Aid Delhi Newsletter September 2007

Association for India’s Development Delhi Chapter Newsletter

September, 2007

From the Editor’s Desk

Table of Contents

From the editors desk

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Project Updates Aashayen AID Gurgaon AID Prayas Parichay Nai Disha

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The month of September 2007 at AID. I’d rate this as the fastest of 2007 with so much of activities happening around. One greatest thing and I’d rate the biggest achievement in our three and half year journey is the “Mass Canlde Vigil” which we are going to do on 2nd October 2007. This event has not only gathered people to show its solidarity towards farmers but also has go a lot of AIDers together. AID follows the principle of Sewa, Sangarsh and Nirman but AID delhi was more active on the Sewa part since most of our projects were child education related. Infact lots of volunteers who are with AID Delhi were not aware of what does “Sangarsh” exactly means and to what extent it really creates a difference. This Mass Candle Vigil has really opened the eyes of many.

Articles A Tiller ‘Abased – Tamseel Hussain 4 Culture and Creed of India Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - Shilpa Singla 5 Impact of Delhi Metro on Life of a common man – Vikas Happa & Venu Kapoor 6 Volunteer Speak My volunteer experience and why you should you volunteer too! – Nandeeta Seth

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Toon of the Month

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Children’s Corner Barsat ka Mausam – Bulbul, Parichay

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Photo of the Month – Deepika Pant

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Information Corner – Selva

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Contact us

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I’m able to see a set of new people coming forward and work for the Agrarian Crisis issue and one thing is for sure, they are not here because of the sympathy but it’s because of the responsibility. They have started to feel it which they never did earlier. That is the change we’ve achieved and it might seem like a small change today but it has an impact tomorrow which we all will notice one day. I’m able to recall the couple of weeks back exactly when the discussion started with a mail from US, we only three people were discussing on it. From there on the fire started to glow and spread across and now its almost at every corner of AID. We had 20 odd people attend a meet for the preparation of Vigil which is normally thrice the attendance of a CSH. A few more things I’d like to add is that we’ve learnt a lot by doing this campaign about what are all the issues that the farmers and their families are really facing. Infact before a month I didn’t have this much knowledge on this issue what I have now. I might have read a few articles here and there but within a month I feel like I’ve done some research and will do more. The same is the feel that every AID Volunteer who is involved in the campaign has got. 1

Project Updates: AID Gurgaon

A few people were doubtful that what difference can a “petition” really make?, but once we discussed with them and shared the amount of research we’ve done and shared the resources we’ve got they were convinced and got sensitized. Also they’ve extended their support to such extent that they will be with us for the entire campaign after the candle vigil event.

As always, the month of September was also filled with lots of activities for AID Gurgaon. Unnati School has been running successfully for the last few months and the number of regular students enrolled in Unnati has increased to 35 from 25 in the previous month. Further, five children from Unnati are regularly attending the Government School of Jharsa.

So here we go “Come One” was how it started and now it has become “Come All”. Lets all join hands to show our solid solidarity towards our farmers who reaps our food for tomorrow.

Last month, we tried to involve more and more children from Bastis in the Unnati Project. The school has twenty odd children who are not motivated enough to attend the school on regular basis. We are trying to work out a solution for this problem.

I wish the next newsletter will share the success story of our Vigil. Happy Reading! -Selva - Publications Coordinator, - AID Delhi, - [email protected] - 9891358457

The quality of education at the Government School of Jharsa is inferior as compared to the school run by Literacy India. Hence, we are planning to enroll 10-12 bright children of Unnati School in Literacy India rather than in the Government School. We had a lot of discussions regarding this amongst the volunteers and with Indraniji (of Literacy India) regarding this new initiative.

