Tribal

MPs need an emotional trigger to commit themselves to the issue of maternal health. The fact that 60,000 to 80,000 women die in India during child birth,  a matter of concern and politicians need to prioritize womens health.

More than half a million women and girls all over the world continue to die due to pregnancy related causes. 

In India, more women die every year during childbirth or pregnancy than in any other country in the world. A majority of these deaths are directly linked to obstetric complications such as haemorrhage, obstructed labour, or eclampsia (pregnancy-related seizures). For every woman who dies, 20 to 30 suffer from maternal morbidity.

Unless the focus is on underserved areas, the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 could not be achieved. Underserved, it was spelt out, was not just the tribals and poor in remote rural areas but also the illiterate, Dalits and poor living in urban slums.

Globally, it was now accepted that the financial investment has to match the verbal commitment made by governments at international fora. A whopping $ 42 billion has been committed by international donors at a meeting organized by the WHO. 

The status of women has to improve, the age of marriage age has to be raised and anaemia has to be tackled for improved maternal health.

Traditional Folk Culture

I read this article in Hindustan Times about  Shamkara Singh Suthar, one of the best kamancha 
(The Kamancha, the folk fiddle of Rajasthan, is a three-stringed ancestor of the violin. It has a bowl-shaped chamber covered by goatskin) makers – out of the handful that remain and resonates with a deep, impressive sound. Eight months a year, in the countrymoves from his home in the deserts of Rajasthan and uses his skilled hands, honed by generations of kamancha-making, to make sofas for the rich and the wealthy in the city of Pune.


There’s nothing about the folk music scene in India to write home about. Bollywood and flashy commercial artists ensure a slow, choking death for the tradition. There just isn’t enough business. For part of the year, many Manganiyars are forced travel to cities looking for work. Others survive on subsistence farming.

Indian as whole world knows has a very rich culture & tradition & we Indians must be really very proud to have it. But unfortunately the youth of today is forgetting our own rich culture & tradition & getting inspired by foriegn culture (mostly american) & adopting American culture.

Also to be blamed are the parents of the children  who are very busy in their work & tend to forget to teach their children to carry forward our culture & tradition. Teaching our children about cultures of different countries is fine & good they get to know culture of other countries. But at the same time they must only have a knowledge about other cultures but must always follow our own culture. India is valued in the world because of it's culture & tradition. If we do not teach our children to value them, then our country will loose it's value in the world.

A country is what its history and old glories are. If we don't Respect or traditional folk culture and continue to run after Western culture it will not lead it progress but regress.

Slum Development and Education

While making my docu feature on Slum Development, I read many articles on Slum Development. But one of them on which I decided to write a blog post was on sifynews.in. 

It was about an NGO Asha . It is a community health and development society that works with over 400,000 people in nearly 50 slum colonies of Delhi.  

Only 30 percent of Delhi's slum children make it to school beyond the age of 14. But defying the statistics and the odds, a clutch of bright-eyed youngsters is now studying humanities and even engineering in well known colleges - with a little help from this NGO.

 Eighteen-year-old Babita who joined Delhi University as a political science student. She  thought that she would be married off as her  mother could not afford her higher education. 

There were times when her two brothers and she did not have anything to eat and slept empty stomach She did not have a penny.. But "Asha" came to her rescue by paying her college fees.

Mahesh, 19,got 83 percent in Class 10, there was a mixed feeling of wanting to earn and study too. He took an education loan of around Rs.1.5 lakh and the NGO helped him in all the formalities , besides guiding him and providing study materials.

According to a report by Asha, every third Delhi resident lives in a slum colony and around 86 percent of the urban poor in Delhi is illiterate. By the age of 14, only 30 percent of children in Delhi slums attend school. Delhi has some 1,500 slums.

Slum children are denied opportunities and very few aspire for higher education even if they manage to complete schooling. Even the brightest children, particularly girls, are not sent to college due to lack of money. Social pressures, the obvious barriers of tuition fees and other expenses, and lack of confidence keep young people from slums out of higher education.

One of the problems all these children face is difficulty in concentrating on studies in a one-room house with their families carrying out their daily activities.The outside noise, TV blaring nearby, cooking and people outside talking loudly makes it difficult to study.

Safe Drinking Water

While reading a few articles on  oneindia.com , I came across an interesting yet benificial piece  on November 19th . It said that this day is celebrated as the World Toilet Day, to raise awareness on the use of toilet, sanitation and clean water.
 Every day 4000 children across the world die due to diarrhoea, which is caused due to poor sanitation and dirty water. 

World Toilet Day was stared by World Toilet Organisation in 2005. It is a 53 country organisation and aims at toilet training and sanitation. 

The world health organisation has also pointed out that most of the sewage from toilets are flowed into rivers and lakes without being treated which leads to occurrence of epidemics and mass death. 

A major population across the world squat in the fields due to lack of toilets but even people who have the facility of toilet believe in defecating on roads which not only spreads diseases but also speaks of the living culture and standard of the society. It can be embarrassing for the reputation of the country in itself. On World Toilet Day let's understand the importance of the need of toilet. Defecating in the open can lead to -

1.Spread Diseases – The germs tend to get mixed up with air and can travel a long distance. People living near the area can be infected with major illness. Diarrhoea and other stomach borne diseases can be caused. Lack of clean water can lead to many serious illnesses like typhoid, malaria etc..

2.Contaminate the soil – People who defecate in the fields should be aware of the fact that the germs seep in the soil and make it contaminated. This contamination does not remain in that area alone. It is carried on and can lead to contaminate a large area of the land a part of which can also be the land of cultivation.

