Sign of the times!

Way back before 9/11 happened, I was in a bank in US and wanted to encash a $200 American Express Travelers cheque. The lady at the counter asked me to put a thumb impression behind the TC. I remember telling her that in my country - only the criminals get finger printed.

Today, in my own country, at my own office, I had to give finger impressions of not one, but of 6 of my fingers to get registered with the Nasscom initiative of The National Skills Registry!

Why?

Read what Shri Kiran Karnik, president of NASSCOM has to say ..”to make India the “Fort Knox” of security...”

So what are a few finger prints in the process!

Protecting and Conserving our Environment

Life has become pretty hectic and hence the paucity of posts on this blog. A month back I had committed that I will post on a topic related to Environment. So this post is part of the Blog Action Day movement.

The Blog Action Day had chosen environment as the topic and how appropriate that the Nobel peace prize for this year has been awarded to UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (IPCC).

I moved 15 years back to this lovely green city of Bangalore as it was then. I used to commute very frequently between Hyderabad and Bangalore and the usual mode of transport was bus. As we used to approach Bangalore, one could see miles of tree lined avenues starting all the way from Chikkaballarpur and stretching right upto Sankey Road. It is a pity that the entire stretch of trees have been cut down and what we see today is a city bereft of its green cover.

I can lament about the lost green cover or I can take some action. Today’ post is a call for action, to protect our environment. Tree plantation is one of the greatest means of overcoming global warming as trees convert excess Carbon-di-oxide to Oxygen. The least we can all do is to plant a tree or two in our house and neighborhood. If you are staying in a apartment make an effort to line your apartment boundary wall with trees.

The Art of Living Foundation is recommending plantation of Simarouba Glauca Tree also known as Lakshmi Taru for the several benefits this tree provides. I have personally bought a few hundred seeds and have given it to a local nursery for germination. There are a few plants available that I can personally deliver for free in my neighbourhood (in and around Kalyannagar, Kammanahalli and Banaswadi area). So if you happen to stay in and around this area and do have space in and around your house/apartment, feel free to drop me a note before Nov 30th 2007 at RajWaghray at gmail dot com

Water Literacy

Today’ issue of Bangalore Mirror carried a cover story regarding acute shortage of water in the suburbs and upcoming areas of Bangalore. And I stumbled upon a report on how a private high school in Sirsi, in northern Karnataka is teaching practical water literacy to the people of five Malnad districts. The rain centre at the school, with 28 examples of rain water harvesting, opened in early June. More details. here Exemplary stuff.

The need for a second salt satyagraha!

We are held to ransom by our own ignorance and our unwillingness to stand up and fight for rights. The Right to Information act issue being one such incident. There are several other issues that face us and it is our unwillingness to ask questions, demand answers that have led to a deterioration in the quality of life in our country.

A shocking issue is that of ban on the sale of non-iodized salt in India. I heard about it first when Guruji (Sri Sri RaviShankar) mentioned this in one of his talks. The issue is that Govt has issued a notification in May proposing ban on the sale of non-iodized salt in India due to the rising Iodine deficiency disorders in certain states in India. The core issue is that the Iodine deficiency occurs predominantly in the financially backward sections of the society and the ban ironically increases the price of salt by over 5 times! So how affordable does it remain for the poor?

Consider this, the original iodising agent is potassium iodide, but that is unstable in Indian tropical climate. So what is used instead is Potassium Iodate, which by the way has been banned by western countries. Potassium Iodate is expensive and is already being replaced by cheaper adulterators like Potassium Bromate etc, which act as slow poison.

Most of Indian soil contains iodine. Exceptions are hilly areas like Himachal where soil gets eroded. Percentage of population affected by IDD is hardly 2%. Putting a blanket ban like this subjects the remaining population to the risk of

• adulteration and food poisoning and

• excess iodine leading to thyrotoxicosis.

