Aid Delhi Newsletter October 2005

____________________________ Association for India’s Development Delhi Chapter

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AID Delhi Monthly, Oct 2005 Edition # 4

Our Mission “Learning humility, purity and simple-living from those who don't take too much from the earth... Targeting the problems of hunger, disease and oppression that sadden their lives... Inspiring in each other trust, confidence and support for one another...”

INDEX

EDITOR’S DESK By Riputapan, Peeyush

1 2 2 2 5 8 10 10 11 12 12 12 13 13 13 14 14 15 15

Editor’s Desk Activity Highlights Articles v Kashmir Earthquake: Live from the scene v Holistic Education: A need of the time v EIA Draft Notification Campaign Project Updates v Parichay v AID Prayas, Noida v Prayas, Jahangirpuri v Nai Disha IT cell Volunteers speak v Somen What’s Next Volunteer Requirements Donations / Funds Publication Team Contact Us

Being an AID-Delhi newsletter editor is a privilege in itself with AID-Delhi scaling new heights each month. We’ve spread our wings across Gurgaon and Noida, so much so that it has become absolutely essential to have local CSH’s to better coordinate the volunteer efforts. As always, the enthusiasm of new volunteers is the biggest motivating factor. The biggest challenge that still remains for AID-Delhi is to consolidate the existing projects while effectively orienting the new volunteers. AID India Conference next month should serve as a great avenue to learn from others’ experiences and utilize them to achieve the best. This edition features “Kashmir Earthquake” as the cover story. It’s a first hand report of the ground realities as captured by live experiences. Also featured in this edition are the details of EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) Amendment draft. We wish to thank AID well-wishers and volunteers who’ve always supported us and helped us in making the newsletter a success. We look forward to your

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ARTICLES

comments about this newsletter, as it’ll help us improve further. This edition is numbered #4 to corrects the anomalies which occurred when we increased the newsletter frequency from quarterly to monthly.

ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS v v

v v v

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AID Delhi volunteers – Mayank & Ripu – visit the Kashmir quake scene. Parichay stalls put up at MDI Gurgaon, HCL, Cadence, Tata Infotech, LSR college, ST Microelectronics, BITS Pilani. Volunteers informal meet (VIM) held in Noida and Gurgaon. "Meal a month" pledge form made available online. AID India conference (17th-19th Dec.) venue decided at AIIMS and accommodation decided at IIT Delhi. Jatin Garg took over as the coordinator of Prayas, Jahangirpuri "Say no to crackers" campaign carried out online and in colleges & offices. Anirban (Volunteer coordinator, AID Delhi) meets students of NSIT (Dwarka) and IP University (Kashmiri gate) involved in teaching underprivileged children in their respective campuses.

AID Delhi Monthly, Oct 2005

Kashmir Earthquake : Live from the scene By Riputapan Within an year of the Tsunami disaster in south India, the Earthquake shook the northern part of India killing 1400 people and leaving thousands homeless. And with Kashmir being a sensitive area, not many NGOs have come forward to participate actively in the relief / rehabilitation operations. From my visit to Kashmir three weeks after the disaster, I've brought back memories that will be imprinted on my mind forever.

Going from Srinagar, Baramulla is the first place where the damage due to

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earthquake is quite apparent. Here, most of the houses with weak foundations have fallen. Damaged buildings include schools and banks. As we move from Baramulla to Uri, the destruction becomes widespread. Kamalkot (close to LoC) is the last place that one can visit on a motor vehicle. The damage in this place is close to 100%. After Kamalkot, one has to trek through the mountains to reach the remaining villages. Amidst all the disaster, there were some soothing facts I came across. Even though people have suffered a lot, their belief is strong that they will come out of it. They do not yet know how they'll do it, but still there's no fear in their eyes as was the case with Tsunami victims. Most of the people were concerned about the future of their children. Sattarjaan, a widow who also lost her father and brother, said, "I may have lost everything and may have no means to earn but I'll still educate my children". On asking how she'll manage to do it, she said, "I'll even beg if I've to do so but will not allow my children to work and hence, compromise their future". It was simply amazing to see such a resolve. There were numerous such huseholds who lost their earning members due to the earthquake.

