NAGPUR: The Nature Conservation Society, Amravati (NCSA), an NGO engaged in wildlife conservation in Central India, has created a model for the development of buffer villages in tiger reserves.
At a time when respective state governments are hesitating to notify buffer zones for tiger reserves due to confusion among villagers and politicians, the NCSA has actually created a model to explain the development plan for villages in the buffer. The NCSA model has been set up on a 20-acre private land on the outskirts of Melghat Tiger Reserve in Amravati district. Known as ‘Muthawa’ Community Resource Centre (MCRC), it has now become a resource centre for communities living in the buffer of the tiger reserve. Muthawa is the name of God for Korku tribals. The 20-acre area has regenerated 60 indigenous plant species of Melghat reserve. There are 3,000 standing trees on this plot of 20 feet. “We did nothing but simply provided protection to this area,” said Kishor Rithe, one of the architects of MCRC. Birds responded well to this protection. Quails, partridges and around 20 local species of birds started nesting in this area. “Their three generations now have started pest controlling in the organic farming plot,” he added.
“It took four years to create a model of activities to be carried out in the buffer villages of the tiger reserve. The NCSA is busy creating trainers who will go to villages in the buffer of any tiger reserve with the conservation and livelihood agenda for tribals,” claimed Nishikant Kale, president of NCSA. The centre grows jowar, rice, udad and vegetables like brinjals, chilli, tomato and turmeric as first crop and gram as the second crop. Focus has been given on agroforestry and horticulture. “We’ve planted forest produce like charoli, amla, bamboo, mahua and sagargoti which can give us forest produce and fruits like mango, orange, tamarind, citrus, papaya, banana, karvanda, drumstick, guava and custard apple as fruits.
There are 500 trees of these varieties. To support this kind of pesticide-free agriculture a strong natural pest controlling mechanism has been created within the centre. The centre produces manure from urine, agricultural waste and composting. A unique nursery grows saplings based on the agro-forestry model in tribal villages.
“To explain eco-tourism in buffer specially benefiting the locals, we have created a wildlife habitat within the campus. Many wild animals have started visiting waterholes and the meadow in the centre,” says Rithe.
“Many leading organisations, government departments, banks, micro finance institutes, university departments and research organisations are visiting the centre and have started many programmes with our collaboration in their own areas,” Kale said.
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NGO flash strike hits RTA services
HYDERABAD: A flash strike by some NGO unions on Tuesday paralysed services at regional transport authority’s (RTA) offices across the city putting thousands of citizens to inconvenience.
Due to the strike, all the 11 RTA offices in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts stopped functioning and notices were put up announcing that the online slots allocated for various services on Tuesday would be rescheduled.
Hundreds of people thronged the Khairatabad RTA office and returned disappointed. Some applicants said registration certificate (RC) and permanent licence issuing mechanism at Khairatabad was hit, putting them to a lot of trouble. After the launch of the three-tier-system web-enabled services (WES) in RTA, smart cards of vehicle RC, permanent driving licence and duplicates for 11 RTA offices in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy were being printed and dispatched from Khairatabad RTA office.
According to officials, any given day, about 2,500 receipts pertaining to printing of smart cards (RCs, driving licences) reach Khairatabad but the existing printing capacity is just 1,000.
According to sources, the number of pending RCs, driving licences cross 50,000 causing inconvenience to a lot of people. "I cleared driving test almost two months ago. At Nagole test track, officials said that within a week I will get my licence by speed post. However, even after two months, I am yet to get it," Ch Vamsi, an executive with Moldtechindia, said.
Vamsi apparently had to pay challan twice when traffic police caught him for not having a driving licence. Similar was the experience of M Venu, a software engineer. Venu bought a car two months ago, applied for a permanent registration and is yet to get an RC.
When contacted, Mamta Prasad, deputy transport commissioner, Ranga Reddy, who is also in-charge for Hyderabad, said there has been a problem with issuing of licences and RCs and they are trying to rectify it.
"Due to upgradation of the system, there have been some problems which resulted in the delay of smart cards printing. We are increasing the number of printers and upgrading the system. Within a week, the problem will be rectified," she added.
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NGO demands chemical emergency plan under RTI
VADODARA: Concerned over the recent fire in the backyard of Gujarat Refinery, a city-based environment activist Rohit Prajapati on Saturday filed a Right to Information (RTI) application demanding to know whether the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) has any emergency plans to fight chemical disasters in the state. Prajapati has asked the authorities to reply within 48 hours as it is an important issue and GSDMA's website doesn't have any information on it.
"I have demanded elaborate details from GSDMA as I feel that there is no effort from the government's side to prevent chemical disasters. Gujarat has large number of chemical industries, many of which deal with hazardous chemicals. I want to know whether the government is prepared to tackle any disaster, especially during monsoons," Prajapati told TOI.
"We shouldn't forget what happened in Bhopal. There are many risks associated with the use, storage, processing and handling of these chemicals. But, many times industries deny sharing such information. The eight solid waste sites and 25 common effluent treatment plants in Gujarat are open like cricket grounds," Prajapati added.
