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Showing posts sorted by date for query NO PLACE FOR US?. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Monday, December 21, 2020
Sunday, March 6, 2016
WHOSE FORESTS -TEXT
WHOSE FORESTS
ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES
CBSE-V
Daughter
of the jungle
Look
at the picture. Where do you think these children are off to, with little
bundles on their sticks? When you find out you too would want to go with them!
The
children are going to the forest. There they jump, run, climb trees and sing
songs in their language called Kuduk. They pick the fallen flowers and leaves,
to weave them into necklaces.
They
enjoy the wild fruits. They look for birds, whose calls they imitate. Joining
them in all this fun is their favourite didi – Suryamani. Every Sunday
Suryamani takes the children to the forest.
As
they move around, she shows them how to recognize the trees, the plants, and
animals. Children enjoy this special class in a forest! Suryamani always says,
“To learn to read the forest is as important as reading books.”
She
says,”We are forest people (adivasis). Our lives are linked to the forests. If
the forests are not there, we too will not remain.”
Suryamani’s
story is a true story. Suryamani is a ‘Girl Star’. ‘Girl Stars’ is a project
which tells extraordinary tales of ordinary girls, who have changed their lives
by going to school.
Growing
Up
Suryamani
loves the forest since she was a child. She would not take the direct road to
school, but would choose the path through the forest. Suryamani’s father had a
small field.
Her
family used to collect leaves and herbs from the forest and sell these in the
bazaar. Her mother would weave baskets from bamboo or make leaf plates out of
the fallen leaves.
But
now no one can pick up a single leaf from the forest. That is since Shambhu the
contractor came there. The people of Suryamani’s village were afraid of the
contractor.
Everyone
except Budhiyamai. She would say, “We the people of this forest have a right
over it. We look after our forests, we don't cut trees like these contractors
do. The forest is like our ‘collective bank’ – not yours or mine alone. We take
from it only as much as we need. We don’t use up all our wealth.”
Suryanani’s
father could no longer support the family on the small land. He moved to the
town in search of work. But things did not improve. Sometimes there would be no
food in the house.
At
times Maniya Chacha (uncle) would send some grain from his small shop to
Suryamani’s house. Chacha tried hard and got admission for Suryamani in the
school in Bishanpur.
Here
they would not have to pay for the fees, uniforms and books. Suryamani would
have to stay there and study. Suryamani didn't want to leave her village and
forest. But Maniya Chacha was firm.
“If
you do not study, what will you do? Go hungry?” Suryamani would argue, “Why
should I go hungry? The jungle is there to help!” Chacha tried
to
explain, “But we are being moved away from our forests.
Even
the forests are disappearing – in their place mines are being dug, dams are
being built. Believe me, it is important for you to study, to understand about
the laws. Maybe then you can help to save our forests”. Young Suryamani
listened, and tried to understand some of what he said
Suryamani’s
journey:
Suryamani
was filled with joy on seeing the school at Bishanpur. The school was near a
thick forest. Suryamani studied hard and passed her B.A. after getting a scholarship.
She
was the first girl in the village to do this. While she was in college she met
Vasavi didi, a journalist. Suryamani soon joined her to work for the Jharkhand
Jungle Bachao Andolan (Movement to Save the Forests of Jharkhand).
This
work took Suryamani to far off towns and cities. Her father did not like this.
But Suryamani continued her work. Not only that, she also started to fight for
the rights of the village people. Her childhood friend Bijoy helped her in this
work.
Suryamani
had another friend ‘Mirchi’, who stayed with her day and night. Suryamani would
share all her thoughts and dreams with Mirchi. Mirchi would listen and say
“Keee Keee.” Suryamani had a dream. for her Kuduk community. She wanted all her
people to feel proud of being adivasis.
Suryamani’s
Torang:
Suryamani
was 21 when she opened a centre, with the help of Vasavi didi and others. She
called it ‘Torang’, which means jungle in the Kuduk language.
Suryamani
wanted that on festivals people should sing their own songs. They should not
forget their music and should enjoy wearing their traditional clothes.
