bubble wrapped may 2011

Volume 1, Issue 5, May 2011, www.bubblewrapped.asia

2

AHMED [email protected]


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CONTENTSBubblewrapped May 2011

THE TIPPING POINT

08 MINOR WORKERS, MAJOR CONCERNS

14 MERCHANDISING CHANGE

18 THE FACE OF CHANGE

22 C FOR?

28 REASON TO LAUGH

30 THE UNSUNG VOICES

34 WATER IDEA

40 HEALING THE ENVIRONMENT

Child labour, shining India's ugly little secret,

remains its most persistent social evil.

Guilt-free shopping at Creative Handicrafts.

Presenting The Rainbow Warriors of Chennai.

Looking into India's 'carbon' future.

Protsahan makes you laugh for a good cause.

Delhi's Music Basti is hitting all the right notes for their

underprivileged children.

Pune-based Watershed Organisation Trust is walking the

path of self-sustainability

VerGo Pharma is setting an example for its peers in

environment-friendly practices.

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THE GREEN TONE

B+

THE CORPORATE PITCH

44 THE BEST TIMES, THE WORST TIMESPAINTING'S ON THE WALL

The Smart Manager's Managing Editor, Tanmoy Goswami,

gives us a dose of ethics in Corporate Social Responsibility.

EDITOR

DESIGNER

CONTRIBUTORS

Chetna

Guru Munishwar

Aditi Mukherjee

Akhil Sood

Anushree Chatterjee

Mark Menezes

Rachel Lopez

Saniya Surana

Sheetal Paknikar

Tanmoy Goswami

March 2011 – Photo Credits

We would like to thank Wikimedia Commons

and Siddhartha Lammata for this month's cover image.

10

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graffiti publishing houseProduced and Published by

DISCLAIMERViews and opinions mentioned in this eMagazine do not necessarily reflect those of Bubble Wrapped or Graffiti Publishing House.Whilst every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, Bubble Wrapped and Graffiti Publishing House cannot accept liability for errors and omissions contained in eMagazine. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission from Graffiti Publishing House is strictly prohibited.


5

THE TIPPING POINT


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June 11 is World Day Against Child

Labour. But in the last two months

alone, India's news papers have

reported on the story of 10-year-old

Moin, a Delhi servant who was

overworked, often starved, branded

with an iron when he made a mistake,

and eventually beaten to death for

soiling his pants after an upset

stomach. In the same city, 26 children,

all under 14, who were made to work

in embroidery looms and roadside

restaurants, were rescued. They had

been forced into badly-ventilated

rooms, given less than adequate

nutrition and made to work long hours

with no breaks. In Bangalore, a rescue

team found 14 children, aged between

10 and 15, who were forced into

handling boiling vats of oil in

confectionery factories. The kids were

beaten, made to live inside the filthy

factory, work for most of the day and

MINOR WORKERS, MAJOR CONCERNS Author: Rachel Lopez

Photographer: Abhishek Mishra

Photographer: Solar Shakti

Photographer: Ekabhishek


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In many cases children are forced to

handle their own household's chores

like cooking, cleaning and taking care

of the young or sick members so adult

household members are free to earn

money elsewhere. In rural areas where

there is little or no organised banking,

families are often forced into bonded

labour to pay off a money-lender's

debts and are coerced into bringing

their children along so the debt (often

as little as a few thousand rupees) can

be paid off faster. In urban areas,

migrant families that are illiterate,

homeless or who lack the necessary

paperwork to open bank accounts

often fall into the bonded labour trap

too.

For employers, child employees are

often more welcome than their adult

counterparts. Children take up less

space, complain less, need to be fed

smaller quantities of food, can be

bullied and beaten and paid less for

the same amount of work. In some

industries a young child's nimble

fingers are especially welcome – they

can sew smaller, more delicate

stitches, enter smaller mine shafts

and, in cramped city homes, sleep in

the tiny kitchenette without

complaining.

that statistic is shameful enough, it

does not include children engaged in

domestic labour, which largely covers

children as servants in the home. In

India, while government statistics paint

a grim picture by admitting that there

are 20 million child labourers, many

campaigners believe the number is

closer to 40 million. India already has

the largest population of children in

hazardous occupations (12.6 million).

But with little data on domestic

labourers, no formal account of India's

unpaid workforce and no statistics on

children who are forced into working

along with their families, it's possible

that we may shamefully have the

world's largest underage domestic

workforce too.

Why is it so rampant?

Poverty is the simplest explanation for

the extent of child labour in India –

most families are too poor to support

themselves and end up having larger

families so that there are more earning

members who start early and

contribute to the family income faster.

This often means that children are

denied education and play time and

are forced to endure long hours of

work instead. Some parents also

believe that acquiring work skills

instead of formal education is more

beneficial for their children, making it

difficult to send rescued children back

home permanently.

were only given a few hours of

freedom on Sundays. In another part

of Delhi, 34 kids forced into the leather

bag industry were rescued from the

horror of 14-hour workdays during

which they suffered skin and

respiratory diseases from being

around noxious chemicals. Some kids

were as young as seven years old.

These aren't stray headlines. India,

which has captured the world's

economic attention and is

mushrooming into a financial power

every day, still remains shockingly

backward when it comes to protecting

its children from becoming slaves to

industry. Child labour is present in

almost all sectors of the Indian

economy. In Coimbatore, children have

been rescued from working in a

popular department store; in Mumbai,

they're part of construction sites to

build a bigger, shinier city; and across

India, their little hands have made silk

saris, skinny jeans and fireworks.

They've even been forced into serving

India's increasingly affluent middle

class, which thinks nothing of

employing a servant no older than their

own child to work 18 hours a day for

little pay, no days off and no dignity.

