Association for India’s Development

Delhi Chapter

Newsletter, August 2005

Edition # 2

“Learning humility, purity and simple-living from those

who don't take too much from the earth ...
Targeting the problems of hunger, disease and oppression
that sadden their lives ...
Inspiring in each other trust, Confidence and support for
one another ...”
Our Mission
 The cells have evolved too with lots of
Table of Contents activity in water cell & women's cell. We've
made the representation on Inter-Linking of
Rivers (in collaboration with Rivers for Life
group) to the standing committee of the
From The Editor’s Desk parliament. Women's cell is focusing on
ILR sensitive issues like eve-teasing and has
Kyoto Protocol (Revisited) come out with a survey. Previr & Alok have
Anti-Coke Campaign worked on the Kyoto Protocol studies which
Projects could take a tangible shape under the
Parichay banner of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Prayas Divya presents an insight into the life of
Nai Disha visually impaired. The wonderful documents
Faith Foundation prepared by our volunteer Garima are an
IT Support important tool for our Digital-Unify program,
Cells in which we try to bridge the gap between
Water Cell those who are computer-literate and those
Fund-raising Cell who are not. Fund raising team has been
Citizens of a Proud Country? working hard developing pragmatic
Scintilla of Hope For the Blind proposals for raising funds.
Delhi : Crime against Women We have also revamped our website, adding
Tale of small cities lots of new stuff. New AID T-shirts have
Future Roadmap been printed with AID philosophy
Volunteer Co-ordination "Sangharsh, Nirmaan, Sewa".
Volunteers Speak… But the biggest change that we've witnessed
Volunteering in Jet Age is the inflow of new, enthusiastic volunteers.
Simple Ways To Volunteer Our volunteer base has strengthened
Open Volunteer Positions significantly in the past quarter. And thanks
AID T-shirt Design to the new volunteers, project teams are
Publishing Team now stabilized in terms of regular volunteer
Contacts availability.
In commensuration with all that has been
happening in AID Delhi, our newsletter has
also evolved a lot. We are not only bringing
From The Editor’s Desk out what AID Delhi's doing but also focusing
on important issues like ILR, Kyoto Protocol
(Riputapan) studies, etc. Kyoto Protocol has incidentally
been revisited with more details. This
version of newsletter has articles ranging
from wide variety of topics with some of
It’s an immense pleasure to bring out the them coming directly from volunteer
second edition of AID Delhi newsletter. The
experiences. The theme of this newsletter is
past quarter has been quite an eventful one of cours e the Independence Day. Plus there
for AID Delhi and the same is reflected in are some really motivating articles for the
this newsletter.
volunteers who are new on the scene.
We've diversified in terms of projects with Our editorial team has also grown and we
the starting of "Prayas" in Jahangirpuri in hope that you enjoy as you read along...
which our volunteers visit regularly from
Monday to Friday to teach juvenile children.
We've also started providing IT-Support to
the not-so-techno-savvy NGOs to enable “The best way to find yourself
them to manage things effectively. In is to lose yourself in the
Parichay, nutrition program has been started service of others”
since July. Paras (AID US) volunteered for 2 - Mahatma Gandhi
weeks at Parichay. Supplementary classes
have begun on Sundays at Nai Disha.

