Date : Wednesday, 08 March 2017
We, at Parvaah, believe that it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to keep our cities/towns clean. To this end, we organize our “Paint Your City Walls” Campaign frequently in Jaipur, the Pink City of India. Our volunteers, comprised of school students, have been instrumental in planning, initiating and carrying out our wall painting drives. They carry brushes, paint containers, paint buckets and other supplies and paint old, stained walls and those lying in deplorable conditions. By painting walls with beautiful colours and drawing eye-catching, attractive images on them, our young volunteers express their artistic sensibilities and at the same time, by taking part in these events, they derive the satisfaction of doing their own bit for the society.
Our Waste Paper Collection Drive provides us an opportunity to give back to the environment in our own little way. It was first carried out in 5 schools of Jaipur but now along with the Pink City, it also covers Delhi and Pune. As a part of this campaign, PARVAAH collection boxes are placed in various organizations from where old newspapers, notebooks, worksheets and other waste sheets of paper are regularly collected by our volunteers. Every three weeks a batch of the gathered paper is sent to a recyclable mill for recycling to make beautiful Paper Bags, Diaries and Notebooks. These are then sold to embassies and in various exhibitions held each year in Delhi/Jaipur/Pune.
What is the impact of waste paper collection and recycling? To put it simply, Recycling one ton of newsprint saves about 1 ton of wood while recycling 1 ton of printer or copier paper saves slightly more than 2 tons of wood. Thus recycled paper leads to saving of trees and hence, the environment. So, let`s join hands and make this campaign a success.
Our Collection Centres:
We, at Parvaah, fully support our Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s Swachh Bharat Mission and with the aim of contributing towards a cleaner India, we are continuously carrying out cleanliness activities in our adopted colonies in Delhi and Jaipur. As a part of our sanitation campaigns, our children volunteers visit these areas and execute the task of cleaning littered roads, parks and other dirty areas. Besides, they are also taking our cleanliness drives to the residents in these colonies, asking them to take charge of at least 50 metres of the roads in front of their houses and ensure that they are litter-free. With help and active participation from the residents, all our Swachh Bharat campaigns have proved to be highly successful.
In the past, team Parvaah had volunteered to clean the Hawa Mahal palace in Jaipur, once a week. Our volunteers, who were mainly students of JPIS, Jaipur, carried out cleanliness drives at Hawa mahal for which they were appreciated by Vasundhara Raje, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
Considering the manifold benefits of trees, including that they release oxygen into the air, absorb unpleasant odours as well as harmful gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide from the air and purify it, protect us from dangerous ultra-violet rays, provide us with food and the pivotal role played by trees in preventing soil erosion, maintaining ecological balance and most especially in lessening the effects of global warming, the Parvaah team conducts tree plantation drives twice a year. Over the last one and a half years, Parvaah has planted more than 20,000 plants in Delhi, Jaipur and Pune.
Tree plantation is not just something that should be done; instead, it is a necessity, the urgent need of the hour. Planting of trees is especially important to protect our environment against air pollution and global warming. To this end, our young volunteers have been actively involved in organizing tree plantation campaigns.
Plastic bags harm the environment in numerous ways. Once they enter into soil, they lower its fertility and affect our farmers` production. Besides, when these bags are used up, they litter the streets and block drains and when burned, they release toxic chemicals and contaminate the air. Hence, with the aim of raising awareness against the use of polythene bags, team Parvaah periodically carries out anti-polythene drives in Delhi, Rajasthan, Mumbai and Pune. In these cities/states, we have adopted several markets and colonies where our volunteers visit and distribute environment-friendly cloth bags among the shopkeepers and residents so that plastic bags can be replaced. In these markets/colonies, Parvaah kids are going door to door and asking people to purchase at least 2 cloth bags - Fruit/Vegetable bags and Bread/ Milk bags at a nominal price. As a result of these continuous efforts, polythene bags are gradually disappearing from our adopted areas.
Our children volunteers are urging people to stop using disposable Plastic Plates/Cups, Glasses and Containers that are very harmful. When the food items stored in plastic containers are re-heated in the microwave, they are likely to get contaminated with plastic chemicals. Further, considering the harm caused by Plastic usage, Team Parvaah has written letters to airline/railway authorities, voicing concern and requesting them to use non-plastic items. The Parvaah team has also visited several “Bhandaras” held in front of temples and hospitals, asking the organizers to use non-plastic containers/plates for food distribution.
Every year before Diwali young volunteers of Parvaah visit schools, colleges and offices in Delhi and Jaipur and ask people to take a pledge to reduce their carbon footprints and minimize air pollution by choosing not to burst firecrackers during the festival. Our volunteers also distribute pledge forms and get them signed by one and all.
Team Parvaah has been instrumental in highlighting environmental and social issues such as the importance of hygiene, planting trees, banning polythene bags, empowering women, conserving food, recycling waste paper and a range of others through street plays (Nukkad Naatak). We conduct these plays in Delhi and Jaipur on a regular basis. Nukkad Nataks are the easiest ways to educate people. Our children volunteers have performed several plays at various locations to raise awareness about the importance of good hygiene/sanitation, importance of reading etc.
Parvaah also organizes educational seminars to help school students who are looking forward to gain admission in Indian/ foreign universities. By participating in these meetings, students and their parents get the opportunity to interact with counsellors/experts and clear their doubts regarding college admissions overseas and within the country.
“Waste segregation is the mother program because the idea of waste segregation is not just waste segregation per se. The idea behind this is to really minimize or reduce the volume of garbage. We are dumping at our landfills but then at the same time, we still want people to learn how to manage their own garbage.”---This is rightly quoted by Frederika Rentoy, an environmental chief of the Quezon City in Philippines. Parvaah upholds the responsibility to reduce and manage waste and its volunteers are actively educating people about waste disposal techniques and also ensuring waste segregation in various regions of Jaipur and Delhi.
The first step towards waste management is segregating the waste into dry waste and wet waste. Dry waste includes wood and related products, metals and glass. Wet waste typically refers to organic waste usually generated by eating establishments and is heavy in weight due to dampness. Waste can also be segregated on basis of biodegradable or non-biodegradable waste. Biodegradable waste is a type of waste which can be broken down, in a reasonable amount of time, into its base compounds by micro-organisms and other living things, regardless of what those compounds may be while Non-biodegradable waste does not break down into natural components and exists in the environment for a long time. Examples are tyres, plastics, electronic components and metals.
PLUTO is a device that enables the user to remotely connect the Submersible Pump / Tullu Pump /any other Electrical device to its source of power from any corner of the world by using a phone(Landline /Mobile). It provides the user with accurate information of the Power/Electricity status of the area where it is being used. The principal benefit that the user gains is that with PLUTO, he/she does not have to be physically present to switch ON/OFF the water pump.
Plastic bags harm the environment in numerous ways. Once they enter into soil, they lower its fertility and affect our farmers production. Besides, when these bags are used up, they litter the streets and block drains and when burned, they release toxic chemicals and contaminate the air. Hence, with the aim of raising awareness against the use of polythene bags, team Parvaah periodically carries out anti-polythene campaigns in Delhi – NCR.