Project Updates: Aashayen There has not been any major event during the month although the classes have remained as innovative and inventive as ever. There have been constant efforts on our part to know where the education system of these kids lacks and also how keen are their teachers to teach these kids. As a part of this, two of the volunteers went on a nearby MCD school survey and tried to know the problems these children as well as the teachers were facing and the teachers have agreed on paying individual attention to the list of kids we provide them with. Besides this, a new volunteer has joined in place of another volunteer who has shifted. Individual child profiling is being done to have a complete database of those children and we can concentrate on weak students. Eureka kit for these kids would be introduced in a couple of days with some more innovations. Efforts are on to get a better and a larger place for classes. - Sona, - Coordinator, AID Aashayen - [email protected]

The number of Bastis located in the vicinity of Unnati School and their potential in terms of children who can pursue education is huge. We are in the process of tapping this potential by starting two batches of children with 20-25 children in each batch. Sumanji, the teacher of the children will conduct two batches in a day for two hours each. This initiative will involve more children in the Unnati project without affecting the quality of education that we are providing.

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- Pallavi Tyagi, - AID Gurgaon [email protected]

Project Updates: AID Prayas

Project Updates: Parichay

Prayas Team: Ruchi, Neha, Anuradha, Sudha, Nikhil, Darshan, Anand Bhai, Rajat, Kanan, Arun •

New Volunteers: Sapna, Anika, Rashi, Pratiksha, Ratika

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As some great people have said, if you do any activity with the love for it, then you shall never fail at it ! So then we have picked up this project with all our heart and said - We have to achieve a lot for OUR CHILDREN. Our aim now clear and refined that the focus is on succesfully clearing our 25 children out of their current classes and get them promoted.

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This month at AID Prayas we are doing a restructuring of the processes informal processes followed within our team. We implemented an effective failover plan - where each volunteer will failover in duo with another. I, Arun Raj have taken up all administrative responsibilities for the project and Darshan will be key in-charge for Academic Activities. This has been effectively implemented and we have had a regular set of four team members coming in to train the children on every saturday & sunday.

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We also kept a target as on September 3rd that we will have standardized and put to a structure all our activities at Prayas by December 3rd. Towards, this we are working on a volunteer orientation workshop, to enable them to train and teach the children better.

Parichay registered a sale of Rs 10,480 at STMicroelectronics and Rs. 2600 (approx) at IIT, Rendezvous. A team from FMS visited Parichay last month. They are working on the marketing front. Kritika and Anubha, our internal volunteers, have taken up the documentation work and have been working dedicatedly on it. Raminder donated a sum of Rs. 1500/- toward electric fittings and certain other expenses for the new room. Many thanks to you, Raminder!! Naval took a keen initiative in helping us finalize a stall in Noida. We are planning to put up the stall in the month of November. Our heart-felt thanks to Akanksha for donating a colour monitor to us. Again Naval stepped forward in delivering it to Parichay. We have reserved last Sunday of every month to introduce cuisine of different states. This time Selva helped prepare dosas for the kids. Everyone relished the dosas and had loads of fun with him. Another book ‘Ankahi’, featuring stories and articles on the community, is ready to be published. We are soon planning to organize a story-telling event to project this book.

Celebrations at Parichay Krishna visited Parichay last Friday and will soon host a lunch for kids and community people. The kids had a gala time with Krishna and his wife.

We faced one major challenge this month of getting the children to attend the exams at their school. This was largely unsuccessful because the children seemed to not understand the importance of giving exams. To make them understand we felt that the root of it was the parents who did not understand the relevance themselves. We have decide to soon have a session with the parents soon to orient them about the importance of school and learning assesments.

Active Volunteers: Kritika ( Miranda College ), Anubha ( Miranda College ), Omnipresent Selva, Naval, Raminder (IIT) Puneeta, Navneet Inactive Volunteers: Pow, Shashank

To sum up we have now a clear vision now at Prayas for this academic year - Our children attending school will achieve successful academic performance by the end of this academic year.

- Puneeta - Coordinator, Parichay - [email protected] - 9818361122

-Arun Raj, AID Prayas - [email protected] 3

There was a conference recently held in Dehradun where more than 250 organic farmers participated. Since Organic food is gaining popularity all over India and these farmers are much at ease. They reached many conclusions for these innumerable suicides committed by these farmers.

Project Update : Nai Disha Computer lab classes were taken for Class 4 students. The kids learnt how to create a wordpad file and how to save it. They also practiced how to write a few lines in PC. Since, the exams have started for the students, they were taught the subjects in which they required some help. Ex Nai-disha students who are in secondary classes also come to study maths. Also, we managed to solve the volunteer crisis issue at nai disha. Let's hope that we don't have to face it again.