Inter-Linking of Rivers
(Anuj)
Inter-Linking of Rivers (ILR) is a project
formulated by the Government of India for
linking the different rivers of India to each
other. The intent for the formulation is to find
a permanent solution for the recurring floods
and droughts in the country and resolving
the paradox of having both the calamities at
the same time in different parts of country.
The intent is good but the approach, as it
has turned out, is equally bad. ILR is
presented to the public as a panacea for all
water problems but the facts and logic tell an
entirely different story. This article discusses
the proclaimed benefits from the ILR project
and their associated flip sides which have
been gravely ignored.
The Benefits Proclaimed
ILR project, as Government has envisaged,
will achieve the targets of
• Drought-Proofing • Flood Prevention •
Irrigation • Electricity Generation • Inland
Navigation • National Integration • and
Others. Delving a little into these claims, one
can see an altogether different picture of the
project. Following sections provide some
significant insight into each of them.
• Drought-Proofing: In summers, when
the drought occurs either in
Rajasthan/Gujarat or peninsular India, it is
highly unlikely that the states in Indo-
gangetic plains have any water to spare
from their own agricultural needs. This is
substantiated by the fact that there are
issues already raised with Bangladesh over
the less amount of water India releases in
Ganga during the lean months.
• Flood Prevention: In the months of
monsoon, the flow in Brahmaputra River is
about 30,000 cubic metres/sec (cusecs).
The capacity of canals being suggested in
the ILR is of the order of 1,500 cusecs. Even
this capacity bears a huge economic,
environmental and social cost; increasing
capacity will be still more detrimental.
• Increasing Irrigated Land (additional 34
million hectares irrigable land):
ICAR statistics confirms that even after
spending crores of rupees on large water
projects for the past 57 years, 60% of our
agricultural land is still supported by
traditional structures like wells, tanks etc.
Statistics also warn that India already has 23
million hectares of land that is rendered
unproductive due to waterlogging and
salinity associated with canal-based
irrigation.
• Generating Electricity (additional 34000
MW): According to the Newton's law of
gravitation, water flows from high altitude to
lower altitude. River basins are formed such
because there is a highland separating one
basin from another. So when one wants to
transfer water from one basin to another (as
ILR proposes), one either needs to build
tunnels through the highlands, or pump-lift
the water. The former solution is very costly
and can be rejected. In the latter one,
energy is actually expended in lifting water
from one basin and then transferring it to
another. It seems unlikely that the energy
generated in the other basin will be higher
than that expended in lifting the water. Even
if it happens to be higher the net gain will
only be a few thousand MW.
• Inland Navigation: This benefit has
always been highlighted for every canal-
based project. Records prove the
hollowness of such claims. Though India
has the largest canal irrigation network in
the world, barring one or two canals none
has ever been used for this purpose in India
yet.
• National Integration: While the
project does fuel a romantic dream of a
united India and national integration, facts
from our previous experiences on water
projects (Kaveri basin, or recently Satluj-
Yamuna Link canal) have proven otherwise.
Water receiving state will always ask for
more water and the donor state will prefer to
keep all to itself. Water sharing projects
have usually led to more conflicts than
a feeling of increased camaraderie and
integration.
The Hidden Concerns
After a plethora of benefits proclaimed by
the proponents of ILR project, following are
some crucial concerns, not so conspicuous
but deep hidden under the beatific imagery
of ILR.
• Economically Disastrous: Budget of the
project is estimated as 1,000,000 crores,
just for infrastructure. This does not include
environmental, rehabilitation and other costs
involved. To bring things into perspective,
this amount is more than 1/4th of India's
annual GDP and twice India’s total irrigation
budget since 1950. This will require heavy
borrowing, sinking the country further into
the abyss of international debt.
• Promote Corruption: ILR is a mouth-
watering proposition for politicians and
contractors. Even a minimal 10% graft would
leave India short of 100,000 crores.
• Displacement and Social Costs: It is
estimated that ILR will submerge more than
8000 sq km of land affecting numerous
villages and towns. Worst hit would be the
neediest people who will end up
destitute. Since independence around 33
million people have been displaced due to
large river valley projects and most have not
yet been rehabilitated.
• Environmental Costs: 50,000 hectares
of forests will be submerged just by the
peninsular links. Submergence due to links
in Gangetic rivers hasn't yet been evaluated.
This would not only impact wildlife, but also
impact rich bio-diversity of India.
The list of concerns is endless. This is more
so because there is no transparency in the
Government's decisions and none of the
project assessment reports have been made
public.
Alternative Solutions
Numerous alternatives have been proposed
by the noted environmentalists and other
experts of the field, some of which are briefly
mentioned below. These alternatives will not
only save the huge investments planned for
ILR but also improve the efficiency of the
existing system, already well in place in
India.
• Traditional water harvesting structures,
such as ponds and lakes, give the benefit of
flood prevention and also drought
mitigation. These structures hold excess
water when it rains and result in recharging
the underground aquifers - which in turn
prevents droughts. In Bihar, more than
60,000 ponds need to be revived. Such
structures are local in nature and therefore
also cheap and more effective.
• Canal irrigation efficiency in India is
abysmally low at 20-35%. Just an
improvement in efficiency by about 10% can
irrigate 14 million additional hectares of land,
without causing any further environmental or
ecological damage.
• Watershed techniques have resulted in
revival of Aravari river basin in the desert
state of Rajasthan. These do not result in
any large-scale displacement of people and
also generate livelihood for people in their
villages thereby reducing the rural-t o-urban
migration.
• Focusing on reducing T&D losses on
the electricity network, we will gain not only
in terms of revenues generated (in place of
costs which would be incurred in the ILR),
but also have more energy at our disposal.
• Water deficient states should follow their
corresponding agricultural practices to
prevent export of water (through crops).
Planners need to take due care of virtual
water economies.
To conclude, seeing the hollowness of
proposed benefits and the disastrous flip-
side of the ILR project, it rather looks quite
an unwise decision to throw billions of
dollars down the drain when we can achieve
similar levels of gains just by improving the
efficiency and effectiveness of our present
investments. Instead of spending a
significant portion of our country’s GDP on
ILR, if we spend a small part on alternative
solutions, benefits will be far more
outreaching.
The Kyoto Protocol
(Alok/Previr)
Significance
The Kyoto Protocol is the first serious
attempt on the part of the international
community to curb global warming. Global
warming is defined as the progressive
gradual rise of the Earth’s surface
temperature thought to be caused primarily
by the greenhouse effect. The scientific
opinion on climate change, as expressed by
the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) and endorsed by the
national science academies of the G8
nations, is that the average global
temperatures have risen 0.6 ± 0.2°C over
the last century. Most of the warming
observed over the last 50 years is
attributable to human activities, most
prominently the emission of greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2). Based
on climate models referenced by the IPCC,
temperatures may increase by 1.4°C to
5.8°C between 1990 and 2100. If this
happens the polar ice caps will start melting
and the level of sea will rise. This can lead
to one third of land mass in low lying
countries such as Mauritius, Maldives,
Bangladesh submerge and coral islands
such as Lakshadweep to completely
disappear. Such changes may trigger other
detrimental events such as change in
amount and patter of precipitation, floods,
droughts, heat waves, reduction of
agricultural yields or even cause biological
extinctions. Some signs of global warming
have already started appearing. In 1995 a
huge crack extending over 65 Km was
noticed on the northern tip of Antarctica. El
Niño has been appearing more frequently
since 1980. Kyoto Protocol intends to arrest
global warming and reverse the damage
already done to the global climatic changes.
Formulation and status as of date
The Kyoto protocol is an amendment to the
United Nations Framework convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international
treaty on global warming. The UNFCCC was
produced during the United Nations Earth
summit held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The
treaty provides for industrialized countries
voluntarily reducing their carbon dioxide
emissions. The treaty as originally framed
set no mandatory limits on greenhouse gas
emissions for individual nations and
contained no enforcement provisions; and
hence is considered legally non-binding. The
Kyoto Protocol was concluded in third
conference of Conference of Parties to FCC
held at Kyoto, Japan in Dec 1997. This got
opened for signature on March 16, 1998.
The agreement came into force on February
16, 2005 following ratification by Russia on
November 18, 2004. At its implementation,
the agreement had been ratified by 141
countries representing over 61% of global
emissions. India signed and ratified the
Protocol in August 2002. Of the most
notable nations who have not ratified the
protocol are US and Australia. USA, which is
the largest emitter of the GHGs, has neither
ratified nor withdrawn from the protocol. The
protocol is non-binding over the United
States unless ratified. The President, Bush,
has indicated that he does not intend to
submit the treaty for ratification, not because
he does not support the general idea, but
because of the strain he believes the treaty
would put on the economy. Furthermore, he
is not happy with the details of the treaty.
For example, he does not support the split
between Annex I countries and others. US