How bad is the problem?

UNICEF estimates that the number of

labourers in the world between the

age of 5 and 14 is 158 million. While


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Photographer: Nikita Sawant


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and young children start mainstream

education right away. Another 21

districts have been covered under

INDUS, a similar scheme in

cooperation with US Department of

Labour to rehabilitate child labourers.

For areas not covered under these two

schemes, the government is also

funding several NGOs under the

Ministry's Grants-in-Aid Scheme to run

special schools for children.

So why are there still such

shocking headlines?

The Child Labour Prohibition and

Regulation Act makes the employment

of children illegal, except in family

owned enterprises. So factory owners

often find ways around the law by

claiming that a child labourer is a

distant family member. The other

reason for its sluggish enforcement is

even more difficult to address: many

people simply refuse to see any crime

in a child contributing to the income of

his or her family – they simply see it as

the child's duty, which leaves children

open to socially sanctioned

exploitation.

At present, the Act does nothing to

protect children who perform

domestic or unreported labour. It

means that it is still not illegal to have

a child under 14 to do the washing up,

babysitting, cooking cleaning and

caring for an Indian household. Several

from being exploited there. Early this

year, the Supreme Court also banned

travelling circuses from employing

children (often as acrobats) and

ordered the government to conduct

raids on all performing companies to

rescue minors.

In addition, a National Policy on Child

Labour was formulated in 1987 to

focus on rehabilitating children

working in hazardous occupations and

help their families get out of poverty. It

launched the National Child Labour

Project Scheme the following year in

nine districts where child labour was

especially rampant. The scheme plans

schools for working children, providing

formal and non-formal education along

with vocational training, a stipend of

`100 per month, supplementary

nutrition and regular health check-ups

so as to prepare them to join

mainstream schools. Most of these

schools are run by non-profit

organisations in the district.

Independent agencies, in coordination

with the V. V. Giri National Labour

Institute, evaluated the scheme in

2001, offering their own

recommendations. Based on their

findings, the National Child Labour

Projects were expanded to include an

additional 150 districts, measures have

been taken to help older NCLP

Scheme students join regular schools

Why doesn't the government do

something?

They've been trying. In 1979, the Indian

government formed the

Gurupadswamy Committee to

research the extent of child labour and

means to tackle it. The Committee

observed that as long as poverty

continued, it would be difficult to

totally eliminate child labour. So any

attempt to abolish it outright would

only be a law in name. They did,

however, take measures to protect

children from the worst of the

situation. Child labour (the

employment of any person under 14

years of age) was banned in hazardous

areas and measures were taken to

regulate conditions of work in other

industries.

The committee's recommendations of

a multiple policy approach to dealing

with the problems of working children

resulted in India's first-ever Child

Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act

in 1986. It banned the employment of

children in the transport of

passengers, the manufacture and

selling of crackers and fireworks,

abattoirs, carpet weaving, beedi-

making, cement, matches and soap

factories, construction sites and

several other hazardous industries. As

recently as 2006, the Act was

extended to the restaurant, hotel, spa

and resort industry, to protect children


11

there and let the management know

why. Complain to the ward officer and

find supporters in your locality so you

can organise a signature drive.

If you know of friends and family

members who employ young children,

discuss child rights with them and if

sending them back home is not

possible, ensure that the children are

at least sent to school and registered

with an NGO that will keep tabs on

their employer's behaviour.

Make sure the brands you buy are not

manufactured or assembled by

children – many brands that pay more

to do what is legal and right will

advertise that fact on their company

web sites or product labels. Write to

companies that use child labour and

demand that they stop.

Support charities that have a proven

record with the long-term rehabilitation

of underage workers.

Organisations like CARE India, Child

Relief and You, Global March Against

Child Labour, Justice and Care and

Pratham have tackled the issue in

bigger cities by organising rescue

operations and offering support and

education to children. Many like

Bachpan Bachao Andolan, also make

sure that rescued children are not

sucked back into the system by setting

up their own rehabilitation centre. The

Azad India Foundation also covers

Child Welfare Services as part of its

activities.

Delhi will soon have a toll free helpline

to handle complaints about child

labour – the number is 12789.

Childline, India's first helpline for

children in distress predominantly

caters to street children but also

accepts distress calls from exploited

child labourers. And in what is among

the first instances of employers being

brought to task, Coimbatore's Sri

Kannan Departmental store were

ordered by the courts to pay Rs 1.2

lakh for the rehabilitation of 6 child

labourers they had employed.

What can you do?

As a citizen and consumer, the best

way you can help is to be vigilant. If

you find that the assistant bagging

your groceries at the supermarket

should be in school, refuse to shop

middle-class families will happily

employ children with the justification

that they have created a better job

opportunity for the child, who would

have otherwise starved with his own

family or been pushed into a more

hazardous profession. Many educated

Indians also believe that offering food,

a place to sleep and minimum wage is

a good enough excuse to make a kid

under 14 years work 7 days a week

from dawn to dusk. Or that harming a

child as punishment is all right if you

are also paying that child a salary. Plus,

in almost all Indian industries girls are

unrecognised labourers because they

are seen as helpers and not workers

and often never make it to the official

records. Add to this the lack of will on

the part of law enforcers, bribery and a

lack of awareness of child rights, and

the law becomes even tougher to

enforce successfully.

Is there any hope for India's

underage who are sucked

into labour?

The ministry of Labour and

Employment has implemented more

than 100 industry-specific National

Child Labour Projects to rehabilitate

the child workers since 1988, but there

are also many non-governmental

agencies devoted to the cause of

eliminating child labour or at least

alleviating children from its worst

effects.

