30.12.09
Urban Farming
UNited we Stand ,Divided we Fall
UNITED we stand(DIVIDED we fall) in opposition to Chemicalised(BT) Brinjal
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh will personally attend the Chandigarh meeting to be held with scientists, agriculture experts, farmers' organizations, consumer groups and NGOs.
This is the hour of awakening and revolutionising how government's decide on PUBLIC HEALTH issues.I urge you to take your own and fellow Earthlings health in your own hands and join this PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON PUBLIC HEALTH. Kaheen der na ho jaye..kaheen der na ho jaye...
http://delhigreens.com/tag/bt-brinjal/
16.12.09
the yardstick of ‘success’
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20091216/ttlife1.htm
Wednesday, December 16, 2009, Chandigarh, India
A cut above
In a time when a hefty pay package or an appearance on some reality show has become the yardstick of ‘success’, these three youngsters give a new meaning to the word, writes Ashima Sehajpal
All the club and pub hoppers, the nerds and gadget addicts, the bookworms and living encyclopedias, the efficient, proficient and well-paid managers and those too who belong to the disoriented Wake up Sid league, welcome to the party of youngsters of a different league. The toast is not because of their unusual success in academics or profession or debut in the state cricket team, break in some TV soap or just anything that falls in the usual brackets. They redefined ‘success’ by introducing changes in the lives of people by doing literal groundwork. Don’t assume that the social work is limited to some NGO-run school for the underprivileged or collecting funds. We told you it is different league and we mean it. See the difference…
In the past eight months, all have been achieved what Gurbir Singh Brar had aimed for. Ever since his college days in Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College in Ludhiana, ever since he began his software business in the US and ever since he brought his business back to India and set up his base in Chandigarh, Gurbir has reached out to thousands of people through his unregistered NGO (which means no funds from external bodies), Sawalakh Foundation. The foundation has its base in Mastuana Sahib in Sangrur district. The organisation has a two point agenda, “To stop Nihangs being treated as outcast, bringing them in the mainstream and by helping the underprivileged children learn Gatka Art.” Once the goal was set, the process to accomplish it began, “I, with a team of Nihangs have visited all the 17 districts of Punjab, which include several villages. Nihangs performed their Gatka art, interacted with localites and stayed at every village for two days. The activity gave people a chance to understand the lifestyle of Nihangs and change their opinion about them.” Besides taking cavalcade of Nihangs around Punjab, Gurbir has also held several exhibitions of photographs of Nihangs and their Gatka art. The number of photographs clicked in the eight-month period is an astounding 8000.
Work for the cause doesn’t end here. The Sawalakh Foundation also has the onus of imparting elementary education to Nihanngs. As Gurbir says, “Basic education is important for anybody today, mere religion knowledge won’t help in dealing with the everyday problems.”
Coming to the second cause, his foundation has encouraged hundreds of destitute people to take to Gatka art. “Majority of the youth in Punjab are falling in the drug trap. Gatka art gives them an aim in life. They get a sense of importance when people appreciate their skills. Also, Gatka art helps them keep physically fit.” He now plans to make a documentary film and compiling a coffee table book, both being the effective medium to reach out to people on the life Nihangs.
Moonstar Doad too is planning a documentary after having clicked some hundreds of pictures of people living in the cancer belt of Bathinda. Hailing from the city, she returned after studying ecology from England. With expertise in relationship between human beings and the environment, she decided to study the harmful effect of insecticides and pesticides on crops and then on human beings. “Though a lot of studies have been conducted on the subject, nothing much has been done so far.” For her research, she has already spent six months in Talwandi Sabo and two villages in the most affected area.
“Next on the cards are four villages in the Bathinda district, including Mahinagar and Saikhpura, the worst hit villages.” Conclusions won’t be drawn after mere observation as she plans for an objective view. “I want to make it public what people of the area want and their problems by making them fill questionnaires and encouraging them speak their mind.” What initiated her into it, was not the known facts that pesticides are being used unmindful of their consequences but “that nobody has an idea of the exact quantity. In the past three decades, the increase in the use of pesticides for any given crop has been 13 folds.”
