NCCL completes project “Rainbow Hills” in village VANAJ in North Gujarat

My NGO, National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) on 21.11.2014 launched its new Project “Rainbow Hills” from village VANAJ, in Taluka Vijayanagar, District: Sabarkantha in North Gujarat.

In a simple Ceremony, Taluka Mamlatdar,  Mr Prajapati, in the presence of NCCL Volunteers started the work of re-construction and modernization of houses in the picturesque Vanaj village which is situated on a small hillock facing a huge lake. Project completed in three months time.

After necessary survey, NCCL selected 12 houses in village: Vanaj, for reconstruction and repair.  The selected houses are on the hillocks constructed by the Adivasis using mud for walls and local wood for ceiling.  Adivasis in  Vijaynagar Taluka are living in dilapidated  dusty houses  in an unhealthy conditions and uncontrolled element of their routine misery.

Under the scheme  the NCCL has done  Repair of walls, floor, roof, Varendas etc, Plastering of mud walls & floor with Cement , Laying Cement Sheet on the roof for protection from rains, heat etc and putting tiles (Nadiya) on it for long lasting roof protection  including colouring of roof top and Construction of toilets. Transparent PCV sheets have also been fixed in each house in the middle of the roof top for providing natural light during the day. 

Since the tribal people cook food inside the room,using local wood, PVC pipes of 6" diameter have been fixed as Chimneys in the room's roof to provide enough air circulation.

NCCL is helping local Adivasis of the selected houses and guiding them to maintain clean & hygienic surroundings and also to stop using plastic products, causing maximum damage to the Environment. The entire cost of repair/reconstruction is borne by the NCCL. The total budget for this project was Rs 15 lacs however work completed in      Rs 12 lacs only.

The aim of this scheme was to provide basic amenities to the poor Adivasis, without disturbing their lifestyle, traditions and surroundings. Further, these Adivasis will also be guided to rent out one room in these neatly repaired and Re-constructed houses to the tourists interested in eco-tourism, which will generate income for them.

NCCL in the past successfully implemented Mission ENDURE, in Ahmedabad City to reduce dust pollution by constructing footpaths from pre-cast Cement Concrete blocks, which was a unique practical, positive and participatory project  implemented in association with Ahmedabad Muncipal Corporation (AMC).

News Links: 

1. The Poineer:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/12-houses-repaired-in-vanaj.html

2. Hindu Business Line:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/blink/know/true-to-their-roots/article7035981.ece

3. Deccan Herald:

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/471136/changing-lives-tribals-gujarat.html#

V K Saxena

President 

NCCL

Ahmedabad

NCCL to mordenise tribal village VANAJ in North Gujarat

NCCL has on 21.11.2014 launched its new Project “Rainbow Hills” from village VANAJ, in Taluka Vijayanagar, District: Sabarkantha in North Gujarat.

In a simple Ceremony, Taluka Mamlatdar,  Mr Prajapati, in the presence of villagers & NCCL Volunteers started the work of re-constructions and modernization of houses in the picturesque Vanaj village which is situated on a small hillock facing a huge lake.

After necessary survey, NCCL has selected 10 houses in village: Vanaj, for reconstruction and repair.  The selected houses are constructed by the Adivasis using mud for walls and local wood for ceiling.  Adivasis in  Vijaynagar Taluka are living in dilapidated  dusty houses  in an unhealthy conditions and uncontrolled element of their routine misery.

Under the scheme  the NCCL will do  Repair of walls, floor, roof, Varendas , Plastering of mud walls & floor with Cement , Laying Cement Sheet on the roof for protection from rains, heat etc and putting tiles (Nadiya) on it for long lasting roof protection ,Colouring of roof top and Construction of toilets.   

NCCL will arrange Cleaning of surrounding area with the help of local Adivasis of the selected houses and will guide them to maintain clean & hygienic surroundings and also to stop using plastic products, causing maximum damage to the Environment. The entire cost of repair/reconstruction etc will be borne by the NCCL.

The aim of this scheme is to provide basic amenities to the poor Adivasis, without disturbing their lifestyle, traditions and surroundings. Further, these Adivasis will also be guided to rent out one room in these neatly Re-constructed houses to the tourists interested in eco-tourism, which will generate income for them.

NCCL in the past successfully implemented Mission ENDURE, in Ahmedabad City to reduce dust pollution by constructing footpaths from pre-cast Cement Concrete blocks, which was a unique practical, positive and participatory project  implemented in association with Ahmedabad Muncipal Corporation (AMC).

Newslink, the Pioneer, New Delhi dated 24.11.2014 below:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/nccl-to-modernise-north-gujarat-tribal-village.html

V K Saxena

President

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Project Rainbow Hills under clean India initiative

One of the prime concerns of NCCL is to provide an expression to the potential strength of environment to rejuvenate itself and present it to the people at large as a new dimension of civil liberty to realize harmonious and sustainable development of nature with respect to man. 

We have followed this principle in many of our earlier Missions, a visible example of which has come to be known in Ahmedabad as Mission ENDURE (ENsuring DUst REduction).  Through Mission ENDURE, we established a culture of presenting to people a clean city endowed with good air quality.  It also epitomized our resolve to bring into play the simple principles that are otherwise shrouded in ignorance and callousness. More importantly, we strived to restore popular civil liberty to expect betterment of contemporary life. 

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, another simple principle has been emerging in our minds to develop  dilapidated houses on small hillocks in the vicinity of Shamlaji (Gujarat). These hills 

comes  both the sides on National Highway No-8 while driving from Ahmedabad to Udaipur. We recognize that the potential of this plan may hold the key to a series of eco-development drives in India . 

To Support Prime Minister Mr Modi’s initiative of Clean India, I along with NCCL team, visited beautiful Shamlaji Hill’s area on 2^nd October-2014 and selected 6 dilapidated houses of village Odhapadia. NCCL will reconstruct these houses and will handover it to the poor residents with toilets and other amenities in few months time as a part of its small contribution to the Nation. We are hopeful that the place will turn into a beautiful landscape worthy of emulation and appreciation.

V K Saxena

President

NCCL

Ahmedabad.

Pictures of Odhapadia:

e-Text books for easy and timely access for students‏

National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), in a letter to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has suggested  releasing of digital copies of the text books on the websites of education departments and even schools, so that the e-books can easily be accessed by parents and students on time.

 This is the season of reopening of schools all over the country and the parents, often line up before the designated bookshops to buy text books for their children.  And the most common problem they face is that the books are often out of print and/or not available and the children have to wait for weeks and months before they can lay their hands on the text books. Sometimes due to short supply of text books they are sold on premium forcing parents to bear extra cost.  This affects their ability to cope up with the syllabus and has an overall effect of slowing down the system and bringing enormous parental anxiety

Nowadays, computer access is very wide and if the textbooks are uploaded on websites and allowed downloading of digital copies of text books, parents can arrange for printed copies to their children on time and nobody suffers by this.  It is an archaic idea that the text books are still to be printed centrally by a Government department and should be responsible for the distribution in the country".   

 Decentralizing this operation will not only speed up the distribution, but will also bring about timely access to the study material, cost saving, time and energy saving of the concerned departments responsible for finalization of tenders for printing and distribution of text books and no room for corruption in printing and distribution system."  

Releasing digital copies of the text books on the websites of education departments and even schools could trigger local business opportunities for printing the books in colour in any required format by the local entrepreneurs to keep up with the requirements. Apart from this it would save millions of rupees of the education department which can be utilized for up gradation of schools etc.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad