A significant section of young students appear to be apprehensive of mathematics as a subject. They view it as their nemesis, and this in turn, prevents them from learning this beautiful subject during their school years. To dispense the notion that Mathematics is a difficult subject to comprehend, the teachers and students from different schools of Ludhiana district have come together to hold a first of its kind ‘Maths Mela’.

Anupam Bhagria writes in an article in Indian Express:

Exhibited models, charts and slogans related to mathematics not only created awareness among students but also conveyed the message that ‘mathematics is an interesting subject if taught in right way”. This two days maths mela was held at Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School Udham Singh Nagar.

The idea was the brainchild of Mr. Krishan Kumar, the Director of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Punjab. The event was organized under the supervision of Pradeep Kumar Kapoor who is the Science Supervisor of Ludhiana district.

You can read the complete article here, including about a maths-tambola which was played at the mela.

All Ritamoni Dueri of Jalukbari village near Sonapur in Assam knew about mushrooms was that people have sometimes died after consuming them. She had no idea that they could be cultivated or that they could supplement her family’s meager income and enable them to live their lives better. Two years after the concept was introduced to her and other families near her village by Mushroom Development Foundation (MDF) based in Guwahati, almost 1000 families in 50 villages in and around Sonapur are happily growing mushrooms and reaping its benefits. Samudra Gupta Kashyap tells more about this profitable initiative in the Indian Express:

Within Sonapur, the MDF has also taken up an interesting campaign to attract more villagers towards mushroom cultivation. The Sonapur Anchalik Kathfula Krishi Samiti has put up a board with comics and cartoons illustrating their messages in Sonapur’s weekly haat held every Saturday. “Three of our local boys were sent to Don Bosco Institute in Guwahati for a four-day workshop on cartoons and illustrations, and they are carrying out this campaign on our behalf,” said Prasanna Daimari, director of the Samiti. And to drive home the message further, the Samiti has now planned to provide half a kg of mushrooms free to the stall at the haat where villagers have their meals. 

Not only did MDF have its task cut out for encouraging cultivation of mushrooms in Sonapur, since most of the population was not aware of this crop, but it also had to work hard to cultivate a market in the area.

MDF, meanwhile, has built up its own mechanism to provide the vital marketing linkage to the Sonapur growers to sell their produce. “Since Guwahati is a huge market, most of the mushrooms produced in Sonapur are sold in the city,” said Pranjal Baruah, an Ashoka Fellow, who is also the general secretary of the Mushroom Development Foundation. “We have set a modest target of production of five kilos of mushrooms for each family. Even if we are able to increase the monthly income by even Rs 3,000 for each of the 200 families who have taken to commercial growing of mushrooms, it will be a big achievement,” added Baruah. 

The MDF is also popularising mushrooms among people who have never tasted it. “We are using our personal contacts to introduce mushrooms in wedding receptions and other parties. One out of ten such parties have already begun to serve its dishes,” he said.

With its proximity to Guwahati, Sonapur has immense potential to grow into a hub for supplying skilled labour to the city. This is another project being undertaken by MDF with various other entities like Sonapur College to bring about development of the area.

The MDF is also looking at taking up a few more schemes for skill development of the local population. “Sonapur can provide a large number of plumbers, mechanics, masons, carpenters and electricians to the city. We are looking for partners to provide such skills to the village youth,” said Pranjal Baruah. 

Looks like good work is mushrooming everywhere!

For the complete article, click here.

Act Now For The Better India.

Image Courtesy: www.worldcommunitycookbook.org

With growing dependencies on computers and related peripherals, the amount of e-waste being generated in India is enormous, running into millions of tons every year. Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore top the list in terms of total e-waste being generated in the country. Now, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided to create a road map to deal with all the e-waste generated by the city and to prepare for a future e-waste management plant.

Swapnil Rawal reports in this article at the Indian Express:

The core committee would have members from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), Department of Environment along with officials of the civic bodies in the MMR. 

It is great that the authorities concerned are showing some great foresight with regards to this growing issue:

Shah said that the MMR, especially Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, will face a serious problem over the handling of e-waste in years to come. “It’s something like the scenario the civic body faced around 25-30 years back with solid waste in Mumbai,” Shah stated. 

The article goes on to say:

The core committee, besides locating a site for the proposed processing plant, will also frame guidelines for the collection and transportation of the waste from designated centres to the plant, which would be operated by private players. 

Read the complete article here.

Image courtesy: http://ewasteguide.info (which is also a great site to know more about e-waste management)

Bahadur Singh Verma of Saproon Valley is a farmer with a difference. Having chosen agriculture as a career after completing high school education in 1960, Verma and his progressive methods of farming have become role models not only in Himachal Pradesh but across the country. Keeping abreast of the latest technologies in agriculture and being at the forefront of innovation has helped this off-season cultivator to carve a niche for himself. Arvind Kashyap of Indian Express reports how:

With a Rs 500 loan from his father and after getting permission from the government, Verma started by digging out stones from his wasteland. After growing cauliflower in the early sixties, he first returned the money his father gave him. He standardised production technology of off-season vegetables by adopting hybrid cultivation.

