February 
2010 
Our banner shows Chitrakoot University, site of our World Conference

The scene is set. From every far corner of India, from Nepal, from South Africa, Canada, England and Scotland, Australia and New Zealand, Singapore, France, Germany, Hong Kong and even from Iceland, people are making their way to Chitrakoot for this major conference for active retired people.

The web development team of World U3A look forward to meeting you there, and if you couldn't manage to get away then we will make sure you get a full report in the next issue of U3A Patrika.

We record here our deep appreciation of the efforts put in by all the conference team, and especially by the Secretary of the Indian Society of Universities of the Third Age, Dr T M Dak.

Tom Holloway (WorldU3A Secretary-General), Vennela (Web development) Ramola and Sandhya (Technical Assistants).

From Sailesh Mishra, Founder President of Silver Innings:
The Centre is enriching a 10-year-old policy for the elderly that has so far remained on paper, offering financial support, healthcare, shelter, protection from abuse and exploitation as well as a battle against dementia. The National Policy for Older Persons (NPOP) of 1999 is being upgraded with special focus on Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia as part of a National Dementia Strategy.

The existing policy has virtually seen no implementation on the ground with most states failing to show interest, a Union social justice and empowerment ministry official admitted. He said a “determined” Centre would this time tighten its monitoring and withhold NPOP funds to the states if they did not carry the policy out. “We want the NPOP implemented in letter and spirit,’’ the official said. The highlight of the new NPOP would be the measures against all forms of dementia.

A report by the Alzheimer’s Disease International says there are 36 million people with dementia in the world, of whom three million live in India. The number may rise to 10 million by 2030, the report says. For more details, see http://silverinnings.blogspot.com/

A K Malhotra of Bhavana U3A Lucknow reports:
In view of the extremely severe cold conditions prevailing these days in and around Lucknow, BHAVANA distributed new blankets and new/used garments etc. to those extremely poor families who were in dire need of these items for their survival.

Please see our website at http://u3abhavanalucknow.org/

The National Campaign For People's Right To Information (NCPRI), India is a movement of committed individuals working towards making our government and society more transparent and accountable.

As senior citizens we have a right and a duty to put questions and expect answers from those who govern us. Click on or go to http://www.righttoinformation.info/ to learn more.

Creative Writing Groups: It is difficult to describe the blog kept by Sivasubramanian Perinkulam and it is best that you click here and see for yourself. You will find the writing reads well, even on the screen, and perhaps it will inspire others to try something similar.
Citizen Journalsim is an evolving form of journalism through user generated content. When any common man in his capacity as a citizen of a nation takes up the initiative to report things or express his views about happenings around him then the occurrence is popularly termed as citizen journalism or participatory journalism.

Citizen Journalists are not bound by the conventional term of a journalist. Citizen journalists take up an initiative to express ideas irrespective of their educational or professional background. Click on http://www.merinews.com/citizen_journalism.jsp to learn more.

All Subject Groups: Have you spotted a video(s) on YOUTUBE that you could use for a talk, and need to record it? Applian Technologies 'Replay Media Capture' is completely free and will cleverly convert a YOUTUBE clip to a file you can keep on your laptop or memory-stick. See http://www.applian.com/replay-media-catcher/demo.php
All Subject Groups: Our informal approach to learning suits us well, but sometimes a more structured approach would be better. For FREE lesson plans for a wide range of subjects clickon or goto http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ (ignore the advertisement for Concordia University and there is no need to register for lesson plans).

Do you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter in future? Ask them to email info@u3aindia.org with a request and they will be put on the list. This webpage may be printed onto both sides of an A4 page and distributed to those with no Internet.