Photographer: Srinivasa Krishna


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Photographer: Matteo


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Creative handicrafts that won the

prestigious Premio Principe de Viana

de la Solidaridad in 2010 lets you,

indulge in guilt free shopping.

Handmade clothes, soft toys and other

artifacts made by the women living in

the slums of Jogeshwari and Jeri Meri

in Mumbai make for some fun retail

therapy. The merchandise is sold by

means of mobile stores or Shop On

Wheels (SHOW) as they call it, at

exhibitions and sales organised by

government and non-government

organisations and also at their own

store, tucked away in a corner of Hill

Road, juxtaposed with the otherwise

contrastable busy road at Bandra. The

colourful kurtas, dresses and dolls will

please anyone who speaks fashion in

handcrafted, handloom products on

MERCHANDISING CHANGERetail therapy can do no wrong;

shopping can cause no harm. And

Bubble Wrapped now makes 'burning

a hole in your pocket' the

‘right thing to do'.

HANDCRAFTED DESTINIESAuthor: Aditi Mukherjee


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For those who usually team up their

bottoms with kurtas or kurtis, there is

quite a variety! Long and short printed

or plain kurtas/kurtis on cotton, silk or

tussar that can be easily teamed up

with a pair of leggings or jeans.

Priced at Rs 150 to Rs 400

One can conveniently pair the kurtas

they choose with churidaars which are

available in a wide variety of colours!

Priced at Rs 150

...............................................................

development. Subsequently, capacity

building and community building

programmes were initiated where

women were taught to be

independent thinkers.

Mr. Johny Joseph, Director at Creative

Handicrafts points out that, “80% of

the profits is earned by exporting the

products to countries like France, Italy,

Spain and the United States of

America. A share of the profits is

distributed among the women.” These

women currently run 20 Fair Trade

Centres all by themselves, with a

leader as the link between the head

office and the Centre. For those who

can't stitch, Project Asli Foods, that

prepares lunch for over 400 office

goers, is a viable alternative self

employment opportunity.

While Sister Isabel thanks god for the

miracles He produced, the women in

the slum thank her for handcrafting

their dark clouded fates into a

kaleidoscope, much like the products

at Creative Handicrafts

printed or plain cotton, silk and other

materials and enjoys a good bargain.

Sister Isabel Martin Alonso, Founder

says, “I believe Fair Trade is solidarity

and the way to bring equity in the

world. Every purchase that we do

should make the life of someone.” In

1984 Sister Isabel, a missionary from

Spain realised that self employment

was the only way to rehabilitate the

women whose condition was being

neglected, were battered by their

husbands and left in poor self-esteem

conditions. After a lot of convincing,

she finally persuaded some sceptical

mothers of the children at Jeevan

Nirvaha Niketan, a local school to the

ill-starred children; to pay heed.

Several meetings later, Sister Isabel

collectively began Women Self

Employed Cooperative (WSEC) under

JNN's administration. She trained them

in the art sewing. Production

accelerated smoothly at a rapid pace.

As their financial condition brightened,

more women joined

WSEC enthusiastically.

By 1994, WSEC had snowballed into a

large group. So, they registered WSEC

under the name Creative Handicrafts,

as a secular, independent, Non

Government Organisation. Pretty soon

they realised that their focus should

indeed widen from mere economic

development to an overall


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You will find a variety of jute and

cotton bags that are perfect fusions of

utility and fashion. We girls know that

is a winning combination!


...............................................................

Creative Handicrafts also keeps

handmade dolls and soft toys for kids.

Now who wouldn’t want one of these

adorable ladies!

Priced at Rs 150

Knee-length sun-dresses for the

summer are now available at the store.

Otherwise, they also keep full length

cotton gowns.


...............................................................

Printed cotton short skirts to flaunt

your oh-so beautiful legs are among

the must-haves this summer.


...............................................................


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There will come a time when the Earth

grows sick and when it does a tribe

will gather from all the cultures of the

World who believe in deeds and not

words. They will work to heal it… they

will be known as the "Warriors of

the Rainbow."

True to this American Legend, the

students of PSBB, T.P.Road, Chennai,

have listened to the call of their hearts,

and have been working to make visible

changes in the right direction towards

the environment. Going with their

motto, “Act Locally, Impact Globally”,

these group of students of classes

seven and eight have come out with

plans and ideas and more importantly,

have implemented them making

positive changes in

their neighbourhood.

These students, call themselves, the

Rainbow Warriors, and strongly believe

that this sustainable community would

empower people to care about Mother

Nature and to value and respect

traditional practices that are

CHILDREN FOR CHANGE Author: Saniya Surana


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successfully convinced flower vendors

to use traditional packing methods like

plantain leaves. During Navratri they

surprised all the shoppers at Nilgiris, a

leading chain of retail stores with a cut

out of a tree placed at the gate (where

the customers could ink their

thoughts), and announced surprise

gifts to shoppers who would not

accept plastic bags, but instead

brought with them jute/cloth/paper

bags for their groceries. The Warriors

also supplied the others with jute bags

which were to be returned after their

use. The surprise gift was a tree

sapling along with an eco-friendly bag,

which the students had

made themselves.

Next on their hit-list, were the walkers

at Jeeva Park, a well-known park in the

neighbourhood. The students talked to

the people there about the use of

plastics, their harmful effects and the

importance of trees. They distributed

about a hundred hand-made paper

bags to Murugan Dry Cleaners, and

also to nearby stationery shops. Far

from being the end, the Warriors have

committed to regularly supply these

shop owners with paper bags and

have financed their entire initiative on

their own. Thus, with a noble cause in

their minds and hearts these young

and enterprising Rainbow Warriors

have shown that change is possible.

environmentally sound. The students

share the credit with their teacher,

Mrs. Radha, and call her their beacon

of light, guiding them at every little

step, helping their noble cause.

