:: Delhi Greens ::

Image theme: Rainbow from the Tricolour, at Teen Murti Bhawan, New Delhi

Environment and Health Public Lecture Series

Climate Change is expected to hit the poorest and marginalised the most. Since women form a disproportionate share of the poor in developing countries and communities that are highly dependent on local natural resources, women are likely to be highly vulnerable to the effects of Climate Change.

Women are primary care-givers in times of disaster and environmental stress, the occurrence of magnified burdens of care-giving is likely to make them less mobile. Also, since Climate Change is expected to further worsen the existing shortfalls in water resources and firewood the time taken to fetch water or wood will increase women’s workloads, thus, scuttling their opportunities to branch out into other, non-traditional activities.

The issue of rising global temperatures has been receiving great policy and civil society attention in India. But there is a need for these conversations to become more broad-based. Analyising the impacts of global warming from a gender perspective is critical for a more equitable counter and remedial strategies.

For highlighting the need for such a perspective and related challenges, ToxicsLink and IIC invite concerned citizens for a public lecture on:

Weathering the storm: Time for gender perspective on climate change

Speaker:

▲ Dr. (Mrs.) Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe)

Film Screening:

▲ Global Warming - A fable from the Himalayas, A tale about a young boy who finds a solution for Global Warming from a monk in the mountains, by Nitin Das

Date: 25th January 2008, Friday
Time: 6:30 PM
Venue: Conference Room I, India International Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.

In collaboration with India International Centre

 Invitation: Public Lecture

For further information, please contact:

Pragya Majumder
Telephone: (011) 24320711, 24328006
Email: pragya@toxicslink.org

Sambodhi - an initiative catering to research and allied service needs of the social sector for design and development of state-of-art knowledge ware products and provision of knowledge-based services is organising a training programme for trainers!

Programme title: ‘International Training Programme on Logical Framework Analysis for Designing Development Projects’
Duration: 6 Days, From 18th to 23th February 2008
Venue: New Delhi

The programme is aimed to augment existing knowledge of the participants on Logical Framework Approach with concurrent enhancement of skills for using the approach for development project design. The programme is for strategic and tactical level development professionals working with Donor agencies, Government Departments, NGOs and consultants involved in designing, operationalizing, monitoring and evaluating large scale development projects.

Specifically, the training is aimed at:

• Facilitating a better understanding of the Logical Framework Approach

• Enhancing knowledge about the sequential steps of Logical Framework Analysis

• Augmenting essential skills for performing Logical Framework Analysis in different development scenarios

• Developing requisite skills for using analyses for developing the Logical Framework Analysis Project Planning Matrix

• Enhancing knowledge for Developing Detailed Project Reports using thr Logical Framework Analysis Project Planning Matrix

Upon completion of the training programme, participants would be able to

• Describe the Logical Framework Approach
• Describe and illustrate the steps in performing Logical Framework Analysis
• Describe Stakeholder analysis and perform stakeholder analysis on a given scenario
• Describe Problem analysis and develop problem tree
• Describe Alternative analysis and select the best possible alternatives for the identified problem
• Describe Objective Analysis and perform objective analysis based on the problem tree
• Describe the Project Planning Matrix and its various components
• Define goal, objectives and outputs
• Describe the process of and set goals, objectives and outputs
• Define indicators
• Describe the process of indicator development and design indicators for the given goals, objectives and outputs
• Develop the Project Planning Matrix
• Describe the essential elements of a Detailed Project Report
• Describe the process of translating the Project Planning Matrix into Detailed Project Report

Fees: The fee for the training programme is USD 1000/- per participant.

 Interested individuals/organisations can check out the Flyer containting more details, detailed time table and the application form by clicking here

For further details, please contact:

Rajata Nayak,
Senior Executive,
Sambodhi Research & Communications,
H-35 A, LGF, Kalkaji New Delhi-110019
+91-11-40560734

Center de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi -  a Scientific Research Centre engaged in major issues of contemporary India and South Asia in the face of the challenges of globalisation, is organising a two day workshop on “Territorial Integration and Exclusion: Impact of Urban Policies and Law” in collaboration with the India International Center on January 31st and 1st of February, 2008.

Registration: If you wish to attend the workshop, please contact veronique.dupont@ird.fr with your Name, Affiliation, Contact Address and Email.

Click here to for more information.
 

Public Lecture

Kartikeya Singh
kartikeya@delhigreens.org

It is 8:30 PM on January 10th, 2008. I am writing from the famous Ranthambore National Park–known for its tigers–where 80% of the world’s “tiger in the wild” photos are taken. I have been on two game drives and seen no tigers. It is said that here are somewhere between 30 to 40 tigers in this 400 sq km sanctuary. Much has been done to protect the species from certain extinction on this subcontinent of 1.03 billion people. Here the battle that will determine which India wins – the urban/”shining India” or the rural/depressed India – is being waged on the basis of land. As people are moved out of parks to make way for non-community based conservation in this part of India, on the eastern side, of the country people are being bought off (forcibly) from productive farm lands to make way for an auto manufacturing plant. This single manufacturing plant is going to redefine the way the world moves – starting with the Indians.

