Swaraj Abhiyaan rally in Chicago calls for united effort for a better India

By Himani Kumar

Chicago: A crowd of 50 at the Schaumburg Public Library witnessed the rally of Swaraj Abhiyaan Chicago Chapter on October 4. The outfit spearheaded by Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Prof Anand Kumar boasts of members who had earlier shunned the Aam Aadmi Party's Chicago wing.

Addressing the meet, one of the founders, Shalini Gupta said, "the whole system cannot be healthy if our subsystem is not prosperous and healthy."

She lamented, "Rapes and crimes have increased, citizens lack basic facilities, development does not touch all segments and classes, and discrimination based on caste, class, race and religion is still rampant". She further added, "we need to work on decentralization of power to local units and an economic system where everyone will have work." Recollecting that "more than 250,000 farmers took their lives in India" Gupta called for a united effort to address the issue.

Gupta said, via collective efforts it is possible to provide basic necessities to all, provide financial security, maintain law and order and ensure social security.

According to a Press release, Swaraj Abhiyan, with the vision of "Swaraj" or self-rule, has been introduced as a pan India organization with NRI chapters in different countries whose mission is to inspire and engage citizens to tackle the most pressing problems affecting India and the world.

An attendee from another organization, India Development Coalition of America (IDCA), also working for the betterment of India, informed the gathering that it has scheduled a conference in Wheaton, IL on poverty eradication and climate change on October 17 and 18, 2015.