| Eco
Friend’s Society
About
Us
"Eco
Friends performs all such acts that may assist in or be conducive
to fostering environmental education, protection and security".
Eco Friends, a Kanpur based non-governmental organisation (NGO),
has been working in a sustained way over the last ten years
on critical issues of environmental degradation. A key issue
for Eco Friends is protecting the river Ganga from various sources
of pollution. Eco Friends has been involved in generating mass
awareness and deepening of national and international public
debate on pollution-related issues, mobilizing the local communities
in sustained high-pitched campaigns, focused action such as
clean Ganga campaigns, legal activism through public interest
litigation and persistent advocacy with media, opinion makers
and other stakeholders. Though the extent of environment degradation
is still worrying, Eco Friends has due achievements in a number
of areas including passing of landmark judicial pronouncements
to check river pollution and initiation of remedial steps by
industry and government alike. The concern at the moment is
to consolidate and build on the gains with a long-term perspective
on the larger issue of environmental management in India.
Eco
Friends was established in the year 1993 and presently has a
staff of 5 people. Eco Friends has always had the support of
several volunteers from various sections of society.
THE
TEAM
Rakesh K. Jaiswal
Founder
and Executive Secretary: Gave up his pursuit of a Ph.D. degree
for the cause of fighting for restoring the sacred Ganga to
its pristine purity. Has been involved in environmental activism
since 1993. Has been extremely successful in generating mass
awareness and widespread attention to the plight of Ganga at
Kanpur. A tireless campaigner for Ganga, Rakesh has lectured
widely both nationally and internationally to help focus attention
on the urgent need to act for Ganga. As a freelance journalist,
has written extensively on the issue of river pollution. Involved
in environmental litigation against the state of Uttar Pradesh
and Government of India and various polluting industries, several
landmark judgments have been passed in his case to address the
issue of pollution in the river Ganga and strengthening the
Ganga Action Plan. Featured in various international documentaries
and recently recipient of the Unsung Heroes of Compassion award
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, through Wisdom in Action, a
California based Foundation, Rakesh has decided to devote his
entire life to Ganga.
Dr. A. C. Shukla
Dr.
A. C. Shukla , formerly headed Bio-pollution Study Centre at
Christ Church College, Kanpur. He specializes in environmental
sciences and policy planning. He has completed a major project
of Ganga Action Plan. Dr Shukla is credited with over 250 research
publications and has several edited and original books. He has
widely traveled in connection with addressing, chairing and
acting as discussant at International conferences. His area
of current research is environmental and water security. Dr
Shukla is currently visiting scholar at ACDIS, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr Shukla, the Founder President
of Eco Friends is now a member of the Advisory Panel.
Dr Binayak Rath, Professor of Economics, IIT Kanpur
Dr Binayak Rath, Professor of Economics in the Department of
Humanities and Social Science at the Indian Institute of Technology,
Kanpur had received his Ph.D. degree from IIT Kanpur in 1980
in the area of Social Benefit-Cost Analysis. In 1985-86, he
was a faculty of the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow
The teaching and research interests of Dr Rath in the area of
Economics include Benefit-Cost Analysis, Development Economics,
Rural Development, Economics of Alternative Energy, Environmental
Impact Assessment, and Water Resource Management. Presently,
he is working on environmental issues dealing with land management
in the urban areas as well as in the command areas of few major
irrigation projects. He's been associated with Eco Friends since
2003 and has actively participated in its activities. He's a
member of the Advisory Panel of Eco Friends.
Dr. Tapan Routh, an Environmental Expert and Scientist
Dr Tapan Routh has expertise in Environmental science and Pollution
Control, Water & Wastewater Treatment, Hazardous Waste Management,
River Water Quality Assessment & Monitoring, Environmental
Impact Assessment, Environmental Audit, etc. He worked as Scientist
with National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI),
Nagpur and as Sr. Assistant Director & Head of NEERI Zonal
Laboratory, Kanpur till his retirement in 2003. He has been
involved actively with Eco Friends for almost a decade. He is
a member of Advisory Panel of Eco Friends.
Dr
Padma S Vanka
She is working as Senior Project Scientist in “Facility
for Ecological and Analytical Testing” a R&D laboratory,
in IIT Kanpur. She is engaged in environment related issues
such as estimation and remediation of Pesticide, Heavy metal
contaminations and polyhalogenated compounds. She has been consultant
to Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi for setting
up their Pollution Monitoring Laboratory and for the preparation
of Laboratory Manual as per EPA standards 2000-2002.Her association
as consultant to Eco Friends Society, Kanpur on various Pollution
monitoring issues has been since 2000. She has participated
in most of Eco Friends' activities and is an active member of
Eco friends' Advisory Panel.
