Media

This Page displays some of the media coverage of Delhi Greens activities from the inception of the organisation in 2017 till April 2013. Subsequent archive of the Media Coverage of Delhi Greens activities is compiled on the Delhi Greens website and can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

• Delhi Greens Featured in the Media
• Delhi Greens Quoted in the Media
• Article by Delhi Greens in the Media

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April 9, 2013 | Hindustan Times

‘Develop around greens, not through it’
Darpan Singh

Govind Singh, who works with Delhi Greens, a non-governmental organisation working on biodiversity and tree conservation issues, spoke to Darpan Singh on the need to change our policies and priorities.

There are so many laws to protect trees. Is adherence an issue? Our policies and priorities have to change. When we have to build Metro lines or flyovers, trees are cut easily. Land-owning agencies such as the Delhi Development Authority and the Central Public Works Department think only in terms of the so-called development. Even agencies such as Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, which are given land for development, do not have a balanced view.

[Click here to read the full article online]

 

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April 4, 2013 | Deccan Herald

River cast: The Shadow Cast by Toxicity
Neha Das

Metrolife spoke to few environmentalists for their stand on the river’s harmful effects. Govind Singh, Director, Delhi Greens, an NGO studying the Yamuna imbroglio, said, “It is no longer a river now, it is a drain. The water has many metals, and is high in lead and iron; the vegetables grown on the banks also contain these metals. What is terrible is that these toxic substances get accumulated in the body. The bones weaken, digestion is affected and there are low metabolism problems.”

[Click here to read full story online]

 

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July 5, 2012 | Deccan Herald

Losing Natural Reserves
Baishali Adak

Govind Singh, a research scholar on environmental studies at DU says, “These days, drinking water from packaged bottles, people tend to think that water must be coming from Bisleri. The truth is that water comes from nature, not Bisleri. And nature has many ways of providing us fresh water, one of them being these ponds.

[Click here to read full story online]

 

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November 3, 2010 | India Today (Hindi)

Misaal-Bemisaal: Paryavaran Ke Chittere
Narendra Saini

[Click here to read the full article]

 

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October 12, 2010 | Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC (Radio Australia)

Hopes for Delhi’s clean air to continue beyond Games
Jane Cowan

Speakers: Dr Vivek Nangar, Department of Pulmonology at the Fortis Hospital; Anumita Roychowdhry, associate director of Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment; A P Ja(ya)nt(h)i, research coordinator with the non-profit organisation Delhi Greens

PETER CAVE: It’s one of the things that has gone right for Delhi during the Games – air quality. Atmospheric pollution has actually subsided in the last decade despite the city’s growth. But with more and more people able to afford cars, air quality is again under threat. There’s hope the massive investment in public transport spurred by the Commonwealth Games will stem the flow of car ownership.

From New Delhi, Jane Cowan reports. (bird noises)

JANE COWAN: In the centre of teeming Delhi there is a rare piece of serenity.

A P JA(YA)NT(H)I: The place where we are standing is a central ridge, and as you can see, there is a huge amount of trees, and you can see the biodiversity.

JANE COWAN: A P Janti is a research coordinator with the non-profit organisation Delhi Greens and sees this park as a lung for the city.

AP JANTI: But unfortunately, a lot of people in Delhi doesn’t know about this place. So, that’s why we organise eco tours, to bring people here, and to recognise that this is also a part of this city, so that they love these places, and actually conserve them.

[Click here to continue reading the story or to hear it online]

 

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December 9, 2009 | Mail Today

Going green is the way of life
Preetha Nair

It’s an all-girl youth delegation that is representing India at the climate change summit in Copenhagen. Looks like there is something after all to the theory that women can drive the campaign against global warming and climate change.

Ramsha Sajid, 16, and Aadya Dube, 17, from Bhopal, Delhi-based Ruchika Pokhriyal, 19, and Deeksha Singh, 20, from Patna were selected by the World Wide Fund for Nature – India and the Union ministry of environment and forests through ‘ Prithvi Ratna’, a national level essay writing competition on climate change…..

