For those Americans and other non-Indians looking to donate for dealing with the horrific second surge in India, I'm going to make a thread of organizations I recommend donating to. Lot of hindu RW and fascists in the mix you should avoid. My recos are from personal experience.
I'll start off with what in my personal experience is the gold standard for humanitarian work in the south asian ecosystem. @Khalsa_Aid is there everywhere, from natural disasters to feeding and caring for BLM and women's march protesters. 501c in US. khalsaaid.org/donate-usa
A milaap crowdfunding fundraiser for ventilators in community in hospital in remote mountains. Still a thousand dollars short of the target as I post.
Just to elaborate, what I'm posting here are organizations or drive that 1. Can accept US donations (regardless of 501c). 2. That I myself have donated to, so an FYI fwiw in case you want to be careful about your money not ending up with scammers or fascists.
Also I know @Hemkunt_Fdn is doing great work in sourcing and supplying oxygen BUT it can't accept donations from foreign citzens, which I technically am so can't donate. But if you're an Indian citizen with a way to pay in rupees, I recommend it too. hemkuntfoundation.com/donate-now/
This is a great master list to refer, with each entry clarifying whether it can accept foreign funds or not.
FYI, this is very important because the Modi government has resurrected or created lots of red tape around payments from overseas.
Oh just realized... Before I continue with my online #CovidIndia shopping spree, any matching initiatives I should be aware of? I'm generally not comfortable tweeting donation amounts but happy to DM or email receipts if it leads to matching donations.
One thing I'm planning to do and which I recommend, is send a personal "stimulus" payment of sorts to everyone in Pune I know who is blue collar or working class. Cooks, cleaners, watchmen, etc. Direct cash transfer.
The limit for that, from a foreigner, is ₹50K ($700) fyi.
Also planning to send parents money with instructions to tip every delivery person delivering anything a certain amount I can afford that will also help them more. Consider doing that. Covid has disproportionately hurt those who serve us in india at ridiculously cheap wages.
These orgs are doing great work and I'm donating to them of course, as should you. But if you just make a cash gift, whatever you can afford, to those people in India often not allowed to ride in your elevator or made to disinfect extra or walk a thousand miles, please do.
That extra few thousand rupees at a crisis time like this will go a long way for those who literally live daily wage to daily wage. You have no idea how much it means to them even if they are too proud to ask or acknowledge. We can't even imagine the scope.
I've asked my mom to draw up a list of everyone in our lives in Pune who is working class and am planning to send them a modest "stimulus" as much as I can afford. Please consider doing this with your own families in India. Support those who work for you for less than peanuts.
The reason this is extra helpful in India is that while even a petulant idiot like Trump got the point of why a direct cash transfer is necessary in lockdown times to at least get food, rent, Modi is about putting the onus on the weakest. And giving money to the richest.
This is an exceptional list! Lists orgs that help some of THE most vulnerable groups and people in India. Who have been hit hard THE hardest. With details and links. Great work.
Alright, Monday morning. Let's resume this thread.
Donated to and personally recommend @apneaap if you're looking to donate with a non indian credit card or bank account.
A million meals for sex workers and their children in the most vulnerable places
Waste pickers in India live really hard lives at paltry pay and 19th century equipment and no safety net. If you've spent a day in India, you've seen at least one elderly person coughing while picking up filth people throw. Covid has been brutal on them.
Donate to this. As you might have noticed, my focus is on work being done to help THE most vulnerable sections of Indian society. Hundreds of millions on a daily wage existence facing a de facto famine because of covid and a lack of social safety nets.
Oh a general donation pro-tip. I know a lot of people prefer to donate anonymously because they don't want the "credit". I used to be like that too until an activist said please always put your full name down cos
A) people who trust you see it, trust us
B) Matching initiatives
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Another student visa cancellation horror story. Swimming in these today!
Dude was making a turn in rainy foggy weather and gently bumped against a car. That driver got out. Both examined the damage. Negligible. A nearby cop car saw the small accident and showed up. /1
Cop realized that Dude's license expired 3 days ago. Dude said I know and I've already applied for a renewal and the new one should be in the mail.
Cop said I still have to write you up for driving on an expired license. But explain your situation to the judge. It's cool.
Dude went to court and explained, I was traveling a lot. So only sent in license renewal paperwork close to the expiration date. It arrived literally 2 days after the accident. Which had no damage.
Grad students Amit & Mita (names changed) drove to finger lakes for their anniversary.
Mita was driving when they hit unusual traffic. Due to some escaped convicts, cops had set up a check post to eyeball every passing car.
Cops looked at their car, said please pull aside! /1
"Have you been drinking, ma'am?"
Mita: No I don't drink. He had some saki at lunch but I'm stone cold sober! You can test me!
"That's not necessary but here's the thing. I have a body cam. Which captured that half filled saki bottle in your back seat. It's been recorded."
Amit: Oh that's the leftover saki bottle from the restaurant, with leftover food. I wasn't drinking it in the car.
"I believe you. But having a bottle like that in the back seat is still a violation. That my body cam caught. So I'm gonna give you a ticket. Don't worry about it"
Something I'm telling y'all that Godi media doesn't. An important distinction.
An "Immigration Judge" is not a real judge. They are directly under Trump's control and are basically bureaucrats play acting judges.
Immigration courts under Trump will not be like actual courts.
Trump is currently targeting actual federal judges BECAUSE systemically, he can't really do anything to them. Other than defy them.
But "Immigration Judges" are hired by him &serve at his pleasure. They have no constitutional validity or independence outside the executive branch
Until now, most administrations have run Immigration Courts like they are real courts. Immigration Judges weren't real judges but presidents treated them like they were and did not interfere in their cases.
Trump tho is unlike any other POTUS. He is obsessed with mass deportation
A buddy of mine got into Stevens for Masters, was wait-listed at Wisconsin. Just before the academic year started, Wisconsin sent him an admit. He came to US on the Stevens linked student visa, showed up at Stevens, said, thank you but I want to transfer to Wisconsin....
Stevens says oh well, we are sad to see you go, but we understand. University of Wisconsin is a bigger and more well known University than Stevens. Here is your transfer. Good luck.
That is how the system is supposed to work. You transfer when you "upgrade" Masters programs...
Soon after Trump takes over, you'll see planefuls of Gujarati Haryanvi Telugu young men deported cattle like to India. It'll be on TV news & social media in Feb.
He has to start off with quick easy mass deportations. Recent undocumented Desi dudes are easiest.
Trump has been promising splashy deportations that are a media event like his overnight Muslim ban last time.
But it's way too difficult & expensive to actually hunt, catch, and deport those whose melted into society.
It's easier to deport those who turned themselves over.
The 100K or so undocumented Indians who've crossed the land borders in recent years generally turn themselves over to the government. Then wait for their immigration hearings in the clogged system. But that also means the federal government generally knows where they are.
I know that's what they will come in wanting to do.
The nerdy historic govt wonk point I'm making is that Musk-Vivek will find even that privatization thing hard to pursue cos US govt has gotten that treatment for 40 years now!