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“The organic farmers believe that much of the cases of suicides committed by farmers are due to the use of spurious fertilizers and pesticides which has lead to crop failure. In such cases the farmers are unable to pay back the loans and become debt-trapped. Therefore, the alternate way is to go for organic farming which is less expensive, environment friendly and ensures higher yields.”

-Rajat Maheshwari, Coordinator, Nai Disha.. [email protected] - 9810994596

There are certain steps to be taken by us regarding the above issue since the death toll is increasing day by day and so are the many seldom families. A few points that we ought to cover are:

Article : A Tiller ‘Abased Tamseel Hussain A broken house, a broken man, a vacuous earthen stove with no food to cook, a brown face with fine wrinkles that spell of sweat and years of hard work. A brief outlook to a life of a slackened Indian farmer. There are more than 700 million Indians who depend on agriculture for their food and shelter. The rest of us depend on them for our food.

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Provide a guaranteed Minimum Support Price that is more than the cost of production

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Waive debt currently owed to private moneylenders

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Set up a committee, with proper representation from farmers and people's groups, to carefully analyze the current situation, and implementation of Government relief packages, in suicide prone region and make real numbers of farmer's suicides public.

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Increase grants and provide training to farmers who wish to move away from mono-cropping to multi-crop, or organic agriculture – this will serve to increase food and livelihood security.

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Set up a system of checks and balances in the marketing of seeds, and make available at the time of sowing, good quality seeds. Support farming of traditional Jowar and Ragi – this will not only provide local access to nutrition, but will also provides a source of fodder for cattle that were part of your previous relief package

If one looks into a farmer’s enfeebled forehead. One can feel his cry .It has been more than 50 years of our independence. Our demands have increased and so has our income. But there are many still suffering from a rotten disease called ‘poverty’. This has been an issue longing for more than decades now. Our land was known has the ‘Golden Nightingale, during the imperialism and victimization era and now it has attained a future spot for a super power. Our people have survived many economic ups and downs but some due to many reasons haven’t so they commit suicide and most leave their families alone to handle themselves.

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Article: Culture and Creed of India Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Shilpa Signla

Explicitly make agriculture a permissible work under the NREGA – this will allow farmers, who want to make the shift to low-external input, sustainable farming, to hire the help they need for activities such as mulching, sowing, weeding and composting. Such a move would address aims of the NREGA as stated in section 1.1 of the NREGA, 2005 – protecting the environment as well as reducing rural-urban migration.

India has always been known over the world for its rich culture, creed and heritage. Over the years, norms of India have been changing, thus affecting its culture and creed significantly. This change is drastic and began in yester years with the coming of invaders and immigrants to India. Today, media and globalization are playing a huge role in bringing western culture to our country. Many people have concerns today to preserve Indian culture for our future generations, for our tomorrow.

It’s true that the present government has recognized the fact that farmers are committing suicides and have also taken steps in mitigating their distress and destitution. The path taken by the government to solve the agricultural crisis, however, takes the same route of liberalization, providing more credit to farmers, deregulating the seed sector and promoting exportoriented crops. In our view, this is not the lasting solution. This would put the farmers off their fields by making agriculture less remunerative and increasing unemployment.

Since the tenth century, India has been greatly affected by Persian, Arabic, Turkic and British dominations. We learnt various cultural practices, languages and absorbed new customs, traditions and beliefs from them. While our roots are vastly influenced by foreigners, why do people think that today with globalization and growth of India, our culture and creed are fading away? And while talking about Indian culture and creed, one must make sure to specify whether they are talking about North India or South, East or West, Cities or Villages.

In order to save these farmers and their trodden families we need to stand up , we need to awaken each corner. They need our help and one must save his/her ‘broken home’. After all we all our Indians and we all bread and survive on the same land. Lets take this cause as our own and help India prosper and attain its goal as a super power soon. Let’s save our ‘broken home’. Let’s fill in the earthen pot.