…….Vidya Subramanian, 25, whose association with the green cause began after she landed a job with Teri, says “One doesn’t need to hold a degree in environmental science to pitch for the cause. I just care for nature.” Subramanian, who is also a member of NGO Delhi Greens, says: “We intend to inculcate responsibility among people to protect our green cover. Delhi Greens conduct eco- tours to environmental hot spots to sensitise people.

[Click here to continue reading this article online]

 

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September 1, 2010 | Outlook Traveller Magazine

Dilli Darshan

Delhi may be vast and chaotic, but in these past pages, we may have convinced you that it’s well worth exploring. Happily, there are more than enough guides to go around. Here’s a list that has a little something for everyone: the touristy route, insider tracks, wildlife, history (naturally), even food. (All fees are per person, unless we’ve specified otherwise. Oh, and it’s best to register in advance for most of these walks and tours…..

Nature

• Delhi Greens Founded by Govind Singh in 2006, this non-profit organisation’s aim is to introduce the green spaces in Delhi, both well known and secret, by conducting guided excursions usually between the months of October and March. Popular trips include the Yamuna and the Aravali biodiversity parks and the Bhuli Bhatiyari park in Jhandewalan. Fee: Rs 1,000, includes transfers from a central location, all-day guided tour, lunch and a kit with eco-friendly goodies. Contact: Vidya (9899472335)

 

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September 28, 2009 | Hindustan Times

Stop at the Green Signal
Girija Duggal

On World Green Consumer Day, Delhi youngsters give a thumbs up to eco-friendly products

Jute versus plastic. Bamboo versus wood. Organic versus synthetic. What you buy can destroy the earth–or save it. That’s the message of the day, as the world celebrates Green Consumer Day. And a growing number of young Delhiites are aware of this need to buy green.

Take, for example, the sibling trio of Prashant, Hema and Jyotsna Narang, all DU students. Three years ago, they launched Tatsat, `the socially conscious store’, in Hauz Khas, to spread awareness about buying eco-friendly products. The response, they say, “has been very good”. Explaining their philosophy, Prashant says, “Every rupee that you spend is more powerful than a vote. If consumers are aware, not only will they stop using unsustainable products, they will make others stop, too.”

Like them, Aastha Kukreti, 24, co-founded environmental NGO Delhi Greens after graduating from IP University. She practices what she preaches, too — she buys organic produce, uses public transport and never uses deodorants. “They contain chlorofluorocarbons,” she says simply……

[Click here or thumbnail to read the full story]

 

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August 2, 2009 | The Telegraph (Calcutta, India)

Green Warriors
Saving Planet Earth is the top priority for a new group of environmental businessmen and activists, says Sushmita Biswas

….Crucially, however, the new campaigners aren’t fiery radicals who demand that we return to a Garden of Eden world without automobiles and other energy guzzling machines. Most of them have carefully taken a middle-path to usher in change. “We want development to happen and at the same time reduce environmental degradation by adopting certain healthy green practices,” says Delhi entrepreneur Govind Singh.

Singh is, in fact, a perfect example of the new breed. The 25-year-old runs an organisation, Delhi Greens, that conducts bus eco-tours to environmental hotspots and green areas around the city.

[Click here to read the rest of this story on The Telegraph Online]

 

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June 26-July 9, 2009 | Time Out Delhi

25 Under 30
Avtar Singh et al

Govind Singh
Environmentalist, 25

That a botanist would receive news of the felling of around 1,000 trees in Delhi with concern shouldn’t be surprising. But, since March of 2007, when all those trees were cut down in Delhi University’s North Campus, Govind Singh hasn’t exactly been wringing his hands. The Delhi Greens blog (www.delhigreens.com) was an outcome of the events of that month. That was a collaborative effort, and the blog survives. The organisation itself took shape and was registered in April 2008.

