Young influencer at work- Jitesh in Jaipur papers

Five friends & 40 kids

When most village youths are running towards urban India, Jitesh is an inspiration

Anshika Ajmera



a_anshika@dnaindia.net
He came to Jaipur with a mission to do MBA. But it was while he was pursuing his BBA (second year) from Commerce College, that he realised his real aim of opening a Youth Research Centre (YRC) and doing something for the betterment of his village Ratanpura in Sikar and thereby develop the nearby ones too.
"My idea was that if you want to go into the corporate sector, you have to develop your skills practically," says Jitesh Kumar, who is 20 years old.
His drive to do something for his village started taking a real turn when he came in touch with the NGO, Pravah Jaipur. And it was with them that Jitesh and five friends went to his village on October 12 and organised a two-day workshop. The schedule covered a comic workshop conducted in a public school with 40 students from class 9-12, a survey on village issues and shramdaan with the kids.
But that was not all! With his friend's idea, Shubham, a tree plantation programme was also launched in collaboration with the school. "We initially faced a lot of opposition, but then we managed to convince the students after we promised them prizes," says Kumar.
"The villagers said we are doing all this for money. It was shocking for me to hear this from my own people," Shubham adds.
Now within these two days, this vigilant group has also cleaned up two streets of the village along with making earthen drains. "We collected Rs10 from each house on the street to make the drains," says Kumar.
The various activities Kumar and his friends did in the village were presented to other volunteers and representatives from Sir Ratan Tata Trust on Saturday evening at Pravah.
And, trust us, looking at him, there is only one saying that come our mind—big things come in small packages.


Copyright Permission www.3dsyndication.com

Posted in: on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at at 5:42 PM 4 comments  

India Untouched screened at DCE!

India Untouched @ DCE

Date: 27th October Time: 5:30 – 8:00 p.m Delhi College of Engineering

The movie screening at DCE started off with a very brief introduction about SMILE, Pravah and the theme of the movie. An enthusiastic crowd of around 20-25 people turned up for the screening.

The movie India Untouched explores the prevalence of caste in contemporary India among people from different religions, geographical areas and cultural backgrounds. Award winning director Stalin.K had put in 4 years of research for making the movie, showing us how widespread and real the Dalit oppression is contrary to what we may believe.

A brief but quite intense discussion followed the screening and quite a few points and issues were raised.

Most acknowledged this was an eye-opener and they weren’t aware of the magnitude and implications of caste segregations.

Someone pointed out that in their college itself in some cases people of same communities/castes only bonded among themselves. Also if people found out that someone was from a backward community they wouldn’t befriend him/her.

The point of local leaders and authorities exploiting caste segregations for their vested interests was also raised.

Someone also confessed that he was personally against reservation before seeing the movie but now is pro-reservation because even if reservation benefits a fraction of the oppressed and needy it’s a big step forward and is essential.

It was said that it was almost impossible to get completely rid of the caste discriminations or notions of ‘superiority’ and ‘inferiority’ as they were very deep- rooted in our minds but we could work to bridge the gap between people by making sure that the discriminated were granted opportunities to excel and discover their potential.

Someone said that the only way to combat this was to make people think rationally and to question established structures instead of blindly following them.

Thus the process of self-introspection and questioning norms got underway. It was concluded by initiating discussions on what we can personally do get rid of these stigmas. The importance of spreading awareness and instilling in ourselves and those around us a rational mindset and a feeling of tolerance was emphasised.

This led to explaining the SMILE process and how it helps in understanding and comprehending all these issues better. It was wrapped up by showing the SMILE video and distributing R.I pamphlets. We hope to continue our association with DCE.
Keep :)ing..................

SMILE’rs

Posted in: , , on at at 1:20 AM 4 comments  

Born into Brothels screened at IIT! Read On..

Born Into Brothels@ IITD

Date: 25th October Time: 2-5 p.m Venue: 2LT2, IIT Delhi

This was the second movie screening and the third SMILE event at IITD. Beyond our expectations a crowd of over 120 came for the movie screening.
  • The Academy award winning ‘Born Into Brothels’ set in Sonagachi, the red-light area of Kolkata examines the complexities associated with the lives of sex workers and their children. Directed by an American duo of Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, it shows the lives in the red light area through the eyes of these children using photography and film as a medium. The directors are determined to provide these kids with a better and more secure future.