No one can deny the fact that being a huge country, India has a huge diversity and people belonging to different religions and regions have different norms. That’s a different thing that we all consider ourselves Indians, as part of one country and respect values of various societies formed among ourselves. This represents the real culture of India. In spite, of diverse groups and beliefs of people, Indians have an acceptable attitude and are open to adopt the best from the past and the west. This culture has come from the past and is still ongoing.

On 2nd October its Gandhi Jayanti. Mahatma Gandhi has been a profound support to farmers during his era and has always considered them as a part of our forgotten ‘Grassroot Democracy’. On this occasion there is a candle vigil organized .to support the above causes kindly participate as they need you in the form of a silent protest with a burning flame on wax.

The real values, ethics and traditions are still prevalent among the new generations. Even today when a desktop or laptop comes in household, people welcome it by putting Tilak and breaking coconuts. When they buy a car, the first place they drive to is a religious place.

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Tamseel Hussain - AID Delhi, [email protected]

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With an increase in the population, the number of motor vehicles has also shown an upward trend from 5.4 lakhs in 1981 to 30 lakhs in 1998 and is projected to go beyond 40 lakhs very soon. The number of motor vehicles in Delhi is now more than that of Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai put together. Keeping this situation in mind the govt. of India and Delhi incorporated A COMPANY called DMRC.

If Indians have accepted Valentines and Friendship days from west, they stepped ahead and brought Mothers day and Fathers day to the country. While accepting to go on a faster track and bring home Metro in New Delhi, they don’t forget to empty their seats for elderly and women. Some customs have been changing with globalization, but that is definitely for growth of our country. Adopting English from west as an official language has helped our people to spread their piece of knowledge all over the world. Indians have no problem moving across different nations. It is our open culture and creed that has made the biggest secular state a survivor.

WELL!!! Delhi metro up till now has covered a lot of areas which were actually in a need of some kind of transport reform; but still Delhi metro's HIGH FARE and inconvenience of being available everywhere(which will obviously take time) is what is reducing its popularity and charm . The main aim of Delhi metro should be to take cars off the road which is why this highly capital intensive transport reform is being encouraged in wide metropolitan city like DELHI i.e. to reduce the rush load on peak hours. Since in cities cars are easily affordable therefore to attract the car travelers toward metro factors like .

The world and times are changing and values will continue to change and so would culture and creed. But it is up to us to decide what we wish to change and what can help our country to continually progress.

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- Shilpa Singla AID Chicago, Delhi, Chandigarg - [email protected]

EXCLUSIVITY,SPEED,FREQUENCY,AVAI LABLITY ETC. should be kept mind. The bare fact is that the upper middle class doesn't want to rub shoulders (both figuratively and literally) with the great Indian unwashed. It doesn't mind to the public as long as it is traveling with people similar to her; and she is willing to pay a premium for it. She may not mind standing in a crowded bus full of people like her. However, sitting next to a laborer is not done. In other words, she is willing to pay more to keep out the common man. Making comfortable travel accessible to public is a noble intention. Have a premium ordinary class by all means, just the way we have divided classes in Mumbai local trains. Price it low enough to make it accessible. However, please have a "first class" that is exclusive. Else the roads will remain congested. The fact is that construction of Delhi metro rail line needs a lot of time and would cause inconvenience to the travelers but the end benefit of it will go the public (who else).There are already arousing cases for instance; protests by students of LSR and BLUEBELLS SCHOOL regarding the noise pollution that the construction and the following traffic congestion will affect their right to study in peace. But there are some very serious cases also; there have protests by the residents of many slum areas which would be demolished for the purpose of construction,

Article : Impact of Delhi Metro on Life of a common man Vikas Happa & Venu Kapoor As cities grow in size, the number of vehicular trips on road system goes up. . It has been observed that in developed countries, planning for mass transit system (metro rail) starts when city population size exceeds 1 million; the system is in position by the time the city population is 2 to 3 million and once the population exceeds 4 million or so, planned extensions to the Mass Rapid Transit Systems is vigorously taken up. In developing countries including India, because of paucity of funds, planning and implementation of rail based Mass Rapid Transit Systems has been lagging far behind the requirements. The city of Delhi with a population of round 12 million should have had an MRTS network of at least 100 KM by this time, whereas actually it is still at the take-off stage.

