Dr. Arvind Kumar Jha, Former PCCF & DG (Social Forestry), Maharashtra State and Managing Trustee of Global Enviro-legal Services Foundation (GELSEF) delivered a Guest Lecture on "Work environment for the women employees: Statutory and Organizational aspects" on 25^th  September, 2017. In his talk Dr. Jha discussed the provision of appropriate environment to the women staff in view of the fact that the Act and Rules related to sexual harassment at workplaces cast a special responsibility on the employer. Further, creation of an organizational climate that promotes efficiency of one and all is extremely important for improving the overall effectiveness and quality of outputs of any organization. This sensitization programme was designed  taking the above points in view and also duly considering the fact that the Section 19(c) of The Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 and its Rules 2013 makes it mandatory for the employer to take steps for creating adequate awareness in this regard amongst the employees. The talk was attended by faculty, researchers and students of the Institute. Dr. Jha made three presentations viz a) The Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,2013 b) Sexual Harassment of Women(PPR) Rules 2013  and c) Roles and Responsibilities- Women’s  Safety at Workplace. These presentations helped in understanding the provisions of various statutory aspects as well as their nuances both for the employer and employees. The talk was followed by a Q & A session in which participants sought clarifications regarding various statutory and organizational aspects of provisions available to women employees.

• Roles & Responsibilities-Women’s Safety at Workplace (Some insights for the supervisory level) (1.09 mb) 

• The Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,2013 ( 5.53 mb) 

• Sexual Harassment of Women (PPR) Rules 2013 ( 1.85 mb) 

The first meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the WII-NMCG Project was held at Wildlife Institute of India on 7^th September 2017. The meeting was chaired by Shri U.P. Singh, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) & Chairperson, Monitoring Committee. The committee members included Dr. V.B. Mathur, Director, Wildlife Institute of India, Dr. Savita, Director, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, Dr. Arun Kumar, Director, Dolphin Institute of Biomedical & Natural Sciences, Dehradun, Dr. Raghav Langer, Director, State Program Management Group Uttarakhand, Dr. Sandeep Behera, Biodiversity Consultant, NMCG.

The entire WII-NMCG project team comprising of the faculty and the project personnel participated in the meeting. 

The meeting started with the welcome of the monitoring committee members. Shri U.P. Singh, Director General, NMCG released the six brochures published under the “Vibrant Ganga Series”, on the aquatic fauna of Ganga River. After a round of introductions, the committee members were given a brief on the project. Shri U.P. Singh, in his opening remarks stated that although Wildlife Institute of India’s biodiversity project is small in financial terms, it is a very important component of the NMCG and Namami Gange programme. 

Presentations on the objectives, approaches and progress under the six components were given by the component coordinators. In addition to the presentations on the approach and work done on three specialized aspects of the project viz: Ecotoxicology, Genetics and Remote Sensing & GIS were also made. 

The committee members were appreciative about the project approach and the progress achieved so far. Shri U.P. Singh concluded that project has initiated well, however, it is a very challenging task and we need to keep up the momentum. He suggested that other organizations and wings of NMCG, such as SPMGs, Ganga Vichar Munch and their activities should also be linked with the biodiversity conservation.

The Braille versions (English and Hindi) of Science Express Climate Action Special (SECAS) booklet on ‘Climate Action: We Must Not Delay’ were released by Shri N.S. Kang, Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India in a function held at Pandit Deen Dayal Antodaya Bhawan in CGO Complex at New Delhi. The Braille versions of the booklet have been brought out to make the educational experience about biodiversity conservation and climate change of the visually challenged persons more inclusive.

Shri Siddhanta Das, Director General of Forests & Special Secretary to Government of India, MoEFCC was the Guest of Honour on this occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. V.B. Mathur, Director, Wildlife Institute of India gave the background of SECAS and said that a range of educational material in the form of booklets, posters, stickers etc. have been prepared by the Institute to raise awareness about biodiversity conservation and climate actions. He further said that the idea of making a Braille version of this booklet was suggested by Sh. A. N. Jha, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India during the flag off event of the train. He added that these Braille booklets will be sent to over 150 institutions/ NGOs dealing with visually challenged persons to enrich their educational experience about biodiversity and climate change. The Braille versions have been printed at the Central Braille Press, National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (NIVEPD), Dehradun. The representatives of NIVEPD, Dehradun also participated in the event and read the extracts from the Braille Booklets.

• Download report on World Heritage Day-2017 Celebrations (257kb ) 

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