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Fortunately, the relief has penetrated well to almost all parts of Kashmir (with Indian Army doing a commendable job along with the NGOs). However, still a lot more needs to be done if number of casualties due to this disaster has to be kept at the present number. The inhospitable terrain and expected heavy snow in the winters will only make the matters worse. As of now, only temporary shelters (tents) have been provided to the people rendered homeless and these shelters are not at all sufficient to last them during the biting cold in the winter months. The urgent need is to provide the people with corrugate galvanized iron (CGI) sheets so that they can build a house for themselves. Some of them will also need space for their houses as the ground below their existing destroyed houses is not firm enough. The biggest challenge is to provide such material at a rapid pace and even in the most isolated regions. The government has started with distribution of CGI sheets in Tangdhar (where it has snowed already) but it seems to be a daunting task to be able to complete the distribution in all parts of Kashmir before the winter setting in completely (which is as early as December). Here the role of NGOs becomes critical as they can coordinate

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and reach different parts and help with this distribution. Rehabilitation through livelihood generation is another area to be looked into. Many families have lost their livestock. Many widows and youngsters are unemployed. It's estimated that due to snow, most of the affected regions will be inaccessible during December February, which means that true rehabilitation can not begin until March next year. Also, it's feared that many NGOs will disappear by then. I interacted with lots of villagers and tried to find out the way they could be truly rehabilitated in the long run. Provision of livestock will greatly supplement their income. For the widows and other ladies, sewing classes have enormous potential. Dry fruit packaging could also be moved from Srinagar to these places so that Self-Help Groups can be formed with a sustainable income. Masonry is another occupation which the villagers can take up, given the training. Government and NGOs may be working hard to help the affected families but they cannot do so without much-needed funds. And that's where all of us can play our part by contributing generously through trusted sources. Let's hope and pray that all the affected families recover quickly from the aftermaths of the earthquake.

AID Delhi Monthly, Oct 2005

"I am only one, but still I am one; I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And just because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." --Helen Keller

Holistic Education : A need of the time By Peeyush The highest function of education is to bring about an integrated individual who is capable of dealing with life as a whole". These words were said by J. Krishnamurti, one of the great philosophers and an eminent educationist of recent time. Words are few but the message is profound and is getting increasingly meaningful in the present state of Indian society. From the time of Vedas the basic function of education has been to develop a complete individual out of a child. Completeness not only in terms of physical or material skills, but also in terms of various softer aspects of humanity and individuality. System of Gurukul was designed quite appropriately on the above premise and

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proved very successful during its time. As time proceeded, India went through a series of social changes, especially during the British rule and, as a result, what remains today is nothing but a highly distorted form of our long cherished social and cultural heritage. Education system is one of them. Education has a very deep meaning and an equally deep impact on the society. Today, when the world is growing materialistically, people living in it are forced to go through a high level of crisis for individuality and identity. People are lost and they do not know the difference between right and wrong. Lack of logical thinking and decision making power is making them slip into the pits of social mischief, public crimes and even terrorism. The reasons are many, but a prominent among them surfaces when we try to analyze the underside of education system in the present day India. Education system today, quite contrary to its promises, fails to prepare young minds to think logically and rationally. It fails to develop a sense of curiosity and awe towards the innumerable wonderful facets of nature bestowed to us by God. And most importantly it fails to inculcate a basic sense of responsibility towards society and environment a person

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nurtures in. Is this problem critical? Yes, it surely is. Is there any approach towards solution? Fortunately, yes. The key is Holistic Education. What is Holistic Education? Holistic education, as the words suggest, targets the overall development of a child, equipping him/her not only with the material or physical skills but also with the softer skills of compassion and responsibility. Broadly an education can be considered as holistic if it provides the following, along with the technical skills. v Understanding of relationships with family, friends and society in general v Importance of human life and compassion towards other's pain. v Curiosity and a sense of admiration towards beauty of nature v Relationship with nature and the associated responsibilities v Emotional strength v Basic etiquettes and social responsibilities How does it help? All the premises listed above can be put under one broader category, Basic Human Values. These are the values which make the humans different from other species and every human should adhere to them. Holistic education helps children to find their place in society and develop a sense of responsibility

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towards it. They learn to appreciate the importance of human life and feel compassion when others suffer. They learn to understand the delicacies of human relations, for example with friends and different members of their family. Along with the technical skills, Holistic Education strengthens their emotional strength as well, which helps them counter various problems of adulthood, such as lack of selfconfidence, excessive mental pressure for material success and their future relationships with their own children. In a nutshell, holistic education builds complete and stable human beings which in turn build a stable society and finally a stable nation.

