CARBON BUSINESS

CARBON BUSINESS

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 136

Palash Biswas

Calcutta served as the capital of India during the British Raj until 1911. Once the centre of modern education, industry, science, culture and politics in India, Kolkata has witnessed intense political violence, clashes and economic stagnation since 1954. Since the year 2000, economic rejuvenation has spurred in the city's growth. Like other metropolitan cities in India, Kolkata continues to struggle with the problems of urbanisation: poverty, pollution and traffic congestion.

Kolkata is noted for its revolutionary history, ranging from the Indian struggle for independence to the leftist and trade union movements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolkata

Thirteen die after drinking spurious liquor! Very sad news indeed. The system may not feed the masses but it may well pour LIQUOR in your mouth. The people are predestined to die with the legacy of INHERENT INJUSTICE and INEQUALITY.

I know that the Galaxy Manusmrit Aparteid Order does not allow us to focus on local issues anywhere. it is Post Modern globalisation of International WAR and Genocide Culture. But the complicating circumstances compell me the issues apparently Localised. But these issues also tend to be global and are intensely associated with the GALAXY Order.

Some people feel very irritated while we VOICE our people. They brand our version of the story as PROPAGANDA while their version of the stories do consist of the HOLY SCRIPTS never to be violated. Thus they sustain the Ruling Brahaminicla zionist HEGEMONIES worldwide. Illuminiti has also taken over India. It is a COMBINED ILLUMINITY called INDIA INCs! Which threaten to transform into ROTHCHILDS legacy with the legacy of the ageold companies like TATAs and Reliance in Upsurge!

The BRAHAMINICAL has no LOGIC to defend the HEGEMIONIES arouns so they pose to OPPOSE it and HIJACK our Resistance as well as ISSUES! While we speak out. They simply use ABUSIVE Language or seeks ESCAPE ROUTE to kill the DEBATE which rather exposes them!

The MARXIST ruled INDIAN state of WEST Bengal may be an EXCELLENT case to understand how the ZIONIST HINDU WHITE GALAXY HEGEMONY holds all they keys of every worldly or DIVINE affairs!

We support NANDIGRAM, SINGUR and LALGARH insurrections full heartedly!

But doing so, we support the RESISTANCE HEGEMONY led by BRAHMINS only. We become MIND CONTROLLED and BRAINWASHED by the Brahaminical CIVIL Society and INTELLIGENTSIA which HATE us, the Indigenous, Aboriginal, SC, ST, OBC, Minorities most!

Suppose we witness a CHANGE in WEST Bengal what kind of CHANGE it would be! Simply Fire BRAND BRAHMIN Ms MAMATA Bannerjee would replace another set of RULING BRAHMINS led by BUDDHADEB and see would form the LETHAL TRIO with PRANAB and ADWANI once again to continue the GENOCIDE MACHINE running!

Recent AUTO RIOTS in Kolkata may be described in a single PHRASE: CARBON BUSINESS. It is neither POLITICS nor ECONOMY. It happens to be outright BUSINESS only. That, too, CARBION Business. NONE of the sides involved into the GAME may claim whiteness in the affiars of DARKNESS. It is an EXCELLENT EXPOSURE of GESTAPO CULTURE, ORGANISED VANDALISM!

Only this morning, a Vetaran CPIM Leader, an aged friend intercepted me on my way in the locality.

He asked,` DEKHECHHEN?’

He was referring to AUTO RIOTS. I had to reply rather a little bit harsh.
` YOU CREATED THE GESTAPO DEFENDING ALL ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES AND USING THE UNEMPLOYED YOUTH AS YOUR ORGANISED CADERS TO INTIMIDATE THE INNOCENT MASSES. NOW THEY HAVE CROSSED THE FENCE. YOU NEVER PROTESTED THE GUNDARAJ VANDALISM ANYTIME ANYWHERE. THEY RAN OVER WALKING MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN, MISBEHAVED WITH DIABLED PERSONS, ATTACKED THE PROTESTERS AT HOME. YOU ALWAYS SUPPORTED THEM. SINCE MS MAMATA BANNERJEE COMES FORE FRONT WITH ALL THOSE AUTO DRIVERS , NOW YOU FEEL THE HEAT AND THE DUST!’

Even after the AUTO RIOTS in Kolkata, the Police and Administration never did react as they had been well aware of the MARXIST VOTE BANK MOBILisation CADRES involved.Thus, despite the HIGH COURT order, the government of West Bengal does not COMPLY!

West bengal and specially KOLKATA live on, bank on CARBON BUSINESS so extremely, that we may not dare to dream any Change whatsoever! It has been always a STATUS QUO despite so many judicial interfereances!

I just llanded in the COALFIELDS of JHARKHAND in April, 1080 from my HOMELAND, NAINITAL in the HIMALYAS via ALLAHABAD and New Delhi. I had to understand the difference in Pollution level.

Our friend, eminent writer SANJEEV, the editor of HANS used to live in KULTI. He was working a s a scientist in ISCO. At the time, he was writing a NOVEL on CHASNALA Disaster. What he did, he just ambushed our rooms in Masterpara, hirapur and convinced us, me and eminent Poet MADAN KASHYAP to accompany him in his journey to CHASNALA situated in Jharia coalfields. We visited Jharia, Lodhna and CHASNALA. We travelled by Trekker. It was a trilling experience for a FRESHER in the Coalfields as i was seeing Coal Mines and MINING first time in my life! I also witnessed the UNDERGROUND FIRE in Mines and also the INNUNDATED mines, too. Returning home, I immediately fell ill as my clothes and within me it was nothing but Coal Dust not to mention the CARBON DI OXIDE, CARBON MONO OXIDE and METHANE gases inhaled! I had been working as an Environment ECO Activist in the HIMALYAN region throughout my student life. I could feel the suffering of the people . But it was rather shocking to witness the DETACHEDNESS of the People of Coalfields and Jharkhand as they were HABITUAL to inhale POISON extremely.

I find the same story repeated again and again in WEST Bengal, too!
The country’s greenhouse gas emissions are being fuelled almost entirely by the rapidly growing rich consumers, who despite being just a fraction of the 1.1-billion population are eating into the carbon space needed for the development of over 800 million poor in the country, according to environmental watchdog Greenpeace.

In a new report titled ‘Hiding behind the poor’, Greenpeace has called for a special tax for higher carbon emissions on the nation’s wealthy consumers, who, it says, are nearly at par with consumers in some of the developed nations in terms of per capita greenhouse gas emissions.

It says the economic divide within India is translating into a widening emission divide, with some 150 million Indians, who are splurging on luxury goods and air travel, producing 4.5 times more carbon emissions than the 800 million poor.

Carbon footprint


The findings of the report, Greenpeace said, “…plainly illustrate that the considerably significant carbon footprint of a relatively small wealthy class in the country is camouflaged by the 823 million poor population of the country, who keep the overall per capita emissions below 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.”

Greenpeace India’s Executive Director, Mr G. Ananthapadmanabhan, said the Government should not use its average low carbon per capita emissions as a reason not to try to bring down the amount of carbon dioxide released.

India’s position on UN climate change negotiations would be strengthened if New Delhi made the rich pay a special tax for higher carbon emissions, he said, adding, “…the difference in emissions between the highest and the lowest income groups in India is almost as glaring as the difference in the average per capita emissions between the EU and India.” The report has been released in the wake of the upcoming environmental meet at Bali in December.


In Kolkata : Thirteen persons were killed and several others taken ill after drinking spurious liquor in Kidderpore area of Kolakata, police said on Sunday. Three bodies, including that of a woman, were recovered from the Hooghly jute mill colony and Hyde road areas, while three perons others died at state-run SSKM and Sambhunath Pandit hospitals late Saturday after drinking the liquor, the sources said.

Thirteen persons, including three women, have been arrested so far.

However, angry residents raided the liquor dens and smashed bottles. They alleged that the police had turned a blind eye to those selling the spurious brew.

The police said they were looking for others who may have been taken ill at their homes after drinking the liquor.

GAZA:Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, on Sunday. Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early Sunday, cutting the coastal territory into two and surrounding its biggest city as the new phase of a devastating offensive against Hamas gained momentum.At least 24 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Palestinian medical sources

In Punjab:The national wetlands in Ropar district of Punjab has attracted hundreds of migratory birds this winter season, however the forest authorities lament declining number of trees in the area. It is a requirement of national wetland that there should be trees surrounding the area so that birds can take shelter on them but the number of trees here are lessening day by day, Forum for Protection of Animals President Prabhat Bhatti said. Despite the fact that the area has been declared as national wetland on February 2, 2007 the central government has not allotted any fund for the maintenance of this place, authorities said.

The area is loosing greenery as more and more trees are being cut, Bhatti said.

Small tsunamis hit Japan's southeast coast!
Tokyo (AP): Small tsunamis hit Japan's southeast coast on Sunday morning after powerful earthquakes struck Indonesia overnight. There were no reports of damage. Japan's Meteorological Agency said tsunamis of 10 centimetres, 40 centimetres in height splashed ashore in towns along the coast. It also warned that bigger tsunamis were possible later.Government officials said there were no reports of damage, and television broadcasts of the coastal areas showed calm beaches and cars driving as normal on roads near the ocean.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency earlier issued tsunami warnings for a wide swath of Japan's southeast coast for tsunamis up to 50 centimetres high, prompting city officials to warn people to stay away from the ocean.

A huge quake off western Indonesia caused the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 230,000 people, more than half of them in Sumatra.

Failing to get job, IIT student commits suicide in KANPUR, UP, INDIA AMERICANISED!

kanpur:Upset over not getting a job through campus recruitment, a post graduate IIT student allegedly committed suicide in Kanpur by hanging himself. G Suman, a second year M-tech student hailing from Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room this afternoon, said Sanjay Govind Panday, Director of IIT Kanpur. Suman, who was pursuing electrical engineering, was upset after he failed to get a job offer during a recent campus recruitment by several multi-nationals, Panday said. He would rarely meet anyone and would lock himself in his room. However, when he did not come to the mess for breakfast and lunch on Saturday, his friends went to his room which was locked from inside.

They saw Suman's body hanging from the fan, Panday said adding he was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead.


In WEST BENGAL,the torching of buses and streetfights in Kolkata over the past two days have come in handy for the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government that was under increasing pressure from Citu leaders over the autorickshaw ban. The government will move Calcutta High Court on Tuesday to seek more time to implement the order. Early on Saturday, Citu leaders called on home secretary Ardhendu Sen and requested him to go slow on the crackdown. CPM’s labour arm is worried about the erosion in its ranks, with auto operators switching loyalties overnight to Trinamool Congress. Around 11.30 am, the CM took stock of the law and order situation with the home secretary. By then, two buses had been burnt by mobs. The CM made up his mind. At 4.30 pm, during the anniversary programme of CPM mouthpiece Ganashakti, he announced: “The high court has passed the ban. But then, the livelihood of auto operators is at stake. We will appeal to the court to extend the deadline.”

Unchecked vehicular pollution is nullifying the effects of a reduced level of industrial pollution in Kolkata. A study by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board reveals that there has been a reduction in the levels of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and respiratory particulate matter (RPM) — two major air pollutants since 1997, though they are still above the danger mark.

The SPM level in 2002 was 173 mg/m3 against a permissible limit of 140 mg/m3, though in 1997 the level was 283 mg/m3 . The RPM level in 2002 was 90 mg/m3 against a permissible limit of 60 mg/m3 though in 1997 the level was 173 mg/m3. The sulphur dioxide, ni-trogen dioxide and lead content in the air have also reduced. “Vehicular pollution contributes to 50 per cent of the air pollution, while industrial pollution contributes to 48 per cent. The remaining two per cent can be attributed to domestic and other sources,” said Ravi Kant, member-secretary of the Board told TNN. Corrective measures taken by the CESC at its Cossipore thermal power plant was one factor which went a long way to check indus-trial pollution.

Of the total industrial pollution, 53 per cent was caused by the Cossipore plant, 44 per cent by small units, and three per cent by big industries. “The CESC plant is old and had not installed pollution checking devices. We issued stricture orders forcing it to take corrective measures. We have similarly found that 130 small scale units out of a total of 294 are still causing pollution despite our repeated warnings. We have given closure orders to these”, Kant informed. Most of the industrial pollution is caused by coal fired boilers and the Board has given directives for a switch-over to oil fired boilers.

For all such corrective measures the units are being given 50 per cent subsidy by the Board as part of the India-Canada Environment Facility, a joint venture. As one of the five most polluted cities of the country, (the others are Delhi, Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Pune) the Supreme Court had asked the state government for an action plan to counter air pollu-tion in Kolkata, last year.

An action plan was submitted to the Supreme Court and the Board started working on it and hence this reduction, Kant said.

Kolkata Breathing Poison: A Story On Air Pollution In The City
Air pollution is a burning issue all over the world now. Problems like global warming are taking the planet into its grab fast. In recent time we can witness disastrous results like Tsunami, Cyder and Earthquake in China very recently.

To define, air pollution is the human introduction into the atmosphere of chemical, particulates or biological materials that leaves negative impact in the lives of lives. Air pollution can bring disasters including death. Air pollution is caused due to emission by the automobiles mainly. Climate scientists have identified Co2 as the main pollutant.

India is one of the worse affected countries in the world. The country with second largest population in the world suffer a lot due to air pollution. It can be mentioned that Kolkata is the highest polluted cities among the metro and major cities in the country. Last year Kolkata has recorded a highest level of air pollution among the metro cities in India.

Studies show that air pollution in kolkata increases during the winter days. It happens mainly due to inversion, low wind speed and high level of congestion. Data available on the suspended particulate matter (SPM), for the last two years, shows that the SPM is continuously increasing during the winter in last few years. Lead concentration in SPM during winter for kolkata was high in comparison to other cities of the world. Concentration of some components like benzene, toluene and xylene are found in kolkata in a level much higher than the any other places in the world.

Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute has recently conducted a study that shows that air pollution is the major reason behind fatal diseases like lung cancer among the city dwellers. The city has recorded a highest number of lung cancer cases in the country last year. CNCI report also include that the city’s SPM is 211 and Respiratory Particulate Matter (RPM) is 105. Both are much higher than the normal level. As a result of this breath abnormalities, difficult breathing are some of the problems people have to suffer regularly. The slum dwellers, street workers, hawkers are the worst sufferers.



There are a number of reasons behind the growing pollution in the city. Factors like use of kerosine, coal– both in domestic and industry works, add much to the pollution in the city. Other than that poor quality of fuel, old age cars, poor condition of the road, miserable slum condition, high population density are together responsible for the growing pollution in the city. Moreover, deforestation is another factor that counts a lot. It is a wonder that the high court has ordered to control the emission in of the vehicles, but the govt has taken no steps so far.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6614561.stm
http://www.soesju.org/arsenic/kolkata_pollution.htm

'Sea water may submerge Kolkata in 100 years'

Anand Mohan Sahay in Patna | May 06, 2003 16:25 IST


West Bengal's capital and one of India's densely populated metropolitan city, Kolkata, is all set to face the threat of submergence in the Bay of Bengal, according to an expert.

New Delhi based environmental scientist V Subramanian warned on Tuesday that a large part of Kolkata may be lost at the end of this century if the sea continues to rise.

Subramanian, who teaches at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and is in Patna to deliver a lecture, said that according to the latest data available, the sea is rising at the level of 1cm per year. At this rate the Bay of Bengal would engulf some part of West Bengal, including Kolkata, in the next 100 years.

According to him thermal power plants emit gases like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and methane, which deplete the ozone layer. This causes the ultraviolet rays to penetrate the atmosphere and melt glaciers, which raises the sea level. Thirty per cent of glaciers have already melted, he said and if this continues there would be no glaciers left in the next five decades.

He shocked students, teachers and researchers by revealing that Bangladesh has touched the sea level and is set to submerge. Similarly, he said the Maldives islands would not last more than 100 years and Thailand's capital Bangkok has already started sinking.

He also blamed volcanic eruptions and frequent forest fires for global warming and climatic changes. He said though the changes were not new, it is occurring at a much faster pace.
http://im.rediff.com/news/2003/may/06sahay.htm

Infosys, Wipro get terror e-mails
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Press Trust of India
Posted: Jan 04, 2009 at 2045 hrs IST

Bangalore Six prominent IT companies in the city, including Infosys and Wipro, have received e-mails threating to blow up their buildings, a top police officer said. Joint Commissioner of Police B Gopal Hosur said that the companies received e-mails threatening to blow up their establishments two days ago and immediately informed the police. The police have already begun investigations, he said, but did not divulge further details.

India inks largest-ever defence deal with US

4 Jan 2009, 2124 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit, TNN

NEW DELHI: The UPA government has quietly gone ahead and signed the biggest-ever defence deal with US: a $2.1 billion contract for eight Boeing
P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft for Navy.

TOI had reported on December 27 that the huge deal was finally on the verge of being inked after protracted negotiations and clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security.

The actual signing took place on January 1, with defence ministry's joint secretary and acquisitions manager (maritime systems) Preeti Sudan and Boeing integrated defence systems vice-president and country head Vivek Lall signing the contract, sources said.

But, strangely enough, the defence ministry is keeping the deal under wraps. Incidentally, the previous NDA regime had also signed a flurry of mega defence deals -- like the $1.5 billion one for Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and $1.1 billion one for three Israeli ‘Phalcon' AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) -- in the run-up to the April-May 2004 general elections.

Sources said the P-8I contract was "a direct commercial agreement with Boeing", with "some issues of end-use verification yet to be fully sorted out" with the US government.

As reported earlier, India and US are negotiating the End-Use Verification Agreement (EUVA) and the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), which are required under American laws to ensure compliance with sensitive technology control requirements.

The two pacts are required since India is now increasingly turning to US to buy military hardware and software. Though India does not have problems with safeguards, it does not want them to be "intrusive".

In terms of the contract size, the P-8I deal supplants the $962 million deal signed with US in 2007 for six C-130J `Super Hercules' aircraft for Indian special forces.

India will get the first P-8I towards end-2012 or early-2013, with the other seven following in a phased manner by 2015-2016. The contract also provides an option for India to order four to eight more such planes.

Armed with torpedoes, depth bombs and Harpoon anti-ship missiles, the P-8I will also be capable of anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare. They will replace the eight ageing and fuel-guzzling Russian Tupolev-142M turboprops currently being operated by Navy.

The P-8I planes will help in plugging the existing voids in Navy's maritime snooping capabilities, having as they will an operating range of over 600 nautical miles, with `5.5 hours on station'.

Customised for India and based on the Boeing 737 commercial airliner, the P-8I will actually be a variant of the P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft currently being developed for US Navy, which has ordered 108 of them to replace its P-3C Orion fleet. India, of course, remains unhappy over the US decision to sell more P-3C Orions, armed with Harpoon missiles, to Pakistan.

At present, the Navy uses the TU-142Ms, IL-38SDs and Dorniers for surveillance operations in the Indian Ocean region. It is also now in the hunt for six advanced medium-range maritime reconnaissance planes, for around Rs 1,600 crore, to further boost its snooping capabilities.

For innermost layer surveillance, up to 200 nautical miles, Navy is going in for two more Israeli Heron UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), with three ground control stations and two ship control stations, for Rs 386 crore after successfully deploying eight Searcher-II and four Heron UAVs. There is also the Rs 1,163 crore joint Indo-Israeli project for developing rotary-wing UAVs for use from warships.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3934554.cms

Gandhi slams street riots, wants clean air
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

A bus in flames. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)
Calcutta, Jan. 3: Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi today deplored the destruction of public property to protest the auto ban and said it doesn’t protect the interests of the “poorest of the poor for they suffer from air pollution the most”.

In a statement issued from Raj Bhavan, Gandhi said: “I deplore the destruction of public property and disruption of public life that we have witnessed in the last few hours. It does not enhance the interests of autorickshaw owners or drivers; nor it protects the interests of the poorest of the poor for they suffer from air pollution the most.”

He also said that the protests following the government’s attempts “to implement the high court order” were “taking a very undesirable shape”.

“The judiciary has taken an unavoidable step by ordering the phasing out of certain types of autorickshaws that were causing deterioration to air quality in Kolkata. The autorickshaw owners are in need of advice and assistance to implement the change.”

The statement has a message for both the opponents of the auto ban and the government. The governor has made it clear that the people of Calcutta deserve to breathe clean air and that it shouldn’t do anything that goes against the court’s order to rid the city of pollution.

Reacting to Gandhi’s statement, Sudip Bandopadhyay of the Trinamul Congress, which has been spearheading the protests on the streets, said: “When I was going to Nandigram with Mamata today, she was told about the incidents that occurred in the city. We all want fresh and clean air as desired by the governor. But the court and the government should have mercy on poor auto drivers and owners and give them adequate time. Today’s incidents were the handiwork of Citu men, who put the blame on us.’’
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090104/jsp/bengal/story_10341176.jsp

City, US experts mull ways to cut industrial pollution
18 Aug 2001, 0004 hrs IST, Dhiman Chattopadhyay, TNN
kolkata: when spiders unite they can tie down a lion - goes an old ethiopian proverb. perhaps that is what experts from the world of industry and environment from washington and kolkata had in mind when they exchanged notes over a video conference across several thousand miles - trying to develop a united strategy which would 'tie down' industrial pollution while ensuring that companies continued to enjoy profit. however, they spent the better part of an hour debating whether ensuring a cleaner environment sans industrial pollution was only a matter of better engineering and new technology or whether it had to take into account other factors like financial expenditure and popular mindset. the discussion exposed the vast differences in approach the two nations had taken, in the context of reducing greenhouse gas emission and ensuring industries cut down their pollution level. while the americans seemed convinced that "a few engineering modifications" and implementing better technology was all that was needed to solve the age-old conflict between industry and environment, their indian counterparts were not quite so sure. david gardner, who till recently worked in the white house as head of the climate test group, said one had to "ensure that new, green technology was introduced into all polluting plants," to reduce pollution. gardner and izadpanah argued that the us experiment had shown that better technology could be used and cost reduced at the same time. "each time a company invests a single dollar towards reducing environmental pollution, the society as a whole saves us $4. our experience over the last few years show that while reducing greenhouse gas emission has resulted in us companies spending a combined us $25 billion, the us citizen has saved a total of us $110 billion - so drastically has their medical bills been reduced. people in the us are therefore beginning to see the financial benefits of reducing industrial pollution," gardner said. indian experts like mobar ltd managing director aditya kashyap and abb md aloke mukherjee however, rightly pointed out that as far as india was concerned financial constraints often overshadowed any other obligation. overhauling existing technology, they said, could mean huge overhead costs which most indian companies were unwilling to dish out. "the million dollar question in india would always be who would invest that first dollar? the state, it seems would have to play a very large role here," jayanta bandyopadhyay director of the centre for development and environment policy in the indian institute of management, kolkata said. in the end, it seemed that the only thing that both sides agreed on, was in bertrand russell's famous saying: "progress must be accompanied by wisdom, otherwise it brings only sorrow".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1868403760.cms



Unprecedented security cover for Nandigram by-poll
Nandigram (PTI): An unprecedented security cover has been thrown across politically sensitive Nandigram with 15,000 central forces deployed to man just 176 polling booths ahead of the assembly by-poll on Monday.




Besides, 2000 policemen have also been deployed, she said, adding all the 176 booths in the area were declared sensitive.

Central forces and police were maintaining logs of all vehicles plying in the area and interrogating drivers. Central forces were deployed in all the rural market areas.

"All our arrangements are complete and we expect free and fair polls. We will allow nobody other than polling agents and voters inside the booths," she said.

Lama said as all the booths have been declared sensitive, the polling process in all of them will be recorded on camera. Each booth would have a micro observer and six senior observers would monitor them. The DM would personally supervise the polling process.

The by-poll has been necessitated after the resignation of CPI MLA Muhammad Ilyas following a sting operation exposing his alleged involvement in a corruption case.

The by-poll, scheduled for December 30 but postponed due to security considerations, will decide the fate of six contestants. The main contenders are Parmananda Bharati of CPI and Firoza Bibi of Trinamool Congress, which led the agitation against the acquisition of farmland for industries in 2007.

There are 135 booths in Nandigram I and 41 in Nandigram II and the total electorate is 1,08,000 and 1,79,416 in both the booths respectively.

Meanwhile,The US has blocked an attempt in the powerful UN Security Council to express serious concern over the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza after eight days of air strikes and to call for an immediate ceasefire, asserting that it would ‘not be adhered to and have no underpinning for success’.

'FBI hands over 26/11 attacks evidence to Pak'

London The FBI has given to Pakistan evidence amassed by it on involvement of elements based in that country in the Mumbai strikes, including on the LeT handlers' warning to the attackers about the arrival of Indian commandos while watching the mayhem live on TV, a media report in London said on Sunday. Stating that evidence is growing to prove that the Mumbai strikes were orchestrated by militants based in Pakistan, 'The Sunday Times' reported that Zarar Shah, a communications specialist of Lashkar-e-Toiba, has admitted under interrogation in Pakistan that he advised the terrorists by phone as the attacks unfolded. Controllers in Pakistan watched live television and warned the gunmen of the arrival of Indian commandos, the report said, citing evidence amassed by the FBI and handed over to the Pakistani government.

Hand over Prabhakaran to India: Cong tells Sri Lanka
New Delhi With Sri Lankan troops closing in on LTTE's last bastion Mullaitivu, Congress asked the island nation to hand over Tamil Tiger chief Prabhakaran once he is caught so that he faces trial for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"We will be happy if Prabhakaran is caught and handed over to India for the heinous crime he has committed. He should be brought to book for the assassination of our beloved leader Rajiv Gandhi," party's chief spokesman M Veerappa Moily said.

Moily said the Sri Lankan government would do an excellent service to India if it hands over the LTTE chief after catching him. "We want his extradition. The request is pending," he said.

Pakistan must give ‘cast iron guarantees’: Chidambaram
New Delhi Holding that Pakistan will have to give ‘cast iron guarantees’ that its soil will not be used to launch a terror attack like Mumbai carnage, India has said that it will have to pay an ‘enormous price’ if such a strike is repeated.

"What we now want is cast iron guarantees" that no state actors or non-state ones will be allowed to use Pakistani soil or sources to launch an attack on India, Home Minister P Chidambaram said.

"Guarantees have to come from those who control the levers of power and that means, the elected civilian government, plus the army. These are not guarantees that you can execute on a piece of paper. These are guarantees that have to be given to the international community," he told a television news channel.

Environmental Scientists in Kolkata speak out against Chemical Hub in Noyachar

Environmental Scientists in Kolkata speak out against Chemical Hub in Noyachar

Translated by Soumya Guhathakurta, Sanhati. Sept. 5, 2007

According to environmentalists, the flowing and mixing of effluent from the chemical plant at Noyachar with the waters of river Ganges cannot be ruled out. During high tides it is possible for the contaminated water to flow upstream for a considerable distance. The possibility of the water flowing into waterways connected to Ganges cannot also be ruled out.

The previous head of the Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, and an expert on the Sunderbans, Amalesh Choudhury, opines that the decision to build a chemical hub at Noyachar cannot be taken by politicians and administrators. He believes that the last word on this issue can only be pronounced by environmental scientists. Presently, Amalesh Choudhury is a specialist member of ‘Sunderbans Mangrove Wetland Development Board’ and ‘ Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve Development Board’. According to him, the environment of Noyachor should be left in its present virgin state, in the interests of the Haldia industrial area. There are 10 to 12 varieties of grasses growing in Noyachor which protect the said industrial area. Further, they absorb a portion of the chemical pollution that is generated by Haldia. Environmentalist Shubhash Datta has gone on record saying that in case a hurried decision is forced upon the state then he will seek legal redressal.

Retired professor Manju Bandopadhyay of the Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, has worked extensively on the flora and fauna of the Sunderbans delta. She asserts that the existence or the absence of human settlements cannot be the only criterion for the project. She feels that none can guarantee that chemical effluents from the hub will not flow into the Ganges and pollute the water upstream and that of water bodies connected to the ganges, during high tides.

Retired professor Manosh Joardar, Department of Applied Physics, University of Calcutta, is apprehensive that a fate similar to the well known disaster incident in Japan (the presence of mercury in chemical effluents which flowed into the sea) awaits the ganges. He states that the river Ganges is presently heavily polluted and the government and its administration are in no position to enforce environmental norms on industries or management, whose index is profit and not environmental protection. No one is in a position to guarantee that the pollution of Noyachor will leave untouched the banks of the Ganges.

This article originally appeared in Bartaman, September 5, 2007

***********************************************************************************************

Developing news:

Sept. 4: Island in zone of no development

Experts today warned that setting up a mega chemical hub on the mud island of Nayachar would violate coastal and environmental laws.

Although seen as relatively stable and gradually growing in size, as an uninhabited island it falls under Coastal Regulation Zone 1 (CRZ 1) where development is banned.

“No development work can be undertaken in such uninhabited coastal zones unless specifically cleared by the Centre,” said Sugata Hazra, the director of the School of Oceanographic Studies in Jadavpur, who is also a member of the state Coastal Zone Management Authority.

The estuarine island, 3km east of Haldia and 15km from the sea, comes under the coastal authority since it has a salinity level of little under 10ppt (parts per thousand). Areas with salinity levels of 5ppt and above fall under the coastal authority.

Development is allowed in already developed CRZ 2 areas like Digha. It is also permitted to a small extent in partially built-up CRZ 3 areas like New Digha and Sankarpur or CRZ 4 areas like the Andamans, which are detached islands and need some development to be self-sufficient. But it is banned in the uninhabited CRZ 1 areas.

“The island is also home to five varieties of mangroves, which have played a major role in stabilising it and preventing coastal erosion over the years. It has a sizeable forest cover,” Hazra added.

Officials said cutting down mangroves to build a chemical hub would not be ecologically sound.

In need of around 10,000 acres of contiguous land near Haldia, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’ s government is banking on Nayachar as its lone hope, especially after yesterday’s meeting with political parties where the island was declared the “obvious choice”.

The government has concluded that acquisition of 10,000 acres in any other area would be impossible at this point. The search for an alternative site began after the choice of Nandigram fell through.

Yesterday, asked about reports that the island ran the risk of instability, industry minister Nirupam Sen said the soil could be technologically modified to make it suitable for development.

The 16,000-acre island is home to a tourist bungalow and a prawn cultivation project. Some 400 fishermen’s families live here, of whom 500 work in the prawn project. Another 200 come from outside to work every day.

The state has to get the proposal vetted by the coastal authority, which will forward it to the Central Coastal Zone Regulation Authority for clearance. Clearance from the Union forest ministry would also be required.

Sept. 5: State opted for Nayachar ignoring GSI warnings



Ignoring a Geological Survey of India report that the Nayachar island (see photo) is prone to earthquake, cyclone and even tsunami, the state government proposed at the all-party meeting on Monday to set up a mega chemical hub.
It came to light today that the state fisheries department, which had sounded the GSI’s opinion on the status of the island’s soil, got the report about a week before the much-touted meeting, yet it went ahead with building the case for Nayachar. Its two proposals for two other sites ~ Haldia and Khejuri-Contai ~ were shot down at the meeting, since many people would have to be displaced if the project were to come up.

The GSI report stated that the soft land, apart from being vulnerable to earthquake, cyclone and tsunami, is also “young”, not more than 60 years. Because of its proximity to the coastal area, it runs the risk of getting inundated owing to tidal surges, the report said. At the all-party meeting, Left Front’s junior partners gave their nod to the proposal, while the Congress decided to communicate its decision “soon”. Now, the principal secretary, fisheries and aquaculture department, has called a meeting with GSI officials at Writers’ Buildings on Friday to discuss the quality of the island’s soil and related issues.
The fisheries minister, Mr Kiranmoy Nanda, has, however, no difficulty in making alternative arrangements for fishermen who run cooperatives on about 850 hectares on the island.

The state environment minister, Mr Sailen Sarkar, expressed his worries about the possible negative impact the chemical hub would make on Nayachar island. Mr Sarkar told reporters, after attending a seminar, that his department hasn’t been contacted for carrying out an environmental impact study of the proposed hub on the island.

The former director of the Zoological Survey of India, Dr Ashish Ghosh, said GSI geologists should be informed about the nature of the proposed industrial units before assessing the land stability. Dr Ghosh said the government would have to strictly monitor the environmental factors. “The chances of dumping chemical waste into the waters surrounding the island are high. Proper technology should be in place for air, solid waste and effluent management,” he said. According to environmental experts, if chemical waste mixes with water, the rich fishing ground in the sandheads, off the Digha coast, will be poisoned.

Sept. 4: Congress reservations over Nayachar

State Congress leaders have expressed reservations over setting up of a chemical hub on Nayachar island, citing topographical reasons. “Nayachar is away from the mainland though it is a newly developed island. And it is only 1.5 metre above the water level. The island located at the confluence of the Haldi and the Hooghly rivers is newly formed and is topographically unsuitable for a chemical hub,” PCC working president Mr Pradeep Bhattacharjee said today.

“We are happy that the state government has finally shifted from their stand of acquiring farmland for setting up a chemical hub,” he said. Mr Bhattacharya said that Nayachar situated off Haldia, though is a possible site for the mega chemical hub, is sparingly inhabited and faces threat from soil erosion.

The Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and Industries had already visited Nayachar before the state government decided to select it for the chemical hub. In all South East Asian countries such as Singapore and Indonesia, chemical hubs are situated off the main island and as per that logic, Nayachar may be an ideal choice. But the newly developed island would not be an ideal place for setting up a chemical hub.

Yesterday, chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and commerce and industry minister Mr Nirupam Sen informed the all-party meeting at Writers’ Buildings that the outlying area of Haldia Petrochemical complex would not be selected for setting up a chemical hub as the land there was fertile. Nayachar was opted for the chemical hub as most of its 14,000 acres belong to the state fisheries department and Haldia Development Authority.