Children
should also learn about herbs, medicines, and the art of making things from
bamboo. Children should learn the language of school but must link it with
their own language.
All
this happens in the ‘Torang’ centre. Many special books about the Kuduk community
and other adivasis have been collected. Flutes and different types of drums are
also kept there.
Whenever
something is unfair, or if someone is afraid that his land and livelihood would
be taken away, they turn to Suryamani. Suryamani fights for everyone’s rights.
Suryamani
and Bijoy have got married and work together. Today their work is praised by
many people. She is invited, even to other countries, to share her experiences.
People of her area are also raising their voice for a new forest law.
Right
to Forest Act 2007
People
who have been living in the forests for at least 25 years, have a right over
the forest land and what is grown on it. They should not be removed from the
forest.
The
work of protecting the forest should be done by their Gram Sabha. A forest is
everything for us adivasis. We can’t live away from the forests even for a day.
Government has started many projects in the name of development – dams and
factories are being built.
Forests,
which are ours are being taken away from us. Because of these projects, we need
to think where the forest people will go and what will happen to their
livelihood?
Where
will the lakhs of animals living in the forests go? If there are no forests,
and we dig out our lands for minerals like aluminium, what will be left? Only
polluted air, water, and miles and miles of barren land...
Lottery
for farming in Mizoram:
You
read about the forests of Jharkhand in Suryamani’s story. Now read about
forests on the hills of Mizoram. See how people live there, and
how
farming is done.
Ding,
Ding, Ding.... As soon as the school bell rang Lawmte-aa, Dingi, Dingima picked
their bags and hurried home. On the way they stopped to drink water from a
stream in a cup made of bamboo which was kept there.
Today
not only the children, even ‘Saima Sir’ was in a hurry to get back. Today there
would be a special meeting of the Village Council (Panchayat). At the meeting there
would be a lottery to decide which family will get how much land for farming.
The
land belongs to the whole village, not to separate people. So they take turns
to do farming on different parts of the land. A beautiful pot made of bamboo
was shaken well. One chit was taken out. Saima Sir’s family got the first
chance.
He
said, “I am happy that my family gets to choose first. But, this year we cannot
take more land. Last year I had taken more and was not able to farm it well.
After my sister Jhiri got married and went away it is difficult to manage farming
alone.”
Saima
Sir asked for ‘three tin’ of land. Little Mathini asked, “ What is three tin of
land? Chamui explained, “The land on which we grow one tin of seeds is called
one tin of land.” One by one, the village families got their piece of land for
farming.
Jhoom
farming:
Jhoom
farming is very interesting. After cutting one crop, the land is left as it is
for some years. Nothing is grown there. The bamboo or weeds which grow on that
land are not pulled out. They are cut and burnt.
The
ash makes the land fertile. While burning, care is taken so that the fire does
not spread to the other parts of the forest. When the land is ready for farming
it is lightly dug up, not ploughed.
Seeds
are dropped on it. In one farm different types of crops like maize, vegetables,
chillies, rice can be grown. Weeds and other unwanted plants are also not
pulled out, they are just cut. So that they get mixed with the soil.
This
also helps in making the soil fertile. If some family is not able to do farming
on time, others help them and are given food.
The
main crop here is rice. After it is cut, it is difficult to take it home. There
are no roads, only hilly paths. People have to carry the crop on their
backs.
This takes many weeks. When the work is over the entire village celebrates.
People get together to cook and eat, sing and
dance. They do their special ‘cheraw’ dance. In this dance people sit in pairs
in front of each other, holding bamboo sticks on the ground.
As
the drum beats, the bamboos are beaten to the ground. Dancers step in and out
of the bamboo sticks, and dance to the beat.
Find
out more about the ‘cheraw’ dance. Do it in your class. But be careful and
don’t hurt yourself. About three-fourth people in Mizoram are linked to the
forests.
Life
is difficult but almost all children go to school. You can see some of them
here, playfully blowing their leaf whistles! You too have made many such
whistles, haven’t you!
THANKYOU,
NANDITHA
AKUNURI
A SEED TELLS A FARMER’S STORY - TEXT
A SEED TELLS A
FARMER’S STORY
ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES
CBSE-V
I
am a small seed!