Dr Vandana Asthana
Dr Vandana Asthana is the Head of the Political Science Department
and Environmental Studies Unit, Christ Church College, Kanpur.
Her area of specialization has been Environmental Politics and
Security. She recently completed a Project on India's Water
Resources and Implications for National Security. She developed
a course on WATER SECURITY in SOUTH ASIA. She is presently at
the Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences Department
at UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, Urbana-Champaign, engaged in research
on water conflicts and security with special reference to corporatization
and commodification of water. Dr. Vandana has co-authored a
book “Ganga – The Water Marvel”. Dr. Vandana,
the founder General Secretary of Eco- Friends, is now a member
of Eco Friends' Advisory Panel.
Activities
1. Monitoring
of Ganga and GAP
2. Cleaning
of Ganga
3. Schools
Programme
4. Community
Programme
5. Public
Interest Litigation
6. Ganga
Parliamentary Forum
Eternal
Ganga
- Significance
of Ganga
- Ganga
At Kanpur
- Our
Vision For Ganga
Current Projects
Eco
Friends has received support from different funding agencies
to carry out its activities. Here is a list of Eco Friends'
current funding sources and the activities they cover.
Environmental
Equity and Justice Partnership (EEJP) program supported by Just
Environment Charitable Trust
“Improving
governance and seeking civic and judicial engagement in hazardous
industrial waste management of Kanpur”
Blacksmith
Institute
“People-government
partnership program for a pilot groundwater remediation project
in Noraiakheda area of Kanpur”
The
World Bank's Small Grants Program (Completed)
“Improving
Governance and Civic Engagement for effective management of
pollution related health impacts in Kanpur ”
This
project focuses on the areas of Jajmau, Juhi Rakhimandi, Panki
and Noraiakheda, which are affected by irrigation and ground
water contaminated by chromium and other pollutants. This contamination
is largely due to the dysfunction of waste treatment plants
created under the government's Ganga Action Plan and poor enforcement
of existing policies aimed at addressing the problem of municipal
and industrial waste. The specific goal of the project is to
address this problem of bad governance through documenting the
problems and creating mass awareness campaigns to influence
public opinion towards increasing pressure on the government
and industries to remedy the situation.
Blacksmith Institute (Completed)
“Redress
of industrial pollutant related problems in Kanpur ”
Blacksmith
Institute is supporting Eco Friends in addressing the problem
of Chromium contamination in Jajmau and Noraiakheda. Under this
program, Eco Friends is surveying the affected areas and assessing
the health impact of the contamination, launching mass awareness
campaigns to educate the public on the use of contaminated water,
approaching government officials about the problem and working
towards possible solutions, and collaborating with the Central
Pollution Control Board to monitor the groundwater in the affected
areas. The priority is to ensure safe drinking water to the
affected areas.
Winrock
International India (Completed)
“Urban
Wastewater: Livelihoods, Health and Environmental Impacts in
India ”
Eco
Friends is working as a consultant to Winrock International
India to assess the environmental, livelihood and health impacts
of the use of urban wastewater in agriculture through village
surveys and participatory approaches. The purpose of this collaboration
is not only to assess the impacts of wastewater use for irrigation
purposes, but also to assist Winrock in assessing the nationwide
implications and importance of wastewater use, and identifying
the best practices for mitigation of negative impacts.
The
Asia Foundation (Completed)
“De-Pollution
of the river Ganga and redress of pollution-related problems
in the affected villages of Kanpur with support from The Asia
Foundation”
The Asia Foundation has been supporting various activities of
Eco Friends, including Ganga and GAP monitoring, the training
of youth as Ganga Ambassadors, organizing Ganga clean-up campaigns,
public hearings and workshops for various sections of society.
WHO
HECA seed funds (Completed)
“Environmental
improvement programme for the children of pollution affected
Jajmau and Noraiakheda areas of Kanpur ”
The
project seeks to improve the sanitary conditions of the villages
through social mobilization and behavioural change, using schools
as important centers for creating new norms of hygiene in the
community. The project will focus on 5 worst pollution affected
villages of Jajmau and the entire area of Noraiakheda in Kanpur
city.
Contact
Us
Eco
Friend’s Society
Contact
Person: Rakesh K. Jaiswal
Address: Eco Friends,
Gauri Niwas,
83 Durga Housing Society,
Shivkatra Road, Lal Bangla,
Kanpur 208007
INDIA
Telephone: +91 - 512 - 2404240
Mobile: +91 - 9415129482
Fax: +91 - 512 - 2405229
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