AID Delhi newsletter June 2008

8/14/2019 AID Delhi newsletter June 2008

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Editorial

Dear Volunteers / Donors and Supporters,

Its really great to get back in touch with you people through editorial after quite some time. Onemore month with lots of activity passed just like that. Unfortunately we couldnt have two CSHsin the last month as I was out of station on the CSH due.

This month started with event and went on full with more and more events. AID Delhi celebratedenvironment week on the first two weeks of the months by conducting life size environmentimpact assessment games at different corporate offices. This time we got a tremendous responsefrom all the office where we conducted the game. The game was an immense tool to spreadenvironment awareness mixed with lots of fun. Hopefully AID Delhi environment cell would

take up more activities in the future.

This issue has a FAQ on Bhopal Gas Tragedy. As Bhopal survivors are sitting at Jantar Mantaron an indefinite hunger strike and protesting against DOW chemicals, we thought its the righttime for more people to know about it. AID Delhi also conducted a candle vigil to show itssolidarity towards bhopalis and also participated in Global Action Day with a lot of AID Delhivolunteers having solidarity fast for the support of the bhopalis campaign. The event day alsosaw children from Aashayen making heart for the Prime Minister. We would really expect ourvolunteers to visit the dharna site sometime and interact with the survivors and show solidarity.

We had a night walk on the roads of Old Delhi along with Jamghat and it was really an eye

opening experience where we could literally feel and relate to a life on road. We will beorganizing more night walks to awaken more volunteers. Aashayen children went on a picnic toRail museum and Nehru planetarium where they had a very good time. It was a great experiencefor the children at Nehru planetarium and they were exclaiming after they came back.

There will be now 5 parallel classes held at AID Prayas according to the profile of the children.There would be two Eureka Classes in which around 30 children will be benefitted. After a lot ofcrisis at Aagaz, and after a lot of debates and brainstorming we have decided to close the projectAagaz as we felt that we are not needed there at the community.

Its high time we pay attention to our funds status as AID Delhi meal a month is an all time low

in this year. I request every volunteer to come forward and contribute towards meal a month andalso to spread the word across.

Without bothering much of your time I sign off from this edition

Happy Reading!!

Selva


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I personally congratulate everyone behind the small success whatever we got for the kids & thecommunity.O

Our team of Prayas was joined by few new volunteers i.e. Meghna, Shubham & Abhishek, and wewelcome them for this association.

Parichay

1. For the first time ever, students of NF3 conducted the classes for NF1 and NF2.2. Vijay Bhaiya is helping the children prepare for a musical drama. Children of NF1, 2, and 3

would be participating in the drama.3. We have started computer classes for children . Two groups of 3 children each have started

attending computer literacy classes.4. Sale at STM crossed Rs. 11,200.5. Parichay participated in Craft Bazaar organized by Corporate Executive Board, Gurgaon on July

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Eureka

This report has the following contents1. Introduction2. Present status

3. Present targets4. Future plans

My name is nikunj, full timer of AID Delhi. I am working on eureka kit and taking class in prayas noidaas to experiment with eureka. Present status of eureka is that I have made a team and finalized the entireplan of executing eureka. I have spoken to various people at Chennai regarding eureka. And thecommunication between me and members of Chennai Eureka project is still going on .Two B.Edgraduates Chesta and Deepika will be helping me with eureka model's analyzing , making class lessons onthe basis of non formal education activities and with its process of implementation at various places . Iam taking class with an intern Charu. As Charu would leave this month as her college opens I am lookingfor more volunteers to join our team. I will first work with activities eureka model in prayas and see itsresults. Than after this July in middle of august I will work with activities of eureka in other centers of

AID Delhi. Then with the help of other volunteers and members of AID delhi I will approach governmentschools.

I have developed some basic activities for basic level 1 of letters and still exploring other new methodsfor teaching basic letters. Now after this level we will be working on other levels one by one.

Presently we are planning to start one more eureka class. That class will start form next week .Till now I


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was trying different methodologies and other activities of eureka to teach and developing new methodsand activities which I can include in future.