Since then, in May last year, Singh coordinated the Delhi Youth Summit on Climate, and Delhi Greens was associated with the public arts project 48c.Public.Art.Ecology late last year. They provided all the volunteers for the festival (around 80). Singh is particularly proud of the initiative that Delhi Greens came up with for the festival, the Urban Ecotour. “The underlying idea [of the tours] is to connect the people of Delhi back to the city,” he said. The tours themselves threw up urban situations of the most piquant sort, such as people who thought they knew the Connaught Place area being flummoxed when they saw Agrasen Ki Baoli, and hardened Dilliwalas admitting they’d never actually been down to the Yamuna. Outside Bhuli Bhatiyari Park (near Jhandewalan), some policemen tried to stop the group from entering. The people in the tour just waved the cops aside, to Singh’s delight, asserting their right to enter a “public space”. These tours have ceased for summer, but will be back once the weather improves.

His vision for Delhi Greens is intimately connected with his plans for Delhi’s future. Down the line, he wants to be part of an “effective urban planning watchdog”, working to ensure that “the only development Delhi witnesses is sustainable”. He’s committed to Delhi in the long term. As he said of this city, “I simply cannot think of an alternative – that exists or may ever exist!” The good news is that he’s currently studying Environmental Studies, right here at Delhi University. He’s serving his apprenticeship where he hopes to work, and that can only be a good thing.

 

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June 1-15, 2009 | Time Out Delhi

Shades of Green: The Middle Path

Avtar Singh et al

To celebrate World Environment Day and to keep the momentum going, Time Out Delhi’s recent (June) edition has brought together the whole palette of green: hardliners, pragmatists, those who fight in the courts and those who make money off their green beliefs. The question it asks is, where do you fit in?

The middle path

That environmental degradation has a human cost is by now universally accepted. That the eco-movement may have one as well is something that those walking the middle path strive to keep in mind, says Avtar Singh.

Practical environmentalism. Thank 24-year-old Govind Singh of Delhi Greens for, if not coining the term, then at least bringing it to this magazine’s attention. As far as Singh is concerned, that phrase encapsulates what he personally is trying to achieve. As he pointed out, environmental degradation is a consequence of human action. Hence, people themselves need to be made more sensitive, and need to work themselves to undo the damage where possible. That approach will only work “if environmentalism is something everyone can relate to and not consider to be anti-development”, said Singh over email.

Click here to read the rest of this story online

 

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May 31, 2009 | Rajasthan Patrika

Ek Sapna Hariyaali Ka

By Uma Vishnu

 

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May 3, 2009 | Indian Express

The Good Earth Club

By Uma Vishnu

They take off on eco-caravans, cycle for change and represent India at climate meets. They are the young men and women who are taking the lead in whipping up opinion and lobbying the government into acting—fast.

GOVIND SINGH, 24, DELHI GREENS

Like any 24-year-old, Govind Singh takes positions that are strident. Except, his issues are somewhat different………

VIDYA SUBRAMANIAN, 25, DELHI GREENS, DELHI

As a features writer with a high-profile lifestyle magazine, Vidya wrote articles on ‘How to make nagging work for you’ and ……

……I felt I should be more active than that,” she says. So a year and six months later, she quit to “simply follow Govind and his Delhi Greens team around the city”.

Click here to read this story online

 

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April 23, 2009 | Indian Express

Adopt a drain: on Earth Day, govt launches plan for beautifying city

By Neha Sinha

This Commonwealth Games, get ready for drains that, if not cleaner, at least look more colourful. In a novel project, the Delhi government is opening up the city’s dirtiest drains for ‘adoption’ and beautification to interested schools, colleges and institutions……..

…….NGO Delhi Greens and Development Alternatives also launched the Delhi Environment Action Network (Delhi-EAN) in the presence of officials from the Ministry of Environment and Forest. “This will be a network of concerned citizens of Delhi and various civil society organisations based or working in Delhi. We will address tree felling, the pitiable state of the Yamuna, the polythene mess and the transport crisis,” said Govind Singh of the Delhi-EAN.