The PCC working president said that the chief minister had failed to answer all the queries regarding chemical pollution. The party has demanded at the meeting that an expert committee be set up for studying how to dispose chemical waste and effect of pollution on human beings.
http://sanhati.com/news/360/


Will 2009 be the year of Rahul Gandhi?
New Delhi Rahul Gandhi slowly emerged out of the self-imposed cocoon in the year that went by but in the New Year which will see Lok Sabha elections will he have a bigger role.
This is a question that is hotly discussed in Congress circles and outside.

With the Congress buoyed over the poll victory in three states and being part of government in Jammu and Kashmir, Gandhi was hailed as the ‘third pole’ in Congress after Party President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"The Congress is now on the threshold of 3-G technology; we have stood for third generation leaders who are progressive and dynamic and who can provide good governance," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi says.

But the party appears in no hurry to pitchfork him to the front as one who may be taking over. Sonia Gandhi had answered the question on Independence Day that "certainly" Manmohan Singh will be the Prime Minister if the UPA comes back to power.

In fact, early 2008 saw the AICC not approving senior leader Arjun Singh's statement that there was no harm in projecting Rahul as the PM candidate. That time, party leaders had made it known that Manmohan Singh did not like the idea when he was occupying the prime ministerial chair.

Gandhi, who was inducted as the General Secretary of the AICC in September 2007 and made in-charge of the frontal organisations of NSUI and the IYC, took the opportunity head on.

Gandhi started the process of democratising the functioning of the NSUI and the IYC holding organizational elections for the NSUI in Uttarakhand and IYC in Punjab, to be replicated in these organisations in the rest of the country.

Even though the adoption of the same model in the parent party may not be anyday soon, the 38-year old leader, in a candid admission, described patronage, money, dynasty and relatives as a "bane" which prevents the youth from joining politics.

He described himself as someone who benefited from it as his father, grandmother and great grandfather were the Prime Ministers of the country at a meeting in Uttarakhand.

Mumbai attacks an act of war by Pakistan: Rushdie
London There was no doubt about Pakistan's complicity in the Mumbai attacks, internationally acclaimed India-born author Salman Rushdie has said and urged Britain to stop aid to Islamabad for failing to act against terrorists operating from its soil.
"There is no question that this was Pakistan. You could see it as an act of war," the writer of 'Satanic Verses' and 'Midnight's Children' said in an interview to ‘The Times’.

"The West should be tougher on Pakistan. It is trying to play both ends against the middle -- to look like the friend of the revolutionaries on the one hand and a friend of the West in the fight against terrorism. It can't be both things," he said.

"This country should make clear that as long as Pakistan harbours terrorists it's not going to get any Western aid."

Mumbai saw a demonstration of the ‘extraordinary barbarism’ that people are prepared to unleash on the world, the controversial author said. "How many of these attacks do we need before we understand what's going on?"

Recalling his days in Mumbai, Rushdie said he watched with horror as flames tore through the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai.

"Those are the streets I grew up on. Two of the characters in my novel 'Midnight's Children' consummate their love affair in the Palace, as so many of us did."

PRAKSH KARAT SLAMS OPPOSITION IN WEST BEMNGAL



Kolkata:Opposition parties in West Bengal have launched a "well-planned onslaught" against the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) that leads the state's ruling Left Front, party general secretary Prakash Karat said in KOLKAT on Saturday.

"What is now happening in West Bengal is a well-planned onslaught against the CPI-M. These activities - happenings in Lalgarh in the name of tribal agitation, growing Maoist attacks on the communists, the Gorkhaland movement in northern West Bengal - are targeted to weaken the Left Front in the state," Karat maintained.

"We've to constantly fight against all the opposition forces. Our party is not addressing this as a problem of West Bengal alone. It's a national issue. Our party has been built through a class struggle and we've to see to it so that this conspiracy against the communists is defeated," Karat said.

Alleging that the spate of troubles in West Bengal were the result of a ''well planned conspiracy', CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat today said the party was ready to accept the challenge.

'' The party does not see the problems being whipped up in West Bengal as the problems of the state alone. There is a well planned conspiracy against the CPI (M) by different forces and the party is ready to take the challenge,'' he said while speaking at a function on the occasion of the 43rd foundation day of 'Ganashakti', the Bengali mouthpiece of the CPI(M).


Karat was here to celebrate the 43rd foundation day of the party's Bengali daily Ganashakti. He also attended a meeting of the party's state secretariat.

Striking a similar chord, Chief Minister and CPI-M politburo member Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said: "We've to move forward facing all the hurdles set by our opposition. There's no scope to look back.

"There would have been no agitation by the tribals against the state administration in West Midnapore's Lalgarh if the Trinamool Congress and Jharkhandis were not there," said Bhattcharjee


It was quite evident that the CPI-M led state government was not keen to implement the court's directive as a Citu delegation including the minister of state for labour, Mr Anadi Sahu met Mr Sen today at Writers' Buildings and urged him to "stop the crackdown on autorickshaws". Even the CM, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said: "We have some responsibility towards autorickshaw drivers and we will request the court in this matter but Opposition activists resorted to setting alight buses". In fact the police is yet to begin its crackdown on two stroke auto rickshaws as directed by the court. So far, by the home secretary's own admission, it has seized only unregistered autorickshaws which are illegal under any circumstances. When asked whether the government was being held to ransom, Mr Sen replied: "This is not one day's work. If we can execute the matter more systematically over a longer period of time then it would be better". The Governor, however, deplored the protests as "taking a very undesirable shape" and asked the "leaders of opinion to come forward with constructive suggestions" and facilitate the implementation of the Court order to cut down on air pollution, which also affects the autorickshaw drivers.

The CPI-M state secretary, Mr Biman Bose attacked the Trinamul chief. "How can a responsible Opposition organise a sit-in demonstration? Pulling up a chair and hurling invectives at the chief minister will not solve the problem," he said.



The switch to LPG has to be “painless” for auto operators rendered jobless on New Year’s Day, he said. On this, he has Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi by his side. After parting ways over Nandigram and Singur, Gandhi and the CM found common ground on the HC move to clean up the air. Polluting autos have to go, they agree, but not at the cost of livelihoods.

In a press release, the Governor said: “The judiciary has taken an unavoidable step by ordering the phasing out of certain types of autos that were causing deterioration to air quality in Kolkata. The government should take steps to see that the changeover is painless for the affected auto operators.”

Condemning the violence, Gandhi said: “I deplore the destruction of public property and disruption of public life. It does not enhance the interests of auto owners or drivers. Nor does it protect the interests of the poor — they suffer from air pollution the most.”

Sen said Bhattacharjee would take a final call on Sunday after talks with the transport minister and police chief Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti.

Three buses were torched and several vehicles damaged in Kolkata in a rampage by Trinamool Congress-backed autorickshaw operators A state-owned bus set afire by autorickshaw operators in Kolkata protesting a court ban on ageing public transport vehicles in the city and to demand the release of 18 arrested protesters. The buses were burnt in around Park Circus in south Kolkata as a large contingent of police stood by but could do little as the auto operators, protesting a ban by the Calcutta High Court on two-stroke autos from January 1, indulged in violence. They not only damaged and set ablaze the buses but also snatched cash and valuables from passengers and conductors of the buses during a 12-hour strike called by the Trinamool Congress-backed Auto Bachao Committee and the Progressive Taximen's Union.

There are over 60,000 autos, mainly two-stroke, in the metropolis of which 25,000 to 30,000 have valid permits.

It is clear now that autorickshaw operators backed by political parties are bent on using violence to stall the move to ban two-stroke autorickshaws from Kolkata. If one bus was set on fire on Friday, three were torched and three more wrecked on Saturday. The attacks seemed orchestrated. Miscreants resorted to guerrilla tactics, suddenly pouncing on commuters or buses, and disappearing into lanes and bylanes before police could react. Most of the violence was centred around the Park Circus seven-point crossing. Apprehending trouble, a large police force including RAF platoons was deployed since early morning, but they were taken by surprise when a group of hooligans struck at 9.30 am. The goons started dragging out passengers from taxis plying as shuttle vehicles towards EM Bypass and Salt Lake. Police rushed to the spot but the gang had vanished.


Home secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters that he would discuss suspension or slowing down of the police raids on autos with both transport minister Subhas Chakraborty and police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty.

Chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakraborty said the state government was bound to implement the high court order.

"What can we do? It is the verdict of high court. We have a sense of responsibility to auto operators. We will appeal to the high court," CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said.

Terrorism, intelligence network on CMs conclave agenda
New Delhi (PTI): Prompt handling of terror attacks, toning intelligence network and security of key installations, including nuclear plants, will be high on the agenda of a brain storming conference of chief ministers to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday here.
In his first such exercise after taking over the reins of Home Ministry, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will elicit views from all state governments on measures to beef up the security machinery to check terrorism in the wake of Mumbai terror carnage.

The meeting will focus on strengthening intelligence network and toning up of coastal security, particularly in view of the fact that the terrorists involved in Mumbai attacks used the sea route to sneak into the metropolis.

Security of key installations, including nuclear power plants, will also figure prominently at the meeting to be addressed by the Prime Minister.

The Tuesday's conclave will be followed by a meeting of chief ministers of nearly a dozen Naxal-affected states, including Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, on Wednesday.

The Wednesday's meeting is expected to give emphasis on how to fight the menace through development and security. Besides reviewing the security preparedness of the Maoists-infested states, the Union Home Ministry is also likely to take note of the progress of development projects initiated in 33 districts across nine states.

Immediate filling up police vacancies, setting up of the Police Network (POLNET) connecting all police stations through a computer-based system for sharing of information and videos of crime scenes and swift action on police reforms are other issues which the chief ministers will deliberate in the Tuesday's meeting.

The issue of strengthening intelligence collection and sharing mechanism (Subsidiaries of Multi Agency Centre), modernisation of police forces, setting up of commando units in all states/Union territories police forces and discussion on the modalities of the working of the newly-formed National Investigation Agency are also on the agenda of the first meeting.

In a letter sent recently, Chidambaram had suggested all chief ministers to set up round the clock control rooms to receive and disseminate intelligence/information pertaining to terrorism and other forms of organised crime, setting up an analysis group within the state intelligence wing, forwarding intelligence inputs to Intelligence Bureau and taking urgent steps to get rid of mafia, extortion gangs and land sharks among others.

The Home Minister advised the states to immediately identify major establishments, installations and symbolic or iconic structures and conduct a thorough review of the security arrangements there.

Stop Vehicular Pollution in Kolkata




View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition


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To: Government of West Bengal
To: Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal, Hon’ble Transport Minister of West Bengal

Dear Sirs,

This is an urgent appeal to you for taking immediate action on the issue of vehicular pollution in Kolkata.

Kolkata’s air quality is in a perilous state, and there are enough scientific data available to substantiate this fact. However, we choose not to furnish them in this forum. Instead, we would just like to point out that this is a non-negotiable issue that cuts across all possible forms of boundaries, e.g., social, economic, age, gender etc. The black fumes that come out from the vehicles affect everyone alike – the auto-rickshaw driver, the traffic sergeant, the office commuter, the street hawker, the school children, and almost everyone who is on the road, except the ones who travel in private car with the glass windows rolled up and the air-conditioner turned on.

There are people already fighting for clean air in the city, and thanks to their relentless hard work, we now have a High Court order, passed on the 18th of July 2008, by which the following measures need to be implemented:

• commercial vehicles more than 15 years old to be phased out or converted to Bharat Stage III from April 2009
• all 2-stroke auto-rickshaws to be scrapped by December 2008
• auto-rickshaws to run on LPG from December 2009
• auto emission testing centers to remain under strict vigil and to be fined and suspended for irregularities

We are aware that a committee, consisting of senior government officials and academicians, has already been formed to implement this; but as concerned citizens of this city we just want to see to it that the efforts to do not fizzle out with time. The objective of this petition is to express the common citizen’s solidarity with the ones actively associated with anti-pollution campaign and to convey to the government that clean air is a demand of the mass, not just a handful of environmentalists.

We appeal to the West Bengal government to do the following:

1. Carry out the High Court order in a time-bound fashion
2. Restrict plying of goods vehicles during the day and ensure that those travel in night are checked for pollution
3. Augment public transport by introducing big, clean buses in more numbers and piloting concepts like dedicated bus lanes for faster flows
4. Institutionalize a transparent and hassle-free process by which the common citizen may lodge complaints against polluting vehicles and get to know the action taken on the complaint (Given the adult’s indifference towards lodging complaints, government may like to introduce a scheme by which children are encouraged through rewards to submit the registration number of the polluting vehicles to the West Bengal Pollution Control Board. We would thus be having a large section of the population itself acting as pollution watch dogs for the city.)

Many of the above measures have already been successfully implemented, or being experimented with, in other cities, including New Delhi. We are merely urging our government to replicate them in Kolkata.


This petition is also a pledge to do our own bit to address the problem. Whoever signs this petition, takes a pledge to minimize the use of cars and avail buses to the largest extent possible. This small step taken by each of us will collectively help reduce the pollution and traffic congestion in Kolkata, and make it a better place to live and breathe in.


Sincerely,

The Undersigned




View Current Signatures
http://www.petitiononline.com/kolkata/petition.html
Government Institutions
West Bengal State Pollution Control Board
Tags: Air Pollution Control, Pollution Control, State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), Water Pollution Control, West Bengal, Environment
Address: Paribesh Bhavan, 10A, Block-L.A, Sector III, Salt Lake City
Tel: 1-800-345-3390
Web URL: http://www.wbpcb.gov.in/
Objectives
West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) is a statutory authority entrusted to implement environmental laws and rules within the jurisdiction of the state of West Bengal, India. WBPCB was constituted immediately after the enactment of the first major environmental legislation of the country, the Water (Prevention and Control of Water Pollution) Act, 1974. During its twenty-eight years of life, the Board tried its best to ensure proper implementation of the statutes, judicial and legislative pronouncements and to fulfill the needs of the people.

THE OZONE LAYER: IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF OZONE EDUCATION
Joelle S. Busman
Cary Belen

INTRODUCTION
Donna: What is the environment?
Martha: The environment is the earth, and you have to help the earth. Oh, and it?s the ozone layer.
Donna: And what is the ozone layer?
Martha: (shrugs her shoulders in a gesture of uncertainty) I think the ozone layer?s like the top of the air where we are right now and then the rest is empty of the ozone layer. I think it?s supposed to protect where we are right now from polluting and trash and stuff.
Donna: Where did you hear about the ozone layer?
Martha: Mostly on TV?.The news channels mostly?.Sometimes I want to see what there is, what I should wear, but they go into the ozone layer and stuff, and I watch that until they say what the weather?s going to be like. (King, 78)

In the book, Doing their Share to Save the Planet, author Donna Lee King interviewed numerous children to ask their opinions about environmental issues. The conversation above exhibits the innocence and naiveté of a young child, who will eventually inherit mother earth, in regards to the ozone layer. Although the adult reader may chuckle at this young girl?s lack of knowledge, the average adult is virtually as uneducated. With such a life affecting issue as the ozone layer, it is essential that society be well informed about the danger ozone depletion poses to earth.

There are many issues one must explore when educating himself/herself about the ozone layer. The goal of this paper is to provide the layman with a general knowledge of important components of ozone education. First, a general overview will be provided. Next, the reader will learn scientific aspects of the ozone layer such as factors responsible for ozone depletion, and then he/she will explore the ozone hole over Antarctica. To continue, societal aspects that will be addressed include health risks, crop/plant damage, and organism damage. Finally, actions that government has taken to attempt to solve the problem will be discussed. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the importance of ozone education.

SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

The ozone layer: What is it?

The ozone layer is a portion of earth?s atmosphere that contains high levels of ozone. The atmosphere is divided into five layers: the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the thermosphere, and the exosphere. The troposphere is the layer closest to earth and is where all weather happenings occur. The stratosphere is located directly above the troposphere, about 10-50 kilometers above the planet, and houses the ozone layer at an altitude of 20-30 kilometers. The mesosphere is located approximately 50-80 kilometers above the earth, while the thermosphere rests at an altitude of approximately 100-200 kilometers above the earth?s surface. Finally, the boundary of the outermost layer, the exosphere, extends roughly to 960-1000 kilometers above the earth. For a visual of the lowermost three layers of our atmosphere, refer to Figure 1 below.
http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/ozone.htm
Ozone layer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone (O3). This layer absorbs 93-99% of the sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to life on earth.[1] Over 91% of the ozone in Earth's atmosphere is present here.[1] It is mainly located in the lower portion of the stratosphere from approximately 10 km to 50 km above Earth's surface, though the thickness varies seasonally and geographically.[2] The ozone layer was discovered in 1913 by the French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson. Its properties were explored in detail by the British meteorologist G. M. B. Dobson, who developed a simple spectrophotometer (the Dobsonmeter) that could be used to measure stratospheric ozone from the ground. Between 1928 and 1958 Dobson established a worldwide network of ozone monitoring stations which continues to operate today(2008). The "Dobson unit", a convenient measure of the total amount of ozone in a column overhead, is named in his honor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_layer

Research Article
Predicting daily total ozone over Kolkata, India: skill assessment of different neural network models
Goutami Chattopadhyay 1, Surajit Chattopadhyay 2 *
1Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Calcutta, Kolkata 700019, India
2Formerly, Department of Information Technology, Pailan College of Management and Technology, Kolkata 700 104, India

email: Surajit Chattopadhyay (surajit_2008@yahoo.co.in)

*Correspondence to Surajit Chattopadhyay, Department of Information Technology, Pailan College of Management and Technology, Kolkata 700 104, India.

Keywords
total ozone concentration • multilayer perceptron • generalized feed forward neural network • radial basis function network • modular neural network • regression • prediction


Abstract
This paper explores the observation made by the Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (EP/TOMS) to analyse the predictability of daily total ozone concentration over Kolkata, India. Latitude, longitude, aerosol index, reflectivity, sulphur dioxide index and total ozone concentration of a given day have been used as independent variables to predict total ozone concentration of the next day. Artificial neural network in the forms of a multilayer perceptron, generalized feed forward neural network, a radial basis function network and a modular neural network have been trained to generate predictive models. Performances of the models in the test cases have been judged with the help of four statistical parameters. Finally the models have been compared with multiple linear regression and the potential of generalized feed forward neural network has been established over the other proposed models. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society



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Received: 6 April 2008; Revised: 3 July 2008; Accepted: 14 July 2008
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121431131/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Our study on
GROUNDWATER ARSENIC CONTAMINATION IN THE RESIDENTIAL AREA OF BEHALA, KOLKATA DUE TO INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION

Reported work done by SOES


Arsenic wastes in the iron container

Summary

Contamination of groundwater by arsenic may be due to industrial discharges, mining operations, or mobilization of naturally occurring arsenic in sedimentary aquifers. Such contamination has been reported in China (Province of Taiwan), USA (Millard Country, Utah), Chile, Argentina and Japan (Tokyo).

Between 1983 and 1985, 14 villages in South Bengal were affected by chronic arsenic toxicity. A high level of arsenic was detected in the water from shallow tubewells (24-36 meters deep) used by those affected, but the cause of the contamination could not be ascertained. During the period July-September 1989, some residents of P.N. Mitra Lane, Behala. South West Calcutta, attended the S.S.K.M. Hospital and were found to have signs of chronic arsenic toxicity. This led us to study the problem from an environmental, clinical and epidemiological point of view.

Due to the discharge of industrial effluent after production of the insecticide Paris-Green [Copper acetoarsenite Cu(CH3COO)2 3Cu(AsO2)2] by a local factory at the P.N. Mitra Lane, Behala, ground water has become contaminated with arsenic. More than seven thousand people were using this arsenic contaminated tube-well water for drinking and house-hold purposes. Many people of the area were hospitalized and symptoms of arsenic toxicity were visible amongst a large number of the population. Analytical study reveals that soil around the area of effluent dumping point, which is at the middle of the locality, contains a very high concentration of arsenic and copper. For the last 20 years this factory had been producing 20 tons of Paris-Green per year and had been dumping its effluent in that area. It seems, the effluent treatment for arsenic removal was not adequate and finally arsenic percolated to the underground aquifers. Consequently, arsenic concentration in the ground water is very high. Both arsenite and arsenate are present in groundwater. An alternative source of water other than the ground water is immediately necessary for the people of P.N. Mitra Lane.Highest concentration of arsenic recorded was 8000 mg/l.

An industry was producing 20-30 tons of Paris Green [Copper acetoarsenite Cu(CH3COO)2 3Cu(AsO2)2] per year and was discharging most of the effluent without proper treatment in an open land just outside the boundary of the factory. Due to the high porosity of the soil, arsenic percolated and contaminated the underground aquifer. More than 7000 people living around the discharge point, were exposed to arsenic contaminated water. Primary investigations and follow-up studies in the area, carried out for the last 8 years, have revealed that some of the distant tubewells which were earlier free form arsenic, are getting contaminated now. In May 1997, a preliminary analysis of arsenic in the urine, hair and nails of some of the people drinking contaminated water from CMC deep tubewells indicated a higher arsenic concentration than in the normal population.

Reference
(1) Environmental Pollution & Chronic Arsenicosis in South Calcutta, West Bengal. D.N.Guha Mazumder, J.Das Gupta, A.K. Chakraborty, A. Chatterjee, D.Das & D.Chakraborti; Bulletin of World Health Organization 1992, 70(4), 481-485.
(2) A Study of Ground Water Contamination by Arsenic in the Residential Area of Behala, Calcutta due to Industrial Pollution. Amit Chatterjee, Dipankar Das & D.Chakraborti; Environmental Pollution, 80 (1), 57-65, 1993.
(3).Calcutta's industrial pollution: Groundwater arsenic contamination in a residential area and sufferings of people due to industrial effluent discharge - An eight-year study report. D. Chakraborti, G. Samanta, B.K.Mandal, T.Roy Chowdhury, C.R.Chanda, B.K.Biswas, R.K. Dhar, G.K.Basu and K.C.Saha. Current Science 74(4), 346-355, 1998.
http://www.soesju.org/arsenic/kolkata.htm
Industrial pollution at Behala and Community Action
On 21 February,1997, there was an unusual scene in the Calcutta High court. A number of housewives from east Behala were narrating their experiences on environmental pollution in front of Green Bench of the High court. Indian urban centres are facing a new kind of problem. Already in Delhi, the issue of pollution from industries within the city area has caused several court cases and Supreme Court ordered all industries in non-industrial zone to vacate. Other cities need to take a lesson from that. But is Kolkata learning from that?

Behala is located in the south west part of Kolkata. The area under concern is Kolkata Municipal Corporation Ward Nos. 116,117 & 121. The area was rural in character three decades back and there were some big rice mills. There were a number of ponds, wetlands, fallow lands. A number of factories were set up later and a large number of small scale industries were set up without any planning in the defunct rice mill premises.

After 1990, the industrial pollution in the area became a matter of serious concern. Shri D.P.Bhattacharya, one of the founder members of vasundhara , organised local people to protest against this problem. Most of the local industries had no clearance from West Bengal Pollution Control Board. A PIL was filed against some chemical industries in the Kolkata High Court. The High Court after going through the reports of WBPCB and All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health severely indicted the factories for neglecting pollution control and closed them. Meanwhile the case was transferred to the M.C.Mehta Vs Union of India & others case in the Supreme Court since the two factories figured in both and for similar charges. Later the WBPCB filed favourable status report to the Supreme Court and the Apex Court allowed them to function as they reportedly installed pollution-control. Dissatisfied with the environmental clearances from the statutory authorities, the local residents filed a case in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court directed NEERI for inspection and report. NEERI found the pollution control measure inadequate and the Supreme Court directed all these industries to relocate from east Behala. Vasundhara provided the scientific and technical support to the case.

On February, 1997, the housewives of the locality addressed a letter to the Green Bench of Calcutta High Court complaining about serious degradation of the environmental quality of the area. High Court ordered WBPCB to survey the area. The survey report revealed that there are 141 plastic reprocessing units, 55 spray painting units, paints and printing ink manufacturing units, 230 engineering & fabrication units, 20 electroplating/galvanizing units and 30 chemical units. None of these units have any clearance from WBPCB. Most of the units are causing pollution. But WBPCB failed to monitor industry specific pollutants. So we are still at dark about the nature of pollution in this area.

The local people are complaining of different kind of physical problems. A number of local physicians wrote to the Minister and the High Court about this. Till now nothing has been done from the administration.

New polluting industries are being set up in the area. The ponds are being filled up. The open spaces are filled with hazardous waste. Dirty plastic wastes are heaped around the residential places. Still after analysis reports from All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, NEERI and the survey report of WBPCB, nothing has improved in the area. It is hightime that the authorities take proper actions to make the area safe for living and also solve the problem of industrial locations in urban residential areas.



What happened in Delhi

On application of Mr. M.C.Mehta in 1985, Supreme Court ordered relocation of 8738 (later increased to 9164) industries in March 1995 because of violation of Delhi Master Plan -2001and shifting of those industries in the area designated for industries. 168 hazardous industries were ordered to close immediately and shift outside Delhi as Master Plan does not permit such industries. Authorities were ready to offer plots.

For the workmen the Supreme Court ordered that a)The workmen will have continuity of service during shifting b) The workmen will be paid full wages during this period c) One year wage will be given as shifting bonus d) The workmen of the industries not willing to shift will be paid 6 years wages. e) The workmen not willing to shift will be paid according to Industrial Disputes Act and one year's wage.

For the vacated site, the Supreme Court ordered that a) Upto 2000 sq. m (0.2 ha) land, the owner can sell or develop in accordance with Delhi Master Plan b) 0.2 ha - 5 ha. , the owner can sell or develop 43% of land in accordance with Delhi Master Plan .and 57% of land will be used for tree plantation and open space. c) 5-10 ha: the owner can sell or develop 35% of land in accordance with Delhi Master Plan .and 65% of land will be used for tree plantation and open space. d) More than 10 ha: the owner can develop 32% of land in accordance with Delhi Master Plan .and 68% of land will be used for tree plantation and open space.

The Critique of the Judgement:

a) The case was filed 10 years back, why it took 10 years to decide the fate of workers or was it dragged out from old files for some purpose? Will judiciary reply?

b) As most of the workers are not officially permanent in these small industries, they will not be able to get the compensation. There is no safeguard for them. Who will take care of them?

c) As the industries violated the Master Plan, why DDA (Delhi Development Authority) officials should not be punished for allowing these industries continue for many years?

d) Why pollution control board administrators should not be pulled up for allowing such a situation to develop? Why they did nothing till the court order?

e) 64% of air pollution of Delhi is due to automobile emission and cars numbers are highest in the country. No action was taken on that field.

f) No detailed study of pollution from these industries was ever done. Authorities did not suggest any pollution control measures.

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http://www.geocities.com/geesen/Polu.htm


CONCLUDING PROGRAMME OF THE
INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION CONTROL PROJECT

at The Auditorium, Paribesh Bhawan, Kolkata
on 19th December, 2003 at 2:30 p.m.


Organised by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board

The Industrial Pollution Control Project of the WBPCB – Supported by the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC)

The Industrial Pollution Control Project (ID – P/105) is basically a capacity development project of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB). The basic objective was the upgradation and augmentation of the capacity of the Board with respect to its basic objective of enforcement of the environmental statutes and maintenance of the ‘environment’ safe for human existence and development.

The project commenced on 12.04.1995 and ended on 12.04.2003. The total expenditure of the project was 426 million INR (Loan Component = 346 million INR and State Government Share = 80 million INR).

Necessity of the project (as in the year 1996)

The WBPCB is the main enforcing agency of different environmental statutes of India such as:

a) The Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 & Rules.

b) The Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 & Rules.

c) The Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981& Rules.

d) The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 & Rules.

e) The Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989.

f) The Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989.

g) The Bio-medical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1989.

h) The Public Liability Insurance Act 1991.

The main enforcing instruments of the Board are "Consent to Establish" or "Consent to Operate" by which industrial and/or environmentally important activities are issued or refused to the establishments depending on their compliance with regard to discharge of liquid, solid or gaseous effluents.

The jurisdiction of the WBPCB is the state of West Bengal with a population of about 70 million (19 million urban and 51 million rural) as per 1901 census report and land cover of 88075 sq. km. divided in 18 districts. The State capital Calcutta, a business-cum-industrial city has a population of about 4.5 million. Before the said project, the Board had its head office at Calcutta and four regional offices with one laboratory at the head quarter with a scanty facility and capacity to monitor less than half the parameters required for proper environmental monitoring.

So far as air monitoring is concerned, the conventional methods adopted by the Board were prone to errors and these air monitoring systems were required to be gradually upgraded through installation of automatic ambient air monitoring stations and proper network to run and maintain them.

Speaking about water monitoring, although in last four years the number of laboratories of the Board went up to four and three more to come shortly, the analyzing of water samples lack many of the sophisticated analytical instruments used in such cases. The present facility cannot measure precisely many of the parameters and at all some parameters. Moreover, in recent years much stress has been given globally for management of "hazardous waste" and "biomedical waste". The country has enacted suitable laws implementation of which needs precise measurement of many more contaminating parameters both chemical and biological in nature. Upgradation of the laboratory facility of the Board is thus an absolute necessity with respect to the following:

Sophisticated and state-of-the-art instruments and equipment to improve precision of analysis.
Better safety arrangement inside the laboratory
Facility for proper keeping, handling and disposal of reagents and toxics to ensure safety of the workers and the neighborhood.
Impact of the JBIC-aided Project

The project, started in 1996 was concluded in April 2003 with the following achievements:

Construction of office-cum-laboratory complex at Calcutta, Durgapur and Barrackpur; Calcutta being the head quarter and the other two being two most important with respect to density of industrial establishments.
Training programme (both overseas and in-house) for technical staff of the Board for understanding of state-of-the-art technologies for environmental monitoring and industrial pollution control.
Data collection at monitoring stations at Victoria Memorial Hall and Rabindra Bharti University premises.
Establishment of a data bank and center for public awareness facility to provide facility to train government and industry personnel and non-government organisations working for environmental awareness development.
Procurement of instruments and equipments for the laboratories for monitoring of all possible parameters in environmental samples including five automatic air quality stations, one mobile van and a net work of data and information flow back and forth.
With the facility and infrastructure developed and the capacity development programme performed through the project, the WBPCB is now capable of tackling almost all industrial pollution control issues as mandated by the Acts and Rules. Performing state-of-the-art analysis of any type of environmental sample at the laboratories placed at three industrially most important locations, e.g, Durgapur, Barrackpur and Kolkata, is another unique feature obtained by the Board through the project.
http://www.wbpcb.gov.in/html/pressrelease/press_release_jbic.shtml
Jai Balaji gets land for West Bengal steel project
Kolkata (IANS): The West Bengal government on Monday allotted 748.97 acres to Jai Balaji Industries for setting up a five-million-tonne integrated steel plant at Raghunathpur in Purulia district.

"We will get another 250 acres over and above this within the next 10-15 days," company chairman and managing director Aditya Jajodia said after receiving the land allotment order from state industries minister Nirupam Sen.

Altogether 3,700 acres are required for the project.

The first phase of the Rs 16,000-crore project comprises a two-million-tonne steel plant, a 400 MW power plant and a one-million-tonne cement plant, Jajodia said.

The total investment for the first phase will be Rs 4,000 crore, out of which Rs 1,500 crore will go towards setting up the power plant, Rs 200 crore for the cement facility, and the remaining Rs 2,300 crore on the steel plant.

"The total project cost has come down by 30 per cent and that of the first phase by 25 per cent because of developments in domestic and international markets," he said.

The company expects additional turnover of Rs 5,000-6,000 crore from the first phase, which will be completed within 36 months of the start of the project. "We will start working on the project within 15-20 days," Jajodia said.

The total project will comprise a five-million tonne integrated steel plant, three-million tonne cement plant and a 1,215 MW captive power plant.

Jajodia said the project involves a debt-equity ratio of 2:1, with a Rs 700-crore loan having already been secured from a consortium of 20 banks.

Non-coking coal, which will be supplied by the West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corp, will constitute 60 per cent of the total coal requirement.

India's West Bengal reports fresh bird flu outbreak
Sat Jan 3, 2009 7:21am EST Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page[-] Text [+] KOLKATA, India, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Health and veterinary workers culled poultry in a densely populated eastern Indian state on Saturday after a fresh outbreak of H5N1 bird flu, officials said.

The latest outbreak of the virus in poultry is the fourth in the state of West Bengal since 2007.

Bird flu first broke out in India in 2006. Millions of chicken and ducks have been culled since to contain the virus, but it has resurfaced from time to time. India has reported no human infections.

West Bengal officials said they had begun culling about 60,000 poultry after the fourth outbreak was confirmed on Saturday near Siliguri town, bordering Bangladesh.

Culling operations in West Bengal to contain the third outbreak had ended barely a fortnight ago.

"We have sent 30 teams to kill chickens and ducks in the village where dead birds tested positive," Surendra Gupta, a senior government official, told Reuters.

Hundreds of thousands of birds had also been culled in India's northeastern Assam state and neighbouring Meghalaya after bird flu was detected in November. Experts have warned that the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people across the world.

According to the World Health Organisation, H5N1 bird flu has infected more than 390 people in 15 countries and killed at least 247 of them since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003. (Reporting by Sujoy Dhar, Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee/Tony Austin)

SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDIES IN INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION CONTROL ENGINEERING

Profile: aims and objectives, and brief history

Although the fundamental nature of the pollution problem has not changed significantly in very recent times, there have been important changes in control technology, in our understanding of the processes and interactions between various pollutants, and in admin1istrative and legislative instruments for regulation and abatement. The School of Advanced Studies in Industrial Control Pollution Engineering was set up in 2000 to approach environmental issues in this changed perspective.
The chief aims and objectives of the School are:
• To impart training to scientific and technical personnel working in various industries
• To organise workshops and seminars on emerging areas of the subject
• To encourage experts in this field in writing notes, technical manuals and books on various aspects of the subject
• To provide consultancy services on pollution matters to various industries, especially small and medium-scale industries

Contact
International/National links
Infrastructural Facilities
Publications
Consultancy Services

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Contact

1. Address : Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032
Telephone & fax: (033) 473-1799
E-mail : sdatta_che@rediffmail.com

2. Date of establishment: 2000

3. Director : Professor S. K. Sanyal
http://www.jadavpur.edu/academics/school_of_advanced_studies.htm

Culling begins in bird flu-hit Darjeeling
Siliguri, West Bengal (IANS): Authorities in West Bengal on Sunday began culling operations in the bird flu-hit Darjeeling and Siliguri subdivisions, officials said.