After cultivating beans and peas with bamboo support as an inter-crop, he used bamboo poles as support for hybrid tomatoes soon. After this, he introduced co-operative farm packaging and marketing systems for vegetable crops and stone fruits in the valley. He succeeded in isolating three late flowering groups of cauliflower for seed production by producing 117 kg of cauliflower seed in 0.08 hectares. He also introduced strawberry as an inter-crop. The Lata, Poonam and Parkash varieties have not only become popular among the farmers of Himachal but are also being adopted by farmers of neighbouring states.

Not only this, Verma is well conversant with energy conservation and has introduced several such mechanisms on his farmland:

Not content with his success with vegetables, Verma also developed a new method of “hand pollination” in his small Kiwi fruit orchard and grew 1.6 quintal of Kiwi fruit from a single plant. With a biogas plant, a wind power plant and solar power panels on his farm, Verma says he is saving more than Rs 50,000 annually on power.

And the results?

Over the years, Saproon valley, situated on the northern side of Solan town, has become known for the cultivation of off-season vegetables, stone fruits and production of temperate fruits and cash crops, with an annual turnover of more than Rs 20 crore.

Farming can hardly be called an unprofitable profession in the case of Bahadur Singh Verma. In our country, we frequently hear of farmer suicides and rural folk moving to the cities in search of manual labour and hazardous jobs because of loss-making farms. While a significant portion of these migrations and deaths are due to natural calamities and poverty-ridden debt, I do believe that lack of specialized skills and know-how also plays a pivotal role in the low returns for most farmers. If only Verma’s knowledge and methods could percolate to the other agricultural belts of the nation, the need for farmers to leave their age-old occupation and look to the cities for survival could be stemmed.

Read the complete article here.

Image Courtesy: Pbase.com

In a Banana cultivation farm, once the fruits are sold off, what lies behind are the stems of the plants. Clearing these stems from the land would cost a farmer almost about Rs. 3000 on average. Now, however, a new technology plant has managed to manufacture paper out of these banana stems! So, farmers no longer have to pay to clear their land of stems, but in stead are now making money out of it.

Ranjani Raghavan writes in the Indian Express about Kailash Thate, who set up an agro processing unit to extract fibers from banana stems which are then used to manufacture paper. Over time, Kailash found that more than 400 banana growers were interested in his technology resulting in at least 60 farmers setting up their own plants.

Excerpts from the article:

The driving force behind the project is a Tamil Nadu-based paper manufacturing firm, Eco Green Unit, and a Pune-based NGO Chaitanya Mandal. Eco Green is buying the fibre directly from farmers for its two paper making units in Pondicherry and Chennai. The NGO is coordinating between the farm and the manufacturing unit. 

On the quality of the paper produced:

A study by Eco Green has revealed that the quality of banana stem from the state, compared to those grown in Tamil Nadu or Gujarat, is far superior and is an ideal raw material for manufacturing paper.  

“We have examined the fibre from the stems grown in Solapur, Satara, Sangli, Aurangabad, and Jalgaon. It is of far superior quality and has more brightness and shine when compared to the fibres from Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. We hope to have around 150 growers in this state processing stems for us. We want about 25 to 30 tonnes of fibre from Maharashtra,” S K Babu, project director, Eco Green.

And the benefits?:

Thate is confident his business would grow manifold but he would also have to pay growers from where he gets stems for free now. “It cost me Rs 20,000 to set up the unit but I have nothing to lose as the first consignment that I have already sent would get me Rs 40,000,” he said while supervising the unit. 

It is great to know that in the current state of impending crunch of resources, we have entrepreneurs like Thate and organizations like Eco Green and Chaitanya Mandal who are able to leave a significant impact on not only the environment, but also on people and the economy.

Read the complete article here.

Image courtesy: www.keralabackwater.com

Now lakhs of Indians with hearing disability will have access to a mobile dictionary in Indian Sign Language (ISL). Initiated by two youths in Vadodara – Rajesh Ketkar, himself 100 percent hearing impaired, and his friend Virbhadrasinh Rathod, this dictionary will enable the disabled person to have an image picture word with video-graphed sign language, all on the screen of his mobile.

The seeds of this idea were germinated in the minds of these youths when they attended a conference by the World Federation for Deaf in Madrid last year. Depariti Basu reports their story in this article in Indian Express:

“There were deaf people from across the world and we were amazed to see their confidence level. In India people still look at the deaf with sympathy unlike in other countries. There they ask for ‘professional assistance’ and not ‘help.’ We were exposed to their technology which is not used anywhere in India or even in any other Asian country,” Ketkar said through an interpreter. 

The two also run an NGO called Mook Badhir Mandal in Vadodara, for the hearing impaired. All this inspite of just having received education till class X, which is provided by the government, after which Ketkar took up vocational training in tailoring. Once again it is proved that education is not really a barrier for a firm determination and a will to succeed. Kudos to these youngsters who have taught us a lot.

Read the complete article hear

The Students of Symbiosis Infotech Campus (SIC) have come together to contribute towards providing better quality education for slum children.  The group is called Prayatna and their intention is to enrich the experience that the slum children get from the government run schools that they attend. Preeti Srivastav writes in this article in the Indian Express.

