The Water Man of India Wins 2015 Stockholm Water Prize

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September 4, 2015

Rajendra Singh of India is named the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, for his innovative water restoration efforts, improving water security in rural India, and for showing extraordinary courage and determination in his quest to improve the living conditions for those most in need. The announcement was made at the World Water Day celebrations in New Delhi recently. Mr Singh, born 1959, lives and works in the arid Indian state of Rajasthan, where he for several decades dedicated himself to defeating drought and empowering communities. The results of his tireless work are without equal: in close cooperation with local residents, he and his organization have revived several rivers, brought water, and life, back to a thousand villages and given hope to countless people.

On receiving news about the prize, Mr Singh said “this is very encouraging, energizing and inspiring news. Through the Indian wisdom of rainwater harvesting, we have made helpless, abandoned, destitute and impoverished villages prosperous and healthy again. In its citation, The Stockholm Water Prize Committee says that “today’s water problems cannot be solved by science or technology alone. They are instead human problems of governance, policy, leadership, and social resilience. Rajendra Singh’s life work has been in building social capacity to solve local water problems through participatory action, empowerment of women, linking indigenous know-how with modern scientific and technical approaches and upending traditional patterns of development, resource use, and social norms.”

“In a world where demand for freshwater is booming, where we will face a severe water crisis within decades if we do not learn how to better take care of our water, Mr Singh is a beacon of hope,” says Torgny Holmgren, SIWI’s Executive Director. “He has literally brought villages back to life. We need to take Mr Singh’s lessons and actions to heart if we are to achieve sustainable water use in our lifetime.”

Rajendra Singh’s work reveals a true humanitarian and firm believer in empowerment. After studying Ayurvedic medicine and surgery, he went into the countryside in the largely impoverished state of Rajasthan in the mid-1980’s with the aim to set up health clinics. Instead, he was told by villagers that the greatest need was not health care, but water. As wells dried up, crops wilted, and rivers and forests disappeared, many able-bodied villagers left in search for work in the cities. Women, children and the elderly were left behind, without hope, as their villages were being overrun by sand and dust.

Rajendra Singh did not insist with the clinics. Instead, and with the help of the villagers, he set out to build johads, or traditional earthen dams. Two decades after Rajendra Singh arrived in Rajasthan, 8,600 johads and other structures to collect water had been built. Water had been brought back to a 1,000 villages across the state. Mr Singh, his co-workers in Tarun Bharat Sangh (India Youth Association) had gotten water to flow again in several rivers of Rajasthan. The forest cover has increased, and antelope and leopard started returning.

The methods used by Mr Singh are modernisations of traditional Indian ways of collecting and storing rainwater, dating back thousands of years. The methods fell out of use during British colonial rule, but have now brought water back to the driest state in one of the world’s most populous nations, thanks to the “Water man of India” and his colleagues.

“When we started our work, we were only looking at the drinking water crisis and how to solve that. Today our aim is higher. This is the 21^stcentury. This is the century of exploitation, pollution and encroachment. To stop all this, to convert the war on water into peace, that is my life’s goal”, says Mr Singh.

Climate change is changing weather patterns around the world, leading to more frequent and intense droughts and floods. Learning how to harvest rainwater, cutting the peaks of water to fill the troughs, will be a key skill in most parts of the world. Some of the world’s finest scientists are currently focusing their attention on the management of rain and how to best develop the knowledge.

“We need to learn more about managing and harvesting rain in order to reduce our exposure to droughts as well as floods”, says SIWI’s Torgny Holmgren.

“Due to the harvesting of rain and recharging groundwater, there is no scope for drought or floods in our area. This work of ours is a way to solve both floods and droughts globally. Therefore we believe the impact of this work is on the local level, national level, the international level and above all at the village level,” says Rajendra Singh.

H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize, will present the prize to Rajendra Singh at a Royal Award Ceremony during 2015 World Water Week in Stockholm on 26 August.

wp Comes To The Rescue Of Critically Endangered Species

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September 4, 2015

MUMBAI: Tata Capital Housing Finance Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Capital Limited, the financial services arm of the Tata Group, has partnered with WWF-India to lend their support to conservation programmes for three critically endangered species – the great Indian bustard, greater one horned rhinoceros and red panda. These would include raising awareness, conducting biological surveys, and working with local communities to reduce their dependency on forest resources. Additionally, the projects would augment the resources of forest departments to be better equipped to deal with issues of poaching and improve their relationships with the local communities. Alternative livelihoods options for local communities and climate change adaptation are also being looked at as two new and critical pillars of intervention under this partnership, in the geographical areas identified.