I
am a small bajra seed. I have stayed in this beautiful wooden box since 1940. I
want to tell you my story. This is a long story but not mine alone. It is also
the story of my farmer Damjibhai and his family. If I do not tell my story now,
it might be too late!
I
was born in Vangaam in Gujarat. That year there was a good bajra (millet) crop.
There was a festive mood in the village. Our area was famous for its grain and
vegetables.
Each
year Damjibhai kept aside some seeds from a good crop. This way
our
bajra family went on from one generation to another. Good seeds were stored in
dried gourd (lauki ) which was coated with mud.
But
that year Damjibhai himself made a strong wooden box to store us. He put in
neem leaves to protect us from insects. He put different seeds in different
compartments of the box. That was our beautiful home!
In
those days Damjibhai and his cousins lived together. It was a large family.
Everyone in the village helped each other, even in farming. When
the
crop was ready and harvested, everyone celebrated together.
Oh!
Those wonderful days! With big feasts and lots to eat! In the winter, it would
be time to enjoy the undhiya (a kind of stew). All the vegetables were put into
a clay pot, along with fresh spices. The pot was sealed and kept between hot
coals. The vegetables cooked slowly in this special cooker, on the fields.
Oh,
I forgot, the pot was placed upside down! That is why the dish was called
undhiya or “upside down” in Gujarati. Undhiya would be eaten with bajra rotis,
freshly cooked on the chulha. Oh, what an earthy delicious flavour!
Along
with that, home-made butter, curd and buttermilk was served.
Farmers
would grow many different kinds of crops – grains and vegetables according to
the season. The farmers kept enough for their needs and sold the rest to shopkeepers
from the city.
Some
farmers also grew cotton. At home, family members spun cotton on a charkha
(spinning wheel) to make cloth.
When
times changed:
Over
the years, many changes took place in the village. Some places could get water
from the canal. They said the canal brought water from far away – where a dam
had been built on a big river.
Then
electricity came. Switch on the button and there was light! People found that
only one or two crops, like wheat and cotton, got better prices in the market.
So
most farmers began to grow only these. Soon we – old friends bajra and jowar, and
also vegetables – were forgotten and dismissed, even from
Damjibhai’s
fields! Farmers even began to buy seeds from the market.
People
said they were new kinds of seeds. So farmers did not need to store seeds from
the old crop.
Now
people in the village cooked and ate together only on very special days. As
they ate, they would remember how tasty the food used to be in the past – fresh
from the fields.
When
the seeds have changed, how could food ever taste the same! Damjibhai was
getting old. His son Hasmukh looked after the fields and the family. Hasmukh
was making a lot of money from farming. He rebuilt the old house.
He
brought new machines for farming. He used an electric motor to pump water. He
bought a motorcycle to go to the city easily and also a tractor to plough the
field. The tractor could do in a day, what the bullocks would take many days to
do.
Hasmukh
would say, “Now we are farming wisely. We grow only what we can sell in the
market at a good price. With profits from our fields we can improve our life.
We
can make progress.” Lying forgotten in the wooden box, I and
the
other seeds had our doubts. Is all this really progress? There is no longer any
need for seeds like us, and animals like the bullocks. After the tractor has
come, even people who worked on the fields, are no longer needed. How will they
earn money? What will they live on?
More
and more expenses:
The
next twenty years saw even more changes. Without cows and buffaloes, there was
no cow dung, to be used in the fields as fertilizer. Hasmukh had to buy
expensive fertilizer.
The
new kinds of seeds were such that the crops were easily affected by harmful insects.
Medicines had to be sprayed on the crops to keep away
the
insects.
Oh,
what a bad smell these had, and how expensive they were! The canal water was
not enough for the new crops. All the farmers used pumps to lift
water
from deep under the ground.
To
meet all these expenses, loans had to be taken from the bank. Whatever little
profit was made, was used to repay the loan. But there was little profit!
Everyone
was growing cotton, so the cotton prices were not as high as before. The soil
itself was no longer the same. Growing the same crop
over
and over, and using so many chemicals, had affected the soil so much that now
nothing could grow well there.
