Care For People : Young People, Older People, Women

Young People
1.1 Principles
The key issues for India’s young people are :
a) access to secure, affordable and appropriate long term housing;
b) meaningful work and a competency based wage system;
c) access to education and training;
d) a clean and healthy environment;
e) access to diverse cultural and recreational facilities;
f) access to reliable and affordable transport;
g) access to a living environment which is free from the threat of physical or emotional abuse or discrimination of any kind; and
h) access to health services which focus on the social, economic and environmental factors that impact on the lives of young people.
Information about services available to young people must be accessible and comprehensible.
We oppose all forms of ageism, and support initiatives to counter this, including public education and affirmative action.
Youth interests must be included in public policy decision-making, and this requires greater input from young people themselves.
Recognising that young people have a positive contribution to make to society, we support representation from young people at all levels of government. Young people must not only play a central role in formulating those policies which affect them, but they should be included more widely in general policy formulation.
1.2 Goals
We will :
a) facilitate processes which allow young people to express their needs and aspirations at all levels of government, as well as in their own communities;
b) listen to young people through regionally based Youth Advisory Committees comprising representative groups of young people with a range of interests and skills, who will meet to discuss ideas, initiatives and solutions to problems, as well as provide feedback and advice on government programmes. These Advisory Committees will have input at both state and national levels, to assist with greater coordination of national, state and local initiatives;
c) support the right of people from the age of 16 years to vote and to hold public office, in recognition of the increasing awareness of and responsibility towards current issues of young people.
1.3 Short Term Targets
1.3.1 Unemployment
We will work towards the implementation of a national employment strategy for young people, to be administered at a local level with a focus on facilitating community development.
Local employment committees will be established. They will provide training, financial support and the development of job opportunities which address needs within local communities and promote green jobs.
We also support greater representation of young people on regional economic organisations and greater recognition of community-based organisations which generate environmentally and socially useful employment opportunities.
All labour market and training programmes must be developed in consultation with young people and should not be discriminatory on any grounds, including age.
1.3.2 Education
Our education system must be able to provide the intellectual and social skills necessary for confronting the social and environmental problems now facing India. The skills and knowledge of indigenous as well as non-indigenous ancestry and culture must be shared with our young people to give them an understanding of the basic solutions to our cultural crisis.
We are committed to:
a) diverse and inclusive curricula at the school level;
b) supportive school environments that cater to social and academic development and raising self-esteem;
c) support for early intervention programme;
d) more flexible pathways to employment and training;
e) increased emphasis on training in life skills;
f) ensuring training programme are relevant and accessible, and that they are connected to ongoing employment opportunities; and
g) civics education to enable greater understanding of and participation in all spheres of government.
1.3.3 Youth Justice
The recognition of young people’s issues and needs is inadequate in India’s legal system. Young people often feel regulated by the law but without adequate access to and support from the legal system or their legal rights. Young people should be protected from violence, discrimination and exploitation.
We support:
a) establishing a Children’s Bureau including a Commission for Children and a Children’s Ombudsperson; and
b) the development of a Children and Youth Justice Strategy which would include community legal education and an advocacy programme for young people.
1.3.4 Health
There are many serious health issues facing young people in India. Good health is closely connected to lifestyle. While young people should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own health, we recognise that physical and emotional wellbeing is often compromised by inadequate access to appropriate housing, income support, meaningful work, creative or recreational opportunities as well as by degradation of the environment.
An integrated and holistic approach to health policy is necessary.
Recognising the urgency of the problem, we support the development of strategies to deal with youth suicide and mental health problems among young people.
We also support increased HIV/AIDS education and more preventive programmes targeted to young people with eating disorders.
1.3.5 Housing
The number of homeless youth in India is increasing and projections suggest this situation will worsen in the future. Adequate housing and especially secure long term housing are fundamental to young people working towards their chosen lifestyle.
We support facilitation of community housing and housing cooperatives in urban areas as a means to servicing the young homeless.
We support co-housing and other forms of multiple occupancy.
Young people should be involved in the planning and development of housing appropriate to their needs.
1.3.6 The Environment
Young people have a clear interest and concern in the wellbeing of the planet. Respect for the environment is essential to the security and wellbeing of future generations.
We support community-based employment, housing and cultural activities which increase the quality of life and empower young people without consuming vast amounts of resources and generating excessive waste.
We encourage government support and facilitation of innovative environmental projects including urban community farms and gardens, alternative housing construction and design, energy conservation and alternative energy generation, recycling and secondary resource management.

Older People
2.1 Principles
In recent years, political parties have been primarily concerned with economic indicators of value. They have devoted scant interest to quality of life issues. When the value of people is measured by their productive capacity inside the market place, older people tend to be disregarded, considered only when their votes are needed at election time.
We consider it fundamental that older people be accorded the same consideration and respect as everyone else. The experiences, skills, wisdom and memories of older people are assets for the whole community.
We oppose all forms of ageism, and support initiatives to counter this, including public education and affirmative action.
2.2 Goals
We aim to give older people control over their own social situation, enabling them to realise their potential as fully participating members of society. This means that they should have the power to take part in designing the institutions that will affect their well-being. The exercise of choice to determine how to live, and what kind of care is needed, is as important for older people as for everyone else.
2.3 Short Term Targets
We are working towards:
a) promoting a supportive environment for older people;
b) giving everybody the right of early retirement;
c) ensuring that the right to work is not governed by age;
d) adequate health services;
e) ensuring that older people have access to a range of suitable accommodation including quality public sector housing;
f) personal care for all older people;
g) sufficient safety services for their lives and properties especially the lonely older people;
h) providing sufficient home and institutional care so that older people who need assistance can be assured of living out their lives in comfortable and dignified surroundings that are appropriate to their individual conditions and capacities;
i) easing the problems of transport for older people;

Women
3.1 Principles
We are committed to the following:
a) the protection of women’s rights to equal respect, opportunity and responsibility in society;
b) basing policies on ensuring equal access by women to all areas of political, social, intellectual and economic endeavour;
c) increased and equitable participation by women in all decision-making processes;
d) infrastructure changes to protect women from inequality, exploitation, poverty and violence; sexual abuse, harassment, exploitation and discrimination and to enable them to reach their full potential;
e) the right of women to make informed choices about their lives - lifestyle, sexual identity, health, whether to bear children, their reproductive process, etc. Discriminatory laws against women must be repealed. Women and men should be able to choose whether they participate in the areas of paid work and/or domestic responsibility.
f) women having equal access to all forms of education and training.