Aayesha Sandhu from the city is studying psychology from Mother Teresa University, Chennai. It’s there she realised the real essence of women power, which she explains as, “There are a massive three lakh women self-help groups (SHWG) in Andhra Pradesh, one lalk in Tamil Nadu and a mere 6,000 in Punjab. The reason— women don’t have a say here in our state.” Figures were enough to inspire her to try to bring the model in the Punjab. “I, along with the team members, visited a few villages and educated women about the SHWG. But, before bringing the model here, it was important to know what women can take up as employment as in the South, the culture is different,” she says. So, crafts of Punjab like Phulkari will get impetus here. She is also measuring the success rate of the SHWGs in Punjab. “The results have been very positive.” She cites an example, “A woman in a village, who is a member of a SHWG, has been able to buy a cow and is supplying milk to nearby
villages.” In next six months, she plans to take SHWGs to at least a dozen more villages.”
The prominent commonality among these three youngsters thus is their urban backgrounds and future rural projects. The different being made for sure!
ashima@tribunemail.com
Wednesday, December 16, 2009, Chandigarh, India
A cut above
In a time when a hefty pay package or an appearance on some reality show has become the yardstick of ‘success’, these three youngsters give a new meaning to the word, writes Ashima Sehajpal
All the club and pub hoppers, the nerds and gadget addicts, the bookworms and living encyclopedias, the efficient, proficient and well-paid managers and those too who belong to the disoriented Wake up Sid league, welcome to the party of youngsters of a different league. The toast is not because of their unusual success in academics or profession or debut in the state cricket team, break in some TV soap or just anything that falls in the usual brackets. They redefined ‘success’ by introducing changes in the lives of people by doing literal groundwork. Don’t assume that the social work is limited to some NGO-run school for the underprivileged or collecting funds. We told you it is different league and we mean it. See the difference…
In the past eight months, all have been achieved what Gurbir Singh Brar had aimed for. Ever since his college days in Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College in Ludhiana, ever since he began his software business in the US and ever since he brought his business back to India and set up his base in Chandigarh, Gurbir has reached out to thousands of people through his unregistered NGO (which means no funds from external bodies), Sawalakh Foundation. The foundation has its base in Mastuana Sahib in Sangrur district. The organisation has a two point agenda, “To stop Nihangs being treated as outcast, bringing them in the mainstream and by helping the underprivileged children learn Gatka Art.” Once the goal was set, the process to accomplish it began, “I, with a team of Nihangs have visited all the 17 districts of Punjab, which include several villages. Nihangs performed their Gatka art, interacted with localites and stayed at every village for two days. The activity gave people a chance to understand the lifestyle of Nihangs and change their opinion about them.” Besides taking cavalcade of Nihangs around Punjab, Gurbir has also held several exhibitions of photographs of Nihangs and their Gatka art. The number of photographs clicked in the eight-month period is an astounding 8000.
Work for the cause doesn’t end here. The Sawalakh Foundation also has the onus of imparting elementary education to Nihanngs. As Gurbir says, “Basic education is important for anybody today, mere religion knowledge won’t help in dealing with the everyday problems.”
Coming to the second cause, his foundation has encouraged hundreds of destitute people to take to Gatka art. “Majority of the youth in Punjab are falling in the drug trap. Gatka art gives them an aim in life. They get a sense of importance when people appreciate their skills. Also, Gatka art helps them keep physically fit.” He now plans to make a documentary film and compiling a coffee table book, both being the effective medium to reach out to people on the life Nihangs.
Moonstar Doad too is planning a documentary after having clicked some hundreds of pictures of people living in the cancer belt of Bathinda. Hailing from the city, she returned after studying ecology from England. With expertise in relationship between human beings and the environment, she decided to study the harmful effect of insecticides and pesticides on crops and then on human beings. “Though a lot of studies have been conducted on the subject, nothing much has been done so far.” For her research, she has already spent six months in Talwandi Sabo and two villages in the most affected area.
