I first came across the name of Sunita Narain, while browsing through

a report of the publication, “Down to Earth”, in my office library. That was about

 five or six years ago. Since then, one has become more familiar with her work

through the media and through her writings. She is an amazing woman, who has

not so demurely, taken on the Government and industry managers, on several

issues related to the environment , local democracy, sustainable development ,

water management etc.

     Sunita is currently the Director of the Council for Science and Environment

 a non-governmental organization based in New Delhi. In the year, 2005, she

 was awarded the Padma Shri, which is the highest civilian honour, by the

Government of India, for her commitment to environmental protection.

Reacting to the award, Sunita narain is reported to have said “This award in

2005, rewards the growth of the environmental movement, which shows that

 to bring in change, it is sometimes necessary to push the system to demand

 more. This award is for all of us in the environmental  movement and for all

the protests and fights that  need to be won”

       For a profile of this dynamic young woman, here is a link: http://www.cseindia.org/html/au/au12_sunitabio.htm

       The Council for Science and Environment, headed by Sunita Narain, was also awarded the 2005 Stockholm Water prize for CSE’s  work . This award is given annually to individuals and institutions for their outstanding contributions to the world of water.

“The award has been given to CSE for its efforts to build a new paradigm of water management, which uses the traditional wisdom of rainwater harvesting and advocates the role of communities in managing their local water systems. In its citation, the Nominating Committee lauded CSE, under the leadership of Ms. Narain, “For a successful recovery of old and generation of new knowledge on water management, a community-based sustainable integrated resource management under gender equity, a courageous stand against undemocratic, top-down bureaucratic resource control, an efficient use of a free press, and an independent judiciary to meet these goals.”

          You may recall controversy kicked up by the report of the CSE, which had revealed the presence of pesticides and harmful chemicals in Coca Cola and Pepsi.In Kerala, as soon as the present left Government came to power, it had banned the production and sales of Coca- Cola in the stat, in confirmation of its stand in the Plachimada agitation, of which I wrote in an earlier post.. The Kerala High Court had however quashed the ban,on the grounds that the powers under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, vested with the Central Government and also that the ban cannot be justified solely on a report by an NGO, the CSE.

          I am not aware, whether  the Kerala Government had taken this matter further for adjudication by the Supreme Court and if so , the further developments in the case.

           In an article in “Counter Currents”, written by Sunita Narain, she draws attention to the increasingly predictable response of the Corporate Lobby, to public concerns. She writes:

       “This is a distinct and predictable pattern of corporate response to public concerns. The two cola giants responded to the study on pesticides in their soft drinks in a similar manner. Hours after we, at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), released our report, the two companies — PepsiCo and Coca-Cola — convened a press conference to condemn the report and to question the credibility of our testing laboratory.

They followed it up with a public relations blitz. The strategy was simple: denigrate the report, the institution and the individuals who work there. In the process, the findings of the report will also be rubbished.

But what is new, at least for India, is an emerging line of attack to question the “right” of a non-governmental organisation to raise public issues. PepsiCo filed a writ petition in the court, which said that CSE is a “a non-governmental organisation having no legal authority or recognition” and therefore, “the report prepared by a private person does not have any sanctity in law and could not have been binding upon any person, much less the governmental authorities.”

  To read the entire article, here is the link: http://www.countercurrents.org/en-narain101203.htm

          The work being done by NGOs like the CSE and people like Sunita Narain is truly remarkable. The articles  that are published in “Down To Earth” gives so much of information in the areas of water management, sustainable development etc. that one is astounded by one’s own ignorance about what is happening around us and  the possibilities for positive change, if there is a concerted effort  on the part of the policy makers, the implementing agencies of the Government and most of all  with the involvement of the citizens. 

       Here is another link to an interesting interview with Sunita Narain.

http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-a/39/i23/html/120105interview.html

Hey, who said that women are the weaker sex?  Time to redefine what is strength, don’t you think so?