Under RTI, Prajapati has demanded a copy of chemical emergency plan for each industrial cluster of Gujarat particularly for rainy season, names of chemical industries in the state, their products, details of hazardous waste and effluent generated, its impact on environment, health of workers and communities around.
He had demanded similar information in 2007. The state government had then replied saying that it didn't have any chemical emergency plans and was in the process of making one. "If I don't get reply within 48 hours, I will approach Gujarat Information Commission (GIC). It is high time that the government shares its disaster management plans," Prajapati said.
"Lot of hazardous chemicals flow out along with rainwater during monsoons every year from the chemical industries in and around Vadodara. Same is the case with industries in other cities. The lake near Gujarat Refinery had also got polluted owing to the dumped oil products," Prajapati said.
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WOMEN OF NO IMPORTANCE
The ordeal suffered by a modern, urban woman when her maid quits the job is nerve-wracking. And if this woman happens to be a professional with a family to look after — which means being on time with her husband’s breakfast, getting her two children ready for school, operating the washing machine and cooking lunch at the same time while getting ready for work herself, all within an hour-and-a-half — the tragedy of losing the maid assumes epic proportions. Behind every successful woman there is always another woman, indispensable in daily life but quite invisible. Without these ‘other’ women, the engine of a household would grind to a halt. Yet, the value accorded to domestic workers and their labour is extremely low in Indian society — this includes the educated, the erudite and the intellectual, who take pride in being all for human rights and the empowerment of the underprivileged.
So far, the government and polite society have conveniently ignored the fact that domestic workers are professionals too, and they deserve workers’ rights. Only recently has the Centre woken up to the domestic labourers’ plight, nudged repeatedly by non-governmental organizations and activists, and has introduced a draft policy that attempts to provide domestic workers with basic rights such as a weekly day off, minimum wages, fixed working hours and employment contracts.
While the Centre basks in the glory of its achievement, perhaps it should also reflect a bit on what is still left to be done. At present, it does not have a clear idea about the number of domestic workers and the conditions they work in. The draft policy recommends a safe working environment, but to make that happen one must first find out what the current environment is like. An NGO working for the welfare of domestic workers says that 70 per cent of the workers are women, and many of them children, who are often victims of trafficking. The draft policy intends to give these women their basic rights as workers, but what about their rights as women and as human beings? Even as professionals, the law against sexual harassment at the workplace should protect them.
Sexual abuse of domestic workers is keenly discussed and debated, but it is an area that still remains in considerable darkness. All we have are speculations, but no consolidated effort on the part of the government to find out the exact facts and figures. The little research that has been conducted independently on this subject suggests that domestic workers are among the most vulnerable sections of the country’s workforce. The ‘civilized’ elite often exploits them not just monetarily but also sexually. The incidents are generally hushed up. In most cases, not even a formal complaint is lodged, and so, the question of justice or punishment does not arise.
Tantalizing accounts of sexual exploitation of ‘maid servants’ have so far made up the material of short stories, sometimes novels, sometimes television soaps, and, mostly, erotic jokes and pornographic narratives. Once in a while, cases such as the Shiney Ahuja debacle give us a peek into this dark corridor of muffled cries. But in general it is all hearsay, nothing that is taken beyond a coffee-table conversation.
According to a member of the task force that is helping the government set up policies for domestic workers, there have been thousands of cases of physical and sexual abuse against women who work in households for pay. The government has failed to do anything about it as there is “no mechanism to track and monitor”.
Before one sighs and dismisses the inaction of the government as another example of its usual callous and complaisant nature, it may be worthwhile to wonder if there are other reasons behind its reluctance to go deeper into this issue. In 2007, a law had been proposed to protect women from sexual harassment at the workplace, and it had included domestic labourers. In May this year, there has been a last-minute change to this proposed legislation which is soon to be placed before the cabinet. The women and child development ministry has withdrawn protection from sexual harassment to domestic workers from the ambit of this long-pending proposal, citing a really curious reason — reportedly, the law ministry has argued that implementing the law “inside people’s homes” may prove too hard. It would have been truly enlightening if the law ministry had cared to explain what the difficulty exactly is. Does it mean to say that sexual crimes are not committed inside people’s homes? Or is it suggesting that sexual abuse which takes place inside people’s homes should not come under the scope of the law?
To neglect or forget is one thing, but to consciously deny is quite something else. And when the logic behind the denial borders on absurdity, it is time to wonder what the unsaid realities are. The home, the sacred seat of the institution called family, must always remain unscathed, immune to any accusation. Even when questioning its integrity becomes absolutely unavoidable, such questioning must be for a reason far more weighty than just the abuse of those ‘menial’ women who sweep the floor. Men will be men, once in a while they will ogle at the maid; some naughty teenage boy will grab the maid’s breasts when he wants to taste a female body without too much fuss. These women need the jobs, they will not open their mouths too easily. After all, they are ‘lowly’ beings, coming mostly from the backward sections of society. They will find it hard to accuse, harder to prove, and even harder to get another job. And, above all, the home (I repeat) is sacred. What happens there, stays there.