in support of its refusal to ratify mentions
that unless the larger developing countries –
commonly mentioning China and India –
also make commitments to lower their
output of GHGs ,the US will not do so.
Policy proposals
The Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding
agreement under which industrialized
countries will reduce their collective
emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2%
compared to the year 1990. The goal is to
lower overall emissions from six greenhouse
gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs
- calculated as an average over the five-year
period of 2008-12. National targets range
from 8% reductions for the European Union
and some others to 7% for the US. The
developing countries under Kyoto protocol
don’t have commitment to curtail their
emission but they are required to assist the
industrialized nations to meet their targets.
Kyoto Protocol provides for three
mechanisms – Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM), Joint Implementation,
Emission trading - to achieve emission
reduction targets. Under CDM, Kyoto
protocol allows developing countries to
assist the industrialized countries in
achieving compliance with their quantified
emissions and reduction commitments. In
addition to this Kyoto protocol provides for
industrialized countries assisting themselves
in achieving the targets for reductions by
investing in carbon efficient projects. Some
current estimates indicate that even if
successfully implemented, the Kyoto
Protocol will be able to reduce the average
global temperature by somewhere between
0.02C to 0.28C by the year 2050, compared
to the increase of 1.4C to 5.8C by 2100.
Because of this many critics and
environmentalists question the value of the
Kyoto Protocol and ask for providing greater
teeth to this. Moreover the Kyoto protocol is
criticized because it’s not based on socially
just and ecologically effective strategy. 20
% of the world population living in about 10
industrialized countries is responsible for
80% of Green house gases.
Under joint implementation mechanism of
Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries can
meet their carbon dioxide emissions
reduction targets by investing in join
implementation project in developing
countries and need not change anything
domestically. This means that there may not
be a real reduction in carbon dioxide
emission level in developed countries.
Under emission trading option of Kyoto
Protocol, sellers of emission may sell their
emission at the cheapest possible cost by
exporting outdated technologies to
developing countries for establishing
industries.
Further the 1996 level of carbon dioxide
emissions of industrial countries as a group
is already below 1990 levels by about 4.5%
because of the collapse of Republic of
Soviet Union and east European countries.
This means that industrialized countries
have to just keep a check of their increasing
emission levels in addition to reducing
emission levels by 0.7%. This target they
can easily achieve by helping developing/
under developed countries in establishing
efficient power plants. Because of these
reasons Kyoto protocol seems to be as a
carbon trading agreement rather than as
Environmental protection agreement.
Kyoto Protocol provides for application of
Economic sanction on developed countries if
they fail to fulfill their obligations. But
economic sanctions against industrialized
countries are not an effective mechanism to
implement the protocol. A common per
capita emission concept will alone help to
move faster towards non carbon energy
world and thus will address Global warming
phenomenon on permanent and equitable
basis.
Recent attempts beyond Kyoto
On 28 July 2005, on the sidelines of the Asia
Regional Forum meeting, US, India, China,
Japan, South Korea and Australia unveiled
their pact to fight climate change towards
environment friendly technology. It is
envisaged that in this new partnership on
clean development, collaboration will
include, but not be limited to
nanotechnologies, hydrogen, advanced bio-
technologies and next generation nuclear
fission and fusion energy.
Anti-Coke campaign
(Riputapan)
Plachimada (Kerala) is inhabited mostly by
extremely poor people. There on one side of
the street was the Coca-Cola plant, among
the largest in Asia, and on the other a shack
filled with locals eager to impart the news
that they were now, as of April 2, in Day
1076 of their struggle against the plant.
Coca-Cola came to India in 1993, looking for
water and markets in a country where one
third of all villages are without anything
approaching adequate water and shortages
are growing every day. Indeed India is
facing a gigantic water crisis, even as Coca
Cola and other companies haul free water to
the cities from the countryside and water
parks and golf courses metastasize around
cities like Mumbai. Coca-Cola had sound
reasons in zoning in on Plachimada. A rain-
shadow region in the heart of Kerala's water
belt, it has large underground water
deposits. The site Coca-Cola picked was set
between two large reservoirs and ten meters
south of an irrigation canal. The ground
water reserves had apparently showed up
on satellite surveys done by the company's
prospectors.
Within six months the villagers saw the level
of their water drop sharply, even run dry.
The water they did draw was awful. It gave
some people diarrhea and bouts of
dizziness. To wash in it was to get skin
rashes, a burning feel on the skin. It left their
hair greasy and sticky. The women found
that rice and dal did not get cooked but
became hard. A thousand families have
been directly affected, and well water
affected up to a three or four kilometers from
the plant. Today, in a region known as the
rice bowl of Kerala, women in Plachimada
have to walk a 4-kilometer round trip to get
drinkable water, toting the big vessels on hip
or their head. Even better-off folk face ruin.
One man said he'd been farming eight acres
of rice paddy, hiring 20 workers, but now,
with no water for the paddy, he survives on
the charity of his son-in-law.
The old village wells had formerly gone
down to 150 to 200 feet. The company's
bore wells go down to 750 to 1000 feet. As
the water table dropped, all manner of toxic
matter began to rise too, leaching up to
higher levels as the soil dried out.
Recent Update: The state government of
Kerala, in southern India, is taking the Coca-
Cola Company to court over its abuse of
groundwater. The state government has
decided to move the Supreme Court of India
challenging Coca-Cola's right to extract
groundwater. The announcement, made on
st
July 21 by Local Self-Government Minister
Kutty Ahmed Kutty, specifically challenges
an earlier, April 7 Kerala High Court ruling
that allowed the company to extract up to
half million liters of water per day for its
Plachimada bottling plant. The High Court
had also instructed the local village council
(panchayat) to renew Coca-Cola's license.
Project : Parichay
(Sarfaraz)
Parichay stands testimony to the fact that if
the members of an organization are
committed, zealous and enthusiastic about
their work, they can accomplish their goals
come what may!! Parichay has run for so
many years without any funds, against many
odds. It got registered under the “Societies
th
Registration Act -1860” on 17 May 2005.
This was done while Parichay was in the
process of expanding its services to the
community. The children, who have been
sponsored by the Parichay sponsors, started
going to Private Schools and have shown a
positive change towards education and
towards life in general. In the process of
sponsoring more children, Parichay got two
more sponsorships in the month of June and
July for its children, making a total of nine.
Parichay believes in all round development
of a child. The children in the community
have never seen anything beyond their
community. So in order to make them
familiar with the surroundings and give some
knowledge about different things, an
Educational trip to zoo and national
handicraft museum was arranged. The kids
of non-formal education, the young children
of Sunday classes, volunteers and teachers
went on the trip. It was a memorable
experience for the children to see all those
things which they never even thought of,
and for teachers and volunteers because the
smiles on the faces of children gave them
the sense of satisfaction which nothing else
can give.
Besides education, Parichay provides
opportunities for skills development. During
May and June, special emphasis was given
on art and craft. These vocational skills give
the children the means to earn, feel free and
be independent.
The self-sustainability of the community
people has always been the priority of the
Parichay. The Masala unit that had started
for income generation has shown immense
growth since then. It has provided
employment to women in the community
thus enabling them to contribute financially
to their families.
The surroundings in communities are so
unhygienic that the health problems are very
common amongst children. Dr. Amita Govil
conducted medical check-up of all the kids
and community people, which is essential,
as people in a community are very negligent
about their health. The problems have to be
identified at the initial stages to be cured
before they extend their roots.
The health check brought to our notice that
many of the children are suffering from
various health problems and they need to
undergo treatment. The root cause of the
illness was malnutrition. So a Nutrition
Program was started in month of July for
children undergoing treatment. The
nutritious value of food intake of children in
the community is generally very low. In the
process of increasing the extent of its
support Parichay have also initiated a
Disability support. A step forward has taken
to support and rehabilitate persons with
physical and mental disability; Arti (mentally
challenged girl aged 33 years) has joined
Parichay as a volunteer. She comes once a
week and teaches art and craft to the kids
and helps the handicraft production unit.
Parichay always welcomes people. A
Volunteer from USA: Paras Doshi worked
with the kids for 10 days and before leaving
sponsored one child. That was a great
experience for the children as well as Paras
to be together and to have a long lasting
relationship.
Parichay has also developed a good rapport
with Dhriiti, an NGO which has helped in
stepping up marketing initiatives for masalas
made by women at Parichay.
Project : Prayas
(Vineet / Mayank Jain)
Prayas is a Delhi based organization
working for the welfare of juvenile children
and orphans. Prayas juvenile home ,situated
in Jahangirpuri (north-west Delhi) is a part of
this organization it caters to the needs of
rehabilitation of children rescued from
underage labor, those facing cases/
