Association for India's Development
Kolkata Chapter
Newsletter, August 2007

Table of Contents
Mehdiganj villagers protesting against Coca-Cola in Varanasi.

Science workshop at Dakshin Durgapur Boys’ Home - June 17 2007
The Science workshop at Dakshin Durgapur came to a successful end. The workshop was a coordinated effort of AID Kolkata, Kadam, Praajak and Breakthrough Science Society (BSS). The workshop was a first of its kind and it was a hit among those who attended it. There were around 15 experiments - simple yet so fascinating! The workshop was conducted by BSS, headed by Prasanta Maity. Not only were the kids in awe, the experiments left some of our volunteers biting their teeth. The workshop was for 1 hr. It was attended by 20 kids of the ashram, ranging from class 5 to class 10. Not only was the workshop a learning Experience, it was an interactive session where the kids questioned age old beliefs. The experiments focused simple theories of oxygen, air pressure and light. The experiments were carried on with utmost care and the conclusion was wonderful. Jhuma, who works for Praajak, and has spoken of her interests of conducting similar workshops in other homes across West Bengal. She witnessed the whole workshop with keenness. She will coordinate with us in carrying forward the torch of knowledge. After the workshop, we had a wonderful lunch. Potato fries, dal, curry, fish served with steam rice and payesh, couldn’t have asked for more! Post lunch we enjoyed with the kids. Dance, singing, foraging and bathing, all activities fun filled and DD beckoned us even more. Most of us were new to DD, but one single experience has left all of us wanting for more. The objective of the workshop is fulfilled. This was the first of its kind and with the response, we can look forward to many more. I think it is not the end, but a new beginning. Members attended: Jhuma from Praajak, Puranjan and Pankaj Bothra from Kadam Vikas, Koel, Bhavya, Arup, Milan, Suparna, Abhishek, Veeran and Siddhant from AID Kolkata
Text by Siddhant Bajoria, AID Kolkata volunteer

First-aid workshop at Sristi on 5 August 2007
Children are intelligent, curious, naughty and are always ready to learn. This is exactly what we again found when we went to spend the friendship day with the children of Sristi on 5thAugust, 2007. Sristi is a school for slum children in the suburbs called Durgapalli Police para, Kalibridge near Garia. Ritesh, Veeran, Pankaj Bothra, Rahul, Bhavya, Subhajit, Sanjay, Sanjay’s wife and myself Koel reached the venue after 2 pm. We were greeted by around 35 kids in the age group of 6 to 14 years with open arms and big smiles -- they made us feel like we were one of them. We started a small game of antakshari to break any ice that might have been left, which had mindblowing performances by many of them. There were some Bhojpuri performances by some kids. Pankaj did a great job with the camera and later helped with the first aid work. Veeran helped a lot with the whole program. With girls in the age group of 7 to 14 they had potential to become good singers. We gave everyone toffees for their brilliant performances. We then started our next session - a primary first aid workshop. It was a total hit. The workshop was a mix of fun and some serious learning of first aid medicines and cleaning wounds. The first aid kit that we had bought for them contained Betadine solution, Betadine ointment, Nebasulf powder, dettol, boroline, crepe bandage, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, roller gauze, cotton, and leucoplast. First we selected two tiny 'Doctors' from the audience and one tiny 'Patient' too. Then the doctors were instructed to wash their hands to free them of dirt. They did it very fast. Then they were told how to clean the wounds with dettol, apply bandaid, or tend to deeper wounds. The doctors were doing great. They learned quickly and were enthusiastic enough to volunteer for the next round of treatment too. Then we had a small round where they were told about different medicines and then a quiz where everyone had a chance to get a prize. 5 of them won the bumper prizes of 10 toffees after they could recognize the names of all the first aid kit ingredients. Then we presented a first aid kit to the school. With promises to return back to the place with more events and ideas for improvement, we bade them farewell. The visit was a both way learning process for the AID volunteers, children and the Sristi management as well. I would suggest everyone to try organizing AID KOLKATA NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2007 similar workshops because I believe these children have potential to make it big in this world.
Text by Koel Ghorai, AID Kolkata volunteer

