About India: Long known for its vibrant traditional culture but also for poverty and economic stagnation, India is quickly transforming into an international model for development. This transition, while unquestionably a step forward, presents many serious challenges. Global Action India explores how forward-thinking people in northern India are working to foster development while simultaneously striving to protect rich natural resources and cultural traditions. In both rural and urban settings, students have the opportunity to see first-hand how creative, small-scale, local initiatives offer alternatives to massive, centralized projects.

Ladakh – Alternative Approaches to Development: The group spends two days in New Delhi and then flies northwest into the Himalayas to Leh, a historic trading town steeped in Tibetan Buddhist culture which is situated at 11,000 feet. Visiting local grassroots projects, students converse with Ladakhi activists who are working to protect native species of plants and herbs and to create markets for their selective harvest, conserve exotic animals like the snow leopard, educate children, promote ecotourism, and create alternative energy sources. Students join groups working to promote ecologically responsible development, women’s cooperatives, and micro hydro-electric projects. The Indian government is building immense dams and pipelines through the mountains that bring much needed water from the high Himalayas to the cities below, but that also flood entire valleys. Students have the opportunity to assess these alternative models for development by visiting the sites and speaking with proponents and detractors. In Ladakh, accommodations range from simple guest houses and a school campus to short stays (in pairs) with local families.

Trekking: On a short but rigorous trek, students climb to altitudes up to 12,000 feet through a mystical landscape of desert valleys and jagged peaks, echoing with the sounds of chanting monks and bedecked with colorful prayer flags. They visit a meditation center high in the mountains and experience first-hand the roles of meditation and yoga in traditional Buddhist culture.

Delhi-Urban Issues: The group spends the program’s last days in and around Delhi, with a side trip to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. Nowhere in the world are the pressures of population and poverty more evident than in India’s largest cities. In Delhi, students have the opportunity to learn about NGOs that organize health and childcare for slum dwellers, to visit with children in orphanages, and to see community organization efforts close up.

India is in the midst of extraordinary change. The goal of substantially improving the lives of its people seems, for the first time, to be attainable. But choices made about the mechanisms of change will have an enormous effect on the outcome. Should the focus be on local or national development projects? Is economic growth compatible with environmental protection? Can development coexist with centuries-old traditions? Students take their conclusions about these and other issues back to Yale to present their findings to other Global Action groups.

Participants must be physically fit and prepared to go without many of the comforts of life at home. Living conditions are often primitive. Those with a history of altitude sensitivity should not apply.