How can it be provided? Holistic Education is being provided in many parts of world today, including

AID Delhi Monthly, Oct 2005

Europe and many parts of North America. In India J. Krishnamurti foundation (JKF) has set up many schools in various parts of country, such as Rishi Valley School in AP and The Valley School in Bangalore. Some other international schools are also being setup on similar lines. Apart from these schools, many other Govt. and nonGovt. aided initiatives are being taken to develop teaching aids for holistic education. These aids can be used with children in conjunction with their regular curriculum and yet impart the essence of holistic education to a reasonable extent. One example of such initiative was taken by AVEHI organization of Maharashtra, in their ABACUS project. The group worked with Government school children for many years and finally came up with a kit, named as Sangati, which can be used by any professional/unprofessional teacher or volunteer. The kit deals with the subject of holistic education in a play-way method and is very enjoyable to children. The curriculum is divided into sessions, one session per week, which is ideal for volunteers working on weekends. The kit also contains a teacher's manual detailing each session and the way to carry it out. Currently it is being tried out by AID Delhi volunteers at Nai Disha School. What you can do?

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Lot of research has been done on the subject of Holistic Education, across the globe. Interested people can search them on internet or through books written on the subject. The methodologies are not stringent. One can intuitively develop his/her own teaching methods as long as the basic premises are taken care. As a teacher, one can try inducting these ideas as part of regular curriculum. As a parent, one can start parallel regular sessions for children at home and supplement them with their regular schools. As a volunteer, one can visit any school and take holistic education sessions on suitable days. And of course, you can join holistic-education team of AID Delhi.

betterment of existing rules, the new draft EIA notification is a severe blow to an already abused law. To better understand the implications it is necessary to understand the facts embedded inside the history of this illframed law.

Compiled by Peeyush

What is EIA v MoEF, under the Environmental (protection) Act 1986, passed a notification in 1994 making environmental clearance mandatory for expansion or modernization of any activity or for setting up new projects listed in the notification. v A 1997 amendment mandated a public hearing for almost all type of projects before final clearance. The entire exercise sought to minimize environmental and social damages, or mitigate such effects in the ones that could not be avoided. v The entire objective of EIA was to make sure environment, people and industry do not get dragged down into unsustainable development thereby endangering people, environment and also the industry into prolonged issues.

EIA or Environmental Impact Assessment Amendment draft notification is recently promulgated in 2005 by Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). Put forward as a

1994 to 2005… v The 1994 notification today is grievously amended: 12 amendments in 11 years. Some

“Do not wait for leaders; Do it alone person to person.” —Mother Teresa

EIA Draft Campaign

Notification

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amendments, like the one making a public hearing mandatory, have been good. But most others have only diluted the original notification. These amendments have made sure that EIA can be flouted wilfully. v As an example of the amendment, a site visit by MoEF (or its committee), and interacting with the affected people, was originally mandatory. But later the phrase ‘if necessary’ was added and the entire exercise was left to discretion. v Another example of amendment: Pipeline projects were completely exempted from doing an EIA, although such projects had to hold public hearings in each district a pipeline passed through. v In August 2001 occurred a regressive alteration: mining projects of major minerals with lease up to 25 hectares (ha) were exempted from carrying out a public hearing. This meant that any rule abuser wanting a lease of 100 ha could take four leases of 25 ha and get exempt from a public hearing. 2005 amendment – death blow to EIA v Complicated and Poorly Drafted:

The EIA notification draft does not even have paragraph numbers to allow for easy critiquing. The

AID Delhi Monthly, Oct 2005

language is convoluted and the procedures set out complicate the clearance process rather than simplify it. v Restricts access to Public Hearings: The draft notification prevents people who are not local residents from participating in public hearings, thereby eliminating the possibility of participation by public interest organisations, professionals and advisors to communities in public hearings. v Caves in to builder lobby pressure: Despite widespread public outcry over the role of unregulated construction over the Mithi River in the Mumbai floods earlier this year, the Environment Ministry further eases the regulatory requirements for buildings within cities. Only buildings larger than 100,000 square metres now require detailed EIAs and central clearance. To put that in perspective, virtually none of the sprawling Mumbai mill-lands redevelopment is likely to exceed this threshold floor space area. Also, skyscrapers within congested areas will not require any EIA or public hearing. v Sponge iron delisted: Sponge iron industries have been at the centre of some of the worst environmental abuses in Orissa, Andhra, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. Sponge

