Articles by Radhika Raj Narayan

The garbage problem in Bangalore seems to be too high a mountain (literally) to climb! Can we afford to let things slide till we are sucked into a vortex of crisis? Do we need to face a plague epidemic, as Surat did some decades ago, before we wake up? What can we, as citizens of Bangalore do, to solve the apparently unsolvable issue? Let us look at the three major aspects of the problem. First, garbage generation. If we don't generate so much garbage, we would not have to face the problem. How do we generate less garbage? The 'wet…

The Winds of Change Civic Club, VET school, J P Nagar, Bangalore, celebrated Pourakarmika day on September 5th, 2011. The children collected money by selling newspapers, and used that funds bought some snacks to distribute to the pourakarmikas. Students interacting with pourakarmikas. Pic Courtesy: CMCA Students took permission from the ward office, and gathered near the ward office at the time when the pourakarmikas gather after their morning shift. The children greeted them with a 'card' (poster made on chart paper), said thanks for their services, and distributed the snack-packets. The pourakarmikas thanked the children, and expressed their difficulties in…

Recently I took the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) civic club members of VET school, where I volunteer, to a plastic waste recycling factory, 'KK Plastic Waste Management' on Kanakapura Road.We are all aware that we should segregate garbage. Of course, we have all heard of separating kitchen waste, plastic, paper, metals etc. But when it has to be actually put into practice, people hesitate because (a) old lazy habits die hard, and (b) people are not sure how to dispose of each of these categories. However, there is a practical solution for each of these categories of waste.…

Today, we hear a lot of buzz words: environment, eco-friendly, go-green and so on. Eco-consciousness needs to be inculcated into our next generation and the best way to instill values into our children is through right schooling.Let me narrate the sterling example that my school set in the early 1960's. This was St Thomas School, at Mandir Marg, in Delhi. Our principal was an enlightened lady, who, through many practices followed by the school, inspired all of us to be aware of our environment, not be wasteful and to respect the dignity of labour. We all wore uniforms made of…