hunger can make you angry!

Howmuch ever i love to hate the hindu..they do come up with some stunning pieces- rarely!
one such is here: by Harsh Mander.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/article2882340.ece#.TzcvZ0PytaE.gmail


heart wrenching..and what a pity isnt? that there will be millions starving out there

Stampede death!

Did u guess where? In a railway station! Yes, delhi railway station..
What a sad thing right?
That’s when people attempted to rush/board in to a train..prolly the officials goofed by (not) announcing or the trains entry at the last minute or well after the scheduled time, callous approach by the officials, lack of any system there at the rly station..possibly all of it!
But who cares?
For one- we are a bunch of idiots…as a race we don’t know to conduct ourselves in public. If there are 100 seats and we are only 20 of us, still we all rush like mad at the 1st instance..plus we just don’t have any scruples and so don’t care if we are pushing kids or invalids or old people aside in the process..we wudnt mind walking all over any body- to reach our GOAL! What an honorable march aint?
Shameless..
Don’t get me wrong..just look around whenever u r in any crowded place..oops, bus stand and rly station- we can litter just about anywhere..spit, piss, throw..do what ever..who cares? Plastic or not- just about anything. Next time u r in a train- the elite upper class that too and count the no. of people who use the toilet when the train is parked. No point- if u say or if its written big, bold there on the toilet door. People ignore. They just do it! All this is the elite, educated mass!
Thooo..
Haven’t u seen how people rush, sneak, push, rush in the immigration counters in the airport? All those ‘foreign educated’, ‘nris’ ‘green cards’ and all that? how they throw stuff?
Haven’t we seen people spit on road side (oh! With that special agrggrgh noise) in Swiss and Newzealand (and get caught?)..
There is no end..
So where can sanity suddenly surface just there in a railway platform..when the announcement, train and just about everything arrived wrong or late?
People rushed..walked err ran all over..smashed a few people to death..

OH! Death and so that made news! So, many of us, including me are talking about it!
Correction? What?? Correction, eh? Shut up..wait till next problem, scandal and keep scratching ur scrotum and walk past..

But did u notice the highlight?
Our brilliant bureaucracy came up with a typical response. None other than the travelers are allowed in to stations in Delhi! Ban on Platform tickets! How laughable? Since the shoe size is a bit small they cut the feet..great aint?

Right to Food!

Heard of it? If not, you sure are a very wary citizen of India either occupied with cricket, job, movie, news channels or all of it. I could have been like you but was fortunate to receive a call from Dr. Suresh of PUCL (public Union of civil Liberties).
I didn’t see much representation, in the regular media, about this right to Food (National food security act) that is brewing up and to be introduced.It’s a new act to be promulgated by the parliament in next session as a step to eradicate hunger. As responsible citizens we have to voice our concerns and views.

There has been a good amount of debate, discussion evoked in many northern states (ofcourse by NGOs) but south has been lagging behind.
One such meet to discuss the various issues behind this act was organised on 24th Oct at Chennai. Dr. Suresh, Advisor for Tamil Nadu to the Supreme Court Commissioner on Food Security, was the brain behind this program to consult on what the draft says and whats left out, more importantly what needs to be included etc.
There were many stalwarts like Dr. G.Nammalvar, Mr.Pamaiyan of thalanmai uzhavar iyakkam, Prof.Poyyamozhi from Pondy university, Mr. Gopinath of MSSRF and many others who discussed this thread bare.
It was very educative and more importantly lotsa of insightful opinions were voiced. Its important to consult and give as much input as possible now, else it is tough to bring any changes (how ever valid and serious it could be) later once the law is promulgated.
Some salient points from various speakers:
-Right to food should offer security, livelihood & nutritional security.
-Of the 200 crore spent for food subsidy last year not even 40% reached the deserving. (infact 60% was absorbed, ofcourse illegally, by middlemen & businessmen-politico collaborators)
-Some said it should be called Food and Nutrition security act so that enough importance is given to nutritive value of the food dispersed
-Grievance/readdressal to be included and made fool proof
-Food commission to be installed at every district
-Millets to be included in the PDS(Public Distribution System) as well as in Noon meal schemes.
-The nutritional value and advantages for farmers (to grow these in drought and less rain/water conditions) of millets were highlighted; The balance it can bring to the p(a)late was impressed up on.
-Storage, storage capacity, access and distribution should be the focus area
-Importance of ecological balance and economical viability to be looked in detail
-Local production and local consumption to be kept in mind for sustainability
-Food sovereignty (rather than security) was highlighted too
-Water (resource, source and availability) to be treated along as an important and relevant issue.
-Uncultivated (wild) were more nutritional- someone highlighted. To the surprise of all of us gave lots of examples too!
-Issues pertaining to BPL (below poverty line) as well as APL to be addressed.
Talking of nutrition, there were many interesting stories & facts from various speakers. This anecdote from Nammalvar stood out. One (medical) doctor in one of the south TN towns called an organic shop guy and asked for 5 Kg husk (thavidu in tamizh) of organic rice but didn’t divulge why he needed it. Then when the same doc asked for more this org shop fella insisted on the use. The doc, it seems, said ‘ how much ever I ask the patients to consume fibre they don’t. So I made 200gms packet of the husk and gave to each patient and asked them to consume 2 spoons with their food/ each meal.’ Needless to state here it worked wonders..
More on RTF here!