3.1.1 Women and Violence
All women have a right to safety at home, on the street and in the workplace, but violence against women is not only a women’s problem. Breaking the cycle of domestic violence in particular is a societal problem and the provision of shelter and refuge should be considered only a short-term solution. Any act of violence should be condemned publicly and privately as unacceptable. Our long-term objective is to create an environment of nonviolence, and to provide care and protection for victims in the interim. Adequate number of family courts should be established to resolve family, conjugal, dowery and property right disputes.
3.1.2 Women and Pornography
We oppose the production, performance, display and distribution of pornographic material which depicts women and children as suitable objects for violence and sexual exploitation.
3.1.3 Women and Education
We seek to ensure educational experience and outcomes for girls and women that enable their full and equal participation in all aspects of economic and social life.
3.1.4 Women and the Environment
The environmental decision-making process has, to date, largely excluded women.
Some environmental planning and decision-making needs to be decentralised and devolved to local communities in such a way that the concerns of all people are heard.
The domestic sector and those industries where women predominate should have equal representation in environmental planning and decision-making.
3.1.5 Women and the Arts
We support greater recognition of women’s contribution to arts and acknowledge the role of women in shaping and representing cultural norms.
We will work towards ensuring that the views of women are represented, for example, through such avenues as representation of women on Arts Advisory Boards.
3.1.6 Women and Sport
We support equal access for women and men to recreation facilities, coaching, sports education, competition, media coverage and funding. The need for programme which encourage girls to continue sporting and recreational pursuits beyond early secondary schooling is a priority.
3.2 Goals
3.2.1 Political and Public Participation
We will work towards:
a) ensuring that any reform is consistent with India’s commitment to the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW);
b) ensuring equal representation of women in decision-making processes at all levels, local, state and national; and
c) ensuring that all public boards and committees will have a statutory requirement for equal representation of women and men.
3.2.2 Women and Violence
We will work towards:
a) a review of all relevant laws which have bearing on violence against women, treatment of victims and perpetrators; and
b) ensuring women’s access to safe and secure accommodation through a comprehensive housing policy and the provision of adequate emergency housing.
3.2.3 Women and Pornography
We will work towards promoting the use of legal complaints procedures and processes.
3.2.4 Women and Health
We will work towards:
a) ensuring research and development funds are allocated both to women researchers and into women’s health problems;
b) ensuring changes to the education of health providers with regard to women’s health issues;
c) improving women’s access to information regarding their health in order that appropriate personal decisions can be made;
d) preventive health strategies targeting women and girls, including those which reduce the incidence of smoking amongst females;
e) providing strategies for more women medical practitioners to enter those specialisations where women are currently under-represented.
3.2.5 Women and the Workforce
We will work towards:
a) ensuring equal opportunities for people employed in the paid work force with family responsibilities;
b) ensuring the provision of adequate child care facilities in the workplace;
c) encouraging flexible working conditions to enable workers with family responsibilities (eg. parents minding young children, and adult children minding ageing parents) to fully participate in the workforce, and avail themselves of opportunities equally with those who do not have those responsibilities;
d) providing centres for continuing education and training for workers, including training and promotion opportunities for part-time and temporary workers;
e) taking steps to facilitate re-entry, without loss of occupational status, of people who leave the workforce for parental leave or family responsibilities leave;
f) ensuring changes brought about by strategies relating to the elimination of sexual discrimination will not place undue and unequal responsibility upon women and add to women’s workload;
g) ensuring that award restructuring includes the specific aim of upgrading and broadening the low-paid, low-status positions that have traditionally been work for a majority of women, particularly migrant women; and
h) ensuring that women enjoy the full benefits of enterprise bargaining arrangements, particularly in the traditional work areas such as the service industry, where there is low union representation.
3.2.6 Women and Education
We will work towards:
a) ensuring that a National Policy for the Education of Girls in Indian Schools is implemented at all levels, until national indicators on education outcomes are relatively equal for women and men;
b) the elimination of gender-based harassment in school and educational institutions and the establishment of Equal Opportunity offices to assess and consult about the effectiveness of programme and policies to achieve this;
c) ensuring that teacher training for new and continuing teachers critically examines the patterns of sex role stereotyping that occur in our society;
d) continuing Territory/State/Central programme to promote girls’ and women’s greater participation in access to school, and university education, especially in science and technology disciplines;
e) promoting policies to achieve a higher retention rate of women at higher degree level in universities; and
f) promoting policies to encourage a higher representation of women academics in all faculties of universities, and a higher proportion of women in senior academic positions.
3.2.7 Women and the Law
We will work towards:
a) remedying existing discrimination by ensuring a higher representation of women on legislative and judicial bodies;
b) examining ways women could be encouraged to enter private practice and the bar;
c) encouraging women to enter all areas of the legal profession,
d) reviewing all laws which have a bearing on violence against women;
e) developing further options for the protection of victims, and for the naming of perpetrators;
f) addressing the myth of ‘victim-blaming’ by promoting change in societal attitudes to violence;
g) removing sexist language from existing laws, and ensure future legislation is non-sexist and does not assume assignment of roles according to sex ;
h) repealing laws relating to sex work.
3.2.8 Women and the Environment
We will work towards:
a) implementing strategies to ensure that all environmental assessments include consideration of impact on health, community and women; and
b) implementing strategies to ensure that women’s needs and advice are considered in the area of urban planning.
3.2.9 Women and Sport
We will work towards:
a) developing monitoring strategies for equal opportunity and anti-discrimination principles to be applied to the administration of all sporting organisations; and
b) ensuring allocation of funding and awards will not be discriminatory and will allow equal opportunity for women.
3.3 Short Term Targets
3.3.1 Political and Public Participation
We will work towards developing programmes and strategies to provide women with the skills to be effective candidates and members of parliament, state legislatures, self-government organisations including panchayats and to actively promote women to stand as candidates for election.
3.3.2 Women and Violence
We will work towards:
a) establishing a national enquiry into sexual assault and uniform sexual assault laws, specifically, the party that wants recognition of sexual assault within marriage and relationships;
b) providing education from early primary school level on non-violent conflict resolution;
c) addressing the health effects, both physical and emotional, of violence against women, through adequately funded, appropriate health and education programme;
d) using publicity and educational campaigns to bring about a change in the way violence is viewed in our society, which includes a strategy to educate men that violence against women is a crime;
e) expanding crisis services for women, with and without children. These include refuges, and services in areas such as rape crisis, abortion counselling, incest and domestic violence. Special provision needs to be made for geographically remote locations.
