PROJECT PROPOSAL SOCH TOWARDS A BETTER INDIA

Prepared By
Miloni Mehta Saumya Nair Saunil Arora

AHMEDABAD MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

DIPLOMA IN CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AND ADVERTISING JULY - 2011

INTRODUCTION
SOCH - Towards a Better India is an initiative which we want to take for the betterment of the mother earth by coming up with different alternatives for the plastic bags which are creating a lot of problems for the environment (trees animals and human beings). With the help of these alternatives global warming can be reduced. The purpose of this endeavour is to demonstrate efficient use of waste paper through economically viable recycling and promote use of recycled paper. Plastic, although considered as one of the greatest inventions by virtue of its use in carrying things, has become a major element in polluting the environment. Himachal Pradesh and Kerala Government has imposed a ban on thin plastic carry bags and is likely to extend to all the plastic carry bags, since they are bound to create health hazards. Eco-friendly paper carry bag is the only alternative and the Government has started encouraging the setting up of paper bag making units. Since there is a lot of demand, paper bag making will certainly be a provider of selfemployment. The paper bags will be available in a saga of rich varieties, designs, shapes and colors. Most of the handmade paper units in India have been traditionally using cotton hosiery waste as the main source of raw material, which produce paper with excellent strength characteristics. Due to Polythene and plastic pollution now a days the awareness of using Eco friendly products is been popularized among the people so this kind of projects are need of the hour, in this scenario we have started paper carry bag manufacturing project for the past 6 years ago.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Plastic bags had been introduced in 1970s and gained an increasing popularity amongst consumers and retailers. They are available in huge numbers and varieties across the world. It is estimated that around 500 billion plastic bags are used every year worldwide. This widespread utilization is attributed to their cheapness and convenience to use. The vast majority of these bags are discarded as wastes usually after a single use. It is also believed that after their entry into environment, plastic bags can persist up to 1000 years without being decomposed by sun light and/or microorganisms.

Accumulation of plastic bag wastes causes environmental pollution that can be manifested in number of ways. One of the problems is deterioration of natural beauty of an environment. Another common problem associated with these wastes is death of domestic and wild animals. This necessitates for proactive measures in order to safeguard animal species against extinction. Blockage of sewerage systems is becoming a common problem in cities and towns of developing countries. This, in turn, creates foul smells and favorable habitats for mosquitoes and other vectors that could spread a large number of diseases such as encephalitis, dengue fever and malaria. If plastic bags get access to agricultural fields, they reduce percolation of water and proper aeration in soil. This results in reduction of productivities of such fields. Furthermore, in several poor and developing countries, these bags are frequently used to carry food items. This practice can cause serious health problems since some carcinogenic agents could be generated during the chemical reactions that take place in plastic materials (for example, coloring agents) and the food items due to temperature variations. In recent reports, it has been mentioned that reuse of plastic bags can cause cross contamination of foods by microorganisms. Moreover, plastic bags are also used for disposing of human and other domestic wastes which makes human health more risky as compared to open disposal of these wastes. Ethiopia is one of those African countries that partially have banned plastic bags by setting a minimum thickness of the bags to be manufactured in the country and/ or imported into the country. However, different reports showed that plastic bags are still causing severe environmental pollutions and also human and animal health damages in urban and rural areas of the country. Some of the basic reasons could be poor waste management and perhaps lack of awareness about the negative impacts of plastic bags.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE

Rural women are gaining self-reliance and self-confidence. The idea behind this concept is to mobilize women and improve their quality of life. With increasing self reliance Rural women are becoming more confident and independent; they have successfully improved the quality of life of rural women in many states and helped them to upgrade their skills. An indication of social change is the increasing number of income generating activities being controlled by women. Besides improving the economic standards of life of women, aim at spreading awareness on issues such as literacy, health, nutrition, family welfare, and legal rights through which they can get Empowerment. In order to accomplish this task, individual rural women should improve their awareness levels, communication skills; simple management techniques so that they can improve their confidence, articulate and effectively communicate with their social partners and economic stake holders. This is possible only through a comprehensive training and the training agencies are expected to organize a tailor-made training module to suite individual group and should be able to monitor their effectiveness with a view to improve their focus and quality. That is exactly the reason, various developmental agencies both National and International are according top priority for training of women for their capacity building and several NGOs and social organizations have been engaged to fill the gap through various initiatives of policy and fiscal support. There is a need for undertaking tenacious interventions in the areas of confidence and capacity building of women through specific training modules.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objectives of this research study are to:
Empower the Rural Women especially of socially and economically weaker section.

Create awareness for lesser use of plastic to avoid problem of GLOBAL WARMING.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

The sample for this research will be drawn from the population of Ahmedabad as all kind of people resides here. The type of research will be descriptive study in order to identify, determine

and analyze the reasons why people are using plastic bags. Questionnaire survey will be employed as the tool to collect primary information. The questionnaire will be designed and modified for the study after discussions with professionals advising the researcher in the study. The questionnaire will be given directly to the consumers, vendors and shopkeepers to be filled in. then an analysis will be done on the basis of the findings of the questionnaires. The analysis will be then interpreted.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This research is limited to Ahmedabad only due to limited funds and limited time. The research is based on limited number of respondents as it is difficult to arrange appointments with consumers. The respondents may not be honest and fill in the questionnaires half-heartedly, giving a false or biased picture.

PROBLEM / GAP ANALYSIS

With the rise of global warming, the problems of the world to live in a safe and healthy environment are also increasing. In order to take an initiative to decrease it as much as we can our study deals with following queries: 1. Why people are using plastic bags, in spite of knowing the harmful effects of it on the environment. 2. The prevailing issues regarding the usage of paper bags in the market.