Election scene

I don’t see that election heat at all as I said earlier..but I have a list of guys who should not win..
First in my list is Azharuddin! He is the congress (who else will do that just bcos he is a minority, u know!) candidate in UP (Moradabad?). He is a shame..one who acted like a politician in sport. He sold the game’s credibility for money. He joined hands with folks like Dawood. He was one man who was the primary reason for the rapid and shameful spread of match fixing in cricket. There were enough proofs and lots of documents!
see here & here
Then comes TR Baalu in my list. He has amassed so much in the last 5 years that he need not ‘earn’ again! He can actually challenge MK family members for the massed wealth!
A Raja! He is a late entrant in to the richest politic! All that I said in the prev para holds good for him. Ok, change that 5 years to 2! One scandal and its mother of all! No body knows how much he swindled..every one is guessing..the guesses range from 60,000 crores to 100,000 crores! Till a couple of years he wudnt have known how many zeroes for a billion and here he is holding them all. As I type this I feel he shud be topping this list, grt grtt..
Any one from Gowda family. They just are not worth it. They also have 1000s of acres & 1000s of crores. They can easily give the MK family run for their money, literally!
Pawar- he is someone who is so insensitive to the agri problems inspite of having the background. He is someone who has blindly given go ahead for GM seeds in india inspite of so much concern, only bcos his concern of some ‘pottis’ have been addressed. Add to that his cricket revenues..so let him as well go & handle that political hot bed than our country’s governance.
There could be many more, but this is just a top 5.
BTW folks, all u who have voting right & the id , just go and cast ur vote for sure. Atleast go the 49-O route but do vote for sure.

Election scene

phew..actually hardly anything interesting happening aint?
Last time I thought that for the next elections, i should tour North India as always hear it would be very colourful. But I hardly see anything very noteworthy..
the general interest level is so low..one could see that the public have not even been coming forward and voting! the turn out has been so low at most places.
Add to this my busy schedule. Lotsa of touring and I did not even cover many of them here like the trips to point return & solitude organised on behalf of restore and really dirtied our hands and learnt lots. (at restore we organise such farm visits for our volunteers and customers to bring them all to the farm- to get an insight of the amount of work at farm, to have hands on experience, interact with real farmers, see how our produce is grown/ processed, etc). Now I digress, thats for another day.
coming back to elections, the best one that comes from my memory is reserved for Herr. Devi lal! During one of the elections in 80s he had the gumption to address a crowd in haryana that "the central govt is extracting current from our river water(hydel power stations!) and release the water without any power and so we farmers are struggling..". Needless to say here that he won!
Some are ofcourse trying to match that. MK always leads the pack in that. His pronouncements on Srilankan tamils issue has always been non stop nonsense and a good entertainment.
But kalyan singh is leading this time I guess- what with his great secular jump and hand holding with Mr.Secular- Mulayam, he is really freaking out each day with all his talent. He was misled by the top leaders of BJP, he is always for the minority, etc..But remember he did that once already by jumping out of BJP crying wolf and then went back and backed up his majority sentiments and now another flip flop..oh! what wud these creatures do when they see the mirror? ofcourse Laloo as always freaks out and talks bad about the same govt that he was a part of like ramdosses. Pawar always is the only alternative to Deve gowda in such election tamashas..
but still to report of some good one..you see Iam already thinking hard to post another story here..such has the election come to these days..even entertainment value is low..
But all u folks, do exercise your vote, lest someone else does that!

Bombay Blasts II

Its so glaring that we just don’t have a functional intelligence wing at all.
It’s a shame that we have been time and again exposed by terrorists too bloody often and still we just don’t live beyond political rhetorics. Where as the same politicos at a simple drop of a pen acquire more Z++ or what ever cover for themselves, but we the nation can go to hell.
Inspite of some loathful comments by many (like me, the table top variety), enraged comments by all n sundry, we shall all go about our day to day commitments and all that shall be portrayed as the indefatigable Bombay spirit! (one of the best articles in this context I have read is here by my fav Prem- don’t miss it)
What a shameful and irresponsible show by our visual media (print doesn’t impact so immediate- that’s the only solace, not that they were better). They were virtual feeders for the terrorists. (some one in the net had asked – do they think the terrorists see only cartoon network and so were giving a blow by blow account of NSG preps? Sigh)
Actually we shall all cry and decry in various ways and carry on and that’s what the politicos bank on. So, what can we do, u ask. Create such a big public opinion, state all your feelings on the govt handling of such issues and blow it big. Go voice it on all forums. Sure, a public op can be built. Write to your favorite channels, newspapers and blog them. What else can we do? If you can try and put some sense to any one that matters in the political arena. Let it start trickling in.
BTW where are these Thackarey jokers? Do they want only Maratha mannus to be killed by the terrorists? Or do they want only the maratha warriors to fight the terrorists. Oh! Poor Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, he went, fought valiantly and gave his life for all of us. Politics anybody? Hey Raj! Where art thou? Come you invertebrate, show up!
Actually now I see it coming! The govt and the TV channels are all seeing the end (real end of this show, now) and shall start crowing a few fading sound bytes -Pakistan, ISI, foreign, and shift focus to the next show. Jai Hind!