“Next on the cards are four villages in the Bathinda district, including Mahinagar and Saikhpura, the worst hit villages.” Conclusions won’t be drawn after mere observation as she plans for an objective view. “I want to make it public what people of the area want and their problems by making them fill questionnaires and encouraging them speak their mind.” What initiated her into it, was not the known facts that pesticides are being used unmindful of their consequences but “that nobody has an idea of the exact quantity. In the past three decades, the increase in the use of pesticides for any given crop has been 13 folds.”
Aayesha Sandhu from the city is studying psychology from Mother Teresa University, Chennai. It’s there she realised the real essence of women power, which she explains as, “There are a massive three lakh women self-help groups (SHWG) in Andhra Pradesh, one lalk in Tamil Nadu and a mere 6,000 in Punjab. The reason— women don’t have a say here in our state.” Figures were enough to inspire her to try to bring the model in the Punjab. “I, along with the team members, visited a few villages and educated women about the SHWG. But, before bringing the model here, it was important to know what women can take up as employment as in the South, the culture is different,” she says. So, crafts of Punjab like Phulkari will get impetus here. She is also measuring the success rate of the SHWGs in Punjab. “The results have been very positive.” She cites an example, “A woman in a village, who is a member of a SHWG, has been able to buy a cow and is supplying milk to nearby
villages.” In next six months, she plans to take SHWGs to at least a dozen more villages.”
The prominent commonality among these three youngsters thus is their urban backgrounds and future rural projects. The different being made for sure!
ashima@tribunemail.com
27.11.09
A Pictoral Showcase~ 28th & 29th Nov,Chandigarh Arts Fest.
A Pictoral Landscape On Colours of The Punjab
An Invitation to Explore the Socio,Economic and Environmental Impact of Modern Agricultural Methods and the Changing Role of Women
How to effect change ?
An Initiative for a Forum for Exchange of Ideas
An opportunity to combine wisdom & environmental responsibility..
Let's Talk About it ?!?
http://twitter.com/moontazar
Facebook Group - The RE-Action
Blog - http://cartographying.blogspot.com/
An Invitation to Explore the Socio,Economic and Environmental Impact of Modern Agricultural Methods and the Changing Role of Women
How to effect change ?
An Initiative for a Forum for Exchange of Ideas
An opportunity to combine wisdom & environmental responsibility..
Let's Talk About it ?!?
http://twitter.com/moontazar
Facebook Group - The RE-Action
Blog - http://cartographying.blogspot.com/
24.11.09
17.11.09
plastic free vegetables
At the local farmer's market (sabzi mandi) what a delight to see all vegetables devoid and free of any kind of wrap-around(s)..
12.11.09
6.11.09
games
The annual sports day at my mum's school in chandigarh,Shri Guru Gobind ji Khalsa School
"I don't care if I am last in the race,i am enjoying the ride,that's all!"
the long and short of it
the one who stayed behind
First,Second,Third, or is it the other way round?
the happy and spunky poser
generation generation generation
"Come on, you can do it ! It's boring by myself up there!"
Malangs of Shah Hussain's Mazaar-Lahore
spell binding
i was here.
SAARC FOLKLORE FESTIVAL
CHANDIGARH 6-9 NOV 09
enthralled to hear baba bulleh shah,warris shah,shah hussein & ambojh in the span of the same evening..
4.11.09
indian farmers suicides
Selling Off the Wife
Following on from the suicidal farmers, ABC in Australia reports that drought-hit farmers in northern India are resorting to selling their wives to repay debts to local loan sharks, activists say, as one of the weakest monsoons in years takes its toll.
Poverty, poor administration and a lack of education means farmers in the rugged Bundelkhand region are taking extreme steps to pull through a poor rainy season, they say.
"This has been happening for quite some time now, but people were hesitant to come out with all this," said Manoj Kumar, a social activist working with farmers in the area.
Excluded from the formal banking sector, the poverty-stricken farmers often turn to usurious private money lenders when banks refuse them loans or even accounts.
After five years of poor crop yields and steadily decreasing rainfall, the crushing weight of the high interest payments has led to a well-documented spate of suicides and increasing cases of human-trafficking.
Another social worker, Shailendra Sagar, said the situation of farmers in Bundelkhand, a region that spans the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, was "pathetic."
"They are living in debt. Selling off one's wife or daughters is the last resort," he said.
