Climate Reality Presentation : Hutatma Balveer Shirishkumar School

Parjanya was recently invited by the Inner Wheel Club of Pune, as part of its 'Green Initiative' project, to spread awareness of Climate issues among school going children aged between 13 - 16 years.

The first seminar was held on Saturday 16 Aug 14, at Hutatma Balveer Shirishkumar school in Pune. My wife Shubhada, and I, were welcomed by Mrs Jadhav (Headmistress) and Mrs Rathi (Chair Person, Inner Wheel Club, Pune City). Mrs Jadhav was kind enough to give us a tour of the school, and explain the activities carried out by students. 


About 200 Students, School Staff & members of Inner Wheel Club attended the seminar. I started off with giving an explanation of what Climate Change was, and how it affected our daily needs of resources like air, water and food. I gave them details of how our economic activities pollute these resources, which, in turn, affect our health negatively. They were shocked to learn that Pune was amongst the most polluted cities in India, and that increasingly, more Pune-ites are suffering from respiratory diseases due to increased air pollution.


As we all know, Pune has been facing water shortages for last few years, especially in the summer months. The importance of Rain Water Harvesting was explained to the students. The status of Pune city surface water was explained and I brought to the notice of all, that ALL Pune rivers have a water quality of an open sewage gutter. The depleting status of ground water due to non-recharging of ground water aquifers was a revelation to some of the attendees. 

The potential of rain water in Pune was explained to students. In Pune 1000 sq ft of roof top area receives about 70000 liters of rainfall. Students were then told how RWH system can be implemented to recharge ground water table, and also to tide over the water crisis. Success stories of RWH projects in Pune were illustrated to all.

As it was interactive presentation, students asked us many questions about CO2 emissions due to human activities, about the difference between Rain Water Harvesting & Rain Water Storage etc. All the students promised to take all necessary steps to save rain water, conserve use of water, to do audit of school water usage.



This was our first presentation after the Climate Reality Leadership seminar in Melbourne, Australia. It is heartening to know that the younger generation is a lot more interested in these issues, and I hope they will succeed in educating others, spreading the message and, above all, fixing the problems our generation created.

Ruby Hall Clinic's experiences with Rain Water Harvesting

One of the Prime Minister's requests made on 15 August 2014

I hope you all had a chance to hear our Prime Minister, Mr Modi, address the nation from the Red Fort on the occasion of the 68th Independence Day. It was a very inspiring and motivating speech. While he mentioned new progressive acts for every Indian, I wanted to focus on his scheme for installing toilets in schools, especially in our villages. For that the Prime Minister has appealed to NGOs, MPs, MLAs & the Private Sector to join forces to ensure success of this scheme.


All the stakeholders mentioned by the Prime Minister in his speech need to identify schools in their jurisdiction and start the process to create toilet blocks with water facilities. Without access to running water, toilet blocks are of no use to students. During my visits to a number of such schools, the major problem I noticed was a lack of running water and water sources on the school campus - e.g. open well, bore well etc. A lack of toilet facilities has led to many girl students dropping out from schools on health grounds.

Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting is the best long term solution to ensure a regular supply of water to Schools. It requires very little infrastructure and is very economical to implement. As Director , Parjanya, I am willing to provide all the help in this mission. Parjanya is a Socially and Environmentally responsible Consultancy, and it would be an honour to help the nation.

Educating everyone is important, but is especially important to educate girls. A study by the UNFPA has found that investing in girls' education is the most effective way to reduce poverty. Educated girls are more likely to remain healthy, know their rights, enter the workforce and have a healthier family. If a simple toilet can help resolve this issue, then it is something that we should all pressure the Government to fund.
 
The Government has allocated a 'Local Area Development Fund' to MPs & MLAs for such works. Most large Corporate House and Private companies also allocate funds under their Corporate Social Responsibility activities. Efficient utilisation of these resources can ensure an active participation by the Government, Business and the People. This will ensure that we can improve the reach of education to our most underprivileged, and help the environment at the same time.

Not only can rain water harvesting reduce the operational costs for schools by reducing water tanker purchases, it helps the environment by reducing CO2 emissions, and if used in the right places, it can help our future generations get educated. Friends, the time is now. We need to step up the pressure to ensure, that together, we can make a difference.