RTI workshop at AID Kolkata on 8th April 2007
AID Kolkata organized a RTI workshop on 8th April exclusively for its volunteers. The RTI workshop was clubbed with the new volunteers’ meet. So lots of new volunteers also came to know about RTI on their first day at AID. Mr. Malay Bhattacharya, the convener of West Bengal RTI Manch was invited to tell us about RTI in details and how it can empower us to fight against corruption. The workshop was started with a film on RTI 'Hamara paisa, hamara hissab'. A small presentation was made on RTI. Malay briefed about various sections and clauses that fall under RTI Act. The success stories of using RTI Act in solving day to day problems were also discussed. Some of the volunteers also framed few RTI applications during the discussion which were revised by the speaker Malay Bhattacharyya. There were many questions from the volunteers which were clarified by the speaker. Few materials related to list of the Public Information Officers in West Bengal & books on RTI Act were also given by the speaker. It was decided in the workshop to start a RTI cell in AID Kolkata chapter to spread awareness on RTI in West Bengal. Veeran was made the coordinator for the RTI cell of AID Kolkata. Sourasis decided to buy around fifty Court Fee stamps worth Rs 10 each for filing RTI applications in the future on behalf of AID Kolkata. Overall it was an exciting and interesting discussion.
Text by Veeran.Gowda K, AID Kolkata volunteer

AID Kolkata puts up stalls in Jadavpur University
AID Kolkata chapter put up stalls at Juxtapose and Sanskriti at Jadavpur University. The arts students’ union FAS (Forum for Arts Students) arranged the film festival Juxtapose at the Vivekananda Hall in Jadavpur University, Kolkata on 26th and 27th February. And Sanskriti is the annual cultural festival arranged by were coming to watch the movies at Juxtapose. FAS also kept announcing about AID in between the film screenings. We had khadi clothes, pottery items from ARTRC, AID Orissa, tshirts from Folkmart. We also had books and calendars on the struggle of Mehdiganj people. Our main aim AID Kolkata puts up stalls in Jadavpur University FETSU (Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union) in Jadavpur University from 7th March to 11th March. Sonia, from AID San Diego, helped us immensely. She, along with Bodhisattwa, Indraneel and Debabrata managed the stall at Juxtapose. Rahul, Ritesh, Juhita, Sombodhi, Kasturi, Jayati and Satabdi also helped them to set up the stall at Juxtapose and Sanskriti and manage it. We put up posters on Bhopal and RTI. We also had AID Kolkata pamphlets, which were distributed by the FAS volunteers to the people who was to spread the word about AID and various issues on which we are working. We got a few interested people who filled up the volunteer registration form. Lots of people wanted to know about the posters and the facts behind them. It was a good start at Jadavpur University. We thank Kaustav, Nivedita and others from FETSU and FAS at Jadavpur University to help us put up the stall. Hopefully there would be more such activities at JU in the near future.
Text by Satabdi Das, AID Kolkata volunteer

Editorial
Education is definitely the most common thing that comes to a person's mind when he/she is asked to think about social development and upliftment. This is probably the reason why most development-related projects I have seen are on education, even in AID. The universal necessity of education is never questioned - it is always put at the top of the list. What we usually forget is that one can only educate oneself - there is actually no such thing as 'giving' education. What can be given is 'schooling' - which is what is most often confused with education. But the fundamental difference between these two is that schooling tries to bring in uniformity; and education, by virtue of being the process of one's self-development and selfrealisation, destroys uniformity. Which means, our efforts towards providing schooling in the name of education are probably not as glorious as we think them to be! This does not mean that schooling goes in vain - it is very necessary as well for many practical purposes. But we need to remember that it is actually the opposite of education since it tries to establish uniformity. So, if we feel education is what can change people's lives, we better try to allow people to educate themselves with as little schooling as possible. These ideas are neither mere theory nor my invention. Time and again educationists have arrived at similar conclusions which they have tried practically as well. My own idea of education drastically started changing when I started reading up the educational experiments of Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, which were too advanced even by today's standards. Their efforts at weaving the process of education into a productive lifestyle were simply put, amazing. Yet, I don't think we should follow their footsteps in order to carry forward their legacy. Because they, and other educationists have always walked on untrodden land - they did not aim at following anyone's footsteps. This may be the era of 24x7 communication, so ideally we should be connected to and aware of everything that is happening around us - but we are not. We try to teach environmental science and yet largely remain unaware of deadly poisons unleashed in the environment by companies who are not even punished for that. We study geography and know of the natural-resource-rich areas of our country -- but scarcely do we get to know how peaceful tribal people living in those areas are treated in sub-human ways by powerful people. There are numerous other examples. The way we try to get people educated actually closes their minds from the world around. Can we change this? Can we try to really help open up new horizons? As I have said before, it is not that nobody thinks on these lines. Many people successfully do, but 'we' - I am trying to mean the majority of us - do not care. This is one of the most pathetic realisations one can have when one is trying to think of social upliftment. It is our challenge to act accordingly upon this realisation when we have had it.
Debamitro Chakraborti, AID Kolkata volunteer

