Twenty one year old Amol Pashilkar attempted his SSC examination in the year 2004-05. Unfortunately, he could not clear his examinations; he passed only in English. Since his confidence levels suffered a blow, he found it very difficult to reappear. After a four year long gap, in 2009, he took admission in Milind Night High School. With his renewed focus, could he clear the examinations?

Amol got 74% in his SSC. How did this drastic improvement come about? Amol could leap forward in academics because of the extra classes conducted by a Maharashtra based social organization that goes by the name Masoom. Masoom works with night schools in Mumbai, with the aim of improving academic performance of night school students.

Masoom is the first organization in Maharashtra to run a comprehensive intervention program for night schools. Masoom offers a unique approach to planning and implementing a comprehensive program for night schools based on their different needs. Masoom’s strategy for sustainable change is to work in the spirit of partnership with all major stakeholders in the education system. Because of Masoom, many like Amol could complete their education. Their interest in studies increases tremendously.

Tracing the beginnings

Nikita Ketkar, the founder of Masoom, stumbled upon the idea of helping night schools back in 2001. She was working in the civil services and was appointed on a project to identify child domestic workers, in the night school of Mumbai. Nikita adds, “I came across students who were largely self-motivated. They worked during the day and would attend classes in the evening. Nobody was forcing them to school. They came because they wanted to learn. It was sad to see that justice wasn’t being delivered to their aspirations.”

In 2006, Nikita further undertook research related to problems faced by night school students, under the Pukar Scholarship. Based on the findings, she decided to do something about these issues. She resigned from office and founded Masoom in 2008, her entire research team by her side. To facilitate learning for night school students, Masoom has developed a three pronged approach:

1. Providing Infrastructure such as computers, Science laboratory apparatus, mathematic kits, library books, notebooks, educational charts, workbooks and worksheets, teacher training material, Braille textbooks and audio-visual material

2. Capacity Building by organizing training sessions and workshops for teachers, parents and students, vocational guidance for students, counseling, extra curricular classes such as Life skills, yoga, meditation

3. Advocacy: Masoom works closely with all stakeholders and intend to act as an advocate for all issues concerning night schools

Since night schools are run from 6:30 to 9:30 in the evening, most of these kids come after long hours of work. By providing meals, Masoom ensures that they can study more efficiently. Nikita adds, “We want to build not just academic strength but also employability. Many students who earlier had to study with an empty stomach could not focus. Now we provide meals. The kids call it ‘nashta’ as sometimes it is the only meal they have in the day.”

In its own unique way, Masoom has touched the lives of many students, growing from just two schools to now ten. There are courses called the ‘bridge courses’ that help drop outs overcome gaps and at the same time, there is facility of psycho counseling for students with learning disabilities. They also help link students to government certified computer courses, for which they have initiated scholarships for part funding. With such personal care and concern for holistic development, there are bound to be many many success stories like Amol’s.

Visit Masoom’s website here: http://masoomforu.org/

In the book ‘What India can Teach us’, Max Muller defines two very different Indias – one is the India of today, of the cities and towns and the other India, thousands of years old, is that of the village communities. As a foreign tourist in India, staying in five star hotelss and travelling by fancy cars, one is most likely to miss out on the second India, the truer of the two. Similarly, as a tourist in my own country, while I had often been to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, what I did not realise was that I was missing out on a more humble, yet strikingly important part of our heritage.  Located a few miles away from the glorious Taj, on the Fatehabad Road, are the marble factories of Agra. One among these is Zainub Exports.

Engaged in a wide range of marble inlay work, workers at the Zainub Exports unit are treated just like family. It is, after all, a family tradition, an invaluable inheritance from the Mughal ancestors. Ask Mr. M. Ajeed Shirazi, a sixteenth generation entrepreneur and he will point out how his family has been running these factories since Mughal times. I listen to his narration but my mind has wandered off to another era, an era when the great ruler Shah Jahan added a grand legacy of structures during his reign. What must it have been like? Mr. Shirazi tells me how precious and semi precious stones used for the Taj Mahal were imported from all over the world, even in the seventeenth century. How much wealth, power and prestige must the royal highness have commanded? Then, I look at the humble figure in front of me. If it weren’t for Mr. Shirazi and his family, I might never have discovered the intricacies of marble structures and how it links us to our glorious past.