"A three-day culling operation has begun in the affected areas of Siliguri. Twenty-four teams comprising of a total of 200 veterinary workers have culled at least 100 chickens since morning," Sarod Dwivedi, sub-divisional officer of Siliguri, told reporters.

The district administration had on Saturday ordered the culling of about 60,000 poultry at Pubang in Takhdra of Darjeeling subdivision and Matigara in Siliguri subdivision.

Dwivedi said that authorities were not facing any resistance from farmers.

"People are willingly handing over their chickens to our workers. For the time being, each household is getting a compensation of Rs.500. But we will soon be having a high-level meeting to decide the compensation to be paid to poultry farmers and if any animal can be given in exchange of the birds," Dwivedi said.

In Darjeeling subdivision, nine culling teams started operations on Sunday.

Said Milan Halder, Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry Department of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC): "Culling operations have started. Initially we have only nine teams, but the number will increase as and when required."

Culling operations will also be carried out in Phulbari of Jalpaiguri district, which comes under the radius zone.

Sale and consumption of poultry and poultry products have been banned in the affected areas.

Alarmed at the death of 80 poultry birds at Pubang in Takhdra of Darjeeling subdivision and 67 poultry birds at Matigara in Siliguri subdivision within a week, the district administration sent the samples to the High Security Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Bhopal. One of the samples tested positive for avian flu.

The development came 18 days after bird flu struck Malda district in the State

Real estate industry to change alignment

4 Jan 2009, 0427 hrs IST, Debasish Roy, ET Bureau
The real estate industry around the world has developed in the same manner till now. Real estate agents have graduated into real estate developers
who undertake to do the dirty of work of getting licenses and mutating the land from either agricultural to residential urban or into commercial urban. The expertise is more often than not in dealing with specific documents , which are either vetted of generated by the local agency or body of government with their particular rules and methods. For instance, selling land or an apartment in Dankuni in West Bengal, outskirts of Osaka in Japan or in Hillsborough in the United States entail having thorough knowledge of documents regarding land ownership and also land use.

So its all about documents or lack of them, isn't it? If you don't know how to process a document for real estate then you don't know how to handle land dealings and you cannot graduate from just a guy who lives in a rented apartment to a guy who buys and sells them; or come to think of it who creates them from agricultural or fallow land.

However, in the last 10 years a few things have changed in the highly regulated regimes of Guang Zhou, Singapore and Thailand. Singapore with its lethal combination of Tamilian and Chinese cando , will-execute rationalism; Thailand with its monarchy taking most of these decisions in a centralized manner and finally Guang Zhou with its one modular body taking all decisions regarding real estate restructuring and development.

The real estate development cycle moves in a particular manner around the world. It starts from specific need, moves onto fixed budget and then the scenario of funding comes into play and then it moves on to the diverse and branched situation of multi-expertise such as digging the ground for a foundation, getting the papers in order from the local authorities, sourcing cement and bricks, etc.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Real_estate_industry_to_change_alignment/articleshow/3933008.cms

Stimulus not sufficient to boost growth, say economists
New Delhi (PTI): It's not just industrialists, but even leading economists feel that the twin packages announced by the government and RBI to boost sagging economy is 'insufficient', as the farm sector's concerns were not been addressed to.

"This (stimulus package) is in the right direction, but not sufficient," economic think-tank ICRIER's Director Rajiv Kumar told PTI when asked whether the steps announced by the government and RBI on Friday would be able to revive industry and exports.

"There is no talk about agriculture. It has been completely left out," he further said.

Although the government had raised the public expenditure during 2008-09 by Rs 1.47 lakh crore, over and above the allocations made in the budget for the fiscal, questions are being raised about the ability of the government to spend additional funds during the remaining three months.

Echoing similar view, RIS Director-General Nagesh Kumar said, "The economy need a much bigger stimulus and I expect more measures... An employment guarantee scheme is needed. The size of the package should be increased."

Expressing dissatisfaction at the second stimulus package, President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) A Sakthivel said, "We find no serious consideration (of exporters' demands) except extension of the DEPB scheme."

In order to reverse the economic slowdown, the government on Friday came up with a second stimulus package seeking to raise public spending and making available easier credit for sectors like exports, housing and small industries.

Simultaneously, RBI also slashed key policy rates and ratios to pump in an additional Rs 20,000 crore into the banking system, in addition to signalling a soft interest rate regime.
PTI


Measures to help housing sector not sufficient: Developers
Mumbai (PTI): The economic package, particularly rate cuts and easing of ECB norms, will increase flow of funds into the struggling housing sector, but more measures are needed to enable the realty business to bounce back, developers said.

"Even though the RBI has slashed rates, financial institutions have not been lending to developers... there is further scope for easing loan rates," real estate consultant Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj Chairman and Country Head Anuj Puri told PTI.

"The stimulus package announced by the government will re-generate the demand cycle in the housing sector, which remained subdued on account of high home loan rates, high prices of residential and general economic condition," he said.

"Prices maintain the equilibrium between demand and supply. The only fear is if realtors cut supply in accordance with slumping demand, prices would start rallying again. Hence, supply needs to come into the market and the government's move is a great step towards that," Puri said.

Corroborating Puri's view, noted industrialist Adi Godrej said, "Loan rates are still not low enough... I expect these should further ease by April-May along with inflation, which should also come down considerably by that time."

Sharing similar sentiments, Sunil Mantri, Chairman of Sunil Mantri Realty Ltd, said, "The relaxation in ECB norms and the repo rate is a welcome move, but we were expecting the RBI to raise the priority home loan benchmark to Rs 50 lakh."

Besides, Mantri said that the easing of external commercial borrowings would help bring down cost of funds.

"The RBI gave a strong message by cutting rates, but banks have not been passing on the benefit, and are instead sitting tight on the money," he added.

"The ECB guidelines extended to townships will boost the housing and real estate sector," Marathon Realty Managing Director Mayur Shah said.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the form of debt would now be available to this sector, Shah said.

Apart from these, monetary measures announced by the RBI would also release additional liquidity in the market.

Raising credit limit of banks to facilitate more credit for housing loans may help the housing sector.

However, there has been no significant step to address the real estate sector's problems such as for houses that cost above Rs 20 lakh.

"I doubt that raising the level of FII investment in corporate bonds by up to USD 15 billion even as the global economic situation remains gloomy will have any bearing on the economy as a whole," Parsvnath Developers Chairman Pradeep Jain said.

Although this has been a good step, there should have been more in the segment of houses that cost more than Rs 20 lakh is yet to be addressed, Jain said.

Welcoming the measures taken in the second stimulus package, Lodha Group Senior Vice President (Marketing) S Karthik said, "Any package that helps create stimulus will benefit the housing sector. There will be an improvement in consumers' confidence. This will spur sales of residential flats and help the primary need of consumers."

Reduction in interest rates and better availability of home loans will boost the demand for housing in the country, Karthik said.

"CRR reduction will bring more liquidity in the market. The drop in interest rates is welcome and we hope buyers should get home loans at 8-9 per cent across the board," Shah said.

On real estate prices, Shah said prices have corrected substantially and are going back to old levels. Overall, the entire housing sector was moving in the right direction, he said.

Identifying concerns of the housing sector was an important consideration. The duty cut on imported cement and TMT bars would help cut input cost in the short run, Jain said.

"It is also a welcome step to allow states to divest funds from the JNNURM to buy houses, which will boost the demand for housing further," Jain said.

Air threat to human lungs -Kolkata
http://www.gits4u.com/envo/envnew01.htm
Kolkata has upstaged Delhi as the air pollution capital of India, accounting for more deaths due to lung cancer and heart attack than the capital city. More than 18 persons per one lakh people in Kolkata fall victim to lung cancer every year compared to the next highest 13 per one lakh in Delhi, according to environmental scientist and advisor of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI), Twisha Lahiri.
Not only lung cancer, cases of heart attack were also rising fast in the Eastern metropolis, Lahiri said quoting a six-year survey conducted by the cancer institute. She said incidents of heart attack were occurring more frequently in the city.
CNCI scientists maintain that more than seven in 10 people here suffer from various kinds of respiratory disorder, including children as well as elderly people. Lahiri said roadside hawkers, shopowners, traffic policemen, auto-rickshaw drivers, rickshaw-pullers and others who spend long hours on the road were the most vulnerable. Children mainly suffer from breathing difficulties like asthma while elderly people are victims of lung cancer, the scientists said. (published in Business Standard on May 28, 2008)

Howarh Bridge over Hooghly river.
To protect Victoria Memorial
Environmentalist Subhas Dutta on Monday, June 10, 2008 filed a petition in Calcutta High Court, alleging that the state government had failed to carry out court orders to protect the Victoria Memorial Hall from pollution. The order, passed on September 28 last year by a division bench, had asked the government to follow certain guidelines
to cut down on the pollution level around the monument.
“The court had directed the state government to shift the Esplanade bus terminus to a site at least three km away from the Memorial within six months. No action has yet been taken in this regard,’’ said Dutta.
The West Bengal government issued the notification on March 28, 2008 acting on a six-month old High Court Order. The order was the concern of High Court that the relic of the Raj (Victoria Memorial) needs to be protected from the defacing fumes that tandoors and barbecues emit. Hotels and restaurants within a three-kilometers radius of Victoria Memorial can no longer use the charcoal fired ovens to barbecue meat and fish or cook tandoori food.

Victoria Memorial
Air Pollution in Kolkata city.
An ongoing global air pollution study by the Us-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has found that carbon monoxide emitted by cars combine with nitrogen dioxide present in the city atmosphere to cause serious damage to human lungs.



The research being carried out by the Ultra Violet Remote Sensing Group under the atmospheric chemistry department of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center, has also reveled that the bulk of Kolkata's dust particles come from West Asia and the neighboring regions.

The study in its first phase, is being conducted with the help of Ozone Monitoring Instrument, a satellite recording images of air pollution across the globe. "The image recorded before monsoon confirm that the dust particle in Calcutta and other parts of Gangetic valley are blown in from outside," explained Pawan Kumar Bhartia, in charge of the project. "We are in talks with Indian Space Research Organisation and other Indian research institutes for studies on the ground and sea level. Investigation into India's air pollution is a complex process, as the direction of air flow changes through the year."
The satellite images show presence of layers of nitrogen dioxide and aerosols in the city's atmosphere, Nitrogen dioxide, in the presence of sunlight, forms ozone, which is extremely harmful for crops and lungs. While nitrogen dioxide cannot move from one place to another, ozone flows to other areas. "It is to be seen how much of the thick layer of ozone over Kolkata has flown in from outside," said Nasa scientist. The aerosol consists of solid dust particles and sulphuric acid. "The dust particles are blown over the northern part of India to Kolkata before they move south towards Bay of Bengal," added Bhartia. According to him, dust particles can travel 700 to 800 km in a day, which means they will take only a couple of days to travel from Delhi to Kolkata.



The thick layer of ozone over Kolkata has flown in from outside," said Nasa scientist.
Air pollution suffocates Kolkata
Some 70% of people in the city of Kolkata suffer from respiratory disorders caused by air pollution, a recent study by a prominent cancer institute in India has concluded. Ailments include lung cancer, breathing difficulties and asthma, caused by air pollution, the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) study says. The CNCI is one of India's foremost research bodies, and its investigation took six years to complete.
One of its key findings was a direct link between air pollution among the 18m people of Kolkata and the high incidence of lung cancer. Kolkata tops all Indian cities when it comes to lung cancer - at 18.4 cases per 100,000 people - far ahead of Delhi at 13.34 cases per 100,000.

Kolkata's air pollution results from the horribly high levels of auto emissions. (Burbon Road, Kolkata, packed all the time with mini -buses and buses. )
The fuel of auto rickshaws is bad for air quality. The city's highly polluted air is leading to the growing number of lung cancer patients," says Twisha Lahiri, who conducted the CNCI study with five other researchers. The ideal count of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Respiratory Particulate Matter (RPM) should not exceed 140 and 60 respectively. But Kolkata's average SPM count is 211 and RPM count is 105. And in the worst polluted traffic intersections, this count can be double the city's average during busy hours. "Kolkata's air pollution results from the horribly high levels of auto emissions which the authorities have failed to control so far. If this is not checked with a heavy hand, the impact on the health of Kolkatan's, particularly children, will be devastating," says city doctor Parthasarthi Dutta. Street side occupants - particularly the hawkers who sell stuff - are the worst sufferers , the CNCI study says. It says that 79% of hawkers who spend a long time outdoors have suffered damaged lungs.
Environmentalist Subhas Dutta filed a public interest litigation in the Calcutta High Court in March this year, alleging that the West Bengal government was doing nothing to control air pollution levels. The court ordered the government to reduce vehicle emissions. In May 2005, the government set a deadline which ordered all vehicles in Calcutta manufactured before 1990 either to be off the roads or convert to greener fuel like LPG.
Nearly 80% of the city's buses and trucks and nearly 50% of its taxis and auto-rickshaws would have gone off the roads if the government enforced its directive. "It would have thrown Kolkata's transport system into chaos," says Madan Mitra of the Bengal Taxi Association. "The commuter would have suffered." But the Calcutta High Court quashed the government directive, and though the government challenged it in a higher bench, the case has yet to come up.
The worst offenders are around 50,000 auto rickshaws - half of them unregistered - who use "kantatel". This is a fuel made out of a deadly concoction of kerosene and petrol. "The toxic fumes released by them pollutes the city's air more than anything else, but no one can touch the auto- rickshaws because they have powerful trade unions," says environmentalist Subhas Dutta. "It again becomes an employment issue," he said.
Polluted waters of the Ganges River after the immersion of Durga idols:
The Hooghly river was left so polluted after the first day of immersions that millions of fish and aquatic plants have been massacred, and anyone who went into the water faced the danger of falling severely ill due to zinc and heavy metal poisoning. The River Pollution Control Act categorically prohibits idol immersions in the river. Kolkata Municipal Corporation also claiming to protect the Hooghly from pollution caused by immersions. Yet, all this has come to a naught. Samples of water collected showed that dissolved oxygen had dipped to 2.1 mg per litre while the desired level is at least 5 mg per litre. This is dangerous level as aquatic life cannot survive in such low oxygen content in water. The volume of solid suspended matter as well as oil and grease in water were also alarmingly high. The content of solid suspended matter in the water like zinc, aluminium and lead can affect those who bathe in the water leave alone those who drink it,” said S M Ghosh of EMG.
City schools to fight global warming
KOLKATA , March 23, 2008: Inspired by sensitisation workshops conducted by global non-government organisation World Wildlife Fund for Nature, students of five schools- Carmel High, La Martiniere for Boys, Birla High, St James and Mahadevi Birla - have begun chalking out strategies to reduce carbon emission by saving energy.
Urged by the students, the Carmel school principal has agreed to replace the conventional bulbs in the building with energy-saving lamps. Authorities at the other schools have also agreed to purchase only company fluorescent lamps (CFLs) when conventional bulbs need to be replaced.
"While Carmel's CFL switch is a major step towards reduction in energy consumption, nearly 50% of the lights in the other four schools will be CFL- powered. If other schools follow suit, it could inspire offices and homes to act similarly, thereby making a positive impact on reduction in carbon emission," WWF-India state director Saswati Sen said.
"Since the schools we have been to till now are 'elite' ones and most students use personal transport, we have encouraged teachers to urge students to use pool cars or share their vehicles with fellow students. Hence, if someone's coming to school from a particular locality, teachers are asking the student to find out if he can pick up two others for a day. The others can then take turns in picking him up for the next two days. This way, fuel can be saved, leading to reduction in carbon emission," Sen explained. After the ongoing year-end examinations, WWF-India will conduct a similar exercise in 15 more schools including La Martiniere for Girls, St Xavier's, Future Foundation and Julien Day.


Time to act



International concern about the accumulation of green house gases in the atmosphere and the possible effects on global temperatures, have led to a series of international initiatives for collective action. These include the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC, 1992), The Montreal Protocol of 1987 to control substances that damage the ozone layer, and the Kyoto Protocol

International concern about the accumulation of green house gases in the atmosphere and the possible effects on global temperatures, have led to a series of international initiatives for collective action. These include the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC, 1992), The Montreal Protocol of 1987 to control substances that damage the ozone layer, and the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 on global warming. Paul Horwitz, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Ozone Secretariat talked to Marianne de Nazareth, at the 60th Annual DPI/NGO Conference held at the United Nations in New York.

Could you explain what is meant by the ozone layer and why it is so important to save it?

Ozone (03) is a pollutant in the lower levels of the atmosphere. It is however a naturally occurring greenhouse gas higher up in the atmosphere. At lower levels of the stratosphere there is a layer we call the ozone layer and here O3 serves man well. Even though its concentration is not high, it intercepts much of the UV light from the sun. UV can cause sunburn, skin cancer and eye damage for humans and animals.

Give us an insight into the Montreal Protocol...

The Montreal Protocol of 1987 limits the release of gases into the atmosphere that might damage the earth's shield against ultraviolet B (UVB) rays from the sun. Concern about collection of chlorine in the upper atmosphere from CFC's and its impact on the ozone layer first surfaced in 1974 which tied CFC's to ozone 'holes'. CFC's were used worldwide as refrigerants, solvents, propellants and in the production of cleaning electronics. However, CFC's are attractive to developing countries as they do not require sophisticated technologies.





Is the issue of climate change tougher to handle and overcome than ozone depletion?

Absolutely! The issue of climate change touches many more human activities than the issue of ozone depletion. Global warming is an open access resource problem with access to the atmosphere being unrestricted. CFC's and other gases are released as the by products of human activities and other natural sources across countries. The gases retard the re-radiation of sun’s energy from the earth's surface back into space.

Which are the areas of the earth that are most prone to destruction with ozone depletion?

The Antarctic ozone hole was caused by CFC's. Ozone losses were a global phenomenon and the stratospheric chemistry above the Arctic was highly perturbed. The protocol was later updated in London in 1990 and Copenhagen in 1992.

How does UNEP and the NGO's work together to solve the ozone depletion problem?

About 191 countries have given their firm commitment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out CFC causing
products. UNEP has offices across 120 countries for information and technology transfer of ozone depleting substances. It is an extraordinary effort, but it is critical to bring coherence and combined participation to sustain synergistic cooperation between the Kyoto and the Montreal Protocol. The Montreal Protocol has unique provisions for equitable funding of developing countries and robust NGO participation.

You say India and China claim leadership roles in solving ozone depletion. Could you explain how?

India and China are the world’s booming economies. But, China is a huge example of a country which has realised the enormity of the crisis. They have agreed to phase out ozone depleting substances three years earlier than stipulated by the Montreal Protocol.

India too has agreed to take an accelerated path with our assistance
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/Aug192008/metro-tue2008081885304.asp


70 kids fall ill after mid-day meal in Chhattisgarh
Raipur (IANS): At least 70 primary school children have fallen ill after eating their mid-day meal in a remote village of Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, health officials said on Sunday.

The incident reportedly occurred Saturday at a primary school in Nadia village, some 210 km from here.

"The school kids were offered a sweet dish, khir-puri, around 2 p.m. on Saturday, but all of them began vomiting after half an hour," A.K. Bansore, block medical officer, told IANS over telephone.

The health department immediately organised a camp at the village to provide proper treatment to the kids, Bansore said.

The kids were still complaining of stomach problems and also vomiting when last reports came in Sunday morning.

Angry parents, who are now holding a demonstration at the health camp, alleged that the doctors came to their children's rescue at least five hours after they had complained of vomiting and stomach pain.
Kerala's first district IT park to come up at Kollam
Thiruvananthapuram (IANS) : Technopark officials here are finalising the master plan for the first district level IT park in Kerala, to come up at Kundara near Kollam.

M. Vasudevan, a senior Technopark official, said the IT park would be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) policy of the state government.

"The formal inauguration will take place next month, when the foundation stone would be laid by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan. Forty acres of land is in our possession and the project will see IT infrastructure being developed by the Technopark and real estate developers," Vasudevan told IANS.

"This would be a joint development project and in all there would be 1.5 million square feet of built-up area," Vasudevan added.

In May last year, the state government announced that IT level parks would be developed under private-public partnership model in the 14 districts of the state.

In the first phase, IT parks would come up in Kollam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kannur and Kasaragod districts.

Currently, IT companies operating in the state are based either at the Technopark campus here or in the Infopark campus in Kochi.

Nearly 150 companies are operating in the Technopark. They employ close to 20,000 people, while around 40 companies that employ nearly 8,000 people are in Infopark.

According to the government, the district level IT parks would help the IT industry expand operations across the state. Also, operating from the district parks would be cheaper for IT companies than functioning from Technopark or Infopark campuses.

"Kollam has certainly a lot of positives because a good number of educational institutions are there and also we propose to peg the rate per square feet at Kollam IT park around 30 percent cheaper than at the Technopark campus (where the rate is Rs.25 per square feet)," Vasudevan said."This could be a good place for those interested in BPO (business process outsourcing) operations," he added.

The government would hold 51 percent stake in the district level parks and the rest will be with private and public companies, which would build the necessary infrastructure.

India condemns Israeli ground attack in Gaza



New Delhi (PTI): India on Sunday condemned the Israeli ground attack in Gaza and demanded an immediate end to the military action.

In the fourth statement in a week on the latest situation in West Asia, External Affairs Ministry said India supports all efforts aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire.

"The Government of India condemns the on-going incursion into Gaza by Israeli ground and other forces. It urges an immediate end to military action by all concerned," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said here.

He said the suffering of civilians in the region must end.

His statement came as Israeli army launched a ground assault against Hamas in Gaza.

India has been demanding an end to military action by Israel in Gaza, which first involved aerial attacks and now a ground assault.

India has also announced an aid of USD one million for the civilian victims of the action in Gaza.

Bomb blast on rail track in Assam
Haflong (Assam) (PTI): A bomb exploded on railway tracks in North Cachhar Hills district causing derailment of a goods train and disrupting services in the hill section of the Northeast Frontier Railway in Assam. No one was injured in blast set off by militants at 7.45 am on the railway track between Maibongdisa and Harangajao stations in central Assam. N F Railway sources said three compartments of the goods train laden with paper and candle sticks which was crossing the section jumped rails due to the explosion. Services in the metre gauge hill section were disrupted as the tracks also suffered damage. Repair work was on
Punjabi book on Bhagat Singh released
New Delhi (PTI): 'Bhagat Singh: Vicharan Inqlabi', a book written in Punjabi by Prof Chaman Lal depicting Bhagat Singh as a revolutionary thinker, was on Sunday released by eminent journalist Kuldip Nayyar here.

The book has a collection of Bhagat Singh's rare photos and interviews by his close friends and bibliography of around 300 books written on one of India's popular freedom fighters.

"The book portrays Bhagat Singh as a revolutionary thinker and consists of his rare photos like his place of birth, the place where Saunders was killed and his college," Prof Lal told PTI.

This is Prof Lal's sixth book on the Indian revolutionary freedom fighter.

Apart from the rare collections, the book also has hand written letters by Bhagat Singh in Urdu, English and Hindi.

Bhagat Singh is a popular figure in Pakistan and this book has already found takers in the neighbouring state.

"A publishing house has asked me to send a copy of the book to Pakistan, so that it can be transcribed in Persian script," said Prof Lal.

A recipient of national award by Central Hindi Directorate, Prof Chaman Lal is Chairperson of Centre of Indian Languages at the Jawaharlal Nehru University


3 lakh trucks in Rajasthan to participate in strike

Jaipur: Around 3 lakh trucks in Rajasthan will be off the road from midnight tonight in response to countrywide strike call given by All India Motor Transport Congress to press for slashing down prices of diesel and tyres and levy of uniform VAT on diesel throughout the country. The booking of goods by the transport companies had been closed this afternoon and the delivery of the goods would be closed tonight, Rajasthan Truck Transport Union president Ved Bhushan Sethi said. The transport operators had held talks with the officials over the demands but it could not yield any result and the operators were left with no option but to proceed on the strike, Mr Sethi said

Bandh like situation at Kurseong in West Bengal
Siliguri (PTI) : A bandh like situation prevails in Kurseong in Darjeeling hills on Friday following a clash at Rohini in which a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader was killed and 26 houses including a tourist bungalow were torched.

Shops and business establishments did not open shutters though no bandh was called there, SDO Kurseong Dibyendu Das said.

GJM leader Subodh Pradhan was lynched and a few others injured and in retaliation the Rohini Tourist bungalow and 25 houses of the villagers were set ablaze on Thursday.

The trouble started when Pradhan and some men broke into the tourist lodge run by Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), and the caretaker informed the villagers.

The villagers attacked them and Pradhan died on the spot. The arson came as a retaliatory attack by GJM activists.

GJM workers were now being assembled in hundreds with the information that five persons arrested in this connection would be produced at Kurseong court during the day.

According to Das, huge security arrangements have been made to tackle any untoward situation. Combat commando force and Rapid Action Force were deployed both at Rohini and Kurseong town, he said.

GJM press and publicity secretary Benoy Tamang alleged that police was playing a partisan role by providing shelter to the arrested persons by keeping them at Pradhan Nagar police station here though Rohini falls under Kurseong police station.

80 Ambedkar Sena activists arrested in Phagwara
Phagwara (PTI): Tension gripped the Phagwara area on Sundayafter a group opposed the administration's move to remove hoardings from a bus stand in Phagwara that were claimed to be "objectionable" by some Hindu outfits.

On the order of SDM Amarjit Paul, a police team reached a bus stand on national highway No 1 to remove the two hoardings, police said.

Activists of Ambedkar Sena (Mool Niwasi) Punjab and its president Harbhajan Suman, armed with iron-rods and sticks, claimed that the boards carried the life and philosophy of Dr B.R. Ambedkar and opposed their removal.

Police arrested around 80 activists, including the president and impounded a jeep belonging to the outfit.

Refusing to board the police bus, the activists walked up to City Police Station from the bus stand, raising slogans against Shiv Sena and Parshu Ram Sena, whose members also gathered outside the station and resorted to sloganeering.

Shiv Sena, Parshu Ram Sena, Hindu Suraksha Samiti alleged that there were objectionable lines against the Hindu community on the hoardings.

However, authorities claimed that all huge hoardings on National Highway No. 1 were being removed on the direction of Punjab and Haryana High Court, which has described them a distraction to road users.


Swaminathan calls for 'evergreen revolution' in north-east

Shillong (PTI):Noted agriculture scientist M S Swaminathanon Sunday underlined the need for conserving the rich bio-diversity of north-east and called for ushering in an 'evergreen revolution' in the region.

"Efforts should be directed at promotion of bio-happiness among tribal families. The NE is one of the 12 mega bio-diversity zones of the world and more than 80 per cent of people here depend for their livelihood on agriculture," he said while addressing the 96th Indian Science Congress at the North Eastern Hill University here.

Noting that the region produced 5.8 million tonne of food-grain against a requirement of 7.4 million tonne, he asked institutes to take up conservation programmes for the rare, endangered and threatened (RET) species of flora.

Observing that "domestication of rice" had taken place in the north-east 10,000 years ago, he called for evolution of "new rice species" blending traditional wisdom and modern science.

"The cultural traditions of the tribal people have an important role in understanding bio-diversity conservation and management issues."

Emphasising on linking of bio-diversity, biotechnology and business in a mutually reinforcing manner, he called for concerted efforts by agriculture scientists for "saving genes for posterity".

"The loss of every species and gene limits our options for the future. If farm ecology and economics go wrong, nothing else will go right."

PMK questions 'silence' of PM, Sonia on Sri Lankan Tamil issue
Dindigul (PTI): Questioning the "silence" of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue, the PMK, a partner of ruling UPA, on Sunday sought immediate steps to ensure that the Sri Lankan military offensive against the LTTE is halted.

"What is the reason for the Indian Prime Minister's silence?" PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss asked. He questioned the response of Manmohan Singh government on the issue especially after the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister himself led a team to request the Prime Minister to intervene and the state assembly had passed resolutions on the issue.

Stating that Sri Lankan Army took over a deserted Killinochchi, defacto political headquarters of the LTTE, the PMK chief accused Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajakpaksa of trying to mislead the world by "making false claims."

"Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister were remaining silent for more than one-and-a-half years," he said and urged Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to impress on the Prime Minister to intervene and take steps to ensure that the Lankan military offensive against the Tamil Tigers is stopped.

Ramadoss alleged that India, China and Pakistan were helping Sri Lanka in the war against the LTTE.

Abbas: Israeli offensive `brutal aggression'
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP): Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has denounced Israel's ground offensive as ``brutal aggression.''

These were his harshest words yet in describing Israel's nine-day assault on his Hamas rivals in Gaza.

Abbas spoke on Sunday, after meeting with PLO leaders in the West Bank. On Monday, he is heading to the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Abbas says his offer to Hamas to start talks on sharing power still stands. Last week, Hamas ignored his invitation. Abbas says the situation has become unbearable and that ``national unity is the most important thing to us.''


Bardhan hopes for third force before Lok Sabha polls
Berhampur (PTI): The CPI on Sunday said it was hopeful that a third force of "like-minded secular parties" will emerge as an alternative to Congress and BJP before the Lok Sabha polls later this year. "There are already some regional parties which have been initiated by the Left parties. Several other like-minded parties are likely to join the force," CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said here.

"We invite all secular and like-minded parties to join the third alternative to Congress as well as BJP.... Talks are on with them and we hope a clear picture of the third alternative will emerge before the next elections in the country," he said.

Underscoring the need for third alternative "based on policies", Bardhan said the Congress and BJP "believe in monopoly and are least bothered about protecting people's interest."

Coming down heavily on the Centre's economic policies, Bardhan said hike in prices was due to wrong policies of the government. "The Left parties strongly opposed the anti-labour and anti-people policies of the government and withdrew support to the Centre," he said.

Bardhan was here to attend a function at Sanakhemundi in Ganjam district and led a huge motorcycle procession from Chhatrapur covering about 60 km.

Olmert: Gaza ground invasion was 'unavoidable'
JERUSALEM (AP): Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the army's invasion of the Gaza Strip was unavoidable.

Olmert said on Sunday that Israel could not allow residents of southern Israel to be continuously targeted. The operation follows years of Palestinian rocket attacks on the south.

Olmert says his government ``did everything'' it could before approving the operation and was left with no choice. He spoke at the beginning of the weekly meeting of his Cabinet.

It was his first public comment since the ground operation was launched late Saturday.

Saffron delegation arrives in China on maiden visit
Beijing (PTI): The first-ever BJP-led saffron brigade delegation has arrived here on a maiden visit to China to discuss "all issues, including Tibet" with the ruling Communist Party and enhance mutual understanding.

"We will discuss all issues including the Tibet question," former Union Minister and MP, Suresh Prabhu, told PTI.

Prabhu said the five-member team of BJP, RSS and Shiv Sena led by senior leader Balasaheb Apte, which is here on a goodwill mission at the invitation of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has a "lot to discuss."

Prabhu, former Chairman of the group on inter-linking of rivers, is keen to study how China has successfully linked their major rivers as well as go through major Chinese achievements in the irrigation sector.

He felt that India can learn from China's experiences.

The Chinese side has agreed to discuss "all contentious issues" during their meetings, delegation sources said as the two countries are continuing their negotiations to find a mutually acceptable solution to the vexed boundary issue.

The delegation is confident that their mission will lead to better understanding of the "right wing" views by the political class in Beijing.

Iraqi police say bomber kills at least 30
BAGHDAD (AP): Iraqi police say a female suicide bomber has detonated an explosive vest among a group of pilgrims in Baghdad, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 50.

They say the death toll is expected to increase.

Police say the bomber blew up a short distance from the shrine of Imam Mousa al-Kazim, one of the holiest men in Shiite Islam. They say a number of Iranian pilgrims are among the casualties.

Police spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information to the media.

The attack on Sunday came as Shiites prepare to mark Ashura on Wednesday. It is one of the most important holy days for Shiite Muslims and marks the death of Islam's Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein.

New National Judicial Service suggested for selecting judges
New Delhi (PTI): Selection of competent judges through an all-India exam like the Civil Services may become a reality if the Law Ministry accepts a proposal for establishment of a nation-wide judicial service.

While the government is still considering the proposal, it has sought the views of different states and High Courts on the matter.

Ministry officials said they have also held discussions on a suggestion that till a consensus is reached on the all-India service, a selection mechanism involving the judicial member, Pradesh Public Service Commission should be formulated and followed uniformly in all states.

The process of a rethink on the judges' selection process by the Law Ministry follows an advice from a House panel to establish an All India Judicial Service to attract the best of talent to the prestigious Indian judicial system.

"It will naturally improve upon the deteriorating quality of language used in judgements delivered these days by the Courts excluding the apex court," the parliamentary standing committee on Law and Justice has said in a recommendation to the ministry.

The Committee chairman, E M S Natchiappan, said initially state judicial services may be set up so that these could further blossom as the National Judicial Service for all National and Regional Tribunal Chairman and Member appointments of various discipline.

The Law Ministry has even been told to consider bringing about an amendment in the Constitution, if necessary, to set up the judicial service.

A ministry official said the panel's suggestion on state-level selection of judges "is presently under examination."

The suggestion to have a national judicial service is linked to the Law Commission of India's three reports -- 1st, 8th and 11th -- in which it had stressed on the need to have such a service.