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where the govt. is providing alternative accommodation only for half of the homeless population (the rest half seems to be of no business to the govt. anymore).

Before this experience, the railway platform was just a platform for me; you get on to the platform, get into the train, and continue on your merry journey. Now I look upon this place with new eyes; I know that beneath the dirt and the grime all of us crib about is a world full of people, who are so admirable in their courage to maintain true joy despite their circumstances. Living with these kids, talking to them has made me realize that relationships and connecting with people is more important and more fulfilling than anything else I could ever do. These children are so used to being marginalized that they respond with immense love when someone speaks to them with any affection. I hope and pray that I have been able to, in some small way, make a difference to their lives. But I often feel that my interaction with these children has taught me much more than I have ever been able to give to them. I think I have become more aware of the very ‘blinkered’ life I have led; so protected that I did not know what lives people led down the road. I have become more human, more humane, and more sensitive to everyone around me. I used to worry about everything in my life; my job, my career, my family; and then I used to look at these kids who are so positive and strong, living each day one at a time, surviving on faith. It made me feel that whatever I was worrying about was pointless and I should be grateful for what I have instead of worrying about what I hope to get..

The life of common man can be made easy if this transport revolution shows positive results and proves its very purpose of reducing traffic congestion and not homelessness and inconvenience which the common man is already suffering due to various other factors prevailing. -

Vikas Happa & Venu Kapoor - AID Delhi - [email protected] - [email protected]

My volunteer experience and why you should volunteer too! Nandeeta Seth I have not worked as extensively in this field as perhaps a lot of AID volunteers, so I am not sure if I am the best person to ask you to volunteer! But the involvement I have had has made a big difference to the person I am; it means a lot to me and that’s why I love to talk about it! I started getting involved with children’s issues in my first year in college – through the compulsory NSO program! But I soon got very enthusiastic about the work, and am still involved after I graduated as well. I wanted to make my engagement more intensive and so I decided to get involved with mentoring the children who work on New Delhi railway station. These children are mostly runaways from abusive or poverty-stricken homes; a majority is addicted to drugs and needs intensive counseling. This involvement has been an intense emotional rollercoaster and a tremendous learning experience. It helped me realize that most of us live blissfully unaware of the many worlds that lie on our very doorsteps, and are thus often forgetful of this issue that begs attention. The saddest part of a chronic societal issue like this one – homeless children working on the street – is that they often become part of the background of our cities, always there but not something anyone pays any attention to.

I think the biggest thing I realized was that beneath circumstances and superficialities all of us have so much in common; everybody has the same insecurities and worries; everybody needs the same love and affection. I am a better person for having volunteered – I think you should do it too! -

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Nandeeta Seth, - AID Delhi [email protected]

Toon of the Month News: AID Delhi celebrates Teachers day in all of its projects ☺

- Toon : Kalindi Sharma, - Coordinator, AID Aashayen, - [email protected]