The other side of Coca-Cola
A January trip to Mehdiganj, that has changed my perception of soft drinks and mineral water forever. All I knew before the trip was that there was widespread unrest within the local community about the harms done by the Coca Cola Plant, in this village Mehdiganj near Varanasi. Curious to explore the situation first hand, we went about along with volunteers of AID to ground zero, Mehdiganj, hosted by Nandlalji, the Lok Samiti representative who’s been leading the movement from the front for the last five years. Having taken documented proofs of our key observations, I’m going over them again to narrate the story as it occurred. Amidst talks of water privatization, (on the lines of the Delhi Jal Board), and fears of the next world war happening over water, there’s a concern that water is something as fundamental to a society as air or sunlight and privatizing water and making a profit out of it is horrifying even to a poor man.
This picture shows waste dumped by Coke near their plant in Balia, UP. According to tests conducted by CPCB, this waste contains extremely high levels of lead (up to 538 mg/kg), cadmium (up to 86 mg/kg) and lead (up to 134 mg/kg), effectively making it hazardous waste. Also, a study by PSI on 17 groundwater samples in a radius of 10km around the Mehdiganj plant found chromium and cadmium above permissible limits in 15 and 14 cases respectively.
Chromium causes allergic and asthmatic reactions, and is carcinogenic. Health effects related to chromium exposure include diarrhoea, stomach and intestinal bleedings, cramps, and liver and kidney damage.
Cadmium is known to accumulate in the human kidney for a relatively long time, from 20 to 30 years, and, at high doses, is also known to produce health effects on the respiratory system and has been associated with bone disease.
The Background
Coca Cola acquired a bottling plant somewhere about 1999, with several alleged promises of employing locals as labors in the plant. Soon enough, some demands from the labor led to the contracting of labor from Bihar or other sources. It was cheaper, and on the conditions established by the company. Besides the excessive water consumption and dumping of wastage, among other things Coca Cola is also illegally occupying a patch of government land. Courts ordered the demolition of a certain section of the plant, but it never happened because the implementation authorities were under their control. Petitions and appeals by the locals have made the courts prohibit Coca Cola from dumping its sludge in the nearby farms. The protests by local farmers against dumping of waste water in their fields led to a change in the destination. An underground pipeline set up by the company now took the water to a nearby village, Bhikharipur and it was released into the farms of this village a few kilometers away and it created puddles and ponds of poisonous waste. This could conveniently continue till those villagers push the legal system towards taking remedial/punitive action against the company. Attempts for action under Section 133 were undermined by the success of the company in convincing the Pradhan to allow this dumping. Protests supported by Mehdiganj activists created a commotion even in Bhikharipur. Now, they store it within their compound in some huge tanks built for this purpose and instead of a continuous release, is released in larger volumes, at secret odd hours of the night. In some sporadic inspections, this water is passed off as treated and decontaminated water which is not unsafe for release. Appeals in the Lucknow office of the Pollution Control board, despite assurances, haven’t resulted in another test on this stored water. The concern with the in-house storage dumps is that the toxic minerals would still seep through to the ground water. Tests on the sludge emitted by the coke factory by the Central Pollution Control Board in 2003 revealed fairly high cadmium, chromium andlLead content, much beyond the safe limit (see text accompanying the picture above). Just for the mention, these materials are known carcinogens and prolonged exposure might be fatal. The CPCB ordered the company to treat its waste as industrial hazardous waste. Prior to the CPCB order, the Coca-Cola company was distributing its sludge to farmers in the area as 'fertilizer'. A recent study conducted by Peoples Science Institute, Dehradoon and Hazards center, Delhi measured the concentration of heavy metals in ground water taken from 19 samples within 10 km radius around the Coca-Cola plant. Out of these 19 samples, 75% of the samples have cadmium and chromium in excess of Standard for drinking water (IS-10500: 1991).
A doubt I had at this point was whether the company has the equipment and technology to purify the water and they just want to save costs by releasing it untreated. Or is it that the company doesn’t even have the requisite technology. Tests conducted by the Kerala PCB revealed unsafe amounts of lead in the sludge and on being asked about the key source, the company declined to reveal any information. The factory was closed down, but they did not reveal the source of cadmium, said to be a waste from the preparation of the concentrate (a trade secret). The seventies’ ban on Coke was supposedly related to the reluctance of the company to reveal the contents of its concentrate, demanded by the central ministry.
Current Situation
Mehdiganj has been declared as a Dark Area by Mr. Hakim Singh, director of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), which means no new hand pumps or bores are allowed in the region, to bring the loss of water table under control. Ironically, there’s no tab yet on Coca Cola’s water consumption, which is much more than the hand pumps of the entire village put together. Sixty percent of the old bore wells in Mehdiganj have gone dry. The farmers have to either give up farming or spend a fortune on going deeper to 200+ feet from their old 100 feet deep wells. Coke is already at 400+ feet, so, no problem coming forth for them in the immediate future. Data from the Central Ground Water Board of India has confirmed that groundwater levels have dropped in the area since Coca-Cola started operations in the area in 1999. Pre-monsoon groundwater levels have dropped from 6.64 meters in 1999 to 8.34 meters in 2005, a drop of nearly 2 meters in just 6 years. Post monsoon groundwater levels have dropped from 3 meters in 1999 to 9 meters in 2005, a sharp drop of 6 meters in just six years since Coca-Cola began operations. Contradicting government data, the Coca-Cola company claims that water levels have somehow risen in the area. Nandlalji showed us around the village farms and we spoke to the farmers themselves who’re having difficulty irrigating their crops due to the declining water table. The local police has established a rapport with the Coca Cola bottling plant. They have brutally beaten up the innocent villagers who were only rightfully protesting and then framed cases of ‘attempt to murder’ against them. The juror, smelling foul, freed the villagers. The company also bribed the Pradhan for land. The pradhan was suspended for good for having taken the bribe. But surprisingly, or maybe not so, no questions were asked of the company.
Text by Ankur Gattani. AID Kolkata volunteers Ritesh, Satabdi and Debamitro visited Mehdiganj on 26th-27th January 2007, accompanied by Ankur and Deepak, both IIM Calcutta students. Photos courtesy Nandlal Master.

