From helping slum dwellers transport water to making education accessible: top Social Stories this week
This week, SocialStory offered a wide variety of articles, ranging from education to social innovation and the human impact on the environment.
Many people and organisations have made helping the underprivileged their priority- be it in getting them the rights they are entitled to or in helping them with essential services.
While Harleen Kaur, a design student, made a product to help slum dwellers collect, carry, and transport water to their homes with ease, social entrepreneur Samina Bano is working towards making public welfare schemes more accessible through policy advocacy and unlocking public funds.
With Jal Saathi, this Delhi youngster is helping slum dwellers transport, store water
Every morning, a crowd of people gathered around water tankers is a visual familiar in most parts of India.
Buckets and pots—of various shapes, sizes, and colours—line the roads as families hurdle to get their share of water for that day’s chores and other activities, including drinking.
Using Jal Saathi
A student of design at Pearl Academy, Delhi, Harleen Kaur was clear that she wanted to pursue her profession in the field of social responsibility. She had occasionally seen her domestic help take large empty protein powder boxes to her home.
Upon enquiring, she learned that the containers were used for collecting water.
When it came to her final year project, Harleen didn't have to think twice. In 2020, she launched Jal Saathi—a low-cost, hygienic, portable water container—designed specifically for urban slum dwellers in India.
RightWalk Foundation strives to make education accessible to all children in UP
A firm believer in equality, inclusion, and social justice, Samina Bano is a ‘policy entrepreneur’ driving institutional and sustainable social change through public policy interventions. She envisions transforming poor households into sustainable households.
Samina works towards making public welfare schemes more accessible through policy advocacy and unlocking public funds. Her vision is deeply ingrained in the programmes of , a not-for-profit founded by her in 2017 in Uttar Pradesh.
Before this, she had started Bharat Abhyudaya Foundation, which focused on improving learning outcomes in government and aided schools in the country.
Despite my spinal cord injury, I am a para athlete and want to represent India
Rupa Devi met with an accident in 2019 that left her unable to walk. But she trained to play badminton in a wheelchair, and is now raring to represent India.
Rupa thinks of May 22, 2019, as a black day. She was on the terrace of her house and suddenly felt dizzy. It was so bad that she fell off the terrace and fell unconscious, after which she was rushed to hospital. She had to undergo surgery, after which the doctors informed her family about her spinal cord injury and also told them that she would no longer be able to walk. She lost her confidence completely, but soon rebounded to become a badminton player.
Is human behaviour making or breaking the environment?
Humans and the environment they live (comprising the ecology, plants, and nature) have an ancient and distinct relationship.
We have made significant industrial and economic progress in the past 200 years. It is estimated that carbon emissions before the year 1750 were almost zero, demonstrating how human activities and behaviour have affected the planet.
In the race for economic growth and development, the environment has felt the wrath of human activities.
However, from a historical perspective, there are various examples where human-environment interaction has led to the protection of the planet. For instance, the construction of dams avoided floods, agriculture prevented soil erosion and staved off hunger, and science helped treat numerous diseases among animals and humans.