sentences under juvenile justice act and
orphans (who have abandoned by their near
and dear ones). We spent the last two
months of summers this year at Prayas
juvenile home, working with these children.
We spent about 3 hours/day for five days a
week at the organization, teaching children
mathematics. It was not exactly, what we
can call a traditional classroom. We both
taught in the same classroom, to two
separate groups of students, dividing the
blackboard space equally among us! This
was the first a bit strange to us- as I said it
was not a traditional classroom. While one
th
of us taught students of class 8 , the other
th
one taught students of class 6 . On the first
day of our assignment, we were in for a
shock when we came to know that we were
expected to teach the students through
Hindi medium. We were so enthusiastic
about the project that we had simply ignored
the writing on the wall-that the children
studied in government schools and hence
the medium of instruction was Hindi
language. But when we started teaching
and interacting with the students ,we were
able to overcome this handicap and we were
also able to brush up our vocabulary of our
national language ( For instance, how many
of us know that cube root is called “ghan-
mool” in our mother tongue?!).
Well, having one hurdle crossed, we had our
spirits high, when we faced our next hurdle-
how to teach basic concepts like the
fundamentals of addition and subtraction to
the students. The subject of mathematics
(being the students of engineering) had
governed our whole sixteen years of
education. These concepts were so obvious
to us that we were stumped when we
realized that many students of our class
faced difficulty in such basic concepts
.Moreover, students were not ready to admit
their handicap, and this made our task
tougher. However, thanks to the NCERT
books, we were able to bring us at the level
of students and help them understand these
fundas.
The period we spent there was period of
revelation for us. Firstly, we noticed that
there were many bright chaps in the class.
They were eager to learn not only maths,
but also English (quite many of them nudged
us for teaching them the queen’s language).
Secondly, we realized how eager these
students were to learn (barring a few).
Initially they were reluctant to learn (as they
thought we would come for a couple of days
and then simply disappear). However, when
we became a regular fixture there, we found
students becoming more receptive and
interested. We also tried to promote this
feeling by asking students (who understood
a concept we taught) to help out his fellow
student (who were not able to grasp the
concept properly). This had twin benefits-
first it was an act of appreciation for the
students (who were able to grasp easily)
.secondly, we were able to explain the
concepts easily to the relatively weaker
students with the help of their fellow
students. Finally, the grand truth we realized
first handedly –that the teachers in
government run school are responsible
largely for the plight of the students. If a
th
student of class 6 finds difficulty in addition,
it is because a teacher in the lower classes
failed in his duty. It is not that these students
have a lower IQ or so. It’s just that they have
not been taught properly and thus been
forced into being a less intelligent student
than his contemporaries in private schools.
Project : Nai Disha
(Anand)
It was a sultry May morning, when I called
Mayank, just to chat and to know what is he
involved with, in general. During this chat,
he talked about Nai Disha and its activities.
Nai Disha Free Education Society, Noida is
a school for under-privileged children started
by Capt. Jaiswal, way back in year 1992.
The hard work he has put into upbringing of
this school is definitely worth emulating by
th
others. This school is up to Class 5 . The
criterion for admission in this school is that
parent’s income should be less that Rs.
1500/- a month.
Since I landed in Noida three years back, I
was always in the search of something like
this - to teach underprivileged children. My
search ended that day and I started going
regularly to Nai Disha without break- at least
till now.
Here in Nai Disha, we are mostly involved
with students of Class 4 and 5. Most of the
children are from poor families. Some
children’s parents are private guards, while
others parents are either maid or rickshaw
pullers etc. Till now, my experience with Nai
Disha has really been exciting. Some
children are very good in academics. I can
compare them with any good students in
public schools. They may not be smart
enough but they have enough talent to be
groomed as bright students. In Nai Disha
our short term goal is to get them admitted
th
in good schools next year in Class 6
standard, once they complete their program
here.
As of now all the student who are enrolled in
the regular classes of Nai Disha are not
coming to the weekend class. Initially it
started with 4-5 students in each class. But
now that number has gone up to around 12-
15 in each class. The most important part is
that these student are coming on there own
without any enticements. As I keep stressing
that those who are not interested or not
feeling like coming to the class, may not
come, those who are not completing their
home-work also may not come but in spite
of all that the number of students coming to
the weekend class has never gone down
than the previous class. Students are also
regular in completing their home-work. The
other point which I have noticed over period
of time is that the parents of these students
also need to be motivated about importance
of studies for their wards. At times it
happens that a student does not come to the
class and tells next time that he/she has
some important work assigned to him by his
parents. This important work is most of the
time something domestic, which in my
opinion could be postponed for the sake of
studies. Here the issue is parents don’t give
enough importance to academics of their
children, because they have seen many
educated unemployed in our society.
Apart from the weekend classes, we also
talk to them regarding any thing they feel
like talking or sharing with others. The intent
of all this is to make them feel they are not
isolated and they are or they could be, as
good as any body else in society. We are
also planning some trip - educational as well
as fun - for them in the coming months.
Project : Faith Foundation
(Rohit)
I would like to share the experience of my
first visit to Faith Foundation. I had filled up
the volunteer form long back, but I was far
from optimistic about the scenario initially.
I'd been trying to volunteer with a good
organization which does some "real work"
for the past one year, but with no success.
Almost all the organizations I visited had lots
of meetings and stuff going on, but all the
enthusiasm subsided when it came to actual
community work. Anirban invited me to visit
Priya on a Saturday to have a look at the
Faith Foundation classes.
The visit was a surprise and a breather of
fresh air. It was amazing to see something
good happening for the first time after being
associated with the development sector for
almost an year. As the time for classes drew
closer, all the kids started assembling at the
location by themselves. Then a couple of
kids cleaned the whole place up and made it
look good to sit. It was great to see
somewhere around 60 kids assemble for the
class on their own without any sort of
prodding. Most of them are ragpickers
around the Priya complex, and they just
came there because those classes are fun.
The day of my first visit, we had English and
Mathematics classes going on. Pen and
paper were distributed among all the kids,
whose ages ranged from 5-15, and they
started working according to their abilities.
There was one little girl who was about to
start learning the alphabet, while another
who was solving long multiplication
problems. The children were of different age
groups, abilities and geographical
backgrounds but the one thing common to
all of them in these classes was that they
were happy. One could easily see the
twinkle in their eyes, and the eagerness to
learn. All they required was a push in the
right direction, which Faith Foundation does
with lots of care and love. It seriously
enthuses the kids to be more informed
citizens, and people like us to believe that
we definitely can make a difference if we
want to.
Project : IT Support
(Riputapan)
This is one of our newest projects. Its basic
aim is to support the NGOs which need IT-
help. The idea is to use the technical skills of
our volunteers to enable our partner NGOs
in their endeavour. Preeti Markan, who's into
IT-solutions business, has helped us in
developing a database & data-retrieval
system for the NGO SAMA, which is
organising International Women's Health
Meet in September, 2005.
Another NGO, Sahayog, based in Lucknow
had urgent requirement to convert their
systems to Linux-based client-server
configuration. So, a workshop on Linux
administration was conducted by me for
them.
This model, once it gains ground, can also
be used for fund-raising wherein we shall
charge for web-services from clients (incase
clients are not non-profit organisations)
All the volunteers who do not have the
bandwidth to visit the actual project sites or
who wish to contribute technically can
volunteer for this cause.
Water Cell
(Vivek)
The Water Cell is a focus group formed by
volunteers at AID-Delhi, with the aim of
generating awareness among people on all
water related issues ranging from 'Water
Pollution' to 'Rain Water Harvesting' to
'Water Conservation'. This local cell works
in collaboration with central AID-wide water
cell.
Water is an essential resource for life, so
much so that we are accustomed to take it
for granted. Thus the water cell aims to
develop a deeper understanding on how we
use water... and more importantly can we
sustain the ever increasing demand for
water?
We intend to undertake a detailed study on
the way we utilize our water resources and
answer the following questions:
1. Do we know that how we get access to
all the water we use?
2. Are our water sources replenish able?
And can they sustain the ever increasing
demand?
3. What do we know about conservation of
water? How effectively can we implement
conservation?
We believe that answers to these questions
should help us understand our water
resources and we would be in a better
position towards taking some kind of
affirmative action towards solving water
related problems. In the medium term we
envisage to develop and implement
technical improvements in different water-
use industries like - textiles, bottling plants,
paper etc. - such that they not only use
water more efficiently, but also do not cause
pollution of surrounding water resources.