Healthcare facilities reach only about 10% of the Indian population right now. How is the govt going to handle potentially 90% of the population when health complications arise in a few years?
This is a repeat of how pesticides and fertilisers were introduced few decades ago. Innocent farmers were told, scientific research says pesticides are good for the soil. The result - after 3 decades. Take any day’s newspaper at random, you will find news of farmers committing suicides. It is very possible that few years down the line, it is discovered that Selenium, which is needed to break down Potassium Iodate in the body, is becoming deficient in the population. In which case, there’s a need to introduce “rice with selenium” and ban sale of natural rice! All this assumes importance in the context of the global markets for genetically modified food. Europe doesn’t want it. Australia doesn’t want it. India… of course, we’ll take it! Consider the economics - the price rise is about Rs 8/- per kg of salt. Market size - about 1.25 billion people guaranteed to eat salt everyday!

P Venu, assistant salt commissioner in Gujarat discusses this issue is his article here

Let us empower the people and talk about this and spread the awareness.

Justice finally

The High Court strikes down Act on temples.

Regarding the provision in the Act, which makes it mandatory for a notified temple to contribute 5 per cent of its total annual income to the “Common Pool Fund”, regulated by the Endowment Commissioner, the court said there cannot be compulsion only for Hindu temples to provide assistance to institutions of other religions. “Devotees of Hindu temples provide money for temple purposes and it cannot be spent for non-Hindu causes,” the court observed

Shut up!

Yet another act of of war, courtesy our dear neighbour!
A few hundred died.

A few hundred injured! Hundreds of family members & friends ruined and scarred for ever!

For the media, it was a show of one-upmanship! 7/11(nauseating!) “We broke the story!” “Images that are being telecasted are from my studio!” “Let us Light candles”

The rulers are immune from the rest of the society, they have all the security in the world that they need, have a demonic gift to spit forth platitudes! And use someone’ else’s misery as an occassion for photoshoots!

An insensitive media that thrusts cameras in front of mourners and an equally insensitive lot of politicians who chose the most inappropriate moment to visit hospitals and bring everything to halt. Aha the platitudes - “Appeal for calm!” “We will break the backbone of terrorism!” “No-one can make us kneel” “We salute the spirit of Mumbai” “Jobs for those injured”, “Compensation”….A 3rd rate media that gets 3rd rate bollywood poets and actresses who want to derive their own mileage and publicity!

Fast forward 10 days later…a commission of enquiry, some more empty talk, some politicking…a month later media has new story to cover…and a few months later….no one will even remember……the story, the photographs, the videos all will be archived…till the next incident happens.

Here’s the money to bomb us

Atanu Dey on where the charity aid to Pakistan could be headed. I totally agree with what Atanu writes out here.

Let’s be clear about this. India is a generous country. It sent US$5
million to help the US with the recovery post Katrina. Now it is giving
$25 million to a country which is buying 80 F16s from the US. The cost
of these F16s would feed, clothe, educate, and entertain hundreds of
thousands of impoverished Pakistanis. Instead, Pakistan is spending
scarce resources and starving its own people just so that India can be
bombed if the need arose in the near future. And just to help the
Pakistanis out with their avowed goal of destroying India, India is
sending them a $25 million check!

I can’t imagine whose idea is this and what purpose is this going to serve? There are several hundred other ways of helping people apart from going and handing over cash to a rogue nation whose only purpose of existence seems to be that of destroying my country. Is there a way to file a PIL to stop this madness?

Meanwhile I chose to stay away from crackers and other kind of celebrations and chose to light more lamps in the memory of those innocent victims who passed away in the bombing.

Deluge in Bangalore

The rains opened up in the city - a mere 158 mm in the last three days going by media reports - and look what happens?