Status of eureka classes: - which we r taking in prayas noida is that at this time now we are ready to moveto level 2 of words from level 1 of letters. I have taught them vowels and in middle of letters The neweureka class will have same process with step approach of non-formal teaching.

Aashayein

The following activities took place at Aashayein this month:

1. The classes started for the children came to an end on 14th June, but they will resume from July andsince the schools will be starting we are planning for afternoon classes for the kids.

2. Two new volunteers have joined us this week

- Kriti- Rohit

3. After the classes the kids really wanted to go to an outing so we decided to organize it for the children.A picnic was organized for the kids and 23 kids plus 2 members from the community plus 7 volunteerswent to places like

Rail Museum- Children were taken on a joy ride and later they explored the different engines keptin the museum and had a really nice time.

Nehru Planetarium- Here the kids had their lunch and were shown the movie prepared by the staffof the place concerned and really enjoyed the experience.

Jantar Mantar- The kids were taken to the Bhopalis sitting on protest at the place and they weretold about the tragedy, the kids were really concerned and made out hearts for the Prime Ministerwith their messages written on it.

The kids were also shown places like Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House, India Gate and Teen MurtiBhawan from the bus itself.

AID Gurgaon

The monsoon arrived early in June and as always it had a direct bearing on the attendance in Unnatischool. The average attendance has gone down from mid-fourties to high-thirties. Out of the four bastis,one has shifted its base to Sector 54 so we are on a look-out for more kids from new bastis.

The schools were closed intermittently for a day or two due to heavy rains but apart from that theattendance has been steady (although slightly on the lower side). Besides Unnati students, the four kidsfrom private school have been coming to Unnati school during their summer vacations. This has helpedus to keep a track of their holidays homework.


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As far as relocating the school is concerned, since we haven't been able to find a place which takes care ofall our concerns, we have thought about using the Govt. school as an option. Efforts are on to seek thenecessary permissions and find out if it would be feasible to hold classes in the school premises.

Nishank was in India after a long time so we had a volunteers meet where a lot of ideas were discussed -from the lack of progress on GPTC, volunteer management and nutrition program.

Environment Cell

AID Delhi chapter planned to celebrate environment week in an innovative and informative manner.Accordingly we thought of conducting life size games on environment issues. The theme we picked upwas water conservation and air pollution. We designed a life size snake and ladder game for both thethemes. A few of our volunteers took the responsibility of designing the game. The game goes on asfollows.

A Life size snake and ladder board will be made with colorful ribbons Green boxes indicating Ladder boxes Red boxes indicating Snake boxes White / Yellow boxes are safe ones. Each box would be 2 x 2 feet. The entire snake box would carry a message which affects environment and as per the effect of

the message he gets negative points and move to the snake tail. All ladder boxes would carry a message which saves environment and as per the effect of the

message the person gains positive points and move up the ladder.

With this game we approached a lot of corporate offices to conduct the game in their office as a part of

their CSR cell activity during the environment week. We started to perform the game from 3rd

June andstill performing. The following are the companies which weve conducted the game so far.

ST Microelectronics, Greater Noida with employees of 2000. TCS, Gurgaon office with number of employees more than 2000. HCL, Sec 125, Noida with number of employees more than 700. Freescale Semiconductors, Sec 16, Noida with number of employees more than 600. TCS, Sec 3, Noida with number of employees more than 250. TCS, Noida Phase II with number of employees more than 600. Evalueserve, Sec -29, Gurgaon with number of employees more than 2000. Corporate Executive Board, Gurgaon with number of employees around 225. Newgen, Sec 62, Noida with number of employees around 800. [Game yet to be performed].

When we approached the companies, we got help from the volunteers of the company in setting up thegame. We divided 4 teams in one round in which each team would have maximum of 3 people. Oneperson would throw the dice and the others move on the board. Whenever a person reached the snake /ladder box, they would take the message and read out loudly and keep it back, then move down / uprespectively. The team which ends in the finish box [ 8 x 8 boxes, 64th box is finish], wins.

We also had a streetplay performance on the issue of Global Warming by our partnering NGO Jamghat atST Microelectronics and Freescale Semiconductors, Noida.