Honour is a funny word. It is amazing how its meaning changes with the identities of individuals or groups, both in the eyes of society and the law. The honour of the Indian family often lies in covering up the exploitations perpetrated by it. The difficulty of implementing sexual harassment laws inside a home has its roots in an age-old mindset that strives to protect the image of ‘the home’ more than its inhabitants. What this mindset disregards, deliberately, is the fact that this ‘home’ is the workplace for a domestic worker. She is vulnerable there, as a female employee is vulnerable to sexual advances from employers or male colleagues. While the law protects the employees in an office, the domestic worker is protected neither by the law nor by society. Her vulnerability is intensified by the fact that she is poor; she may not be able to afford to protest and lose her job.
If it is to be believed that our country is indeed democratic, there is no reason why the law should hesitate to enter people’s households. Then again, it is selective in its hesitation. It does not show any reluctance to invade households when it comes to domestic violence or dowry deaths. But while dealing with the abuse of ‘maids’, it stops and reconsiders whether it is worth wasting its time on those expendable creatures.
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Make inquiry report public: NGO
VADODARA: Concerned over the fire that erupted in the backyard of Gujarat Refinery three days ago, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS), a city-based NGO working for environmental cause, has demanded that the inquiry report that is being prepared should be made public by IndianOil Corporation Ltd (IOCL). PSS activists said that several such inquiries were done in past accidents that happened in IOCL, but none of them was made public.
Another people's body, Jaago Vadodara Jaago, too, has demanded action against those responsible for the dumping and subsequent fire. "Since 1995, there have been number of accidents in IOCL in which many people lost their lives. Inquires were ordered into such incidents, but none of them was made public. People should know what came out in the inquiries and who is responsible for such accidents," said Rohit Prajapati of PSS.
"Gujarat Refinery is located right outside the city and any accident in this petrochemical company spreads panic among citizens. The company is answerable to the citizens. At least, NGOs like us who work for environment and eminent citizens should be apprised of actions taken by the company after such accidents occur," Prajapati added.
The NGO has listed accidents that happened in the refinery fire in petrol tank of refinery in 1995 in which one person was killed, fire in hydrocracker plant in 1995, fire on refinery premises in 2001 which the company allegedly tried to hide, gas leak in 2002 in which one person died, contract worker died after falling from cleaning tower in 2002, blast in October 2004 in which two people were killed and 16 were injured and oil leakage from refinery that caused damage to a nearby lake in 2005. When we ask what actions were taken after such incidents, we don't get proper replies," said Prajapati.
Narendra Rawat of Jaago Vadodara Jaago said, "Citizens should be educated about steps to be taken in case there is some gas or chemical leakage. The city is surrounded by several chemical units of which many handle hazardous chemicals. If proper steps are not taken on time, then it may lead to dangerous accident some day." The body has written to Gujarat chief minister, Central Pollution Control Board and human rights commission regarding the issue.
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NREGA workers paid a pittance in state: NGO
JAIPUR: While Rajasthan may claim to have been best in implementing the employment guarantee scheme but the workers have been getting a pittance.
A report by activists of the Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan have brought to light that workers at Krishnagar in the Phalodi gram panchayat of Jodhpur were paid Re 1 as wages in the first fortnight of May. However, when the workers raised a hue and cry their work was re-evaluated and the wages were hiked to Rs 19.
Things were a bit better at the Rora gram panchayat in the Nokha panchayat samity of Bikaner were the workers were given Rs 7. But things came to a pass as the workers refused to accept the payment.
At Nalodi in Karauli the wages paid stood at a paltry Rs 20 which was later hiked after protests to Rs 47. In the capital city of Jaipur, workers at the Palawala Jatan gram panchayat under the Bassi panchayat the wages given stood about 6-7 months back at Rs 14.
“These are just some of the glaring anomalies that have creeped into the scheme. According to the rules, each workers has to be given a real wage of Rs 100 but that has remained in the books. There is no longer any guarantee of this money for workers labouring under this scheme," says Nikhil Dey of the Abhiyan.
At a meeting of NREGA workers it came to light that all workers irrespective of the amount of work that they are doing are being given poor wages when the rules say that the wages should be paid in accordance to the amount of work.
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NGO office ransacked
VADODARA: Relatives of a Rajasthan-based girl, who had fled from her home with her friend some days ago, created ruckus at the office of city-based NGO Vikalp and even broke glass panes of its door. Nidhi Jain, 27, fled from her home in Kota with her friend Akanksha in the first week of June and took shelter at Vikalp.
According to the NGO that works for women, Nidhi, working as a lecturer in a college was being coerced into marriage by her family but she wasn't happy with it. "She opposed her family members' decision to arrange her marriage so she fled from her home with her friend Akanksha, 23. Both left together as Nidhi was not comfortable leaving her home alone," said Maya Sharma, who runs the NGO.
"Now, both want to live together independently and don't want to return to their families. But, Nidhi's uncle came to our office on Wednesday and tried to take her away forcibly. So, we had to call the police and seek protection. We are trying to convince the family to let the girls live together," Sharma told TOI. The JP Road police officials met the girls, but no formal complaint was lodged against anyone till Wednesday evening.
