What is sensitive greening? Why are indigenous trees critical to urban areas? An interview with Shobha Menon of Nizhal, ‘the tree NGO’.

Interview by Aparna V. Singh

On hearing the word, “ecology”, we first think of wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves. Yet, the urban environment we live in also needs sound ecological thought, given the rapid population growth and attendant pressures in India.

Nizhal (shade, in Tamil) a non-profit trust that started working in Chennai in 2006, aims to preserve and nurture indigenous trees in urban landscapes, as well as create awareness of the need for greening in crowded urban areas.

We caught up with Shobha Menon, a Trustee and founder-member of Nizhal, to learn about the interesting work they do in the urban ecology space. The meeting spot was interesting too; a “tree-park” coming up on the banks of the Adyar river, hidden away in one of Chennai’s busy neighbourhoods.

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An interview with Aarti Mohan, Chief Editor of The Alternative, an online platform that seeks to chronicle and support social development in India.

Interview By Anne John

Aarti Mohan had a flourishing career in Engineering before she switched lanes to follow her twin passions of community development and writing. Thus was born The Alternative, an independent and progressive space for information, dialogue and social action focusing on the evolving changes and challenges of social development in India.

Anne John (AJ): What was the inspiration behind an initiative such as The Alternative?

Aarti Mohan (AM): The Alternative emerged initially out of a need to communicate stories about interesting yet lesser known organisations, people and initiatives that are making a bigger difference to society. As volunteers with various non-profits in Bangalore, we experienced first-hand the passion, hard work and commitment that drove social organisations to bring about real change, an impact we felt needed to be talked about much more widely.

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An interview with Kavitha Krishnamoorthy of Kilikili, a trust that works to make public spaces more inclusive for all children.

By Aparna V. Singh

“How come you never see a child with a disability in a park?” That question, casually asked by one parent, set Kavitha Krishnamoorthy thinking and led to the formation of Kilikili, a Bangalore-based trust that works to make public spaces (especially playgrounds) more inclusive for children. Herself the parent of a child with autism, Kavitha with her husband Ganesh Anantharaman and another couple, Rani and Alfred Benedict started working in this sphere in 2006.

5 years on, Kilikili’s achievements are many: 3 inclusive public parks, many partnerships with parents’ other organizations to transfer the knowledge gained, ‘inclusion events’ for children with disabilities to meet and interact with others and a ‘Buddies’ programme specifically for children with autism and developmental delays.

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Creative stories, eye-catching illustrations and a regard for the local environment are all synonymous with Tulika Books. Women’s Web talks to Sandhya Rao, Senior Editor of Tulika and award-winning children’s writer.

By Anne John

Anne John (AJ): Looking back today, how well would you say that Tulika has progressed with respect to your initial goals and ideas? How far have you achieved what you set out to do at the beginning?

Sandhya Rao (SR): I think we have been walking fairly steadily on the path we envisioned and that was: to reach books in as many languages as possible to as many children as possible. Except that it has taken time… We were naive enough to believe that all we had to do was produce great books, and they would fly off the shelves! Well, now we know it doesn’t work like that. All those wheels within wheels, especially the one called ‘distribution network’.

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Movies, Politics, Fashion, Sports, Business and just everyday Life – we look at 10 Indian women who made headlines in 2010.

By Anne John

Nira Radia: A name which has been doing the rounds on every TV channel and newspaper, for quite some time now. The 2G spectrum scam has become synonymous with this professional lobbyist. The leaked ‘Radia tapes’ of her phone conversations stirred up a hornet’s nest and greatly embarrassed many prominent politicians and businessmen including the former Telecom and IT Minister A.Raja, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, Chairman of the Tata group Ratan Tata and even prompted the Supreme Court to term them “mind-boggling”.

Saina Nehwal: 2010 has been a fantastic one for India’s star badminton player. She was awarded the highest national sporting award given to players, the Khel Ratna and the Padma Shri this year and has gone on to be ranked world number 2 by the Badminton World Federation. Saina has a string of high-profile successes to her credit, winning in the Singapore Open followed by the Indonesian Open, the Commonwealth Games and most recently the Hong Kong Super Series. At this rate, we sure can look forward to an action-packed 2011!

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Violence against women, including at home is a big problem worldwide, with India no exception. How do we combat such violence? 

By Aparna V. Singh

The ‘16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence’ campaign originated in 1991 as an initiative of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University. Today, many organizations around the world participate in this campaign against gender-related violence, particularly impacting women.

The Prajnya Trust, a Chennai-based non-profit centre for research, public education and networking on issues relating to peace, justice and security is organizing one such 16 Day campaign, from 25th November to 10th December. Prajnya’s first such campaign was conducted in 2008.

We spoke to Swarna Rajagopalan, the founder and Managing Trustee of The Prajnya Trust on the campaign and on violence against women in India. Swarna is a political scientist by training with several books and articles to her credit.

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What do you get when you cross a Masters Degree in Social Work with a love for Environment and the mountains?

If you are Ishita Khanna, the answer is a career working with the people of the remote and beautiful Spiti valley in Himachal Pradesh.

By Aparna V. Singh

Ishita, a post-graduate in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is among the co-founders of Ecosphere, a social enterprise working in the Spiti valley with a focus on sustainable development and conservation. Working in tough conditions with unreliable electricity, Ishita managed nevertheless to find some time and share with us an account of her interesting work.

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Anouradha Bakshi,  Founder, Project Why, discusses how the ‘why’s’ that she had to answer led to her work with the underprivileged.

By Aparna V. Singh

Project Why describes itself as ‘a New Delhi (India) based non-profit organisation engaged in education support and life skill enhancement of slum children and their families.’ Founded in 1998 by Anouradha Bakshi, their activities today span education, special education and healthcare initiatives. (This interview was originally conducted in October 2009).

Before we get to your work with Project Why, please tell us a little about yourself, in particular your life when younger. Did you ever see yourself working in the social sector or did that come much later?

I was born in Prague and grew up in Beijing, Paris, Rabat, Saigon, Algiers and Ankara, my father being a diplomat. I did all my schooling in French. My father retired and we returned to India where I did my BA (Hons) in Philosophy from LSR Delhi and my Masters in French from JNU. An only child of very doting parents, I was spoilt silly but at the same time taught the right values. I bless my parents for having sent me to local schools in the countries we were posted in. That way, I grew up in a real world.

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