3.3.3 Women and Pornography
We will work towards:
a) extending classification systems to include video games, live performances and other leisure technologies;
b) strengthening regulation on the display of advertising of material which includes violence against and sexual exploitation of women and children;
c) instituting an education programme to encourage critical examination of the role that the entertainment industry and the media play in the portrayal of women and children as victims of violent and sexual exploitation;
3.3.4 Women and Health
We will work towards:
a) ensuring access to safe contraception on demand for all women, and information on options available;
b) ensuring that women have a choice of where and how to give birth and information on available options;
c) repealing all laws which restrict the right of women to choose abortion and which restrict access to services; and
d) ensuring access to legal, affordable, humane and safe abortion for all women, and provision of counselling pre and post-termination.
3.3.5 Women and the Workforce
We will work towards:
a) ensuring that apprenticeships and training programmes have positive discrimination towards women to ensure that opportunities are not denied to women because of inaccurate evaluation of women’s ability;
b) giving the provision of maternity and paternity leave equal status in order to encourage the sharing of the parenting roles and equality of gender in the workplace;
c) undertaking programmes to raise awareness on issues of gender equity in the workplace and in education;
d) ensuring that women have access to adequate retirement income, including superannuation; and
e) ensuring continuation of superannuation during parental leave.
3.3.6 Women and Education
We will work towards:
a) providing adequate funding for the support structures and the support personnel necessary to implement national policy;
b) ensuring that affirmative action is practised in schools to overcome the attitudes inherent in our society that result in different expectations for girls and boys. Such action would include changing school curricula and increasing girls’ participation in areas of maths, science, technology and trades;
c) the application of affirmative action to increase the number of women in senior, policy and decision-making positions in educational systems;
d) providing bridging courses for women to facilitate their entry into the formal education arena;
e) expanding women’s participation in science and technology to ensure that the introduction of new technology does not further the advantage of men; and
f) increasing women’s access to training and education in the use and understanding of computers and computer technology.
3.3.7 Women and the Law
We will work towards:
a) applying affirmative action to ensure that more women hold senior level positions within the Public Service departments responsible for policy, administration and enforcement of the law;
b) applying affirmative action to ensure that more women hold senior faculty positions within Schools of Law;
c) strengthening laws which prohibit portrayal of women or children as objects of violence or sexual exploitation.
3.3.8 Women and the Environment
We will work towards:
a) ensuring equal representation of women on environmental decision-making bodies; and
b) applying affirmative action principles to ensure women are able to participate at all levels of planning, implementation and assessment of environmental policy.
3.3.9 Women and Sport
We will work towards:
a) providing public education to raise awareness of women’s rights to equal recreation and the importance of this; and
b) providing public education to change attitudes towards women in sport.

Health
1.1 Principles
We believe that good health is dependent upon:
a) the environmental, social, political, economic, cultural and spiritual context of life;
b) protection of the biosphere and earth’s ecosystem, and ecological sustainability;
c) peace and nuclear disarmament, freedom from war, freedom from violence in the community and in the home;
d) social justice and community participation in decision-making;
e) the provision of equal access to affordable, appropriate health services, which emphasise care as well as cure;
f) an emphasis on community-based and community-controlled primary health care, available from a comprehensive range of service providers;
g) the placement of greater emphasis on health promotion, disease prevention and education for optimum health;
h) research which encompasses traditional and alternative/complementary treatment modalities;
i) an intersectoral approach to policy-making with health-outcomes criteria affecting decisions made across a range of portfolios, such as transport, housing, environmental protection, employment, local community services and education;
j) the availability of a universal health fund covering not only medical and hospital, but including the full range of appropriate health services and also including dental and nursing services; and
k) forms of treatment which have been developed in an ethical framework which acknowledges true environmental and social cost/benefits.
1.2 Goals
We aim to:
a) develop and implement a national environmental health strategy which supports a public health approach to health enhancement, and identifies clear national health priorities;
b) reduce high hospital admission rates by re-orienting health service provisions to a public health focus which is preventive, and to a primary care approach concerned with maintenance of optimum health status;
c) phase out the use of animals for medical research;
d) instigate a parliamentary inquiry into iatrogenic deaths in hospital;
e) develop, with widespread community consultation, a Health Bill of Rights and Responsibilities;
f) ensure that India fulfils international obligations to address environmental issues which may have impact on health;
g) ban the use of hormones and drugs on farm animals, other than those medications which are therapeutic and individually prescribed by veterinarians;
h) restrict the use of chemical food additives and the practice of irradiating food;
i) consider the effects of fluoridation of drinking water ;
j) expand the network of multi-disciplinary community health centres which will provide a range of treatment options, with community-based control of resource allocation;
k) expand the availability of birthing centres, where midwives provide primary management;
l) expand the availability of mobile women’s health centres in remote and rural areas;
m) initiate programme aimed at reducing suicide rates, particularly among young people and people in rural areas;
n) reintroduce dental care as a service claimable under Medicare.
1.3 Short Term Targets
We support:
a) the maintaining of Medicare;
b) an increase in the Medicare levy on the basis that such funds (ie. those derived from the increase ) be directed specifically to primary and public health care (ie. to maintenance of optimum health) rather than to reactive disease management interventions;
c) the proposal that all pharmaceutical drugs be sold under their generic names as well as under their commercial ones and that the generic names appear in all advertising for a particular drug;
d) the implementation of legislation whereby Medicare rebates are available across a wider range of therapeutic interventions;
e) the development and implementation of social policies to address the widespread over-use of medications.

Education
2.1 Principles
We support :
a) a vision of education as a life-long process of intellectual, physical, emotional, ethical and cultural development, taking place in a variety of formal and informal settings, and aimed at empowering people to live purposeful, satisfying lives, to help develop communities that are peaceful, just and ecologically sustainable, and to extend that ethical commitment to the other peoples of the world. Lifelong education can enable all citizens to make a lifelong constructive and creative social contribution;
b) a vision of lifelong education, within which each person may be called on to become a teacher sharing skills, knowledge and insights with others;
c) the right of all people to have access to educational experiences appropriate to their needs, abilities and aspirations, and to adequate financial support while undertaking formal educational programme;
d) the right of all children to an education;
e) the right of all people who are committed to home-schooling to choose to educate their children at home;
f) major programme to create jobs, and the development of a rational approach to workforce planning at the national level, so that all people may participate in socially useful and satisfying forms of work;
g) the maintenance and strengthening of a quality public schooling sector;
h) the right of parents and citizens organisations, community groups and academic and student unions to play a significant role in setting directions, priorities, curricula and the running of the public education system. This will assist the development of an education system appropriate to a multicultural India, which places more value on a sense of community and enriching personal relationships than on motives of competition and profit which presently permeate our society; and
i) the important roles played by professional associations, private providers, community groups and business in providing educational opportunities.
