Environmental concerns of our residential colony

To

The Hon'ble Minister,

Ministry of Environment & Forests,

Govt of India,

Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jor Bagh

New Delhi 

Sir,

Re Environmental concerns of our residential colony

I bring to your attention an environmental bomb ticking in the Defence Colony Market of Defence Colony,New Delhi 110024

Following are the concerns:

1) A huge number of restaurants have mushroomed up in this marketplace, the number being approximately 45 restaurants.

2) This market was designed as a single storey market, and facilities such as drainage, water supply, electricity was meant to supply single shops, not four floors per shop. Consequently, the infrastructure is under severe strain.

3) The restaurants use water for industrial use, eg washing food leftovers cooking waste, utensils etc. and pour the same down drains, which get clogged and overflow into streets.

4) Solid waste from the restaurants are dumped in open garbage dumps, and roadside, and cows, dogs and scavengers spread this waste on the roadsides.

5) Delhi Pollution Board has taken no action re a common effluent plant (ETP) to treat wastewater before discharging it into sewerage and open drains. Delhi Jal Board has given water meters to restaurants ( industrial purposes) without Environmental Impact Study (EIA) on the disproportionate quantum of water being supplied to the market, and how it is being discharged.

6) South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has made no effort to enforce waste doorstep collection from restaurants / shops and have it disposed separately from the domestic waste generation and clearance system. Such waste collected must be segregated and recycled as per established norms.

7) SDMC has granted Shops and Establishment Licences to shops, restaurants, parlours, offices etc. where shops are not permitted (above ground floor).

Urgent action is required by Chief Secretary GNTCD, Secretaries Environment, Pollution, Jal Board, and Electricity Authorities GNCTD.

Sir, since environment is a concern to all citizens, I raise these concerns as a citizen worried about the area we live in,being a witness to all that is going wrong. We approach you to exercise the powers vested in you Sir, to protect our environment at a micro level, by invoking all authorities concerned.

Yours Faithfully,

Rajeev Suri

Friends of Defence Colony.Org

D 68 Defence Colony

New Delhi 110024

Mobile : 9810304580

Trees of Delhi

To

The Hon'ble Minister,

Ministry of Environment & Forests,

Govt of India,

Indira Paryavaran Bhawan,Jor Bagh

New Delhi 

Sir,

Subject : Trees of Delhi

May I in the first instance felicitate you on your appointment, as the new Minster Environment and Forests GOI

With reference to my various emails to yourselves on the subject of Trees and Forests of Delhi through various forums, I have been putting forward the viewpoint, that although the Ministry and Forest Department has been doing excellent work of both protecting our forests and increasing the green cover, the task is so enormous, it cannot be handled by the Government of India, and the State Governments alone.

The citizens movement has very strong undercurrents in this city and country, by the trees, forests, parks, being under the sole ownership of the Government of India, or GNCTD the citizens feel disenfranchised, and consequently disinterested in the efforts of the state Environment and Forest Department, and the Delhi Garden and Parks Society, PWD DDA and a multitude of governmental agencies.

Any effort therefore, has to be a joint effort, and more so, a community based effort to grow the green cover in our city. With norms being laid out at 33% cover, we have a long way to go, and the various departments mentioned above would be well advised to harness the power of the citizen to make it truly a peoples movement.

My sustained efforts with the Secretary, Environment and Forests, Chief Conservator Forests, CEO Delhi Parks and Garden Society have met with interest, but owing to the multitude of land owning agencies and myriad decision making bodies,most ideas have failed to take off.

Needless to say, Government of India or GNCTD cannot remain the sole repository of  forestry, and communities have to be involved at all levels, from conception and decision making,(which currently consists of only government representatives), to implementation and maintenance.It is here Sir, your urgent intervention is sought to energise moribund government agencies, getting them to form partnerships with communities, residential enclaves nature organisations NGO's and community initiatives. At this point community initiatives receive little to no support from governmental agencies.

I would cite the example of ourselves, Sir, residents of Defence Colony, New Delhi, 110024, a colony of excellent tree cover due the foresight of the generation before us, but the ageing trees are in urgent need of replacement, for which the responsible agencies are in a state of indifference, passing the buck between each other.

The following action is urgently required:

1) Conduct a tree census

2) Map the biodiversity of the existing tree population

3) Prepare a cogent plan for replanting, extension planting, infilling and pruning.

5) Assign the task to a single agency to work with residents of the colony to negate passing of the buck as is presently the situation between MCD / DDA / PWD.

We have great hope Sir, that with your personal intervention,we can carry forward the green cover challenge of raising it from its present 19.97% to 33% as the national mission on forest cover.