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Issue Explained

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy

1.) What is Bhopal gas tragedy?

The 'Bhopal disaster' was an industrial disaster that occurred in Bhopal, The incident took place in the early hours ofthe morning of December 3, 1984, in the heart of the city. A Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant released 40tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, killing approximately 3,800 people, according to the Indian Supreme Court.A more probable figure is that 8,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that the same number have sincedied from gas related diseases. However, testimonies from doctors who provided medical assistance during thetragedy claim over 15,000 were dead in the first month alone.

2.) How did this happen?

The Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL) (now DOW chemicals) plant was established in 1969.It produced thepesticide carbaryl. Methyl isocyanate (MIC), an intermediate in carbaryl manufacture, was used instead of less toxic

but more expensive materials. In 1979, a plant for producing MIC was added. The plant was located close to adensely populated area, instead of on the other side of the town where UCIL was offered an area. MIC was stored ina few large tanks instead of several small tanks. The safety systems were inadequate from the start. The alarms didnot direct the inhabitants.

The management soon deteriorated in order to cut down expenses,

During the nights of 2-3 December, large amounts of water entered tank 610. The resulting reaction generated amajor increase in the temperature of liquid inside the tank (to over 200C). The MIC holding tank then gave off alarge volume of toxic gas, forcing the emergency release of pressure. The reaction was sped up by the presence ofiron from corroding non-stainless steel pipelines.

3.) What effects did the disaster have on the human population?

The initial effects of gas exposure were coughing, vomiting, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation.

The next day, thousands of dead bodies were lying on the streets. The corpses were collected and dumped intoNarmada river. There were mass funerals and mass cremations. 170,000 people were treated at hospitals andtemporary dispensaries. A total of 36 wards were marked by the authorities as being "gas affected", with apopulation of 520,000. Of these 200,000 were below 15 years of age and 3,000 were pregnant women. In 1991,3,928 deaths had been certified. Independent organizations recorded 8,000 dead the first days. Other estimationsvary between 10,000 and 20,000.

4.) What effects did the disaster have on the environment?

2,000 buffaloes, goats, and other animals had to be collected and buried. Within a few days, leaves on trees wentyellow and fell off. Business stopped and food did not get into town, as the farmers did not dare to come close.Fishing was forbidden.

5.) What was the company's reaction?


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Soon after the gas leak occurred the company said that this was work of a disgruntled worker. Carbide has neitherever named this fictitious worker nor brought any charges against him. It has also not allowed public scrutiny of thereport thats supposed to have concluded sabotage.

6.) What was the compensation provided to the victims?

In 1989, the Government of India negotiated a secret settlement with Union Carbide Corp. for $470 million ascompensation for disaster-related damages a sixth of the amount originally demanded. On average, nearly 95 percentof the victims received a meager $500 as compensation for lifelong injury or loss of life. Over 20 years, that worksout to the equivalent of one cup of tea or six US cents per day.

The 1989 settlement only covered compensation for disaster-related damages. It did not cover the contaminationUnion Carbide left behind, which has now spread to the ground water. Neither does it cover future damages tohealth and property as a result of this contamination.

7.) What have been the after effects of this gas leak?

Twenty years after the disaster, those who survived the gas remain sick, and the chemicals that Union Carbide leftbehind in Bhopal have poisoned the water supply and contributed to an epidemic of cancers, birth defects, and other

afflictions. 10-15 people still die every month from exposure-related illnesses. Babies are being born withdeformities and chromosomal aberrations. Teenage girls complain of the most abnormal menstrual disordersincluding absence of periods even at the age of 18, and young women reach very early menopause and often developcervical cancer. Close to 150,000 people are ravaged by a wide range of multi-systemic disorders includingrespiratory, neurological, gynecological and mental. Unable to keep their jobs most people have been reduced todaily wage work. Some are still too sick to work.

8.) What is the company's stand now?

Since its purchase of Carbide in 2001, Dow Chemical has refused to clean up the site, which continues tocontaminate those near it; provide safe drinking water fund medical care or livelihood regeneration; or disclose thecomposition of the gas leak, information that doctors could use to properly treat the victims. Or stand trial in Bhopal,where the Union Carbide Corporation faces criminal charges of culpable homicide (manslaughter), and has fledthese charges for the past 12 years.