Recognising that in a technological society, empowerment of the individual relies on his/her ability to effectively use communication technology and information systems, we will support education policies to enhance the opportunity for all Indians to become scientifically and technologically literate.
2.2 Goals
2.2.1 General
We will work to:
a) provide a quality public education system with guaranteed access for all;
b) develop a national work-force planning capacity based on sound research, and reflecting national industry and employment objectives which are built on the fundamental principles of social justice, sustainability and increasing national self-reliance;
c) develop lifelong education and training options which enable people to change occupations as they mature and grow older;
d) provide additional incentives and provision for a continuous cycle of in-service training for teachers at all levels of education, including tertiary teaching;
e) develop the associationist principle, leading over time to a diminution in the role, authority and scale of centralised educational bureaucracies, and an increased level of democratic and responsible community involvement and authority in setting the educational objectives and curriculum content of our schools; and
f) increase emphasis in education on such aspects as:
l understanding human relationships and psychological processes,
l physical and emotional health and well-being, dignity and self esteem,
l the development of an ethical commitment and of caring attitudes to other people and to the planet,
l the importance of cooperation and social benefit rather than competition and profits as social goals,
l a sense of responsibility for the well-being of future generations, and
l adaptability and flexibility.
2.2.2 Tertiary Schooling
We will work to:
a) implement a policy of free tertiary education;
b) extend access to tertiary education through development of more decentralised campuses, through the use of distance delivery modes and through open access programmes;
c) conduct environmental audits and environmental development plans in all tertiary institutions; and
d) encourage all tertiary institutions to include environmental programmes among their courses.
2.2.3 Primary and Secondary Schooling
We will work to:
a) review the current National Statements in the key learning areas to ensure that:
l there is a balanced concern in school curricula for all dimensions of human development - intellectual, physical, emotional, ethical and cultural;
l there is a balance between such emphases as personal development, intellectual understanding, technical and technological competence, vocational skills and learning for democratic citizenship;
l critical perspectives and processes are integral to all areas of the curriculum in schools;
l there is emphasis on global interdependence;
l all curriculum areas reflect a commitment to the development of a more peaceful, just, democratic and ecologically sustainable world for all people; and
b) increase democratic participation in the decision-making processes within schools and within home-based and community-based educational settings;
c) guarantee the right of all children to education which promotes freedom of thought;
d) guarantee the right of parents to choose to educate their children at home or in other settings without being bound by compulsory registration, provided they can demonstrate a commitment to ensuring a balanced education for their children; and
e) encourage the development of local, community-based and democratically controlled public schools, through provision of capital and recurrent funding to such schools on a demonstrated needs basis, provided those schools reflect the principles of the national education policy.
2.2.4 Ethical Commitment to Other Peoples of the World
We will work to:
a) extend the fundings available through international organisation for educational projects aimed at enhancing international cooperation and understanding, and at promoting social justice and sustainability within communities and countries overseas through the unconditional funding of projects devised by and for the people of those communities and countries;
b) ensure that educational links with other societies, through such appropriate development means as training schemes, exchanges, admission of overseas students, development projects and consultancies, are characterised by justice, equity and cultural sensitivity;
c) develop educational material and methods for future-vision building; and
d) provide increased financial support for the activities of Development Education Centres.
2.3 Short Term Targets
2.3.1 General
We will work to:
a) allocate increased resources to all levels of formal education, but with particular attention to supporting the renovation of the primary sector;
b) extend Open Learning opportunities so that people of various ages in all locations may have access to quality educational programmes of formal and informal study;
c) retain appropriate centralised conditions of employment for teachers, including the principle of tenure;
d) extend funding and other support to community groups, non-government organisations, business, private providers and others offering appropriate community education programmes and facilities, including those catering to interest areas and segments of the population not catered by conventional and formal educational provision;
e) provide additional funding for students who are physically and/or intellectually disabled, or who are disadvantaged by location and/or distance.
2.3.2 Tertiary Schooling
We will:
a) work to increase democratic participation in the decision-making processes within tertiary institutions;
b) allow the collection of fees from students for amenities and services, provided any fees collected are under the democratic control of the student body.
2.3.3 Primary and Secondary Schooling
We will support a review of the profiles developed in each area of the National Curriculum to ensure that they reflect the intentions of the National Statements, are supportive of sound educational principles, and are not used to promote an unwarranted technical, vocationally-driven notion of educational attainment.
2.3.4 People Requiring Special Consideration
We consider that the following groups of people should receive special consideration:
l people in remote areas; and
l people from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
We will work to:
a) raise awareness within the community of the educational needs of these special groups;
b) guarantee equity of access and participation in appropriate curricula;
c) establish and maintain conducive educational environments;
d) guarantee equitable resource allocation;
e) provide specialist support services; and
f) actively encourage such specialists to take up teaching and other positions within educational institutions.
2.3.5 Education for Sustainability
We will work to:
a) develop a national strategy for environmental education which addresses the complete range of environmental education in the formal and informal education sectors, with some emphasis on locally based action;
b) encourage Indian industry to ensure that its vocational practices are environmentally sound, and that vocational training (and other education) are to world best practice standards and to the best available environmental standards (which may be in advance of existing world best practice); and
c) provide support for schools which develop organisational practices to minimise their environmental impacts (for example, energy use), and ensure that maintenance and refurbishment of infrastructure is environmentally sound.

Housing
3.1 Principles
We will support initiatives which ensure that:
a) new urban developments are environmentally sound, respect human scale and facilitate community interaction; and
b) the community is able to participate fully in urban planning and in the assessment of development proposals.
3.2 Goals
We will work to:
a) ensure that people unable to provide for their own housing are given assistance to do so by the government;
b) eliminate housing-related poverty by increased provision of public housing;
c) increase tenant participation in decisions about services to be provided;
d) review building codes so that houses are constructed in accordance with energy efficient design criteria and so that building materials are selected for their low environmental impact;
e) regulate the materials used by the building industry so that the environment is protected from both over-exploitation and toxic processes;
f) encourage the development of urban villages in consultation with local communities to allow people to live in ecologically and socially satisfying ways within cities; and
h) ensure that the facilities that promote healthy communities (recreational, cultural and social amenities) receive priority in town planning.
