Dear Friends:
I am delighted to inform you that PSI’s new calendar-planner for 2012 is finally ready! A pdf version is attached. This year we have featured Uttarakhand’s Pindar river. It is the only glacial river that rises in the Kumaon Himalayas and joins the Ganga river system in Uttarakhand itself.
The 2012 calendar features photographs from remote locations – right up to the glacial origins of the river and the surrounding snow-clad mountains — by Uttarakhand’s most well-known nature photographer, Anup Sah. In addition, our adventurous team of photographers, Devraj Agrawal and Salil Das, trekked on foot for several days in the Pindar watershed to bring you some exquisite pictures.
Please order your copies quickly and feast on this year’s featured scenes. Please send your order along with your exact postal address and a DD or cheque in favour of People’s Science Institute payable at any bank in Dehra Doon. We will dispatch the calendar immediately. Despite the price increases our pricing structure is the same as the last year’s:
In India (including postage) Abroad (including postage)
1 to 99 calendars @ Rs. 150 each 1 to 9 @ US $ 15 each
100 to 499 calendars @ Rs. 125 each 10 to 49 @ US $ 12 each
500 or more calendars @ 100 each 50 or more @ US $ 10 each
The last page has a flap of 5cm (2in) width. Your company or organization logo or message can be printed on it for Rs 5/-per calendar (minimum order 100 calendars).
The Pindar is one of the few undisturbed major rivers in Uttarakhand. But now its unhindered flows are threatened by a major 252MW hydro-electric project at Devsari, near Debal. It will divert the river into a tunnel and dry up a pristine 22km stretch destroying the river and its biota. Almost the entire local population has stood up to oppose this project. Small hydropower projects are planned on almost all the tributaries of the Pindar.
In 2012 PSI will continue to work with local communities to push for sustainable hydropower development in Uttarakhand so that the environment that sustains us is not destroyed in the name of development. We have been engaged for over two decades in rehabilitating watersheds, harvesting rainwater and monitoring river water quality. More recently we have assisted mountain communities to recharge local springs and streams. We undertake studies to determine the environmental flows required to sustain our rivers. All this scientific research is used to strengthen people’s campaigns against rapacious and environmentally destructive hydropower development.
Since 2008 we have also engaged with policy-makers at the highest levels to improve river management policies and practices. These efforts and others like them have led to discernable shifts in public opinion and significant government decisions to save our rivers.
Your contributions and moral support have helped us immensely to assist people’s struggles for sustainable and eco-friendly development. We sincerely hope that you will continue to support our activities for conserving India’s rivers. Your generosity is vital. We need your continuing support. I request that you buy copies of the calendar for yourself and your friends or donate generously to PSI’s efforts to save our pristine Himalayan rivers. All donations to PSI are tax exempt under section 80G.
With best wishes for the New Year,
Sincerely
Ravi Chopra
—
Peoples’ Science Institute
653, Indira Nagar, Dehra Doon 248006
Uttarakhand. INDIA
Phone: +91 135 2763649
Fax: +91 135 2763368
E-mail: psiddoon@gmail.com
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Please visit our website http://www.peoplesscienceinstitute.org for information on environmental quality, water resources management, disaster management, rural/micro finance and general development issues related to the central-western Himalayas.