    The screening was followed by a discussion which threw light on various issues and brought forward many viewpoints. The discussion began with the audience being asked to give their initial impressions and feelings on the movie.
  • Someone suggested that red-light areas should be broken up and the sex workers should be sent to different places away from the city so that prostitution is stopped since as individuals they won’t be able to continue their profession.
  • This raised the larger issue of whether sex work is per se ethically wrong. There was a heated discussion on this. Someone said we need to broaden our mindset and accept sex work as a profession.
  • This started the debate on the legalisation of prostitution. Those in favour pointed out that it would reduce the exploitation of sex workers by pimps, clients, it would improve their pay and working conditions and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Those opposed said it would encourage people to join sex work and make it a lucrative profession and would wrongly impact the Indian society. They firmly believed that profession should be abolished and should certainly not be legitimised.
  • Someone pointed out that it would be better if Indian organisations would pick up such issues so that they could be better followed up to which someone replied that there were already many organisations working in the area and that the efforts of each individual should be recognised and appreciated.
  • Someone questioned the rationale of taking out some select 8 children (and even all of them weren’t able to leave the brothels) and deciding to teach them. People counter argued that there would be a trickledown effect and also that we can’t stop making efforts just because we can’t help everyone.
  • It ended on a note of hope and optimism as exemplified by the examples of Avijit who is currently studying in NYU and other children who are out of brothels and are doing well in their respective institutions. The movie was about finding light in the darkest corners and we were all very inspired by it.

    At the end of it there was a formal announcement of the winter group exposure which would be an opportunity for everyone to witness a grass root level movement and to develop a better understanding of the prevailing social issues. It received a very enthusiastic response and many expressed their willingness and excitement for the same. We hope to continue our association with IIT through such events and specially the winter group exposure trip.

Keep :)ing

SMILErs

Posted in: on at at 1:11 AM 1 comments  

International Day of Climate Action- 350

24th of October was the International Say of Climate action and many of us participated in this global day through our own interesting ways...

Just sharing with you the letter from 350 ...



Dear friends,

For 20 years the world has managed to do very little about the greatest problem it's ever faced. In three days time, you can help change that--and if you step up you're going to have a lot of company!

It looks like the International Day of Climate Action this Saturday October 24th will be the single most widespread day of political action the planet has ever seen--we're closing in on 170 nations, and more than 4000 rallies and events.

There will be climate events from the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef to the summit of Mount Everest. At each event -- at rallies and parties and deep-sea dives -- people will take a big photo that somehow depicts the number 350. Our crew at 350.org will be taking these thousands of photos, projecting them on the giant screens in New York's Times Square, and delivering them directly to hundreds of world leaders and politicians in the coming weeks.

There's almost certainly an event happening near you--if you're not sure what, this link will let you find out quickly and easily:

www.350.org/map


People in all those cities and towns all around the world will be saying the same thing: science tells us that we can't have more than 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere if we want a planet like the one we were born onto. That sounds complicated, but it isn't--350 is the bottom line for the earth.

Please take a moment to forward this along to everyone you know in your community and around the world, and ask them to find an event near them to take part on on this important day: www.350.org/map

Thanks for everything you do,

Bill McKibben for the 350.org Crew

P.S. We're simply astonished by the viral growth of this movement in the last couple of weeks--can you spare 15 seconds and two mouse-clicks to share the momentum with everyone you know on Twitter and Facebook? Many many thanks.

Posted in: on Sunday, October 25, 2009 at at 12:18 PM 3 comments  

THEATER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE!!

Student's who attended the two day theater workshop with Ms. Jaya Iyer (theater person) will be getting together again on 21st October at Pravah Office, 3 p.m. to prepare and perform..


There will also be a performance of the play that has been prepared on the issue of Climate Change on the 22nd October!!

It's your turn to show that you care about your environment !!



If you have ideas about spreading awareness about climate change and want to do something then this is the platform where you can get together with a larger group and implement innovative ideas like.. a cycling awareness drive, making a new campaign.. got ideas? then this might be the space for you!!

Join us on both the days and be a part of the group..

For more details please contact: Sundeep - 9582338381, Puneet - 9811736031

Pravah Office Address: C-24B, second floor, Kalkaji, N.d. - 19

Posted in: , on Monday, October 19, 2009 at at 2:07 PM 0 comments  

Gende Bender.. Movie for thoughts @ Jamia!