Even the Supreme Court had recommended, in its judgments in November 1991 and August 1993, in the matter of All India Judges Association for establishing an All India Judicial Service in the country.

Natchiappan also reiterated his earlier proposal that all out efforts should be made to address the crying need to improve the quality of judges and the setting up the All India Judicial Service could be considered as the most viable option.

Arabs demand immediate Gaza cease-fire
UNITED NATIONS (AP): Arab nations demanded on Saturday night that the U.N. Security Council call for an immediate cease-fire following Israel's launch of a ground offensive in Gaza, a view echoed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Libya circulated a draft statement to council members expressing ``serious concern at the escalation of the situation in Gaza'' and calling on Israel and Hamas ``to stop immediately all military activities.''

The 15-member council then held emergency consultations behind closed doors to discuss the proposed presidential statement, which would also call for all parties ``to address the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza.'' Steps would include reopening border crossings.

Council diplomats said the United States opposed the presidential statement because it was similar to a press statement issued by members after Israeli warplanes launched the offensive a week ago which was not heeded. Presidential statements become part of the council's official record but press statements are weaker and do not.

The five permanent council members _ the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China _ along with Libya, the only Arab nation on the council, then met privately to discuss possibly issuing another press statement.

US blocks UNSC attempt to seek ceasefire in Gaza
United Nations The US has blocked an attempt in the powerful UN Security Council to express serious concern over the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza after eight days of air strikes and to call for an immediate ceasefire, asserting that it would ‘not be adhered to and have no underpinning for success’.
Insisting that Tel Aviv's right to self defence is not negotiable, US Ambassador Alejandro D Wolff put the entire blame for the current crisis on Hamas, the Palestinian militant group which controls Gaza, saying Washington cannot equate the actions of Israel, a UN member, with those of a terror group.

"There is no equivalence there," he remarked after a three and a half hour emergency closed-door meeting of the 15-member Council late last night.

Wolff said Hamas is in violation of earlier agreements and there are no prospects of it abiding by the statement issued by the Council last Sunday calling for immediate truce.

"Any statement at this point of time would not be adhered to and would have no underpinning for success, would do no credit to the Council," he told reporters after the meeting.

As the diplomats came out of closed-door meeting held at the request of Libya to take stock of the ground invasion by Israel, Arabs expressed frustration that the Council could not agree even on a press statement, even though most members were agreeable on the elements.

Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert of France, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council, told reporters that they could not agree on any statement, though there were ‘strong convergences’ on basic elements.

The members, Ripert said, expressed serious concern on escalation of violence and deterioration of the situation in Gaza and southern Israel.

They supported "immediate permanent and fully respected" ceasefire, expressed "deep concern" over humanitarian situation in Gaza and favoured free access to humanitarian supplies.

They also supported call for protection of civilians and regional and international efforts being made to resolve the crisis as also the need for parties to go back to the negotiation table.

Though Ripert did not name the member state which blocked any statement, Arab diplomats later identified the US as the hold out, saying that Washington did not want even to issue the statement on the lines of the one the Council did on Sunday last.

American Ambassador Woff did nothing to contradict what the Arabs had said as he laid all blame on Hamas.

The problem that the region is facing, he said, is Hamas' continuing rocket attacks on Israel. "The efforts we are making ... are designed to establish a sustainable, durable ceasefire" and that means no more rocket attacks.

It is important not go back to status quo ante by allowing Hamas to threaten Israelis and continue to bring deprivation to the people in Gaza, he said.

The emergency meeting was convened ahead of the arrival here of Arab Foreign Ministers to press the United Nations to adopt an Arab-sponsored resolution which was moved by Libya a week ago.

They are expected to hold a meeting among themselves and then call on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and permanent and elected members of the Council separately.

Council diplomats say there could be an open meeting of the Council on Tuesday in which the Arab Foreign Ministers could take part.

As the Council began closed door meeting last night, it had before it a text of a statement drafted by Arabs which expressed "serious concern at the escalation of situation in Gaza, in particular, after the launching of ground offensive by Israel. It also called on all parties to declare immediate ceasefire and to stop immediately all military activity.

British Ambassador John Sawers expressed "disappointment" about the Council's failure to agree on a statement and called for, among other things, an end to smuggling of arms from Egypt to Gaza which sustained the capacity of Hamas to fight.

But Egyptian diplomats took strong objection to his statement, saying that no such thing was happening.

A statement, unlike a resolution, needs the concurrence of all Council members though it is way down in importance than a resolution.

Council diplomats said that the United States, which is a permanent member, could not be persuaded to either back the Libyan draft or a watered down version of it.

Wolff maintained that there is no use of issuing statements which are not going to be observed. The Arabs do not agree with Washington's view and thus the Council is deadlocked.

Permanent Palestinian observer Riyad Mansour said Israel cannot continue to behave as a state above the international law and the Council needs to stop the aggression.

BJP plans to corner Omar on Amarnath row

Ishfaq Naseem
Posted: Dec 31, 2008 at 1144 hrs IST

Jammu The BJP will take the Government led by Omar Abdullah to task on the issue of Amarnath agitation and the discrimination meted out to Jammu.
The party will decide on the line of action to be taken in the new Assembly at a meeting of all its 11 legislators.

The party is depending on old stalwarts, including former MoS for Defence Chaman Lal Gupta, and new faces like Prof Gharu Ram, Sukh Nandan Kumar and Bharat Bhushan Bodhi to corner the Government.

Besides demanding that the Government shouldn’t interfere in the functioning of the Amarnath Shrine Board, the BJP will target the Government on the issue of Jammu being discriminated in the representation of Assembly seats. “Delimitation is our main demand. There are Assembly seats in Kashmir which are spread over a population of 60,000 while in Jammu, on average, an Assembly seat is spread over a population of 80,000. Jammu region has always faced discrimination. Under the Ghulam Nabi Azad Government, while daily wagers in Kashmir were being paid Rs 2,100 a month, their counterparts in Jammu were getting only Rs 500. The former CM is shedding crocodile tears by saying that Jammu has lost in the BJP win,” said BJP state president Ashok Khajuria.

He said the party would have no problem in supporting the Congress in starting an exercise of fresh delimitation of Assembly seats. Earlier, the Azad-led Government had brought a Bill in the Assembly to carry out fresh delimitation of Assembly constituencies, which fell due to the lack of support by other parties.

Khajuria said they would also demand that those having the custodian property of the people who have migrated to the other side of the border in the earlier wars with Pakistan should get the ownership rights. “There is no need for a Custodian Department. Also, we will ensure that the Pakistani and PoK refugees get their due rights,” he added.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/BJP-plans-to-corner-Omar-on-Amarnath-row/404713/

Times of India reports on AUTO ROIOT in KOLKATA:
Around 10.25 am, violence erupted a few hundred yards away on No-4 bridge. A brick smashed through the windscreen of a government bus moving towards EM Bypass. The driver, conductor and passengers were dragged down, and the vehicle was torched. Police and firemen rushed to the spot and doused the flames, but the bus was charred.

While police battled flames in Park Circus, the mob moved towards Topsia and started harassing taxi passengers. Before police could arrive, another state bus and some other vehicles were damaged. As police were busy removing the damaged vehicles, a gang of 20-25 attacked two other government buses on the Park Circus end of No-4 bridge. The mob dispersed as soon as police moved in.

A gang of hooligans struck near the Circus Avenue end of AJC Bose Road flyover around 11.45 am. A government bus on its way to Salt Lake was waiting at a red signal when seven-eight people ordered all the passengers and staff off, and torched it. The gang vanished quickly. Police had no clue about it until they saw the smoke. "It was behind a number of other vehicles. We rushed towards it on noticing smoke.
By the time, we got there, it was engulfed in flames," a police officer said.

Trouble then spread to CIT Road, where Citu joined the fray. A government bus slowed down for a Citu rally near Ladies Park when two people (not from the rallyists) boarded the vehicle. They dragged out the driver, conductor and passengers. Two others doused the bus with diesel from its own tank and struck a match to it. The bus was gutted before police could arrive.

Police had had enough by this time and started conducting raids in the lanes and bylanes. This resulted in snap demonstrations, triggering traffic jams. Around 3 pm, a CSTC bus was damaged on the Park Circus side of Bridge No. 4.

Ten persons were arrested for the Park Circus violence and one from CIT Road. The 18 arrested for Friday's violence were produced in Alipore Court and remanded in judicial custody till January 12. Two of them have been identified as notorious criminals from Tollygunge.

Roads were blocked at Ekbalpore, Ultadanga, Taratala and Howrah Bridge too, but there was no major disruption. No autorickshaw was seized during the day.

"We did not conduct raids as there were no autos on the streets today," said Pradip Chatterjee, joint commissioner (administration).

Trinamool Congress workers blocked the road near Palm Avenue (where the chief minister lives) till around 6 pm. Home secretary Ardhendu Sen said nobody would be allowed to create any trouble near Palm Avenue as it was a high-security zone. "No additional security measures have been taken though," he said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata_/Mobs_on_smash__burn_rampage/articleshow/3933012.cms

Prachanda says Pashupatinath move not targeted at Indians
Kathmandu (PTI): Fissures seemed to be appearing in Nepal's ruling coalition on Sunday with a key ally flaying Maoists for trying to "capture" Pashupatinath temple, but the premier sought to calm tempers saying appointment of Nepalese priests in place of Indians was being "pointlessly politicised".

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said he did not intend to displace the South Indian 'Bhatta' brahmins, who had overseen rituals at the temple for the past 300 years.

The appointment of Nepalese priests in place of Indians was a "mere coincidence" and not intended to oust the former, he told leaders of various small parties here.

The former guerrilla leader's comments came a day after Nepal's dethroned King Gyanendra, who was once seen as the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, appealed to the people not to "politicise" the dispute at the temple, which was stormed by Maoist cadres to install local priests defying a court order.

However, another Maoist minister seemed to be taking a tougher stand when he said the government would allow Nepalese priests to conduct worship despite a stay by Supreme Court.

Gopal Kirati, Minister for Culture and State Restructuring, said he would not re-instate the sacked Indian priests and file a petition against the interim order.

He also said he would launch a three-month long awareness campaign here to press for reforms in the temple management and hold rallies in support for the move, which had sparked protests in the country as well as in India.

Upendra Yadav, the Foreign Minister and leader of a party representing Indian-origin Madhesi people, today launched a scathing attack on Maoists, saying they were trying to "capture" Nepal's holiest Hindu shrine.

Another Indian priest, Ganesh Bhat, quit today as Maoists forcibly escorted two more Nepalese Brahmins into the temple to assist the new priests.


Phase-out chaos: Blame it on govt
4 Jan 2009, 0430 hrs IST, Subhro Niyogi, TNN

KOLKATA: The high court ban on two-stroke autos is not a bolt from the blue. Calcutta High Court only endorsed the government's scheme of things of
"phasing out two-stroke autos completely by December 2008."

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and transport minister Subhas Chakraborty were well aware of the phase-out plan because the high court had set the cut-off date for December 31, 2008, based on the environment department's notification of July 17 (S/EN/1517/611/08). It is another matter that the transport department did not take it seriously till the court passed the ban order on July 18. Why else did the public vehicles department (PVD) register two-stroke autos after the government notification in July?

The environment department notification clearly states that "registration of two-stroke autos should be stopped immediately by the PVD and such autos should be phased out completely by December 2008. Police should ensure the implementation of the aforementioned direction".

Sources in environment and transport departments said the draft notification was prepared after officials engaged in several rounds of discussion between May and July, chalking out a timeline that was viable, practical and could be implemented. The draft was then sent to the law department for approval. The chief secretary and advocate-general were also kept informed as it was they who had to present the government's seriousness of intent in cleaning up the city's air before Calcutta High Court.

"The timeline for phasing out two-stroke autorickshaws, petrol-run autos and commercial vehicles that are over 15 years old was framed after several rounds of discussion with the transport department. It is only when the latter agreed to the timetable as feasible for implementation that it was incorporated in the final draft. The high court directed the government to enforce it without delay," an environment department official said.

In fact, what the court's stamp of approval on the notification did was to prevent the government from doing a volte-face as it had done in the past. "The Green Bench was angry at the way the state appeared to have dragged its feet on a vital issue. It made its displeasure known in no uncertain terms when the environment department withdrew a notification that made it mandatory for vehicles to produce pollution under check (PUC) certificate during fuel purchase," green activist Subhas Datta recounted.

In fact, the notification issued this April was struck off in May following repeated requests for a temporary relief' by the transport department. "As many of the autos plying on Kolkata streets run without papers, obtaining PUC certificate was a problem as registration certificate has to be produced during emission testing," a source in the environment department said.

When Datta brought the withdrawal of the No PUC, No Fuel' notification to the Green Bench's notice in May, the court castigated the government. This led to the heads getting together to formulate the draft notification. The next day, the notification was placed by the advocate-general before Calcutta HC, which gave it legal sanction by adopting it as an order.

Moreover, since the notification is under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, it supersedes all other notifications as environment is of paramount importance.

Any change, especially an unplanned one, causes pain. But just about everyone except trade unions and politicians agree that this one's absolutely crucial. "It's happened in neighbouring Bangladesh too. In Dhaka, 50,000 autos have made the switch to LPG. If it can happen in a country as poor as Bangladesh, I don't see why it can't in Kolkata," he added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata_/Phase-out_chaos_Blame_it_on_govt/articleshow/3933011.cms

Transporters to go on strike from midnight; talks fail
4 Jan 2009, 1821 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Supplies of essential commodities may get disrupted in the coming days with transporters going on an indefinite strike from midnight on
Sunday after their talks with the government failed for the third time.

Transporters have demanded lowering diesel prices by Rs 10 per litre, besides the withdrawal of service tax on truckers.

Transporters also want a moratorium on all instalments and waiver of interest on truck finance for at least six months.

"Although the All India Motor Transport Congress thanks the secretary, ministry of road transport & highways, Brahm Dutt, for calling us for the third round of talks today, it is pitiable to note that nothing concrete came out from the talks and therefore, the proposed chakka jam from the midnight tonight is imminent," AIMTC said in a statement.

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Jan. 3: Violence over the auto-rickshaw ban in the city worsened today as three government buses were set ablaze and two others badly damaged at and around Park Circus this morning, allegedly by members belonging to the Trinamul Congress-controlled Auto Banchao Committee (ABC). Police arrested 11 persons in connection with the incidents.
According to police, a group of ABC members intercepted a West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC) bus near Park Circus Bridge No. 4 and forced passengers to alight. Then, around 10.25 a.m., they set the bus on fire.
Within 10 minutes of the incident, another group of auto-rickshaw drivers stopped another WBSTC bus on the bridge, forced passengers to vacate the vehicle, and damaged the bus by pelting stones. The agitators retreated after a large police contingent led by senior police officers reached the spot. Locals alleged that the vandals also snatched cash and valuables from passengers. Two more government buses were set ablaze near Circus Avenue and Ladies Park on CIT Road around the same time. Police sent reinforcements to Park Circus following the violence.
Trouble also broke out at Rajabazar after 185 auto-rickshaw drivers decided to quit Citu, but were reportedly prevented from taking out a procession to join ABC by men owing allegiance to Citu. Police, however, promptly reached the spot and thwarted what could have been a major clash.
TMC supporters, meanwhile, took out a rally between SP Mukherjee Road and Bondel Road demanding the release of those arrested for yesterday’s rampage. The 18 people, arrested for damaging public property, were produced before the chief judicial magistrate of Alipore Court today and remanded in judicial custody till 12 January.
The 12-hour strike called today by ABC and Progressive Taximen’s Association greatly inconvenienced commuters, particularly in south Kolkata. The two unions were protesting against police high-handedness on union members. Around 25,000 auto-rickshaws plying on 200 routes in the city and 5,000 taxis stayed off the roads.
TMC and Citu leaders blamed each other for today’s incidents. Mr Kishor Ghosh, general secretary of the Citu-controlled West Bengal Auto Rickshaw Operators Union, held TMC responsible for the violence, but refuting the allegation, TMC MLA Mr Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay called the incidents “a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of the party”. He said the TMC would stage a sit-in demonstration near Hazra Road on 6 January from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., following which ABC would meet the representatives of the auto unions affiliated to it to decide the future course of action.

Govt equivocal on ban
KOLKATA, Jan. 3: The state government today indicated it would “go slow” in its drive against illegal auto-rickshaws even as Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi deplored the “destruction of public property and disruption of public life”. Although chief secretary Mr AM Chakrabarti said Calcutta High Court’s order on the crackdown on polluting auto-rickshaws would have to be implemented, home secretary Mr Ardhendu Sen categorically said the state government was reconsidering the modalities of the clampdown. SNS
Details on Bengal
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=238824

‘Trinamul trying to break up the state’

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Jan. 3: At a time when the state government is on the back foot over the ongoing agitation of auto-rickshaw drivers, the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, today went on an offensive against the Trinamul Congress accusing it of being in league with Jharkhand Party and Maoists to break the state. The charge of hatching a plot against the government had earlier been voiced by Mr Prakash Karat, party general secretary and Mr Biman Bose, party state secretary who were sharing the stage with the chief minister.
Paschim Midnapur, Purulia and Bankura are being sought to be carved out of this state by the Jharkhand Party, the chief minister said while speaking at the 43rd anniversary of the setting up of Ganashakti, a party organ. The Maoists and Trinamul Congress are in league with them, he added.
These two outfits were hand-in-glove at Nandigram in unleashing terror, he said. Now a Lalgarh squad has been floated whose activists are roaming around with bombs and guns, he said.
The Opposition in this state wants to retard its progress while their counterparts in other states work in tandem with the government for development, he observed. There has to be some introspection about who gained or lost at the departure of automobile industry from Singur, he said.
The standard of living of the tribals have been raised in various respects in the past three decades, he said. But it is yet to reach the standard of living of that of the Opposition leaders, he said.
Perhaps, the CIA archives would later reveal that a plot was hatched against the CPI-M and the Left Front government in 2006, 2007 and 2008, Mr Biman Bose, party state secretary said. It may state that the funds for this purpose was not given directly to any political party but disbursed to NGOs which had sprouted overnight, he said.
The Opposition is shedding crocodile tears at the plight of the tribals and Muslims, he said. These outfits had opposed the giving of land to the poor when the government's land reforms schemes were in progress, he said.
As the state is the bastion of Left movement, those who do not like it are targeting it at home and abroad, party general secretary Mr Prakash Karat said. A plan is afoot to launch an onslaught against the CPI-M and Left Front, he said.
The Left would like to gather other forces around it to form a front against the BJP and the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections, he said. This is necessary to chalk out a new economic policy as these two parties’ policies would spell disaster for the national economy, he added.

US airline says sorry to Indian-origin Muslim family

Agencies
Posted: Jan 03, 2009 at 1417 hrs IST

Washington A US airline has apologised to members of an Indian-origin Muslim family including three children, who were off loaded from a plane after co-passengers overheard what they thought was a ‘suspicious’ remark.
The family was not allowed to board the AirTran flight to Orlando from Washington after they were removed from the plane despite the FBI clearing them of any wrongdoing.

Kashif Irfan and his brother Atif, both Indian-Americans born in Detroit and based in Virginia, along with their wives, a sister and 3 children were removed from the filght before takeoff on Thursday after some passengers reported that one of them was discussing the safest place to travel in an airplane.

The airline refused to re-book the family despite FBI clearing them of any wrongdoing after interviewing them. Ultimately the FBI helped them book a flight on USAirways.

"We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did," AirTran said in a statement last evening. "But we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount."

The airline said it had refunded the family's money and offered to fly them back home to Washington free.

Kashif Irfan, a 34-year-old anesthesiologist, said he was ‘surprised’ by AirTran's apology, CNN reported.

The AirTran statement was an abrupt about-face for the airline, which came three hours after it had issued a press release without an apology.

The dispute occurred as Kashif and Atif, a tax attorney, boarded the AirTran flight 175 at Reagan National Airport near Washington for a trip to Orlando, Florida.

Federal officials, quoted by the media here, said some passengers on the plane told a flight attendant about a ‘suspicious’ conversation among the family members. The pilot then asked the air marshals to remove the passengers.

"The conversation, as we were walking through the plane trying to find our seats, was just about where the safest place in an airplane is," Inayet Sahin, Kashif's wife was quoted as saying by CNN.

"We were (discussing whether it was safest to sit near) the wing, or the engine or the back or the front. But that's it. We didn't say anything else that would raise any suspicion."

The conversation did not contain the words ‘bomb’, ‘explosion’, ‘terror’ or other words that might have aroused suspicion, Atif, 29, said.

"When we were talking, when we turned around, I noticed a couple of girls kind of snapped their heads," Sobia Ijaz, Atif's wife, was quoted as saying.

"I kind of thought to myself, 'Oh, you know, may be they're going to say something.' It didn't occur to me that they were going to make it such a big issue."

Authorities first removed Atif and Sobia, then returned for the rest of the family. They also removed a family friend, Abdul Aziz, a Library of Congress attorney who was coincidentally taking the same flight and had been seen talking with the family.

We should be proud of Deoband, BJP tells Cong

Press Trust of India
Posted: Jan 03, 2009 at 1958 hrs IST
Faizabad: The BJP on Saturday sought to turn the tables on Congress over the administrative reforms committee report which, according to the saffron party, ‘blacklisted’ Darul Uloom Deoband and demanded an apology from the grand old party in this regard. BJP national general secretary Vinay Katiyar said there was no question of banning the Islamic seminary and said, "We should be proud that we have Deoband like Islamic centre, which gives religious direction to the rest of the world." Quoting from the second administrative reforms report submitted by senior Congress leader Virappa Moily, he alleged, "On page 27 and 28, this report has blacklisted the Darul Uloom and accused the seminary of having contacts with terrorists and Pakistani leaders involved in anti-India activities."

Now the Centre is left with only two options:- if the report is correct it must take action or ban the institution and if wrong, Congress should immediately seek apologies from the Muslims.

Meanwhile, Deoband chief rector Maulana Marghuburrahman demanded that the Centre make the report public.

BJP spent Rs 100 cr in bypoll, alleges Kumaraswamy





Agencies
Posted: Dec 31, 2008 at 1536 hrs IST
Bangalore: JDS Karnataka unit president and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday alleged that the ruling BJP spent more than Rs 100 crore in the recent bypolls to the state assembly from eight Assembly constituencies. A day after the results were declared with the BJP winning five seats and the JDS three, Kumaraswamy said the amount of money spent by the the BJP in the eight segments has crossed Rs 100 crore.

"Our information is they (BJP) have spent Rs 15 crore to Rs 20 crore in each constituency", he alleged and said he was prepared to face a defamation case in this regard if the government files one.

Karnataka Government had filed a defamation case against Kumaraswamy on Monday for his statement that the Chief Minister had accepted a Rs 50 crore bribe from a private firm to award a contract to it.

"I am ready to face it (the defamation case) within the legal framework. I have been dragged to court. I am happy and I welcome it", he said.

Claiming that the executive director of the private firm Maverick Holding and Investments had publicly stated that "similar to the donation that one gave in temple, the firm had paid donation to the Government," he said ''Investigation would bring out the truth (in the matter).

Britain: No US request to resettle Gitmo inmates
LONDON (AP): Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the U.S. has not asked Britain to accept Guantanamo Bay detainees if the camp for terrorist suspects is closed.

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to shut Guantanamo. Several European nations have said they are considering taking inmates who cannot be returned to their own countries because of the risk of persecution.

Former U.K. Attorney-General Peter Goldsmith said last week that Britain should be prepared to take in detainees if it helps the U.S. shut the camp.

Brown said Sunday that Britain supported the closure of Guantanamo but had not yet been asked to accept inmates.

Some 250 detainees remain at the U.S.-run camp in Cuba. Australia says it has been asked to accept detainees and declined.

Gordon Brown unveils plan to create 100,000 jobs
London (PTI): British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday unveiled plans for a 1930s American-style programme of public works to check recession affects by creating up to 100,000 jobs and build a low-carbon economy.

School repairs, new rail links, hospital projects and plans to usher in a new digital age by investing in superfast broadband will be used to keep unemployment down. Other key priorities for 2009 include an international agreement to reduce carbon emissions.

If Obama asks for more British troops for a surge in Afghanistan he may be disappointed, with the prime minister insisting that the priorities were to strengthen Afghan governance and involve Pakistan in fighting terrorism.

"The first question everybody starts by is saying 'What about the numbers?', but actually the first question is purpose and objectives and how we can achieve them," he said.

"We have increased our numbers in the past few weeks; we are the second-largest force in Afghanistan."

Speaking to the Observer, the prime minister pledged action within weeks to kickstart bank lending in an attempt to save existing jobs.

Brown even claimed his green plans would be bigger than Obama's planned multi-billion-dollar "Green New Deal", relative to the size of Britain's economy.

Brown is studying a scheme pioneered by Nissan to avoid redundancies in manufacturing which would see ailing firms given government funding to move staff on to part-time working and use the remaining time for training.

During the interview, Brown ruled out an early second recapitalisation of the banks; signalled opposition to deploying more British troops in Afghanistan and proclaimed a "historic opportunity" for an international deal on climate change.

Michelle Obama, daughters arrive in Washington
Washington (PTI): Giving a slip to a battery of media persons crazily following her, the future First Lady Michelle Obama along with daughters Malia and Sasha has arrived here ahead of her husband Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the US on January 20.

Landing in Washington last evening, a day ahead of their scheduled arrival, the three checked into the posh Hay-Adams hotel. The President-elect is expected to fly in from Chicago, his home town, shortly.

The family is staying in hotel, instead of the Blair House, a guest house on Lafayette Park where Presidents-elect normally stay before inauguration, as the White House informed them that it was already booked and was not available.

The future First Family has come to Washington some two weeks before inauguration so that Malia and Sasha can begin in time their classes at the prestigious Sidwell Friends School starting tomorrow.

Being daughters of the President of the United States, it is not going to be easy for both Malia and Sasha to adjust to their new school, media reports said.

On the first day itself, when they arrive at the school tomorrow they are expected to be greeted by a large number of reporters, photographers and television crew.

Even as the future First Lady entered into the hotel along with her two daughters -- of course covered by the SUVs of the Secret Services -- a small crowd had gathered at the entrance to greet them, local media reported.

None of them, however, got that chance.

"Michelle, welcome to D.C.!" Annette Martin, 51, yelled anyway, 'The Washington Post reported'. Another woman whispered, "She's probably heard that a lot already," the paper said.

Direction of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board

D I R E C T I O N


WHEREAS West Bengal Pollution Control Board (hereinafter will be referred to as the ‘State Board’), is entrusted to implement the provisions of Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for the purpose of protection of Environment and for the prevention and control of pollution in the State of West Bengal.



AND WHEREAS it is observed that due to extensive non-biodegradable use of plastic carry bags indiscriminately, different water courses have been affected creating adverse environmental impacts especially in coastal areas, forest areas, and also different tourists spots.



AND WHEREAS for the purpose of protecting the environment in the aforementioned areas, it has been decided that use, sale and processing of the plastic carry bags will be prohibited.

AND THEREFORE in exercise of the powers conferred under 33A of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and under Section 31A of Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the use, sale and processing of plastic carry bags are prohibited in the following areas from 15-09-2001 ;

i) Entire Sunderban Area ;

ii) Coastal Regulation Zone Area (Digha, Sankarpur, Frezerganj, Sagardwip, Bak Khali etc.)

iii) Hilly areas of Darjeeling district ;

iv) Entire Forest areas in West Bengal ;

2. In case of any violation of this order by any institution or by any industry or by any shop, the State Board will issue closure order and also will issue order for disconnection of electricity of the said institution or industry of shop as the case may be.

3. Officer in Charge of the concerned police station is also directed to oversee that the aforementioned direction is not violated in any manner and in case of any violation noted, immediate action under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code may be initiated against the violator.

4. Forest Department, Govt. of West Bengal, Digha Development Authority, Sunderban Development Board, concerned Municipal and Panchayat authorities and the district administration of Districts concerned should take necessary steps for proper execution and implementation of the aforementioned direction under intimation to the State Board.



By Order

Sd/- K.S. Ramasubban

Member Secretary

W. B. Pollution Control Board

Dated :03/09/2001
http://wbenvironment.nic.in/html/legislation/dir_wbpcb.htm

Dividing the developing countries will spell disaster for Copenhagen and future climate negotiations
Date: 29/09/2008
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Source: Down to Earth
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TagsChina, Climate Agreements, Climate Change, Climate Mitigation, Developing Countries, Emission Targets, European Union (EU), Japan, Kyoto Protocol, India

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Yu Qingtai, Ambassador and Special Representative, Climate Change Talks, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China

talks to Pradip Saha about developing country imperatives in climate talks in face of increasing pressure from

developed countries to increase commitments




On sudden EU attempt to divide developing countries during Accra meetÀ



I don’t know if you could call it sudden attempt. It should be called a renewed attempt on the part of our friends from some of the developed

countries. Some of the eu arguments could be misleading. Of course we are all different. In the climate change

context, we all contribute to fight climate change. But the specific actions we take would be different from one another according to our national

conditions, respective capabilities, levels of development, technical knowledge capacities.In the ‘common but differentiated’ principle, when it

was first negotiated and agreed upon in the early 1990s, the differentiation was well defined. It is between two distinct groups of countries. A

group of countries which created the problem of global warming in the first place. And the other group, developing countries who suffer from this

problem created by the developed countries. And over the past 10 years or so this has been the critical cornerstone supporting international

cooperation in climate change. If you attempt to sabotage this very principle, the whole international cooperation to fight climate change would fall

apart. I am confident that all of us in the G77+China are well aware of the importance of unity.


On Sino-Indian cooperation in climate negotiationÀ

There are regular bilateral discussions between us. There are also close

co-ordination and collaboration at international level. Whether it is convention process, or the g 8+ process, or

major economy process, or regional conferences, or in the un, India and China have been working very closely and

very effectively. Within the G77+China, there is wider scope of working together in the negotiating process. China is very happy that the Indian

government and its people are taking climate change seriously. I was in the other room, couple of days ago, when the Indian delegation

presentated the National Action Plan. It was a very positive and timely move.


China and India are emerging as major economic powers in the world today. So it is more important that we remain close in coordinating,

collaborating at the international level on climate change among other issues.


On the sectoral approach initiated by the JapaneseÀ

Sectoral approach could be used by Annexe 1 countries to implement

their targets and commitments. But some countries have been trying to distort this concept of sectoral approach by proposing a set of standards

that would be applied across the globe regardless of different levels of development and capabilities. More critically, they want to use this

universal set of standards to measure the performance of each and every country and then establish what the country needs to do for mitigation.

This means that the burden of mitigation would basically fall on the developing countries. This goes against the ‘common but differentiated’

principle as developing countries lag behind the developed countries in technology and efficiency. I don’t know if our friends in the developed

world are prepared to go back to the original provisions in the protocol and in the convention as far as sectoral approach is concerned. As far as

g 77+China is concerned, this effort to promote sectoral approach will not get anywhere.


On finance and technology transfer by developed countriesÀ

These two are of most critical importance. The way they are

solved or not solved would determine the future of international co-operation to fight climate change. Transfer of finance is not to be looked as a

charity. If we go back to the convention, the developed countries made two commitments, to reduce their emissions and to provide financial

resources and technology transfer to support the developing countries fight climate change. In the last 17 years, nothing much has happened.

Once you talk about financial resources, they say that there must be creative approaches to financing. There is the market and there is the private

sector. But the commitment to provide financial resources were undertaken by developed country governments, not their business people, not

their tax payers. When we talk about technology transfer, again they would say that technology is in the hands of private business.
But it was a

government obligation. Governments should work out ways to make technology transfer possible. There are different ways of looking at how

these funds, once it becomes available would be managed through discussions. There is no point in talking about all kinds of methods of

managing a lot of money that just does not even exist.


On the nature of financial transferÀ

We are not here to talk about the traditional concept of Official Development Assistance

(oda). oda in the traditional sense should continue to be available for the developing

countries, particularly for Least Developed Countries, African countries, small island developing countries and be increased. But there is a need

for additional resources to help developing countries fight climate change and to adapt. The problem was created by the developed countries

and they need to come up with additional financial resources for developing countries. But there is hardly any additional resource available. They

just divert some part of the oda already committed, and place a climate change tag on it and come up with all

kinds of new conditionalities on developing countries. I think China and the rest of the developing countries should be firmly against this practice.

Additional funds are not a nice gesture but a political obligation under the convention.


On compliance of commitmentÀ

You could look at it from the legal perspective, but Kyoto protocol is essentially a political

commitment. If by the end of the first commitment period, there are countries that fail to meet their commitments, I think the conference of the

contracting parties to the convention would have to sit and look at what to do. And China would definitely be working actively within

class="UCASE">g 77+China to decide on this issue. But definitely, the key lies in ‘political intent’ as we say in Chinese.


On long-term approachÀ

There is a lot of discussion about what happens in 2050. But the Chinese position has always been

to see what happens in the next few years, or 5 or 10 years beyond 2012. Long term is very nice to discuss but it is more important to look at

what happenes within the first commitment period and in the five, ten, fifteen years beyond that. If you make nice statements about 2050 and

then do not fulfill commitments in the next five years, that will be meaningless.


On international campaign on China’s polluting economyÀ

In my work, in the last few years, I have met considerable number of

government officials, ngos, journalists in the developed world. One of the questions they kept asking was in

reference to the amount of emission from China. The answer is very simple. It is all there in the convention. You cannot look only at the current

emissions, you must also look at the historical cumulative emission, because that is the root cause for climate change and global warming.

Number two you cannot look at the aggregate alone without looking at per capita. I cannot accept the argument that somebody from the

developed world by birthright enjoys emission entitlement that is 3-4 times higher than me being born as a Chinese. So the answer to that is

easy. You cannot compare a country of 1.3 billion people and a country with a population of a quarter of a million. You compare the two, the

figures are there, but would that be a logical conclusion?