Together, they work by integrating

traditional wisdom and school learning

hoping to create changes that would

help to bring future generations closer

to nature and take steps to preserve,

protect and conserve the environment.

One of their initiatives has been to

campaign against the indiscriminate

use of plastic. As a first step, they

created awareness by talking to the

Parents of the School, informing them

about the state of their neighbourhood

and its long term implications. They

gathered support from these parents

and teachers and then targeted the

other students. To create excitement

amongst students, they launched a

contest, in which the students had to

form teams and create catchy caller

tunes with the theme being – 'Perils of

Using Plastics'. The winning tune will

soon be the School's Caller Tune. They

also organized a skit, informing them

how the caller tunes reflect their

individual interests and temperaments.

The Rainbow Warriors targeted small

businesses such as that of Mrs.

Malathi, a nearby tailor. They

convinced her to switch from plastic

bag to jute or paper bags. They also


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THE GREEN TONE


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After cancer, carbon emissions and

climate change are perhaps the

biggest 'c' words to watch out for in

this century. The Copenhagen (another

'c'!) summit of December 2009 sure

did make a lot of people sit up and

take notice of national and global

environmental crises. It also put an

unlikely spotlight on India's minister for

environment, Jairam Ramesh, as he

challenged the first-world nations'

dictats on controlling carbon

emissions to developing nations

around the world.

So how does one assess and decipher

these 'c's? Carbon dioxide emissions

or carbon emissions are those

stemming from the burning of fossil

fuels and the manufacture of cement.

They include carbon dioxide produced

during consumption of solid, liquid,

and gas fuels and gas flaring. Climate

change, as defined on the Government

of India's Ministry of Environments and

Forests's website, “refers to a

statistically significant variation in

either the mean state of the climate or

in its variability, persisting for an

extended period (typically decades or

C FOR...?Author: Anushree Chatterjee


22

billion tonnes today to between 4 and

7 billion tonnes in 2030.

Yet, if one were to compare a

developing and a developed nations

status today, the average Indian emits

far less carbon dioxide than, say, the

average American: 1.2 tonnes of CO2,

or over 16 times less, in fact. And

according to the report, even in 2030,

the average Indian will be emitting just

2.8 to 5 tonnes of CO2. This increase

is in view of the growth of industries,

population and other developmental

aspects which any country like India

will witness in the course of the next

two decades.

It was in view of this that several

developed nations tried to impose the

legally binding targets for emission

cuts. Interestingly, a paper written by T

Jayaraman, Chairperson, Centre for

Science, Technology and Society,

School of Habitat Studies, TISS,

explains why carbon emissions are

necessary for India. In 'Global Carbon

budgets and burden sharing regimes',

he writes on how for developing

countries like India, CO2 emissions are

now a necessary part of growth and

development. In this context, it has to

be treated as the utilisation of the

global 'carbon space' available in the

atmosphere. Obviously, Jayraman

states, that every nation's fair share of

carbon space is proportionate to its

USA, China, Russia and Japan.

Although not an emitter historically,

India currently has one of the fastest

growing economies in the world. With

a government target of 8% GDP to

achieve developmental priorities, a

share of one sixth of the global

population, and changing consumption

patterns, India's emissions are set to

increase dramatically. Growing at an

almost breakneck pace, and guzzling

coal, gas and oil in large quantities, we

are today, the fourth largest emitter of

greenhouse gases worldwide.

Although our per-capita emissions are

among the lowest in the world, our

growth rates imply that the past is no

predictor of the future. However, if we

do take a look at the future, consider

this. India's CO2 emissions are

predicted to increase three-fold by

2030. The Economic Survey of 2009-

2010 states, “Its (India's) climate

modelling studies show that its per

capita emissions will be around 2-2.5

tonnes of carbon- dioxide equivalent

by 2020 and around 3-3.5 tonnes of

carbon- dioxide equivalent by 2030,

compared to around 1-1.2 tonnes

presently.” Currently, India's carbon

emissions account for almost 6% of

the world total, and this number will

more than triple within the next 20

years. As per a report compiled by a

number of Indian institutions, the

country's emissions will soar from 1.2

longer). Climate change may be due to

natural internal processes or external

forcing, or to persistent anthropogenic

changes in the composition of the

atmosphere or in land use.)” Very

simply, it's about long term changes in

climatic patterns, in any given region.

Carbon dioxide is deemed as the main

culprit for climate change. Since the

early 1800s, with the onset of the

Industrial Revolution, when people

began burning large amounts of coal

and oil, the amount of carbon dioxide

in the earth's atmosphere has

increased by nearly 30%, and average

global temperature appears to have

risen between 1° and 2°F. Each country

compiles its own inventory, which is

audited and approved by the UN and

then used for calculating that country's

emission reductions against their

target. Carbon emissions are

measured in per metric tonnes, as per

combustive and other CO2-emitiing

activities of any given economy.

Carbon footprints, also pertaining to

the larger issue of controlling carbon

emissions, only looks at human

activities within the earth's

environment, to conceptualise the real

problem of climate change.

As per the latest documentations and

records, India (with 1,007,00 thousand

metric tonnes ) ranks at #5, in the list

of global CO2 emissions, preceded by


23

earliest. This perception has been the

basis for developed nations arguing

that large-scale emitters, whether they

are developed or developing nations,

must share the burden of climate

change mitigation immediately. This is

a one-sided consideration as carbon

emissions are recognised only as

pollution and not as a necessary part

of development, he writes in his paper.