As a twenty-first century citizen, even though I am spellbound by the work of the artisans, I can’t help but ask the obvious question. Is there any money in the marble business? Mr. Shirazi hesitates, “This year the business was hit because of the slowdown abroad. Otherwise, we have many foreign tourists and clients who buy our products abroad.” From our discussions, I gauge that the major problem is that of marble sellers in bigger cities. They sell lower quality products, bringing down the price. How can a genuine product compete unless customers can spot and care for the difference? Problems cloud over the horizon. Yet, the satisfaction from this work is unmatched. For Mr. Shirazi, the work represents a culture, a legacy, a history he cannot trample carelessly. He holds it dear. There are always opportunities of work elsewhere, but he chooses to keep the glory of India untarnished. In the process, he helps many workers, who know nothing but marble.

Take the case of thirty-two year old Mohammad Haneed, one of the workers. Born and brought up in Agra, Haneed joined this work right after high school. Zainub Exports is providing livelihood to many such artisans. They also have a place to train workers and thereafter employ them. I am surprised to see how much these workers know about different types of marbles. They repeatedly tell me that the blue stone is semi precious Lapis lazuli. I can hardly pronounce it right. What was the orange one, I ask for the fifth time. “The orange stone is carnelian. It’s the one that shines when you put a flashlight against it,” comes the answer. While I am filled with awe and pride to see this hardworking group of people, at the back of my head, all I can think of is trying to remember what these stones are called! Next time, I don’t want to feel like a tourist in my own country.

Zainub Exports:

Manufacture of Marble Inlay Work and Indian Handicrafts

Contact Details
Mailing Address:
18/160A, Fatehabad Road, Purani Mandi,
Tajganj, (opp. Kailash Talkies),
Agra-282001, Uttar Pradesh, INDIA

Contact No:
+919319127303
+919927860470

Email Ids:
zainubexport@yahoo.co.in
info@zainubexport.com
www.zainubexport.com

In this article, we write about the Biomass Cooking Stove innovation that is being nurtured by the Villgro foundation.

Context and problems with LPG

Micro and small establishments that provide boarding services to 40 – 100 individuals in rural and semi-rural areas face the three pronged problem of not having the access, both financially and in terms of availability , to LPG, having to incur the costs of large amounts of biomass required to run their relatively inefficient stoves and dealing with the associated health impacts that inefficient, outdated stoves generate.
Unlike small households, micro and small establishments rely on purchasing fire wood and not on collecting biomass. These costs average around 2000 Rs. / ton. As such the inefficiency of stoves used by this category of users has a direct impact on their expenditure and thus on their income and savings. When compared to households these establishments utilize their stoves for much longer (upto 10 hours a day when catering to 100 customers) and thus the impacts on wood consumption and health issues are
exasperated.

Burning wood creates CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Establishments, based on size, generate between 20 – 80 tons of co2 a year. While small when considered at a national or global scale, this contributes to climate change in its own way.

Enter Biomass Cooking Stove, an innovation by Svati Bhogle of SustainTech India Pvt. Ltd.

The Biomass Cooking stove is an application specific high efficiency wood burning stove specifically designed for a range of cooking needs. The innovation offers to the end user: saving in fuel costs, by being up to 50% more efficient than conventional stoves and improved health impacts. The features that make the stoves innovative are, optimum air fuel ratios controlled by efficient vents, well designed combustion chamber volume resulting in high combustion and heat transfer efficiencies, good insulation to prevent losses to the walls and an optimally designed chimney to vent the flue gases away from the breathing zone of the cooks and designed to reduce heat losses to the atmosphere.

Who is impacted and how?

Owners of micro and small boarding establishments, including semi-portable food vendors will be impacted. This covers a range of individuals with daily revenues between 500 to 5000 rupees per day. A market survey revealed that the total number of tea shops, small & medium hotels and street food vendors to be 73,650 in the state of Tamil Nadu alone.
On the lower end of the economics scale – this includes street side food vendors who spend considerable amounts of their income on firewood. These individuals were shown to spend upto 30,000 Rs. annually on firewood with monthly take home incomes of around 7000 Rs. On the higher end of the economics scale – this includes proprietors of small size ‘hotels’ catering to the needs of approximately a 100 customers a day.

Environmental, social and economic benefits

SustainTech India Pvt. Ltd. (SIPL) is reaching out to the needs of a fuel stressed segment of society – initially the street food vendors, who operate on push carts and where cooking is done inside the cart or on railway platforms, roadside shops and small hotels who with a roof and some seating capacity.
A survey conducted shows that these stoves are in operation for about 10 hours every day and each unit caters to about 100 clients every day. The 65,000 fuel efficient wood burning stoves (considering only the tava, frying stoves and tea kettles) that would be sold by SIPL in the first five years would therefore offer a safer, cooler and healthier working environment to at least 65,000 cooks and 6.5 million people who would eat
around these stoves every day. India has a high incidence of respiratory ailments and a smoke free working environment would reduce the medical expenses of the affected people working around wood fires.
The survey data also shows that 38% of the street food vendors and tea shops use kerosene for their cooking needs. Very limited kerosene is available in fair price shops and this is inadequate. Very often the sector uses unfair means to procure kerosene creating stress and tension besides eroding the profitability.

