REPORT ON WASTE MANAGEMENT AND WOMEN WASTE PICKERS DURING COVID-19

 

This is a report on the webinar-Waste Management and Women Waste Pickers during COVID-19. It was held on 04^th June, 2020, Saturday from 08:00p.m onwards. This webinar is organized by EMPOWER PEOPLE and Hridaya Ajgaonkar handled all the key speakers and interacted with them about the waste management.

The key speakers are as following -:

• ·         Sushila Sable(President ,Parisar Bhagini Vikas Sangha)
• ·         Lalita (Social Worker, Stree Mukti Sanghatana)

Waste management (or waste disposal) includes the activities and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the waste management process. The people talk about only two waste but here we discuss and for three ways of segregation that is wet waste, dry waste and domestic hazardous waste.

The problems faced by waste pickers:-

INVISIBILITY

1.      No protective laws- only SWM rules mention them

2.      Rules and norms which criminalize waste-picking

3.      No identity as workers and contributing urban citizens

LACK OF WORKERS RIGHTS

1.     Earning below minimum wages after working long hours

2.     Women's unpaid labour and discrimination in wages

3.     No access to worker benefits schemes or pensions

4.      No social protection in terms of education, health etc.

DEPLETING ACCESS TO WASTE

1.     Privatization of waste collection

2.     Restrictions to accessing waste in gated communities

3.     Restricting access to dhalaos due to private contracts or technology change

4.     Restrictions in landfill sites

SOCIAL STIGMA

1.      Caste-based occupation and discrimination

2.      Discrimination towards migrants

3.      Perceived as thieves and harassed by police and society

There is a lot of issues of Waste Pickers and Municipal Corporation and it even leads to fights between them. As the waste is smelly even and no one would like to pick up but their it's duty so they do. But people can help them and co-operate with them by cleaning the dry waste so that smell does not get more and it won't stink as it would be earlier. People see women waste pickers with different eyes. 

At the time of pandemic many have lost jobs and many lost their source of income due to which they had starvation even. Everyone feared about stepping out but they did so that waste would be out of our house.  The precautions that they have taken were wearing masks, sanitization of hands, washing hands, wearing gloves and further. 

PBVS is a federation of self-help group of women waste pickers. Appeal from people is that we are the one who make waste so do not think waste as DIRTY. The people who picks garbage are not waste or bad people. So we need to respect them and understand their importance in the society.

We should not be caste biased as at the end everyone is human and everyone has right to live freely and happily. As the women who picks waste are from Dalit Caste so we have set our mind set so we should stop this and start thinking out of our box and capability. As this garbage does not only affect us and our surrounding. It has an adversely effect on our environment. As to tackle the greenhouse gases from dumping grounds so we need to tackle the methane and methane can only be tackled when unsegregated waste just not collectively spread or stay in dumping grounds. So we need to manage locally level also about the waste.

 The three main stakeholders of waste are-: waste pickers, who produces waste and municipal party should start their tasks by own and take steps to control the waste spread all over the world and handle this issue and situation. And people who have access of money and keeps buying PPE kits, masks, gloves and sanitizers so the people who need these on regular basis are unable to access this. As it's very essential for them. We should start the change not think about the others.

In the crux of our topic we should care about waste pickers as it's hazardous for health, environment and it would less smelly as no one likes malodorous. It even empower people about the critical situations and aware the public also.

 

COMPILED BY - AARUSHI JAIN

 

REPORT ON 
Marketing and Consumer Behavior during COVID19

-         AARUSHI JAIN

This is a report on the webinar-MARKETING & CONSUMER BEHAVIOR DURING COVID-19. It was held on 03^rd June, 2020, Wednesday from 08:00p.m onwards. This webinar is organized by EMPOWER PEOPLE and Khyati Arora handled all the key speakers and interacted with them about the child sexual abuse.

The key speakers are as following -:

• ·        Nadia Kanwal (Director of Digital Marketing & Founder, Naadz.com)
• ·        Sanju Skaria (Logistics Specialist - Service Marketing)
• ·        Subhan Ali (Sr. Relationship Manager, Morris Garages)
• ·        Rishi Kumar (Supply Chain Engineer)

This webinar will include discussions on marketing, digital marketing, life before and after COVID19 for consumers, how the pandemic is shaping consumers and what the future may look like.

In marketing, understanding consumer behavior has become very important for businesses. Consumer behavior refers to the study which analyzes how consumers make decisions about their wants, needs, buying or act with respect to a product, service or organization. It is very critical to understand the behavior of consumers to analyze the behavior of potential consumers towards a new product or service. It is also very useful for companies to identify opportunities which have not yet been met.

