Annual General Body Meeting of INP+. Brief report

[Guest guest]

Annual General Body Meeting of INP+

Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS had its Annual

General Body meeting on the September 18, 2003 at Hotel Center

Court, Hyderabad. It was a unique gathering of 120 people living

with HIV from 16 states in India. As part of expressing the

commitment and solidarity towards each other the participants

created a silk panel of handprints. In a hall decorated with

photographs of people from the state level network on three sides,

and a space for leaders of the movement who are not amongst us, the

AGM began with a short prayer. In a eulogy for late Mr. Lilbanta

Singh, Mr. Bobby Singh remembered Banta's words " It is not how long

we live that is important but how well we live " .

A candle lighting ceremony, remembering friends we lost to HIV/AIDS

followed the eulogy and was a very emotional experience. A musical

photo presentation was screened which captured the moments in

history INP+ - a movement of people living with HIV/AIDS in India,

set stage for the further discussions. Mr. Elango Ramchander

mastered the proceedings of the General Body.

Mr. KK Abraham, President of INP+ in his welcome note expressed that

he missed Banta on the dais with other board members. Due to the

expanded role of people living with HIV in India he reminded

everybody to share the responsibilities which come along with it.

He urged the participants to continue to advocate strongly for

people living with HIV. While requesting the state level networks

to concentrate on forming and strengthening the district networks,

he stressed the need for stronger advocacy from people living with

HIV. He welcomed the new networks of people living with HIV from

Mizoram Haryana and Pondichery and individuals present from Orissa.

Mr. Rama Pandian presented the minutes of the last AGM. Following

his address the annual and financial reports were presented by Ms.

Kousalya Periyasamy , Elango and Mr. Manoj Paradesi and accepted by

the members.

Major resolutions of the meeting by the general body was to bring

changes in the bylaws to address the issues like the expansion of

the board, regional representations, relationship between the state

and district level networks, working groups etc. A subcommittee was

constituted to work on the same. A short presentation created in

memory of Banta to a song by Clapton was screened at the venue.

Mr. Rama Pandian thanked all the members present. The meeting

concluded with a National Anthem.

The workshops following the AGM for four days will also look at

issue faces by individual networks and their capacity needs.

Treatment rally by People living with HIV/AIDS

Indian Network for people living with HIV/AIDS along with the Telugu

Network for People living with HIV/AIDS organized a Treatment Rally

with a theme ` Access for all' on September 19, 2004. Around 200

people from 16 states participated in the rally wearing the t-

shirts with slogans `Access for all' and marched through the central

streets of the city of Hyderabad. The rally began at the Central

Court Hotel at Lakdi ka pul and moved through Ravindrabarathi,

Secretariat, lumbini park Hotel Amrutha ,Birla mandir and Public

gardens. The Activists raised slogans `Drugs for all people living

with HIV', `We want -Universal access to drugs', `treatment is our

life and our right' Protect rights of people living with HIV' ` why

does our life matter so little – give us medicines' in Hindi, Telugu

and English. People living with HIV lead the rally with voice very

strong . Participants also sang the Hindi and English version of the

song ` We shall overcome'. March concluded with KK Abraham

appreciating the participants for keeping their advocacy and their

commitment alive and thanking them for the show of solidarity in the

fight for treatment.