Moving to a biomass stove would reduce the stress associated with procurement of kerosene, improve profitability of the business and show that it is possible to replace a fossil fuel with a renewable energy source.
At the global level the movement to a fuel efficient wood stove would significantly abate CO2 emission. A survey conducted in the project area shows that stoves are in use for about 8 -14 hrs every day and for 300 -350 days in a year. Data has also been collected about fuel consumption patterns in conventional stoves and performance of improved stoves tested and some of them certified. With a projected stove life of 5 years, the carbon abatement potential of the venture through installations in the first 5 year planning period would be 3.7 million tons of CO2. (1 kg of firewood saved = 1.5 kg of CO2).
Firewood is purchased by the end users of SIPL products at Rs 2000 / ton. The saving in fuel costs, because of energy efficiency should enable the end user to payback the cost of the stove without financial stress in 12- 18 months. Each stove purchased would on an average save Rs 20,000 – 30,000 of fuel cost every year.

The enterprise projects that through its intervention and in their life time, the stoves installed in the first
5 years period, it would conserve Rs 4000 million in fuel costs thus creating wealth for a very needy community.

Urban India is glaring at a huge waste management problem with no clear policy examining waste as a part of the production-consumption-recovery cycle.  In India, over a million people find employment in rag picking and recycling of waste; and this is an unorganized sector.

Most of the rag-pickers are poor, illiterate and belong to rural immigrant families. Many commence their profession at the young age of five to eight years. Most of them have never attended any school. While collecting rags they are subjected to chemical poisons and infections. Due to malnutrition, they suffer from stunted growth and anemia. These rag pickers have been weaned out of our social fabric and as begging is being abolished more and more beggars are becoming a part of this scavenging community.

Conserve  India, an organisation in Delhi founded by Anita and Shalabh Ahuja  was born of a desire to reduce India’s mountain of waste. Their team, after a lot of research, struck upon the idea of Upcycling by washing, drying and pressing plastic bags into sheets.

Handmade Recycled Plastic (HRP) is  made from  polythene bags picked from Delhi’s streets, rubber from old truck tyres’ inner tubes, old denims and saris. The processes used to make ‘Conserve’ bags and accessories have been specifically developed to be as energy efficient as possible and to keep out polluting dyes and chemicals.  This not only helps the environment, it also cuts costs, giving the organisation more money to invest in other social projects.

Ragpickers enjoy working for Conserve as it directly implies that they, perhaps for the first time in their lives, will have enough to feed their families and rent homes that they can be proud of. On an average, a conserve ragpicker earns around $70 a month compared to a ragpicker who earns somewhere around $25.

The ragpicking community is unorganised; it is hard for them to protect their rights. By giving them ‘Conserve Employee Cards’, Conserve India helps them have a voice in the society. Conserve India has also started a campaign called Recognition for Ragpickers. As part of this, the organisation is trying to persuade the Delhi government to create an official register so as to recognize Delhi’s 150,000 ragpickers and give them their right to a fair wage.

Conserve also offers training to its workers so they can do better jobs in their organisation. Conserve supports schools in slums where many of its employees live. With an initial funding from Asian Development Bank, Conserve is now starting two new projects for tracking the general welfare of its workers and providing health clinics for those who have no access to healthcare.

In collaboration with top designers, Conserve India makes high-end fashion items like handbags, wallets, shoes and belts from the handmade recycled plastic.

Conserve India has collaborated with Fair Trade for marketing its products, which are available in stores across US, Japan, Europe . Their products can also be bought online through the Conserveshop.

By buying Conserve’s products one not only gets to be a trend setter in fashion, but also gets to help some of India’s poorest people and its environment.

For more information visit their website http://conserveindia.org. Infact if you want do something about the waste clogging the streets of your city, you can set up your own Conserve and be the change that you want to see in the society. Mail Conserve India at info@conserveindia.org or call on +91 11 43095301.

Situated in the lake city of Udaipur, since its foundation on 23rd October, 1985, Narayan Seva Sansthan has been working for the “service of suffering humanity”. Since its inception, Narayan Seva has been rendering its services to physically, economically and socially needy people. The organization helps the physically challenged, especially the polio afflicted and those born with disabilities. The help is not only medical, but goes beyond it to ensure that the people are made self-dependent via employment.