Movie: Gender Bender
Date: 7th October, 2009
Time: 3:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.
Venue: Seminar Room, Deptt. Of Social Work, Jamia University campus

The second day of the film festival saw the movie Gender Bender. Titled thus for the changing roles of women, the movie forced a re-look on the traditional definitions of gender, and gender-specific roles. To get the audience thinking along the same lines, a teaser was organized – a mind jog where the participants were asked to delineate various jobs into male/ female. It was deliberate on the part of the facilitators (Nishu and Sonal) to not give them time to think – we wanted to record their first responses. With this activity, the movie started.
After the movie, the discussion touched on multiple issues, and an effort has been made in this report to record all of these, and the interconnections between them as well.

Perceived gender roles – The audience was asked to revisit the jobs that they had categorized into gender definitions and say if they wanted to change some of those responses. Through this discussion, we also tried to check if these roles were assigned because of some intrinsic gender-specific qualities, or were they just part of a stereotype. It was decided that although roles were necessary, it was also important to allow individuals to make their own choice – and that their choice be respected. Also, the roles, though different, should not decide the gender dynamics; the status of a male/female should be the same.

Reservation for women – With equal status, the question of reservation for women also came up. Here there was a divided opinion. Some were all for reservation in educational institutes, while some felt that an opportunity should be provided to girls to allow them equal access, but admission should only be on merit. From this, the discussion moved to reservation in public transport, like buses and the metro. Members of the audience thought that this was not justified.

Eve-teasing – From buses, the discussion progressed to eve-teasing – reasons for it, possible consequences, and who, if any, is to blame. This discussion was intense, and had to be carried on from the seminar room to the garden, due to non-availability of time. There was no closure here (and neither were we aiming for it), but the participants realized the role they had to play in it, and thus took the first step towards being active citizens.

The discussion came to a close with a vow to take back some learnings from this space into personal lives, and to be the change they want to see.

Posted in: , on Thursday, October 8, 2009 at at 1:09 PM 1 comments  

A Narmada Diary @ Jamia, Social work Deptt


Movie: A Narmada Diary (57 mins.)
Date: 6th October, 2009
Venue: Seminar Room, Deptt. Of Social Work, Jamia
Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Subject Association, along with Pravah, held a screening of the movie – A Narmada Diary, as a part of the ‘Movies for Thoughts’ film fest at Jamia Millia Islamia University campus. The movie explores the question of development, from the perspective of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Set in the early 1990s, when the dam was still under construction, it documents the early stages of the said project and the Narmada Bachao Andolan. It touched upon such pertinent issues as rehabilitation, traditional vs. modern irrigation techniques, transparency and disclosure, and the like.

With this in mind, the actual screening was preceded by a question for the audience – What development meant to them?? The responses ranged from sustainability, positive and need-based growth to freedom, a high HDI, and the decentralization of decision-making to the rural villages and towns. With this background, the movie commenced.

After an hour or so, the discussion began by asking the participants to revisit their parameters for development, and apply the same to the movie. While some people said that the movie could promote vested interests and bank on it’s emotional quotient, a majority felt that everybody saw development with a different perspective, and what one sees as development might not be that for another. In this context, the question of need-based growth came up, and the participants were forced to question the aims of the dam, in light of the expectations of the rural poor.

A cost-benefit analysis was also considered necessary by a few, since the benefits were to come only after 30 years, while the costs could even be borne by the displaced forever. This naturally led to the question of the stakeholders, and who was bearing the costs without reaping the benefits, and vice-versa. The issue of adequate compensation (in kind and cash), and how much is necessary for sustenance, and whether it is even measurable, was also brought up in the course of the discussion. With regard to this, the participants came up with other examples, like thermal power plants, and SEZs, where the same situation was prevalent.

Due to time constraints, the discussion could not continue further, but it proved to be a very healthy interactive space for all. The discussion did heat up at some point, but the facilitators were able to bring decorum again. It was agreed by all that there was a need for active citizenship, and understood that even having an opinion on such issues, and being confident to take a stand, is a vital part of active citizenship, and of what Pravah does.

Posted in: , , on at at 1:02 PM 1 comments  

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)