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v

v

v

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iron industries are notorious air and water polluters. Exemption for industrial estates: Individual units coming up inside dedicated industrial estates with prior environmental clearance will not be required to obtain individual environmental clearance. This exemption again is a direct result of pressure from the companies and done with the sole aim of easing the environmental clearance process for industries. Allows for cancelling of public hearings: The proposed notification provides for the cancellation of public hearings in the event that local conditions are not conducive for hearing the views of the public in a free and fair manner. Expert Committees Lack Experts: The Expert Appraisal Committees to be constituted at State and Central levels no longer have social scientists or ecosystem experts. Most of experts are businessmen, industrialists and consultants themselves. Discretionary powers to do away with EIA: The State Expert Appraisal Committees have been given discretionary powers to do away with EIA/public hearings for projects based on criteria’s that are not spelt out.

AID Delhi Monthly, Oct 2005

Some examples of EIA abuse v Narmada Sarovar dam v Athirapally dam – Kerala v BMIC, Karnataka v Sethu Project, TN v Numerous dam projects in NE India Steps taken Kalpavriksh, a Pune based NGO has prepared a detailed rejoinder and pointby-point summary of the amendment draft. If legal and possible, we can do the following :v We as AID chapter can pass a resolution approving the letter v We as AID chapter can send the letter via email/fax to MoEF v We as individuals can send emails/letters/faxes to MoEF v Work with other chapters to do the same

PROJECT UPDATES Parichay Coordinator: Somendra Last Month’s Activities v Stalls put up at several places: Cadence, HCL, Tata Infotech, LSR, STMicroelectronics v Nutrition Program for children at Parichay continues

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v Special

classes for ladies, volunteered by Ruchika Singh on Sundays v A significant milestone reached as the Masala unit has expanded with the procurement of a new machine. v A Science magazine in Hindi has been introduced by the project coordinator.

v Duty has been delegated to monitor

the progress of sponsored children so that sponsors remain updated about the child's progress. Volunteers Selva, Somendra, Swina, Swati, Anchal, Puneeta, Deepak

Funds raised v Rs. 6500 for the Nutrition program. v Rs 1700 for the monthly expenses.

AID Prayas, Noida

v Sales from stalls are still awaited.

Coordinator : Rahul

Funds needed for the next month We need a monthly contribution of Rs. 1000/- more. The details for the same can be furnished on request.

Activities taken up in last month Continued Hindi teaching. The volunteer team has almost finished teaching the Hindi varn-mala. Activities planned for this month v Teaching Hindi - reading and writing v Distributing books among students v Low attendance of children being one of the major issues, Prayas will work towards increasing the strength of the class v Diversifying the portfolio of current curriculum to gain and retain the interest of students

Activities planned for this month v Installation of the computer v Shooting for the documentary will start soon.

AID Delhi Monthly, Oct 2005

Volunteers Rajat Maheshwari, Mayank Agrawal, Sambit Patra, Rahul Rekhawar

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Prayas Jahangirpuri

innovative ideas to capture and retain the student's attention. v Compiling a computer syllabus. v Mobilizing volunteer support to sponsor education for students (beyond primary level): Col Jaiswal mentioned that for studies beyond Class V, the school fee is too high to be afforded by the children's parents. Therefore, he has suggested that for a Rs. 500 monthly fee, Rs. 250 would be borne by the student's family, while the remaining half can be contributed by Nai Disha. To implement this measure, Col Jaiswal is looking for donors to sponsor children's education. He has handed a duly signed Nai Disha letterhead to the team to circulate this message, and to mobilize the volunteer support in this direction. Contributions from 'Meal a Month' of willing contributors could be a part solution.