 The companies have been articulate in handling the challenges of consumer buying behavior. The present scenario of Covid-19 is no exception for the brands. Most of the brands are showing the variations in their marketing communication to influence consumer choice. As stay-at-home and social distancing orders took hold in the spring, customers relied even more heavily on digital and mobile platforms as their smartphones became a lifeline to the outside world.

Spicer has seen three major shifts in consumer buying habits:

• ·        Home: People are spending more time in their homes, which has both practical and emotional effects.
• ·        Nostalgia: Change gives rise to anxiety, and anxiety triggers consumers’ nostalgia for happier times.
• ·        Self-reliance: The typical consumer is taking on more responsibility for tasks they would normally hire some­one to do for them or outsource. 

So this webinar is about marketing and consumer behavior during covid-19. The economy of many countries has shared up and it has highly affected the consumer behavior. When we talked about online businesses in the scenario of covid-19 this has popped up a lot of people who do not know any things about online businesses are now shifting their business on an online mode because this was only option left for the people and truly it helped a lot in this pandemic time. In the present scenario people are holding their money because the inflow has stopped now the hire marketing is targeting on a lower segment and the lower segment is going into the budget segment. So people are spending less and saving more different industries are coming as Netflix and prime so there is a different shift to a marketing, yes we are shifting towards a different market so we have to be prepared and updated.

So in the crux of this webinar I would like to tell you that nothing is stable and we should adapt changes as soon as possible. In response to these new behaviors, brands proactively showed customers how they fit into new routines and expectations. The brands have to exploit the new brand communication which minimizes the psychological impact in the consumer’s minds. The positioning strategies will be different. The new technology and strategies may open new avenues to the brands and they may be able to influence consumer behavior.

Report on Yoga & Dietary measures during COVID-19

-AARUSHI JAIN

This is a report on the webinar- Yoga & Dietary measures during COVID-19. It was held on 01^st June, 2020, Monday from 08:00p.m onwards. This webinar is organized by EMPOWER PEOPLE and Tanuja Singh handled all the key speakers and interacted with them about the yoga and dietary. Letting go is the hardest asana.

The key speakers are as following -:

• ·         Swati Kain (Hatha Yoga Trainer)
• ·         Deepti Jain(Yoga Teacher)
• ·         Kirti Chugh (Dietician/Nutritionist)

Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Āstika schools of Indian philosophical traditions. Diet can also refer to the food and drink a person consumes daily and the mental and physical circumstances connected to eating. Nutrition involves more than simply eating a “good” diet—it is about nourishment on every level. It involves relationships with family, friends, nature (the environment), our bodies, our community, and the world.

Eating the right kinds of foods, in the right amounts, is very crucial for our health. COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot in the daily lives of people. During these difficult times, it has become essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle. While no foods or dietary supplements can prevent COVID-19 infection, but by maintaining a healthy diet we can keep our immune system strong for fighting the disease.

 Five yoga poses for immunity to help your body help itself when the cold and flu season hits hard:-

• ·         Sitting and Breathing (Suk asana and Pranayama)
• ·         Half Lord of the Fishes (Ardha Matsyendrasana)
• ·         Supported Fish Pose (Matsyasana Variation)
• ·         Forward Fold (Uttanasana)
• ·         Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Karani)

Regular physical activity can strengthen your immune system and help your body fight off infections and viruses. Aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity for three days a week. This can include walking, biking, yoga, swimming, or other low impact workouts.

Diets should maintained throughout the year with balancing of vitamins, nutrients and essential requirements. Yoga boost up immunity and makes us feel alive. COVID-19 s an infection which is new for everyone so doctors even says that whose immunity is strengthened they have a little chance of infection. As our immunity plays a vital role.

It’s just not beneficial for this period but for lifetime. In simple words every postures has their own value and which need to be acknowledged by each and every one. One of the key speaker told us that she had a neck and backbone pain and she did all the therapy but didn’t have any effect. So her doctor advised her that why don’t you try the yoga practices to get cure. So we see real life benefit from our speaker so why can’t we try this. It's not about being good at something. It's about being good to yourself.

 So in the crux we can say that yoga makes us the calm and more composed person. Diet makes us the healthy and boost our immunity in proper manner. The longest journey of any person is the journey inward. And we can go through this with yoga. The groundwork of all happiness is health. So we need to start giving the importance to this.

Compiled by -: AARUSHI JAIN