Mines Ministry to GoM: Ask firms to spell out CSR plans

Dear Friends,

A welcome step from the Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India through the draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill 2010! The consequences of mining on ecology in terms of bio-diversity, flora, fauna and habitat and  on the quality of life of local population are humongous. The Ministry through this draft looks at mitigating these consequences by ensuring that the Companies engaged in mining set out their plans in advance and allocate a certain percentage of their profits for their Corporate Social Responsibility towards the ecology and the local population.

The ministry also wants that the Companies furnish a Progressive Mine Closure Plan  in terms of  "sustainable development framework" that should include details of closure, rehabilitation and restoration activities proposed in the next five years and what companies proposed to invest on these activities.

The draft law also talks about National and State Mineral Funds which could be inter alia used for maintenance of community assets and services for local populations in the area; and human resource development of local populations for creating employment and self-employment capabilities.

There are many areas which might not be liked by the Mining Industry but this is the minimum essential cost that should come from them to the community!

regards

SC Vashishth

Here is the coverage from Indian Express, October 07, 2010
Mines Min to GoM: Ask firms to spell out CSR plans

The metal and mineral PSUs aspiring captive mines would henceforth have to spell out the quantum of money they intend to spend annually in their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities to secure mineral concessions. If the Group of Ministers (GoM) approves a proposal of the mines ministry to this effect, then these companies would have to elaborate their welfare spent by appending a CSR note in their mining plans.

The suggestion of the mines ministry is currently being deliberated by the GoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, which has been constituted to iron out the inter-ministerial differences on the Draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill 2010. In its supplementary note for the consideration of the GoM, the ministry has said, “without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of the mining plan, there shall be attached to the mining plan in respect to the mining plan in respect of all major minerals, a CSR document, comprising of a scheme for annual expenditure by the lessee on socio-economic activities in and around the mine area for the benefit of the host population...”

In the document the companies would have to spell out the measures for enabling and facilitating self employment opportunities for the populace impacted by their mining activities. “The lease holder shall at the end of each financial year publish in his Annual Report and corporate website, the activities carried out during the year and expenditure thereon,” the ministry pointed out.

Reacting to this move, a senior steel ministry official told The Indian Express that all profitable steel PSUs have earmarked at least 2 per cent of their distributable surplus for CSR activities since 2007-08. The ministry mining behemoth National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has earmarked 5 per cent of its distributable surplus for CSR activities. In total a total of Rs. 290.11 crore had been allocated for carrying out CSR activities by the Steel Ministry PSUs during 2008-09.

This move is likely to trigger reactions from the steel utilities, who meticulously remind all and sundry of their CSR activities in and around their plant and mining areas.......... (click on the link below to read the full story)  Mines Min to GoM: Ask firms to spell out CSR plans

Design Within Reach - Magazine - The Atlantic

Dear friends

I am amazed at the technology that can keep persons with disabilities on the technical rolls such as Architects ! And this makes more sense as Architects will learn to design not only for eyes but also for other senses - a design that benefits all and not only be visually appealing. The technology has made it possible for the Blind Architects to draw and appreciate the floor plans and elevations!

Have a look at this Article:

Design Within Reach

A blind architect relearns his craft.

ONE MORNING LAST FALL, Chris Downey, an architect, ran his long white cane across a pair of floor-tile samples spread out at his feet in the San Francisco office of an architecture firm, SmithGroup. Gathered around him, a handful of architects watched. They wanted to know which tile he preferred for a new rehabilitation center for the blind at the Veterans Administration hospital in Palo Alto. Downey looked up at Eric Meub, a vice president at the firm—not at him, exactly, just over his shoulder. “The one on the right is distinctive in either direction,” Downey said. “The other one has a preferred direction.” For a blind patient still learning to use a cane, that first tile would give more-predictable feedback.There was an awkward silence. The other architects looked at one another. Downey chuckled. “So you’re saying the one on the right is the one that doesn’t look so good,” he said, grinning.

...........detailed article at   Design Within Reach - Magazine - The Atlantic

regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth

Consultant -Diversity & Inclusive Environments

Can the Private Schools really become Disabled friendly without Government Support ?

Dear Friends,

I am surprised at the recent move of Directorate of Education, Delhi directing the private schools to make their school buildings accessible- though without any time frame. It is surely to pass the buck emanating from not only the recent Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act but also the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 by which they are bound.

In the present scenario, making all existing private schools in Delhi accessible is next to impossible by such directives alone. Has the department of education bothered to go and check the limitations under which the private schools function? These shops came up only because the Education Department failed its mandate. It did not provide quality education and hence the parents, including those of children with disabilities looked at private options. Private options, however, charitable they may be, will be restricted by the funds and infrastructure. Now whether it is private mainstream schools or private special schools, money is an important motive, more so for the former kind of schools if not for NGO run (not for profit) special schools.

These schools run in small plots of lands in narrow lanes with hardly any space for play grounds or field work or for other school activities. Most often, these schools are multi-floor with space & economic constraints to make a ramp or construct a lift. Since profit is the one of the chief considerations besides social service in these private schools, every penny invested in retrofitting must give them some benefit else it is a burden on them. You can't expect them to do things in charity for 3% of population for they are not governed by the social justice mandate. When the Government who are governed by the social justice mandate fails to provide accessible and disabled friendly school infrastructure with quality education, how can we expect the same from the small private initiatives to do that extra bit from their pockets?

