VARANASI: Here comes a floating school for the children of the boatmen. In a novel gesture, a local social organisation and some enterprising people have launched two 'schools on boats' for providing informal education to the children of the economically backward community who could not enroll in schools. In the first step, 62 boys and girls are being provided informal education on two boats at the Rajghat.

These children row the boats amid chants, but their chants have a unique connotation. Their every movement is filled with a purpose. For them, it is a way to education. "Humko angrezi ka A B C D yaad ho gaya hai (I have learnt alphabets)," says Gunja, a 12-year-old girl from the boatmen community. Govind (17), who has never been to school, is also busy learning English so that he can interact with foreign tourists.

"In Varanasi, Ganga is a way of life, especially for the thousands of boatmen and their families who depend on the river for sustenance. Through this initiative, we are trying to develop an interest in learning in these children as well as their parents, who consider sending their wards to school a waste of time," a volunteer of the Vishal Bharat Sansthan (VBS), the social organisation spearheading the campaign, told TOI.

The 'classes' are held on two medium-sized boats. The children assemble at the ghat at 4.30pm, even before the arrival of their teachers. They then take their seats on the two boats and the class begins with a prayer. Govind and his brother Abhishek (eldest of the lot) take the charge of rowing the boats. The class continues till 6.30pm. Schooling on floating boats is also a fun activity for these children, who are skilled in swimming.

It is only the eldest boys among them who row the boats during the two-hour floating classes in the afternoon. A boatman, Gurucharan Sahani, has voluntarily provided two boats for the purpose. The teachers come from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), government offices and from VBS who provide their services free of cost.
A report came on India Times Newspaper

'Toxic World' unveiled in Kolkata

India Blooms News Service

Kolkata, Apr 23 (IBNS) On the occasion of the 40th International Earth Day, popular Bengali actor and wildlife photographer Sabyasachi Chakraborty unveiled a graphic novel, ''Our Toxic World: A Guide to Hazardous Substances in our Everyday Life' at the city's Oxford Bookstore on Thursday.

Brought out by Toxics Link and Sage Publications, author Aniruddha Sen Gupta said, the book speaks about "the little things that we can do in our everyday lives to make the world greener and better."

According publishers, the book is 'India's first graphic novel on the environment'; Sen Gupta said, "The goal of this book is to make the information accessible to the people, by resorting to pictures it transforms the theory to the practical."

"Primarily targeted towards urban families, concerned about issues but lacking sources of easily digestible information, this book provides a look at the alternatives that they can adopt to make sweeping changes in their lives" said the author.

Speaking at the event Sabyasachi Chakraborty, said, "People tend to get bored when we throw lots of jargon at them; this book breaks away from that and points out simple things that we should and shouldn't do."

"The book highlights the significance of the small everyday initiatives we can take and the impact it can have if we do it collectively; I think it is a very important book for parents and children," he added.

Fashion designer Agnimitra Paul, who was also present at the occasion, said "As a mother of a 8-year-old child I feel this book provides a great way of communicating the complicated information."

"I am an asthma patient, a disease I didn't have till I moved to Calcutta; today I need to take my asthma pumps 5 times a day; the pollution is so bad that I am pretty sure soon my son will need asthma pumps too," she said.

Ravi Agarwal, Director, Toxics Link, an NGO that has been working since 1996 as an information outreach and environmental advocacy organisation, said the content of the book is based on 15 years of research by the organisation.

At a time when environment preservation is the talk of the town, speaking about seriousness the work Aggarwal said, "The day you become an environmentalist yourself is the day you realise that this thing called Nature is bigger than you."

Sen Gupta said, "Sceptics will always be there. But the change is visible, any level-headed person will see the changes we are bringing to our environment and join the movement instead of being cynical.'

The interactive programme for teachers, parents and students, supported by the Washington D.C. based NGO, Earth Day Network, also featured a quiz at the end of the book release.

Both Karuna Singh, Country Director of Earth Day Network and Sabyasachi spoke about the important role that children can play by 'teaching adults a lesson'.

All exited about the evening, 14-year-old Soham Banerjee, said, "It was great fun to be here and that quiz was really very informative. Am definitely going to take care of how we do things at home from now on."

Seema Sodhani, mother of two, said, "This issue is taken too lightly; We ourselves need to do more in order to take care of our environment, it is very important to do so; we can't afford to turn a blind eye to the situation."

                 Global Earth Hour by Photos
                   India Gate Delhi

                   Bangalore city centre Brigade Road 

                  Petronas Twin Towers Malaysia

Beijing's National Grand Theater

                     Sydney Opera House Australia 

                           

Sydney skyline 

picture taken by NASA on 27/3 @ 8.30 pm