Further, Jairam Ramesh has mentioned

that India would publish its emissions

inventory every two years from now

on, thereby setting an example of

transparency for developing nations. In

view of these events and research,

India's intent and stand are clear. While

the willingness to reduce carbon

emissions considerably is on priority,

the imposition do so immediately has

been regarded as unreasonable. With

the implementation of “green laws”

and several standards across

industries, educational, infrastructure

and construction sectors, the Indian

mindset is being moulded towards

pro-green thinking.

share of global population. In his

paper, he has developed a carbon

space model that provides strategies

for a more equitable distribution of

carbon space. It shows the need for

carbon space of those countries with

per capita emissions and GDP well

below the global average.

Since 1970, 2/3rd of carbon emissions

in the atmosphere have been

contributed by developed countries.

These countries which went through

major industrialisation at one time,

owe the rest of the world a carbon

debt of -127 billion tonnes.

Jayaraman's carbon budget

perspective shows the promise of

keeping India's per capita emissions

below that of the developed nations at

all times, is unnecessarily restrictive.

There has to be equitable sharing of

global carbon space available in the

atmosphere. For this, few countries

will have to cut down their emissions

drastically, while some countries

should be allowed to increase.

Jayaraman has said that India has

strong supporters from other

developing countries such as Brazil,

South Africa and China. Developed

countries at present are looking at an

approach that emission of greenhouse

gases is fundamentally a form of

pollution causing environmental

damage that must cease at the


24

SPACEAVAILABLE

To advertise here please contact Chetna at [email protected]


25

B+


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Creativity is Protsahan's favourite

weapon; one they use to alleviate

children from their bleak presents

propelling them into bright futures. So

it comes as no surprise that they found

yet another creative platform to create

awareness and hopefully laugh their

way to the bank. Protsahan organised

their first Comedy Fund Raiser at

South Ex, New Delhi. Rajneesh Kapoor

(creator of comic strips in Hindustan

Times), Abish Mathews (RJ from HIT

95FM) and Yaduvinder Singh Brar (the

rustic innocent sardar) had the crowd

in splits and they loosened their purse

strings with a smile. Funds for their

Educating India Project were raised

through the cover charge of Rs 250

which included a complimentary

beer/drink. Through this project

Protsahan is supporting and

encouraging little girls from

construction sites and streets in its

classroom at urban slums at Delhi.

They hope to make this fun-filled fund

raiser event a monthly affair.

REASON TO LAUGHAuthor: Chetna


28

For further information on how to get

your monthly dose of laughter and be

part of the positive change log on to

their website –

www.protsahanindiafoundation.org.

You can also follow their blog -

http://protsahan.wordpress.com/ or

join them on Facebook -

http://www.facebook.com/ProtsahanIn

diaFoundation


29

Music Basti, as the name suggests,

helps underprivileged children sing

their way into their future. What

started off as an initiative by Faith

Gonsalves three years ago is today a

full-fledged organisation that aims at

community-building among

underprivileged children through the

arts and music. The establishment

functions in collaboration with the Dil

Se Campaign in Delhi and works with

children from three shelter homes in

Delhi. “The background of the children

we work with,” says Faith, “is

incredibly diverse. Some of them have

been abandoned by their families,

some may have run away from home,

some are orphans or belong to

immigrant families. We try to help

these kids develop certain life skills

through the arts. Through learning,

communication and interaction, we

hope that they can imbibe and absorb

these skills, a sense of identity, self-

awareness and lateral thinking, so that

they are better equipped to deal with

the rigours of life.” With the help of

volunteers, the organisation

THE UNSUNG VOICESAuthor: Akhil Sood


30

as possible, thus giving children from

hidden parts of Delhi the chance to

express themselves and, be heard and

appreciated. This would hopefully

introduce a new thought process,

ideas and skills that would help them

in the long run,” explains Faith. The

three groups are expected to hit the

studio for recording in May. “We want

to complete the recording process and

release the songs by July. As of now

this remains an independent project,

but we are looking for partners for

distribution, promotion and marketing

of the music,” she adds.

Abhishek Mathur, guitar player for the

well-known fusion band Advaita, is

composed jointly by the children and

the artists working with them. With

roughly 60-70 children involved, the

aim is to release three songs, each

unique to the respective home based

around the general theme of water and

rain, which has been picked by the

children themselves. “This project

gives the children a tangible goal,

which really helps to rally them and get

their co-operation. Since there's a

definite end-result in sight it keeps

them motivated. Beyond merely giving

them a voice and a song that belongs

to them, we are also giving them the

opportunity to be heard across the

world. We plan on releasing the album

online and spreading the music as far

undertakes several projects, usually

centred on music, providing a

foundation to help develop the latent

artistic instincts within the children

and provide them with a profound

appreciation of the arts through

education and interaction as well as

the opportunity to perform.

This month, Music Basti provides the

children with a voice and an

opportunity to be heard in a world

where so often their voices are

ignored and brushed aside. The

organisation is currently working with

several volunteers and children from

the three homes to create and release

an album with songs written and


31

the demeanour of the children over

time. “They've become technically very

sound when it comes to music, as

compared to when we first started off.

Also, they seem a lot more

comfortable with social interaction and

communicating now, which is

great to see.”

Music Basti as an organisation is

currently working with over 350

children, but Faith explains that due to

the high attrition rates, the number of

children on any given project or

workshop differs greatly. “We are not

aiming for a schooling kind of format

with our projects, so sometimes, when

we conduct an open workshop, every

child in the centre will attend it, and

often, during specific volunteer

programmes, there will be just a

handful of children attending. It's

always hard to see a tangible outcome

to what we do, but our aim is to

develop and strengthen the abilities of

the kids in a social context. The

children will always make their own

choices in life, but our goal is to

prepare them for whatever outcome

they might choose.”

involved with the project, and is

working with the children at one of the

homes along with Advaita's saarangi

player Suhail Yusuf Khan. Elaborating a

little on the song-writing process, he

tells us, “The song revolves around the

theme of rain, with elements of

thunder, lighting and other aspects

integrated into the lyrics. We interact

with the children and discuss what

comes to their minds when they think

of the rains, and we try to combine

these elements putting them into a

lyrical context.” He reveals that Suhail

has fleshed out a rough melody which

they are currently expanding on and

arranging for the track. “We are

working on a very ethnic Indian

classical sound for the song, with the

harmonium playing a strong role, and

are also using elements of folk music.”