• Half the city is under water - mostly the so called "hi-tech" areas of HSR layout, Koramangala, Bannerghatta Road, Whitefield, Sarjapur etc.
• The Hosur Road that goes from the city to the Electronic City where Infy, Wipro and the likes have their offices is flooded; the traffic police forced to divert traffic via Bannerghatta and Anekal towards the Electronic City
• Garbage lies uncleared in the city - apparently the compost site where they deposit the garbage is on Hosur Road.
• Houses flooded, no clean drinking water in many areas
• Apparently one of the IT companies incurred heavy damage to the tune of 50crores, when water flooded it’s premises on Hosur Road.
• Lakes in the city are overflowing into the residential areas.
• Traffic by and large is crawling everywhere across the city

A few links are here: via Deccanherald, Times of India,

I wrote this when the Tsunami struck the nation and I repeat it now - "we break every conceivable rule in the book", what I didn’t add that time and would do now is that not only we do that but as we put our self interest over everything else. So when a builder encroaches the dry area of the lake or the storm water drain, we turn a blind eye. When Builders violate bye laws and build more floor area we not only turn a blind area, we pay premium price to buy that apartment. When a rule comes in our way, we do the thing that we are best at - grease hands so that our papers keep moving. I can go on…but of what use would it be?

The storm water system in the city has virtually disappeared. The surrounding lakes where the water used to flow into, have all being encroached upon and have swanky offices (incidentally one of them is flooded) and apartments built upon them.

So, why crib when the water has no outlet to flow towards? It is only but natural that it will flow towards the low lying areas of the city.

The less said about the Govt. existence the better.

The drama, the blame game, the compensation game, asking central Govt for assistance, blaming the IT companies for rain and water clogging will start from tomorrow…so don’t forget to read the newspapers.

Meanwhile, let us all watch a city heading down south and let’s not shed a tear. We get the Government we deserve. And we deserve nothing better than what we have now. 

Meanwhile dear readers, take a few precautions for the short term:

• Boil your drinking water; avoid eating from outside.
• Keep a few candles and match boxes handy. Don’t know if the power would stay if it continues to pour like this.
• Don’t drive on the roads that you are unfamiliar with, you never know if a road does indeed exist below that flooded road

And for the long term, think again if you would still want to buy an apartment in that high rise in those hi-tech areas where your car would lie buried in 8 feet deep water?

The SC has an amazing opportunity

I generally avoid writing anything about Politics and Religion - though I do have strong opinions - but the recent, TN govt appeal to SC not to allow Shankaracharya anywhere in South India set me thinking. I am of the opinion that SC should uphold this appeal, it will go a long way in cleaning Indian Politics of the muck that it is filled with. Imagine Bihar without Lalloo, TN without Jayalalitha, Karunanidhi, Jharkandh without Soren, UP without Maywati …..you get the drift right?

Bangloreans, Step forward and be counted

If you are in Bangalore and want to donate towards the Relief, here are the contact details.

a) Location: Indiranagar and surrounding areas: Contact Sudhindran at 98801-85231

b) Location: Kammanahalli, Banaswadi and surrounding areas: Contact : Raj at 98861-53689

c) Location: Whitefield, Marthahalli and surrounding areas: Contact Jayan at 98801-67877

d) Location: Jayanagar and surrounding areas: Contact: Vyakti Vikas Kendra: 26645106

More area’s would be added shortly, bear with me till I figure out the volunteer list.

Requirements:
a) Non Perishable Food items like Wheat, Rice, Daal, Sugar, Cooking Oil, Salt, Pepper etc etc. Items should be neatly packed for easy transport.
b) Clothes: Washed, neat and clean clothes packed in separate boxes for Gents, Ladies and Children. Please do not pass torn clothes and throwaways!
c) Medicines: Pain Killers, Paracetamol, Antibiotics, cough syrups etc. Please ensure that the medicines have not expired and have the expiry date clearly visible. Please remember these will be consumed by someone and we do not want them to suffer taking expired medicines. If you are in doubt about the expiry date, don’t donate.

If you are outside India and want to contribute in cash, AOL and Internation Association of Human Values (IAHV) have setup a relief fund at : http://iahv.org/disasterRelief.htm