It is 8:45 PM on January 10th, 2008 and on TV I am seeing the long awaited release of the “People’s Car” by Tata Motors. The car is the cheapest the world has seen yet with a base price of Rs. 1 Lakh – all of this having met the Indian safety standards as well as pollution standards (Euro IV). The idea was to provide a car within easier reach of the burgeoning middle class and despite all the nay sayers, Tata may have pulled this off. It is a four door car with a 33 hrs power engine and it is called the “Nano.” This name being chosen to signify the innovation possibilities (of doing a lot with a little) thanks to improvements in technology. Unfortunately the car may be diesel powered - wreaking havoc on the reduced suspended particulates achieved in cities like New Delhi through forced use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by the city’s public transport. However it is said to have fuel efficiency of 20 km/L or 50 mpg – which is just as good as any Japanese Hybrid. And if the world DOES figure out biofuels, then the diesel engine may not be so bad.

Whether this car will truly benefit the “common man,” presumably those living in rural areas as argued by some of the car’s advocates, or simply turn into a traffic and pollution nightmare for the already taxed urban Indian–is yet to be seen. Rest assured its impact will send ripple effects across the globe–be it global fuel price or temperature rise (and I wont even mention the hike in consumption of resources used for the construction of the vehicle–yes it’s steel!).

It is 9:00pm on January 10th, 2008. The world will look back on this day surely. I do not know whether I will see any tigers tomorrow either, but I know that I am a little bit more uncertain about their future in this new India which has turned yet another page on its path of industrialization.

Tigers: Here today, gone tomorrow?

Tata Nano: Coming soon to a store near…you?

*Jan. 11, 2008* I did not see any tigers today and I found out that none have been spotted within the last few days by anyone on a game drive.

________
A 2007 graduate of Furman University, Kartikeya Singh is here in India on a Compton Fellowhip currently assessing the barriers to decentralized renewable energy systems for rural India under the guidance of Sunita Narain, Director - Center for Science & Environment. The above article was written by him from the fringes of the Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan.

Swechha - a Delhi based NGO calls for applications from interested people who wish to join people from all over the world to live a myriad of experiences and colours along the banks of the ancient, holy and mystical River Yamuna!

Take the Epic Journey of Self Discovery and Adventure and Let the River tell Her StoryThe Yamuna Yatra is a 12-day journey along the banks of the River Yamuna, exploring the ecological, social, cultural, mystical, spiritual and political facets of the river.

Parivartan - a not-for-profit society working towards development of individual and institutional capacities in various thematic areas for development project management is launching a new training programme titled, ‘Markets & Marketing for Livelihood Practitioners’.

This programme is designed for personnel in development agencies and projects; and development professionals involved in market related livelihood interventions.   Parivartan’s initiatives are supported by knowledge inputs from Sambodhi Research & Communications Pvt. Ltd.; a leading training and development consultancy organisation.

Duration: 3 Days (28 - 30 January, 2008)
Venue: New Delhi

Who should attend
The programme is designed for operational and middle level functionaries, practitioners and consultants involved in designing, implementation, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation of market related livelihood enhancement interventions.

Training Outcomes
The training is specifically aimed at building institutional and individual capacities in linking livelihoods to market and developing appreciation of the need and rationale for integrating market concerns in planning and implementation of livelihood projects.

The training outcomes would be:

• Enhanced understanding of design and execution of market driven livelihood projects
• Enhanced skills for mapping markets and identification of market based interventions
• Enhanced skills for linking existing products and services to the available markets

Programme Fee
Fee for the programme is INR 6,000 per participant. Payments can be made through demand draft in favour of “Parivartan Samaj Sewa Samiti” payable at New Delhi.

Click here to read the Programme Flyer

For further information, contact:

Amrat Singh
Manager-Programmes
‘PARIVARTAN’
H-35 A, LGF, Kalkaji,
New Delhi-110019

Phone: +91-11-40560734, 65492502
Mobile: 09312510925
E-mail: contact@parivartan.org.in
Website: www.parivartan.org.in

Pankhuri Singh
pankhuri@delhigreens.org 

Today there are more than six billion people on this planet, all needing to EAT, and we have seen the rise to power of giant multinational corporations, eager to exploit the opportunity of such a vast global market. In order to produce more and more food, either to feed hungry people or to satisfy the WANTS–as distinct from the NEEDS-of today’s materialistic urban elite, agricultural methods have changed.

The aim of the ever more powerful corporations, with the support of government they help to bring to power, is to produce as much as food possible, as cheaply as possible with maximum profit for the shareholders.