Any AID volunteer can be a part of water
cell. To be a part of water cell at AID Delhi,
please join watercell@yahoogroups.com .
To be a part of AID-wide water cell, please
join aid-water@yahoogroups.com
Fund Raising Cell
(Ankit)
Fund Raising cell started with a vision to
make AID Delhi financially independent by
the end of 2006. Currently, AID Delhi has
little cash in hand and has no long-term fund
raising activity. Whenever there is any fund
requirement, funds are collected within the
network of AID Delhi and its members. This
cell aims to pursue efficient fund-raising
activities for better management of
resources. Such activities would help to
increase awareness among masses,
organize ourselves and would provide us the
required exposure to organize bigger events
and campaigns for Fund Raising in future.
There is need to put system in place that
would ensure regular flow of funds. Since its
inception, lot of ideas has been suggested
and analyzed by the members of the cell.
Projects undertaken:
Printing and Sale of AID Delhi t -shirts is
taken up as one of our activities. We expect
to raise Rs. 15,000 by the sale of 200 T-
shirts by the end of December 2005. This
activity would make donors aware of AID
Delhi’s activities and motivate them to
contribute to the cause of India's
development.
Projects in planning stage:
v We are in the process to regularize
donation by AID Delhi members under
‘Donate Meal a Month’ program. This
has been the basic source of funding for
any chapter of AID.
v We are planning to stall ‘Collection
Boxes’ at various places in Delhi and
NCR region to raise funds and spread
awareness.
v We are planning to organize ‘Inter
School Quiz Competition’ in Delhi and
NCR Region to raise funds.
Fund Raising cell has very few members
dedicated to fund-raising activities only. This
paucity of active & dedicated volunteers and
related logistics issues inhibit the
culmination of various innovative ideas. We
require volunteers who are willing to work on
these ideas and could provide AID Delhi a
perennial source of funding.
Citizens of a proud Country?
(Ankit)
th
“Hey, 15 August is Monday, lets go for a
vacation to some romantic place”, I
happened to hear my colleague’s
conversation with his wife over the phone.
Each one of us waits anxiously for holidays
like Independence Day, Republic Day, and
Election Day to fall on Friday/Monday so
that we could have an extended weekend.
So what’s wrong with it?
After 58 years of Independence, do we
Indians realize the value of ‘Freedom’? Do
we realize the value of sacrifices and
selfless efforts of real life heroes of our
freedom struggle? Patriotism is not just
about cheering for Indian Cricket Team,
th
attending ceremonies on 15 August,
criticizing public policies, blaming politicians
and/or just feeling ‘bad’ about the current
state of the country. ‘Love of and devotion to
one's country’ is how any lexicon describes
Patriotism. But Patriotism is not just about
sentiments; it has to be reflected in your
demeanor, day to day activities and your
thought process.
India is our motherland and we are an
inseparable part of her. We share ownership
of India’s resources and assets with other
citizens of the country. But how many of us
would hold themselves responsible for the
misuse of these invaluable resources and
assets? How many of us consider ourselves
responsible citizens? Why do we blame
government when more than 50% do not
exercise their vote? An expected answer, all
of them are corrupt. But they are also a part
of our society, so there must be something
wrong with our society and we are equally
responsible for this state. Blaming
government and its policies won’t help
anymore. How many of us follow traffic
rules, pay taxes honestly, buy train tickets,
pay for public facilities, use electricity &
water efficiently and exercise our basic
rights & duties? People litter in public
places, parks and while driving without
giving the second thought to it. Do you still
want to label yourself as civilized human
being? I doubt. Education could provide
knowledge but not civic sense.
Being the citizens of this country, we need to
accept our share of responsibilities. India is
nothing but its people. We need to treat this
country as our home. Priceless ‘freedom’
has given us free air to breathe. Let’s realize
its importance, let us not let it go. This
country has given us so much and now it’s
our turn to pay back. Patriotism is not just a
feeling, but it is sense of commitment from
the citizen of the country to contribute in full
capacity to make the country most desired
place in the world. A place where people
feel accountable for the progress of the
country, efforts would be collective and for
the prosperity of the country.
Currently we all are part of the vicious circle
where everybody blames one another. We
need to get out of it; otherwise we have to
pay a bigger price. Would we still consider
ourselves ‘Patriotic’? Let’s be honest to
ourselves. The decision lies in our hands.
A Scintilla of Hope for the Blind
(Divya)
Having been brought up in a relatively
protective environment, most of us fail to
understand and appreciate those who have
been born with a handicap and have still
sustained and survived to lead a self
respecting life. I here make a special
mention to the children of the dark, the
“visually impaired”.
Imagine yourself to see only “black” around,
you can hear voices, but cannot imagine or
relate them to anything because you have
never known what it is to see them. Working
with the blind has educated me in a much
more esoteric way than what I was able to
grasp in my 15 years of formal education.
They develop amazing strengths to cope
with life. They travel in public transport like
us; many go to normal schools and aspire to
lead a peaceful or even successful life.
While they grow up they begin to realize that
not only do they need to contend the world
with their physical disability but also with the
immense emotional and mental pressures
they are exposed to. These are the times
when they learn to accept that they cannot
lead normal lives and their dreams shall
always remain unattainable.
Talking in the Indian context, vocational
education for the blind has primarily limited
itself to activities like candle making,
sculpture, card making, sewing & stitching
and other related tasks. What we need to
focus on is to expand the employment
opportunities for them. It is observed that, as
children, the blind students are not
subjected to normal conditions. Going to the
special blind schools teaches them to
become an independent blind but not an
independent person. They are unaware of
many realities of life and this limits their
growth.
Government of India- Still a Long Way to
Go
By 2020 the Government aims to make all
schools in the country disabled-friendly and
all educational institutions including hostels,
libraries, laboratories and buildings will have
barrier free access for the disabled. Special
attention will be given to ensure the
availability of study material for the visually
impaired and talking text-books, reading
machines and computers with speech
software will be introduced progressively in
addition to an adequate number of Braille
books. The efforts made by the Government
are still very less and much needs to be
done. Briefly, its role can be summed into
the following points-:
v To ensure that no blind child is denied
admission in the mainstream education.
v To ensure that every child has the right
to access an Aanganwadi and school
and no child is turned back on the
ground of this disability.
v To ensure that the mainstream and
specialist training institutions serving
persons with disabilities, in the
government or in the non-government
sector, facilitate the growth of a cadre of
 teachers trained to work within the
principles of inclusion.
v To facilitate access of visually impaired
students (especially girls) from rural and
remote areas to government hostels.
v To promote distance education for those
who require individualized pace of
learning.
v To hold medical campaigns exploring
vision improvement possibilities.
v To emphasize job-training and job-
oriented vocational training.
Responsibility as Citizens
As responsible citizens we must come
forward to help the blind in whatever little
ways we can. There are numerous NGOs
working for the uplift of visually blind. But
they generally run short of funds and
volunteers. The various ways you can
volunteer in these organizations are as
follows:-
v Teaching the blind students.
v Volunteering for recording cassettes for
the blind.
v Volunteering for proof reading of Braille.
v Typing soft copies of books that would
be converted into Braille.
v Teaching the blind students to operate
computers (touch-screen or voice-
systems).
v Special interactions to share your
vocational skills (art & craft, public
speaking, music).
v Reading books.
v Funding options include either direct
charity (money or utilities) or helping the
organization to market the various items
produced by the visually impaired.
v Donating eyes- A very simple and noble
task.
Conclusion
To the eyes of visually impaired, the world is
closed. To enable them share its beauty and
its ugliness we need to make them learn
how to visualize things through their minds.