3.3 Short Term Targets
3.3.1 General Planning
We propose that:
a) any future urban development be based on environmental and social planning principles by
l ensuring that house blocks are correctly aligned for maximum solar access;
l landscaping for rainwater trapping and waste water recycling;
l maintenance of privacy and noise controls;
l provision of adequate public open space;
l designing integrated cycleway networks across urban areas; and
l lowering residential speed limits.
b) town centres be planned to contain a greater mix of commercial activities with :
l introduction of more residential activity; and
l re-humanising of the centres through more public open space and attractive urban design; and
c) different types of housing be available to cater to diverse social needs, including
l youth;
l non-family groups;
l the disabled; and
l older people;
d) the community’s reliance on private motor vehicles be reduced through
l improvements in public transport;
l concentration of residential, educational and small-scale commercial development around neighbourhood shopping centres;
l the introduction and expansion of commuter cycling systems; and
l strategic location of carparking spaces.
3.3.2 Urban Development
The public transport system must be energy-efficient, economic and convenient, e.g. light rail integrated with other express and normal bus services to other parts of the cities.
We propose:
a) that planning of urban developments focus on the concept of urban villages based on environmental and social principles;
b) that public housing be well integrated with other types of housing;
c) that continued funding of community housing programmes be supported; and
d) that certificates with gradings be issued to owner-builders in remote areas so people can live in “unfinished” houses if they choose to do so.
3.3.3 Building Design
We propose:
a) mandatory provisions requiring new buildings to meet minimum standards of energy-efficiency, noise insulation and water conservation;
b) encouragement of local wastewater recycling, composting toilets and rainwater collection systems;
c) adequate car parking requirements for buildings; and
d) a system of solar access rights to facilitate the passive solar design of new residences.

Transport
4.1 Principles
Our transport policy is based on:
a) enabling people to obtain access to a wide range of destinations, goods and services in a safe, timely and energy-efficient manner which has low environmental impact;
b) the recognition that urban form and design are crucial aspects of transforming transport policy;
c) using integrated transport and urban planning, and incorporating environmental and social costs, so that energy-efficient modes of transport (walking, cycling, public transport, rail, coastal shipping) and non-transport solutions are able to compete for funding with the provision of facilities for cars and trucks;
d) empowering local communities so that they can make informed choices;
e) getting the most out of existing facilities by managing demand, rather than continually building facilities to meet projected demands; and
f) favouring walking, cycling and public transport as the preferred modes of “passenger” transport.
4.2 Goals
We aim to:
a) dramatically reduce per capita and overall use of fossil fuels for transport, making the system sustainable into the future;
b) reduce car ownership and use for urban commuting while improving the quality of service provided by public transport, especially in relation to frequency, speed and convenience;
c) increase recognition that access to an adequate level of public transport services is a community right and that these services should remain under public control and not be subjected to full cost recovery;
d) make users of private transport aware of, and ultimately pay for, the full costs of their transport choices;
e) increase opportunities for the community to participate in integrated transport and urban planning;
f) shift urban form towards the development of urban villages, to bring people and jobs together in areas well-serviced by public transport;
g) reduce the direct impacts of transport infrastructure (e.g. noise, air pollution) on urban neighbourhoods and provide fair compensation for those affected by new transport infrastructure;
h) improve the safety of roads, especially for pedestrians and cyclists, and of airways and sea-lanes;
i) provide improved access to transport services for residents of rural India;
j) improve services for those with special needs, including people with disabilities, youth and older people; and
k) encourage the cycling and walking amenity of the streets by supporting, for example, lower urban speed limits on residential roads.
4.3 Short Term Targets
4.3.1 Overall
We will work to:
a) ensure the adoption of national standards for ambient air quality equal to or better than world best practices;
b) ensure the adoption of national noise and emissions standards for petrol and diesel vehicles equal to or better than world best practices; these standards will include requirements for testing; and
c) develop targets for self-containment levels in urban planning; that is, measures of the degree to which jobs, retailing and local services are located with residential developments.
4.3.2 Land Transport
We will work to:
a) in each major city, double the market share (in passenger kilometres) held by public transport compared with private cars by 2010;
c) ensure the adoption of targets for the average fuel efficiency of new additions to the national car fleet of 5.0 litres per 100 km by 2005, reducing to 4.0 litres per 100 km by 2010;
d) ensure the adoption of mandatory fuel-efficiency labelling of new cars;
e) make all central funding or approvals for transport projects contingent on the achievement of specified environmental and social criteria; these criteria will include air quality standards (including greenhouse emissions), environmental protection benchmarks and public participation;
f) ensure that in planning any new road construction, thorough consideration is given to the need for the road, viable public transport alternatives, destructive impact on local communities and the external costs to the environment.
4.3.3 Ports and Shipping
We will work to:
a) cap the number of port sites at the present number;
b) amend rules to expose oil tankers to strict and unlimited liability when travelling within Indian waters, bringing India into line with the world best practices; and
c) institute strict and mandatory controls on ballast water discharges and on other practices that put the Indian marine environment at risk.
4.3.4 Air Transport
Recognising that air transport causes considerable environmental damage and is also less fuel efficient by a large factor than ground transport, particularly in comparison to transport by rail or by sea, we consider it important that the environmental costs of air transport are taken into account openly and incorporated into the cost of air travel.
We believe there are many unexplored possibilities for decreasing the dependence on air travel. One of these is the expansion of teleconferencing. In general, we will support measures such as tax incentives which will encourage people to fly less.
We recognise that bad planning in a number of cases has caused housing areas near airports to have an unacceptable noise level and support moves to remedy such mistakes, for example through modifying flying patterns and airport operations and compensating residents in the most affected areas.
Information Technology
5.1 Principles
We believe the Information Technology (IT) policy flows from the basis that we must adopt lifestyles and development paths that respect and work within the ecological limits. Developments in IT need to be subject to community scrutiny and the benefits of IT need to be shared amongst all members of the community and not be used to increase power and privilege for a few.
We want the debate about technological choice brought out of the back-rooms of government and industry and into the public arena. There must be appropriate public IT planning to ensure integration of IT into the broader social and economic objectives and to avoid the adoption of IT products becoming supplier-driven and piecemeal.
Full implementation of on-line services envisaged in some “Information Superhighway” proposals will be very expensive and the extent to which government should fund such proposals requires further analysis. We will support sufficient government funding to enable no- or low-cost access to e-mail, the Internet and other electronic information resources for schools, libraries and public sector organisations, in a context where the provision of such services is important to full participation in society.