9.) What is the current status of the court cases?

Two court cases are pending: one civil, heard in the Southern District federal court in New York, the other criminal,heard before the Chief Judicial Magistrates court in Bhopal. The civil case was filed in 1999 by survivors againstUnion Carbide, seeking a comprehensive cleanup of the contaminated site and the properties around the factory, andcompensation and medical monitoring for those poisoned by Carbides chemical waste. In India, Warren Anderson,the former CEO of Union Carbide, and the Union Carbide Corporation itself face criminal charges of culpablehomicide, or manslaughter. These charges have been outstanding since 1992, yet Anderson and Carbide have bothignored repeated summons to appear before the court, and have both been officially declared absconders, orfugitives from justice, by the Indian courts.

10.) What are the demands of the survivors?

1. Authorized representatives of Dow-Union Carbide should face trial..

2. Provide long term health care.

3. Clean up the poison, clean up toxic wastes and contaminated groundwater in and around the Union Carbidefactory site.


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4. Provide economic and social support.

Sources:

Wikipedia & studentsforbhopal.org


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Friends of AID

Students for Bhopal

Students for Bhopal is an international network of students and supporters working in solidarity with thesurvivors of the Bhopal disaster in their struggle for justice. As a part of the International Campaign forJustice in Bhopal (ICJB), we use education, grassroots organizing and non-violent direct action topressure Dow Chemical and the Indian Government to uphold the Bhopalis' demand for justice, and theirfundamental human right to live free of chemical poison. SfB also works directly to improve thecondition of Bhopal's survivors. Our role is to empower and train youth as leaders in the worldwidemovement to end this crime against humanity. We all live in Bhopal and we will not rest without justicein Bhopal!

History of SfB

Students for Bhopal is guided by the demands, campaigns and vision of the survivors themselves. SfB

was originally founded as the student wing of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB),an international coalition of organizations and institutions dedicated to supporting the campaign of theBhopal survivors. Four grassroots Bhopali organizations form the core of ICJB - Bhopal Gas PeeditMahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Groupfor Information and Action and Bhopal ki Awaaz and provide the guidance and inspiration for its workaround the globe, including the work of Students for Bhopal. SfB is coordinated by Ryan Bodanyi, whofounded the orgaCanization in 2003.

SfB's Campaigns

Students for Bhopal volunteers work within their own institutions and communities to build pressure onagainst Dow Chemical and the Indian Government to meet the demands of the Bhopali survivors. These

campaigns can take a variety of forms, but often start with education and awareness-raising efforts.Students have advocated for universities and colleges which own stock in Dow Chemical to either divestfrom the company, or support a shareholder resolution which requests that Dow report on the threat itsinaction may pose to the company. Some universities and colleges do not hold stock in Dow Chemical,but do accept funding from them. In such cases Students for Bhopal chapters have demanded that theirschools should reject funding from Dow until the corporation resolves its outstanding liabilities inBhopal.Students for Bhopal has also worked to engage Dows Board of Directors. As Dows ultimate decision-making authority, SfB volunteers have continued to ask Dows Board members to take responsibility forBhopal through letter writing campaigns, fax and email actions, phone calls, personal visits and protests.The Government of India has also been a target of the survivors demands, and Students for Bhopalmembers have echoed survivors' requests for safe drinking water, social and economic support, good

healthcare, and more through email, fax and phone actions, and protests outside of Indian offices,consulates and embassies.

http://www.studentsforbhopal.org


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Photographs For the month:

From the Environment Week Celebrations


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Pictures from the Aashayein picnic


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Pictures of kids & volunteers AID Gurgaon


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Feedback

Wanttosaysomethingorhaveyougotasuggestionortwoforusoryouneedsomedoubttobeclearedforyou.Mailus,wewillpublishyourviewsandqueriesinnextmonth'sissue.Mail Us at : [email protected]

AID Delhi newsletter June 2008

Documents

Transcript of AID Delhi newsletter June 2008