The Government has taken up the
responsibility to work for their special needs,
but unfortunately things are moving at a
slow pace. We need to gear it up. We, the
citizens of our country, need to volunteer
and dedicate ourselves for this worthy
cause. We don’t really have to be a Santa
Claus for the visually impaired. We just
have to understand and promote the
paradigm shift, from that of charity to that of
development, through a massive
awareness, motivation and sensitization
campaign.
Delhi : Crime Capital for Women
(Sonam)
An often debated yet unsolved question is
whether or not the city is safe or unsafe for
women or for that matter men too (well at
least some). The reason I chose to write on
this topic is because I’ve always wondered
is the city really the crime capital because its
not only the average Delhiite but the
perpetrators of aggression in Delhi hail from
every state in the country. Delhi is one city
where you can 'get away with it', from the
police and the public. Its sad that the city
can’t protect its women The rapes rocking
Delhi are the culmination of years of
aggression that women in Delhi have faced
almost as a 'legacy' of sorts, and ignored
just as studiously as possible.. Aggression
may start in harmless ways, but since the
most basic form of eve-teasing hasn't been
curbed yet, there's little hope that men won't
feel emboldened to cross the line. Personal
experiences as well as hear-say, are not
only shocking but also an eye opener to the
city’s ignorance of the real issues which
stem the male aggression. So is a change in
mind-sets and attitude in general what is
required of the city to prevent a plethora of
uncertain events in the future to come. But
before we immerse ourselves deeply into,
what is, and what should be let’s remind
ourselves of the staggering facts and figures
indicating the crimes inflicted by the city, on
the city. According to National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics, Delhi
had 30.5 percent of rape cases, 35.0
percent of kidnapping and abduction cases,
18.8 percent of dowry deaths and 15.0
percent of molestation cases among the 35
big cities in India in 2003. At 1,862, Delhi
accounted for 14.8 percent of total crimes
against women in these cities. Among all the
states and union territories, Delhi ranks third
after Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
in the incidence of crimes against women.
According to a Delhi Commission for
Women report, major incidents of rape
continue to occur in slum and other
congested areas with a predominance of
lower economic groups. The commission
points out that there have been 350 rape
cases in Delhi this year alone. Between
March 2004 and April 2005, 318 cases of
rape were reported. Their district-wise
distribution is: south - 79, southwest - 63,
west - 58, north - 16, northeast- 9, east - 57,
central - 29 and New Delhi - 7. The
abduction and gang-rape of a 23-year-old
pregnant housewife early morning when she
went out of her shanty to answer nature's
call shows the state of affairs in the city.
Media reports said nothing was done to
identify and intercept the car in which the
woman was raped even after a complaint
was made to the Mayapuri police station. In
another incident, a 22-year-old man raped a
70-year-old woman in another slum in
northwest Delhi. According to the police,
close relatives committed 46 rapes in Delhi
last year. Eleven fathers, two grandfathers,
14 brothers-in-law, eight uncles, four
cousins, three stepfathers, one father-in-law
and three ex-husbands were the accused.
Twenty women were raped by friends and
lovers, while in 209 cases neighbors were
the accused.
The problem being the two kinds of male
aggression being faced by women of this
otherwise wonderful city, that is to say the
casual (not serious) and the more serious
“rape kinds”. It is being hard to distinguish
between the two so different things
considering the fine line dividing them. The
women of Delhi need to be told that both are
not to be tolerated. Women are being
subjected to the two at all times, be it in the
market place, buses or regular hangouts,
from busy roads to lonely streets, from auto-
wallahs to the big boss in the office. Women
are victims of constant male aggression.
That's the behavior women face in Delhi on
a regular basis. And we ignore it. At times
we do stop to teach a lesson. But how many
can you teach a lesson? Is the struggle to
maintain distance and dignity a challenge for
men? But how does one put a stop to it?
What does one do? Learning self-defense
tactics is only one part of an essential
program. Women need to re-look at how
they address this male aggression. Why do
we accept the violation of our dignity as
punishment? Why do we ignore the small
acts of aggression, treating them as 'really
nothing'? Rapists lurk in all classes of
society: all they do is cross a line, break an
unwritten human law. Rape violates every
aspect of a woman's life. If women want to
do justice to women violated, we need to flip
the rule-book for good. Rape cannot punish
us. Rape cannot finish us.
Tale of Small Cities
(Digvijay)
“Change is the law of Nature” but there’s a
little change in small cities of India in the
past decades even when world is
developing at a faster pace. Schools have
been built, but many still lack teachers and
appropriate teaching methods. Some have
teachers but they don’t know if their job is to
teach students or talk about politics chewing
tobacco. There are phone lines in many
villages, but getting a dial tone is still a
challenge. To get it working, bribing is the
mode. Electricity supply is at best
intermittent and some times away for weeks
in some well known cities too. Health care is
still limited in its availability and at people’s
own risk as governments hospitals mostly
lack good doctors, facilities etc. One has to
look for private facilities where good amount
of money is involved and obviously it’s not
accessible to each segment of the society.
Entertainment is limited to radio or
television, if at all the electricity is there.
Dramatically opportunities for young
generation are similar what it had been
years before. Most of the small cities are
facing a complete infrastructure breakdown.
Their only hope is a visit of some VVIP to
their constituency.
Agreeing upon all these issues, I would like
to move towards the points which make
things worst. These points are corruption,
lack of awareness and no exposure to new
world. People are so much involved with
their own welfare that they never bother
about their surroundings. They are not
coming up against problems collectively.
They have a kind of insecurity or something
which doesn’t let them collaborate for
something, be it a motivation program for
masses against corruption, health care
status or electricity problems.
Probably this is not the picture what
people have in mind about small cities of
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh but it
is realty indeed. In fact, situation is
deteriorating day by day and It has become
a life where hope for a better future is as
distant as the burning sun. The tragedy is
that civic awareness is not at all being
practiced since decades.
So there is an obvious need to spread
awareness about the situation. The
corruption is killing the humans and
humanity at different levels and not only
leaders but the common people of India are
also involved in it. There need to be a
revolution in education system so that the
coming generation is morally strong and
much more open to the new world.
The need of the hour is as mentioned by
The President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam -
“Time has now come for us to make our
country, righteous. Righteousness comes
out of good character. The evolution of good
character leads to harmony in home.
Harmony in home brings the people of the
state to become enlightened citizens.
Enlightened citizens lead the planet earth to
be a peaceful world”.
AID Delhi – Future Roadmap
(Anuj)
Lots of things need to be done at AID Delhi.
We need to be a bit more organized. There
is a strong need for updating the whole team
about different activities on a more regular
basis. Possibly the need of the hour is to
have a "This Month in AID Delhi" type of
publication. We need to formalize the
process of reporting our work. Once this is in
place, other things like more credibility about
our work, more support from donors and
more awareness about AID Delhi and its
work will be the natural outcomes. Over the
next few months we have to work hard for
the upcoming AID-India conference in
December, being hosted by AID Delhi. More
importantly, we need to ensure that our
projects do not get adversely impacted by
the efforts that we put towards the
conference. There's need to reestablish
contacts in different organizations and set
up sales stalls like we did last year. We
need to reach out to corporates, colleges as
well as schools. We should act as a
resource base for our partner NGOs in
different parts of India. We need to develop
a mechanism for providing logistical support
to them in Delhi - whenever they need it.
This will be one of the major contributions to
India's development - supporting the "agents
of change" in different parts of the country.
Volunteer Co-ordination
(Anirban)