We live in an era when the poisoning of earth, water and air by agricultural chemicals is making people, animals and environment SICK! An era when tropical rain forests are clear cut to grow corn to feed to cattle .When animals raised for food are farmed more and more intensively without SPACE or DIGNITY and FED RICH, often UNNATURAL foods to ensure that they put on as much weight, or produce as much milk, or lay as many eggs as possible, in shortest time, for the greatest profit per animal per day.

Most of us have NO IDEA that these corporations control increasing areas of farmland around the world along with the increasing numbers of seeds from which our food is grown-in monocultures in huge and POISONED fields. Most people don’t know that the corporations have taken over the production of meat as well. Or that they are gradually FORCING OUT the last of the traditional small family farmers! Nor have most people realized the speed with which multinational corporations are taking over local grocery stores that once sold local produce. Indeed, many of our regional foods, our rich diversity of crops are now considered ENDANGERED because of the CORPORATION CONTROL OVER OUR FOOD AND CULTURE.

The trouble is, industrial farming typically harms the farmland itself. In older days farmers rotated their crops and their livestock, and often allowed fields to lie fallow for a year every so often. With this kind of consideration, the land remained fertile for hundred of years. But when agribusiness steps in and takes over, commonsense land management goes out of the window. The big corporations are interested in IMMEDIATE PROFIT FOR THE SHORT TERM and show little concern for future generations. More and more land, worldwide, is gradually being killed by libations of chemical fertilizers along with chemical pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.

A monoculture again is like putting all eggs in one basket! So that if a farmer loses his one and only crop-as a result of disease or adverse weather-he will suffer TERRIBLY. In the old days there would have been another kind of crop coming along to help keep his bank balance healthy. So, naturally the modern farmer is desperate to keep his one and only crop alive. He adds more and more of chemical fertilizers (many of which contain lead, arsenic and at times mercury-often introduced through the introduction of sewage sludge fertilizer) to the soil and sprays chemical pesticides on the crop. Eventually the soil becomes COMPLETELY DEPLETED OF NUTRIENTS and the farm’s entire ecosystem becomes dependent on CHEMICAL LIFE SUPPORT. Perhaps this explains the part of the reason of FARMER SUICIDES in India or anywhere else.

Did you know that EACH YEAR ABOUT THREE MILLION TONS OF FARM CHEMICALS ARE APPLIED TO THE SURFACE OF THIS PLANET? The damage done by these CHEMICAL ASSASSINS CANNOT BE OVERLOOKED! They escape into the environment, evaporate into the jet stream and fall in our rain and snowflakes; they are lifted by the wind and drift into our backyards, our play grounds, our preserved wilderness areas and even our organic farms; they sink into the soil and leach into our groundwater, reservoirs and wells; they find their way into our lakes, rivers and oceans; and of course, they can end up in the bodies of animals and US!

As documented by Prince Charles in 1998, “We simply do not know the long-term consequences for human health and the wider environment. If something does go badly wrong, we will be faced with the problem of clearing a kind of pollution which is self-perpetuating, I am not convinced that anyone has the first idea of how this could be done”.

I believe its time we UNDERSTOOD and VALUE our relationship
with food so that it DOES take us to healthy thoughts!

Festival of the Sun, Celebrating the Earth…

Lohri, Bhogi, Makar Sankranti, Magha, Bhogali Bihu, Khichri, Pongal - MUBARAQ

Please join us for chai followed by music by Children from different groups, Bidhan and Madan Gopal Singh
 
at 5.30 PM
14th January, 2008
 
back lawns
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
Teen Murthi Bhavan
New Delhi
 
Oneness of the sun and diversity of the earth…

Winter with its harsh climes and chilly nights begins to give way to what will be spring, as the sun shifts into the Northern skies - Uttarayan - and this is celebrated as

Lohri, Bhogi, Makar Sankranti, Magha, Bhogali Bihu, Khichri, Pongal.

Winter solstice marked variedly as the new year, Christmas, the night of Yelda/ Yalda celebrated across Iran, Syria Afghanistan all mark shift…of seasons…

…and seasons have to change, lets sing, celebrate what’s beautiful and change the seasons…

As we celebrate the change of seasons - we also share our fears and concerns about the imminent dangers of glimate change which threaten the very pattern of seasons .

As we celebrate the earth we also celebrate the farmer, the women and men who work with the earth, work tirelessly to make food available for every one and all who work with them, the artisan, the bulls, cattle and all living beings like the birds, bees who make agriculture and life itself possible.
 
We have a day with children in the morning playing games, learning astronomy, with plays, music all related to this festival…

In the evening we have music, a symbolic lohri fire, some desi traditional goodies and lots of bonhomie…

We have some presentations by children and youth groups

followed by Bidhan

and

Sufi and Folk by Madan Gopal Singh

Please do join us by 5.30 for chai followed by music

With deep regardss and warm wishes
 
Celebrationally yours
Jaya 
(the) shanti shalom peace….(lady)!