Resources in India

1.0 ARTI - Appropriate Rural Technology Institute, Pune Maharashtra

Appropriate Rural Technology Institute, or ARTI for short, is a Non-Government Organisation (NGO), founded by a group of scientists and social workers. Each member of the ARTI group has spend his/her entire adult life in activities related to rural development. The group had been functioning informally for more than 10 years, when ARTI was formally registered in April 1996, as a Scientific Society and a Public Trust.

Dr. A.D. Karve, President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI), 2nd Floor, Maninee Apartments, Survey No. 13, Opposite Pure Foods Co., Dhayarigaon, Pune 411 029, India. E-mail: karve@wmi.co.in

More info on ARTI

2.0 Mithradham - a solar powered village in Kerala

Renewable Energy Centre - Chunangamveli village near Kochi in Kerala

It is the first fully solar educational institution in India.
A pilot NGO initiative in India for propagation of renewable energy.
A model for sustainable and holistic development.
A tropical garden away from the rush of the city (tropical garden, pepper, ananas, etc.).
A model for organic cultivation of vegetables, fruits and spices.
A model for North-South co-operation in environment and renewable energy.

Mithradham is situated in Chunangamveli village, 16 km from Kochi International Airport and 6 km from the Aluva Railway Station Aluva Bus stand. All the trains from north to south Kerala pass through Aluva. Chunangamveli has a chapel on the roadside along the bus route from Aluva to Perumbavoor.

Dr George Peter
Director of Renewable Energy Centre - Mithradham
Chunangamveli, Aluva,
Kochi, 683105 Kerala, India
Tel.: ++91 484-639 185
Fax.: ++91 484 638 441
E-mail: mithram1@satyam.net.in

More info on Mithradham

3.0 Development Alternatives, New Delhi

A non-profit organisation established in 1983, creating large scale Sustainable Livelihoods.

The mission of the Development Alternatives Group is to promote sustainable national development. The corporate objectives are to innovate and disseminate the means for creating sustainable livelihoods on a large scale, and thus to mobilise widespread action to eradicate poverty and regenerate the environment. The corporate strategy is : innovation, through design, development and dissemination of
Appropriate technologies
Effective institutional systems
Environmental and resource management methods

Dr Ashok Khosla
Development Alternatives
B-32, Tara Crescent
Qutab Institutional Area
New Delhi - 110016
Phone : 91-11-685-1158, 696-7938
Fax : 91-11-686-6031
Email : tara@sdalt.ernet.in

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4.0 National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

To Examine and analyse the factors contributing to the improvement of economic and social well-being of people in rural areas on a sustainable basis with focus on the rural poor and the other disadvantaged groups through research,action research and consultancy efforts.

To facilitate the rural development efforts with particular emphasis and focus on the rural poor by improving the knowledge,skills and attitudes of rural development officials and non-officials through organising training,workshops and seminars.

Grameen Bharat

Grameen Bharat is the monthly news magazine of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, published by the National Institute of Rural development, Hyderabad, India. This is the only one of its kind news magazine in India published simultaneously in 13 languages highlighting the rural development activities in the country

Dr. A. V. S. Reddy, Director General, NIRD
National Institute of Rural Development
Rajendranagar,Hyderabad-500030
Phone: 91-40-24008522/523/524/525/526/473
Fax: 91-40-24015277,24008502,24016500

More info on National Institute of Rural Development

5.0 Jan Manch - CREDO - Delhi

Janmanch.org will be the information exchange platform of CREDO.
Centre for Research into Environment and Development Online (CREDO) The key aspect of the venture will be to provide an extensive and regularly updated and contemporarised research database and information warehouse to researchers, NGOs and journalists working at developmental issues.

CREDO, or the Centre for Research into the Environment and Development Online, is a non-governmental organisation aimed at bridging the digital divide in the development sector.

CREDO’s principal objective is to facilitate and democratise information exchanges which can provide platforms for data about traditional knowledge and successful grassroots movements.

To do this, CREDO will exploit the reach and accessibility of the Internet to build an interactive platform for information exchange.