Life had been moving on its own sweet pace
until that one moment, an year back, which
redefined my existence now and forever. I
decided to volunteer for an organization
called Association for India's Development. I
didn't have any previous volunteering
experience so it was natural to be
apprehensive about the repercussions of my
decision. I started attending Community
Service Hour's (CSH) like other volunteers.
The first CSH itself told me the status quo of
this organization in Delhi. It was at a nascent
stage and there were many challenges and
obscure vision. One of the foremost
challenges was to enthuse volunteerism
among people of all age and develop a
common vision. I needed to understand the
mindsets of people and the myths of
volunteering. In my endeavor to get insights
of the lives of underprivileged and support
the efforts of few who were trying to make a
difference I started interacting with the
children of Faith Foundation. Even though
teaching was not one of my interests I
decided to do it because I knew if I had to
motivate people I have to feel the heart and
minds of those children and understand their
needs. During most part of my volunteering
in Faith Foundation I had changing
companions and it was really frustrating
which more often than not led to more
emails in our e-groups about the need for
volunteers and a stronger resolve within. It
was a long wait before volunteers started
coming regularly at Faith Foundation. The
wait was over with our new strategy of
orienting volunteers at the project sites
rather than during CSH's. The strategy
came into being only after knowing that
large number of potential volunteers were
turned off and frustrated by the numerous
things they got to hear during CSHs. It didn’t
take much time for me to realize that people
wanted to help but we have to show them
how to do it and spend time in guiding them
and not just by lecturing or emailing. Slowly
as the number of volunteers increased it
came upon me to form teams for different
projects knowing well enough that if we have
committed to help another organization it
was our duty to ensure a long term
association and for that each volunteer
should try to involve new volunteers. During
the course of last one year the number of
volunteers has increased many folds and
the need for proper volunteer management
system has become imperative. Recently we
formed a team of local volunteer
coordinators led by an overall volunteer
coordinator to manage the volunteers
spread over the entire NCR. As time
progresses I hope to see more experienced
volunteers in the coordination team so that it
becomes more effective in volunteer
management. In order to assist the
volunteer coordination team a dynamic and
searchable online database to maintain all
the information related to volunteers and
projects is underway.
Coming to the battles we have fought one of
the toughest job has been to make people
realize the importance of extending their
networks and using it to give something
back to the society. A big hurdle has been
our inability to involve our friends and family
members to a satisfactory level. As I
understand now, volunteer coordination is a
package consisting of "Going through the
grind and empowering ourselves and
developing a clear vision", "Spending time
with volunteers and knowing their
strengths", "Ensuring load distribution and
harmony among volunteers" and "Building
and using our network optimally". Volunteer
coordination not only requires a lot of hard
work but also right moves at the right time.
Few tips for the uninitiated:-
1. Begin volunteering by making it a part of
your life.
2. Volunteer for what you can commit
yourself to, because others are counting on
you.
3. One myth is that a person must have
much spare time in order to volunteer. In
reality there are short-term volunteering
opportunities. Volunteers can also help on
an ad hoc basis.
4. If you have a hobby and want to share
your skills and the joy of your hobby with
others, you can - as a volunteer.
“Whatever you do will be
insignificant, but it is very
important that you do it”
- Mahatma Gandhi
Volunteers Speak…
Volunteer Work in the Jet Age
(Ayeesha)
“I work 6 days a week, almost 12 hrs each
day…although I would like to participate in
volunteer-work…I really don’t have time to
do it….”.
However clichéd it may sound; it seems to
be the reality for most of the young work
force these days. We have felt the tentacles
of work pressure squeeze us so hard that at
the end of any day we can hardly think of
our own selves…put aside the less fortunate
people…. In fact sometimes I feel like most
of us see ourselves as the less fortunate
ones, the victims of a vicious circle, pushing
ourselves to the edges to earn money and
then not have enough time to spend it.
Finding the reason and the energy within us
to make a simple effort to help and
empathize seems almost like the most
impossible task to do…suddenly meeting
that deadline seems to be easier to achieve!
But then if you really spend five minutes to
think about it; you would realize that to keep
a grip of life’s realities it is extremely
essential that we find time, energy and take
efforts to spend whatever little time we have
to help people; because the real deadlines
in life are not about making a PowerPoint
presentation to the CEO of your organization
but being able to help that one person get
home in time with enough food and money
to take care of his four little under-clad,
under-nourished children.
We as Indians are brought up with a value
system that teaches us to respect elders
and take care of them. However somewhere
down the line helping people seems to have
become a lost cause. We would rather
contribute money than spend a precious half
an hour with an old couple who’s lost their
son fighting for our country on the border.
Well it is understandable that not everybody
can do everything in whatever little time that
they have. I suggest that each one of us find
one area of work, which arouses enough
passion within him.
It could be taking out a few hours to teach
children, lobbying with the right people in the
right networks to get monetary help or
something as simple as driving down a
bunch of volunteers to pick up books for the
under-privileged.
Each individual has his own competence
and it is unto us to identify areas of work in
sync with our capability and then make
efforts to bring a smile on the faces of the
four little children who did not have to spend
another night waiting for daddy to return with
food.
“The best way to cheer oneself
is to cheer someone else up”
- Mark Twain
Volunteers Speak…
Simple Ways To Volunteer
(Sudipti)
My mother often tells me a story she had
read somewhere... about a man who picked
up star fish which were brought on to the
shore by high tide. He threw them back into
the sea one by one knowing he couldn't
throw back all the fish that were brought on
shore by the tide, but he also knew he made
a difference to each one he threw back.
The concept is so simple that we tend to
overlook it. We don't realize how valuable
our small gestures can be to someone. The
first practical example I ever saw was my
grandfather. He used to distribute sweets
among slum children and helped the people
there in whatever way he could, sometimes
by money or clothes or even old furniture. Its
so heart warming to see the way those
children greeted my grandfather and
showed their love... we loved them for it.
This is simple, isn’t it?
You don't need to donate money to help;
you need to give a bit of yourself. It’s a
wonderful feeling, when you realize that you
have the ability to make someone smile.
I have seen people help the less fortunate.
Some donate clothes to orphanages and
home for the elderly. When they do so, the
less privileged look forward to the monthly
visits of their benefactors. It's an
unforgettable experience each time. We
admire such people, and sometimes envy
them for the respect they get. Almost each
one of us is deeply moved by the dreadful
scenario of the slums, but unfortunately we
never do anything about it. We are more
apprehensive about our not being capable
enough and it would be good enough if we
could help ourselves. Well... when we call
them less fortunate then obviously we have
more than them and we are capable of
helping them out in whatever little way we
can.
There are a million ways in which we can
help, and donating things and money to non
profit organizations like AID is just one of it.
Remember the idea is to open your heart to
someone else and make a place for
ourselves in their heart. It might almost
seem effortless once we all start doing our
bit. And yes not to forget our pet problem -
time... I think that God will never give us a
day when we have time for everything. We
have to take out time for the things we want
to do from the 24 hours in our hand, and in
this case it’s for the things we must do.
As children we never had to make an effort
to help anyone. Do you realize why? It’s
because we were innocent and had
empathy for our fellow beings. We didn't
look down on anyone; we never thought of it
as giving but believed that we are sharing
things. Those people don't need our
sympathy. We just need to share a little bit
of our fortune with them.
 Volunteer Opportunities
(Riputapan)