3.Contamination Of Water – River and sea water gets contaminated when sewage water is poured into it. It effects the aquatic life. The water often carries the germs to other water bodies as well thus spreading the germs. The fishes and other sea food which we consume may as well be infected with it.

Thus, on World Toilet Day, spread the awareness of proper toilet use, clean water and sanitation. It is our environment and our responsibility to make it a better and safe place to live in.


Such innovative ideas can seriously have magical effect on the environment and state of well being of people in both direct and indirect ways.
Such pieces of intelligence and creativity with a blend of concern for the society and conscience always leave a positive impact. Always looking forward for such ideas. :)

Energy & Environment

I read this article on indiablooms.com, about Tata Power Energy Club

bagging  a gold medal in the Environmental Communication category at the Association of Business Communicators of India Golden Jubilee Annual Awards recently.

 The other category winners were Tata Chemicals Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Larsen & Toubro, Kirloskar Brothers and ACC Limited.These children have further reached out to more than 1 lakh people, taking the total sensitisation figure to more than three lakh citizens.

As of date, there are more than 250 Energy Champions and 10,000 Energy Ambassadors. The Energy Champions have collectively saved 30,000 units of electricity.

It is indeed a big deal as in today's rush and hustle. The big industries and MNC's should come up with such things as it will not only be benificial for today but for ages to come.

With initiatives being undertaken on changing the current energy mix in India to a more varied one using the non-conventional or renewable forms, the energy and environment scenario in the country is likely to witness changes which will help conform to international standards on climatic norms on curbing emissions and sustaining a cleaner environment.

Emission of greenhouse gases leading to climate changes has become a major concern globally. Under the Kyoto Protocol's terms, industrial country parties will be under obligation to limit their greenhouse gas emissions by 2008-12. India has also signed the treaty and under the protocol, India now focusses to drive a clean development mechanism (CDM) aimed at protecting the environment by reducing carbon emissions.

Sustainability is a key mission for us. I am overwhelmed at the growth achieved by  various  programmes and pleased by the enthusiasm shown by the people in embracing the cause and spreading the message of energy conservation.

Poverty

                             "Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit"

The queen of all the problems to manhood is POVERTY! Poverty is something which one sees everyday-roadside beggars, household maids, labourers, and street vendors.

Though people want to come out of the cob webs of poverty, its too difficult. If a person is poor his up coming generations and forefathers are generally the same too.

The condition of the Poor is appalling. Today I saw a video on you tube on people and Hunger. It contained some really thought provoking images which literally brought a lump in my throat.

The children were looking like skinned skeletons with eyes like that of a rat. They seemed to be made of paper. They were starved . One of them was trying to drink milk from a cow and the other was bathing in cow's urine. These images compelled me to think that even animal's life is better than a poor person's life.

Even death seems to be an easy option as compared to leading such a pathetic life.

On the way to my college, every day I see an old lady sitting on the stairs in the same old , torn saree and a bowl in which the passers by put a few coins sometimes.

In today's time when an average upper middle class or high class person can not even imagine his life without TV, designer clothes, A.C, posh restaurants, luxurious cars..These people are unable to get minimum basic nutrition or even clean clothes to wear.

Who is responsible for their plight? The Govt. ? The people themselves? Their fore fathers? We?

There is no precise answer but every citizen can do his bit to eradicate poverty. "Each One Teach One", its a simple concept but not that simple to follow, if every educated citizen teaches just one of the unfortunates, these situations can surely be improved.

We should or we must do their bit in charity , if not financially, then materially -our old clothes , toys, left over food , sometimes water is of no use for us but to the poor it can mean a lot!!

Women Empowerment

I was Googling  about Women Empowerment and I came across this quote by Abigail Adams, “If we mean to have heroes, statesmen and philosophers, we should have learned women.”

Women indeed are the most crucial part of our society, the society can not move ahead without a female, woman is life, woman is progress. In spite of this fact, women still do not enjoy the righteous status.

I still don't know weather the woman of today is empowered or not? The dictionary meaning of Empowerment is "  increasing the spiritual, political, social, or economic strength of individuals and communities."

Women have out shined men in all the fields be it  Politics,science, management or education. But still, biasness prevails at every step.  

I was reading today's Hindustan Times and I read this article about a lady from Najafgarh, the lady ,Geeta was married 2 years back. She gave birth to a girl 10 days ago, and her in-laws started demanding a dowry of  1 lakh. Her refusal led to a fight  and she was beaten up, she was hit with a sharp edged weapon and lost vision in the eye.

Her family alleged that in the past too, they had tried to kill her on dowry issue but she was rescued after her parents gave  70,000 to the in-laws.

No one has been arrested in this case till now. 

Who is to be blamed? The Husband, who after 2 years of marriage did not support his wife ? The in-laws , who didn't care about the mother of a new born? The family of the girl, who didn't take a step and made their daughter suffer? Or the Girl who went through torture for ' 2 whole years'.

Take the Women Reservation Bill  for instance, the Lok Sabha has failed to walk the talk to make 33% reservation for women in Parliament a reality.

I read in the Economics Times, that even Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal provide such rights to women. .

The issues relating to land rights to women have still remained unresolved. In many states, laws on inheriting properties are gender bias. 

In India, tribal women in most cases are more empowered than their counterparts in the general category.

The Azad India foundation believes that,

 Empowerment is a major step for development but it has to be seen in a relational context. A clear vision is needed to remove the obstacles to the path of women's emancipation both from the government and women themselves. Efforts should be directed towards all round development of each and every section of Indian women by giving them their due share.