Since 1985, over 95000 polio afflicted people have been able to stand on their legs after getting successfully operated under Sansthan’s move towards self-dependence of the handicapped. Besides free distribution of clothes, medicines, food grains etc. to the tribal in remote areas, it also provides free vocational training to the physically disabled and economically weaker sections of the society. It has provided facilities for the training of these people in wood craft, carpentry, black-smith trade, leather work etc. supplying the necessary tools and raw materials to begin with.

The organization has also been running an orphanage taking care of children who become orphan due to ‘Nata-Pratha’ – a social evil prevailing in this region of the country in which after the death of the husband, the wife goes away to stay with some other man leaving the children behind . Over 600 children have been taken care of and sent back to the main social stream.

As a part of its endeavour to make medical care available to poor patients at their door steps, the Sansthan maintains a mobile medical care unit. Equipped with all necessary modern facilities, the mobile medical unit is always kept ready to rush to any spot when urgent medical care is required. Apart from all of this, the Sansthan is also involved in promoting values of Indian culture as enshrined in some of the epics and scriptures. The Sansthan has been organizing expositions on Ramayana, Puranas etc. with the purpose of spreading the message of humanity.

Narayan Seva Sansthan has been creating success stories and looking after a section of the society that most often gets overlooked.
To know more about the organization visit: http://www.narayanseva.org/

We have all read and heard about farmer suicides, pesticides in food and issues of child labour. Here is an organization that is working towards the eradication of all of these – Zameen.

Zameen is a unique farmer owned organic cotton trading company working to improve market access for marginalized farmers in India through certification, supply chain partnerships and organizational development.
Cotton farmers in India do not receive a fair price for their produce which leads them to usurious money lenders. Huge debt and inability to support their families leaves suicide as the only dignified option. In the Amravati district of Maharashtra, 5000 farmers commit suicide every year and that is an alarming statistic.

Zameen believes in the ‘trade, not aid’ approach to rural development. Farmers invest their own capital in Zameen and are completely engaged in the process. Zameen has a tie up with AOFG (Agriculture and Organic Farming Group), a non-profit organization, to facilitate the development of independent, legally registered farmer cluster associations that are self managed and are able to sell organic cotton as per strict international standards.

Infamously referred to as ‘dirty cotton’, the commodity accounts for 16% of global insecticide use which is far more than any other crop. Agro-chemicals contaminate local water supplies, degrade soil quality and harm wildlife. Farming communities also face an increased risk of various diseases like cancer. Zameen trains farmers in organic farming which has resulted in drastic improvement in soil fertility and farmers’ health.

As a Fairtrade certified organisation, Zameen farmers are no longer subjected to widespread speculation and fluctuation in market prices. Fairtrade guarantees a minimum price which covers sustainable farming and living conditions. Additionally, a social premium is earned by the farmer community and that premium is democratically invested in community development projects. So far, Zameen’s farmers have invested in wells, their children’s education and ofcourse into their own businesses.

Fairtrade prohibits child labour and encourages movement towards gender equality. Zameen farmers have access to international markets and being organized into an association gives them a stronger collection voice.

Know more about Zameen and their activities.
Website: http://www.zameen.org/
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hyderabad-India/Zameen-Organic/130739011014/

Spiti, a tranquil valley in Himachal Pradesh at an average altitude of 3600 meters is home to around 10,000 Buddhists. Spiti Ecosphere is a social enterprise formed by the collaborative effort of the local community and professionals from diverse backgrounds with the aim of creating sustainable livelihoods linked to nature and culture conservation.

Spiti Ecosphere is focussing on the economic empowerment, development and conservation of the region through their range of products and services. These include the following:

• Eco Travel which takes us close and personal with the mighty Himalayas and the nature & culture of Spiti. It is an initiative to promote eco-tourism in the region. Eco Travel offers various options to the discerning traveler ranging from a Spiritual Sojourn of the monasteries to the Pugmarks where one gets to track the elusive snow leopard and the Himalayan wolf in the midst of this treasure trove of biological diversity.
• Organics – Spiti’s unique ecosystem is richly endowed with various indigenous species. Ecosphere has streamlined the process for extracting and sourcing these rare Himalayan herbs including SeaBuckthorn popularly known as the “Wonder Berry”
• Conservation – Mountain ecosystem and economics share a symbiotic relationship, and maintaining the balance with the environment is critical to the sustainability of livelihoods. Muse, Spiti SeaBuckthorn Society and Spiti Trans-Himalyan Action Group have been working in the region on the issues of climate change, promoting renewable energy, waste management and the Dhangkar initiative. Dhangkar, originally called Dhakkar meaning ‘citadel on a cliff’, was the erstwhile capital of Spiti . The Dhangkar Monastery is one of the five major monastic centres in Spiti and belongs to the Gelug–pa sect of Vajrayana Buddhism. It is a heritage conservation site in a state of despair listed in the ‘World’s Hundred Most Endangered Sites’ by the World Monuments Watch Program. Check out www.dhangkar.com to know more about Dhangkar