(1) For upcoming AID India Conference in

December, volunteers are required to do a
cost-estimate, maintain visitors' database, (Front Side)
making arrangements for stay, site-seeing
etc.
(2) Volunteers required for NGO SAMA
which is organising International Women's
Health Meet during 21st-25th Sept, 2005.
Volunteers are required for escorting
international participants, media-related
work, and translation.
(3) Volunteers required for IT-related
services. Urgent requirement is for
revamping AID Bhopal website.
(4) Volunteers required for our Jahangirpuri
project who can visit and teach students
between Mon-Fri.
(5) All India Confederation of the Blind
(AICB), Rohini needs volunteers who can
record cassettes for the blind students. They (Back Side)
have their own recording studio for this
purpose. One can also work from home and
help in creating soft-copies of books.
Another way to volunteer is reading out to Publishing Team
blind students.
(6) Volunteers needed to execute our fund-
raising ideas. Editors :-
(7) For stepping up marketing initiatives for Samira, Gazal, Peeyush, Riputapan
masalas made at Parichay, we need
volunteers too. Designers :-
Peeyush, Riputapan

Chief Editor, Content Manager & Final

AID Delhi T-shirt Design Design :-
Riputapan

Grab an AID T-shirt for just Rs. 150!!!

The colors available are: White, Gray Contacts

The sizes are: M, L, XL

See images below:- Website : delhi.aidindia.org

Email : aid.delhi@gmail.com