Internationally-acclaimed and India’s pioneering environmental activist, Ms Sunita Narain was seriously injured when her bicycle was hit by a speeding car in the heart of New Delhi. Narain hit international headlines, and made several enemies a decade ago, when her NGO revealed that famous soft drinks brands, including Coca Cola and Pepsico, contained unacceptably high levels of pesticide residues. … Also, see here…
A fitness enthusiast, the 52-year-old Director-General of the not-for-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) was in surgery for over eight hours on Sunday and was unable to speak much when the police tried to record her statement today. But she has reportedly told them that she was hit by “a big red car.” See here…
Sunita Narain was named one of the world’s 100 Public Intellectuals three times by the U.S. journal, Foreign Policy. She received the World Water Prize for her work on rainwater harvesting and policy influence for community-based water management. (In the photo above – From left, Sir Nicholas Stern, Sunita Narain, and panel moderator Kemal Dervis, administrator of the UN Development Programme. Photo courtesy UN)
“Cyclists in Indian cities are being edged out systematically to make way for cars – sometimes literally so,” she had written prophetically in her journal Down to Earth a few months ago. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a not-for-profit public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, India. Established in 1980, CSE works as a think-tank on environment-development issues in India.The CSE uses knowledge-based activism to create awareness about problems and propose sustainable solutions.
In June this year, athlete and national cycling coach, Ruma Chattopadhyay, was mowed down by a speeding car while she was riding a bicycle, training young cyclists for an upcoming championship in Greater Noida near Delhi. She succumbed to her injuries. More here…
Until the early 1980s, Delhi was a comparatively safe place for cyclists. Riding a bicycle in present-day Delhi roads is a suicidal act. We ape the West but refuse to learn the discipline involved in driving cars, and respecting traffic rules. There are no stringent tests to debar those who have no clue about driving.
The city/urban planners seldom think and plan from the perspective of pedestrians and cyclists, and their safety. That is why we have chaos on Indian roads. The high-powered SUVs and other fast cars are multiplying fast, and have become killers on Delhi/Chandigarh and roads elsewhere in the country.
I think that less than 30 per cent of the accidents and fatalities involving cars and cyclists/pedestrians are reported in India. Our country is facing a major crisis but refuses to learn that Western car-dependent lifestyle is a killer in the complex and crowded Indian cities and non-urban areas.
India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and others understood this and allowed only two models – Ambassador and Fiat. This was erring on the side of caution. How can we flood the country with cars without proper planning and ensuring safety of pedestrians and cyclists?
The present Indian government has crazy priorities, and has no time to think about the public needs and safety. So, until some sanity returns, the cycle should be kept under lock and key at home. We can only pray for the safety of those who have to ride bicycles for financial reasons.
A study by University of Michigan and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi, shows that the number of people killed in road accidents in India has increased at eight per cent annually in the past decade—nearly the rate at which car sales have grown. Cyclists and pedestrians are more than half of all road fatalities in the country but draw public disdain and policy hostility. More here…
(In this file photo below, a man cycles to work on a foggy cold morning in New Delhi. AP)
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.