Click above or here to read the story online

 

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March 30, 2009 | Hindustan Times

Delhi Kids Show the Way

By Avishek G Dastidar

In Delhi, children made sure that grownups switch off the lights during Earth Hour on Saturday. Sixth-standard student Anand Chowdhary of Mother’s International School campaigning for Earth Hour in his neighbourhood. He and his little sister downloaded Earth Hour logo and made 100 badges and distributed among neighbours in Greater Kailash-2 in South Delhi………..

Students in Delhi University chipped in too. Six hostels in North Campus kept their lights off after volunteers from the School of Environment spoke to hostellers in the morning. “With each hostel having around 40 rooms, some 240 rooms were shrouded in darkness yesterday,” said Govind Singh, of Delhi Greens and the DU Environment Forum.

[Click here to read this story online]

 

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March 23, 2009 | The Hindu

Delhi students re-discover Yamuna’s beauty

New Delhi (IANS)

A clear blue Yamuna in Delhi… surprised? That’s what a group of young enthusiasts discovered during a bus tour along stretches of the river on World Water Day Sunday, and they promised to do more to conserve the dying river.

Delhi Greens, a non-governmental initiative of youngsters working on environmental issues, organised an eco bus tour which took the participants to the Bhaleswa landfill and lake complex, the Yamuna biodiversity park, Wazirabad barrage and finally concluded at the Pontoon bridge on the Yamuna near the Tibetan monastery in north Delhi.

Vidya Subramanian, one of the organisers of the tour, said: “This tour was specifically for the (World) Water Day. Instead of complaining about the dirt, we wanted people to realise that there are still portions of the river which do not stink like the rest in the city and we have to protect it. Nearly 90 percent of those who have come on the tour are students.”

“We have been organising various urban eco bus tours which aim to bring the city’s people closer to the environment around them and make them conscious that they are responsible for conserving it,” Subramanian told IANS.

[Click here to continue reading this story]

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March 23, 2009 | Indian Express

Eco tour takes Delhiites back to city waterbodies

By Neha Sinha

“LOOK at the beautiful water, and the mountain in the background,” ecologist Govind Singh said to a motley group of professionals and students on Sunday.  As a footnote, he wryly added that the “mountain” was an undulating hill of garbage at the Bhalaswa landfill and the “water” a three-and-a-half feet deep shrinking waterbody……..

……On the occasion of World Water Day, Singh, a member of Delhi Greens, took Delhiites back to the waterbodies that once defined the city, and are today struggling to survive.

A group of people were taken on an eco-tour of waterbodies in the city. They also visited the Wazirabad barrage, the point at which the Yamuna enters the Capital, for a rediscovery of the river, and also to do what Delhiites rarely dare: touch the waters of the Yamuna without flinching. “At Wazirabad barrage, the water is clean and supports life,” Singh said pointing towards the water, which had fish, algal blooms and water birds.

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March 6-19, 2009 | Time Out Delhi

Speak Out: The Greater Good (Cover Story)

Govind Singh (Delhi Greens) explains why support for a functioning public transport system helps everyone, and why the Metro needs to be seen in the context of a larger transport policy that includes buses as well.

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December 21, 2008 | Indian Express

Dilli Darshan with a difference

By V Shoba

Most of us beeline through the streets of Delhi, barely skimming its surface. In our unseeing everydayness, tales from the distant past are lost among the shadows of high-rises, the grey of the tarmac bleeds into the patches of green, and winter is just a cumbersome period of the year that forces us into our lumpy woolens.

But for the members of Delhi Greens and the organisers of 48°C—a contemporary art ecology festival that closes today—the city is more than a cluster of impersonal buildings………

…….As Govind Singh—who founded Delhi Greens in March 2007—and his colleagues Rishabh Parmar and Vasudha Mehta, explain the relevance of a bavdi, someone comes up with a kooky idea: why not use the monument as an open-air theatre? It doesn’t take long for the group to warm up to Delhi’s backstory—and to each other.