It
was becoming difficult to earn a living by farming alone. Hasmukh too changed
with the times. He is often tense and angry most of the time. His educated son
Paresh did not want to do farming. He now started work as a truck driver.
After
all, the bank loans still had to be repaid. Often Paresh doesn’t come home for
days. At times he is away for a week. Two days back when he came home, Paresh
started looking for something.
“Ba”,
he asked his mother, “Where is Dadaji’s wooden seed box? It will be useful to
keep the screws and tools for the truck.” Now do you understand why I told you
my story?
Read
the report from a newspaper and discuss it:
Tuesday,
18 December 2007, Andhra Pradesh Farmers in Andhra Pradesh have been sent to
jail for not being able to pay back their loans.
They
had suffered a big loss in farming. One of these farmers, Nallappa Reddy, had taken
a bank loan of Rs. 24,000. To repay the loan, he had to take another loan from
a private moneylender, at a very high rate of interest.
Even
after repaying Rs. 34,000 Reddy could not repay the entire loan. Reddy says,
“The bank sends farmers to jail for not paying back small loans. But what about
the big businessmen? They take loans of crores of rupees.
Nothing
happens to them when they do not return the money!” Nallappa Reddy’s story is
shared by thousands of farmers in India who are suffering huge losses.
The
situation is so bad that many farmers see no way out of this except to commit
suicide. According to government figures 1,50,000 farmers have died like this
between 1997 and 2005. This number may be much higher...
Bhaskarbhai’s
Farm (Dehri village, Gujarat)
As
we entered his farm, we were surprised. There were dead leaves, wild plants,
and grass everywhere! Some of the tree branches seemed so dry, as if eaten by
insects. At places we saw some plants with colourful leaves.
Why
these? Bhaskarbhai said they were croton plants which gave him a signal when
the soil became dry. We were surprised! How? He explained that the roots of the
croton do not go deep in the ground.
So
when the top layer of the soil becomes dry, the croton leaves bend and become
limp. This signal tells Bhaskarbhai which part of his farm needs to be watered.
We
found the soil soft and crumbly. We could see tall coconut trees, full of fresh
coconuts. We thought he must be using some special fertilisers.
Bhaskarbhai
said he does not buy fertilisers made in factories.
His
soil is fertile because of all the dried leaves which slowly rot and mix with
it. He dug the soil a little and told us to look. We saw thousands of
earthworms! “These are my soil's best friends”, he said.
The
earthworms soften the soil as they keep digging underneath to make tunnels.
This way air and water can easily get into the soil. The earthworms also eat
the dead leaves and plants, and their droppings fertilise the soil.
Pravin
told us about his uncle in the city, who has dug a pit in his garden. He puts
dried leaves in the pit, along with all the kitchen waste – peels of vegetables
and fruits, and leftover food. He also has earthworms in the pit.
They
turn the waste into compost (a natural fertiliser). So his uncle gets good fertiliser
without spending extra money. We all had some fresh coconuts from the farm.
They were really tasty! We also learnt so much about a new way of farming! Group
members : Praful, Hansa, Krutika, Chakki, Praveen, Class–5C
Journey
of a bajra seed–from a field to a plate
What
can you see in each picture on the next page?
In
picture 2 you can see the bajra cobs in the mortar (okhli, usedfor crushing).
The cobs are crushed with a pestle (moosli ) andthe seeds are separated from
the cob.
You
can see the separatedseeds in picture 3. Now this work is also done by big
machines,like threshers. We call both these as different ‘technologies’ –using
our hands or big machines – to crush the seeds.
THAKYOU,
NANDITHA
AKUNURI
NO PLACE FOR US -TEXT
NO PLACE FOR US?
ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES
CBSE-V
Jatryabhai
Jatryabhai
was sitting at the door with his daughter Jhimli. They were waiting for Sidya.
It was almost night but Sidya had not come home. Two years back Jatrya’s family
came to Mumbai from Sinduri village.
Here,
they only knew the family of a distant relative. With their help, Jatryabhai began
to repair torn fishing nets. But the money he got
was
not enough.
