Clean India – Sanitation and hygiene starts with You and Me

By Somali K Chakrabarti

There are more cell phones than toilets in India.

It is a well known fact by now that whereas nearly 45 per cent of India’s population uses cell phones, only 31 per cent of the population has access to improved sanitation.

Poor and inadequate sanitation have been a major cause of diarrhea and infections among young children. The other fallout are malnutrition, stunting, premature deaths, wasted time and productivity, and tourism losses.

This is likely to change with PM Modi’s emphasis on cleanliness and proper sanitation facilities, and the launch of ambitious ‘Swachch Bharat Abhiyan’, to make India clean by 2019. No longer it is undignified to talk about the existing sanitation problems and the need to build toilets to end open defecation in India.

To make the mission a success, many corporate houses, NGOs, media and other agencies have joined in to address the rising need of hygiene and sanitation in India. Many initiatives have been taken up for constructing toilets in rural areas, promoting the use of toilets by running  sanitation and hygiene campaigns and developing proper waste disposal and management systems.

RB India and NDTV have partnered to launch “Dettol – Banega Swachh India” and are organising a 12 hour LIVE televised CLEANATHON on 14th December, 2014, which will bring together the entire nation towards better sanitation & hygiene.

See http://swachhindia.ndtv.com/

While there are systemic or behavioral issues to be tackled at the broader level, You and I as individuals, can also do our bit to make India clean and hygienic.

Much like charity begins at home, sanitation and hygiene starts with you and me.  

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Walking fiesta at Equals Street - a fun filled way to kickstart your Sunday

By Somali K Chakrabarti

 

Ciclovía, is a weekly city-wide, car-free day in Bogotá, when more than 2 million people come out to cycle, hang out and eat on the streets. It has been successfully running since 1974.

 

Ciclovía keeps cars off the streets in the Colombian capital and brings rich and poor together - if only for a day. ~ theguardian

 

The concept of Ciclovía has, since then, spread far and wide beyond Columbia, and walking events are now organized in different cities around the world.

Walking festivals in India

The concept is no longer alien to India either. Known by name of Raahgiri, a similar event started in Gurgaon in 2013, and has been continuing for over a year. Such events are also organized at Connaught Place in Delhi, in Bhopal, Ludhiyana, Pune, Navi Mumbai and have lately started in Mumbai as the Santacruz – Bandra festival, as the result of collective efforts of NGOs, think tanks, citizens' associations and cycling groups

Living in Mumbai, one of my main grouse has been the lack of open spaces to walk. So when I heard of Santacruz – Bandra Walking Festival that is organized every Sunday from 7 am to 11 am, with two of the busiest streets of Mumbai - Linking Road and SV Road, being closed to traffic to allow people to walk, there was no way I could keep away.

So, there I was walking at Linking Road with hoards of others who were out on the road strolling, briskly walking, prancing or jogging. What a sight it was to see the traffic packed roads of Mumbai completely devoid of traffic! Children with roller skates whizzed past in glee, there were others on cycles and push bikes, and a few were trying to balance on a segway.

Cycles and Segway ride

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6 Leadership Theories to define Effectiveness of Leaders

By Bhudeb Chakrabarti

Leadership is the projection of personality; It is combination of persuasion, compulsion and example that makes other people to do what the leader wants them to do.
~ Field-Marshal Sir William Slim, outstanding British and Allied commanders of World War II.

What is Leadership?

Leading is the art of influencing and motivating people to perform in a manner to achieve a common goal. The sum total of a leader’s roles, tasks and responsibilities and interpersonal influences constitutes leadership.

A leader should not only be intelligent (with general problem-solving capacity), but should also possess high integrity and character, equally concerned with ends (doing the right thing) and means (doing rightly).

Effective leaders have to work ceaselessly, and communicate with the people to motivate them in an efficient manner.

What makes a Leader Effective?

Numerous studies have been conducted and considerable amount of research has been done to find out how a leader becomes effective. Various theories have been postulated from time to time to zero in on the factors that influence the effectiveness of leaders.

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'Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain', A film to stir your soul

By Somali K Chakrabarti

December 2^nd, 1984, was one of the darkest nights in the history of Bhopal and that of India, when poisonous gas flare had leaked out of Union Carbide India Ltd’s (UCIL) pesticide plant, killing thousands of people over the next few days.

Thirty years on, a film ‘Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain’ rakes up the memories of the hapless night as it narrates the heart rendering story of Bhopal gas tragedy, one of the worst industrial disasters in India that occurred due to corporate negligence.

The movie released in the US on 7^th Nov and is scheduled to release in India on 5^th Dec, 2014. The film is directed by Ravi Kumar, who upon reading Sanjoy Hazarika’s book, ‘Bhopal: The Lessons of a tragedy’, was inspired to make a film on the subject for a younger audience who do not know about Carbide or Bhopal.

The story unfolds through the life of Dilip, a poor Rickshaw driver living in a slum in Bhopal, who struggles on a daily basis to support his wife Leela, his child and his sister. Dilip is elated when he lands himself a job in the UCIL’s pesticide plant – the job helps him to earn wages to feed his family and marry off his sister. The factory is a symbol of progress and prosperity for Dilip. Dilip, however, is not the least aware of the impending dangers on his life and on the lives of his folks.

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Lufthansa A380 - Why Bigger is better for Indian aviation

By Somali K Chakrabarti

India Embraces Airbus A380   - The news made headlines in Jan 2014.                                                                                                                                                 

India’s decision to allow Airbus 380 is a welcome decision for India’s aviation industry and for the global airlines that seek to further leverage India’s aviation market - one of the five fastest-growing markets in terms of additional passengers per year.

Consent to let the wide body double-decker plane fly into and out of India, sets the ground for ‘Big being Better’ for India’s aviation.

The world’s largest passenger aircraft, Airbus A380 that can seat 850 passengers in an all-economy configuration, and 550-600 passengers in a three-class configuration, is allowed to land at the airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, which are equipped with A380 enabled infrastructure including runway, taxiway and aerobridges, and also have higher peak hour handling capacities.

Singapore Airlines became the first carrier to launch commercial flights of A380 on Singapore-Delhi and Singapore-Mumbai routes, followed by Dubai-based Emirates Airlines that started daily A380 flights between Mumbai and Dubai. Lufthansa, not to stay behind to meet growing passenger needs, became the third airline to fly A380 planes to India on November 2014, starting A380 flights on the sought after Frankfurt-Delhi route.

Thus starts a new era in Indian aviation!

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