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December 14, 2008 | Indian Express

How green was my city: eco-tourism on wheels shows impact of pollution

By Express News Service

New Delhi: Students, scientists and concerned citizens came together today to reconnect with the green spaces in the city and learn about lesser-known sites of ecological significance. The Urban Eco-tourism Bus trip was organised by the Delhi Greens organisation as a part of the ongoing 48C Public-Art-Ecology Festival.

The tour covered the northern part of Delhi with the Bhalswa Lake near Wazirpur, Yamuna Biodiversity Park and Roshnara Garden near the Delhi University North Campus as the tour sites……“We are trying to show people the kind of ecological damage that has happened and what we could have if we try and conserve the environment,” said Rishabh, a member of Delhi Greens and one of the organisers of the tour.

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December 13, 2008 | Indian Express

A Walk Through the Greens

Delhi Urban Ecotourism Bus Trip

13th December 2008

0900 hours to 1300 hours

Inauguration by: Dr. B.C. Sabat

Senior Scientific Officer

Department of Environment,

Govt of NCT of Delhi

 

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December 12, 2008 | Indian Express

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December 11, 2008 | Hindustan Times

Delhi’s Saturday Greens

By Avishek G Dastidar

A unique trip aimed to acquaint people with city’s green spaces, initiate action

New Delhi: A mountainous pile of garbage, nauseating stench and the countless crows and kites circling overhead – this is the infamous Ghazipur landfill in East Delhi. Now, imagine a bunch of enthusiastic tourists visiting this landfill in a bus on a weekend, clicking pictures and generally taking in the unique multi-sensory experience…….

…..”The eco-tourism potential of Delhi is little understood, and least explored,” said Govind Singh, founder-head of tour designer Delhi Greens, a conservationists’ forum constituted by former students of Environmental streams at Delhi University. “Along with green spaces, add landfills, the resettlement colonies, the drains and the political ecology of urban planning – and we cover the gamut of conservation and active community participation to make an ideal urban eco-tourism trip,” he said…….

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November 26, 2008 | LiveMint

Cong claim on green cover in Delhi looks highly inflated

By Jacob P. Koshy

An advertisement issued last week by the DPCC claimed that Delhi posted a 10-fold increase in its green cover

New Delhi: Is Delhi as green as its government claims it is? An advertisement issued last week by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, part of several advertisements that tout the Congress party’s achievements in the state that is going to polls on 29 November, claimed that Delhi posted a 10-fold increase in its green cover.

The ad, which ran in several newspapers including in Mint, said Delhi’s green cover increased from 26 sq. km to 300 sq. km, without specifying a time frame. There appears to be just one problem with the unattributed claim: The actual increase may be half that. And anecdotally, it is estimated some 100,000 trees were cut in the state for various projects in the past eight years……………

Delhi’s Forest Act stipulates that for every tree that is felled, 10 saplings must be planted. “But there’s hardly any monitoring. Technically, the government provides saplings and may be even planting them, but there’s no monitoring after that. A good number of saplings never become trees,” said Govind Singh, with Delhi Greens, a non-governmental organization involved with biodiversity and tree conservation issues……………

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November 16, 2008 | Indian Express

Green Getaway footloose IN DELHI

By V Shoba

The Northern Ridge is one of the few green patches in the city.

A MONGOOSE sprints across the path, leaving a dustcloud in its wake. A peacock pauses in its solitary hopscotch to look askance. Shrill squeaks tear through the smoggy morning stillness as squabbling babbles flit over the thornscrub……..Govind Singh, a PhD student at the School of Environmental Studies, Delhi University, who runs the Delhi Greens Blog, says a lot of the new plants are crotons and modern potted varieties planted to make the area look attractive.

“Originally, due to the semi-arid nature of the land, there was little vegetation. Then, in the early 1900s, the British planted trees like the Prosopis juliflora (a type of keekar). The status of the water table in north Delhi is good,” he says. …………..

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September, 2008 | Terra Green

Special Report: Bus Rapid Transit

By Govind Singh

A struggling corridor to a green future.

