INTERVIEWS
| " Toilets, toilets everywhere|full of shit and pee" | |
| -An interview with V. Ganapathi Special Correspondent, The Hindu [retd] A lot has been written
about the achievements of tsunami rehabilitation
and reconstruction work. But what is the ground reality? In an interview V Ganapathy brings to the forefront the gruesome situation in some of the so-called tsunami settlements. "The people living in the temporary shelters are facing lot of difficulties due to lack of toilets, lack of water and other basic amenities, and when they complain, the government is asking them to adjust with minor discomforts and difficulties, and promising them that they will be moved to the permanent shelters soon. Even if we consider the ready-to-move permanent shelters they are far from satisfactory from the perspective of health, hygiene and sanitation. In a way, the state of affairs in permanent shelters is much worse as compared to the temporary shelters,"; says Ganapathy. He calls for "collective action"; with a "missionary zeal"; to bring the sanitation conditions in the country (beginning with tsunami affected areas) to the highest standards. This, he says, will safeguard human health and the environment and give our children a better future. More in the interview on:
Recorded on: 17th July 2007 Produced by CED under the RDC project- A partnership between A&D, CED, ISED, PRAXIS & TNDTF. Funded by Fondation de France |
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| For copies write to CED | |
| " The tale of dried up river beds!" | |
| -Interview with D.M.Chitrashekar Area Officer, SVARAJ (Society for Voluntary Action Revitalization and Justice), Bangalore, Karnataka In the interview
Chitra Shekhar talks about the importance of "˜rainwater harvesting"™. He
also explains the economics and politics of rivers and water.
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Disapproval due to fear of complex technology- People have been conserving water in
their own traditional way; when NGO"™s approach them making it look like
some rocket science, they disapprove. "The actual beneficiary is the rich peasant who lives in the lower plateau and owns a bore well to draw the water from the ground. So in essence the poor people conserve water, and the final consumption of the regenerated water is by the rich farmers. Then, the poor people tell us, see Sir, we have put in all the efforts and the others are enjoying the benefits of our efforts. So this is another major problem."; More on: - The NGOs"™ and the government"™s role in restoration of water bodies. - Efforts in and around Dodaballapur to spread awareness about rainwater harvesting and water conservation. |
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| For copies write to CED | |
| " Ecological Sanitation"¦Eat, Excrete, Compost ! " | |
| -M Subburaman, Director,
SCOPE:
"As per the
Millennium Development Goals, by 2015, at least 50% of the Indian
population should have toilets in their own households. This roughly
translates into construction of 6000, 7000 toilets per second. In
order to achieve this goal we have the responsibility of creating
awareness among the people and preparing them to accept something
new. Ecosan will work once the people are educated about the gravity
of the situation."
In the interview Subburaman tells about SCOPE"™s experiment in building Ecosan toilets in the tsunami affected village Kameshwaram. Subburaman believes that Ecosan toilets will prove to be very useful particularly in the future when water will be a limited resource. |
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| For copies write to CED | |
| " Shanthi"¦Century, Not Out "; | |
| Interview with Shanthi (Owner of the first Ecosan toilet) Shanthi, an ordinary SHG
member (in Kameshwaram) has
100 Ecosan toilets to her credit. Today Kameshwaram has
the highest
number of Ecosan toilets in the entire Nagapattinam
district and
thanks to Shanthi many more Ecosan toilets are going to
be
constructed.
"My children, have got exposed to this new idea and toilets at a very early age, and can appreciate the benefits of it, so in the future, only the ECOSAN toilets will stay here. The septic tank type of toilets will vanish and cease to exist in the future. |
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| For copies write to CED | |
| "The Hit and the Affected : Social rights of the tsunami victims" | |
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Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director,People's Watch, Tamilnadu
and the reasons for the failure.He believes that government intervention in making the temporary shelters is the cause of the dismal condition.Henri blames the government and NGOs for neglecting the dalit victims.... |
| For copies write to CED | |
  videostream |
-Prof.