Liquid waste from the Coca-Cola bottling plant at Balia
Recent developments in the anti-Cola struggle
  1. On World Water Day, March 22, 2007 more than 300 people marched to the Government of India Offices of Planning Commission to take immediate action to curb the severe water shortages being experienced by communities across India as a result of Coca-Cola and Pepsico’s mining of groundwater.
  2. Nandlal has written a letter to CPCB in June requesting them to suspend the operations of Brindavan Bottlers Limited, a Coca-Cola franshisee owned bottling plant in Sinhachawar in Balia district in Uttar Pradesh because it is indiscriminately dumping its sludge and discharging it’s waste water in surrounding agricultural fields.
  3. More than 400 villagers protested at the District Magistrate’s office on 5 June 2007 demanding that the Coca-Cola bottling in Mehdiganj plant be shut sown. They delivered a letter to the DM which stated that the Coca-Cola bottling plant is responsible for the growing water shortage and land and ground water pollution
  4. The Coca-Cola company lost its contract with the University of Illinois in August 2007. More than 20 colleges and universities in the US, UK and Canada have removed Coca-Cola from campuses as a result of student-led initiatives to apply pressure on the company for its practices in India and internationally.
  5. In the same month Benaras Hindu University also banned Coca-Cola from its campus. This has given a moral boost to the popular grass-root level movement against the Coca-Cola bottling plant operating in Mehdiganj, Varanasi.
  6. Similar struggles are going on in Plachimada (Kerala) and Kala Dera (Rajasthan) as well, and the Plachimada Coke plant was shut down due to public protest against it.
How you can help these struggles and be a part of them
  1. AID Kolkata is planning to team up with students of premiere educational institutions in West Bengal in order to ban soft drink manufacturers who are guilty of unethical practices from their campuses. Join us and make this possible!
  2. Visit www.mehdiganj.org, www.indiaresource.org and www.killercoke.org and let others know as well. Support these struggles in any way possible, financial or otherwise.