We support direct measures, rather than tax incentives, which tend to be less equitable, to help organisations convert their systems to avoid the millennium bug.
5.2 Goals
Real opportunities exist for India, with a relatively educated and skilled population, to make a large contribution to developments in software, multimedia and intellectual property.
We support universal access to the fullest range of information and communication services.
5.3 Short Term Targets
We propose:
a) the establishment of an independent Information Technology Assessment Board (ITAB), to continually assess both new and existing information technologies and to recommend governmental action. Economic assessment would run alongside checks on health, safety, environmental and cultural impact, risks, and job satisfaction. The ITAB would have a statutory obligation to keep the public informed of its work in a clear and accessible way;
b) the encouragement of significant value-added operations in IT, such as Research and Development (R&D).
c) in the practices of government departments and in private business, the enforcement of the principles of:
l privacy - maintaining the confidentiality of personal information; and
l freedom of information - enabling public access to statistics and decision-making processes;
d) the encouragement of the adoption of codes of ethics or practice for which members of practising professional bodies can be suspended or “struck off” if the code is contravened, preventing or restricting their ability to practise;
e) to make government set an example of open and responsible use of IT in its own systems;
f) the promotion of the development of networking standards for global operation in order to boost international communication, understanding and trade;
g) support for a democratic, egalitarian operation of the Internet with appropriate regulation based on wide public discussion;
h) support for the growth in “telecommuting” whereby office staff can work from home, reducing the demand for physical commuting, whilst ensuring protection for employees’ conditions;
i) support the growth of teleconferencing in order to decrease the dependence on air travel
j) support for the growth of remote “work centres” or “tele- villages” in order to reduce depopulation and increase employment opportunities in rural areas;
k) support for the growth of “tele-conferencing” in order to decrease the need for travelling;
l) to prevent the emergence of monopoly in telecommunications, computing or IT;
m) to identify and list sensitive applications/systems (i.e. with safety or security implications) and restrict their design to qualified professionals holding a valid licence to practise;
n) to achieve greater public review of the development of government computer systems, requiring proposals for new or amended government systems to be widely published.
o) to support universities and other research establishments in research free of external direction by industry or government;
p) to support the full and frequent flow of information from researchers to the professions and the media regarding research progress and its implications;
q) support for an industry free to develop hardware, software and services commensurate with ethical business practices;
r) the encouragement of flexible approaches in industrial relations responses to changes in organisations, working conditions, job definitions and skill boundaries - all affected by IT;
s) the imposition of a rating and censorship system (similar to film) for computer games and related leisure services;
t) the improvement of women’s access to training and education in the use and understanding of computers and IT;
u) to ensure that the education system promotes children’s access to, and ability to use, information and technology;
v) facilitating access to Internet and e-mail services for rural residents by providing local call cost access through a government-managed and/or funded rural internet provider service.
w) enabling the trained IT professionals to get neological training in the field of enrepreneurship for establishing more and more training centres all over the country with a view to having a competent cadre of young men and women having expert knowledge in the field of different aspects and facets of information technology for managing the third millennium.

Work (including Employment)
1.1 Principles
We distinguish between work, defined as any purposeful activity, and employment, defined as paid work. We support the principle of full employment, meaning the availability of safe, socially useful, environmentally benign, adequately paid work for all those who wish to engage in it. This may be full or part time.
We define unemployment as the lack of availability of paid work for anyone who wishes to engage in it.
We do not support the perception in society that unemployed people cannot make a useful contribution to society. We reject any inference of ‘inadequacy’ in those who choose not to seek employment but contribute to society through other productive, economic and/or socially useful activities.
We are committed to redressing discrimination and inequality across the spectrum of work. We also believe that economic growth is an inadequate solution to the unemployment problem at a time when market economics and mass-consumerism have already placed the environment and people under heavy pressure.
The both trend to globalisation and the view of economic rationalist theory that international competitiveness should be the priority consideration in economic policy clearly need review. Constraints on globalisation are necessary for important environmental, social and economic reasons. Protecting employment in domestic industries is one of those important social reasons, and such protection may also have environmental benefits from reduced transport of goods. While protection can have an overall economic cost, this cost is of secondary importance to the social and environmental benefits, and is therefore a cost that is warranted for the social good.
We realise that the logical consequence of the present conditions is that less formal work is needed and more free time becomes available for everyone’s chosen pursuits. Thus we will work towards shorter standard working hours and a reversal of current trends towards increased unpaid work.
A radically new perspective needs to be taken. The green vision is one where work, leisure and income are all shared equitably. In a green society, everybody is the master of her/his own time. People must have time for leisure as well as for shouldering the responsibility of the family, society and the environment. People must also have time to keep better informed and to participate in politics.
1.2 Goals
We propose an employment, labour market and income policy that will recognise and reward all peoples’ occupations appropriately, with a commitment to a proper safety net for all.
We aim to redress discrimination and inequality in employment and to promote equitable participation by all Indians regardless of gender, age or ethnicity.
We will work towards creating a society in which:
a) the goal is full employment as defined above;
b) the norm is shorter hours in paid work than at present;
c) people enjoy self-esteem, security and material comfort whether or not they have paid jobs;
d) it is recognised that all people have the potential to contribute to the enhancement of the community, whether or not they are in paid employment;
e) educational, recreational and creative opportunities and resources are provided for all people, regardless of age and regardless of whether or not they are in paid employment; and
f) actions which are positive for the society and the environment are valued whether they are paid for in the formal economy or carried out in the informal sector.
1.3 Short Term Targets
There is plenty of socially and environmentally sustainable work which needs to be done and imaginative forms of job creation and sharing will need positive intervention by government.
There are also many areas of manufacturing and services which could be encouraged whilst taking careful account of the need for such activities to be environmentally positive or at least benign.
We propose:
a) the creation of a system in which all citizens have the right to a Guaranteed Adequate Income (GAI).
b) a society where paid work is distributed more equitably than it is at the present time;
c) greater equity in job sharing because of the shortage of full-time jobs for all and the need for more leisure time and less stress;
d) greater equity in job sharing between people from different regions, with different gender and of different ethnic origin;
e) the creation of ecologically sustainable industries;
f) legislation preventing discrimination against people who are not in formal employment;
g) public discussion on the meaning of work, facilitated by the Government;
h) the promotion of an anti-materialist culture to reduce needless consumption, whilst enabling people to fulfil their real economic and social needs.