Jeffery Sachs
(Director, UN
Millennium
Project and Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan on the Millennium Development
Goals)
"India
is
an environmentally stressed country. It is going to become more
environmentally stressed overtime. Most governments are not well
prepared to face these issues even at scientific level. Look at my own
country. The White House is completely divorced from the signs and
its
not understood the gravity of the situation at all. Therefore it is
acting quite irresponsibly. I think India is going to need to be a
leading advocate for environmental sustainability. And its
going to
need to become, quite soon, a leading player in energy
sustainability.â€;
Prof. Jeffery Sachs believes that matters are coming upon us with great
urgency even before we have any clear answers.
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| Recorded: Aug 4, 2006 Event organized by: Arghyam |
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| For copies write to CED | |
| Asset Management |
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The Essence of Asset ManagementAn interview with K C LeongIf your bus is never on
time, don't
blame the bus…is what K C Leong will tell you. He will
also tell you
that
your home is
the most dangerous place on earth? He will introduce you to a lot
more SHOCKING details!
Leong, who was trained as an architect, took to Asset Management, which he believes is the solution to most of our mundane problems. He draws immense inspiration from the master builder and the greatest painter ever- Leonardo Da Vinci. |
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More in the interview on:
Recorded on 23 September 2006 Write to CED for copies |
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| Disaster
Rehabilitation and Sustainable Development |
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Disaster
Rehabilitation, giving direction to Sustainable Development A Talk by Sandeep Virmani "In
India, every year the largest construction that
happens is still in mud and earth…It is true that the
concrete boxes
are increasingly being used and so-to-speak the artisan structures are
reducing. And that is the entire debate on sustainability that we would
like to see change.â€;
Sandeep Virmani
shares his
experiences on the rehabilitation and reconstruction work done after
the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, Kashmir earthquake in 2005 and after
Tsunami in 2004 (in Aceh). Involving people in decision- making and the
entire process of rehabilitation was a milestone in all three cases.
Virmani believes that disaster can be used as an opportunity to
re-fabricate cities and their structures with sustainable practices.
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Other
issues covered in the interview are:
- Government's role in reconstruction, Policy making and NGO intervention - People's contribution in re-development - Urban water management in Gujarat - Building cities with a wider perspective Sandeep Virmani, Director, Hunnarshala Foundation for Building Technologies and Innovations, Bhuj Recorded in April 2006/ Paris |
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| Write to CED for copies | ||||
| Sustainable Built
Environment |
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| Water
infrastructure in Urban India: commodify or communitize? Green Homes: Sustainable Living A talk/presentation by Chandrashekar Hariharan, BCIL (Bio-diversity Conservation India Limited) Part I- From mineral water to packaged drinking water, water has come a long way from being freely available to a commodity with a brand name. However several attempts are being made to change this trend and to communitize water. BCIL has taken one such initiative to communitize water. |
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Part II- Heard of
an entire community dedicated to sustainability?
"Sustainable practices begin at home" and what better could it be if you had the option of building your home keeping the principles of sustainable livelihood in view! From eco-friendly ACs to specially designed "sustainable refrigerators;it's all possible! BCIL is building communities through some simple and adoptable sustainable practices. Chandrashekar Hariharan, Director, Biodiversity Conservation India Limited & Alternate Technology Foundation, Bangalore Recorded on April 2006, Brussels & Paris |
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| Write to CED for copies | ||||
| Community Economy
Development |
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A
talk by Thomas H Greco Jr. Thomas
H Greco shares his ideas on why money needs to be reinvented. One is
the politicization and privatisation of money. Secondly, manipulation
of money and banking for limited private interests and thirdly the
exploitative and undemocratic nature of political money. The talk
highlights ideas and information on how to transcend these
limitations of conventional structures of money and banking. (website:
reinventingmoney.com)
Thomas H Greco Jr. is a community economist, writer, consultant and educator. He is also the founder- Director of the Community Information Resource Center (CIRC), Arizona |
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| Write to CED for copies |
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| Public Transportation | ||||
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A
talk by Kenneth Kruckemeyer on "Growth & Change in Boston & Bangalore- Finding a place for Public Transportation" |
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| Write to CED for copies |
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