And a large part of Chinese production is exported to developed countries. That is why we insist that emission must be calculated from

consumption side.


On road to Copenhagen CoPÀ

I think China and India and rest of the developing countries believe that the Bali road map

was achieved only after very difficult negotiations. We wish to see a good agreement in Copenhagen which would show the road after 2012. But

it does not only depend on what we believe. We need good political intentions and seriousness from our developed partners. We must show up

together, as an international community and be serious about our responsibilities about our commitments. Frankly, I am worried about some of

the recent developments like the one you referred to earlier on about the sudden attempt to divide the developing world. All of us in this process

should stick to the fundamentals of the convention and the protocol and not create new problems, new distractions, new definitions, and to try to

reopen negotiations. That would be a disaster not only for Copenhagen but more importantly for this common fight against climate change.

http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/263871


'Maps of resource rich, poverty stricken tribal India overlap'
Date: 30/05/2007
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Source: Down to Earth Vol: 16 Issue: 20070531
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Ethnic conflicts have dogged India since independence. The problem has attracted a lot of scholarship. Amarjyoti Borah talks to two eminent academics who have looked at the problem. Ram Dayal Munda, currently chief advisor, Indian Confederation of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, puts the problem of tribal people in the country in perspective

Which areas in India are most prone to ethnic conflict?
These days unrest begins in Nepal, and proceeds down along forest lines to Kerala; from north Maharashtra it spreads to the east coast. Maps of forest-laden India, poverty-stricken India, illiterate India, and natural resource-rich India overlap. These areas are also coterminous with tribal India, a realm prone to ethnic conflicts.

What are the main reasons for the unrest?
Rural deprivation breeds unrest.Illiteracy, poverty, unemployment and insecurity are reasons that are interrelated. People rebel because their survival is threatened.

But a lot of violence is committed by educated young men who have options.
Most, actually, don't have options. People are lured into extremist groups for paltry sums, sometimes as low as Rs 1,500. Such violence will definitely come down, once the economic condition of people improves.

Today tribal lands are encroached by non-tribals. There is also violence for small jobs, which adds ‘fuel to fire'.

Why can't the tribal leadership across India organise tribals into a more powerful force, like the dalit leadership?
I don't think the dalits are doing any better. But they do have more political knowledge. Besides, they are more in number and have better access to the ‘system'.

Why are tribal leaders not visible in national politics?
It takes time for tribal people to become aware of politics, their political awareness is quite low. They have to come out to towns from rural areas.

Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have had tribal chief ministers who have done very little for tribal welfare.

They are not tribal states.

But they had tribal chief ministers.

It is the assembly which takes decisions, not the chief minister.

Is the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, against the indigenous people of the northeast?
Yes, and it is very unfortunate that the common people are at the receiving end of an act specifically designed to curb insurgency in the area.

Does the Indian economy have any role in adding fire to ethnic conflicts?
Yes. Unfortunately equal attention has not been paid to rural development. This year's budget stresses that. This realisation should have come much earlier.

Do transnational companies complicate matters?
Yes. Most mega developmental projects such as dams and express highways are taking place in tribal belts displacing many people. This can cause major conflicts.

Your views on the Narmada Bachao Aandolan (nba).

It's almost a failure and this is because people were mobilised far too late—after work on the dam started.

Its leadership doesn't have any tribals as well.

Awareness among tribal people is very low except in the northeast and Jharkhand. The leadership should have geared people up for a long-drawn battle. This, unfortunately, did not happen. Also a lot of people opted for the dam: a lot of money was used to ‘buy' supporters.

How would you compare nba with the agitation which succeeded in getting the ‘Koel Karo' dam in Jharkhand scrapped in 2004?
In Koel Karo, people were aware of ground realities, they set conditions for resettlement.The government couldn't resettle two villages, which made the people more suspicious and they hardened their agitation.

What can civil society groups learn from the two movements?
Civil society involvement was minimal in both the cases. Civil society actually wanted the dams. In both the cases, nobody except activists, was concerned.

Should protest be non-violent?
The state misuses power. It's better to use other means and not non-violence.

Your views on reservation in employment and in educational institutes.

Reservation can only have a limited impact. The government should give extra attention to children from weaker sections. After all, the purpose of reservation is to bring about an improvement in lives of the weaker section of people, and not a reduction in work quality.

http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/34278
Why waste a chance?
Date: 14/01/2008
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Source: Down to Earth Vol: 16 Issue: 20080115
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TagsColombia, Egypt, Informal Sector, Peru, Philippines, Private Sector, Rag Pickers, Urban Sanitation, Waste Disposal, Waste Processing, Waste Recycling, India, Sanitation, Solid Waste
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Something's changing in urban India. Cities are now being redesigned to fend for themselves, become ‘viable' entities on the balance sheet. Every bit of infrastructure and service is being packaged as an investment opportunity. It's called urban entrepreneurism. Goodbye government, hello markets.

In this heady new world, waste occupies an important position, not merely because of its physical attributes but because of services required to manage it. There is a shifting understanding of waste as the new wealth. The idea of wealth from waste has been popular since the late 1980s. Now, bolstered by public interest litigation, there is a paradigm shift towards capital-intensive, large-scale privatization of solid waste management services. Municipalities sub-contract agencies to help set up privatization via a global bid. Typically, this is for collection and transportation of waste, sometimes collection from the doorstep.A few contractors get advertising rights to dhalaos — neighbourhood disposal points. And end-point technologies depend on private players. A recent study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in 25 Indian cities found that only two cities hadn't privatized some part of the formal waste system. The conclusion? "Huge scope for privatization in solid waste management.'
But waste has always been managed and recycled by indigenous private players in India. Almost 1 per cent of urban populations are estimated to be involved in recycling. Wastepickers, itinerant buyers, junk dealers—these are our indigenous waste handlers. For them, waste is lucrative because it generates the next meal. Theirs is an investment of time, labour and acquired skills. The cost is their health.

They have few opportunities to leap into the formal sector and no social security. With low capital investments and no subsidies, the informal sector recycles between 9- 59 per cent of the total waste generated in urban India, depending on the city or town you are looking at.

These private players are excluded from the grand plans for waste management; perhaps because they are embedded in everyday life, perhaps because the fruit of their low capital investment is poorly appreciated. Casting such smaller players aside, policymakers imagine privatization as a capital-intensive investment for well-networked entities. Most contracts in India seek investment capacity, fleet ownership and similar large assets. Few seek proven efforts in the field. To become a new-age waste contractor, you don't need to know about waste. But being rich is essential.

Privatization's only occasional concession is a patronizing one: through hiring ‘bin guides'. These involve a single person, sometimes a wastepicker, to the exclusion of all others. They keep the disposal points clean. This creates a new ‘professional' individual outside indigenous systems, rupturing collective earning capacity for the poor. Women, for example, lose the flexibility to look after homes or pick or sort waste at convenient times, unable to contribute to family income.

Private contractors, owners of the recyclable waste, sell it all to the biggest dealers, if not factories. A long chain that includes hundreds of small junk dealers breaks. It is the fencing of urban common property resources.

The informal sector can't compete in this unequal playing field. Being denied resources to independently trade materials is a deep demotion. Wastepickers and small scrap dealers collaborate and compete through unwritten codes of conduct, kinship and community or peer pressure, resulting in one of the highest rates of recycling in the world.

A popular understanding of privatization is that it results in municipal savings. The World Bank, in its 2006 report, Improving Management of Municipal Solid Waste in India : Overview and Challenges, agrees that there is a 20-40 per cent reduction. However, it says, "One of the reasons for the relatively lower costs incurred by the contractor is quoted as differential wages, particularly when private contractors tend to pay lower than minimum wages to their sanitary workers.' Savings arise from depriving workers, a fact borne out empirically even in Delhi.

In a country with rapid urbanization and 300 million people earning under a dollar a day, dislocating and disenfranchising the poor their jobs is against public interest. A paper in the 2007 summer edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review emphasizes that stable jobs are the best way out of poverty. Author Aneel Karnani says, "If societies are serious about helping the poorest of the poor, they should stop investing in microcredit and start supporting large labour-intensive industries.' The new privatization of waste works in the opposite direction.

But the poor aren't the only losers. The rest of the city loses too, we've recently seen. Last year, the German bilateral agency gtz and the Collaborative Working Group on Solid Waste Management (cwg) asked a question: what is the economics of informal sector recycling? Their results, culled from six developing world cities across the continents, are lessons for us.

They found that the informal sector significantly subsidized the cost of waste handling and recycling. In the formal sector, there was a cost to recycling. In the informal sector, there was a benefit. The data from Cairo showed that the informal sector's handling cost per tonne of waste was $4.30, and the formal sector, $14.40. In Lima, the tonnes per person handling waste, including recycling, in the informal and formal sector was an astounding 1:30 ratio. The study concluded it was a "bad idea' for formal sector players to colonize recycling.

If the informal sector went away, the costs of recycling would rise dramatically. In the Philippines, it costs the informal sector 17 euros per tonne for waste recycling. For the same work, the formal sector must spend 81 euros. This matters to both the city and citizens, because they will finally finance these rising costs.

Delhi is a good example of poor waste policy and privatization. The terms of the contract, made by the Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation for the Municipal Council of Delhi, only perfunctorily mentions wastepickers, ignores several other informal recyclers, reduces segregation standards and worsens work conditions. The recyclables also belong to the private operators. In Delhi, the private operators must segregate only 20 per cent in the final and eighth year of operations—a lowering of standards from the over 90 per cent by wastepickers. Consequently, many low-value materials are incentivized to be landfilled, morphing from resources to pollutants.

Clashes become inevitable. Documentation by Chintan Environ-mental Research and Action Group, in New Delhi's R K Puram area, showed that the contractors often intimidate, abuse, harass and even beat wastepickers who attempt to ‘break into' a newly privatized space to carry out their earlier work. Wastepickers collecting waste from the doorstep were disallowed from entering bins for secondary segregation. They took all the waste home, impacting the health of entire communities. Some were stopped from disposing off waste in dhalaos, if they removed the recyclables from it.

India isn't unique in its rich informal recycling sector. Other countries have this too, and they've preserved the system well. Many of them have been able to make good inclusive policy. In Argentina, a zero-waste decree makes it mandatory for private waste handlers to provide facilities for the informal sector to segregate and store recyclable waste. In Rosario, wastepickers have recycling infrastructure and the training to use it. In the Philippines, junk dealers are licensed and performance standards created. Wastepickers at the Smokey Mountain are helped to work safely.

In Colombia, In 2003, under Decree 1713, part 1505, wastepickers are included in solid waste management plans. This was backed by a strong cooperative movement and federation.

Given how Indian policymakers obsess with being world class, these are examples to learn from. If there is one guiding principle that municipal officials must remember, it is this: It is cost effective to encourage the informal sector to work. Recycling more than pays for itself, in this sector. If the informal sector had priority access to all recyclable waste, an important first step would have been taken. This would require backstopping in the form of space for secondary segregation and storage. The non-motorized transport of this sector—cycle rickshaws, non-polluting and green—should be accommodated too.

But this is not enough. Future privatization must take the form of small contracts of under Rs 20 lakh, where micro-enterprises can compete. Current contracts must be stopped, for they are deleterious to India's own stated vision for progress and the Millennium Development Goals. And only inert, non-recyclable waste should be in landfills. Everything else must be recycled, composted or bio-methanated locally. This can save on transportation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, and stop the poor from becoming poorer. Labour is one of the main skills of the urban poor. Combined with innovation and embedded in good policies, it offers them hope. Otherwise, they are doomed to remain poor, with huge social and economic costs for everyone.

Urbanization rates forecast for India means that our towns and cities will simultaneously house more poor and generate more waste. They can be the sites for innovative policy that addresses both environmental sustainability and urban poverty. Waste provides an invaluable opportunity to do this. Why ignore it, then?

Bharati Chaturvedi is Director,Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, Delhi

http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/879



Report on environmental issues of chromite mining in Sukinda valley
Date: Nov 2008
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Source: Orissa State Pollution Control Board
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Attachments: Environmental_Issue_of_Sukinda_Valley.pdf
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TagsEnvironment Impact Assessment (EIA), Environment Management, Health Effects, Minerals, Orissa, Rehabilitation, SPM, Air Pollution, Mining, Water Resources
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Orissa accounts for about 98% of the total proved chromite (chromium ore)reserves of the country, of which about 97% occur in the Sukinda Valley, over an area covering approximately 200 sq. km., in the Jajpur district. Presently there are 14 chromite mines operating in Sukinda. Out of these, one mine, Mahagiri Chromite Mines (IMFA) has started its operation of mining lumpy
chromite, recently at the foot hills of the Mahagiri hill range. So far no mine drainage water has been generated. The following report pertains to the impacts of the remaining 13 mines.
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/report-environmental-issues-chromite-mining-sukinda-valley

SEZs and socialism
Date: 30/01/2008
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Source: Down to Earth Vol: 16 Issue: 20080131
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TagsAgriculture, Development, Goa, Land Ownership, Land Resources, Public Participation, Rural Development, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), Water Conservation, India, Mining
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the Goa chief minister's unwillingness to allow special economic zones (sez s)in his state must have mildly zapped his central colleagues (see p 24). Has he become a socialist? Doesn't he aspire for his state? But what Digambar Kamat did was to please his electorate; his energy has deflated the commerce ministry and it seems Goa sez s are going to be denotified. We must ask: so it is easy to get rid of the idea of sez, right? There are anti- sez protests in every state, against special treatment to industrialists whose interests amount to creating private states within the union of India, propelled primarily by farmers. Outbursts usually dealt with violent forces, gunshots. How come the Goa cm responded positively?

Protesters in Goa speak in English, and have a large middle class component of those who have seen their land ravaged by mining and property developers. Opposition in other states is ‘vernacular', led by poor farmers the state and a section of media can volubly dismiss as an inarticulate lot. They don't understand growth, is the buzz. (Please note rich farmers are protected; the survey post never springs up on their land.)

All chief ministers are intelligent enough to realize that providing free electricity and water at a discount to industries that will generate very little local employment will not bring much prosperity to their state. But the game goes on. Trashing subsidy to agriculture is a shame. For all efforts are to prove agriculture unviable, and hand over precious natural resource to private developers.

Fortunately, the great Indian social set-up is not unidirectional (see p 28-34). Hiware Bazar has proved the rural economy can be so profitable that it brings all villagers, who had earlier fled to cities, back. They have done this by simply using a state-run programme, the Employment Guarantee Scheme (egs), a small amount, creatively, just conserving soil and water. The small egs money is good enough to turn one-fourth of the village into millionnaires. They reckon the dignity of prosperity lies in collectively creating and then harvesting bountiful capital, a model the exact opposite of giving away precious natural resources to private profiteers at a devalued rate.

It is not surprising that the centre, in response to a supreme court question, has validated ‘socialism' in the constitution (p 11). Outside the preamble, official policies irrespective of political hue prove otherwise. It is absurd that the rhetoric of socialism has become good ad copy for the state.
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/2898

Government Institutions
Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research
Tags: Energy, Coal, Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research (CSIR), Dhanbad (D), Jharkhand, Minerals, Mining Research
Address: Barwa Road, Dhanbad,
Tel: 91-326-2296023, 2296006, 2296003, 2296004, 2296005
Fax: 91-326 2296025
Web URL: http://cmriindia.nic.in/
Objectives
The newly formed national laboratory, the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) Dhanbad, is a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) was aimed to provide R&D inputs for the entire coal-energy chain from mining to Consumption through integration of the Core Competencies of the two (CFRI & CMRI) premier Coal institution of the country.


Denial of the rural
Date: 14/09/2008
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Source: Down to Earth
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Bharat Dogra

TagsEconomic Development, Migration, Rural Habitat, Rural Poverty, Traditional Knowledge, Urban Habitat, Urbanisation, Habitat And Urbanisation, India, Poverty
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85 per cent urban population will be a disaster



A tendency has been gaining ground in some influential circles lately that India’s development is closely and necessarily linked to a path of very

rapid urbanization. Finance Minister P Chidambaram forcefully articulated this view recently (in an interview to Tehelka, May 31, 2008).

He said, “My vision of a poverty free India will be an India where a vast majority, something like 85 per cent, will eventually live in cities.”


Currently, only about 30 per cent of India’s people live in cities and about 70 per cent live in villages. So Chidambaram’s vision means a massive

transfer of 55 per cent population from villages to cities. How does he justify such massive relocation? Chidambram says, “In an urban

environment it is easier and more efficient to provide water, electricity, education, roads...security rather than in 600,000 villages.” Several

long-suffering city dwellers will no doubt ask that if that is so, then why are water and electricity shortages so acute in our cities? Why are so many

urban children out of school? Why is the crime rate so high? If this is the situation when about 30 per cent of population live in cities, what will be

the situation when 85 per cent live in cities?


But the most basic issue relates to Chidambaram’s emphasis on depopulation of villages, so that rural dwellers are reduced to 15 per cent from

70 per cent. Such massive transfer of population will mean that land will have to be cultivated in a highly mechanized way, the sort of costly

mechanization that only the corporate sector will be able to afford. So it is most likely that in the villages of Chidambaram’s vision, farming will be

dominated by corporate sector and/or very big farmers. Such agriculture will be necessarily more energy-intensive. Mechanization might

increase production in the short term in a few areas, but within a few years soil health and land fertility will suffer and energy costs will become too

heavy.


Also, how will millions of families that are supposed to leave villages get a satisfactory livelihood, assuming they get some sort of housing? It is

well known that modern industry is capital-intensive and has low employment potential. Opportunities of government employment have been

getting lesser, not increasing, in many areas. An India of 85 per cent urban dwellers could easily mean a lot more unemployment and a lot more

discontent and crime.


It is also not correct to say that it is more difficult to provide basic facilities in villages. In fact in a rural setting the dependence on energy-intensive

life style is less. At the same time there is a huge potential to make villages self-reliant in energy by choosing a location-specific mix of windmills,

micro-hydel and watermills, solar energy, bio-gas etc. Similarly water-shortages can be more effectively tackled in villages by water-conservation,

water-harvesting and by repair and maintenance of traditional water sources. Education based on equal opportunities and education which

brings children closer to nature also has more potential in villages.


A troublesome aspect of ideas which support massive depopulation of villages is that these can be easily used to justify projects that involve

large-scale displacement. Chidambaram does assert, “If the laws are inadequate, strengthen them, but in the name of the environment...please

don’t say that the poor should remain poor for the next five thousand years.” When asked about opposition to Vedanta and

class="UCASE">posco projects on mining and steel, in Orissa, Chidambaram says, “This could be categorised as a conspiracy of the

socially driven classes to keep poor people poor. What is the quality of life we’re talking about? These districts of Orissa have remained poor

since the earth dawned.” The reality is that many villages in Orissa, and in other states, are humming with activities, capable of providing

sustainable livelihoods to several generations. As any school child of Orissa will tell you, the state’s history is full of rich examples of sustainable

livelihoods based on rich traditional wisdom in agriculture, crafts, forestry.


Bharat Dogra is a senior journalist
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/263802



Life for production, sale of fake drugs
Date: 18/07/2008
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Source: Asian Age (New Delhi)
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TagsDrugs, Government Of India (GOI), Parliament
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It will be life imprisonment and a penalty of Rs 10 lakh for those found guilty of sale and production of spurious drugs in the country.
Not only this, this offence has been made non-bailable and will be heard only at the special designated court which will be set up by Centre in collaboration with state governments and the judiciary.
At present such an offence is liable to five years of imprisonment and Rs 10,000 penalty.
The Centre gave its approval on Thursday to move official amendments to the Drugs and Cosmetics Amendment Bill, 2005 which is pending in Rajya Sabha.
The bill has also proposed stricter punishments for spurious ayurvedic, unani and siddha medicines, where imprisonment of five years and penalty of Rs 10,000 have been proposed.
Also, for misbranding on these products, the punishment will be one year imprisonment and Rs 20,000 fine.
The bill proposes imprisonment for a term for not less than 10 years which may be extended to life term and fine of not less than Rs 10 lakhs or three times value of the drugs confiscated, whichever is more, for a person involved in manufacture and sale of spurious drugs.
The central government had constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of former director general, CSIR, R.A. Mashelkar in 2003 to undertake a comprehensive examination of the problem of spurious drugs.
The committee recommended for the enhancement of penalties, setting up of special courts for speedy trials and making the offences relating to spurious drugs non-bailable.
Based on these recommendations, a bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 2003 which lapsed due to the dissolution of Lok Sabha.
It was again introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2005 and would help contain the problem of manufacture and trade of spurious drugs.
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/life-production-sale-fake-drugs
Government Institutions
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
Tags: Chemical Fertilisers, Delhi, Pesticides, Pesticides And Toxins
Address: Shastri Bhavan, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road,
Tel: 91-11-23383430, 23383814
Fax: 91-11-23386222, 23387892
Objectives
The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers is the administrative unit of two departments namely:- Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals and Department of Fertilizers. The ministry is headed by Minister of Chemicals and fertilizers.

Food Policy
Posted under: News
Imported food items flout Indian laws
Karthik Madhavan

Labour Department can initiate action against seller

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A few items like jellies do not sport the name and address of the manufacturer

There is no mention about the date of manufacture and date of expiry

Date: 03/01/2009
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Source: Hindu (Chennai)
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TagsFood Safety, Imports, Tamil Nadu, Food Policy, India
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Posted under: News
Ban organic farming totally, says expert
Basavashree awardee and exponent of natural farming method Subhash Palekar has demanded for total ban on organic farming.

Addressing a press meet in the city on Thursday, he condemned the State Government for establishing organic farming mission.

Date: 26/12/2008
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Source: Deccan Herald (Bangalore)
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TagsAgriculture, Karnataka, Organic Farming, Food Policy
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Posted under: Reports and Documents
The impact of climate change and adaptation on food production in low-income countries
This paper presents an empirical analysis of the impact of climate change on food production in a typical low-income developing country. Furthermore, it provides an estimation of the determinants of adaptation to climate change and the implications of these strategies on farm productivity. The analysis relies on primary data from 1,000 farms producing cereal crops in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia.

Date: Dec 2008
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Source: International Food Policy Research Institute
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Attachments: Sec08-adap-IFPRIDP.pdf
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TagsAgriculture, Climate Adaptation, Climate Change, Food Security, Rainfall, Food Policy
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Posted under: Reports and Documents
The state of food insecurity in the world 2008
The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008 represents FAO’s ninth progress report on world hunger since the 1996 World Food Summit(WFS). This report focuses on high food prices, which are having a serious impact on the poorest populations in the world, drastically reducing their already low purchasing power. High
food prices have increased levels of food deprivation, while

Date: Dec 2008
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Source: FAO
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Attachments: food insecurity 2008.pdf
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TagsAgriculture, China, FAO, Food Prices, Food Security, Global, Malnutrition, Starvation, Food Policy, India, Poverty
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Posted under: News
Central expert takes stock of new paddy plantation system
The director of rice under National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in New Delhi, MC Dibakar, recently visited the paddy fields of Nalbari district to take stock of the progress of the newly-introduced System of Rice Intensification (SRI). He also interacted with the farmers to share the experiences of this new system of rice production.

Date: 15/12/2008
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Source: Assam Tribune (Guwahati)
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TagsAssam, Food Security, Nalbari (D), Rice, Food Policy
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Posted under: Reports and Documents
Anatomy of a crisis: the causes and consequences of surging food prices
This latest IFPRI paper is a comprehensive review of the causes and consequences of recent increases in international food prices. Is based on the best and most recent research and includes fresh theoretical and empirical analysis.

Author(s): Derek Heady, Shenggen Fan
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Date: Dec 2008
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Source: International Food Policy Research Institute
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Attachments: IFPRIDP00831.pdf
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TagsBiofuel, Economic Development, Food Prices, Global, Food Policy, India, Poverty
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Posted under: News
FAO demands $30 bn bailout for agriculture
Surinder Sud / New Delhi November 24, 2008, 0:11 IST

A United Nations agency has warned of negative impact of the global financial crisis on agriculture in the developing countries and has called for an agricultural bailout package of $30 billion annually to ward off hunger and food riots.

Date: 24/11/2008
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Source: Business Standard (New Delhi)
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TagsAgriculture, Economy, FAO, Food Prices, Food Policy
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Posted under: News
The food crisis
The high food prices that have sparked riots in many parts of the developing world - from Indonesia, India and Bangladesh to Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire and Haiti -should come as no surprise. These are only the latest in a series of events many developing countries have suffered as a result of opening their borders and neglecting domestic agriculture.

Date: 21/11/2008
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Source: New Nation (Bangladesh)
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TagsBangladesh, Food Policy
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Posted under: News
Bangladesh in hunger index
BANGLADESH has been ranked 70th among 88 nations in the global hunger index (GHI) as reported by media recently. From January 2007 to June 2008, one-third of all the countries, for which GHI was calculated, suffered from a violent or non-violent protest, with multiple occurrences in Bangladesh, according to the report prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Date: 20/11/2008
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Source: New Nation (Bangladesh)
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TagsBangladesh, Starvation, Food Policy
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Posted under: News
Price fall, credit crunch may hit agri output: FAO
Amid the international financial crisis, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has warned that falling food prices and reduced access to credit are likely to hit the agricultural production, threatening global food security.

Date: 15/11/2008
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Source: Business Standard (New Delhi)
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TagsAgriculture, FAO, Food Prices, Food Security, Food Policy

http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/taxonomy/term/289



Atmosphere And Ozone Layer
Posted under: News
This year’s ozone hole in Antarctica is 5th biggest
This year’s ozone hole over Antarctica was the fifth biggest on record, reaching a maximum area of 10.5 million square miles in September, Nasa says. That’s considered “moderately large”, Nasa atmospheric scientist Paul Newman said in a statement.

Date: 06/11/2008
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Source: Times Of India (New Delhi)
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TagsAntarctica, NASA, Ozone Layer, Atmosphere And Ozone Layer
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Posted under: Reports and Documents
Atmospheric brown clouds - regional assessment report with focus on Asia
Increasing amount of soot, sulphates and other aerosol components in atmospheric brown clouds (ABCs) are causing major threats to the water and food security of Asia and have resulted in surface dimming, atmospheric solar heating and soot deposition in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan-Tibetan (HKHT) glaciers and snow packs.

Author(s): Henning Rodhe, Madhoolika Agrawal & et al, V. Ramanathan
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Date: Nov 2008
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Source: UNEP
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Attachments: ABCSummaryFinal.pdf
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TagsAgriculture, Aerosols, Asia, Climate Change, Glacial Melt, Green House Gases, Health Effects, Himalaya, Indian Ocean, Monsoons, Rainfall Pattern, South Asia, Atmosphere And Ozone Layer, Air Pollution, India
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Posted under: News
Science & Technology - Briefs
health sciences

Hooked, genetically

Researchers of the University of Michigan, usa, have cracked the genetic secrets of nicotine addiction. Whether or

not one gets hooked to smoking is dependent on a particular variant of a gene— chrna 5—they say. So far, it was

believed that smoking is governed by one’s genes, environmental factors and peer pressure. The research suggests

Date: 29/09/2008
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Source: Down to Earth
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TagsAgriculture, Acid Rain, Atmosphere Science, Bees, Birds, Crop Biodiversity, Insects, Malaria, Medical Research, Research, Smoking, UNEP, United States Of America (US), Atmosphere And Ozone Layer, Health
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Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
Maharashtra


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Indian Meteorological Department
Delhi


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Ministry of Earth Sciences
Delhi


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Ozone Cell, Ministry of Environment and Forests
A & N Island


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Posted under: Feature Articles
Subtropical to boreal convergence of tree-leaf temperatures
The ratio of stable oxygen isotopes in tree-ring cellulose was first used to reconstruct temperatures during tree growth, and a seminal study showed a strong correlation between oxygen isotopes of woody tissue and mean annual temperature.

Author(s): Brent R. Helliker, Suzanna L. Richter
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Date: Jul 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Nature Vol: 454 Issue: 7203 pp: 511-515
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Attachments: 7.pdf
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TagsAtmosphere, Climate Change, Climate Impacts, Rainfall Pattern, Trees, Atmosphere And Ozone Layer, Forests
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Posted under: Feature Articles
The Montreal Protocol as a tool to regulate the ozone depletion
The Montreal Protocol with its subsequent amendments and adjustments has been providing a global regulatory framework for the phase out of ozone depleting substances. Till date, CFCs, CTC, HBFCs, methyl chloroform and halons have been already phased out completely by the developed countries and a number of other ODSs are scheduled to follow.

Author(s): A. K. Dikshit, Deepak Kapoor
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Date: Jul 2008
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Source: Journal of the Institution of Public Health Engineers Vol: 2008-09 Issue: 3 pp: 17-20
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Attachments: The montreal protocol.pdf
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TagsMontreal Protocol, Ozone, Ozone Agreement, Ozone Mitigation, Atmosphere And Ozone Layer, India
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Posted under: Feature Articles
Resolving an atmospheric enigma
In 1971, meteorologists Roland Madden and Paul Julian studied weather data from near equatorial Pacific islands. To their surprise, tropospheric winds, pressure and rainfall oscillated with a period of about 40 to 50 days.

Author(s): Dennis L. Hartmann, Harry H. Hendon
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Date: Dec 2007
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Source: Science Vol: 318 Issue: 5867 pp: 1731-1733
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Attachments: Resolving an atmospheric enigma.pdf
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TagsAtmosphere Science, Climate Change, El Nino, Indian Ocean, Monsoons, Oceans and Seas, Rainfall Pattern, Atmosphere And Ozone Layer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/taxonomy/term/1923

N-war fallout: giant hole in ozone blanket
New Delhi, April 7: A devastating nuclear war between India and Pakistan would also tear open a giant hole in the Earth’s protective blanket of ozone, endangering human health and crops worldwide, a study predicted today.

Scientists in the US simulated a hypothetical war involving 100 Hiroshima-size bombs to predict that soot from firestorms in the subcontinent’s cities would rise high in the atmosphere, triggering ozone loss that would affect all continents.

Indian researchers have dubbed the scenario “outlandish” and cautioned that simulations of the atmosphere need to be validated through multiple models.

“I’m amazed they simulated this scenario. The chances of 100 weapons being used in the subcontinent are very unrealistic,” said Roddam Narasimha, a senior faculty member at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, and former member of the national security advisory board.

The ozone layer, densest at about 25km high in the atmosphere is a natural shield against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. But it is itself vulnerable to destruction by chemical reactions.

Research scientist Michael Mills at the University of Colorado and his colleagues found that loss of ozone after a regional nuclear war could reach up to 45 per cent in the mid latitudes and 70 per cent in the upper latitudes. Their findings will be published on Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“It will be a near-global ozone hole, affecting places as far away as North America, Europe, and Africa,” Mills told The Telegraph over the phone.

The simulation showed that soot from the fires would rise up to 60-km high, penetrating the ozone layer where it would absorb heat from the sun and trigger chemical destruction of ozone.

The ozone loss is likely to increase ultraviolet radiation that can cause genetic damage to humans, plants, and animals. Previous studies have shown that a 40 per cent loss of ozone would increase damage to DNA believed to be related to carcinogenesis by 213 per cent, the researchers said.

“Such ozone depletion could elevate the risk of skin cancer and cataracts in humans, and cause damage to crops and aquatic ecosystems,” Mills said.

The first studies of the impact of nuclear war on the atmosphere conducted in the 1980s had shown that a global nuclear exchange of 6500 Mt would deplete 17 per cent of ozone that would recover to 8.5 per cent loss within a year.

But the new study suggests that even a regional nuclear war with only 1.5 Mt (100 Hiroshima-type 15 kT bombs) would lead to 25 per cent to 70 per cent ozone loss that would persist for more than five years, posing a hazard to the biosphere worldwide.

“The soot appears to have a long-lasting impact,” said William Selvamurthy, chief controller of research with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation. “But I would say the scenario it has examined is quite exaggerated.”

One scientist who requested anonymity told The Telegraph that the concept of neighbouring countries throwing dozens of nuclear weapons at each other is “outlandish”.

Narasimha pointed out that India and Pakistan have the smallest arsenals in the world. “It’s odd that they pick on a country with the smallest arsenals,” he said.

But Mills said the simulation examined a scenario where “things get out of hand”. “It’s easier to have faith in predictions when several models produce smilar results,” said J. Srinivasan, a senior atmospheric scientist at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080408/jsp/nation/story_9109382.jsp
Healing the world
The closing of the ozone hole over Antarctica has positive implications for the southern hemisphere as well as global climate in general, writes P. Hari

If ever there was a successful international agreement, it was the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. This was signed in the year 1989, by which time the ozone layer in the stratosphere was rapidly depleting and the hole over Antarctica was becoming large and damaging. The Montreal Protocol, signed by 191 countries, ensured that the production of the offending CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) stopped in 1996. The ozone layer has started recovering quickly. The former UN secretary general Kofi Annan called it the most successful international treaty. Now it seems that its impact was even larger than envisaged by Annan or anybody else.

In a paper published in Science recently, scientists at the University of Columbia and other institutions say that the treaty could have a profound impact on the earth’s climate as well. The depletion of the ozone layer has a direct impact on human and animal health, by increasing the amount of dangerous ultraviolet radiation hitting the earth’s surface. The Columbia scientists now show that the closing of the Antarctica ozone hole will affect winds in the southern hemisphere, and hence its climate, and even the global climate. “This may be good news,” says the lead author of the study, Seok-Woo Son, a post-doctoral student at the university.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which made predictions for climate change for the 21st century, did not consider the healing of the ozone hole in its assessments. In its calculations, the IPCC used a set of models that did not take into account the stratospheric ozone recovery. Son and his colleagues at Columbia University and other institutions used a different model that considered the recovery of the ozone layer. And the results were quite different.