Social Citizenship (including Welfare)
2.1 Principles
2.1.1 Inequities addressed
We propose a system in which the Central Government will assist the States, and where necessary mount its own programme, to address the uneven provision of basic services in India. The unevenness of delivery of services is exemplified by the disastrous state of housing, health and education that exists in many rural areas.
2.1.2 Work to be Redefined
We call for a redefinition of the concepts of work and unemployment.
2.2. Goals
2.2.1 Affirmative Action
We recognise a continuing need to focus on disadvantaged groups in the Indian community.
Affirmative action policies need to ensure that the opportunities and rewards for women are equal to those for men.
2.2.2 Strengthening Communities
While a world view is necessary if we are to both care for the planet and redress world-wide injustices and inequities, the fate of the world rests significantly on the actions of communities - both in their ability to generate local initiatives and in their combined ability to promote change at national and international levels. The policies of our therefore aim to strengthen local democratic processes, encourage regional sustainable development initiatives and planning, and enhance management capabilities within local communities.
2.3 Short Term Targets
2.3.1 Income Security
We propose that the social security system be reformed. It should be simplified and made more uniform by:
a) aligning all payments for adults and independent young people associated with unemployment, study, disability, special benefit and age pensions;
b) aligning all unemployment allocations for the youth and increasing these over time to reflect real living costs;
c) amalgamating the various child support and family allowance payments, and increasing these in line with the cost of caring for children;
d) linking all income and other support levels to changes in the cost of living, so that they are automatically adjusted for inflation.
2.3.2 Targeting Inequities
We propose that disadvantaged individuals and communities will be the focus of specific public housing, health, education and public transport programme.
2.3.3 Community Development
We propose that:
a) financial assistance be provided to local interest groups to assist them to participate in local and regional planning and sustainable development initiatives;
b) funds be made available from the Central Government for the coordination, preparation and implementation of ecologically sustainable strategic plans by state governments and regional organisations;
c) funds be made available for the planning and initiation of ecologically sustainable industries at local and regional level; and
d) funds be provided for a Rural Community Initiatives Programme (RCIP) to be instituted to assist in the strengthening of rural communities, including improving opportunities for employment, cultural and youth activities.
Industrial Relations
3.1 Principles
The starting point for industrial relations, as in all policy areas, is ethics. The workplace should provide the opportunity for workers to be empowered and to engage in safe, socially useful and productive work. Criteria such as profitability and efficiency are important in structuring a workplace, but they are secondary.
The central issue in industrial relations is to maintain the arbitration system as the protector of the public interest.
We support:
a) the provision of pathways for all employees to have work which is safe, satisfying and socially useful;
b) opportunities for workers to receive education and training appropriate for the achievement of these goals;
c) equal opportunities and fair and equitable treatment across the workforce for all employees and workers including in informal sector;
d) effective consultation between governments, employers and unions on all aspects of industrial legislation;
e) processes of conciliation and arbitration as the proper bases for a fair and effective industrial relations system;
f) the rights of unions and unionists to take industrial action to protect and promote their legitimate industrial interests without legal impediment;
g) the establishment of a Charter of Workers’ Rights (CWR) in special legislation;
h) the right of all workers to be involved in participatory planning; and
i) a wider role for the Indian Industrial Relations Commission (IIRC) a body to be established as an arbiter in industrial disputes to consider social and environmental implications regarding a dispute. Appropriate representatives of relevant groups should be given standing to appear in the Commission to present their views regarding such implications.
3.2 Goals
We aim to:
a) maintain the system of industrial awards;
b) extend the system of equal opportunity throughout the workforce;
c) develop flexible and democratic workplace patterns and structures;
d) support the highest standards of workplace health and safety.
3.3 Short Term Targets
We will work to:
a) repeal the provisions against legitimate union activity such as boycotts and pickets in the Trade Practices Act and other pieces of Central legislation, and protect unions and workers against common law actions;
b) provide accredited and transferable training and skill development for employees in a national framework;
c) support a national system of industrial relations and facilitate the provision of more flexible working arrangements/hours where these are not at the expense of work satisfaction, workers’ income or family life;
d) extend union participation in the Central industrial relations system regardless of the nature of the employment of their members, such as casual or part-time employees;
e) facilitate the continued effective and democratic functioning of unions;
f) encourage employee owned or managed businesses, or businesses with significant employee ownership or control;
g) establish processes which ensure the participation of women in enterprise or collective bargaining and other industrial negotiations;
h) support legislation that ensures that employers recognise and negotiate with the relevant unions;
i) support only those enterprise agreements that do not undermine the system of awards and award conditions, and support enterprise agreements that involve employers and unions;
j) ensure resources are provided to organisations of the unemployed to give them an effective voice in society.

Strengthening Rural Communities
4.1 Principles
4.1.1 Rebuilding Rural Communities
While a world view is necessary if we are to both care for the planet and redress world-wide injustices and inequities, the fate of the world rests significantly on the actions of communities - both in their ability to generate local initiatives and in their combined ability to promote change at national and international levels. Our policies therefore strengthen local democratic processes, encourage regional sustainable development initiatives and planning, and enhance management capabilities within local communities.
Our policy for strengthening rural communities is based on the recognition that the situation in rural communities, whereby occupational choices are limited, family members often have to leave their native place to obtain work, services have been cut back and where cultural and social opportunities are restricted , is one which needs major government attention and implementation of positive community and regional development initiatives in order to be redressed.
We recognise that Indian rural communities have, in recent time, been subject to government policies which have adversely affected the viability of community life, the quality of life in rural communities as well as adversely affecting producers’ access to markets within India. We are wary of making an economy less diverse and more vulnerable through encouraging it to specialise in those industries in which it has competitive export advantage while abandoning those industries that cannot compete against foreign imports.
An efficient and sustainable agricultural sector is critical to the viability of local and regional economies and is a vital component of the revitalisation of rural India. Our policies for strengthening rural communities and for agriculture recognise the central role of community and ecologically sustainable agricultural production to regional and national economies.
We also recognise that in a technological society, empowerment of the individual may rely on his/her ability to effectively use communication technology and information systems.
We will support education policies to enhance the opportunity for all Indians to reach their full potential in science and technology literacy.
4.1.2 Physical Environment
Agricultural practices are presently operating beyond the ecological capacity of most areas devoted to farming, which in turn impacts rural communities. Processes that threaten biodiversity, the long-term viability of agriculture and in which inappropriate land management practices are currently implicated include:
l ongoing legal and illegal clearing of native vegetation;
l changed and/or insufficient flow regimes in rivers and streams;
l salination;
l soil erosion and degradation;
l chemical contamination of habitat and food sources;
l water pollution;
l irrigation; and
l intensive inappropriate or cruel animal production practices.
