Working for the environment is a growing priority at NIRMAN. Below are some current projects and activities we do, and plans for the future.

Green Campus

Since NIRMAN was founded, we have tried to create a campus that is ecologically friendly. Apart from planting trees, bushes, and vegetables, we have used local and environmentally friendly materials for building, like bamboo, tiles, and Chunar stone. Everyone on the campus has assisted in its beautification and maintenance, by removing stones, whitewashing, and gardening. Vidyashram school children take turns every day cleaning plastic and garbage from both inside the school campus and the street outside. Everyone on the campus tries to avoid using plastic bags, and the cafe and shop use cloth and paper bags for shopping and selling. Pattals and paper are used during events, and washable plates and utensils on a daily basis.

In 2007, grades 5 and 6 started a project to separate garbage, make a compost pit, and to train other students, teachers, and staff in garbage disposal techniques. All garbage on the campus is now separated into recyclable, compostable, and garbage to be used in art projects, so that unusable waste is now at a minimum.

We have created one soak pit and are planning to begin rainwater harvesting this year. We are looking into the prospective of solar energy for our rural campus. We are creating a public space with information about environmental problems and solutions outside our city campus. 

Tree Planting

We have planted over one hundred trees on our rural campus in Betawar. We are now planting more trees on our own land and also on neighbouring fallow fields, with the permission of the farmers. We want to encourage farmers to plant trees on land they do not use, or in between plots of land and on the river bank, to prevent soil erosion. We have painted walls in the village to disseminate information about soil erosion, pollution, global warming, and other issues.

During our Fairs, we invite people to 'plant a tree' by contributing half the amount required to buy a tree and build its 'ghera' (protective circle). NIRMAN matches each contribution. Betawar and the surrounding villages have very fertile soil: contact us if you would like to plant some trees!

Ganga Project

The river Ganga is very polluted! About 95% of this pollution comes from untreated sewage flowing directly into the river. This project was an attempt Vidyashram school children to find a way that they could actually contribute to the work different organisations and people, including the Swatchha Ganga Foundation are doing to change the system of cleaning sewage. For a number of years before that, students had participated in the Swatchha Ganga Student Congress, which aimed to create student awareness and action. However, we felt that there was no real result from this Congress. So, with the cooperation of Swatchha Ganga and Angela Baker from Oz Green Foundation, we conducted a year-long self-designed project.

We started by training in critical thinking, so that the students would be able to analyse the information and have a systematic way of understanding the problem and trying to find a solution, rather than thinking of the usual simplistic ideas such as poster making. We studied and discussed the facts of the case, discussed government and policies, bureaucracy, law, public awareness and change-making. Then we brainstormed all the possible ways we could join this cause. We analysed each one in terms of the results we could expect to achieve, and did surveys among parents and neighbours to judge actual effectiveness.

Finally, the students decided that there should be more public awareness and therefore pressure on the government to take decisive action, and the way they were best equipped to make this happen was through educating other school students like themselves. They created a curriculum to condense and teach about the problem (spending some time and guest lectures learning about making curricula), and did test teaching visits at the local municipal school.

We are now planning to reach as many schools in Varanasi as possible, and hopefully will be able to collaborate with other organisations in creating youth groups to expand the project.

Plastic Campaign and Clean-Up Lanka 

As part of the Resource Centre, we have been working in Lanka, the nearby shopping market, to increase awareness about reducing the use of plastic bags and garbage disposal. We work in teams to encourage shopkeepers and buyers to use cloth bags and dustbins. We are also working in a slum in Nagwa, near Lanka, to clean up and provide information and support about garbage and cleanliness.