The key issue is a type of winds called the westerlies. These winds blow in both the northern and southern hemispheres, but in opposite directions. In the southern hemisphere, the westerlies blow from the north west, and produce the Antarctic Circumpolar Current around the icy continent. This circulating ocean current is critical to maintaining the climate over Antarctica, as it keeps the warm waters away from the continent. This is why Antarctica is colder than the Arctic. This current influences the Antarctic and southern hemisphere climate in complex ways that are still not completely understood.

In the last few decades, the southern westerlies have intensified towards the pole by as much as 20 per cent. There are two reasons for this intensification. The first is the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the resultant warming of the earth, and the second is the depletion of the ozone layer. But we do not know how much these factors contribute individually. We do know, however, that the intensification has important consequences for the surface sea temperature, the extent of sea ice over the Antarctic, the variability of storms, location of deserts or arid regions and many other things that influence climate.

In its previous report, the IPCC had predicted that the westerlies will continue to intensify, but the rate of intensification will slow down over the next few decades. While this is expected to have several negative impacts over climate in the next five decades, we do not quite know precisely what. One of the consequences of this intensification would be the enlargement of arid zones in the southern hemisphere, mainly in Africa and Australia. Since Australia is already experiencing a serious water shortage, it will not be good news for the country.

The Columbian team, however, used a different mathematical model in their study. This model took into account the recovery of the ozone layer in general, and the complete closing of the ozone hole over Antarctica by mid century. When they ran their models, they also saw something interesting – the westerlies weakened towards the poles, in part reversing the trend in the last few decades. If this turns out to be true, the impact on climate in the southern hemisphere can be profound.

There are still many areas of this change that are not well understood, but one can certainly foresee some impacts. “I think that the expansion of the arid regions will stop,” says Son, “but we have to do much more research to know the full impact.”

One thing is clear: the thickening of the ozone layer could certainly bring some cheer.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080623/jsp/knowhow/story_9446996.jsp



Ministry of Environment and Forests


Effects of the depletion of the Ozone Layer on humans and the environment
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12:32 IST
BACKGROUNDER

The ozone molecule contains three atoms of oxygen and is mainly formed by the action of the ultraviolet rays of the sun on the diatomic oxygen molecules in the upper part of the earth’s atmosphere (called the stratosphere). Atmospheric pollution near the Earth’s surface can form localized areas of ozone. The stratospheric ozone layer protects life on earth by absorbing most of the harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. In the mid 1970s it was discovered that some manmade products destroy ozone molecules in the stratosphere. This destruction can result in damage to ecosystems and to materials such as plastics. It may cause an increase in human diseases such as skin cancers and cataracts.

The discovery of the role of the synthetic ozone-depleting chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) stimulated increased research and monitoring in this field. Computer models predicted a disaster if no action was taken to protect the ozone layer. Based on this research and monitoring, the nations of the world took action in 1985 with the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer followed by the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987. The Convention and Protocol were amended and adjusted several times as new knowledge that was obtained. The Meetings of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol appointed three Assessment Panels to review the progress in scientific knowledge on their behalf. These panels are the Scientific Assessment Panel, the Technological and Economic Assessment Panel and the Environmental and Health Effects Assessment Panel. Each panel covers a designated area.

Effects of human activities on depletion of ozone layer and climate change

There is overwhelming evidence that human activities are influencing global phenomena. Natural environmental cycles often span thousands of years but most scientific measurements have been made only over the past 150 years. It is often not easy to accurately determine the influence of humans on any natural activity. In the case of the ozone layer, the depletion of the ozone over the Antarctica cannot be explained by natural cycles but is caused by the increase of synthetic chemicals in the stratosphere. The relationship between these chemicals (e.g. chlorofluorocarbons also known as CFCs) and ozone depletion has been proven by experiments in laboratories, numerical modelling studies and by direct measurements in the atmosphere. By absorbing the infrared radiation emitted by the earth, some gases control the way natural energy flows through the atmosphere. Such gases are known as greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide, although only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, is an important greenhouse gas.

Measurements show that its concentration has increased by almost 30% as a result of human activities since the beginning of the industrial revolution (around 1750), resulting in enhancement of the greenhouse effect.Methane and nitrous oxide emitted from agricultural activities, changes in land use, and other sources are also potent greenhouse gases. The increase in greenhouse gasses contributes to climate change in the form of increased temperatures on the earth and a rise in sea level. Carbon dioxide is produced when fossil fuels are used to generate energy and when forests are burned. Observations show that global temperatures rose by about 0.6 °C over the 20th century.

Relationship between ozone and solar ultraviolet radiation

There is an inverse relationship between the concentration of ozone and the amount of UV-Bradiation transmitted through the atmosphere. Stratospheric ozone is naturally formed in chemical reactions involving ultraviolet sunlight and oxygen molecules. These reactions occur continually wherever ultraviolet sunlight is present. The production of stratospheric ozone is balanced by its destruction in chemical reactions. Ozone reacts continually with a variety of natural and anthropogenic chemicals in the stratosphere. In the lower atmosphere ozone is produced by the chemical reactions between mainly nitrogen oxides and organic chemical pollutants produced by motor vehicle and industrial emissions. The ozone in both the troposphere and the atmosphere absorbs the UV radiation received at the surface. The radiation emitted by the sun contains an ultraviolet component. As the sunlight passes through the atmosphere, all the UV-C and approximately 90% of the UV-B are absorbed mainly by ozone and oxygen. UV-A radiation is less affected by the atmosphere. Therefore, the ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth’s surface is composed of mainly UV-A with a small UV-B component. A decrease in the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere results in increased UV-B radiation at the surface of the earth. DNA and other biological macromolecules absorb UV-B and can be damaged in this process.

determinants of UV-B radiation at a specific place

The sun is the origin of the ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth. That radiation is partly absorbed by the components of the earth's atmosphere. The amount of potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation that is absorbed by one of these components, ozone, depends on the length of the path of the sunlight through the atmosphere. The UV-B irradiation varies with the time of the day, geographic location and the season. The ultraviolet radiation that reaches the earth is greatest in the tropics and decreases towards the poles. For the same reason it is greatest near local noon and least near sunrise or sunset. Outside the tropics it is generally greater in the summer and least in the winter. Clouds, particulate matter, aerosols and air pollutants absorb and scatter some of the ultraviolet radiation and thereby diminish the amount reaching the earth's surface. Under clear skies the maximum irradiation occurs when the sun is directly overhead. Locations at higher altitudes have less atmosphere overhead, as evidenced by the thinner air and lower atmospheric pressure therefore the radiation of the sun is less attenuated. This increase in UV radiation varies between 10% and 20% for each kilometre of height, depending on the specific wavelength, solar angle, reflections, and other local conditions. Frequently, other factors besides the thickness of the atmosphere cause even larger differences in UV radiation between different altitudes. Surface reflection, especially from snow, ice and sand increases the irradiation at a particular site because the reflected radiation is redirected towards the surface through scattering by particles in the atmosphere or on the ground. In some conditions clouds will have the same effect. Snow is more common at higher altitudes, and reflects as much as 90% of the ultraviolet radiation. Dry beach sand and sea foam reflects about 25% of UV-B radiation. Clouds also reflect an appreciable amount of radiation to the areas where they do not directly obscure the sunlight The ultraviolet irradiation to which an individual is exposed is determined by a combination of all these factors.

Effect of pollution of the lower atmosphere on UV-B irradiation

Pollutants emitted by human activities can absorb UV-B radiation near the surface, while particles may lead to enhancement by scattering. While most of the atmospheric ozone is formed in the stratosphere, some ozone is produced in the lower atmosphere by the chemical reactions between pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons. This ozone is a component of the photochemical smog found in many polluted areas. Airborne particles (smoke, dust and sulphate aerosols) block UV radiation, but at the same time can increase the amount of scattered light (haze) and therefore increase the UV exposure of side-facing surfaces (e.g., face, eyes). Comparisons of measurements made in industrialized regions of the Northern Hemisphere (e.g., central Europe) and in very clean locations at similar latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere (e.g., New Zealand) indicate the importance of particulate and pollution-related UV-B reductions.

At any particular location there is a direct relationship between UV-B irradiation and the amount of ozone in the atmosphere. UV-B increases with ozone depletion in the stratosphere but decreases with ozone formation in the lower atmosphere. The natural UV-B variability (e.g., from time of day, or clouds) can be larger than the effect of pollution, but goes in both directions, up and down. The cumulative amounts will depend critically upon local conditions and are therefore difficult to model in a general way. Many detrimental effects of UV-B are proportional to the cumulative UV-B exposure.

KP/DT
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=42536

$1.2 mn fine for depleting ozone layer

22 Sep 2008, 1428 hrs IST, IANS



TORONTO: A Canadian faces $1.2m in fines for releasing ozone-depleting Halon-1301 from a fire-suppression system at his property in Burnaby near
Vancouver.

Halons, used in fire extinguishers, are the most dangerous form of ozone-depleting substance.

Scientists say Halon-1301 not only eats the ozone layer, but is also a deadly greenhouse gas "thousands of times more powerful" than carbon dioxide. Although Halon-1301 is a liquid, it vapourises instantly on release.

The ozone layer at the top of the earth's atmosphere protects us from the ultraviolet rays of the sun, which can cause skin cancer. Release of ozone-depleting substances by people - mainly chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) used as refrigerants and fire retardants - has created holes in the ozone layer over the north and south polar regions.

According to a report, more than 3,800 kg of Halon-1301 was released into the atmosphere two years ago, inviting the stiff penalties under Vancouver city bylaws and British Columbia provincial laws. Halon-1301 is an HCFC.

The Vancouver Sun newspaper said it was the largest single release of ozone-depleting substances in recent Canadian history.

The paper identified the offender as Donald Rix, a well respected Canadian who has won the nation's highest Order of Canada award and is the current chairman of the high-powered Vancouver Board of Trade.

His property - 0727219 BC Ltd - is charged with releasing the ozone-depleting Halon-1301 into the atmosphere June 4, 2006.

Curiously, Rix was not the owner of the property when the deadly release occurred. It was under Teleglobe, which was owned by a Los Angeles-based American, when the incident happened.

But the authorities are after his company that now holds title to this property - 0727219 B.C. Ltd. That did not change during Rix's purchase, the newspaper said.

Under the law, if this substance had been released during a fire, there would have been no offence.

Canada banned production and import of Halons in 1994.

Climate Change & Global Warming
The role of Crystal Refrigeration in this major effort to Save the Planet
Since 1992 Crystal Refrigeration has been conducting in the State of West Bengal, RSE Training Workshops under the aegis of HIDECOR & NCCoPP for technicians and engineers from various organisations in air-conditioning & refrigeration, government in-house maintenance cells and private small business owners and individual technicians.

RSE training has been designed as effective, practical 2-day sessions. The training for Refrigeration Service Enterprise (RSE) technicians illustrate:
Good practices in handling CFC.
How to handle new technology for better servicing.
Proper servicing and retrofitting of refrigeration appliances using alternative HFC and HC refrigerants.
How to recover and re-use CFC and HFC refrigerants.


More details can be found at: http://www.nccopp.info/RSETraining.asp

In recent years, scientific research has proved that several chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), halons and methyl bromide contribute substantially to ozone depletion. CFCs developed in the early 1930s are non-toxic, non-flammable and are used extensively as coolants for commercial and home refrigeration units, aerosol propellants, electronic cleaning solvents, and blowing agents. Over time, these CFCs are released into the air and often, strong winds carry them into the stratosphere.

When CFC molecules drift into the stratosphere, the UV-B and UV-C radiation from the sun releases their chlorine atoms. Complex chemical reactions in the atmosphere result in the formation of chlorine monoxide, which reacts with the ozone molecule to form oxygen and regenerates more chlorine atoms that carry on converting the ozone molecules. Each chlorine atom can destroy as many as 100,000 ozone molecules over 100 years. Thus, even a small amount of CFCs can cause tremendous damage to the ozone layer.

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL
In 1987, several countries across the world signed an international treaty, the Montreal Protocol, On Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. According to this protocol, countries would phase out CFCs and other ODS as per a given schedule, with a complete halt by 2010. 190 countries are signatories to the Montreal Protocol.

Under the Protocol, industrialized nations have rapidly eliminated most ozone depleting substances. Developing countries are following suit, with critical assistance from the Protocol's Multilateral Fund, which has already committed over US $ 1.5 billion to assist developing countries in the difficult transition to ozone-friendly substances.


BENEFITS OF CFC PHASE OUT

Protection of the Ozone Layer: The phasing out of CFCs will help tremendously in the recovery of the ozone layer. As a result of the phasing out, lesser amounts of CFCs will accumulate in the atmosphere, thereby leading to the less depletion of ozone.

Reduced Health Risks: The phase out of CFCs will have a positive impact on health risks posed by the depleting of the ozone layer. These health benefits include reduced incidence of skin cancer and cataracts, decreased risks to human immune systems, and increased protection of plant and animal life from excessive UV exposure. A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) study shows that a sustained 1 percent decrease in stratospheric ozone will result in about a 2 percent increase in the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer, which can be fatal. With the successful phase out of CFCs, fewer instances of this fatal cancer are expected.

New Technologies: Phasing out of CFCs is prompting research and development of alternative technologies specially for cleaning applications in electronic assemblies and precision parts.

Energy Savings: As a consequence of CFC phase out, there has been considerable effort in many countries to develop and invest in a new generation of energy efficient air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment. This also impacts positively on global warming and climate change.

Pollution Prevention: The energy savings from equipment upgrades mean that less fossil fuel are burned at the power plant, leading to reduced emissions of air pollutants including carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). These pollutants are responsible for global warming and acid rain.

Indian Scenario
As per the Montreal Protocol, India is one of the Article 5 (1) countries consuming a large volume of CFCs, second only to China. India ratified the Montreal Protocol agreement in 1992 and the Government of India has taken many progressive steps to phase-out ODS in India. These include:

Setting up of a special Ozone Cell in the Ministry of Environment And Forests to co-ordinate all Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) phase-out initiatives.

Approval of the Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulations and Control) Rules 2000, which amongst others restricts the manufacturing of CFCs, CFC-based refrigeration equipment and consumption of CFCs. These rules set a deadline of January 1, 2003 for the complete phase-out of CFCs in the RAC manufacturing sector.

A large number of Industry-specific Multilateral Fund funded projects have been approved and successfully implemented to phase out ODS in various sectors.

Preparation of an Indian Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Service Sector Strategy (RAC SSS) that will help phase-out ODS in this sector.

Formulation of Chiller Sector Strategy to phase-out ODS

Training of Custom Officials and other officers associated with implementation of Ozone Regulations

Implementation of ECOFRIG and HIDECOR projects in the RAC sector

Organizing State workshops across the country regarding ODS phase-out.

Current major initiatives include:
CFC production sector phase-out in all sectors
Carbon Tetra Chloride(CTC) Phase-out
CFC Phase-out in small assembly/servicing enterprises of commercial refrigeration appliances
National CFC Consumption Phase-out Plan (NCCoPP)

http://www.crystalrefrigeration.in/global-warming.html

CHAPTER VI



TECHNOLOGY

IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM:

A Gandhian Perspective



JOSEPH ISIDORE FERNANDO





It is imperative that the technological process be brought within the moral domain of non-violence. Failure to do this will spell chaos and tragedy.



We confront technology everywhere. Technology has come to stay largely and permanently: the modern person is homo technologicus. At the beginning of the 21st century we are astounded by how technology has changed the face of the earth and how it has revolutionized modern living. Science and technology are the new religions; they do wonders and perform miracles. If a person from a primitive society were to visit a modern technopolis, s/he would believe that s/he were in wonderland. Very ordinary things of everyday use which we have taken so much for granted with a vanishing sense of wonder (very un-Platonic indeed!) would appear miraculous to the primitive person. For example, press more and more buttons, more and more things turn on and go zooming B from domestic appliances to spacecrafts. Rejoice, hopefully we will have many exciting technological inventions in the third millennium.



OUR EXPERIENCE OF TECHNOLOGY

The first sentence of Aristotle’s Metaphysics reads "All men by nature desire to know." Our innate curiosity has resulted in the advancement of knowledge in the arts and sciences. Our knowledge of the world has helped us to gain greater control over nature and to use nature for our purposes. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution in the West, life has become very comfortable as more and more goods are produced. Time-saving, labor-saving devices have increased our comfort. Technology today has entered every field of human activity. The immense benefits of technology have been a boon to humanity. The use of electricity, petrol, nuclear energy and so on has been the soul of modern industry and technology. Modern transportation and communications have accelerated the growth of technology. Jet-age travel and satellite communications have made the world shrink. Even an ordinary thing like moving around on a two-wheeler has tremendously contributed to faster, independent, personal mobility. The entire world has become a global village due to ultramodern transportation, communications media and computer global networking. Medical technology has contributed to the eradication, control and healing of diseases and to longevity. Biotechnology offers a host of marvelous and unprecedented opportunities in terms of human health and reproduction, agriculture, poultry, dairy, fishery and so on. The benefits bestowed on us by technology are numerous that it would not be an exaggeration to call technology a miracle worker.

But at the same time we cannot desist from asking: At what cost have these miracles of technology been performed? In other words, given our experience, what is the negative impact of technology on human beings, nature and society? Therefore, we shall now turn our attention to the adverse effects of technology.1



The Impact of Technology on Environment



Technological growth has resulted in environmental decay and degradation. Excessive exploitation of nature threatens the environment. Poisonous gases emitted from factories increasingly pollute the atmosphere and hence, the air we breathe. In certain highly industrialized cities more than half the population suffers from respiratory diseases caused by pollutants in the air. If a person lives in a city like Calcutta for a long period s/he develops a lung disease called locally, ‘Calcutta lungs,’ consisting of tiny holes in one’s lungs caused by the pollutants. Added to the industrial pollution of the air is the pollution caused by the motor vehicles which emit deadly carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. In a city like Bombay, half the pollutants in the air are emitted by motor vehicles owned by urban citizens.

Untreated industrial effluents are diverted into streams, rivers and the sea, which in turn are poisoned. Aquatic life is the worst hit by industrial wastes, so much so that some species are becoming extinct. Industrial effluents affect the land too, damaging soil fertility and turning fresh water into salty water unfit for consumption and agriculture. Polluted air destroys plant life. Though the plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen during the day, there is a limit to this capacity, beyond which they perish. As a result, we have noticed the extinction of some plant species. In some places excessive pollution causes acid rain, which in turn causes great havoc. In certain mining areas children are born with irreparable genetic damage caused by pollution. Industries and transport cause excessive noise leading to noise pollution beyond the acceptable level. Excessive noise harms people, causing deafness, blood pressure, hypertension, nervous disorders, irritability, headaches, insomnia, restlessness and, in some cases, even heart attacks.

Chloroflurocarbons (CFC) emitted by refrigerators in millions of homes go up in the air and cause holes in the ozone layer. The ozone layer is a protective layer in the atmosphere and prevents the ultraviolet rays of the sun from reaching the earth. Due to ozone depletion ultraviolet rays of the sun have had harmful effects on humans and animals. Ultraviolet rays cause skin cancer in humans, and it is reported that some animal species like frogs and turtles are vanishing in some countries due to depletion of the ozone layer. Oil tankers which spill oil into the sea destroy marine life. Mechanised deep-sea fishing, too, ruins marine life. Mercury has been found in the fish sold in the markets of some countries.

Forests are disappearing at a faster pace due to the indiscriminate felling of trees. Environmental scientists tell us that the forest cover which is the source of rain and oxygen should be 30 percent of the total land mass of a country. The Amazon forests are known as the lungs of the world, as they supply 70 percent of the oxygen to the world. Deforestation causes both floods and drought. Soil erosion caused by deforestation leads to floods. Trees in the forest prevent soil erosion as the roots of the trees tightly hug the soil. With soil erosion, rain water flows down from the slopes of the mountains without resistance and floods the plains. Drought in the summer, too, is caused by deforestation. Trees in the forest soak up the rain water in the bosom of their roots like a sponge and keep releasing it gently and gradually. That is why there are streams and brooks flowing even in the summer. In the absence of trees in the forests, nothing else can soak up water and release it gradually for the benefit of humans, animals and plants.

Forests disappear for a number of reasons. Modern life style, backed by technology, consumes a lot of timber products.2 Forests are cleared to make way for human habitation. Huge trees are felled while clearing the forest area for cultivation of cash crops. In hill stations like Ooty, environmental disaster is feared due to clearing the forest for the sake of planting crops. Though Cherrapunji in Meghalaya is supposed to have the highest rainfall in the world with rains almost daily, incredibly even Cherrapunji suffers from drought.3 Strip-mining, too, leaves its indelible scars on hills and forests.

Hit by deforestation and pollution, some species of fauna and flora have already vanished from the earth forever. The use of chemical fertilizers has robbed the earth of its fertility. Pesticides and insecticides have killed many animal species. Through the consumption of food grains chemical pesticides enter the human body to alter it genetically.

For millions of years solar energy has been stored in coal or fossil fuels. Modern technology especially in developed nations uses up colossal volumes of non-renewable fossil fuels. It is feared that the oil wells of Arabia will dry up in thirty years. At present there is hardly any evidence of the judicious use of fossil fuels, which are known to be highly polluting.

The environment is threatened by untreated waste. Heaps of garbage choke the environment. Empty cans and polytene bags litter the area. Mountain-climbers all along Mount Everest leave behind garbage which threatens the fragile ecosystem of the mountains. Even in outer space, garbage in the form of about 30,000 disintegrated parts of spacecrafts like rockets and satellites, orbit the earth and occasionally hit it. Nothing is beyond our reach to pollute: space, air, water, soil, the mountains and oceans.

As technology advances, our habits, too, keep changing. For instance, instead of eating healthy food, people go for junk food with high chemical contents detrimental to health. Millions of gallons of soft drinks are consumed daily which do not contain even a single drop of natural fruit juice. Fast food is becoming more popular with the urban population who may not realize that fast foods are not equivalent to healthy wholesome food from the poison in the air, water and soil harmful chemicals have been detected in the milk of mothers though which it has enters human body to cause genetic disorders.

The existence of nuclear reactors is a matter of great concern for those who care for the earth. They produce cheap and abundant energy, but the problem is with nuclear waste. It is highly radio active, and so far no safe method has been found to dispose it of. Nuclear waste from some developed countries has been dumped into the sea or soil of some poor nations after bribing their political leaders. The Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident is a great warning to humanity about the hazards of nuclear energy. The havoc it caused is so horrifying that no one would favor the continuance of nuclear reactors. Indeed, it is said that the nuclear reactors in India are already leaking, and the surrounding neighborhood is being affected by radioactivity.

We are concerned about another serious problem B the greenhouse effect. The continuous emission of pollutants into the air increases global temperature. As global temperature increases, ice melt in the polar regions which in turn causes the sea level to rise. If the sea level rises, the sea will devour the land. About thirty island nations of the world face the threat of being submerged in the sea after some years. It is said that at the present rate of rise in global temperature the island nation of Maldives will disappear into the sea within some thirty years. The Association of Island States has appealed to the industrial states to scale down the level of pollution, but one wonders whether such an appeal will ever be heeded. The greenhouse effect alters the seasons in the world, and the rhythmic functioning of nature is seriously impaired or interfered with so that the world climate is adversely affected.

Cities with a technological base attract more and more people from villages. The exodus from the rural to the urban areas results in the heavy pressure of the population in the cities. Consequently, in the cities of the developing countries we find overcrowding, sanitary chaos, filth and garbage, slums and shanties, polluted drinking water, and so on. Nearly half the population of these cities lives in slums under subhuman conditions. We are unable to check the exodus from villages to townships and cities.

The greatest threat from technology comes from highly sophisticated nuclear arsenals. The best brains of the world are pressed into the service of military technology. Huge quantities of deadly weapons are heaped upon the earth. Nations compete with each other in obtaining the most sophisticated arms. Humanity today is capable of global suicide B the entire human race can be wiped of the face of the earth anytime any day. The threat of nuclear holocaust looms large before us.



The Socio-Economic Impact of Technology



Technology has increased the wealth of the industrial nations; the more sophisticated the technology, the greater the accumulation of wealth. As the Industrial Revolution spread from England to the rest of Europe, those nations were in dire need of raw materials to support their industries. Colonialism was the outcome of such a need. Nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America were plundered for the sake of capitalism in the home countries of the colonial powers. This resulted in mass poverty in the colonies. Economic exploitation of the colonies was coupled with political ruthlessness so that the nations reeling under the yoke of colonialism had to struggle for decades to be freed from the shackles of slavery and oppression.

Even after independence from foreign powers these nations are still bleeding from the wounds of colonialism. We witness mass poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, malnutrition and subhuman living conditions in the so-called developing nations, which are really poor nations. The wretched of the earth are found in these poor nations. With the globalization of economy these days there is a fresh threat of neocolonialism due to superior technology which is the key to greater power and wealth. Marxists are right in their observation that the owners of the means of production would have their wealth multiplied even in their sleep. Technocrats rule the world today. Multinational corporations, backed by their governments, are the most powerful force in the world of today, and run the world as they deem fit.



The Psychological Impact of Technology



In the rich nations the technocrats have created technopolis in which the most important question regards the quality of life. In a technopolis the ruling monarch is technology, which is soulless and faceless, hence automation, the mechanical and the mechanized characterize the life-style. The danger is that the people will be uprooted from the soil, alienated from fellow humans, devoid of tenderness and joy, and steeped in drudgery and melancholy. This is due to being estranged from the healing powers of nature, from the warmth and simplicity of the people, from the ordinary and enriching pleasures of life which abound in social intercourse with good-natured people who love the smell of the earth, the feel of the air, rain and sunshine, and are passionately in love with the world. Technopolis can create psychopathic killers, nihilists and terrorists; excessive technology can ruin human nature and the joy of living just as, for example, the mass media can enslave the masses by destroying their capacity for thinking.

The Northern Hemisphere with its excessive technology takes its toll in the Southern Hemisphere. Exploitation and unfair global trade practices leave their victims in perpetual subhuman conditions, devoid of dignity, decency and self-respect. Life is an eternal nightmare for those condemned to live in utter misery. But can we blame technology for its negative impact, or are we to blame ourselves for the abuse of technology? What would Gandhi say about technology?



GANDHI’S VIEWS ON TECHNOLOGY



The focus of this research paper is Gandhi’s view of technology. Given his views, how would he visualize the role of technology in the next millennium? In some circles Gandhi is portrayed as an obscurantist, anti-technological and outdated. But a careful examination of his views falsifies such a portrayal. The ensuing passages have been gleaned from his writings.



Industrialism is, I am afraid, going to be a curse for mankind. Industrialism depends entirely on your capacity to exploit, on foreign markets being open to you, and on the absence of competitions.4



True, industrialism has not banished poverty. Millions of people go to bed hungry and live in conditions incompatible with human dignity. Added to that, even life-sustaining eco-systems have become fragile due to excessive and thoughtless modes of industrialization. Such industrialization can be termed a curse for humanity. Therefore, Gandhi maintains: "The future of industrialism is dark"5 and in the third millennium could reach the height of darkness unless priorities are rearranged.

Further, Gandhi holds: "Machinery has its place; it has come to stay. But it must not be allowed to displace necessary human labor."6 Gandhi rightly recognizes that we cannot do away with machinery, but it should not put people out of jobs and rob them of the dignity of labor, without which human beings cease to be human beings. This is what Gandhi calls necessary human labor. "That use of machinery is lawful which subserves the interest of all."7

The use of machinery becomes unlawful when it is solely meant for increasing the profit of the owner of the machinery at any cost. Gandhi would reject anything that does not fit into his scheme of Sarvodaya (welfare of all, not of a few or of many):"I would favor the use of the most elaborate machinery, if thereby India’s pauperism and resulting idleness could be avoided."8

Gandhi has a practical approach as he favors complex technology aimed at the eradication of poverty and the creation of employment. "Are you against all machinery?" Gandhi’s answer to this question is an emphatic `No’.



"You are against this machine age." To say that is to caricature my views. I am not against machinery as such, but I am totally opposed to it when it masters us. "You will not industrialize India?" I would indeed, in my sense of the term. The village communities should be revived.9



Gandhi was by no means anti-technological, but, at the same time and unlike Nehru, he is not bewitched by its power. He opposes the indiscriminate multiplication of technology, an obsession of the modern person, the technocrat, the citizen of a technopolis:



What I object to is the craze for machinery, as such. The craze is for what they call labor-saving machinery. Men go on ‘saving labor’ till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labor, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all, I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of a few, but in the hands of all. Today machinery merely helps a few to ride on the backs of millions. The impetus behind it all is not the philanthropy to save labor, but greed. It is against this constitution of things that I am fighting with all my might.10



Gandhi is too correct in saying that machinery helps a few to ride on the backs of millions, as is true today of multinational corporations. The New Indian Express11 reports under the heading ‘Microsoft bigger than India’: "The market value of Microsoft Corp touched $ 507 billion, about Rs. 21,92,268 crore on Friday, the first time ever any company has passed the half trillion dollar level. This value is much higher than India’s Gross Domestic product (GDP) of about Rs. 17,70,000 crore."12 Gandhi would relentlessly fight such a state of affairs:



I am personally opposed to great trusts and concentration of industries of elaborate machinery. "So you are opposed to machinery, only because and when it concentrates production and distribution in the hands of the few?" You are right. I hate privilege and monopoly. What ever cannot be shared with masses is taboo to me. That is all.13



Gandhi was rudely shocked by the exploitative use of machinery by the English capitalists. He wrote in Hind Swaraj: "It is machinery that has impoverished India. It is difficult to measure the harm that Manchester has done to us. It is due to Manchester that Indian handicraft has all but disappeared."14 In pain and anguish at the starvation and death of many villagers caused by British exploitation,15 Gandhi wrote in Hind Swaraj: "Machinery is the chief symbol of modern civilization; it represents a great sin." A major component of his vision of Sarvodaya is preservation of the villages:



The revival of the villages is possible only when they are no longer exploited. Industrialization on a mass scale will necessarily lead to passive or active exploitation of the villagers as the problems of competition and marketing came in. Therefore we have to concentrate on the village being self-contained; manufacturing mainly for use. Provided this character of the village industry is maintained, there would be no objection to villagers using even the modern machines and tools, that they can make and afford to use. Only they should not be used as a means of exploitation of others.16



Alternative Technology



Alternative technology is very much in keeping with the spirit of Gandhi ever since E.F. Schumacher’s classic, Small Is Beautiful, was published17 and should become more relevant in the next millennium. Many people are dissatisfied with the technology we have, and would like to replace it with another, called "alternative," more viable, appropriate, careful, frugal or participatory. Based more on small group initiative than on societal mobilization it presents a radical challenge to contemporary technological practice. Examples energy devices, agricultural practices and tools, transportation vehicles, and building designs in which the emphasis is on hardware, but the attempt is to transform the organizational arrangement whereby technology is developed, controlled and delivered. They include cooperative organizations for medicine, farming, food delivery, marketing, financial credit, communications, insurance, banking, and so on which, to banish the anonymity of city life, emphasize a re-emergence of neighborhood identity by tapping the artisan skills of various members of the community through "sweat equity" exchanges of services.18

Alternative technology groups insist that technology should follow two design norms: sustainability and democratic patterns of organization. The concept of sustainability leads to the selection of only practices that can be continued into the indefinite future. Some current industrial practices which provide air, water, fertile land and a stable climate but now are recognized as interfering with the regenerative capacities of the earth’s life-sustaining process, will have to be drastically modified. Since the stock of fossil fuels and other materials is very limited, we need to develop an economic philosophy which would treat these scarce resources as capital, rather than as raw materials. Artifacts of the future should be made of renewable materials that can be grown, not made from finite material stocks. The emphasis is on conservation and curtailing the flow of materials from manufacture to consumption.

Democratic management of technological enterprises is the second design norm of alternative technology groups. This calls for decentralization of productive facilities into small, relatively autonomous units, which could be the only way to the realization of democratic self-management. Technology can be made more democratic in an additional way: "When technological tools and products are intelligible to the user, a new form of power results. The user is no longer at the mercy of a mysterious, alien object, but instead can adapt, repair, and thus preserve it. In this light the producer of flimsy, disposable objects becomes both irresponsible and politically suspect."

Finally, proponents of alternative technology hold, "that in fashioning a technology the character of work itself must be included as a design constraint, rather than a mere afterthought." Schumacher has proposed that every job be required to meet three desiderata 1) a means to attain an appropriate existence; 2) the enhancement of human skill; and 3) overcoming ego-centeredness through joint participation in common tasks. By these criteria a humanly repressiver workplace is clearly immoral. Schumacher distinguishes between moral and immoral apparatus, with the distinction turning on whether the pace of production is under human or machine control.

The advocacy of alternative technology has come under severe attack. Some consider alternative technology as impractical since it aims at restructuring industrial practices which are deeply embedded in socio-political philosophies which define what are reasonable goals of technology. Others think of alternative technology as "an ill-formed ideological movement, a kind of radical chic for generally well-educated dropouts from the integrated, capital-intensive society." Yet others dismiss it for lack of feasibility.

Alternative technology cannot be dismissed as a mere fad or impractical and impossible venture. Small is beautiful, especially when the local communities can look after and manage their needs on a co-operative basis rather than being recipients of consumer goods and services from a centralized body. Big is beautiful only from the point of view of multinational corporations, as huge heavy industries are the global sources of their income. If small is beautiful, electricity, for instance, can be produced through the use of biogas for every village, for which a centralized Electricity Board is not necessary. Through alternative technology, human sanity and ecological balance can be preserved, whereas large-scale industries and consumerism may eventually create a sick world.



Technology Assessment
The search for an appropriate normative basis for evaluating technology is conditioned by a type of policy analysis known as technology assessment. This aims at a comprehensive picture of the factors involved in technological choices and directs attention to the broader social context that is affected, often unintentionally, when a new technology is introduced, or an existing one modified. Technology assessment is not a critique of technological means or ends, but a search for strategies for mitigating unwanted side effects.