Abhishek tells us that he, along with

Suhail, has been working with the

same set of students for the past two

and a half years. “It's been a great

learning process for us as well, as

we've tried to change and adapt our

teaching methods in order to best fulfil

the potential of the kids. Over time, I

think we've developed an interactive

teaching structure and have figured

out when we're supposed to let loose,

and when we need to crack down and

push them a little.” He describes how

he has witnessed a definite growth in

both the musical abilities as well as


32

FOR RENTTo advertise here please contact

Chetna at [email protected]


33

We are well aware of the possibility of

a war between nations being fought

over water. Yet we are oblivious, if not

complacent, to the fact that a

domestic war is already being fought

in the hinterland of the country. A war

that has its stems rooted in the rapidly-

declining water tables, and fuelled by

gender, economic, social and political

injustice. An NGO called Watershed

Organisation Trust (WOTR) has dug in

its heels at the front line and has

refused to be cowed down by either

scepticism or pessimism that no one

can reverse the fate of these water

starved region.

WOTR was founded in 1993, works

only in rural areas where 70% of India's

population lives and this not-for-profit

organisation's work is based on a

simple premise: development and self-

empowerment of the poorest through

a 'ridge-to-valley' approach. The ridge-

to-valley approach suggests that the

poorest people hold on to ridges

which in turn contains minimum

WATER IDEAAuthor: Mark Menezes


34

what's best for the locals without

consulting those whose lives stand to

be impacted. A Village Development

Committee (VDC) is set up to meet

this requirement. The second stage is

to ensure equitable and representative

representation on this committee of all

the stake holders involved. All the

villagers are slotted into four economic

categories – very poor, poor, medium

middle and better off. At least one

representative from each category is

present on the VDC. The purpose of

identifying the different economic

strata is to assess how much each

group can contribute monetarily to

their community's development. For

example in the Wankute village of

Sangamner taluka in Ahmednagar

district, when the VDC decided that

they needed to install solar panels at

home, it was decided that the two

upper rungs of the economic strata

farms, as well as spawn secondary

and tertiary occupations that can only

contribute to their own growth story.

WOTR works in five states: Jharkhand,

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra

Pradesh and Rajasthan. Of all their

models and projects implemented,

one particular framework called the

Wasundhara Approach has garnered

attention and results on the ground

because of its simplicity that is fused

with the required knowledge of the

present ground realities. The

Wasundhara Approach is structured

along four stages. The first begins with

involving the locals in the decision-

making process. This first step

eliminates the mistake that has

plagued many government and non-

government rural development

projects in India– that of a third-party

stepping into a village and deciding

amount of water through the surface

run off of rain water, while the better-

off sections of society inhabit the

valley below that contain easy access

to plenty of water and require less

direct assistance to alleviate poverty.

What relation does water conservation

have to the development of society?

The understanding is that once the

rural society, whose primary source of

livelihood is agriculture, receives

enough water to irrigate their primary

occupation, families will no longer

have to think of merely making ends

meet. "The first thing people do when

their watershed regenerates and their

income goes up is to take their kids

out of the fields and put them in

school," said managing trustee and co-

founder Crispino Lobo in an interview

with National Geographic. The youth of

the village can find employment on the


35

process hasn't always been smooth

and, if reports are to be believed, there

were also instances where WOTR

representatives have been chased out

of a village by an axe-wielding man

who for some reason didn't grasp the

fact that WOTR was there to make a

positive difference to his and his

family's life. Generally though, WOTR

hasn't faced as much resistance and

has been directly involved in work

across 1,012 villages, while partnering

with 184 NGOs and government

agencies to indirectly support projects

in 1,189 more villages. Their work

hasn't been unrecognised. They won

the Kyoto World Water grand prize in

2009, Maharshtra's highest award in

the field of agriculture The Dr

Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Ratna

Award in 2010 and have also been

granted observer status as civil society

organisation to the United Nations

Convention to Combat Desertification.

The only collateral that WOTR aims to

achieve by stepping into this war that

was never their own to begin with, is

to bring about sustained and rapid

social, economic and inclusive growth

among those that need it the most.

would contribute 65% and 40%

respectively, while the two lower rungs

would contribute 20% and 10%

respectively, with the WOTR supplying

the additional funds to bridge the gap.

By insisting that at least half the

number of members on the VDC must

comprise of women, WOTR is doing

their bit to usher in gender-equality-

based development.

The third stage is where WOTR

organises women to form self- help

groups like Samyukt Mahila Samiti

(SMS), where providing them micro-

finance is provided to the women in

order that they can jumpstart their

choice of occupationsloans so they

can lend to other villagers with low

interest rates. This access to non-

predatory credit is the key for villagers

to take control of their lives,

economically and personally. In the

final stage, WOTR liaisons with

government agencies to support the

impetus that has been pioneered by

the villagers themselves.

WOTR is categorical that they do not

intend to spoon-feed growth and

development into villages. They are

driven towards the goal of

encouraging and supporting the

villagers to chart their own growth

story, with them standing behind as a

support and guidance mechanism. The


36


37

THE CORPORATE PITCH


38

THE CORPORATE PITCH


39

Imagine...

If the water we use, apart from being

reused, actually grows to fill the

reservoirs with some innovative

contribution from our side. Let's be

Water positive.