They
had to pay for the medicines, food, school fees and rent for the house. Here,
they even had to buy water. Young Sidya also had to work in the nearby fish factory
to earn some money.
From
four o’clock till seven o’clock in the morning, he cleaned and sorted the big and
small fish. Then he would come home, take a nap, and go to school in the
afternoon. In the evening he would wander around the vegetable market.
He
would help some memsahib (lady) to carry her bags, or go to the railway station
to pick up empty bottles and newspapers to sell to the kabadiwalla (junk seller).
Somehow
they were managing their life in the city. It was night, but Sidya had not come
home. Jhimli was watching a dance on TV, through the neighbour’s window.
But
Jatrya did not like watching TV. Here, everything was so different. The day
would pass running around for work, but the evening brought back old memories.
Thinking
of old days:
Jatrya
was born in Khedi village, in the middle of thick green jungles and hills. His
people had been living here for many years even before his grandfather was
born.
There
was peace in Jatrya’s village, but not silence. There were so many soothing
sounds – the gurgle of the flowing river, the murmur of trees and the chirping
of birds. People did farming.
They
would go to the nearby forest, chatting and singing together, to collect wild
fruits, roots and dried wood. While working with elders, children also learnt
many things – to dance together, to play flute and dhol, to make pots of clay
and bamboo, to recognise birds and imitate their sounds, etc.
People
collected things from the forest for their use. Some of those they would sell
in the town across the river. With that money they would buy salt, oil and some
clothes.
It
was a village, but people here lived together like a big family. Jatrya’s
sister was married in the same village. People helped each other, in good and
bad times. The elders would arrange weddings, and settle quarrels.
Jatrya
was now a strong young man. He worked hard in the fields and caught fish from
the big river. He and his friends would go to the forest to collect fruits, roots
and plants for medicines, and fish from the river, to sell these in the town.
During
festival time, Jatrya would dance and play the drum, with boys and girls of his
age.
Across
the river:
One
day the people of Khedi heard that a big dam was to be built on the river. For
this, a big wall would be built to stop the flow of the river. Khedi and many
nearby villages in that area would be drowned under water. The people would have to leave their villages
and their lands, on which their forefathers had lived for centuries.
After
a few days, government officials along with the police started visiting these
villages. Small children of the village saw the police for the first time. Some
children would run after them, and some would get scared and start crying.
The
officials measured the width and length of the river, the fields, forests and
houses. They called meetings with the elders of the village. They said, “Villages on the bank of the river
would have to be removed. People having land at Khedi will be given land far away,
on the other side of the river.
They
will have everything there – a school, electricity, hospitals, buses, trains,
etc. They will have all that they could not even dream of here in Khedi.”
Jatrya’s
parents and most elders were not happy about leaving
their
village. Listening to all this, Jatrya would get a little scared, but also feel
excited. He would think that after getting married, he would take his bride to
the new house in the new village.
A
house where he could just press a button for the light and turn on the tap for water.
He could go by bus to see the city. When he would have children, he could send
them to school. They will not be like him, who had never been to school.
A
new place:
It
was a summer afternoon. Jatrya was feeling faint in the hot sun and wind. His
feet were burning on the coal tar of the pucca road. There wasn’t a single tree
to offer some shade.
Just
a few houses and shops. Jatrya was on his way home after buying
medicines.
He had an old tyre on his back. These days, he had to light his stove with just
these rubber pieces of old tyres.
These
caught fire fast, and also saved some firewood. But the smoke and smell of
burning tyres were terrible! In this new Sinduri village, they had to pay money
for everything— medicines, food, vegetables, firewood, and fodder for the animals.
They
could just not afford to buy kerosene. But from where to get the money for all
this? Thinking of all this, Jatrya reached home. The roof made of a tin sheet
made the house hot like an oven.
Jatrya’s
wife had high fever. His daughter Jhimli was rocking her little brother Sidya
to sleep in her lap. After all, there was no other older person with them.
Jatrya’s
parents had been so sad about leaving Khedi that they had died before he moved
here.
