. At the moment, these sessions are continuing at temporary external venues where we have been forced to restrict attendees on the basis of their urgency. |
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| We have a series of RTI events planned at colleges in Pune and Mumbai as well as workshops for the police force in three cities. |
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| We are also in the process of finalising a series of financial literacy workshops for the police trainees at about 13 Police Training Schools spread across Maharashtra. The Depositor Education and Protection Fund of RBI supports this initiative. |
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| This month we had conducted a special session on Slum Rehabilitation Authority projects and using the RTI Act to gather information under such projects. Activist Sulaiman Bhimani, who is well versed in the RTI Act and provides guidance in matters of RERA, SRA, MMRDA related issues, conducted the session at Bandra. |
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| In the month of December, we have planned for a variety of RTI sessions to be conducted at colleges and for PIOs of Civil Defence & Home Guards. We are also open to conducting such sessions at your organization. Do write to us at [email protected] with your suggestions or proposals. These sessions are conducted free of cost at your conference hall/meeting room for a minimum of 75 persons. |
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| As always, if you are not a Mumbaikar, you can catch our events on Facebook live or watch them on our YouTube Channel. |
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| If you reside in Mumbai, you can also benefit from our Free Daily Clinic guidance sessions to resolve your issues relating to Housing, Cooperative Housing Societies, Lok Adalats, RERA, Right to Information (RTI), banking and consumer complaints and many other issues that affect your daily life. |
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 You will find a list of activities and programmes conducted in November below. Also, feel free to write to us if you have suggestions for other future workshops or want a repeat of any of those conducted earlier – if there is a lot of interest, we will surely arrange another session. Watch out for announcements in December by becoming a member and getting on to our mailing list. |
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| Planned Programmes: |
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 8th December: "RTI session for college students at Jai Hind College" - Shailesh Gandhi
Former CIC Shailesh Gandhi will be conducting a session for NSS students at Jai Hind College to enlighten them on basics of the RTI Act and also provide guidance in filing effective RTI applications. |
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 10th December: "Right To Information: The Act & its Importance in Empowering Citizens" - Pune, Deccan Education Society
In a half day session conducted at Pune, Shailesh Gandhi, Dr Anupam Saraph and Vinita Deshmukh will be giving talks on the RTI act, it's importance and also have a practical session to help students learn how to file RTI applications. |
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18th, 21st & 28th December: "RTI session for PIOs of Home Guards & Civil Defence" - Mumbai, Pune & Nashik
Moneylife Foundation will be conducting several RTI workshops for PIOs of Home Guards & Civil Defence around Maharashtra starting with Mumbai. These sessions are planned to help PIOs respond appropriately to RTI applications filed with their office. Former CIC Shailesh Gandhi will be heading these sessions and share his expertise on the RTI Act. |
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| Programmes Conducted |
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14th November: "Using RTI for projects under SRA" - Sulaiman Bhimani
RTI activist Sulaiman Bhimani shared his extensive knowledge on SRA projects and using RTI applications to gather information for such projects. He also provided guidance to attendees on resolving their particular SRA related issues. Watch the video on our YouTube Channel here |
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| Moneylife TV |
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| The Moneylife TV has reached over 25.81 lakh views with almost 24,483 active subscribers. You can watch our videos from almost any part of the globe and enrich yourself. If you do not want to miss out on any of our videos then do subscribe to the Moneylife channel on YouTube here. |
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| Even better, become a Member of Moneylife Foundation and join 94,200 others so that you receive updates to our events, their coverage as well as access to our extremely valuable Credit Helpline and Legal Resource Centre absolutely free. To join now, click here |
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| Helplines |
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| Legal Resource Centre:We have handled 1,811 queries since inception, thanks to the generous help and guidance by senior activists. |
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| Every Monday, Mumbai-based "Free Press Journal" is publishing a column "Your Housing Problems & Solutions" based on queries answered by our Experts at the LRC. So far, we have provided answers to more than 100 queries from readers of the newspaper. |
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| Our FREE Credit Helpline has answered over 3,570 cases. Spread the word, so that those with a low score can get help from us. |
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| Remember, you can benefit from our work from all over the globe through our videos and helplines (Credit Helpline and Legal Resource Centre). They are all offered free of charge, but please do reciprocate by introducing our work to at least 10 people and getting them to become members. |
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| Thank you for your support and look forward to your good wishes always. |
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| Best regards, |
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| Sucheta Dalal |
| Founder-Trustee, Moneylife Foundation |
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| Trustees: TS Krishnamurthy, Dr KC Chakrabarty, Walter Vieira, Sucheta Dalal, Debashis Basu and Dr Anupam Saraph. Special Invitee: Adv Jamshed Mistry | | | | Moneylife Foundation is registered with the Charity Commissioner of Mumbai, is an Affiliate member of OECD's International Network on Financial Education, is a Supporter Member of Consumers International, Development Partner of Advocates for International Development (A4ID), and is a winner of the 10th MR Pai Memorial Award. | | |  | | | | Donations are eligible for tax benefits under Sec 80G of the Income Tax 1961 (50% tax exemption) and MLF is registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. 80(G) Reg No: DIT(E)/MC/80G/685/2010-11 dated 7.2.11 effective 8.+9.2010 | FCRA Registration No: 083781387 Donate Online | | | |
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