Cairn India now plans to scale up its initiatives by supplementing the Central Government’s Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, to focus on improving sanitation in Rajasthan by maintaining 20,000 toilets at household level.

Cairn India’s total contribution towards the project will be Rs. 8 crores and the implementation timeline has been planned for 18 months. The execution will start from January 2015 till August 2016. Rural Development Organization will engage in community mobilization, ICT activities and construction of toilets.

The government’s scheme to provide an incentive of Rs. 12,000 per toilet will be supplemented by Cairn India through viability gap funding of Rs. 4,000 per toilet.

In order to instill a sense of ownership among the community, a token amount of INR 600 per toilet will be collected from individual households. This can be monetary or in kind.

In the past, Cairn India has helped build 560 toilets in its Ravva block in Andhra Pradesh, to drive sanitation in the state. In Rajasthan, the company has promoted good sanitation state through programme interventions in 3 gram panchayats (Bhadkha, Beriwala Tala and Mundo ki Dhani) at Barmer, through construction of 1850 toilets at household level in a PPP mode.  The overall community satisfaction for this program exceeds 80%, as per survey from a third party agency.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean Indian Mission) is a national level campaign by the Government of India, covering 4041 statutory towns to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country.

Launched on 2nd October 2014 by the Prime Minister of India, the campaign is India’s biggest ever cleanliness drive and 3 million government employees and schools and college students of India participated in this event. It has been carried forward since then with participation from all segments of the society from state governments to local authorities to government and private organizations and others.

According to the Census 2011 data, only 46.9 per cent of India’s 24.66 crore households have a latrine facility. Approx 49.2 per cent defecate in the open and do not have access to open toilets.

During the three day event at Fountainhead, EdelGive’s Leadership Center at Alibaug,INK moderated an interactive session with five heroes who epitomize the quality of work the organization supports. The extraordinary work with unique and game changing efforts of Ibtada (Alwar, Rajasthan), LeapForWord (Shirpur, Maharashtra) Manitham Charitable Trust (Madurai, Tamil Nadu), CORO (Mumbai, Maharashtra) and Samaritan Help Mission (Kolkata, West Bengal) was showcased. The sessions also enabled a lot of networking where the NGOs and funding communities involved in informal discussions and much of the sharing happened.

EdelGive Foundation’s mission is to leverage the capacity and capital of the for-profit world to equip and enable the social sector to achieve the greatest impact on the lives of the poor in India. Their investments in nonprofits, which are selected after an intensive due diligence process, are in the form of financial support and, more importantly, capacity building support. The organization works closely with their investees on the organisational development challenges they face. They also utilize the expertise and skills of Edelweiss mid to senior management who work with their investees in the areas of strategic planning, financial sustainability, human resources and creating technological solutions. EdelGive Foundation provides support at strategic and operational levels rather than just being traditional a non-profit funder. They also build partnerships with foundations, trusts and corporates for effective philanthropy.

And finally, EdelGive Foundation measures the impact of their support through tangible frameworks, which include emphasis on measurable outcomes, achievement of objectives, financial accountability and management competence. Through this extensive framework of operation the EdelGive Foundation has:

• Impacted over 180,000 lives
• Invested in 40+ organisations
• Provided over 6500 hours of pro-bono support
• Committed approximately USD 4 million till date
• Focused on Education, Livelihoods, Women’s Empowerment

EdelGive Foundation remains committed to connect credible organizations to each other and also to all other stakeholders in the social space throughout the year.  The EdelGive 2014 Diary features models of social change across Education, Livelihood and Women Empowerment. To know more about the organization’s work, you can follow them at:

Facebook: EdelGive Foundation

Twitter: @EdelGive

This high-level event brought together representatives from Government, academia, business and civil society to discuss the role of behaviour change in helping deliver ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’.The session focused on how to deliver the sanitation and hygiene education needed to realise the health and development gains of improved access to WASH facilities.The panel also discussed how multi-sector organizations can better work together to raise the public profile of WASH in India and scale-up solutions to help deliver against the 2019 target of the Indian Government for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.Panellists also highlighted the importance of empowering local ownership of the WASH agenda and discussed innovative ways of encouraging citizens to engage in the Clean India ambition.

Sanjiv Mehta, CEO & Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever Limited said, “We believe Unilever is uniquely placed to help with the WASH challenge. Through our portfolio of health and hygiene brands – such as Lifebuoy, Domex and Pureit – we can provide support across the spectrum of WASH issues. Drawing on our longstanding expertise in consumer behaviour change we have developed initiatives – such as our Lifebuoy handwashing programme and Domex Toilet Academies – which teach people about the importance of WASH, drive demand for improved facilities and deliver cost-effective solutions. We look forward to having the opportunity to highlight the full range of WASH initiatives that Unilever runs in India and explore ways in which we can use our expertise in developing innovative partnership and delivery models to assist the Government in realizing the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ ambition.”