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Children’s Corner

cjlkr dk ekSle tc cjlkr vkrh gS rks esjk fny djrk gS fd eSa ckfj’k esa ugk yw¡] ysfdu dHkh rfc;r [kjkc gksrh gS rks dHkh vEeh euk dj nsrh gSAa exj eSa fQj Hkh ugk gh ysrh gw¡A b/kj&m/kj vkrs&tkrs tku&cw>dj FkksM+k Hkhx tkrh gw¡ vkSj vEeh ls dgrh gw¡ fd vc Hkhx rks xbZ gh gw¡] ugk yw¡A vEeh cksyrh gSa & ^^tk ugk ysA** cjlkr dk ekSle eq>s cgqr vPNk yxrk gS] dHkh&dHkh rks vksys Hkh fxjrs gSAa ,d fnu tc cjlkr vk jgh Fkh rks vksys fxjus yxsA geus cksry esa Hkj fy,A &rjUuqe tc cjlkr vkrh gS rks dkys&dkys ckny Nk tkrs gSAa ml fnu lwjt Hkh ugha fudyrk gSA cjlkr esa ugkus ls ?kekSfj;ka Bhd gks tkrh gSa exj dHkh&dHkh ljnh Hkh yx tkrh gSA cjlkr gksrh gS rks jkLrs esa ikuh Hkj tkrk gS vkSj vkus tkus esa ijs’kkuh gksrh gSA tks T;knk xgjs xM~<sa gksrs gSa muesa ikuh Hkj tkrk gS vkSj dqN gh fnuksa esa lM+ tkrk gSA vkSj fQj dhVk.kq vkSj ePNj iSnk gks tkrs gS]a ,sls gh chekfj;ka QSyrh gSAa dqN Hkh dgks cjlkr gksrh gS rks eq>s cM+k etk vkrk gS] pkgs fdlh dks vk, ;k u vk,A & jk/kk U;wVªh’ku ,twds’ku dk igyk fnu & ,d fjiksVZ vkt ikuh dh NqV~Vh ds ckn gekjh Dykl esa nks nhfn;ka vkbZ]a ftudk uke Fkk & d:.kk vkSj ‘osrk nhnhA ftUgksua s gesa crk;k fd gesa D;k [kkuk pkfg,] tSls gjh lfCt;ka vkSj Qy [kkus pkfg,A mUgksua s crk;k fd VkWQh] pkWdysV] dqjdqjs tSlh phtsa ughaa [kkuh pkfg,A ;s gekjs ‘kjhj ds fy, gkfudkjd gSAa vkt mUgksua s crk;k fd tks yksx NksVs ls fxykl esa cQZ f?kl dj csprs gSa ftls pqLdh dgrs gS]a os mls gkFk /kksdj ugha cukrs gSa vkSj ge fcuk ns[ks [kk ysrs gSAa muds gkFkksa ds dhVk.kq gekjs isV esa pys tkrs gSAa gesa MkWDVj ds ikl tkuk iM+rk gS vkSj gesa dqN u dqN pwuk yx tkrk gSA nhnh us gesa ,d xse Hkh f[kyok;k ftlls gesa irk pyk fd vPNk [kkuk&ihuk fdruk t:jh gSA &cqycqy

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Bulbul is the eldest school going girl of Parichay and she is almost managing Parichay now a days in the absence of Vijay Bhaiya. I can see a leader in her and she along with Moni and others at Parichay will lead their community and their surroundings to a great height a few years down the line.

Photo of the Month: Deepika Pant

Event : Parichay’s Stall at IIT Delhi Rendezvous 2007 Photographer: Deepika Pant Description: We organized a Parichay stall at IIT Delhi cultural festival Rendzvous. A sale of Rs. 2400/- was registered. It was a good fun to be at stall with lot of AID Volunteers actively participating in it.

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Information Corner: Selva Free Heart Surgery For any kind of heart surgery free of cost. Contact: Sri Sathya Sai Institute Higher Medical Sciences, E.P.I.P. Area, WhiteField, Bangalore Write to us Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences EPIP Area, Whitefield, Bangalore 560 066, Karnataka , INDIA . Call us Telephone: +91- 080- 28411500 Fax +91 - 080- 28411502 Employment related +91- 080- 28411500 Ext. 415 Email for General Queries: [email protected] -

information from Shilpa Singla - [email protected].

Right to Emergency Care: Date Of Judgment: 23/02/2007. Case No.: Appeal (civil) 919 of 2007. The Supreme Court has ruled that all injured persons especially in the case of road traffic accidents, assaults, etc., when brought to a hospital / medical centre, have to be offered first aid, stabilized and shifted to a higher centre / government centre if required. It is only after this that the hospital can demand payment or complete police formalities. In case you are a bystander and wish to help someone in an accident, please go ahead and do so. Your responsibility ends as soon as you leave the person at the hospital. The hospital bears the responsibility of informing the police, first aid, etc. -

information from Ritesh Kumar - [email protected]

Feedback: [email protected] Web: http://delhi.aidindia.org Phone: +91-9213797167 Send your Cheques to Publications Team Selva Ganapathy.R Coordinator: Selva Department of Chemical Engineering, Editors: Selva, Puneeta, Gauri, Pallavi, Charu, Kunal Indian Institute of Technology, Designers: Selva, Arvinder, Saurabh Delhi - 110016 Web Designer: Anirban Hauz Khas Phone: +91-9891358457, +91-9211467341

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