In the near future, Ecosphere plans to come up with some very innovative projects. One of them includes “Environment education in schools”, the belief being that awareness about the environment should start early by educating children in schools. They are also planning to come up with a short documentary showcasing the Spiti way of living and at the same time sensitising travelers and communities on how to ensure that it remains preserved.

To know more about Spiti Ecosphere and the wonderful work they are carrying out in this beautiful valley of the Himalayas, visit their website at http://www.spitiecosphere.com/

You can also connect with them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55566667952

For volunteering and other opportunities, mail them at info[at]spitiecosphere[dot]com

Meet Anil kumar who has a hearing disability. He used to work in a papad factory earning Rs.1500 a month for a daily workload of 10 hours. Then he came to know about Noida Deaf Society and enrolled for their English course in the year 2007. Eventually he got placed in Leela Kempinski Hotels, Gurgaon much to his joy and satisfaction. “I have learnt to commit to my job from NDS, and the value of having a good job and a regular salary,” says Anil.

Noida Deaf Society was started in the year 2005 single-handedly by Ruma Roka and now this organization is impacting over 300 students through its various courses. Here is an interview of Ruma on NDS, her inspiration and the impact she is creating:

Here is a photograph of Ruma with the entire NDS family:

To know more about NDS and to go through their work, please visit their website: http://noidadeafsociety.net/

The region of Gujarat has been home to many a tribal cultures and has nourished them from the earliest known periods of history. The stark monotony of the arid landscape in this region is relieved by the bright shades of handicrafts made by the tribal women. Specifically, the Okhamandal Taluka is home to more than 200 Self Help Groups (SHGs) of men and women. It is from these communities that the Appliqué handicraft under the “Okhai” brand name has been created with the support and guidance of TCSRD (Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development).

The Self Help Groups in Okhamandal Taluka mainly comprise of the Rabaris, Vagher and Ahirs. The most prominent tribe here, the Rabaris, are a semi-nomadic tribe known for their survival and adaptation in arid regions of Gujarat and Rajasthan – pursuing a pre-agrarian, pastoral lifestyle – found mainly in the Kutch and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat. The Rabaris today lead a quaint, colourful and rugged life which finds a manifestation in the embroidery and crafts made by them.

The TCSRD centre employs the skills of about 200 Rabari women from the various Okhamanda villages and a team of trained tailors. The various products made in Okhai include apparels, accessories and handicrafts. The handicrafts workforce is guided by a full time designer to translate the traditional products into those that are in consonance with the current fashion trends. These products are sold at retail showrooms in Mithapur and Ahemdabad. The products are an amalgamation of the traditional art form of the Tribal Women and the designs of the designer.

As their website puts its, “The Okhai brand has become a powerful statement by the women of Okhamandal villages over the years. A statement that empowers them, a statement that gives them and the region an identity, a statement that make people notice this beautiful form of art and patronize it.”

What we’ve found particularly interesting is the impact that these self-help groups are creating on the community members. Do read the following tales of empowerment at the Okhai website:
Laxmi Bhara – Chief designer. She has been associated with the project for over 8 years and now is a proud owner of a home.
Rami Dula Nangesh – Empowerment personified. Her day with Okhai starts at 5 in the morning and she has been instrumental in bringing about innovative changes to the various products.

More about Okhai here: http://www.okhai.org/
To read about Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development (TCSRD) click here: http://www.tcsrd.org/

In this maddening hustle bustle of the modern day, most of us dream of a vacation , set in some tranquil abode of nature, a unique experience that enriches the body , mind and soul , full of contrasts and diversity. Something that can’t really be located in a guide book.

Well, if you are looking for all of that and want to contribute to Responsible Tourism in the country Travel another India is the answer.

As traditional sources of income erode , Travel another India aims to provide an alternate means of livelihood to many rural farm and forest fringe communities , artisans and craft persons who are willing to play host.

Travel another India won the Sankalp award for emerging companies in Rural Innovations for 2009.

Here’s an interview with Ms. Gouthami, Co-Founder of Travel another India.

Contact Details

Please visit http://travelanotherindia.com to know more
Blog: http://travelanotherindia.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Travel-Another-India/120624356334