Coordinator : Jatin Activities taken up in last month v Classes for students of VI & VII Volunteers Jatin, Mayank Jain Urgent Needs With Mayank and Jatin out of Delhi, we are in dire need of volunteers for this project

Nai Disha Coordinator : Mayank Agarwal Activities taken up in last month v Maths/English/Computer classes for class IV and V v Holistic Education for class III v Session on Dental Hygiene Activities planned for this month v Discussions on the modalities of museum trip. (The trip is being planned for Dec 4) v Training the children for cultural program at AID India Conference (Workshop to be conducted by Saurabh Chaturvedi), Hindu College dramatics and AID enthusiast. v Continuing ongoing classes. The team wishes to explore more

Volunteers Anand, Shammi, Rahul, Mayank, Rajat, Peeyush, Monica Sharma, Monica Gupta, Aditya, Gunjan Sharma

IT CELL Coordinator : Manish

v

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Activities taken up in last month v Diwali campaign was strengthened by Pledges and Posters campaign. The campaign was coordinated by KP and saw active participation from volunteers. v Content additions to Conference website v Online report submission forms evaluated and made fully functional v Meal a Month form made available online.

and work combined. Personally I feel it is a duty on everybody's part to work for the socially deprived people. Contributing towards people is not only a prerogative of the NGOs. We all should be responsible to the society which gives us so much. After all man is a social animal. People have become so self-centred that everybody believes in 'I' and nobody identifies himself/herself as 'We'.

Volunteers Super Admins: Manish Agarwal, Anirban Mudi, Krishna Prasad Admins: Riputapan Singh Registered: Yogesh Seth, Prasoon Kumar New Volunteer: Anandhi Chandran

Earlier these were mere thoughts but after my association with AID my thoughts stand vindicated. We have a wonderful team full of vibrant, agile and dynamic personalities in AID-Delhi. In spite of being physically part-timers to the social cause we all have engrossed ourselves mentally to a common cause. I feel with my one year experience in AID and Parichay, I can write a book which might as well become a best seller. My best wishes to AID Delhi for the ongoing great work.

VOLUNTEERS SPEAK

WHAT’S NEXT

Somen

AID India conference from December 17 -19

Activities planned for this month v Email submission for website v Updating conference website form/content

For me working with AID is not just volunteering, rather it is more of a duty

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VOLUNTEER REQUIREMENTS v AID

Prayas, Noida: Volunteer required to conduct science sessions with some experimental demos. v Volunteers required for fund-raising activities v Parichay (East Delhi): Volunteers required to conduct English classes thrice a week & to conduct literacy program for ladies v Prayas (Jahangirpuri): Volunteers required for teaching during weekdays. v AICB: Volunteers required for teaching blind students and recording material. v Media Relations : 2-3 volunteers needed preferably from Mass Communication background v Volunteer coordinators are required for the following zones: 1. North Delhi: The task involves contacting and motivating DU students 2. East Delhi: Somen is doing the job but ideally someone from east is required. 3. South Delhi: There is a dearth of volunteers at the moment as most volunteers from south are engaged in Parichay. 4. Dwarka: A project initiated by NSIT students can be taken up by AID. We expect Anju Kejriwal, who is staying at

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Dwarka, to teach on weekends. Things like getting her connected with NSIT students and the parents are still pending. If you wish to volunteer for any of the above activities, please write to [email protected]

DONATIONS / FUNDS v To donate for Earthquake relief, you

can write a cheque to AID-India & contact Anuj at 098182-48459 v Parichay • Funds to buy a computer monitor & UPS • Additional Room required on rent (Rs. 700 p.m.) • Other monthly expenditures v AID Prayas (Noida)

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Funds required for renting the room (Rs. 500 p.m.) As the winters are approaching, funds are required for purchase of a mattress for classroom. Funds required for purchase of books, charts etc.

v Nai Disha

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Col Jaiswal mentioned that for studies beyond Class V, the

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CONTACT US

school fee is too high to be afforded by the children's parents. Therefore, he has suggested that for a Rs. 500 monthly fee, Rs. 250 would be borne by the student's family, while the remaining half can be contributed by Nai Disha. To implement this measure, funds are required to sponsor children's education.

Postal Address: AID Delhi , B-121, MIG Flats, Phase-IV, Ashok Vihar, Delhi - 110052 E-mail:

[email protected]

Website: delhi.aidindia.org

To donate funds for above purposes, you can write to us at :[email protected]

Tel:

You can also help raise funds by v Buying or facilitating the sales of AID Delhi T-shirts. v Pledging to donate a fixed amount every month to our meal-a-month program (www.oneforindia.org)

9818248459 (Anuj)

Group Mail IDs :[email protected] [email protected]

BE THE CHANGE…

PUBLICATION TEAM VOLUNTEER

Overall coordinator: Riputapan Chief Editor : Peeyush Editors: Puneeta, Gunjan Graphic Designer: Shweta

AID Delhi Monthly, Oct 2005

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