Minutes of 30th April, 2008

Attendees: Arvind, Shruti, Vijay, Jasmine, Santosh.
Guest: Beth Gingold

1. Discussion of how IPCC worked to release the 4th Assessment Report. [Arvind]
2. Discussion of the science and questions of locality of the effect of climate change etc. [Arvind, questions from others]
3. A Brief look at skeptical arguments. [Vijay]
4. A look at the impact on India [Shruti]
5. The group concluded the session by discussing what India and Indian civil society needs to do to address the problem of climate change.

Topic for next meeting: Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in India: Challenges, history, successes and failures. And a focused look at the Bengaluru Intl Airport project, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) project and Dabhol Power project.

Next meeting time: 6:00pm, 10th May.

Minutes 29th March 2008

Attendees: Shruti, Arvind, Vijay

1. Broad discussion on what had been read
2. Short explanation of the IPCC report, facts & figures
3. Some highlights of the movie - An Inconvinient Truth
4. Detailed discussion on Kyoto Protocol-countries involved, the mechanisms to mitigate GW, pros, India's role, so on
5. Some discussion on anti-global warming. Needs to be explored in detail.
6. Decided to delegate different aspects of the topic to each member as topic too broad.
- Science of climate change (Arvind)
- Anti-GW (Vijay)
- Socio-economic impact on India (Shruti
- Policies to be recommended/steps to be taken (All)

Minutes 1 Mar 2008

MINUTES OF MEETING
DATE: 1-3-08

Attendees: Shruti, Arvind, Navneet, Aditya, Vijaydeep, Jasmine

• Self-introduction by all the members
• Introduction to the group – purpose to learn the facts and look at data regarding any issue, leading to better informed opinions and actions eventually
• Concurred that this is a purely learning forum and discussion of topics does not mean we have to implement solutions we may come up with
• Agreed to meet once in 3 weeks
• Potential sources – libraries, J store (available only on subscription), subscription magazines, EPW, Google Scholar/Goggle
• We could list down the questions we want answered and then start looking for answers online
• The lead volunteers will drive the questions over the weeks and send summary of understanding at regular intervals. This way we keep the momentum on and move forward instead of lingering on the same topic/question
• The volunteers will also put out an article at the end of the discussion every month to cover the group’s conclusion
• Some potential topics brainstormed (decided to choose topical issues as gathering info easier)

1. Should India go ahead with the nuclear deal?
2. IPL
3. Ram-Sethu project
4. BIAL/Airport
5. Electoral reforms
6. Presidential Vs. Parliamentary democracy
7. Global warming & air pollution
8. Youth movements/mobilization (history & potential)
9. Interlinking rivers
10. How does policy get influenced in India, ways in which its influenced today & ways to improve on them
11. Technology for development
12. Reservations
13. RTI – success & challenges

Global warming chosen through vote as the first topic

• What is the magnitude
• What are we doing about it
• What should we do

o Shruti & Jasmine volunteers for the first month

o Google groups are for e-mail discussions and to upload files. Announcements to be tagged as “Announcement” in subject line.

o The blog is for posting broad views and comments on articles circulated.

o Next meeting on 22^nd March, 6.00pm to 8.00pm.

Youth's role in a developing country

I think looking at how the youth segment can be leveraged to contribute to mass change in a developing country will make a good topic. To understand youth movements/initiatives in other countries and the contributions made by youth there, the success rates, so on. I think its very relevant in the context of India as almost 60% of our country is below the age of 35.

Technology to solve problems

I believe in the power of right and appropriate technology as means to solve social problems. There have been a few efforts to develop grassroots technology to solve problems. It will be interesting to find out more about such initiatives, and what kind of eco-system we have to encourage locally relevant innovation.

There are more topic ideas at http://web.mit.edu/sangam/mirg/
(The group inspired, at least in part, by the MIT group.)

Why this group?

A week ago, I was up awake early and getting ready to go to work. In shower, I heard a car’s burglar alarm went off. I assumed it was someone else’s, and ignored it. A few minutes later – my apartment’s doorbell rang. The building’s security guard had come to inform me that the defaulting car was mine.

I came down and walked outside to have a look at the car. The neighbors in the house across the street were up in their balconies, as if awaiting me – I was greeted by an angry barrage about the trouble the sound had caused them. I was clearly at fault, so I apologized and promised to fix it, and tried to say something to the effect of how shouting never solves the problem but communication does. The neighbors went on about how this false alarm had happened earlier – I admitted my ignorance. They then ignored me and then went off talking about the issue with those in nearby houses who had gathered as onlookers.

There is almost a pattern about how we Indians generally deal with broader civic or social problems – instead of trying to understand the problem and talking to someone who had the power to solve the problem, we prefer spend a lot more energy trying to bear with it and ignore it, or talk to others about it. This incident is one such case. Maybe we grow up learning to lose faith in the civic system (helped perhaps by our movies portraying a corrupt and hopeless faith of the system).

As I read up and try to understand our systems, the more I feel how naïve this perspective is. For instance, most of the initiatives to improve primary education in India seem like good intentioned logical attempts run by genuinely concerned citizens. Clearly, a lot more goes into an effective change than a lot of what indulge in our armchair criticisms or slogan chanting. Factual understanding is the first step towards something meaningful.

This is the goal I have set at least for myself from the group – self-education that will help free myself from this pessimistic outlook and nihilist biases. Hopefully, this will help others in the group too.

To share new topics

Any topic you think will make an interesting and informative discussion topic can be posted here.
Please use the label "Potential topics" to post these.