This alliance will strengthen new and existing independent conservation projects currently underway, aimed at conservation of these species. The objectives of these projects have been laid down keeping in mind an overarching strategy of concentrating efforts in specific target areas in order to maximize the impact of the efforts undertaken. The target areas include the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer and Barmer for the great Indian bustard, Laokhowa-Borachapori Wildlife Sanctuary for the greater one-horned rhinoceros and Shergaon, West Kameng, Arunachal for the red panda.

The great Indian bustard is a critically endangered species, of which only 200 are remaining in the world. The bustard stands at great risk of being the first mega species to become extinct in India in recent times. The initiatives aimed at preservation of this species are among its last hopes for long term survival. Less than 4,000 greater one-horned rhinoceroses remain in the wild and this programme is aimed at translocation of the species to help improve its range in Assam. Red pandas number less than 10,000, and are at direct risk from several predators and loss of habitat.

The intended goal of these projects is to activate a combination of initiatives including raising awareness of the plight of these endangered species, researching on their population and dynamics to optimize conservation efforts, working with local communities to reduce their dependency on forest resources, thereby protecting the habitat. It also aims at augmenting the resources of the respective forest departments in the target areas so that they are better equipped to deal with issues of poaching, and foster better relationships with local communities.

Additionally, other direct threats to these species such as management of feral dog populations, and curbing of illegal agricultural activities through a combination of policy reform and enforcement, are among the other initiatives to be undertaken in these conservation projects.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. R. Vaithianathan, Managing Director – Tata Capital Housing Finance Limited said, “Our support of WWF-India will help drive both awareness and action towards the protection of these species, which are on the brink of extinction. Protecting these species will also help maintain the ecological balance and in turn help the preservation of our natural resources, ultimately benefiting mankind. Tata Capital Housing Finance has always been committed to inclusive and sustainable growth, and our efforts in these projects help align this ethos with that of WWF, working together towards maintaining the ecological balance of the planet”

Sharing the objectives of the partnership, Mr. Ravi Singh, SG & CEO – WWF-India said, “The great Indian bustard, the one-horned rhino and the red panda are unique species, each representing three distinctive bio-habitats of India — the open grasslands, the flood plains and the lower Himalayan montane forests, respectively. To conserve these species is to conserve their ecosystems as a whole. WWF-India understands the fine thread that connects the diverse habitats of our ecologically-rich country, and strives to preserve it. We welcome this alliance with Tata Capital, as it will enable us to strengthen our ongoing conservation programmes and implement initiatives that will help humans live in harmony with nature.”

HP Collaborates With Akshara Foundation To Transform Education

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September 4, 2015

BANGALORE: HP recently announced an innovative collaboration with Akshara Foundation that aims to improve the education experience for more than one million school children across the Indian state of Karnataka. Akshara Foundation is a leading Indian NGO that delivers innovative solutions in its pursuit to provide equitable educational access to young school children, with a mission to have every child in school and learning well. The Foundation needed to identify the resources and facilities needed in schools to improve the reading and math skills of students in government primary schools in India. However, the vast amounts of data from multiple, disparate government and corporate sources made it difficult to gain meaningful insight.

HP data scientists volunteered to analyze data on resources, facilities and records of education attainment to identify the triggers for better learning outcomes. The data analytics uncovered insights, such as the link between education resources, facilities and student retention and empowers Akshara Foundation to make better informed decisions on initiatives with the greatest student impact.

As a result of the project the HP volunteers were awarded the “2014 Global Volunteer Challenge: Most Impactful Program”, securing a U$20,000 grant for the Akshara Foundation. “Akshara Foundation had a wealth of data on over a million school children across nine years,” said Ashok Kamath, Chairman, Akshara Foundation. “We needed a way to turn this data into information that would enable us to make better decisions on which initiatives were helping students to learn and which weren’t.”

The volunteers were inspired by the HP Living Progress program that encourages HP staff to use their creative talents to transform lives, energise business and empower communities. The partnership was pioneered by Rajesh Krishnan, an experienced data scientist from HP’s Analytics and Data Management Practice. Motivated by the abundance of primary data available, HP approached Akshara Foundation with a fresh analytical perspective to turn the data into useful information identifying the links between education resources, facilities and Indian children’s education experiences.