This precisely means, unless Education department comes up with some financial & Technical support to make the infrastructure accessible, majority of private schools cannot implement their directive. This is a fact which even the department knows. That is why this lip service has been done by merely issuing a directive without doing proper feasibility study before planning. The best answer to this would be creation of a fund by which schools are supported both financially and technically to ensure that the schools are friendlier to children with diversity.

Therefore, the right approach should be that either Education department gives the required support to the schools that do not have sufficient means to implement the access mandate or withdraws such a directive which cannot be implemented in most of the private schools. Passing the buck will not ensure the rights of free & compulsory education for children with disabilities in private schools but will only add to the list of defaulters. 

Its better the Directorate of Education rectifies the biggest mistake of their planning if they really want to ensure every school accessible; else this will remain a utopia - both for them as well as to the children with disabilities intending to study in these private schools.

Regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth

   

Delhi schools told to make premises more disabled-friendly, activists unimpressed
(Click here to read the news from source) 


Fri, Aug 13 06:00 AM
If all goes according to plan and Delhi schools pay heed to orders of the Directorate of Education (DoE), schools across the Capital may soon be disabled friendly.

The DoE has directed all recognised unaided schools to remove all architectural barriers that pose a hindrance to movement of the disabled from the school premises. It, however, has not set a timeframe or deadline, raising concerns that this is "just another cosmetic measure".

The directive to schools comes in the wake of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act which has provisions for the children with disabilities. The DoE has asked schools to remove any architectural barriers "to facilitate the movement of disabled (students or staff) persons".

"This was necessary under the provisions of the Persons with Disability Act, 1995," said an Education department official.

The department has also asked the schools to make provisions for ramps and modified toilets in their school premises. It has, in fact, written to all Deputy Directors of Education (DDEs) that "these two points may be included in the pro forma for seeking recognition from the department and also in the pro forma of inspection of schools".

Javed Abidi, Director National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), said, "I know they have issued a directive to schools. Of course it is too little, too late. But the question is 'are they serious?'"

For affiliation to the Central Board of School Education (CBSE), one of the prerequisites is that the school should be disabled friendly.

But Abidi points out, "They should have given a reasonable timeframe to schools so that they can build ramps or modify toilets. This is all cosmetic. They should tell schools that they would be derecognised if they don't fall in line. I urge them to crack the whip." He says the Supreme Court is monitoring these cases.

Other experts too, were sceptical. Ashok Agarwal, lawyer and activist with Social Jurist, said, "This is just a PR activity. They are not serious." D K Bedi, principal of Apeejay School, Pitampura, said, "This is a welcome step."

Sulabh toilets can help reduce global warming | iGovernment.in

Dear Friends,

Mr. Bindeshwar Pathak has been criticized by many, right from Sulabh's lofty claims to bad management of toilets in Municipal Corporation of Delhi area, but the remarkable work he has done through Sulabh is an important one. Not only the issues of social inequalities have been addressed by his technologies but also they address the pollution of water bodies and global warming issues! And there is no denying the fact that it deserves credit!

Good wishes to Sulabh for doing this for the man kind and repositioning India as believer of "Sarve Bhavantu Sukhmaya Sarve santu Niramaya". As Sulabh is involved in making toielts not only in India but world wide, I have only one request to make. That is to make and promote toilets which are friendly to persons of all ages and typically to children, elderly, ladies and to those experiencing disabilities as it is they who need these services too and are often ignored during the designing such public conveniences.

regards

SC Vashishth

Sulabh toilets can help reduce global warming iGovernment.in

SC concerned over commercialisation of education | iGovernment.in

Dear Friends,

Is not the new approach of PPP a push to commercialisation of elementary education. Should we be calling it a fundamental right to education of each child then?

SC concerned over commercialisation of education iGovernment.in

New Delhi: "Education has become commerce," a concerned Supreme Court observed and added that many of the mushrooming teaching shops in the country do not even have the basic infrastructure.

The court said that education which was never an instrument of money minting has been reduced to a commercial activity.

The vacation bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice GS Singhvi, said that the extent of commercialisation of education could be gauged from the fact that in Maharashtra in one year 464 B Ed colleges were opened and in Haryana there are 25 engineering colleges. The intake in the engineering colleges is not even up to 50 per cent.

Justice Singhvi said, "Education has become commerce. Our generation can't change the mindset. Education is something more than commerce." The court said these institutions "don't even have the basic infrastructure".

In an obvious message that the court was not oblivious to the ground realities, Justice Singhvi said, "Very unfortunately we can't close our minds to all that is happening in the country."

The court made this observation in the course of the hearing of an application by the Association of Management of Ayurvedic Colleges seeking the court's directions to permit their students to appear in examinations.

The association wanted that students who have completed one and a half years of classes should be permitted to appear in the coming semester examinations.

At this, Justice CK Prasad said the students knew they were taking admission in the courses which don't have clearance of the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM).

"We can't compromise on the study of curriculum and nobody can take the exam without completing the course," Justice Prasad said. "Completing one and a half year is not just a matter of duration but to study a curriculum during that period."

Without passing any order on the application, the court said the matter would be heard by the bench headed by Justice RV Raveendran when the court reopens after the summer recess, reports IANS.