Within the past quarter century, concerns about the undesirable features of modern industrial technology have taken new forms. These challenges have gone beyond the already painfully obvious fact that twentieth-century technology, in concert with evil human intentions, has developed the capacity to obliterate our species. Instead, what is now being questioned are certain systemic properties of industrial technology itself, properties which, despite the good intentions of human actors, lead to unwanted and unanticipated results that are themselves threatening the species.



Technology assessment originated in the U.S.A. and initially was concerned with the environment.19 Technology assessment reflected the fact that while technologies based on market economies were responsive to short-term consumer demands, some long-term results were beginning to be recognized which ultimately threatened life. Technology assessment was proposed as a new form of political analysis that would assist in the separation of negative impact, that might occur when a new technology was introduced or an existing one was significantly modified.

Technology assessment certainly reflects disappointment with the contemporary technology of the industrial nations and is supposed to be neutral. Impact analysis performed by such technical experts as economists, scientists and engineers assumes that the identification of impacts is basically an exercise in scientific prediction. It is expected to predict what effects the introduction of a particular technology may produce through economic, legal, environmental, social, political and technological means. Though it faces the danger of manipulation inasmuch as it is funded and potentially influenced by industrialists, legislators and policy-makers, technology assessment has a proper positive role to play in the contemporary industrial world.

However as alternative technology, technology assessment and legislation are extrinsic to the intrinsic moral imperative, we must turn to the realm of values for further and more decisive understanding and handling of technological issues.



REVOLUTION IN VALUES



For Gandhi, without a revolution in values, humans will be ill-prepared to handle technology. We are already overpowered by our own inventions and lack maturity in our relation to them. One of the great problems of humanity is the wide gulf between our scientific progress and our moral progress: we have become materially richer, but morally and spiritually poorer. The human person lives in both internal and external realms: the former is expressed in art, literature, morality and religion, while the latter is the mechanical gadgets, techniques and instruments. Our problem is that the internal is lost in the external or, to paraphrase Thoreau, that we have "improved means to an unimproved end." The abundance of Western civilization has brought people neither peace nor serenity of spirit. Certainly science has been a blessing to humanity, but that does not mean we should minimize the internal and maximize the external dimension of our lives. Creative living in the modern world demands re-establishment of the moral ends of personal character and social justice lest we be destroyed in the misuse of the instruments of our creation. As Arnold Toynbee said, in the rise and decline of some twenty-six civilizations on earth, the decline has been caused not by external invasions, but by internal decay. Self-centered, consumerist societies may collapse prematurely if the technological process is divorced from moral practice.

The stability of global living calls for a revolution of values to match the revolutions in science and freedom in modern times. The present increasing tendency to love things and use people must be reversed: things are to be used, and people to be loved. When machines, profit and property are treated as more important than persons, the trio of racism, materialism and militarism cannot be overcome and a civilization can easily disintegrate due to moral and spiritual bankruptcy. A genuine revolution of values means that our loyalties must become universal, rather than parochial. Each nation must foster an overriding loyalty to humanity as a family in order to preserve the best in individual society. Moreover, the survival of human beings requires worldwide fellowship based on love of which all religions speak. As the supreme unifying principle of life, love is the key to understanding the ultimate reality and hence the fundamental reality of all creatures.

Love has to become the mode of daily life because we no longer can afford to hate or retaliate. History shows that hatred and retaliation bring only destruction. Arnold Toynbee remarks: "Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore, the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word." There is a tremendous sense of urgency for humanity to choose between non-violent co-existence and violent co-annihilation before it is too late. This may be humanity’s final choice between destruction and community because of the very real technological potential of a nuclear war.

Moral bankruptcy gradually is eating into societies all over the world; today materialism engulfs humanity. Overemphasis on materialism in the form of a consumer culture weakens the moral and spiritual fabric of humanity. As materialism unchecked may swallow up our civilization there is an urgent need to re-order our priorities. Life in its wholeness ought to be accepted and an integrated value system must assume its rightful place in society. Embracing a part, as if it were the whole, spells disaster. Clearly the physical is no substitute for the moral and the spiritual, for materialism certainly is not the whole of existence. Hence, the need to restructure our priorities.

The essence of morality for a moral being is love through non-violence. The human person is neither merely a sensuous being of desires nor one of praxis, but a moral being. The human person is not a brute following the law of the animal kingdom: the survival of the fittest. On the contrary, tolerance, the spirit of "live and let live" and ahimsa are bonds of love that bind people together. In a moral perspective, equality, justice and liberty are not just political rights, but moral values which insist more on duty and obligation than on rights.

In the history of philosophy, there has been a glorification of the human being as rational animal, not only in contrast but in opposition to non-rational nature. The conception which views the human being as "lord of beings," rather than in truth the "shepherd of Being,"20 implies a challenging and dominating attitude towards nature which is regarded as the mere stuff upon which to exercise the human will. Such an attitude leads not only to the ecological disruptions we perceive today, but to a truncation of the human experience.

Affirmation of the primacy of the moral leads to a recognition that human beings are primarily moral beings and as such not the master of the world, but its caretaker, steward and custodian. This requires humility on the part of humans. As rational beings they cannot treat non-rational nature at whim, for non-rational nature takes shelter in humans as moral beings. Human beings are called to respect the unity of life B all life, including the non-human. They are the spokespeople for the world, certainly not its rulers; the logic of domination has no place in the genuine thinking of the moral being.

Secondly, moral persons relate to the world with a great sense of moderation: they depend on nature for their livelihood and treats nature as finite and limited. Therefore, they exercise moderation in dealing with the world. As homo technologicus, they believe in science and the advancement of knowledge, they must use the world and do so with a sense of moderation. They do not run away from the world, or call for a halt to science and technology, nor do they believe in indiscriminate and endless exploitation of the world to satiate consumer greed guided by maximum consumption. Rather they believe in careful, guarded, moderate use of the world’s resources. The principle of moderation must guide the moral person who cares for the welfare of generations yet unborn.

Thirdly, moral persons are deeply aware of the fact that there are irrational people who reject rational behavior, which is bound to a moral sense. Irrational human beings are guided incorrigibly by passions to which the rational makes no sense. When in control they turn the world into a hell, for they reject the rationality which is the "given" foundation for moral actions. When multinational corporations, power-mongers, chauvinists and racists pose a threat to the world, both physical and human, moral persons must make the choice to save the world from the irrational and immoral. This choice implies suffering and sacrifice without which nothing significant can ever be achieved. As "shepherds of Being," moral persons must protect beings from technological predators. Leaders of movements for environmental protection and for a safer and cleaner world must be eternally vigilant against the enemies of nature and money-mongers. Non-violent resistance must be adopted for such protests without fear or favor.

Lastly, moral persons perceive the contemporary technological threat to be rooted in and to originate from violence. Having driven God the creator out of the universe, humans have no respect for creation and would destroy nature and eventually her/himself. Creation experiences brokenness, because human beings themselves are in a state of brokenness which they impose on creation. Moral persons understand that violence has crept into the world B in our thinking, in our attitude towards the other, in our interpersonal relations, and finally in our relations with nature, resulting in ecological catastrophes.



Technology and Non-violence


Overpowered by violence, the modern person has lost her/his sense of justice, balance, respect and tenderness. Instead s/he is filled with lust for power, hatred, anger, ruthlessness and covetousness B in a word, ‘wickedness.’ The moral person has the tremendous task of transforming everything on the basis of non-violent, universal, unselfish love which alone can guarantee not only the survival of the world and the species, but also and more basically a joyful, meaningful and rich experience of life for humans.

In our increasing confrontation with the abuse of technology by the rich and the mighty, we need a powerful means to achieve a just, rational and human use of technology. As stated earlier, our technological practice is already rooted in violence. To counter this further violence cannot be employed for violence to counter violence leads only to a vicious circle. Therefore there is but one strategy to adopt, namely, that non-violent resistance. It is imperative that the technological process be brought within the moral domain of non-violence: failure to do so will spell chaos and tragedy.21

One of the great virtues of non-violent resistance is that it reduces hostilities to a minimum. Non-violent coercion not only produces good will, but also offers the greatest opportunities for evolving communal harmony. It maintains moral, rational and co-operative attitudes amidst conflict; thus it increases moral forces rather than destroying them. Another important merit of non-violent resistance is its practicality, especially for an oppressed minority group. Non-violent tactics put enormous pressure on the governments and force those in power to act justly; they can be employed in all conflict situations. Moreover, non-violence is not merely a tactic but a moral imperative and way of life that seeks to restore the wholeness of a community by reconciling the oppressor with the oppressed. We need serious study and experiment with non-violence as a philosophy and strategy.

Technology can be at the service of humans only in a non-violent culture because there it has to recognize fundamental human rights and respect the dignity of the human person. The many technological inventions expected in the next millennium must be judged according to whether they contributes to the development of the human person as truly free and creative. Absolute preference should be given to the alleviation of human suffering, to the eradication of hunger and disease, to the fight against social injustice and to the struggle for lasting peace. As in a society without love technology can become a monster, we are called upon to seek love above all else. In this, Gandhi, with his common sense approach to technology, can be relied upon as a sure guide for the forthcoming millennium.



NOTES



1. P. T. Durbin, Philosophy and Technology (Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1983).

2. For instance, the Japanese architecture demands the use of a lot of wood for paneling Japanese homes. As a result huge quantities of wood logs are imported by Japan from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines where the forests are disappearing.

3. Some years ago in December when this researcher visited Cherrapunji, there was hardly any sign of rain there. On the contrary, there was drought in the area. The hills appeared brown and denuded. People of Cherrapunji had difficulty in finding water for their needs.

4. Young India, 12 Nov., 1931.

5. Ibid., 12 Nov., 1931.

6. Ibid., 5 Nov., 1925.

7. Ibid., 15 April, 1926.

8. Ibid., 3 Nov., 1921.

9. Harijan, 27 Feb., 1957. See also Young India, 17 June, 926

10. Young India, 13 Nov., 1924.

11. The New Indian Express (Madurai Edition), 18 July, 1999.

12. One crore is 10,000,000.

13. Harijan, 2 Nov., 1934. See also Young India, 24 July, 1924.

14. M.K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1998).

15. This fact is recorded by Marx in his Capital, vol I, p. 406. The English cotton machinery produced an acute effect in India. Marx quotes the Governor General who reported in 1834-35."The misery hardly finds a parallel in the history of commerce. The bones of the cotton-weavers are bleaching the plains of India." K. Marx, Capital, vol. I (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1986).

16. Harijan, 29 Aug., 1936. See also M.K. Gandhi, Sarvodaya (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1984).

17. E.F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful (Delhi: Rupa & Co, 1990).

18. See M.L. King, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (New York: Harper & Row, 1967). See also M.L. King, Stride toward Freedom (New York: Harper & Row, 1953).

19. In the U.S. the National Environmental Protection Act of 1969 and the Technology Assessment Act of 1972 made technology assessment and environmental impact analysis obligatory for technological project receiving government financing. Technology assessment policy is seriously viewed in Canada, Japan and Western Europe, with France, Germany and England taking the lead.

20. ‘Shepherd of Being’ is a Heideggerian concept. See M. Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Trans, William Lovitt (New York: Harper & Row, 1971).

21. See Martin Luther King, Why We Cannot Wait (New York: The New American Library of World Literature, Inc. 1964).
http://www.crvp.org/book/Series03/IIIB-5/chapter_vi.htm

Land Degradation
Mining

Mining is a major activity in the Damodar Basin area. As mentioned earlier also, the area is the storehouse of Indian coal. But mining leads to degradation of land due to fire, subsidence, overburden dumps, open pits, etc.

Jharia Coalfields (JCF): It is one of the most important coalfields in India, located in Dhanbad district, between latitude 23° 39' to 23° 48' N and longitude 86° 11' to 86° 27' E. This is the most exploited coalfield because of available metallurgical grade coal reserves. Mining in this coalfield was initially in the hands of private entrepreneurs, who had limited resources and lack of desire for scientific mining. The mining method comprised of both opencast as well as underground. The opencast mining areas were not backfilled, so large void is present in the form of abandoned mining. Extraction of thick seam by caving in past at shallow depth has damaged the ground surface in the form of subsidence and formation of pot holes or cracks reaching upto surface, enhancing the chances of Spontaneous heating of coal seams and mine fire. This coalfield is engulfed with about 70 mine fires, spread Over an area of 17.32 sq. km., blocking 636 million tonnes of coking coal and 1238 million tonnes of non-coking coal. Around 34.97 sq. km. area of the JCF is under subsidence. It is mentioned in JCF reconstruction program that 70% of the underground production of coal would come by caving and balance 30% by stowing and thus about 101 sq. km. underground mining area would be affected by subsidence. The other factor, which damages the land in JCF, is opencast mining and overburden dumps.

Raniganj Coalfield (RCF): Raniganj Coalfield, where the first coal mining in India was started in 1774, is situated mainly in the Burdwan district of West Bengal. Large coal bearing areas in this coalfield is blocked underneath surface properties. The situation here is further aggravated due to the presence of old abandoned water-logged areas, goaves and caved areas. The subsid-ence in this coalfield is also responsible for mine fire. The total fire area in RCF (within the basin) is 5.88 sq. km. While the subsided area is 29.4 sq. km. In the near future also, as more and more coal is to come from underground method, more area is likely to be degraded due to subsidence. The presence of old and water logged working is the major problem in this coalfield. There are some localities, which are situated above the water logged (unsafe residential) areas. Overburden dumps and open pits also increased the problems of land degradation.

Central Coalfields Limited (CCL): Area degraded in CCL is less compared to that in BCCL and ECL. Total area degraded is 7.451 sq. km., of which 3.082 sq. km., 1.96 sq. km. and 2.409 sq. km. are due to subsidence, abandoned mines and OB dumps respectively.

Solid Waste
The municipal solid waste generated due to human activities are not addressed properly by the municipal authorities in Damodar river basin. The non-biodegradable waste like plastic, rubber, glass and crockery pose a severe threat to the nearby soil and underground water as it may cause leaching of toxic -elements such as Pb, Zn, Cn, Cd, etc. The role of pickers is appreciated in recycling of non-degradable waste. They segregate the waste and transport them to the nearby recycling plant. It was seen during the study that biodegradable waste is not properly utilized. Thus it is recommended that the municipal solid waste should be collected at one identified site and segregated into degradable and non-degradable components. In Dhanbad and Howrah the Municipal bodies have identified dumping sites. Other municipalities are throwing the waste at low lying areas beside railway tracks or roads without any treatment. Apart from municipal solid waste, industrial solid waste also posses a great problem in Damodar river basin area. Coal mine overburden dump shows alarming toxicity to adjacent soil and underground water. Toxic elements like lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) pollute soil and water to a great extent. Thermal power plants generate a lot of flyash which decreases soil water holding capacity thus reducing moisture content of the soil. This may be beneficial as well as harmful as it increases water and other mineral availability to plants but may also cause toxicity by leaching of Pb, Cn, Ti, Cd, etc. Similarly, steel plant waste generates Fe, Mg, Na, Mn, K, Ca, Ti, P, S and Cn, above threshold concentration causing toxicity to soil.
http://envfor.nic.in/divisions/cltech/Damodar/3.1.htm

The Jharia coal field fire



The Jharia coalfield in Bihar is an exclusive storehouse of prime coke coal in the country, consisting of 23 large underground and nine large open cast mines. The mining activities in these coalfields started in 1894 and had really intensified in 1925. The history of coal-mine fire in Jharia coalfield can be traced back to 1916 when the first fire was detected. At present, more than 70 mine fires are reported from this region.

Coal, a non-renewable source of energy, is found in several parts of the world. The coal layers are mined by two methods: open cast mining and underground mining. Coal is formed from organic matter with a high carbon content, which when exposed to certain conditions (temperature, moisture, oxygen etc.) tends to ignite/ burn spontaneously at rather low temperatures. This may occur naturally or the combustion process may be triggered by other causes.

However, once a coal seam catches fire, and efforts to stop it an early stage fail, it may continue to burn for tens to hundreds of years, depending primarily on the availability of coal and oxygen. Coal fires have occurred in nearly all parts of the world like India, the US, Indonesia, South Africa, Australia, China, Germany and many other countries. However, the nature and magnitude of the problem differs from country to country. In India, the fire in the Jharia coalfield has mainly been due to unscientific mining and extraction of coal in the past.

Fires may occur in coal layers that are exposed to the surface of the earth or areas close to it. These are visible to the naked eye. Also, fires erupt in the underground seams, which have large cracks that serve as channels for oxygen to the burning coal. The main cause of natural coal fires are lightening, forest fires, bush fires, etc. Among human causes are accidents, negligent acts, domestic fires, lighting fires in abandoned underground mines for heating or distilling alcohol etc. Besides, burning away of an important energy resource, it creates problems for exploitation of coal, poses danger to humankind, raises the temperature of the area, and when present underground, can cause land to subside.

The pollution caused by these fires affects air, water, and land. Smoke, from these fires contains poisonous gases such as oxides and dioxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, which along with particulate matter are the causes of several lung and skin diseases. High levels of suspended particulate matter increase respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis and asthma, while the gases contribute to global warming besides causing health hazards to the exposed population. Methane emission from coal mining depends on the mining methods, depth of coal mining, coal quality and entrapped gas content in the coal seams. These fires also pollute water by contaminating it and increasing its acidity, which is due to a certain percentage of sulphur that is present in coal. These fires lead to degradation of land and does not allow any vegetation to grow in the area.

The measures for controlling coal mine fires, in the case of Jharia coalfields, include bull dozing, leveling and covering with soil to prevent the entry of oxygen and to stabilize the land for vegetation. Fire fighting in this area requires relocation of a large population, which poses to be a bigger problem than the actual fire fighting operations.
http://www.edugreen.teri.res.in/EXPLORE/n_renew/jharia.htm

Smog blanket blinds Kolkata
16 Dec 2008, 0531 hrs IST, Prithvijit Mitra & Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay, TNN

KOLKATA: The weather is playing tricks on Kolkata. For the last two days, the city is shrouded in smog so thick that motorists cannot see beyond 10
metres at some places. If Kolkatans are bewildered to see this in a surprisingly warm winter, so are weathermen.

While some believe it is a direct consequence of the sharply rising pollution levels in the city, others blame the rise in surface temperature.

The smog is so dense that visitors to South City Mall could not see the imposing structure from the eastern end of Prince Anwar Shah Road, just 500 metres away, on Sunday afternoon. Parts of EM Bypass, VIP Road and the Maidan, too, wore a thick white film of smog.

"It's strange, since visibility is always good in winter afternoons. But over the last two days, Anwar Shah Road and EM Bypass have remained engulfed in thick smog since early afternoon. Rise in surface temperature has led to the change in weather patterns. It has accelerated evaporation, pushing up the moisture levels in the lower strata of the atmosphere. This is why winter has been delayed this time. And now that cold winds are finally blowing in from the north, the trapped moisture is condensing, leading to this unusual smog," explained environmental expert Pranabesh Sanyal.

Environmentalist Dr Tanmoy Rudra held unchecked vehicular pollution the culprit. "Our study shows that both SPM and RPM levels have been more than double compared to last year's figures at places where there is a concentration of auto-rickshaw and taxis. The auto-rickshaws running on kata tel (adulterated fuel) play havoc with the air quality," he said.

Rudra warned that the smog can cause asthma and lung congestion in children who get exposed to smog during their journey to school. Experts said the smog density was highest around five feet in other words, the rough height at which most people breathe, multiplying chances of respiratory infection.

"The high density of diesel vehicles in the city and the rise of SPM and RPM, has triggered a major jump in nitrogen oxides. In fact, NOX in the city is not only beyond the permissible limit, but is also the highest in the country," said auto-emission consultant S M Ghosh

The ever-rising pollution levels continue to add to this. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) count in some parts of Kolkata was as high as 451 ?g/m3 on Monday, when the permissible limit is 200. RPM was more than double of the permissible standard at 229.

Experts believe the surface temperature rise has been a major factor as well. Accelerated evaporation has led to a spurt in moisture that has remained trapped, which has been triggering the smog. "It has been happening for the last two years but is more visible this year as the late monsoon has upset the weather pattern," said weather expert Subir Ghosh. He warned that the smog will only get worse till the trapped moisture escaped into upper layers.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Smog_blanket_blinds_Kolkata/articleshow/3843089.cms

Indelible India!



by Raju Peddada



Criticism





(Swans - December 29, 2008 - January 1, 2009) India is the antithesis to what Morocco is in every conceivable way. We were in Morocco this past summer and just three days ago returned from a trip to "incredible India," as the understated advertisement claimed. This expiatory, elegiac, and cathartic trip I undertook with family was to honor my father's memory, and was primarily to experience the "air-spaces" we lived through with him. Personal pathos restricted my visitation with some old friends, as this piercing loneliness is the hallmark of pain, suffering, and loss. This then was for being alone with my father, to experience him in mental images, in his prime guiding us in life. It was also a poignant reminder to me of how short life is and how our dysfunctions dominate our living moments. The well-known photojournalist Art Shay once referred to "air-space" as a place where one's memories took shape, a place where the air and space meant time and space lived by people, who later relive those memories by visiting those places. Another reason for the trip was my maternal cousin's son's marriage in Hyderabad. I would not have taken this trip if my father continued living.

Dear reader, you are welcome to tag along with me as I will sometimes meander and detour into my indelible memories to relive the moments I missed and loved so much. In the sixteen years elapsed I had heard many stories from all sources about India's progress, and after this decade and a half all my five senses woke up and assembled for a quick recalibration when we landed in Mumbai to change plane for Hyderabad. The feel of saturation was palpable, the smells, the colors, and the relentless bustle, a kind of urgency that you could feel but couldn't see, the rush to get ahead, survive and flourish; a complete contrast to the flaccid, languorous and indolent atmosphere in Morocco.

After we were picked up by my maternal uncle's family and an old friend at the new and expansive Hyderabad airport we were whisked in the wee hours of October 17, 2008, to a hotel in Kukatpally, a suburb there, to catch up with our sleep as the marriage loomed the following evening. I woke up suddenly at five am the next morning to this lovely evocative call, a melody I hadn't heard for decades -- it was a nightingale on a tree close by welcoming my senses back to my own lush tropical memories. This cooing was so refreshing it erased my jet lag and lingered in me for hours, a natural exculpation of sorts. Later that day we moved to my uncle's place. Their corner apartment on the ground floor was greeted daily by a buffalo dairy (Indians consume buffalo dairy and not cow dairy products) on the banks of a lake to the east, and as we moved south in the corridor with the dairy to the right, we could see the lake wrap around the apartment building as a cool easterly breeze joined us at the door. In the foreground towards the east, adjacent to the dairy, was a fishermen's shack and on the horizon across the lake stood a dusty row of belligerent buildings under construction. Considering the scenes available from most apartments, this was a veritable visual feast. Early in the mornings everyday, I was treated to a scene full of birds and the easterly breeze; one November morning in a seventy millimeter view I actually saw a blue kingfisher with a fish in its long beak, a crane, a heron sitting on floating debris, grey doves picking at the dirt by the edge, a blue jay resting on a stump, tiny yellow wrens flitting about in the bushes trying to catch the lake flies, mynas, common sparrows, ducks and ravens hopping nervously. Nightingale being a shy bird was never in sight, but her calls hallowed our mornings. Our host, our dear maternal uncle here in Kukatpally, is a character identical to Howard Roark of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. He and his family together are anachronisms in the 21st century, righteous to a fault in an age where "get rich at any cost" is the modus operandi.

India is the land of education and fervid ambition, as it is also the land of diversity and universities. In the afternoon of October 18, we all were accompanied by my uncle to this south Indian wedding with anticipation. The loquacious marriage milieu included my eleven male maternal cousins, "the dirty dozen," most of whom had achieved high stations by mid-life with their trenchant personalities, and also carried their grandfather's sarcasm and dry-wit gifts to new heights. It was intimidating ground for me. Besides the usual comparisons and envious glances, we were received at the wedding with warm informality and sarcastic jokes, with no perfunctory hugs or kisses on the cheeks like in the West. I loved it. What followed was a colorful wondrous marriage ceremony with feast after feast of fascinating cuisine and people that I had never seen before. The sense of taste was jolted to life after decades of all the bland fare of the West. The marriage host, a cousin -- one of the "dirty dozen" whom I admire immensely -- is a sagacious character with a certain élan, an upstanding, prominent, and retired CEO of a large petroleum refinery, reveled in our presence as well as in the panoply of successful and powerful people who attended the marriage. This was also an occasion to see all of my cousins' sisters and their grown offspring with whom I never had any contact. The splendid marriage took place in the bride's town of Hyderabad, and the reception was six hundred kilometers away at the host and groom's home in Visakhapatnam, a coastal city in an uptrend with booming real estate and burgeoning employment. With our first train trip under the belt and upon reaching their place, our host (my cousin) showered us with warmth and humor despite the surrounding marriage madness. The English shortened the name to Vizag for this Miami of India. The national highway five snaked north and south, becoming a coastal drive-through town surrounded by hills covered in dense forests. The humidity's grip is relieved by late afternoon with the westerly breeze off the Bay of Bengal. The landscape painted is of lush green rolling hills sprouted with light colored buildings amongst swaying palms and coconut groves, all under a blue sky with huge cumulous clouds. The tranquil feel of the distant views disguised the hustle that persisted below, a busy city with plans to become a modern metropolis in a hurry.



On October 24, after a few festive and restful days at Vizag, my cousin arranged to travel and accompany us to my maternal grandfather's village, where my mother and her sisters grew up -- where actually, we all grew up. The drive from Vizag in the north to the East Godavari River region and then to the West Godavari district was almost five hours on the highway, dodging everything but life. We riotously enjoyed this drive with familial humor and reminiscences of our grandfather's bone-dry character and sarcasm. We stopped by a revered pilgrimage center called Annavaram on the way for blessings and snacks, then proceded to the city of Rajahmundry. Rajahmundry, sitting on the east river bank of the mighty Godvari River, is the center of distribution for all produces and is the district headquarters with the courts. Several of our relatives still lived there and where my grandfather frequented for the court work and entertainment during his heyday. The way to the West Godavari area and our village is only by an old and long road-rail bridge. Getting through to the bridge was an adventure itself, we plied through the bustling town that was nothing but chaos to us. This old bridge over the river and its islands intertwined with the stories of our family and village. Both the riverbanks are high and dotted with ancient and idyllic temples with stairs leading to the waters called ghats for bathing. The riverbank is called Gattu and is hugged by a frontier road that runs from northwest to southeast towards the delta on the west. We crossed the bridge uneventfully and drove to a village called Thirugudumetta, the place where my mother and her older siblings were born. Upon arrival through gutted roads that shook us, we were further shaken to find that no trace of the old house had remained; the place where the roots of our maternal homestead and grandfather started and spread was no more. This pretty much set the tone for the entire trip, to my dismay, as place after place our memories had been dismantled brick by brick and stone by stone. After a few minutes of regret at Thirugudumetta we gathered and drove to Annadaverapeta through a shortcut that supposedly was used by my great grandmother, who had walked barefoot in a snake and scorpion infested area back and forth from Ragolapalli during the decades between the late 1930s and late '50s. After a lunch and respite at Annadaverapeta we headed to Ragolapalli.

A few minutes later we arrived at this is indelible and idyllic village, with a large reservoir anchored by an old common well and the familiar tamarind tree, welcoming us as it did for decades of relatives. An old place where dusty bullock carts and cattle driven lanes overhung with centuries old trees and tiled houses defined the ultimate of rural retreats. That and the smell of dust, smoke, and cow dung mixed with the sounds of a dogfight in the distance, peeking residents with questions, children's play, and coterie in discussion on a verandah told me that I was in memory's lair. My mother's village of Ragolapalli dominated my memories, as we used to visit there in summers once every few years -- oh, what vacations those were! I experienced that "transportation" today and saw myself in the company of my grandparents in pre-dawn hours sitting around the fire. I have to be content with my imagination, and imagination is a boon when it comes to these types of consummations. Unfortunately, most do not have that faculty. We also visited our ancestral "Naga" temple in the village that sat atop a hillock flanked by a huge Banyan tree to the right. This place was carved and founded by an ancestor in the late 19th century. Unfortunately the Christian converts in the village had turned the front yard of the temple into a lavatory. It is one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen despite the abuse by the local malignants. Every December my cousin from Vizag performs prayer ceremonies there despite the local politics of usurpation. The temple complex facing east is serene with foliage around and distant views of rich rice fields with swaying palms to the north that offered peace. We later drove over to my mother's school, fortunately an unchanged location with tamarinds shading the school yard. The school looked the same as it probably did at my mother's time in the forties. I saw my mother standing quietly with a far-off look on her face in that serene compound. She probably felt like I did in other places. We drove back into the village again. This time I was escorted to a Rama temple and there I was shocked to find out that this temple was intact due to my father's largesse. My father's name was welded in steel on the door to the inner sanctum in Telegu. This place pulled my cathartic trigger, which broke my dam... I missed my magnanimous father. It also evoked a longing and sadness that made me pensive and withdrawn, taking in as much as I could with the time we had. I did not want to leave the place, but like life's ironies we do what we don't desire doing. We left at sunset for "Gootala," another temple my grandparents founded by their fields for a legendary mythological deity known as Hanuman.

We drove back to Annadaverapeta, six kilometers from Ragolapalli, for respite with my lovely nieces and their family. Now here is a family that fires on all cylinders with the energy output of a huge family. They are my Vizag cousin's older sister's family. Both my nieces are princesses of positive energy and alacrity along with their parents, as they received us with immense love. A typical day for these ladies is getting up at pre-dawn to do the yard and dairy work, followed by breakfast and more housework, then getting ready and traveling one hour each way on a bus to their schools to teach, come back later in the evening to resume yard work, bantering with their lucky parents finally settling down for the night...all of this in smiles. Here we all got rejuvenated physically and morally to resume our journey. The next morning, October 25, we drove to the Kotnis Hospital where I was born, six kilometers east between Ragolapalli and Annadaverapeta. This hospital was in Tallpudi, another river town by the Godavari. After chugging down fresh coconut water, nectar of the gods, we embarked out to the last destination, Kakinada. An hour and a half later, back across the river in Kakinada, we were received warmly by two families from the same building complex, my paternal uncle and family (my father's younger brother) and my aunt and older maternal uncle (my mother's brother, the older one) a certifiable polymath and an intellectual behemoth whose affection was equal to his intellect. After my Vizag cousin left us here, it became our temporary headquarters for our visits to Tungapadu and Velangi, which are mentioned hereafter. After celebrating a thundering and exuberant Diwali with the children and adults here on October 28, we left for Tirupati by train the next evening, on my birthday.

Tirupati is the name of the town, what many Indians consider a wonder. It is the biggest as well as the most revered pilgrimage center in India and one of the most celebrated and important places in the world for Indians. It is the home of the Hindu gods of good fortune. The location of the place is over seven hills (as aptly, it is called the lord of seven hills) reached only by a dizzying drive or for the strong-kneed and morally resolute, ten hours by climbing seven kilometers of hills. It is literally a heaven with protected forests and flower gardens, waterfalls and lakes, passing clouds and birds with a super efficient complex to process all the thousands of pilgrims that show up daily. On October 30, we experienced an epiphany in our struggle to see the lord. A struggle that involved being breathless in a jostling crowd, a crowd that was an organism out of control except for the railing that hemmed us in. The tight turns on the route is where we got pulverized, no place for the old or the tots as we managed with singular determination to see him. My wife, the non-believer, did better than most believers with her proactive attitude. She helped vigorously with our goal as we eventually were all relieved and grateful in the end to see the god. We sat there taking in the big picture and experiencing what millions do when they go to St. Peter's or Mecca or Bodh Gaya. It was indeed a visit of a lifetime with my two little boys who did not complain. Life blurs by if we get mired in the details and not see the bigger picture. Similar to that of the scenes from the various trains we traveled on. From a window of the train, the foreground blurs by, and as we lift up to see the landscape at mid-distance it is slower than the foreground, and the beautiful distant views are hardly moving.

The train, as we all know, is a delightful metaphor for life; it unites, it separates, it propels us, it moves us from one station to another literally and figuratively, it brings us into contact with friends who stay with us till the end or get off never to be seen again. There is something inexorable about an oncoming train, bringing good or bad omens. India is the land of trains and restless brains; it is also a land of parallels and contrasts. Trains have not changed much except now there are twenty-five thousand speedy trains spread like blood vessels throughout India to carry the marriage parties, pilgrims, job seekers, and tourists like us from place to place; a good percentage of the billion-plus on the move every year. The adventure that is the Indian trains begins after you purchase your tickets, which by itself is another story. We usually brought second-class three tier sleeper tickets. At the train station once your rail compartment is identified on a posted chart, the shoving, jostling, accusations of usurpation, and expletives exchange ensues, and the tough and the meek eventually get to their seats. Before the first stop all the surly and vociferous behavior and animosity mysteriously dissolves into camaraderie, and sharing of space as well as foods become commonplace. By the time you get off, ten, fifteen, or twenty-four hours later, you will have exchanged your phone numbers, personal information, and discussed intimate details that a few hours before seemed impossible and abhorrent. The Indian train journeys are tales by themselves and a tonic for the intrepid traveler; that is if you can transcend the scenes once the train stops.

