Paying Tribute to the Mahatma: HELPI cleans Roads

Mahatma Gandhi said, "Sanitation is more important than independence". His dream was total sanitation for all. Taking a step towards this dream, team HELPI organized a cleanliness drive on Sohna Road and in areas around it. This activity was their way of paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary. And what else could be a better tribute to father of the nation than taking forward his dream. The whole team including the founders of HELPI participated in the event. Their efforts were so earnest that passersby joined them in their endeavour.

Mahatma Gandhi was against untouchability and had empathy for manual scavengers and cleaners. The society has changed a lot since those times but still there is a trust deficit between them and those they serve.HELPI is working towards bridging the trust gap between users and blue-collared professionals. It is a start-up which provides domestic helps and cleaners on an hourly pricing basis via a technology platform that connects customers with HELPI cleaners. Founded by three alumni of IIT Mumbai, the startup is bound to create a revolution in the manner we hire domestic aids and cleaners. The cleaners get notification on the jobs in the neighbourhood via an app, which also helps them in managing their jobs, as well as visibility on customer feedback and incentive accounting. The cleaning professionals thus not only gets job opportunities, they are imparted skills training to hone their cleaning as well as soft skills. The organisation provides a platform through which the cleaning professionals can earn up to twice the amount they were making when working independently, or with other contractors e.g. a full time domestic help generally makes 6-8 K whereas cleaner or a maid with HELPI can get upto 30,000.

IVRS was introduced by the agency to ease out the problem of Maids and helps who find it difficult to operate a smart phone. Other than augmenting skill development and providing upward mobility in the society to those who were not fortunate enough to get formal education, HELPI also organizes cleaning drives as a part of its CSR initiative. They have a firm organizational belief that India's communities can be cleaned easily if it becomes a mass movement, and everybody contributes 2 hours a month with their friends and family and participate in a cleaning drive.

Piyush Peshwani, founder, HELPI said, “We believe in the statement that, “God resides in cleanliness. And we are determined towards achieving it. Be it by providing our services or by wielding the brooms ourselves.”

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GIZ India Clean Cooking Forum 2015 on Oct 5-6 in New Delhi

New Delhi, October 5, 2015 : According to WHO’s Global Burden of Disease assessment, an estimated 1.04 million premature deaths per year in India are attributable to household air pollution from cooking fuels. With over 150 million Indian households still dependent on inefficient solid fuels for cooking, India pays a pernicious human, economic and environmental cost for lack of access to clean energy. Clean energy for cooking is not just a climate issue but also an issue of consequence to health, social and gender equity.

After succeeding in mainstreaming this issue over the past two years, the India Clean Cooking Forum is aiming in its 3rd edition to bring together major stakeholders to chart out a roadmap for universal access to clean cooking energy in India by 2030. A GIZ - MNRE initiative, India Clean Cooking Forum 2015 will be held on October 5-6 in the national capital.

Co-hosted by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Indo-German Energy program - Access to Energy in Rural Areas (IGEN-Access), ICCF is organized by GIZ in partnership with Shell Foundation, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, TATA Trusts, the World Bank, and the Clean Energy Access Network. IGEN-Access is an Indo-German Energy Program aimed at promoting renewable rural energy enterprises.

The Forum has roped in clean cooking practitioners, policy makers, clean cooking energy manufacturers, product developers, research organizations, investors, banks, social enterprises, government and donor agencies, foundations and NGOs to collectively initiate the development of comprehensive and detailed roadmap for universal access to clean cooking energy in India by 2030.
Importantly the forum will also reach out to major Indian corporates for gaining their support for the cause of clean cooking by letting the sector leverage their existing distribution networks, CSR funds as well as expertise available in developing new markets and technology innovation.

Hon’ble Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, Shri. Piyush Goyal will address the inaugural session of the conference and lay out his ministry’s vision towards helping achieve the goal of sustainable energy for all. Other experts who will be part of the deliberations include Smt. Varsha Joshi, Joint Secretary, MNRE; Mr. Wolfgang Hannig, Country Director, GIZ India; Ms. Radha Muthiah, CEO, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves; Mr. Harald Richter,  Programme Head, IGEN-Access, GIZ, Prof. Kirk R Smith, University of California, Berkeley and Dr. Atreyi Ganguli of the World Health Organization.

"Notwithstanding the efforts of the Indian government to provide households with clean energy, for a long time, millions of them will continue to rely on biomass as an energy source for cooking. Considering the high indoor pollution caused by traditional cooking practices to which especially women and children are exposed to, there is no more time to waste. Thus, a concerted action of all stakeholders be it government, private sector or civil society organization is needed to explore and scale up the use of clean and affordable cooking technologies including improved biomass cookstoves. The India Clean Cooking Forum 2015 takes the first step towards this cross-sectoral cooperation by initiating the development of a roadmap to improve access to clean cooking energy in India" says Dr. Harald Richter, Programme Head, IGEN-Access, GIZ.

80% of India’s rural population derives its cooking energy needs from solid fuels, such as firewood and cattle dung.   A recent analysis by the Centre for Study of Science Technology & Policy on India’s climate change framework suggests that aggressive penetration of modern cooking fuels can reduce morbidity by more than half due to indoor air pollution from traditional cooking.

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