In
Sinduri there were only eight-ten families he could call his own, those from
his old village. The whole village had got scattered and people had gone
wherever they had been given land.
This
was not like the new village Jatrya had dreamt about. There was electricity,
but only for sometime in a day. And then, the electricity bill had also to be
paid. There were taps, but no water!
In
this village, Jatrya got just one room in a tin shed. It had no place to keep
the animals. He also got a small piece of land. But that was not good for
farming. It was full of rocks and stones.
Still
Jatrya and his family worked very hard. But they could not grow much on the
field, and could not make enough money even to buy seeds and fertilisers. In
Khedi, people did not fall sick often.
If
someone fell ill there were many people who knew how to treat them with
medicines made from plants. People felt better after taking those medicines.
Here in Sinduri, there was a hospital but it was difficult to find doctors, and
there were no medicines.
There
was a school here, but the teacher did not care much about the children from
Khedi village. These children found it difficult to study in a new language.
The
people of Sinduri did not welcome the newcomers from Khedi. They found their language
and way of living strange. They made fun of the Khedi people by calling them
‘unwanted guests’. Not much of what he had dreamt had come true!
Some
years later:
Jatrya
stayed for a few years in Sinduri. The children were also getting older. But
Jatrya’s heart was not here in Sinduri. He still missed his old Khedi.
But
there was no Khedi now. There was a big dam and a big lake of collected water
in and around Khedi. Jatrya thought, “If we are to be called ‘unwanted guests’,
then at least let us go to some place where our dreams can come true.”
Jatrya
sold his land and his animals and came to Mumbai. Here, he started a new life
with his family. His only dream was to send his children to school, to give
them a better future, a better life.
Here
too, things were not easy. But he hoped that things would get
better.
Jatrya started saving money to repair his one-room shack. His
relatives
would tell him, “Don’t waste money on this. Who knows, we may have to move from
here too. In Mumbai there is no place to stay for
outsiders
like us.”
Jatrya
was scared and worried. He thought, “We left Khedi for Sinduri, we then left
Sinduri for Mumbai. If we have to move from here too, then where can we go? In
this big city, is there not even a small place for my family to stay?”
THANKYOU,
NANDITHA
AKUNURI
WHO WILL DO THIS WORK -TEXT
WHO WILL DO THIS
WORK
ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES
CBSE-V
Have
you seen such scenes around you? Have you ever thought of people who do this
work? Can you imagine how they would feel?
Why
do you think people need to do this kind of work?
Our
friends spoke to some staff who do cleaning jobs. Here are some of the things
they told us.
Since
when have you been doing this work?
A.
About twenty years. Since I completed my studies.
Q.
Why did you not study further? You could have got some other job?
A.
You need money for studies. And even after that most of our people continue to
do this kind of work.
Q.
What do you mean?
A.
Since our great grandfathers’ times... or even before that, most people of our
community have been doing this work. Even after getting a college degree, our
people do not get any other kind of job. So they have to do this work.
Q.
Why is that so?
A.
That is the way it is. In the entire city, all the people who do this kind of work
are from our community. It has always been so.
Interview
(adapted) from the documentary film ‘India Untouched’ by Stalin. K.
Imagine
What
would happen if nobody did this work? If nobody cleared the garbage lying
outside your school or your house for one week, then what would happen?
Think
of some ways (machines, or other things) so that people would not have to do
the work they don't like to do. Draw a picture of what you thought. (These
pictures are also made by children)
Do
you think that anyone has ever tried to change this situation? Yes, many people
have tried. People are trying even today. But it is not easy to change this.
One
such person was Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji had a friend Mahadevbhai Desai. Mahadevbhai’s
son Narayan also stayed with Gandhiji when he was young. This incident is from
Narayan's book.
Teacher’s
Note
Remembering
those days
When
Narayan (Babla) was about 11 years old, he was staying in Gandhiji’s Sabarmati
Ashram. Like everyone else in the Ashram, he had to do various kinds of work.
One of his jobs was to teach the guests how to clean the toilets.
In
those days, the toilets were not what we know today. There used to be holes
under which baskets were kept. People sat on the holes. Later the baskets had
to be lifted by hand, to be emptied.