Janmanch
Phones: ++91-11-2651-0226, 2656-1815 Email: thecredo@vsnl.net

More info on Janmanch

6.0 SHIKSHANTAR, Jaipur Rajasthan

While education has been framed as the cure to this crisis, in reality, the factory model of schooling is part of the problem. Around the world, education systems have become commercialized 'businesses' which serve to stratify society, glorify militarism, devalue local knowledge systems and languages, manufacture unsustainable wants, breed discontent and frustration, stifle creativity, motivation and expression, and dehumanize communities. The 19th-century model of factory-schooling today stands in the way of building organic learning societies for the 21st century.

There is an urgent need to start thinking differently if we wish to do things differently. This starts with facing the reality that the problems that threaten to overwhelm and destroy India arise from the 'schooled', not from the so-called illiterates. Thus, expanding or reforming the existing system of factory-schooling (whether through schools, distance education, literacy classes or non-formal centers) will not solve the crisis.

Manish Jain
Manish has spent the past three-and-a-half years as Coordinator of Shikshantar and Chief Editor of Vimukt Shiksha. Before co-founding Shikshantar, Manish spent two years serving as a principal architect of the UNESCO Learning Without Frontiers transnational initiative. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant in several countries in the areas of educational planning, policy analysis, research, program design, and media/technology with UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank, USAID, the Academy for Educational Development, Education Development Center, and the Harvard Institute for International Development.

Shikshantar
Manish Jain
21-Fatehpura,Udaipur, Rajasthan-313004, India.
Tel: (91) 294-245-1303
Fax: (91) 294-245-1925
E-mail: manish@swaraj.org

More info on Shikshantar

7.0 Gram Swaraj - Kuthambakkam, Tamil Nadu

Ever since Elango left his lucrative government job and returned to his village Kuthambakkam, drawn by its abject poverty and provoked by the indifference of the administrative mechanism to the misery of such villages, turned to Gandhian ideals and began his experiment in gram swaraj, he has not looked back. Many results in these 8 years of his struggle have proved the practicality of the ideal and today he is convinced about this being the best route to true development of villages in India.

Rangasamy Elango
President, Kuthambakkam Village Panchayat
Poonamalee Taluk
Thiruvallur District - 602107
Tamil Nadu, India
91-44-5016595
E-mail: panchayat@vsnl.net
E-mail: panchayat@yahoo.com

More info on Kuthambakkam Village

8.0 Centre for Science and Environment, (CSE) New Delhi

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is an independent, public interest organisation which aims to increase public awareness on science, technology, environment and development. The Centre was started in 1980.

For more than two decades, CSE has been creating awareness about the environmental challenges facing our nation. Searching for solutions that people and communities can implement themselves. Challenging India to confront its problems. Inspiring it to take action. Pushing the government to create frameworks for people and communities to act on their own.

Sunita Narain
Director - CSE
41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area,
New Delhi-110062, INDIA
Tel: +91 (011)-260-66854, 260-59810, 299-55410, 299-55781, 299-56394;
Fax: +91 (011) 299-55879
E-mail: cse@cseindia.org

More info on Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

9.0 ProPoor.org

ProPoor is an internet portal that meets the needs of nonprofit service organizations in South Asia. Recently overhauled, this website retains updated information on organizations, projects, individuals, success stories and appeals. With a focus on delivering resources, new developments, and inspirational stories, ProPoor's website brings information that makes a difference. We hope to match resources with needs and in the process awaken the light of service in individual hearts.

ProPoor, a nonprofit based in Kolkata, India, began with Parekh and two of his closest friends in 1998. Their vision was to establish a portal linking Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) across South Asia in meaningful ways and facilitating easy access and exchange of valuable information between NGOs and donors. With a small but fiercely dedicated staff, in less than five years ProPoor built up a site that today showcases details of close to 13,000 nonprofits across South Asia that can be located by name, region or area of focus. In addition, the site hosts sections on developmental news, appeals by NGOs, project reports, and inspiring stories of service.

More info on ProPoor