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JANUARY SPECIAL ISSUE VOL. 8 NO. 3 JANUARY 2011 www.civilsocietyonline.com `50 iiidddeeeaaasss FFFOOORRR TTTHHHeee NNNeeeWWW dddeeeCCCaaadddeee ARUNA RoY | m.S. SwAmINAthAN vIJAY mAhAJAN | ARUN mAIRA DILEEP RANJEkAR ChANDRASEkhAR hARIhARAN DARShAN ShANkAR | v. RAvIChANDAR vINAYAk ChAttERJEE Rob SINCLAIR & ANNUSkA PERkINS ‘to save tHe delHi garbage plan is trasH Pages 6-7 ganga tHink eco-systems’ farmers on organic mission P ages 10-11 Dhrubajyoti Ghosh talks of a landscape management plan to 10 ways to employ disabled Page 13 curb river pollution Page 9 anuja’s book is movie magic Pages 35-36 CONTENTs IDEAS FOR THE NEW DECADE Time to look within Rita and Umesh Anand . .16-17 READ U S. WE READ YO U. Citizens as auditors Aruna Roy . .18-19 Money can fly Vijay Mahajan . .20-21 Our monk and Transform capitalism Arun Maira . .21-22 other friends Seeds of the future s the decade ends with scams and scandals leaving their scars on our M.S. Swaminathan . .23 key institutions, there is a need to look within and think ahead. The amonk on the cover of this issue has been a companion for several Smarter govt schools years, appearing regularly in our cartoon on Page 5 and in our annual cal - endar. He has, in his funny way, inspired us to see the bigger picture. so Dileep Ranjekar . .24-25 have many individuals and groups across India, who, with their ideals and missions, live in the hope of building a modern, just and competitive Green equals hi-tech country. Chandrasekhar Hariharan . .26-27 some of them have, at our request for this special January issue, invest - ed time and effort in writing about what they consider to be important Plants for health and wealth ideas for the new decade. These are ideas they work with and have come to understand well. Darshan Shankar . .28-29 Of course, India is complex and no such exercise can be complete. Much more could be said and done. But each of these ideas is a powerful one and Cities can do it should rank among the key drivers of our future growth. We offer in this V. Ravichandar . .30 issue a collection of insights into government schools, the social audit, eco-friendly construction, corporate accountability, financial inclusion, Disabled as super able rural infrastructure, seeds and biodiversity – all areas that should define our competitiveness in the coming decade. Rob Sinclair & Annuska Perkins . .31 We in Civil society magazine would also like it to be known that there is an India beyond the bad news. As we know it, this ‘non-TRP India’ is Rural roads need annuity forward-looking and inclusive and grapples with problems that have impli - Vinayak Chatterjee . .32 cations for everyone. It goes without saying that nothing is achievable without competent and insightful governance. And one way of arriving at better governance is through the churning of ideas and raising the bar for what people can INDIA aspire to. We have in the past decade seen a few of our politicians and bureaucrats evolve because of the pressure that has come from outside Anti-dam stir gets a boost . 8 government. It is a process that needs to be allowed to gather momentum and not stifled. Is there reason to be hopeful about the future? We would say there is. It Deadly story of Endosulfan . 12 will be a future where notions of size will change. It will be driven by new technologies, greater access, rising aspirations, impatience and also the vanishing of resources. It will be defined by accountability and delivery LC remains relevant . 14 and it will fill spaces beyond caste and religion. Most importantly, it will be a future that will find the leaders it needs. We wish our readers a happy, peaceful and prosperous 2011. LIVING Feast your eyes on birds . 36 Bhagalpur’s wondrous saris . 38 publisher photographer new Delhi-17. printed at umesh Anand lakshman Anand Thomson press (india) ltd, Advisory Board Get your copy of Civil Society from 18/35 Delhi-mathura road, editor layout & Design AnupAm mishrA Delhi: Bahri Sons, Mercury, Reliance Timeout, Variety on St virender Chauhan ArunA roy rita Anand postal registration no. Central News Agency, stalls at Mark's Road, Higgin Bothams, Cartoonist nAsser munjee editorial Consultant Dl(s)-01/3255/2009-11. Green Park market. 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It is a positive sign that the poor Nobody can deny there are mis - and practice. are finally getting an identity and placed priorities and planning Steve alongside, benefits. But, I feel, a processes which do not tackle LEttERS legal architecture of security and urgent issues on the ground. I too The debate over whether to angle the protection of human rights must be work in the urban rights space and mahseer or not is reflective of the built into the UID programme. have an interface with the private larger debate on wildlife. The ecologi - Otherwise it is vulnerable to abuse. sector as well. At the same time I cal footprint of humans needs to be Gautam Srikrishna have not lost sight of issues con - much smaller around our forests. cerning the homeless, the most Animals just have a little bit of space trilce marginalized people in our cities. left for themselves. In the old days Companies and their CsR must get With reference to Rakesh Agarwal's when we had bigger forests we could out of the 'what is in it for me?' syn - story, 'Trilce is Bhondsi's saviour' in accommodate more people. They drome to 'what is in it for us all as your online edition I would like to also lived in harmony with animals. a country'. Companies corner a large point out that Bhondsi is Haryana's But today forests have been opened chunk of resources. If voluntarism richest gram panchayat. I was born up for industrial activity. Let us keep worked we would have had more and brought up there. Every family some areas, like our national parks than 50 companies reporting on the has a person serving in the army. It and sanctuaries, only for our remain - GRI (Global Reporting Initiative). ing helpless animals. Let them live in is not a poor place. [email protected] Compare that with the fact that peace. more than 500 NGOs adhere to the Gayatri Singh Rakesh Agrawal replies: transparency domain. All is not well which is why the The health of wildlife depends on I went myself to Bhondsi and I was Prime Minister had to spell out a the health of our forests. India needs surprised to find it so ramshackle. mahseer muddle social charter and the Ministry of to increase its natural forest cover People who are poor are mostly I read your article on the mahseer Corporate Affairs had to come out many times over. Then animals can migrants. The gram panchayat may online. Must say, it is very well with CsR guidelines for industry. thrive. We should also secure our be rich but there is a lack of good researched and very well written There are checks and balances in national parks and sanctuaries. Don't schools and basic infrastructure and provides a balanced view of all which was very visible to me. the system to ensure that trans - the stake holders. permit too much tourism. Ashish parency can be brought about such Thanks for writing about this. as RTI, and corporate liability can - Tiger G Ramesh CSR diktat not be excused. UID V Ravichandar's rejoinder to me gets Amita Joseph Mahseer Muddle was a great story. Your story on the homeless getting personal. It is healthy to agree to This debate is now closed. No doubt circumventing the mah - Aadhar numbers made good read - disagree and to do so respectfully. Editor CIVIL SOCIETY, JANUARY 2011 5 INDIA LAKSHMAN ANAND Ragpickers, residents trash delhi garbage plan Civil Society News New Delhi AGPICKERs have stepped up their campaign to pre - vent private companies from taking over garbage col - Rlection under a waste-to-energy project in New Delhi. A public meeting held at the Constitution Club on 10 December, expressed concern over an estimated 250,000 ragpickers losing their traditional means of earning a livelihood. The meeting was also attended by a representative of residents of sukhdev Vihar, a neighbourhood in the Kavita Srivastava Okhla area, where a plant will use 2,000 tonnes of garbage daily to produce 16 MW of power. sukhdev Vihar residents are worried that incineration of garbage at the plant will lead to the emission of harm - ful gasses and endanger their health. The residents are already in court against this plant and a medical waste Food activists demand incinerator set up earlier in the area.