Lifebuoy’s ‘Help A Child Reach 5’ Handwashing Ambassador Kajol Devgnsaid,“We need to scale up handwashing and sanitation behaviour change programmes to reach more people with life-saving messages and help reduce child mortality. I am proud to join Lifebuoy’s Help a Child Reach 5 handwashing campaign to help reduce preventable child deaths from diarrhoea and pneumonia. Help us spread the message of handwashing by sharing www.youtube.com/helpachildreach5.”

Hindustan Unilever’s focus on the WASH agenda goes to the heart of Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan – our business model for sustainable growth. As part of the Plan, Unilever has committed to helping 1 billion people improve their health and wellbeing by 2020. Our WASH brand social mission programmes will play a key part in realizing this ambition. By the end of 2015, Lifebuoy has committed to changing the handwashing behaviour of 1 billion people; Domestos* will help 25 million people gain improved access to a toilet; and Pureit has committed to provide 150 billion litres of safe drinking water.

Source: HUL Panel Discussion on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

1. RBS ‘Earth Hero’ Award (Felicitation): This award recognizes extraordinary achievements of an individual who has worked a life time in conservation of wildlife, natural resource management, and environment and has influenced policy. The award was conferred upon Dr Erach Bharucha for his efforts in a lifetime of passionate engagement in nature and environment conservation with outstanding achievements. Dr Erach Bharucha, is a surgeon by profession and has been active in wildlife and nature conservation for fifty years. He has been engaged in implementing a variety of environmental education programmes for schools and colleges and for the public at large.

2. RBS ‘Earth Guardian’ Award: This award recognizes an institution (NGO/Corporate/Government) that has made exceptional contributions in the field of conservation of wildlife, human life and property in wild habitats, natural resource management, environment, wildlife research and awareness building.This award was presented to Kenneth Anderson Nature Society (KANS), an organization based in Hosur, Tamil Nadu created with a mission of achieving wildlife sanctuary status for the Melagari Forest Region. Their efforts contributed significantly to the decisions undertaken by the government of Tamil Nadu in the creation of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, thereby facilitating protected legal status to the biodiversity rich Eastern Ghats on Tamil Nadu side. KANS through a committed team of volunteers has accomplished several exemplary conservation objectives in the rich biodiversity region of Melagiris, and demonstrated a rare and delicate balance between passion for conservation and concern for all stakeholders, human and others.

3. RBS ‘Save The Species’ Award: This award recognizes an individual or institution who has been involved, directly or indirectly, in protecting any endangered species and has also contributed to education, awareness programs, capacity building and resolving man-animal conflict. The award was presented to two nominees – Pangti Village Council for their efforts in the protection of the Amur Falcon in Nagaland

and Dr Goutam Narayan for his role in The Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme (PHCP). The Pangti Village Council has been involved in planning, implementation and the monitoring process to conserve the Amur Falcons as the major roosting site for the Amur Falcons falls under their jurisdiction. Dr. Goutam Narayan has played a pivotal role in The Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme (PHCP) which is a broad-based research and conservation programme for this highly threatened species and its equally endangered habitats in Assam. The lifelong dedication and the focused efforts of Dr. Goutam Narayan and his team have saved this rarest and smallest suid from extinction.

4. RBS ‘Inspire’ Award – Individual or Institutional: This award recognizes an individual (journalist/filmmaker/artist) who has inspired action on conservation of wildlife, natural resource management and environmental protection through his/her creative expression.The awardwas presented to Mr. Dhritiman Mukherjee, a self taught photographer who has been capturing some of the most extraordinary aspects of nature and wildlife and inspiring many along the way. Mr Dhritiman was among the few who started documenting lesser-known, rare and endangered species from the difficult and less explored terrain of India. He spends 280 days in year in the field. He is also one of the founders of “Saevus”, one of the leading nature and wildlife magazines in India.

RBS ‘Green Warrior’ Award – 2 individuals:This award recognizes two individuals who have done commendable work in conservation of wildlife, natural resource management, environment protection, human lives and property. The two winners identified were, Mr Sujoy Banerjee, an officer of the Indian Forest Service of 1997 and an accomplished wildlife conservationist; and Mr. P. S Somashekhar (IFS), member of the Indian Forest Service who has been serving for 29 years in different departments in different capacities. Mr Sujoy Banerjee, during his time as Deputy Conservator of Forests in the National Chambal Wildlife Division in Uttar Pradesh, has worked hard to preserve the wildlife and resource abundant National Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary which is home to a number of critically endangered and threatened species. His ongoing initiatives include designing a simple and accurate tree height measuring instrument “Sujoy’s Altimeter” which is under commercial production, and a new method of mitigating human elephant conflict called the “Chilly Cracker Technique”, which is currently under field trial

Mr. P. S Somashekhar in his present capacity as, Additional Principal Chief Conservator Forests (Forest Protection), Rajasthan he has been associated with protection, conservation of forests and wildlife of Rajasthan.His involvement in village relocation programme has been immense and he was responsible for giving pace to the programme in Sariska Tiger Reserve. He worked hard to get declaration of Buffer Zones of tiger reserves, facilitated the creation of tiger conservation foundations, and contributed to efforts in providing alternative livelihoods for relocated communities.