In their personal time, over the course of nine months, the team of volunteers from India and Australia undertook the task of data preparation, involving the cleansing and amalgamation of four disparate corporate and government data sources. Cluster analysis was subsequently applied on the facilities and programs available across all Karnataka government schools. Despite large data sets and incomplete, unformatted data sources, by adapting to commercial algorithms, the team was able to provide accurate insights down to an individual classroom level.

However, the solution went beyond mathematical algorithms, presenting the results in clear and easily understood formats was key to the project success. For example, a custom dashboard was built by HP that provided insights including the optimal pupil teacher ratio and the ideal number of books per child for the best educational outcomes. It has also revealed some surprising insights as Krishnan explains: “A valuable insight the dashboard provided was that engagement was particularly low among 11 to 14-year-old girls,” saidRajesh Krishnan. “However, on further analysis we found that the introduction of separate bathrooms helped to significantly reduce drop-out rates. To have identified a way to keep this demographic in school is incredibly valuable.”

Akshara Foundation plans to use the HP grant to further develop the Karnataka Learning Partnership collaborative platform. The non-profit plans to combine school and community data on education and engage HP’s data analytics capabilities for greater impact. With this progressive use of data and analytics, HP and Akshara Foundation hope to extend the program across India, and will continue to improve learning outcomes for millions of students.

SunEdison ‘Solar Empowers’ Students in Chennai

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September 4, 2015

CHENNAI: SunEdison, Inc. has announced the installation of a 100 kilowatt (kW) solar system on the premises of the Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home as a part of its Social Innovations mission to bring electricity to 20 million people by 2020. The project will enable the students at the Mission to be more energy independent and, under a net metering arrangement, can raise revenue for the Mission when surplus electricity is generated. The Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home serves approximately 700 students in the Indian state of Tamilnadu, and has sister organizations throughout the world providing spiritual and educational opportunities as well as medical services to the public.

Reverend Swami Gautamanandaji Maharaj, Adyaksha of the Sri Ramakrishna Math Center inChennai and Senior Trustee and Governing Body Member of the Ramakrishna Math Center and Mission, stated: “The Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission centers in India and abroad always strive to reduce pollution by using clean and efficient technologies. Generating electricity from renewable energy helps mitigate the air and water pollution emitted by coal power plants that is linked to certain health risks.”

“SunEdison is proud to donate and install this 100 kW solar system to the Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home,” said Pashupathy Gopalan, President of Asia-Pacific for SunEdison. “The system allows the mission to increase its energy independence and frees up resources to help them focus on vocational training and universal education to students.”

The rooftop installation is composed of 345 high performance SunEdison solar panels, and is connected to the state electricity grid. Under the net metering arrangement, the Mission can export excess electricity produced by the solar panels to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), powering nearby buildings with clean solar energy.

‘Smart Cities’ Find No Place In Budget, But Renewable Energy Gets Boost

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September 4, 2015

DESPITE the Modi government’s repeated commitments to building 100 smart cities in India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s budget announcement on Saturday made no reference to the ambitious project. However, the Prime Minister’s pet campaigns of Make In India, Digital India, Swachch Bharat, and Clean Ganga did feature prominently in the announcements, as did some initiatives to kick-start renewable energy projects.

Instead of smart cities, the Budget pushed the affordable housing agenda, with Rs. 22,407 crore allotted for the construction of 6 crore homes – 4 crore in rural areas 2 crore homes in urban areas. The lack of allocation for smart cities is not being viewed too negatively by the industry as the government has already signed three agreements with the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) just last January, for developing smart cities in Ajmer, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam, signaling what could be serious contributions to building such cities in the country.USTDA would contribute funds for feasibility studies and pilots, workshops, etc. and other projects to be mutually determined and while the three states would fund advisory services to support the development of smart cities.

The renewable energy sector got a boost with Jaitley doubling coal cess and increasing emphasis on achieving the 1,75,000-megawatt target set for clean energy installations by 2022. Over the next five years, he has promised to provide electricity to the remaining 20,000 villages that still don’t have access to electricity, mostly through off-grid solar power. According to the latest Economic Survey released on Friday, India’s clean energy sector is likely to generate business opportunities of $160 billion over the next five years.

Rail Budget 2015: India to Get Cleaner & Greener Railways

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September 4, 2015

The Rail Budget for 2015 has been created in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives – Swachch Bharat Mission, Make in India and Digital India and has also introduced several environmentally sustainable components. Here are the key ‘green’ highlights of Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s presentation of the Railway Budget.

Environment Directorate – a special cell has been set up to improve green practices in the railways.