If the industrial waste we generate,

apart from being reused, is recycled to

blend in with the cycle of nature –

using our intelligence to work out a

process that equates waste with value.

Let's be Carbon neutral.

If the energy we save, apart from

slowing the consumption and

addressing the 'responsible' use, is

distributed by each one of us to

benefit the other. Let's be

Energy positive.

That is how Dr Nitin Borkar, CEO of

VerGo Pharma Research Laboratories

Pvt. Ltd., Goa, looks at his mission to

make his company an intelligence

driven research and development

'carbon neutral' firm. He is also

HEALING THE ENVIRONMENTAuthor: Sheetal Paknikar (www.seventwentyten.org)


40

herbal, food supplements with

regulatory support. The custom

synthesis program is involved in drug

substance, impurities, metabolites and

mark compound standardisation.

Presently, VerGo is developing a

clinical manufacturing plant and has

interest in extending the scope to

commercial manufacturing in niche

areas. Addition of in house clinical

facilities in future will ensure VerGo

giving their global clients a one stop

solution for all their

pharmaceutical needs.

In response to a question about the

popular perception about Chemical

and Pharmaceutical companies

contributing to the air pollution and

toxic solid and liquid waste, Dr Borkar

felt that this could well be a reality if

the design of the

pharmaceutical/chemical plant does

not focus on identifying sources of

The Question

field of drug manufacture and

technology. It ranks very high in the

third world, in terms of technology,

quality and range of medicines

manufactured. From simple headache

pills to sophisticated antibiotics and

complex cardiac compounds, almost

every type of medicine is now made

indigenously. Research and

development has always taken the

back seat amongst Indian

pharmaceutical companies. In order to

stay competitive in the future, Indian

companies will have to refocus and

invest heavily in R&D.

Based in Verna, Goa, VerGo Pharma

Research Laboratories Pvt. Ltd is a

contract research organisation

supporting the global pharmaceutical

and chemical industry. The company's

core competence lies in turn key

product development for prescription

pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals,

About VerGo Pharmaceuticals

pioneering his village, Bori, in South

Goa to set an example of 'collective

innovation' – being Water positive and

Energy positive.

Most of today's major pharmaceutical

companies were founded in the late

19th and early 20th centuries. Key

discoveries of the 1920s and 1930s,

such as insulin and penicillin, became

mass-manufactured and distributed.

Switzerland, Germany and Italy had

particularly strong industries, with the

UK, US, Belgium and the Netherlands

following suit.

Cancer drugs were a feature of the

1970s. From 1978, India took over as

the primary centre of pharmaceutical

production without patent protection*.

The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

today is in the front rank of India's

science-based industries with wide

ranging capabilities in the complex

Industry Background


41

Final Word

Relatively new companies like VerGo

Pharmaceuticals have their focus on

not just providing quality services in

the R&D/manufacturing sector and

showcase the scientific capability that

India is now known for – but crucially

to increase awareness about using

intelligence to make the earth water

positive, carbon neutral and energy

positive.

And for every thought we generate, it's

no longer just enough to be aware. It is

time to GO and act.

*Data source: Wikipedia

pollutants. In all companies, these

have to be checked and certified by

regulatory bodies like the Pollution

Control Board.

Liquid and solid biodegradable wastes,

including food leftovers, are converted

into 'vermicompost' – an excellent

organic fertiliser and soil conditioner.

The industrial wastewater is treated

through an ETP – an Effluent Treatment

Plant – that eliminates residual

chemicals before being recycled for

internal/external use. Other liquid

waste streams, classified into

Halogenated and Non-Halogenated

Hydrocarbons (both miscible and

immiscible), heavy metal etc. are

appropriately disposed.

Biodegradable solid wastes such as

paper and cloth blend with nature but

polymer based plastic wastes are

something that Dr Borkar has eyes on

– and he feels that either burying or

incinerating (burning) only degrades

nature and threatens public health.

This is an issue he is addressing on the

long term even at his village in Bori –

patiently educating people on the need

to reduce use and collect

and recycle.

The fascinating aspects of procedural

standards followed above at VerGo are

worth a visit. If Goa is a little too far,

you could check out the details on

www.vergopharma.com.

waste and environmental friendly

strategy to reduce, eliminate, control

and scientifically handle the waste.

As an intelligent animal, man

continues to devise innovative ways to

use nature's resources for his benefit.

The development in science and

technology has pushed the envelope

to accelerate this process. However,

sections of the world today realise

time is ticking – and fast – and if we do

not use our intelligence to address

overuse of resources (and generate

some of our own) we are slowly but

surely entering the critical period in the

earth's survival. Needless to say, global

warming is now manifesting itself in

our everyday life. But VerGo has

decided to walk that extra mile to

return to the Earth everything they take

in a manner befitting the intelligence

we humans' have been endowed with.

As a company, VerGo ensures that

certified 'filters' are applied to all

processes followed in manufacturing.

All gaseous, liquid & solid wastes

generated are tested for toxins, made

benign before releasing them into the

environment.

Gas emissions - the residual wastes

from the chemical processes ('fume

cupboards') at VerGO go through

'scrubbers' that filter environmental

The VerGo Way


42

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43

Let me begin with a personal

anecdote. My interest in CSR started

while working for a Knowledge

Processes Outsourcing (KPO) firm in

the National Capital Region. It was

2006, the year that is now

remembered for George W Bush's visit

to India and the signing of the

landmark Indo-US Nuclear Deal. A lot

of media attention was lavished on this

event, examining its potential to either

turbo-charge or punch holes in the

India growth story. It is fitting that I

invoke this episode in 2011, when the

Fukushima disaster has burnt the issue

of 'development vs human safety'

decisively into the

world's consciousness.