NREGA survey started by AID Kolkata and SUK in Mathurapur
AID Kolkata along with Samaj Unnanayn Kendra, an NGO working in Mathurapur, has started an awareness program on NREGA in Mathurapur Block2 in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. We have selected 13 villages spread in 3 Gram Panchayats - Khari GP, Radhakantapur GP and Gilerchhat GP. We came to know that most of the people did not know about NREGA. Many villagers are yet to get job cards. And except Radhakantapur GP, most of the job card holders didn't get jobs.The actual number of people who got jobs is lower than that claimed by the Panchayat. SUK staffs held meetings with the villagers and informed them what is NREGA. Many of the villagers showed interest in going to the Panchayat and ask for jobs. We have had informal talks with all the 3 Panchayats regarding this at the beginning. But now we would hold formal meetings with panchayat and the SHGs, arrange for street plays and more group discussions.
Text by Satabdi Das, AID Kolkata volunteer

AID Kolkata offers internship
The Association for India’s Development will be offering internships with our Kolkata chapter (kolkata.aidiindia.org). AID is run entirely by volunteer members, so due to financial constraints, all of our internships will be unpaid. However, in the past some student interns have earned college credit for their work with AID. Interning with AID is a wonderful learning experience and a great way to network with community activists and volunteers.
We have different verticals to volunteer for:-
  1. Child Education
  2. Fund Raising
  3. RTI (Right To information Cell)
  4. Rural development
  5. CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities Cell)
  6. Publication Cell
  7. Resource Generation Cell
  8. Issues like Nandigram / Bhopal Gas Tragedy
Various AID India links
http://www.aidindia.org/
http://publications.aidindia.org/
http://chennai.aidindia.org/
http://rti.aidindia.org/
http://nrega.aidindia.org/
http://survivors.aidindia.org
http://www.runforindia.org/
If you are interested in interning, you should be available to work at least 10 hours a week; a time commitment of 15 to 25 hours a week would be preferred. The work schedule will be quite flexible. If you are a highly self-motivated individual with great organization skills and an interest in grassroots development in India, please email your resume and contact information to aidkolkata@gmail.com. If you have any questions about our internship program, please send them by email to the same address.
Statistics about AID
Chapters in India-10. You can see them here .
Chapters in USA-42
Chapters in Canada-3
Chapter in Australia-1
Chapter in Oman-1
Be a Volunteer - Join AID
Pledge your Meal a Month today


Information corner
Here are some sites we watch regularly:
www.downtoearth.org.in
www.indiatogether.org
www.countercurrents.org
www.bhopal.net
www.studentsforbhopal.org
www.thesouthasian.org
www.arvindguptatoys.com
www.multiworld.org
www.learningnet-india.org
... and many more

Need help filing RTI?
If you need help in filing RTI or are interested to hold a RTI workshop in your school/college/office, please feel free to contact our RTI cell. You can send all your queries on RTI to aid DOT kolkata AT gmail DOT com.

Thank you donors
We thank all our donors for their generous help. It is your support that keeps us going!

How to donate
You can send your cheques drawn in favour of 'AID India' to
New No 34, Rathenam Street
Gopalapuram,
Chennai - 600 086
Contact AID Kolkata
Website : kolkata.aidindia.org
Feedback : aid DOT kolkata AT gmail DOT com

Newsletter Team
Satabdi Das and Debamitro Chakraborti

'Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.'
- M K Gandhi