Tag: Delhi

Radha Bahin Bhatt – The Gandhi of the Hills [UTTARAKHAND]

Radha Behn Bhatt, an Indian Gandhian social activist from Uttarakhand, works for environmental protection and women’s empowerment. She was born on October 16, 1931, in Dhurka village near Almora, Uttarakhand. She was influenced by Sarala Behn, a prominent Gandhian social activist and disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. She is also known as the “Gandhi of the Hills.” In 1951, she joined the Kasturba Mahila Utthan Mandal in Kausani, an ashram dedicated to the upliftment and education of women in the hills of Uttarakhand. Through Gandhian values, she played a major role in strengthening environmental protection, girls’ education, and women’s empowerment. In 1957, she actively participated in the Bhoodan movement started by Vinoba Bhave and also participated in padayatras for land reform in Uttar Pradesh and Assam. She also established vocational training schools for fellow women and taught spinning and weaving to make them self-reliant. She also led the “One Hour School” initiative to improve girls’ access to education. From 1961 to 1965, she worked on issues such as Gram Swaraj, the anti-alcohol movement, forest conservation, women’s empowerment, and the upliftment of adolescent girls who grazed cows and goats. In 1970, when conservation concerns rose in the Himalayas, she actively participated in the Chipko movement, a non-violent grassroots resistance in which villagers, primarily women, adopted the Chipko movement to prevent tree felling. She also advocated for sustainable development practices and campaigned against opencast mining and large dam construction in fragile mountain ecosystems, which threatened local ecosystems and livelihoods. In addition to protests, she led important tree-planting campaigns and contributed to the planting of over a thousand trees in Pithoragarh and. During her long career, she held important leadership positions in various national Gandhian organizations, including serving as President of the Gandhi Peace Foundation in Delhi, and was closely associated with the Himalaya Seva Sangh and the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust, promoting the principles of Gram Swaraj and Sunrise. From 2006 to 2010, she surveyed the Himalayas and rivers of Uttarakhand, during which she opposed hydropower projects being built on the rivers. She also wrote a book titled “Daughters of the Himalayas,” which was published in German and Danish. Awards and Honors

From Electrical Overload to Poor Rescue Access: Why City Fires Turn Deadly in India

Every major fire accident in cities that causes deaths shows different reasons and problems behind it. The recent fire in Shahdara, East Delhi, showed that there was not enough planning for safely evacuating people during emergencies, especially fires. Nine people died and around 15 others were seriously injured in the accident.The residential building had a ground floor and four upper floors with eight houses. Some security features of the building became dangerous during the fire. The electronic door locks could not be opened, the terrace was difficult to reach, and metal grills around the balconies and building blocked rescue work. Firefighters had to cut the grills to save people.Another fire in Palam in March, where nine members of a family died, showed the difficulties fire services face in Delhi. The building, which was used for both residential and commercial purposes, did not have enough firefighting equipment. Witnesses also said that the hydraulic lifts used by firefighters were not working properly.Although fire services said they reached the Shahdara fire on time, response times in Delhi have often been slow. In another fire in Dwarka in 2025, fire engines could not enter a housing society because its name board blocked the way.There is definitely a need to improve fire safety and firefighting systems in Delhi, but one major issue that is often ignored is electrical faults, which cause many fires in Indian cities. During summer, people usually blame air-conditioners for such fires, like in the Shahdara fire. The real problem is often overloading. On very hot days, appliances like air-conditioners use a lot of electricity. Many electrical wires are not strong enough to handle this heavy load, so they heat up and catch fire. Circuit breakers, which are supposed to automatically stop the power supply for safety, often fail to work properly.In many Indian homes, too many high-power appliances are used even when the electrical system is not designed for them. People usually want appliances to keep running all the time, but the automatic tripping of overloaded equipment is actually an important safety feature.City authorities talk about using modern technology like drones and robots to fight fires, but even basic safety measures and prevention systems are still missing in many places.