A little over five months ago, the Transport Department of the Government of NCT (National Capital Territory) of Delhi unveiled the much awaited, and rather ambitious project, for giving the city a congestion-free and smooth transport system. Formerly called the HCBS (High Capacity Bus System), the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system is meant to be a low-cost, flexible, mass transportation system that can reach every part of the city and make itself accessible to other modes of feeder-transport like cycle rickshaws and three-wheeler scooters as well.

When the first phase of the project was launched, it clearly succeeded in achieving the underlying objective of encouraging people to use the public transport and at the same time discouraging them to use private vehicles, especially cars. The implementation of the system was, as has often been the case, not perfect, and there were initial confusions among pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, and car drivers alike.

………A joint random perception survey of commuters travelling on the capital’s fi rst BRT corridor, carried out by the CSE (Centre for Science and Environment) and Delhi Greens found overwhelming support for the corridor from pedestrians, cyclists, bus drivers, commuters and, surprisingly, car and two-wheeler drivers……………

[Click here to read the rest this Report]

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July 29, 2008 | Hindustan Times

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May 28, 2008 | Indian Express

United we Survive

By Department of Environment, Govt. of NCT of Delhi

DYSoC 2008: Delhi Youth’s Summit on Climate Change to Air Delhi’s Youth Vision on Tomorrow. Delhi Greens in collaboration with Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Foundatin of Development Research & Action (FODRA), Delhi Greens, LEAD India, The Climate Project – India (TCP-I), The YP Foundation (TYPF), SAYEN/UNEP and the DoE is organising a two day summit, ‘Delhi Youth Summit on Climate Change’, bringing Delhi’s youth on a single platform to discuss and ponder over the city’s climate, today and tomorrow.

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May 22, 2008 | Hindustan Times

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May 22, 2008 | The Hindu

Belated support for BRT corridor from users

By Hindu Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The highly controversial Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system here has received some belated support – this time from its regular users. A joint random perception survey of commuters travelling on the Capital’s first BRT corridor conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the Delhi Greens has revealed overwhelming support for the corridor from pedestrians, cyclists, bus drivers and commuters and – surprisingly – also from car and two-wheeler drivers.

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May 21, 2008 | NDTV Metro Nation

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May 15, 2008 | Hindustan Times

An Eco Friendly Nation

By Pallavi Polanki

India tops the list of Environment friendly people, survey says

Lasy week, a survey published by the National Geographic found Indian to be among the most environment-friendly people. There is more good news. A well-informed network of young people in India is making sure we reach higher goals.

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February 24, 2008 | Indian Express

Witness the Joy of the Big Bird Day

By Department of Environment, Govt. of NCT of Delhi

Inviting passionate bird lovers of Delhi on 24th February, 2008. An initiative of the School of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, DelhiBird.Net and the Department of Environment, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, supported and coordinated by the members of Delhi Greens.

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February 6, 2008 | Aujourd’hui l’Inde

Le fleuve Yamuna, récit d’un désastre

By Nina Roy

La Yamuna est l’une des sept rivières sacrées d’Inde mais aussi l’une des plus sales. De l’Himalaya jusqu’à Allahabad, 57 millions de personnes l’utilisent pour irriguer leurs champs, prendre un bain, cuisiner. Mais à New Delhi, coincée entre deux barrages, la Yamuna n’est plus qu’une mare de pollution. En janvier, la Cour suprême a annoncé que les 310 millions d’euros dépensés pour nettoyer le fleuve n’avaient pas eu les effets escomptés, de quoi inquiéter la population.

………Les centres se sont révélés incapables de faire face aux quantités croissantes de produits industriels et d’ordures ménagères”, explique Govind Singh, militant de l’association Delhi Greens. “De manière générale, le gouvernement a toujours préféré rejeter la faute sur les habitants des bidonvilles peuplant les rives qui étaient soi-disant responsables de la saleté du fleuve. Les autorités se sont donc concentrées sur leur évacuation, mais ça n’a rien changé à la pollution du fleuve !”, poursuit Govind……….

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