However, the Nuclear Deal wasn't the

trigger for the genesis of my

engagement with CSR. That credit

goes to my brief 'apprenticeship' with

THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMESAuthor: Tanmoy Goswami (Managing Editor – The Smart Manager)


44

The Smart Manager's initiative on

ethics in general and CSR in particular

is a product of this unforgiving world

and its lengthening shadow on India.

In popular imagination at least, the

West has always kept 'business'

separate from 'morals'. On the other

hand in India, like so much else,

business goals have always been

supervised by moral values, and doing

good, a matter of personal

satisfaction. With the blurring of the

boundaries between these two

universes, however, this neat polarity

is now suspect. The industrialised

West, unabashed champion of

maximising RoI as the vehicle of

greater good, is pausing on its tracks

to contemplate its footprints.

Simultaneously, and inevitably, as

some say, the karma of capital ought

to make Indian businesses think

whether the joy of giving can still be

the only valid driver of CSR. In fact,

some of the big consulting MNCs have

already thrown their hat in the ring to

help Indian companies cross over from

charity to strategic investing. Add to

this mix the traditional Indian prejudice

toward wealth—and the government's

predilection to institute mandatory

CSR—and what you get is the all-too-

familiar argumentative Indian energy

that the rest of the world

sees as chaos.

waiting for a bloody, greed-induced

recession to declare this loud

and clear.

The point is, if you are just another

individual—at least one who can still

see life as having a function beyond

consuming the various fruits of

business—such an epiphany will

largely be of theoretical interest. It may

stir a deep torrent of questions and

even make you look obliquely at a few

other beliefs and habits, but it will still

not create a fundamental identity

crisis. It cannot. We 'individuals' are too

far down the consumption route to be

bothered, you would agree. It is better

to let such complex issues be resolved

by those who have brought it upon

themselves, and that is not 'us'.

However, if you are a business—the

'them' in this equation—there is

nowhere to hide. This is a world in

which you no longer have the right to

just be yourself. Even admitting that

you understand is not enough, unless

you enact your understanding. If you

don't act, but nonetheless continue to

be troubled by your 'conscience', you

are a confirmed schizophrenic who can

no longer be trusted. Another way of

saying the same thing is that you are

guilty of neglecting the Triple

Bottom Line.

Mr Arun Maira, then of the Boston

Consulting Group, and now a member

of the Planning Commission. While

working for the aforesaid KPO, I was

entrusted with helping Mr Maira

research several subjects for a book,

including the state of CSR around the

world and civil society action on

questionable corporate practices. In

the ensuing month or two, our team

compiled an enormous amount of

primary and secondary information,

including a few enlightening interviews

with some of the world's most

headline-friendly companies. By the

end of the project, one automatic filter

had emerged from our search: the

potential of a business to survive civil

society pressures in the long run. At

that time, I imagined—as did my

team—that at the end of the day, the

key to whether a business would be

left alone by society at large lay in how

much legitimately earned profit it

could generate for its stakeholders,

and, maybe, how well it paid its

employees. We could not have been

more naïve.

The net result of the exercise was my

realisation that business, no matter

how legitimate and 'rewarding', can

indeed no longer be the only business

of business. I hadn't read Friedman at

that time, and I didn't know anything

about his detractors either, but it was

easy to see that society wasn't exactly


45

Mittal, Keki Mistry and Kishor Chaukar,

among others, to find direction in this

environment.

Yet, these are good times, if only

because centuries-old ideas are being

given a workout. No matter which side

of the fence you are in, you cannot

deny that dovetailing concepts such as

'social responsibility' and 'strategy'

signals a certain maturity and freedom

of thought. Whether or not this is a

freedom worth anything though will

need to be determined through

collaboration between 'us' and 'them'.

Like the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, you

may or may not like the outcome, but

you have to agree that it is an idea

whose time has come.

The Smart Manager magazine is

publishing a special issue on ethics

and CSR in May and organizing a

strategy debate involving industry

leaders, think tanks and the media in

Mumbai on the 3rd of June, 2011. The

broad agenda is to ask whether India

Inc is prepared to look at CSR as a

matter of strategic calculations, given

the latest legislative mood in the

country. If CSR is indeed mainlined on

the balance sheet, it may finally force a

delinking of corporate social

investments from philanthropy—first

and foremost in the realm of ideas. On

the other hand, there are fundamental

questions about populism, deficits in

public governance and the future of

the PPP model. The Smart Manager

has brought together Rahul Bajaj, Ajay

Piramal, Harsh Mariwala, Rakesh Bharti


46

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47

THE BEGINNINGBubble Wrapped loves putting them

on centre stage. So if you know of

anyone out there carrying the torch for

a cause, keep us posted.

The next few issues are going to see a

few additions such as a segment on

international news and events from the

sector. Bubble Wrapped hopes to go

across borders and reach out to a

wider audience by making the content

more relevant in terms of information,

ideas and practices.

As always, I would like to end with an

invitation to join us on Facebook and

Twitter. Until next time...

happy reading!

Cheers!

Chetna

[email protected]

I would like to end this month's issue

with a heartfelt thanks to every one of

my readers. Thank you for logging on,

passing the link to your family and

friends as well as giving me

your feedback.

This month, Bubble Wrapped

addresses certain key issues and

highlights some best practices. I hope

we can all learn something new and

initiate the change we all want to see.

Two of my favourite stories this month

have been the cover story that

addresses Child Labour issues and the

one on VerGo Pharma. I hope other

companies follow suit and return to

the Earth what they take from her.

Our features - Merchandising Change

and The Face of Change – have also

received overwhelming response. So

many people doing so much good and


48




49

bubble wrapped may 2011

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