One such revivifying train journey we embarked on October 31 was from Katpadi Junction in Tamil Nadu on the east coast to Mangalore Central on the west coast, cutting across lush green countryside and the sub-continent. Once the train moved and picked up speed, we were hypnotized by the gentle rocking of the train accompanied by a constant metallic lullaby of the wheels on rails...tek-taa-tek-tek, tek-taa-tek-tek, tek-taa-tek-tek. This and the settled fellow travelers' banter mingled in with intermittent vendor calls for tea and coffee made for a surreal personal reverie. To elevate all of this was the cool easterly breeze and the green clouds of lushness outside that blurred away with sudden exclamation of hamlets punctuating the landscape. One primal experience on the way with my older son was fantastic to say the least. On a train gliding at nearly one hundred kilometers per hour, we sat on the doorstep with feet dangling, with the door of the railcar completely ajar and nothing to hold but the bars on each side; and there was nothing between the blurring greenery outside and the train, with danger as the third companion. The whizzing countryside and villages, the breeze in the face and the gentle rocking, and the continuous symphony of the wheels all glowed in my son's innocent eyes; the joy of this short adventure for him outweighed all of the risk in logic, not possible anywhere but here. A train is always a fascinating sight no matter how many times you see it in a day. Upon slowing down near approaching stations we could see children and adults on verandahs of their tiled cottages or thatched huts gazing at us slide by. The mango orchards, the sugarcane fields, the swaying coconut and palm groves and the thick impenetrable tropical undergrowth, the colorful people, the quaint unfinished homes, the small sleepy stations with dozing travelers, the paddy fields with water buffalos and women with earthen water cisterns balanced on their bobbing heads were like essential elements and notes of an elaborate natural symphony; something that cannot be replicated by deliberate diligence but only by randomness of life and its chaotic movements in serendipitous juxtapositions. The rural scenes in the south beckoned me with promises of simple unburdened life, away from high-tech toys, bills, and real estate taxes. The small stations aspired to bigness, but it's their size that made them idyllic. All stations were identified by three languages: the local state language like Telegu, then the national medium of Hindi, and the universal one of English.



When our mesmerizing train journey terminated at Mangalore Central at five am on November 1st, we arrived looking like unkempt gypsies in desperate need of showers. To our great relief we were rescued by our warm lady host and her precocious children, who welcomed us into their affluent hearth and drenched us with their love and hospitality throughout our stay till November 4. We tasted new cuisine and fruits that we never had before. Now here is our host, who had met my father and mother for less than an hour in early 2007 on a bus to Bangalore. Even though I never saw her, our communication grew closer, like that of a family member, and we eventually acquiesced to this idea to visit her to validate and honor my father's last new friend. I am certain he would have been happy for this. While in Mangalore we visited a beach on the Arabian Sea and another fantastic temple complex in Kateel, suspended on a rock in a gushing river. I will not forget this place as long as I am alive -- it was a spiritual oasis. We took three such trips, including one from Hyderabad to New Delhi and back on November 12 through the 19th, which we will be etched in our psyches, simply for the company we had and for the magnificent countryside that went from lush green to sandy brown to lush green in scenic transformations and monuments of history spanning millennia no matter which direction we panned.

India is a land of beauty and yet the scene of dereliction of duty. There is revulsion against the political class here where corruption is endemic. This is a country that is flirting with the title superpower. How can a superpower's leadership buy twenty-year-old Russian carriers and submarines instead of building their own with all that steel available? Where is the plan and accountability for national hygiene sanitation and waste management? The back streets and train thoroughfares are filled with organic filth in India, but are we any better in the U.S., where one household produces enough garbage to supplant fifty households there, and what about all that filth we consume off of our colorful and enticing supermarket shelves...all that processed food? Again, where is the commitment to have secure water supplies for the population despite being the land of incessant rainfall and rivers? What are the priorities for the leadership? One early morning I saw my cousin, the CEO, waiting by his water cisterns virtually praying for the municipal water to come and fill them. We lived through the same problem in New Delhi in the 1970s when I used to pull buckets of water to our first floor apartment in an upscale area. The water problem hasn't been solved, yet the government spends and sends a rocket to orbit the moon -- is it for water? Progress does not mean cells phones, more cars, overpasses, and a space program. To me real progress is attitudinal change, the availability of basic amenities and infrastructure to benefit all, and unfortunately, given the population and political climate there, this progress is perpetually on the drawing board. Meanwhile, the business community keeps trucking, pulling the country to prestige and power. India is also the land of tropical fruits and political brutes. Most people here belong to associations, groups, sects, religious orders, fan clubs, political clubs and parties, hero and saint worshipper groups. Film stars attain sainthood once they become politicians with bizarre manifestos. This is the land of the gullible and the culpable, each trafficking their own brand of political potion for the private accounts. The average citizen is so fed up and cynical with the government bungling on floods, traffic, filth, and pollution issues, the rallying cry of the citizenry now is "just deliver to us a world-standard antiterrorism plan." The multiple-party system also causes political traffic jams tying up the coalition governance with no real solutions for huge nationwide problems and needs.

The traffic laws are made to be broken here. Anybody who honors traffic laws becomes a hazard. The scene of a whole family of five (father, mother, two toddlers, and an infant) on a motorcycle with the mother holding the infant in one arm, weaving, stopping suddenly, swerving and riding through the polluted chaos, is simultaneously confounding and astounding; and this being the only means of transport for thousands makes this sight ubiquitous. What becomes a bloody joke is the fact that last summer I exited a parking lot in an armored Tahoe in Chicago at fifteen miles per hour while working on our safety belts, as we were suddenly pulled over for violating a safety ordinance, and to make it worse, there was minimal traffic. Where is the common sense with the cops? I feel that common sense has been wiped out by our litigious culture. In a twisted and convoluted manner I liked the skillful driving here -- it is slow and excruciating, but every rider and driver depends on his anticipation, reflexes, awareness, and foresight. Traffic becomes a riddle and an applicable metaphor. Once in Hyderabad I purposefully stood in a corner watching the traffic and was literally stupefied by the patternless movement, its randomness, and the jolting unpredictability. I saw individual riders and drivers go in any direction they pleased creating bottlenecks, stoppages, and chaos; all that with infinite patience of the violated. The horn is a tool to prod others to move, whereas in the U.S. it is offensive to honk at anyone. There they request you in writing behind their vehicles to "sound horn please." Every little nuance in the traffic condition is discounted by the driver and a reflexive adaptation is instantaneous. They drive and ride the ebb and flow like a floating weed in a stream. There is no such thing as stopping. Laws have given way to the instincts and order had acquiesced to anticipation in a chaos that pits man-made law versus the natural law. Instincts overwhelm instructions and what seems like chaos outside is actually order on the inside. India is like the sea. You cannot legislate and police the sea. It will find its own level and equilibrium in the common sense. In my forty-plus days I did not witness one accident in this game of survival. The traffic in India telegraphs something else to me, the urgency to earn where there are no welfare handouts, and if you don't work, you don't eat. Where have all these values disappeared in the American society?

India is ancient and prescient. It is living antiquity as well as Asian serenity. I wandered around the country experiencing the air-spaces we lived through. As an ardent romanticist I revere writers that can experience the "transportation" like Marcel Proust, Edward Gibbon, Paul Theroux, Brian Fagan, V.S. Naipaul, and Jane Taylor did. I would be hopelessly engrossed in places with great antiquities and history like Greece, Italy, India, Egypt, China, and Turkey; and that is what happened in India to me. If antiquity in the U.S. is measured by seventy-year-old Coca Cola bottles, hundred-year-old stock certificates in collections, or three-hundred-year-old forts, the antiquity barometer in India is confounding to say the least. Here people still live in buildings and use tools that were built when Europe was going through a renaissance. I managed to finagle a pewter water container from my nieces that my grandmother had used in her youth -- it is probably a hundred years old and they were still using it. We also visited an ancestral Shiva temple built by my paternal ancestor in 1818, and once inside I peered at the inscription on a bronze bell that was donated in the late nineteenth century by a great aunt who adopted and raised my grandfather whose name I carry. My father visited his mother's village like I did as a child every now and then and probably played around the temple, where I was now standing in all solemnity and mawkish humility. It is tough to describe the feelings that welled up inside me. Writing becomes futile when trying to express the myriad feelings, emotions, and longings that emanate inside instantaneously, and which can never be shared. I believe that the business of pain, suffering, longing, and reminiscing cannot be shared; they are issues that are intrinsically exclusive to individuals and diminish in dignity once shared.

I traveled to my "personal" pilgrimage centers of mother and father's birth places, villages where they grew up and went to school. I was a whisper waiting for that fateful meeting between my parents decades ago, the bushes and the ruts where my father played with his cousins and the tamarind trees that my mother climbed in her innocence. The villages and the atmosphere had not changed much since those glorious and fuzzy days, only the spaces had been transformed. Most of these spaces we lived through were destroyed by the vicissitudes of land values and development, except for one place, where my father was born. The house in the remote interior village of Old Tungapadu is a dark brooding and gloomy mansion built nearly two hundred years ago for the biggest landlord of the area, my paternal ancestor known as Punyamurthula. My father had eight aunts and all of them came to their maternal home in Old Tungapadu to deliver their offspring, and my father was one of them. I met the last surviving, dignified, and reticent ninety-plus-year-old aunt of my father, as she guided us to the room where all the birthing took place. It was a metaphysical experience for me, witnessed by the present occupants of the house, who certainly must have thought of this strange intrusion in their calm lives. The room where my father was born probably looked as it did a hundred years ago; with a century old bed and wardrobe, a musty smoky aroma permeated the room suggesting time that had elapsed, I stood there without a word. Words cannot do anything in moments like these; you just feel your viability in the birth of your father and move on, no banal statements or grandiose platitude to belittle that space. Again, somehow I managed my emotions.

Two hours later we, with my paternal uncle and his son, left Old Tungapadu and drove between bright green paddy fields with the afternoon breeze creating waves on the green rice grass towards Velangi, an hour drive to my grandfather's village where my father grew up and came of age. There again I was very disappointed to see only an empty lot where my grandfather's house stood. This again is the air-space where my father and uncle were conceived in the 1930s and me in February 1956. The weight of the moment and the utter loneliness I coped with was with great difficulty, as this "picture" loomed huge emotionally on my total being. I got out of there holding it in. With all the changes in the locations the "space" part of the equation had been decimated and remains only in the mind's eye. Memories that took shape at these locations decades ago are now relegated to my mind, as the tangible location is no more. In New Delhi, where our family spent the most years from 1966 through '81, it was quite devastating to see the whole landscape transformed, vanished as they said in "Gone with the Wind." Delhi was an open space and today every urban crevice is saturated with structure, the streets I walked are no more, unrecognizable. It became another kind of pain inflicted with these changes to all those comfort zones I knew.



How can we explain India in a few lines? It is like transplanting a gigantic Banyan tree...impossible! India must be seen and felt, and the best way to see India is to experience its tolerance. As a typical American, it is the impossible that interests me, so, let me try. The history of India is a massive palimpsest that is layers within layers of civilizations, settlements, kingdoms, barbaric invasions, and resettlements. It is an imperative to have an acute mental and visual tweezers to surgically pry each layer of fact, myth, and legend that is the Indian history, if you are serious. Otherwise it is better to cultivate a passing interest like many tourists do in its history as details can overwhelm even a serious history buff. From tea leaves to the Taj Mahal, this is a country where there is no separation between the antiquity, present, and modernity; it is all an agglomeration for survival, an existential mandate, and quite inseparable. It is the land of paradoxes, dichotomies, juxtapositions, and parallels. Everything is congruent and incongruent at the same time. India is the Athens of possibilities and a New York of opportunities -- to comprehend, assimilate, mingle, adapt, survive, and grow tolerant. Despite the genocidal and proselytizing Islamic invasions starting in the tenth century and continuing through the seventeenth century British incursion and domination, the Vedic culture has remained intact and resilient through its tolerance regardless of all the intolerant "visitors." This unique and breathtaking culture finds unity in its diversity and diversions within this unity. This is nation where cognitive dissonance is as ubiquitous as elephants on streets along with BMWs and Bentleys; and where donkeys ply the main streets with CAT and Mac trucks, and where shepherds wielding cell phones guide their flocks through downtowns. The myriad dialects, languages from state to state, and indigenous cuisines that flourish here at grass roots level are beyond comprehension and a mysterious monument unto themselves. India is a living wonder, inexplicable to the thick and a chaos that is an oasis for the senses, with belief systems and societal movements resulting in compromise surfacing like fat on rich buffalo milk. All belief systems here cross-pollinate invariably generating a social lubrication that keeps the society within societies steaming along with the occasional combustions. Combustions will become frequent in this lovely paradise of tolerance as they sit on a ticking time bomb in the Muslim population, particularly the radicals, according to Mr. Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy in the U.S. The noted Indian historian Ramachandra Guha also wrote on the Muslim problem titled "India's Dangerous Divide" in The Wall Street Journal dated December 6, 2008. In contrast to the other ideology, the fundamental necessity of the Hindu majority is to visit and see their revered ones, and upon reflection, it is not a bad idea. I would rather see humans on this earth that assume the mantle of a god with their deeds, like Gandhi, Buddha, Mother Teresa, and Pope John Paul II than some ideology with dogmas and doctrines to keep us in perpetual fear, hatred, and war. All the religious and social groups within the country are watered and nurtured by tolerance, a great nutrient from the Hindu culture. Despite all the problems, India is one of the happiest places on earth and it showed on the individuals every day I was there. My observation was affirmed by my wife and in the best-selling book titled The Geography of Bliss. If I want to visit there again, it will not just be for the world renowned monuments and natural wonders, but certainly for another great living wonder of that civilization, "tolerance," which is as tangible, delectable, and succulent as a custard apple...ask my Moroccan wife.



About the Author

Raju Peddada is an industrial designer running an eponymous brand, purveyor of ultra luxury furnishings of his own design (see peddada.com). He is also a freelance correspondent/writer for several publications, specializing in commentary, essay, and opinions on architecture, design, photography, books, fashion, society, and culture. Peddada was born in Tallapudi, a small southern town in south India. He's lived in New Delhi and Bombay before migrating to the West Indies and eventually settling in Chicago, Illinois, where he worked in corporate America until he chose to set up his own designing firm. He lives with his family in Des Plaines.


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2009 Predictions - Swans

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http://www.swans.com/library/art15/rajup05.html

Bengal's blueprint best in country, forgotten in state
3 Jan 2009, 0421 hrs IST, Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay, TNN

If you are wondering how the government managed to tie itself in knots over the two-stroke auto ban issue, this will surprise you even more: it was
the West Bengal government which formulated the model that Delhi and Bangalore later used to cut down pollution, but the Left Front government failed to implement its own formula.

The West Bengal government's report to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 1999 was regarded as the best possible model for the use of alternative fuel in automobile sector. The blueprint was passed on to each state government to be emulated. While Delhi and Bangalore implemented it to perfection years ago, the state which drafted the model, dug itself deeper into the pollution muddle.

"Not only that. When Delhi went on implementing the clean-fuel charter by making the entire auto-fleet to switch to CNG, a huge portion of condemned two stroke autos were transferred to Kolkata, where there was little respect for emission norms. So, we excelled in being dreamers, but never tried to follow up on our words," said environmentalist Tanmoy Rudra.

"In response to the NC Mehta case, the Supreme Court had said that pollution needed to be curbed in other major cities in India where automobile emission is completely unchecked. The court asked CPCB to seek reports from state governments. The most impressive report was sent by the West Bengal environment department, which was immediately accepted as the model worth emulating across the country," said Rudra.

In the report, the environment department had suggested that the majority of automobiles in the city the entire auto fleet in particular should shift to LPG.

"It's really sad to see that the state government failed to follow what it foresaw 10 years ago," said Rudra. Although given six months by Calcutta High Court, the state government did little to educate auto owners about the impending change or tell them about the government subsidies. The result: panic.

One of the problems is that in Kolkata, autos run as stage carriages whereas in every other city, they run as contract carriages. "As a stage-carriage, an auto cannot violate its designated route. So, availing LPG is a problem if the dispensing station is not on the route. In other cities, autos run as contract carriages and on meter, just as taxis do. They can fuel up wherever they want," said a transport officer.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Bengals_blueprint_best_in_country_forgotten_in_state/articleshow/3929352.cms

KMC has no alternative to overburdened Dhapa
28 Dec 2008, 0429 hrs IST, S P Gon Chaudhuri, TNNGarbage is gold. That's what the tonnes of waste that gets generated in Kolkata can actually be turned into. The city generates a whopping 4,000
tonnes of municipal waste, which is now being dumped at Dhapa.
The present site is overburdened and KMC isn't ready with an alternative. But when the civic body does decide to switch to another place, it has to be a paradigm shift in the way it views and handles waste. Simply dumping the entire garbage is neither environment-friendly, nor commercially sound.

Had a little more attention been paid to the issue, Kolkata could have gone in for landfill engineering, where garbage is disposed scientifically in a way that prevents soil and ground water contamination and enables generation of electricity through methane extraction.
But given the sheer quantity of garbage generated in Kolkata, it isn't possible to adopt landfill engineering, as it requires a large tract of land, which one cannot locate near the city.

Moving away will not serve the purpose, as transportation cost of garbage will go up, and so will pollution.

The way forward for Kolkata is to go in for refuse derived fuel (RDF) technology, where waste is segregated into biodegradable and non-degradable segments. The biodegradable portion can be dried to form cakes for use as fuel in boilers that generate electricity. Some of it can also be used in making bricks.

There is also plasma technology, which entails combustion of biodegradable waste at very high temperature, so that there is no pollution. Given the amount of pollution in Kolkata, the city can seriously look at this technology that has been adopted in all major cities in the world, including Washington DC, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Of the 4,000 tonnes of waste generated in Kolkata, at least 40% should be biodegradable. If properly utilized, I believe it is possible to generate 40 MW of electricity from the refuse.

The non-degradable portion can be sorted to recycle ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The rejects can be processed into compost or mixed with stones to go in for brick-making.

As for the present dump, much of it would already have turned into soil, making it difficult for use as
biodegradable fuel.

One can convert the mounds of rubbish into hillocks that develop into destination points like Swabhumi and PC Chandra Gardens have come up on rubbish heaps.

(As told to Subhro Niyogi)

The author is managing director, West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation, which promotes the use of renewables

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/KMC_has_no_alternative_to_overburdened_Dhapa/articleshow/3902728.cms

Autos spew toxic chemicals: Study
31 Dec 2008, 0444 hrs IST, Prithvijit Mitra, TNN

KOLKATA: The autorickshaw strike on Monday may have caused some inconvenience to commuters but Kolkata breathed easier. And if your eyes started
burning and watering again on Tuesday, blame it on the return of the three-wheeled polluting machines.

What had always been suspected is about to be officially confirmed. A study being conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) reveals that the level of volatile organic compounds (VOC) chemicals emitted by vehicles has crossed the danger mark in Kolkata. Autos are most likely the biggest contributor of pollutants, it says.

When autos went off the streets in large parts of Kolkata on Monday against the high court ban, the difference in air quality was starkly evident. So was the relief among residents. SPM, RPM and Nox (oxides of nitrogen) counts dropped sharply. But the respite was brief. Pollution rose to danger levels yet again when autos returned to clog the city on Tuesday.

"While it won't be correct to blame autos entirely for the poor air quality, they are certainly a big contributor. This is particularly true for pockets of the city in south and central Kolkata where thousands of autos ply. The picture is grim and it is getting worse," said Anjali Srivastav, deputy director of the National Environmental Engineering Institute (NEERI) which is conducting the study on behalf of CPCB.

According to the NEERI study, VOC levels have crossed the danger mark at Kasba, Cossipore and Lalbazar. The research commenced in August this year and will conclude a year later. A final report will be prepared by November after the data is analyzed. It will not only offer a clear picture on vehicular pollution, but also pinpoint the sources of the noxious chemicals.

"We shall do a chemical mass balance model study to identify the source of the chemicals. It will soon be clear if autos are the real culprits. Preliminary studies indicate that they are," added Srivastav. VOC has never been measured in Kolkata even though they have been computed in other metros like Delhi and Mumbai.

While petrol leads to benzene emission, diesel creates a mixture of harmful gases. Kaata tel or adulterated fuel, used by thousands of autos, emit harmful chemicals in larger volumes. "Benzene emission is much higher if adulterated fuel is used. Most autos use it so it is obvious that pollution levels are much higher in auto-infested zones. This study should finally shake the authorities into action," said environmental scientist Dipankar Chakraborti.

VOC, he pointed out, penetrated the lungs more easily than suspended particulate matter. "We need to be more careful about chemicals than suspended particles," Chakraborti warned.
Some, however, felt that autos are being needlessly singled out. "Only autos using adulterated fuel should be banned. The rest pollute only as much as any other vehicle," said Sivabrata Chatterjee, environment consultant.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Autos_spew_toxic_chemicals_Study/articleshow/3916498.cms



Don’t play politics in development: Somnath
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Express News Service
Posted: Jan 01, 2009 at 0139 hrs IST
..
Kolkata Stressing that development projects should not be an issue of political confrontation, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday termed the withdrawal of the Nano car plant from Singur as a “sad” episode.
Addressing the concluding ceremony of the 22nd Industrial Trade Fair at Milan Mela ground, Chatterjee said: “On the issue of all round development there should be no conflict, no hesitation and no competition.” He said that land acquisition is not unique to Bengal and it has happened across the country.

“There is a propaganda that there is no scope of industrialisation in West Bengal following the withdrawal of the Nano project,” he said while sharing the dais with the state Industry Minister Nirupam Sen. “I am totally out of the political scenario and will remain out of it. But development should not be a matter of confrontation.”

The Speaker also put his weight behind the organising of fairs at Kolkata Maidan. “There is a lot of talks going on about pollution. Of the 365 days in a year, if fairs are held for 100 days there should be no opposition to it.”

Insisting that he is not criticising the judiciary, he also questioned why books should not be sold at the Maidan.

According to Somnath, the policy of confrontation and fractured policies have made the parliamentary democracy weak. “I got the opportunity to enter Parliament in 1971, but looking back in 2008 I feel sad that the respect once the parliamentarians received is missing now,” he added.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/dont-play-politics-in-development-somnath/405298/

Air to lung to DNA
PRIYANKA CHANDOLA

DIVYA

Air pollutants damage genes, affect human behaviour

THE air you breathe in may affect your health in more ways than you think. Besides causing respiratory disorders and hypertension, pollution may be damaging genes and changing human behaviour, revealed a study on health of urban population in Delhi and rural population West Bengal and Uttarakhand.

The Central Pollution Control Board (cpcb) sponsored the study that links the pollutant, pm 10 (particulate matter smaller than 10 microns), to these illnesses. The central regulatory authority recently prescribed stricter norms for a number of air toxins and pollutants but omitted revision of the standard for pm 10.

“We have focused on physical and mental health of minors and adults exposed to air pollution,” said Manas Ranjan Ray, head of the experimental haematology department of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (cnci) based in Kolkata and the key researcher.

The group compared the health of 11,628 schoolchildren and 6,005 adults living in Delhi for more than 10 years to that of 4,536 schoolchildren and 1,046 adults in rural West Bengal and Uttarakhand.

“The study establishes the clinical link between respiratory problems and urbanization,” said Randeep Guleria, professor of medicine, aiims. He added that doctors have been observing a spiral in chronic diseases like allergic rhinitis, asthma, chronic bronchitis and coronary diseases.


Clinical proof

The researchers found that the lungs of people living in Delhi were not functioning well— 43.5 per cent children and 40.3 per cent of adults showed lung function deficit. People living in rural areas were better off as only 25.7 per cent children and 20.1 per cent adults were found suffering from lung function deficit. The poor were found more vulnerable. Street vendors and drivers were the worst affected. Residents of South Delhi fared better and had lower incidence of respiratory diseases compared to those living in North, Central and West Delhi. Though South Delhi has more vehicles, air quality in the area was better as industries did not add to the pollution.

The effect of the pollutants on dna was determined by studying the epithelial cells of mouth and throat. Non-smokers in Delhi had 2.3 times more micronuclei or mn compared to non-smokers in rural West Bengal and Uttarakhand. mn is indicative of damage to cell chromosomes and is usually found in smokers. The study correlated pm 10 with mn formation in epithelial cells and dna damage in lymphocytes.

Sputum examination of people in Delhi showed large number of white blood cells, neutrophils, eosinophils and lymphocytes. These indicated pulmonary infection, inflammation, allergy and hypersensitivity. The sputum samples also showed greater risk of damage to the bronchial and alveolar walls that could lead to emphysema or swelling of the alveolar sacs along and bronchitis. The researchers also studied the impact of long-term exposure to air pollution on human behaviour. They found that children from medium and low-income families had higher incidence of attention deficit disorder. Rich children were prone to high blood pressure.

Adults also showed a correlation between pm 10 levels in ambient air and blood pressure. Rise in blood pressure appeared to be a major risk factor for reduced lung function. pm 10 levels and benzene exposure were also confirmed to cause short-term memory loss. Blood tests showed susceptibility to liver diseases among adults, said the report recently published by cpcb.


Stricter norms

The study recommended stricter air pollution norms. “Potential health impact on children should be the main criterion for setting up standards for an air pollutant or establishing an industry in a locality,” Ray said. “Introduction of public transport fuelled by cng has improved Delhi’s air quality. But pollution levels are still higher than the prescribed standards; the increase in vehicular population is diluting the benefits of cng use,” added Ray.

Guleria emphasized the need to highlight the increase in prevalence of respiratory problems in children. “Exposure to pollution not only affects their quality of life but has long-term health implications,” he said. He suggested that stricter controls and monitoring of air pollution is the only way to improve quality of air and health.
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20081231&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=8

Business Asks Australia to Ease Carbon Trade
Date: 01/09/2008
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Source: Planet Ark (Australia)
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Environment groups demanded on Friday that Australia ignore the "greenhouse mafia" as major energy and mining companies met the government to demand greater compensation for a coming emissions trading regime.

The government is planning to introduce one of the world's biggest carbon trading schemes by 2010 that will force companies to buy permits to cover their emissions, putting a market price on carbon that will encourage firms to clean up their pollution.
Big business told the government this month the scheme could be a "company killer", driving big emitters offshore or out of business.
Energy Minister Martin Ferguson met more than 70 large firms at parliament to talk over their concerns on Friday.
"Giving millions of dollars of taxpayers' money to rich companies to allow them to continue polluting is immoral and uneconomic," Greenpeace climate campaigner Trish Harrup said ahead of the meeting.
The centre-left government plans to introduce carbon trading by mid-2010 to help curb greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming, with compensation for consumers and help for businesses facing higher energy costs.
Under the scheme still being discussed to target 1,000 large companies, energy firms will receive 30 percent of carbon permits for free, with hefty initial subsidies for other big polluters to be slowly phased out.
Companies with more than 2,000 tonnes of emissions per A$1 million in revenue would pay for only 10 percent of total emissions, while companies producing 1,500-2,000 tonnes of carbon would pay for 40 percent of their emissions.
But the country's top business lobby, the Business Council of Australia, representing 100 major firms, this month said emissions-intensive exporters in the refining, cement, coal and steel sectors would need higher-than-promised compensation to stay competitive.
Ferguson initially met three groups covering energy-intensive industries, followed by other strongly affected firms such as road transport, shipping and power generators. Tourism companies followed in a third meeting.

"REASONABLE PEOPLE"
Ferguson's office would not name participants. But miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, plus energy firms Woodside Petroleum and ExxonMobil were believed to be closely involved.
Woodside, Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer, this month said emissions trading as planned could jeopardise a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off the west coast.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week said tackling climate change would inevitably cost business money, but promised "reasonable people" would be able to negotiate a way forward.
Australian newspapers said Ferguson was willing to compromise on extra compensation or assistance, while powerful Climate Change Minister Penny Wong favoured a tougher approach.
Australia is the world's 16th biggest carbon polluter, accounting for about 1.5 percent of global emissions, but produces five times more carbon pollution per person than China and is the fourth-largest per-capita emitter.
But scientists say the country is also at high risk from global warming, which is expected to bring greater extremes of droughts and floods, rising seas and is likely to cause shifts in agricultural production and endanger the Great Barrier Reef.
A government report earlier this year said emissions from transport were projected to increase 42 percent on 1990 levels by 2012, and be 67 percent higher by 2020, while industrial process emissions would rise 49 percent by 2012 and 95 percent by 2020.
But while emissions per-capita would fall 13 percent from 1990 levels, from 33 tonnes to 28 tonnes, by 2012, they would climb back to 29 tonnes per person by 2020, it said. (US$1 = A$1.16) (Editing by David Fogarty)

Story by Rob Taylor
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/business-asks-australia-ease-carbon-trade


Scientists can extend mission life of Chandrayaan-I


4 Jan 2009, 1605 hrs IST, PTI

SHILLONG: Scientists can now extend the duration of India's maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-I beyond its planned two-year period.


The precise launch and lunar orbit insertion of Chandrayaan-I has given space scientists the leverage to extend the mission life of the spacecraft orbiting the moon at an altitude of 100 km.

"The spacecraft has about 183 kg fuel onboard and we are looking at a two-year plus mission life," S K Shivakumar, Director ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) said at the 96th Indian Science Congress here.

Principal scientists involved in all the 10 experiments onboard the spacecraft are meeting in Bangalore on January 29 to discuss the initial findings of the moon mission.

Orbital manoeuvres need to be carried out on the spacecraft once every 28 days to ensure that it stays in the designated 100 km circular orbit and does not go astray.

"About three kg fuel is used when onboard motors are fired for carrying out the orbital manoeuvre," said Shivakumar, whose team has been monitoring the spacecraft ever since it's launch on October 22 last year.

Chandrayaan-I was launched with an orbital accuracy of five km making India the first country to achieve such a precise maiden mission, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

The Chandrayaan-I mission has been sending "unprecedented" amount of data and scientists are busy analysing it.

Is the worst over for Wall Street?


4 Jan 2009, 2100 hrs IST, REUTERS
LONDON: Investors begin the first full week of 2009 trading on Monday with one question in mind: Is the worst over? Events that changed Dalal Street

Given that a 38 per cent loss on the broad US S&P 500 stock index last year was actually one of the better performances on stock markets, it is hard for some investors to imagine otherwise.

Indeed, December ended on a rare up note, with global stocks putting in something of a rally.

MSCI's main gauge of global stocks, its all-country world index, gained almost 3.6 per cent for the month, its first gain since May and the sixth best performance in two years.

Its generally riskier emerging market counterpart -- one of the worst performers of 2008 with losses of 54.5 per cent -- gained 7.6 per cent in December, also its first gain in seven months.

Some sentiment indicators, such as the Reuters monthly investment polls, also showed some return to risk appetite.

So it would not be a major surprise if some of the most recent gains spilled over into the new year because many investors have argued that stocks are attractively priced.

Many are also expecting financial markets to return to more normal patterns during the year.

Next fiscal will be painful for exports: FICCI

4 Jan 2009, 1626 hrs IST, IANS

NEW DELHI: Aggressive pricing by Chinese exporters, coupled with lack of credit flow and cancellation of orders, is crippling India's exports,
which may go down further in the first half of 2009, said an industry lobby survey, released here on Sunday.

According to the report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), Indian exporters are facing 'meet the China price' challenge from across the market.

Many Indian exporters have already cut their prices by an average 10-15 per cent or even more in some cases to retain their hold in the market.

Over 360 companies representing sectors like automotive, consumer durables, food and food processing, leather, marine products, gems and jewellery, textiles, IT and pharmaceuticals, participated in the survey.

According to the respondents, despite the easing of the monetary policy by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks are still maintaining their "conservative stance" towards export finance.

Nearly 56 per cent of the companies said they have faced at least a few cases of cancellation of orders. There have also been several cases where the international buyers have defaulted on their payments or are refusing to accept delivery of consignments.

The respondents demanded that the government "do more" to bail them out of the crisis.

Nearly 51 per cent of the companies said they expect a dip in exports in the next six months, while 62 per cent said export prices would further go down during the period.

Most of the exporters are worried over the aggressive pricing by the Chinese exporters. Backed by their government, the Chinese exporters have reduced prices drastically in the international market, forcing others to follow suit.

Close to 60 per cent of the companies said they were going slow on fresh hiring.

Manufacturing to face the heat of global slowdown
4 Jan 2009, 1144 hrs IST, PTI

MUMBAI: Sales in manufacturing sector is likely to witness a slowdown in the quarter ending December on account of steep fall in the commodity
prices, a report said.

"Although healthy, we expect the growth in net sales of the manufacturing sector to slow down to 26 per cent in the quarter ending December 2008 compared to 37 per cent in the quarter ended September 08," Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its report.

The performance of the manufacturing sector is expected to deteriorate on the profit front as well, the report said.

While apparels sector was expected to slip into the red, sector like steel, copper, aluminium, alkalies, edible oils, automobiles and auto components were likely to witness fall in net profits, it said.

The expected moderation in growth has been attributed primarily to the steep fall in commodity prices.

"Due to the lower unit realisation, sectors like edible oils, steel, copper, aluminium are expected to report a slower growth in sales in the December quarter," the report said.

"We expect the manufacturing sector to continue to grapple with the problem of high raw material costs, while the sharp rise in the cost of borrowings amid the current liquidity crunch is also expected to hamper their profitability," CMIE said.


Chambers want more measures

3 Jan 2009, 0242 hrs IST, ET Bureau
Apex industry associations on Friday said deeper rate cuts and more specific measures for small and medium-scale companies are needed to boost
business.Reacting to the package, CII said while government expenditure will generate employment, steps are needed to improve flow of credit to SMEs.

CII president KV Kamath said: “We expect RBI to slash CRR further. Moreover, completion of infrastructure projects worth Rs 1,00,000 crore over the next 18 months, as envisaged in the package, will provide a significant stimulus to the economy.”

Industry body FICCI said after the cut in CRR, repo rate and reverse repo rate, banks will start lending to corporates. Secretary general Amit Mitra said the combination of monetary and fiscal measures will address a wide range of economic issues. “More such measures need to be taken in future,” he added.

Assocham said CRR reduction should have been at par with the cut in reverse repo rate. “The SLR should be brought down to 20% from existing 24% and we hope that RBI will gradually rationalise CRR, repo and reverse repo to 2004 levels,” said Assocham secretary general D S Rawat.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Indicators/Chambers_want_more_measures/articleshow/3929056.cms





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