It
was the usual practice that people from a particular community would do this
work. But in Gandhiji’s Ashram, every person had to carry the basket to the
compost pit and empty it there. No one was excused from this task - not even
the guests. Narayanbhai remembers how some people used to try and avoid this
work. Some even left the Ashram because of this.
Some
years later Gandhiji went to stay at a village, near Wardha in Maharashtra.
Gandhiji, Mahadevbhai and others started to clean the toilets in the village.
They did this for some months. One morning a man coming from the toilet, saw
Mahadevbhai.
He
pointed to him and said “There is a lot of dirt over there. Go and clean that!”
When Babla saw this, he was very angry. He thought, the villagers felt that
this was not their work. This was for Gandhiji and his team to do. He asked
Gandhiji why this was so. Gandhiji replied, “Untouchability is a serious
matter.
Lot
of hardwork will be required to change this.” Narayan knew that the people who
usually did this work were thought to be untouchable. He asked “What is the use
if the village people do not
change
their thinking? They have become used to someone else doing this work for
them.”
Gandhiji
replied, “Why”? Don’t you think the people who clean also benefit from it. They
also learn a lesson. To learn something is like learning a new skill. Even if
it is a cleaning job.”
Little
Narayan was not convinced. He again argued, “Those who make a place dirty but
do not clean it should also learn lessons.” Gandhiji and Narayan continued to
argue about this. But when he grew up Narayan always followed the path shown by
Gandhiji. From the book in Gujarati by Narayanbhai Desai – Sant-Charan-Raj,
Sevita, Sahaj
A
childhood story
This
story is almost a hundred years old. Seven-year old Bhim went to Goregaon
in
Maharashtra with his father to spend his holidays. He saw a barber cutting the
long hair of a rich farmer’s buffallo.
He
thought of his own long hair. He went to the barber and asked for a hair cut.
The barber replied, “If I cut your hair both my razor and I will get dirty.”
Oh, so to cut human hair can be dirtier than cutting an animal’s hair, wondered
little Bhim.
Later
this little Bhim was known as Bhim Rao Baba Saheb Ambedkar.
He
became very famous across the world. Baba Saheb fought for justice for people
like him. After India’s freedom the Constitution was prepared under the
leadership of Baba Saheb.
Narayan
and Gandhiji discussed all this many years ago. Have
things
changed now? A conversation in school - the reality today
Hetal
: I am Hetal, and this is Meena. We both study in Class III.
Q:
What all do you do in school.
Meena:
We clean the ground
Q:
Do all children clean
Hetal
: No, not all.
Meena
: We also have to clean the toilets. We do it on different days. I
clean
on Monday, she does on Tuesday, and she on Wednesday … All
the
children from our community do this.
Hetal
: We have to carry twenty buckets of water for this. We have to
sweep
and wash.
Q
: Why only you? Why not all the children?
Hetal
: Only we have to. If we don’t we get beaten.
Interview
(adapted) from the documentary film ‘India Untouched’ by Stalin. K.
THANKYOU,
NANDITHA
AKUNURI
Saturday, March 5, 2016
DIFFUSION-TEXT
UPTAKE OF WATER AND SALT BY PLANTS
BIOLOGY
You have learnt earlier that plants survive if water, minerals ans others nutrients are provided to them. In this lesson, we will learn how these substances enter the plant cell. To understand this we have to understand the terms diffusion and ‘osmosis’ and the processes associated with them.
Diffusion
We will do a simple experiment to understand the process of diffusion. Take a beaker full of water and carefully add two or three crystals of copper sulphate or potassium permanganate.
When the permanganate crystal settles at the bottom of the beaker, a small amount of water comes in contact with the surface of crystal. This water dissolves permanganate and results in the formation of a concentrated solution of the salt at the point.
1. All the molecules in a solution are in a state of continuous motion.
2. They move randomly in all the directions.
3. Molecules move from higher concentration to lower concentration.
4. this movement from higher to lower
concentration occurs till the concentration
becomes equal at both the points..
THANKYOU,
NANDITHA AKUNURI
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