The sale price for married women is hard to ascertain and their fate after being sold is equally difficult to follow.
Local reports have suggested wives can be pawned or sold for anything between one rupee to 12,000 rupees ($US240 dollars).
Some women are sold under the guise of a legal marriage, complete with a formal contract, but activists believe others end up being exploited by prostitution rings.
In the last four to five years around 50 per cent of the region's population has left Bundelkhand villages to find work in cities, and at least 500 farmers have committed suicide, according to various Indian media reports.
For India's 235 million farmers, a bad monsoon can spell financial disaster because of the lack of irrigation.
Low rains have ravaged India's rice, cane sugar and groundnut crops, and have disrupted the flow of water into the main reservoirs that are vital for hydropower generation and winter irrigation.
About 40 per cent of India's districts have declared a drought, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) this week said the country faced a 20-percent annual rainfall deficiency, though that figure is expected to improve with recent patchy rains.
Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi, said research had identified Bundelkhand as one of the regions most vulnerable to sex trafficking.
"This region is famous for that. Even earlier such incidents have happened, it's not the first time," she said.
Some farmers are aware that they are selling their wives to prostitution rings, Ms Kumari added, but "they do it out of absolute desperation. They have absolutely no other alternative before them."
A government-funded scheme in which states are obliged to guarantee 100 days of paid employment per year to villagers has yet to be fully implemented in Bundelkhand.
"There are no specially dedicated schemes to develop these regions. If skill training was delivered, this whole situation would have been different in the past six decades," said Ms Kumari.
Shocking! But out of interest, how much do you think you could get for your spouse / partner?
Following on from the suicidal farmers, ABC in Australia reports that drought-hit farmers in northern India are resorting to selling their wives to repay debts to local loan sharks, activists say, as one of the weakest monsoons in years takes its toll.
Poverty, poor administration and a lack of education means farmers in the rugged Bundelkhand region are taking extreme steps to pull through a poor rainy season, they say.
"This has been happening for quite some time now, but people were hesitant to come out with all this," said Manoj Kumar, a social activist working with farmers in the area.
Excluded from the formal banking sector, the poverty-stricken farmers often turn to usurious private money lenders when banks refuse them loans or even accounts.
After five years of poor crop yields and steadily decreasing rainfall, the crushing weight of the high interest payments has led to a well-documented spate of suicides and increasing cases of human-trafficking.
Another social worker, Shailendra Sagar, said the situation of farmers in Bundelkhand, a region that spans the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, was "pathetic."
"They are living in debt. Selling off one's wife or daughters is the last resort," he said.
The sale price for married women is hard to ascertain and their fate after being sold is equally difficult to follow.
Local reports have suggested wives can be pawned or sold for anything between one rupee to 12,000 rupees ($US240 dollars).
Some women are sold under the guise of a legal marriage, complete with a formal contract, but activists believe others end up being exploited by prostitution rings.
In the last four to five years around 50 per cent of the region's population has left Bundelkhand villages to find work in cities, and at least 500 farmers have committed suicide, according to various Indian media reports.
For India's 235 million farmers, a bad monsoon can spell financial disaster because of the lack of irrigation.
Low rains have ravaged India's rice, cane sugar and groundnut crops, and have disrupted the flow of water into the main reservoirs that are vital for hydropower generation and winter irrigation.
About 40 per cent of India's districts have declared a drought, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) this week said the country faced a 20-percent annual rainfall deficiency, though that figure is expected to improve with recent patchy rains.
Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi, said research had identified Bundelkhand as one of the regions most vulnerable to sex trafficking.
"This region is famous for that. Even earlier such incidents have happened, it's not the first time," she said.
Some farmers are aware that they are selling their wives to prostitution rings, Ms Kumari added, but "they do it out of absolute desperation. They have absolutely no other alternative before them."
A government-funded scheme in which states are obliged to guarantee 100 days of paid employment per year to villagers has yet to be fully implemented in Bundelkhand.
"There are no specially dedicated schemes to develop these regions. If skill training was delivered, this whole situation would have been different in the past six decades," said Ms Kumari.
Shocking! But out of interest, how much do you think you could get for your spouse / partner?
3.11.09
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