A special mention during the ‘Earth Heroes Awards’ was addressed to the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, that was established on 14th August 1958 and is situated in the state of West Bengal. It is the only specialized Zoo in the country and is internationally recognized for its conservation breeding programmes of Red Panda, Snow Leopards, Tibetan Wolf and other highly endangered animal species of Himalaya. The Park is also a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquarium.

Each attendee would be given a Certificate of Participation from GRI Amsterdam and certified training material developed by KPMG and GRI.

Program Schedule for GRI G4 Certified Training Course:

1. Mumbai: 17 – 18 November 2014
2. Delhi: 16 – 17 December 2014

For more information about the trainings kindly visit

http://www.kpmg.com/in/en/services/advisory/advisorytrainings/pages/climatechange-sustainabilityservices.aspx

Contact Person : Rahul Arora – Senior Consultant, (E: rahularora1@kpmg.com, M: +91-7498040950)

– Press Release received from KPMG 

From 27 million elephants 350 years ago, Africa now has about 400,000 left, and roughly 9% of those are being killed each year, Kotze said. More than 35,000 elephants are killed across Africa every year for their tusks, which are prized, especially in China, where 37 ivory carving factories and 130 retail outlets, are engaged in the manufacture and sale of decorative items and trinkets. Wildlife crime is worth an estimated US$20Bn a year and many claim that terrorist organisations like al-Shabaab use ivory trafficking and exchange ivory for weapons.

The killing of just a few bulls can have mighty consequences

Poaching figures in India may not be as alarming as in Africa but seen in the context of numbers it may be seen that percentages are high as India has approximately 40,000 as against 400,000 in Africa. Secondly, only male Asian elephants have tusks of any substantial size, which is one of the main reasons that they have not been poached to quite the same extent. Thirdly, most of the large bulls had already been poached during the last ivory crisis in the 1970s and 1980s. This has resulted in a dangerous imbalance between males and females, down to as few as 1 to 100 in some areas.

Elephant expert Raman Sukumar has even estimated that India may have as few as 1,200 breeding males left from a total population of around 28,000 elephants. The male-female ratio is of particular concern in Simlipal National Park where a mature bull has not even been seen for some time. The killing of just a handful of bulls can threaten an entire population’s ability to reproduce, something it can ill-afford when already having to contend with so many other threats.

Investing in solutions that work

In partnership with the Wildlife Protection Society of India, an organization called Elephant Family has been investing in a number of initiatives to keep the ivory poachers at bay. In Kerala state, a poaching hotspot, they have provided much-needed equipment and training to support the Forest Department rangers in keeping one step ahead of the poachers. Around Simlipal National Park, an awareness campaign and the formation of 100 village committees, has engaged the local communities in the protection of the park, making them the eyes and ears of the forest, reporting any poaching or illegal activity so that the Forest Department can intervene quickly and effectively.

Conservation campaigners have let out the warning that due to poaching of ivory, elephants could be wiped out within the next two decades. Elephants are an important cultural icon in India. According to Indian mythology, the gods (devas) and the demons (asura) churned the oceans in a search for the elixir of life – ‘amrit’ (nectar) – so that they would become immortal. As they did so, the ‘navratnas’ (nine jewels) surfaced, one of which was the elephant. The main threat facing Indian elephants, like all Asian elephants is loss of habitat and the resulting human-elephant conflict. In south Asia, it is the quest for land by an ever increasing human population that causes many illegal encroachments in elephant habitat, thus causing habitat loss and fragmentation. In some cases, it is development activities, such as roads, railway tracks, in crucial corridor areas that fragment the habitat.

WWF has been making conservation efforts for elephants in South Asia include limiting human impacts on elephant populations in the Western Terai region. Simultaneously their activities in Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats, aim to prevent further habitat loss and, most importantly, lower anger levels of the local population against elephants. Through theAsian Rhinos and Elephants Action Strategy (AREAS), WWF invests each year into anti-poaching operations, and the program is currently helping to develop an anti-poaching strategy. Their efforts need to be supplemented by the State and Central Governments by making and implementing effective anti poaching legislations to ensure the survival of the elephant.

Mr. P. K. Jena, Regional Director, RBI, inaugurated the programme while Mr. V. Ranga Rao, General Manager, RBI was the Guest of Honour. Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Vikas Bhauwala, DGM & Zonal Head(Odisha and Chhattisgarh), ICICI Bank, said: ”We are privileged to partner with RBI to share our experience on e-Banking. We believe this training programme will help create awareness about the various electronic banking products and encourage customers to carry out their banking transactions from the comfort of their homes or while on the move”.

Over 120 customers attended the programme held on September 26, during which they were given demonstration of many e-banking products including net banking, mobile payments, Video Banking, e-locker, ATMs and Tab Banking among others. It also outlined the various security measures to be undertaken while using electronic banking services.

The Bank also undertakes various initiatives under the aegis of its “Safe Banking” series to educate and create awareness among its customers on precautions they should take while banking. This is done through advertisement in newspapers, information on Bank’s website, account statements among others.

It has over 95 branches in Odisha, including one Touch Banking branch, which is operational round the clock and two ‘Branch-on-Wheels’ mobile branches, which reach out to villages which were so far devoid of banking services.