We look forward to your spirited action on the subject, to take the citizens movement forward and save our city from being desertified in the not too distant future.

Yours Faithfully,

Rajeev Suri

Friends of Defence Colony.Org

D 68 Defence Colony

New Delhi 110024

Mobile : 9810304580

The Myth about Empowerment of Women

The Minister,                                                                                                                       12^th June 2014

Ministry of Women & Child Development

New Delhi

India

Hon’ble Minister,

Re: The Myth about Empowerment of Women 

I bring to your attention as a concerned citizen, gross injustice being perpetuated against women, in flagrant violation of their fundamental rights granted by the Constitution of India, the National policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001), the International Treaty (CEDAW) (1993) ratified by India, the Citizen Charter of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (2013-14), and various legal judgements and rulings to this effect.

The immediate cause of action leading to my presenting an injustice perpetrated on women before you Madam Minister, is the denial of voting rights to women in most social clubs in India, possibly a hangover from the days of the British Raj. The sun has set on the British Empire, but the social clubs of India continue in selective discrimination against women. Women do not have voting rights in social clubs, relegated to being   disparagingly called “spouse members”, i.e. members without the right to participate in the democratic process of selecting the club’s office bearers. I am a member of the Defence Colony (Welfare Association) Club, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024, and am distressed as a citizen to witness in a country that granted universal suffrage by a single stroke of the pen incorporating it in the Constitution of India, clubs continue denying women their fundamental right towards justice in gender equality.  Ostensibly women have been deprived of this right under the guise that women’s rights emanate from their spouse, who are the members of the club, and consequently cannot exercise franchise as independent entities. If such reasoning were to be extrapolated to a national level, all homemaker women would be disenfranchised.

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women

India has also ratified various international conventions and human rights instruments committing to secure equal rights of women. Key among them is the ratification of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1993.

However, there still exists a wide gap between the goals enunciated in the Constitution, legislation, policies, plans, programmes, and related mechanisms on the one hand and the reality as it exists on the ground level. This very obvious aberration exists not in the deep rural hinterland of India, or a poverty drought stricken district, but in the plush clubs of the capital and other metropolitan cities of India.

The de-jure and de-facto enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by women on equal basis with men in all spheres – political, economic, social, cultural and civil and the equal access to participation and decision making of women in social, political and economic life of the nation has been resoundingly endorsed and consequently cannot be denied. Therefore changing society attitudes and community practices by active participation and involvement of women in all walks of life is almost an evangelical like duty reposed upon all citizens by the state, and every individual witnessing any form injustice must raise his voice in peaceful representation of the perceived injustice. It is in this spirit, Madam Minister, I write to you today, seeking your intervention of reforming / repealing the archaic practice of keeping women away from decision making processes.

The citizens charter 2013-14 of (your) Women and Child Ministry in its mission towards women states:

 “Promoting social and economic empowerment of women through cross-cutting policies and programmes, mainstreaming gender concerns, creating awareness about their rights and facilitating institutional and legislative support for enabling them to realise their human rights and develop to their full potential”.

Conclusion:

Consequently, by the directive principles of the Constitution of India, ratification of international treaties by the Government of India such as, ‘CEDAWS’ (1993) national policies enunciated in ‘National policy for the Empowerment of Women’ (2001) and the Citizens Charter by the Ministry of Women and Child 2013-2014, there remain no ambiguity whatsoever, on country’s views on the equality of women in all walks of life. The fact they are being precluded in social clubs from voting, on the basis of being “spouse members” is gender injustice, contrary to all the positive affirmations made, cutting across all sections of society and state, and needs to be done away with forthwith. I therefore invoke your good offices to initiate all possible measures to enable the application of the principle of universal suffrage to this blatant violation, which lies just before our very eyes, i.e. the social clubs of India.

Yours faithfully

Rajeev Suri

D 68 Defence Colony

New Delhi

Mob: 9810304580

The Athenian Oath

                                                 

The Athenian Oath was recited by the citizens of Athens, Greece over 2,000 years ago. It is frequently referenced by civic leaders in modern times as a timeless code of civic responsibility.

"We will never bring disgrace on this City by an act of dishonesty or cowardice. We will fight for the Ideals and Sacred Things of the City both alone and with many. We will revere and obey the City’s laws, and we will do our best to incite a like reverence and respect in those above us who are prone to annul them or set them at naught. We will strive unceasingly to quicken the public’s sense of civic duty. Thus, in all these ways, we will transmit this city, not only, not less, but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us".

                                                              

Reproduced from: “An Introduction to The Delhi Ridge”