To reduce dependence on fossil fuels, Indian Railways plans to expand sourcing of solar power by installing 1,000 MW of photovoltaic (PV) arrays at its land and buildings over the next 5 years.

LED lights and appliances will be adopted by the Railways and a detailed Energy Audit is to be carried out to identify potential for energy saving.

An additional 17,000 bio toilets will be added to the existing 17,388 bio toilets.

Indian Railways also plans to demonstrate sensitivity to wildlife by reducing noise levels in wildlife areas. This is in addition to the previously announced plans to build access points for wildlife to cross without hindering rail traffic.

As part of the water conservation mission of the railways, an audit is proposed, post which water recycling plants will be set up at major water consumption centers.

CSR Spend of Services Sector Should Target J&K, North East

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September 4, 2015

At the national level, there certainly does not seem to be any bias against the Valley. During the 2014 J&K floods, the civil society had responded positively and immediately. Individuals and many social welfare organisations became active all across the country. Industry body CII formed a special task force to assist in relief work in flood hit J&K in coordination with the state administration. Bollywood actors Hrithik Roshan, Kunal Kapoor and Varun Dhawan also joined hands with crowd-funding site Ketto foundation to raise funds for survival kits. There were countless other initiatives mainly from the local community, organisations across the country and smaller NGOs that worked to provide immediate relief. The Govt of India pledged unlimited financial and material support, other States also chipped in with financial assistance.

Strangely, there wasn’t much buzz or awakening on the part of Corporate houses as was evident during the natural disaster faced by Uttrakhand in 2013. Relief and rehabilition effort was well coordinated in Uttrakhand where State Govt supported by IDFC Foundation had setup Corporate & Civil Society Partnership for Action (CPACT) for facilitating shared and coordinated action of State Agencies, Corporate and Civil Society Organisations towards reconstruction of affected areas and rehabilitation of victims.NGOs such as Plan India, HelpAge and Pragya were quick to jump into the relief and construction activity. And the Tata group, through the Tata Relief Committee and the Himmotthan Society, in collaboration with the Government of Uttarakhand, was on a war footing towards providing relief to impacted local communities in three districts of the state. They extended support not only through manpower, but also by providing relief materials to the affected.

So why was it that while the central Govt had removed all stops in relief and rehabilitation, not much enthusiasm was visible on the part of business houses and the NGOs to help the people of Jammu and Kashmir? In it’s report ‘Emerging Philanthropy in India’ the National Foundation for India (NFI) points out that ‘a review of geographic area of philanthropic operations seems to suggest that certain regions – particularly theNorth East and Jammu and Kashmir – are underrepresented in wp spending.’ Their findings further elaborated that ‘the selection of focus areas for philanthropic giving by family foundations, and foundations linked to Corporates was primarily based on personal experience and beliefs of the donor rather than a detailed analysis of gaps, strategic fit and potential intervention strategies.’

The Indian industry faces peculiar problems particularly in the State of J&K. There are certain road blocks which prevent them from acquiring, creating and ownership of permanent assets in the State. This could possibly lead to some sort of disconnect or lack of interest on the part of the industry. Article 370 of the Constitution has effectively prevented Indian Industry from establishing and creating permanent assets in the State. However, another report by CII & PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Ltd titled ‘Handbook on Corporate Social Responsibility in India’ points to a possible solution. According to the report, ‘the Companies Act, 2013 encourages companies to target their wp interventions in their local region. While this is an obvious choice for companies that are in manufacturing, those in the services sector (like banking and telecom) with a wider footprint have no concentrated local region. Companies must decide whether their wp activities will be focused on a few geographies (this can be around their plants or specific backward districts) or whether they will prefer to particularly work anywhere in India’. And this is where regions like the North East and the state of J&K may potentially stand to benefit. While frameworking their wp Strategy Corporate companies in the Services sector can choose where they wish to work and their wp Committees could show leadership in selecting these hitherto discounted regions of India and prioritize their wp spend in addressing their needs.

Development & Sustainability Discussed at IPE Global Summit

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September 4, 2015

New Delhi: IPE Global, in its endeavor to create a knowledge base across relevant stakeholders in India, launched the first edition of the IPE Global Annual Leadership Engagement Programme around the theme of ‘Development and Sustainability’ recently. The engagement programme has been designed to encourage discussion around current economic events and address, in particular, the sustainability concerns and a viable model for the development space in the country. Some of the key attendees at the event, Mr. Onno Ruhl (Country Director India, World Bank) and Mr. Amitabh Kant (Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) the man behind the successful ‘Make in India’ campaign delivered an address on the need for realizing our socio-economic and environmental goals towards securing global public good.