“These children do attend their government-run schools, but they needed that extra looking after to make themselves more competent. We not only take classes for them on our campus but have also got them admitted in a good English medium school for their better education,” says Chauhan, adding, “We have to catch them young as it becomes difficult to shift them from a Hindi or vernacular medium schools to a English medium one.”

The really interesting part is the source of the funds for this activity:

Not neglecting the funds, he said that they were paying Rs 7000 per children to the school, which in turn takes care of all the needs of the children – from fees to books to uniforms. When asked about the source of funds, Chauhan explained that SIC students conduct film festivals and games through which they collect money for the children. They also collect old clothes and books from SIC students. However the noble idea was of alumni adopting the children.

It is truly wonderful that as part of their college activities the students are able to source funds and provide for a better education for the lesser privileged children of our country. We hope that this model will act as a source of inspiration for many other colleges across India to give back something to the society.
And the work just doesn’t seem to stop at providing classroom education, as the article goes on to say:

Apart from the schooling, they also have many activities lined up for the kids.”We bring them to our campus five times a week and give them classes for english, maths, science, personality development, general knowledge and so on. We also take them for games and sports. We show them inspirational documentaries,” says Chauhan.

One of the objectives with which The Better India was started is to spread awareness and create a sense of social contribution amidst our citizens. Hence, for us it is heartening to note that today’s students are already treading this path of spreading welfare! We wish Prayatna all the very best in their ongoing endeavors and look forward to many more school children receiving quality education from SIC and other similar college bodies.

Read the complete article here.

Think Post Office and you more often than not think haphazard counters with long queues. Any work to be done at this offices have been linked to being tedious and cumbersome. However, this is now in for a huge change. Nisha Nambiar, in this article of the Indian Express, writes about a model Post Office being introduced in Baramati. This PO will boast installation of latest technology in addition to automated kiosks and electronic token systems.

Excerpt:

Union communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had launched the project to upgrade and modernize 500 post offices in 10 selected postal circles in two phases. In the first phase, 50 post offices were identified for their physical appearance and for their work environment.

Jarodia, who will inaugurate the post office, said, “In the state circle five post offices have been identified for the first phase. Besides Baramati in Pune region, the others are Nanded, Bhandara, Calangute and Jawahar.”

The article also lists the following salient features of this modern Post Office:
* Citizens will receive mail earlier, with delivery from 10 am instead of 11.30 am
* Letters to be dispatched the same day even after 4.30 pm
* Postmaster can be contacted by email at spmbaramati@gmail.com
* No queue, electronic token display
* Fully computerised
* Separate counter for senior citizens
* Generator backup, no load shedding
* Post forum of residents

Considering the fact that a lot of information still travels via snail mail in our country, it is a welcome initiative to revamp and improve our Post Offices. This model PO will hopefully pave the way for all other post offices of the country to follow suit.

Read the complete article here.

Baba Amte’s son and daughter-in-law, Prakash Amte and Mandakini Amte have won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for the year 2008 for their work in the field of social development.

Vivek Deshpande writes this article in The Indian Express:

The honour came in recognition of the work the doctor couple has been doing for the tribals at Bhamragarh in the thickly-wooded, Naxal-infested corner of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, where they have established a hospital and school, and, according to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation in Manila, Philippines, have enhanced the “capacity of the Madia Gonds to adapt positively in today’s India, through healing and teaching and other compassionate interventions.”

In fact, Prakash has also won the Venu Menon Award for wildlife conservation in the year 2000.

Read the complete article here.

Our education system, so far, hasn’t quite given the focus on environment and its sustainability. There are passing references, yes, but nothing that stirs a responsibility towards a better and cleaner earth.

However, the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) is hoping to change that perception. Anupam Bhagria writes in this article at the Indian Express about a new ‘Green School Project’:

Students of government schools will now be reviewing their school environment and biodiversity under the ‘Green School Project’. They will be maintaining a proper record and compile a report under the guidance of a school nodal officer, who will forward it to the Centre of Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi.

On December 18, the top twenty schools securing more than 70 per cent marks will be awarded a “Green Certificate”, schools with 55 to 60 per cent will get a “Yellow Certificate”, schools 50 to 60 per cent will get an “Orange Certificate” and those with 35 to 50 per cent will get a “Red Certificate”.

And what do the teachers have to say to this?

Kusum Lata, Science teacher at the Government Model Senior Secondary School, Punjab Agricultural University, and school nodal officer for this project said, “The aim behind this workshop is to raise awareness among students about the environment and biodiversity. We will involve senior students of class IX and XI as well. Classes X and XII students will be kept out for their Board examinations. Students will be trained to keep a record of the various data and evaluate them accordingly. They can seek the help of teachers if needed.”

Another interesting factor is that the students will also be keeping a tab on how much energy their school consumes. This includes recording of water consumption and LPG consumption in the cafeterias. A great way to instill a sense of giving back to mother nature. And in this case, the students are bound to work for a greener grass on their side.

Read the complete article here.