Hyderabad Unplug- Take a Stand against Global Warming!!

If one is asked what is the major threat for Human kind, the answer is unanimously ‘Global Warming’. It’s no more a distant possibility but a close reality. It is found that last few years have been recorded as hottest years of the century. This fact itself is making it evident that we are facing the consequences of Climate change.

The recent scientific reports of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change) made it clear that climatic changes are because of human intervention into nature. Unless global initiatives are taken up it will be difficult to control the consequences of Global warming. These reports are prepared by eminent scientists across the globe with high standards and technology. The veracity of these reports is further strengthened by recent changes in climate. So, Global warming can no more be considered as an imagination of few people. It’s a hard reality which every person on the earth, collectively has to face.

So, what is the need of the hour? First of all, we have to understand and accept the individual responsibility towards the environment. Don’t we have a responsibility to keep a safe and comfortable environment for our future generations. Similar to the way we earn money and save assets for our next generations, we also have an accountability to promise a comfortable climate for them. Do we need to wait for our governments to impose rules on us? It is in our hands by colletive will to combat this devil called ‘Global Warming’. Following are few things which one practice in daily life to alleviate the effects of global warming.

· Unplug appliances on standby. They use 10% of your electricity.

· Use less water. In your generation you might not have enough drinking water left.

· Unplug your chargers once you are done using them as even though it might be switched off, it still consumes electricity.

· Say no to plastic. It takes centuries to decompose and honestly you really don’t need it.

· Car Pool, Cab Pool – think of it this way, less cars on the road, less traffic, you’ll reach faster, and you’ll have company.

To bring awareness among Hyderabad citizens about his cause, few individuals together started a project called ‘Hyderabad Unplug’ ( http://www.hyderabadunplug.com ). This aims to sensitize the public about climate change and how our little care towards the environments can make things better. As a token of support, the people of Hyderabad are requested to switch off power from 7.30 PM to 8.30 PM on May 3rd,2008. This idea is inspired from Earth hour happened in Sydney on March 29th and Mumbai Unplug run in Mumbai. As a part of campaigning road shows will be conducted where in general public will be educated with do’s and don’ts to combat global warming. With this, I request the reader to participate in ‘Hyderabad Unplug’ and make others participate by explaining the cause and purpose behind the event. Please help in making this a success, by campaigning in your appartments, locality and your workplaces. The reader can also be a contributor to the event by by voluntering for the event until May 3rd.

Let us show to the world, that Hyderabad cares for the world!!

Invitation for ‘Right To Information’ Awareness Program.

How many times we must have felt helpless dealing with government offices. How many times we thought we should question corrupted politicians but stepped back. How many times we silently accepted when so called our representatives are taking us for granted. 

If you want a day to come when u can walk into any government office as if you are walking into a corporate bank,
If you want a day to come when our MLAs and MPs truly represent the needs and aspirations of the people of that constituency,
If you want a day to come when every rupee u r paying in form of taxes is accountable,

You have to know about this powerful weapon to every citizen of India – Right to Information.

As the name suggests RTI is our right to demand any information from state and central governments, independent bodies affiliated to Government and NGOs which get grants from government.  As per specific clause in this act, government should take initiatives to spread awareness about this act. Unfortunately, our chief ministers and prime ministers publish pages of advertisements about vote bank programs like Rajeev Gruhakalpa etc… But never works towards giving questioning power to citizens. I am sure no other political party, barring exceptions like Loksatta, will work in this connection.

In this scenario, only civil societies and few NGOs are working towards this cause. In fact, this act is a result of unrelenting struggle taken by social activists and civil societies.  As an educated citizen, it is our responsibility to know and exercise RTI wherever needed and work to empower every ordinary citizen to demand for his rights. As a part of our initiative to spread awareness about RTI, we are conducting an interactive seminar this weekend.

Date and Timings  : 23rd December, 10 AM -12.30 AM
Venue                      : KMRR Center, above Srinagar Colony Post Office, Near Chanti
                                    Mess, opp. Big Byte Bakery Lane. Those who come from Punjagutta
                                    side, it is the next lane to Andhra bank ATM.
Agenda                    : To explain about the potential of RTI, nuances in filing 

                                    RTI Petitions followed by Discussion
Speaker                   : Rakesh

Target Audience    :  Any Citizen.  

Rakesh used RTI effectively to bring out so many disturbing truths relating to farmers suicides. In spite of his supposedly hectic schedule in IT sector, he struggled for the victim families in mahboobnagar to ensure that they get compensation which they deserve. He recently made a citizen journalist presentation in CNN-IBN focusing this issue. The video is available in the following link
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/53925/cj-fights-for-andhra-debtridden-farmers.html 

I request all readers to make use of this opportunity and encourage us to arrange this kind of programs further.Please confirm your participation by sending a mail to u.ravishankar@gmail.com  or prasanthi.uppalapati@gmail.com Please confirm ASAP as the venue fits only for 40 to 50 people.      Warm Regards,  Ravi.

http://tomakeadifference.net

www.bhumi.in

Blanket Distribution

During Last week, while chatting with my friend sandeep, he proposed this idea of distributing blankets to the needy people who sleep in streets without any shelter. Rest of us thought why not?? While working on this two quotations striked my mind which are worth mentioning.
These two inspired me to shed my hesitancy and uneasiness.  First one is ‘There is no wrong time to do a right thing’. This came to my mind when i was postponing the activity continuously. The second quotation is ‘Thinking is such a waste of time (CBZ add..)’. This helped me when i was feeling little uncomfotable to approach people with this cause.

Initially we planned to collect old unused blankets from colleagues of us. We had sent mails to all contacts in our reach. I did not get much response for various practical reasons. Sandeep was given donations from his office to purchase blankets and distribute. while we are on a look out for a cost effective deal we came to know that in our group TMAD(http://tomakeadifference.net), there are plenty of blankets which are meant to be distributed to needy people.  After talking to Prasanthi and Dr.Sundar from TMAD, we planned to donate the collected money towards TMAD and take up the task of distributing blankets.

Five of us(Sandeep,Raghu,Amith,Pradeep and me) assembled on friday night and collected the blankets from Dr.Sundar’s home. Dr.Sundar suggested few places where we can get our customters . He suggested to go in the late night as it will be easy to identify people who are actually in need of them. Amit’s four wheeler made things easy to distribute. At around 12′0 clock midnight we started from Ameerpet and moved towards panjagutta. After crossing Hyderabad Central we find many people sleeping below the ceilings of the shopping complex. As they were sleeping we thought it will be easy to identify people who are not having blankets. but, one lady woke up and made all others wake up. Then it was little difficult for us to control people. As we were aware of this possibility, we were able to manage to give things only for needy people. There itself we had distributed about 18 blankets. Later we moved toward necklace road, Raj Bhavan road and Begumpet but we din’t find any one. Then we moved to balkampet temple where we find so many people. There also we searched for the deserving people and finally left with 2 blankets.

It was a touching experience i had that night. Most of the people, out of their shivering, inadvertently pulled the blanket when we unfolded upon them. All these comforts have been granted for most of us with our birth but there are so many people who are devoid of these basic amenities.