Mr. Onno Ruhl, said, “This is a great opportunity for us to explore the myths about trade-offs between development and sustainability. It seeks to touch on how all of us can contribute to sustainability bringing opportunities for innovation and job creation.” With India at the cusp of change, Mr. Kant whose ‘Make in India’ campaign has been very crucial in sustaining country’s growth momentum through beefing up the manufacturing sector, also addressed the need to give impetus to the various development projects in India. “We are delighted to launch the first of its kind Annual Engagement Programme in the Development sector. There is a need to realign the efforts of the sector and the government and evaluate the development projects in the country. IPE Global has been growing as an organization providing development consultancy to government, bilateral and multilateral agencies. The engagement programme seeks to bring together industry leaders towards reorienting our awareness system to address sustainability and the related economic development”, as shared by Mr. Ashwajit Singh, Chairman & Managing Director – IPE Global

The company also aimed at commemorating global leaders and thinkers who have significantly contributed to the ever-evolving development sector of the country. IPE Global announced their ‘Development Sector Excellence Awards 2015’ across various categories such as Corporate Social Responsibility; International Relations; Government Department; NGO and Bilateral/Multilateral Donor Agency. Experts from civil society and public institutions came on board to extrapolate the requirement and reforms to develop India’s economic landscape and thereby, emerge as global players. The awardees are –

Tamanna Foundation – NGO category for the path breaking work carried out by Tamana Foundation in mainstreaming differently abled children and making them self-reliant
Her Excellency Ms. Gennet Zewide Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia – International Relations category for the inspirational work carried out by her on global dialogues on women’s issues, and improving relations between Ethiopia and India;
Cairn India – wp category for their path-breaking work in impacting communities through their wp programs;

About IPE Global

IPE Global is a development sector consultancy that works with multilateral, bilateral, governments and development agencies in sectors which include Health, Nutrition and Water & Sanitation, Urban Development, Education and Skill Development, Private Sector Development, Infrastructure Development, Forest Governance, Agricultural Development, Tourism, Heritage and Conservation. The organization focuses on six practice areas, Democratic Governance, Grant and Fund Management, Monitoring Evaluation and Learning, Social and Economic Empowerment, Economic and Public Financial Management and IT and e-Governance. It is headquartered in Delhi, India with four international offices in United Kingdom, Kenya, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. It has undertaken more than 700 projects for international agencies including the World Bank, ADB, UNICEF, UNDP, DFID, USAID and JICA.

CSR & You: Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi

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September 4, 2015

Kurukehda, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, Project by: Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi

CATEGORY: Eligible CSR Activity Under the Companies Act 2013 Schedule VII, (i)-(iii) ‘promoting preventive health care and sanitation…’ ‘promoting education, including special education …

especially among children, women…’ ‘promoting gender equality, empowering women,…’

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CSR & You: Craft Ashram

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September 4, 2015

Belda, West Bengal Project by: KADAM CATEGORY: Eligible CSR Activity Under the Companies Act 2013 Schedule VII, items: (ii) ‘…employment enhancing vocation skills especially among children, women, elderly, and the differently abled and livelihood enhancement projects’ (iii) ‘…promoting gender equality, empowering women…’ (v) ‘…promotion and development of traditional arts and handicrafts.’ Funding Required: Rs 28 Lacs (approx) The Organization: KADAM was set up to address the issues of the poor women & youth in eastern India villages via Handicrafts- their local trade. Today 500-600 artisans are able to

CATEGORY: Eligible CSR Activity Under the Companies Act 2013 Schedule VII, items: (ii) ‘…employment enhancing vocation skills especially among children, women, elderly, and the differently abled and livelihood enhancement projects’ (iii) ‘…promoting gender equality, empowering women…’ (v) ‘…promotion and development of traditional arts and handicrafts.’ Funding Required: Rs 28 Lacs (approx) The Organization: KADAM was set up to address the issues of the poor women & youth in eastern India villages via Handicrafts- their local trade. Today 500-600 artisans are able to

Funding Required: Rs 28 Lacs (approx)

The Organization: KADAM was set up to address the issues of the poor women & youth in eastern India villages via Handicrafts- their local trade. Today 500-600 artisans are able to self-sustain their families and 12 of them run their own enterprise with KADAM’s intervention.

Want to Fund this Project?

Write to us at editor@thecsrjournal.in and we will assist you with the process.