The ecological and economic cost of land degradation will increase unless major steps are taken to counter degradation processes. Farm financial pressure is a contributing factor to land degradation. The servicing of loans often requires farmers to extract the maximum amount of income from their land. Financial pressures are exaggerated by unsympathetic banks, fluctuating commodity prices and unreliable climatic conditions. The cost of land degradation in India is now measured in crores of rupees per year, resulting also in significant impacts on rural communities.
Our policies for water are based on adopting a total catchment approach to the management of water like watershed management, recognising that the restructuring of the water supply in India by introduction of free market competition is likely to be accompanied by a severe loss of social and environmental accountability and responsibility; and, equitable allocation of water amongst all users.
4.2 Goals
4.2.1 Provision of Services to Rural Communities
We aim to:
a) provide a level of services comparable, where feasible, with metropolitan services, for example, in health, education, community care, communications (including both post offices and information technology services), sports facilities and cultural activities;
b) provide programmes to ensure residents achieve a comparable quality of life and access to services;
c) provide programmes to enable rural residents to appreciate culture and knowledge; and
d) facilitation of public transport and communications (including postal services) and provide improved access to transport services to residents of rural India.
4.2.2 Community Participation in Government
The following are the goals :
a) in the long term, wherever possible, decision-making should be determined by bioregional considerations and patterns of social interaction;
b) community services and local environment policy should be provided at the closest possible level to the consumers of the services; and
c) there should be a move towards regional planning and organisation, foreshadowing the eventual emergence of a more decentralised system of government.
4.2.3 Environment
We aim to:
a) hold the amount of water captured for human use from surface aquatic systems and provide environmental flows to all river systems and their dependent ecosystems;
b) limit the amount of water drawn from groundwater systems to rates not greater than they are replenished; and
c) maintain public ownership and control over all major water supply, distribution, drainage and disposal systems.
4.3 Short Term Targets
4.3.1 Provision of Services to Rural Communities
We will:
a) work to provide a quality public education system with guaranteed access for all, including rural residents;
b) provide additional funding for students who are physically and/or intellectually disabled, or who are disadvantaged by location and/or distance;
c) initiate programmes aimed at reducing suicide rates, particularly among young people and people in rural areas; and
4.3.2 Support for Young People in Rural
Communities
We support:
a) increased employment and education opportunities, for disadvantaged young people, including for those in rural or remote areas; and
b) greater representation of young people on regional economic organisations and greater recognition of community-based organisations which generate environmentally and socially useful employment opportunities.
4.3.3 Community Participation in Government
We propose that
a) funds be made available from the Central Government for the coordination, preparation and implementation of ecologically sustainable strategic plans by local governments and regional organisations; and
b) financial assistance be provided to local interest groups to assist them to participate in local and regional planning and sustainable development initiatives.
4.3.4 Agriculture
We will also support a review of agriculture subsidies in terms of their adverse social and environmental impacts.
4.3.5 Environment
We will work to:
a) implement, as a matter of urgency, national legislation to control the clearing of native vegetation, with complementary provisions at state and/or local level;
b) integrate commercial wood production into diversified agricultural enterprises, and provide marketing mechanisms to facilitate this;
c) support the development of alternative fibre industries where they are more ecologically sustainable;
d) provide funds for the planning and initiation of ecologically sustainable industries at local and regional level;
e) propose changes in the taxation structure for chemical fertilisers and pesticides with the aim of supporting a change to ecologically sustainable farming methods. Levies on these products will be redistributed to the farming community through education, information and other appropriate programmes on integrated and non-chemical pest management and sustainable farming practices.
f) maintain or restore the natural diversity and productivity of soil in agricultural and pastoral areas .
g) provide information and low-interest loan incentive programme to assist rural residents to:
l choose renewable energy systems for domestic and farm power supplies; and
l adopt water conservation practices for domestic and farm use.
Drugs and Addiction
5.1 Principles
In a democratic society in which diversity is accepted, each person has the opportunity to achieve personal fulfilment. It is understood that the means and aims of fulfilment may vary between people at different stages of their lives, and may, for some people at particular times, involve the use of drugs.
Classification and regulation of drugs should be based upon known health effects with community education programme to make factual information freely available.
Regulation should aim to maximise individual health and social safety and well-being.
Programmes operating among users of addictive drugs should focus upon harm minimisation and increasing their life options.
5.2 Goals
We will work towards:
a) more appropriate classifications for drugs based upon their effects upon health;
b) wide availability of relevant information about drugs;
c) decriminalisation of drugs;
d) making the connections between addictive drug use and wider issues such as suicide, unemployment, homelessness, lack of hope for the future; working towards solving these problems; removing the focus on excessive drug use which is a symptom rather than a cause; and
e) widely available community-based counselling and support services for drug-users without condemnation, including adequate follow-up.
5.3 Short term targets
5.3.1 Illegal drugs
We believe that softer, less addictive drugs should be more freely available as research shows that such availability mitigates against the use of hard drugs.
5.3.2 Regulated drugs
We will work to immediately set in process the following:
a) independent research into the effects and addictive properties of drugs commonly prescribed by doctors for a wide variety of causes from hyperactiveness in children to stress and depression in adults, with a view to greater restriction and regulation of those;
b) mandatory labelling and verbal advice by doctors as to the effects and potential for addiction of prescribed drugs; and
c) continued independent research into food additives to ascertain their health effects, both short and long term, and ensuring the publicising of results.
5.3.3 Freely available drugs
We will work to immediately set in process the following:
a) taking all possible steps to reduce the image tobacco and alcohol have, especially for young people; this will include banning advertising of tobacco and alcohol products and restricting opportunities for sponsorship;
b) ensuring that smoking does not endanger the health of others;
c) disallowing the use of drunkenness as an excuse to avoid retribution in crimes of violence and negligence;
d) restriction of sale of alcohol to people under the age of 18.
5.3.4 Treatment of people with drug addictions
We will work to immediately set in process the following:
a) freely available treatment programme with adequate follow-up;
b) treatment programme and facilities which sensitively cater to individuals within different groups, women and men, including older people, parents of children and the young.
c) involving NGOs to locate drug addicts and bring attitudinal and behavioural change among them with a view to advising them to stop taking drugs.
d) bringing such drug addicts to the main stream by providing them suitable training for making them social activists in the areas of social justice and empowerment.
d) organising deaddiction camps by inviting medical experts belonging to modern medicine as well as alternative, complementary and energetic medicinal areas.