BureaucraZy !

Another peek in to our democrazy filled with bureaucrazy!
There's an expansive lake (close to 200 acres) near my place and slowly its being shrunk..since it really swells up during monsoons, there was not lots of encroachment there. But of late, there is rampant encroachment as well as wild growth of some shrubs too. (julilflora & kattamanakku). So some of us took it up on ourselves, took out a signature campaign and had a petition drafted. Then we set out to give it to the collector, who on paper can do away with all the menace and make it a dream come true lake.
Sigh sigh..but we only imagine such stories right? Have we ever heard of one in real life? Not me atleast.
Using some influence we try and wriggle out an appointment with the collector. Time and again u wud have seen it mentioned here about how the time esp ours, is valued and esp. by the govt machinery. Here too we were given a 930am appointment. We reach there (after 2 hours drive) and find that he has gone some 70 kms away and his sec tells us he will be back by 1030..then that becomes 1130, 1230 and atlast at 1330 he comes..rather we get a call saying he has gone home for lunch and we can meet him there (bcos u were referred by that ‘someone’)..I cringe bcos some 200 people are waiting below as that’s the general public grievance day.
Then as we reach there he gives us 1.5 minutes and passes the buck with such an ease u feel bad that u came to him instead of the table he points to. Then he looks at you like ‘u still here?’ and then when we insist he has to intervene and he can do lots to revive it, he nods and collects our petition and sees us off- literally(i.e. he sees and u run off!)
All along from the morning since we were waiting none of them in the whole office of a big collector cares to tell u his schedule or the very fact that he is not there.
I don’t deny there shall be last minute rushes, some political necessities, urgent issues, lopsided priorities, etc..but on the many occasions that I have gone to them (be it anyone) there is just no meaningful interaction, information or time sense. The 200+ that has been waiting from morning still were there without any info.
Hail democracy!

But one small solace, its in this same system that I find another IAS – gutsy and well meaning lady who I happened to bump in to and who gave all her support and still stays so. She has assured to get this thingy moved with her presence/pressure. She is my hope now as much as she is the hope for pallikaranai marsh land and waste management at source @ Chennai!

JANA GANA MANA in China!

yeah, our National Anthem in an Olympics after a loooong time (after 1980!) and first ever Gold for an individual event!
am actually shamed as stats like this reel off! >1billion and now is the first ever indiv gold:-(
But sure, Bindra & co needs all applause, media lights , that site in some (or every) city outskirt..
btw whatever happened to that military taking up the 'operation gold' for olympics some years back? How wish that really materialised and we hand atleast a handful gold..

petition one shud sign! to save our coastal lines

The Government of India wishes to put the CMZ notification into effect anytime after 30 June 2008. This will spell disaster for our coastal environment and tens of millions of coastal fishers and fishworkers. Please read and sign the petition(s). Please also circulate this and ask the your friends/recipients to sign them asap.

http://www.petitiononline.com/d4c3b2a1/
or
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cmz_objections/

The CMZ notification, in terms of its character and contents, in the nature and course of its preparation and in the way it is being thrust upon us, is the perfect embodiment of callousness, injustice and assault on environment and livelihood.

another

interesting person!
In my list of interesting persons to meet, this one has been in the pending list for too long..various reasons, nothing that cud justify the delay..but it had to happen..and it did..last week an akasmaath (by chance) meet and then a long scheduled one followed by attending one of his talks(/presentation)..no end to my surprise..what a depth of info..what amount of data and what a collation..
all u need to do is close ur eyes: did u, now just think of anything- historic facts, old philosophies, myth, religion, famous unfounded theories, ancient sciences of Indian civilisation, veda, ayurveda, evolution, big bang ..just about anything..even the now sensitive Rama topic:-)just shoot any question that comes to your mind..ask anything that has been itching u..
now having done that, close ur eyes again..oh, not so fast, before that check where is his next talk/presentation..go there and now close ur eyes..a 1-3 hour presentation wud have encampused you and enlightened you..
the depth of his collation, the factual data is mind boggling..no religious, cultural or belief overtures..plain facts..amazing is the only word..
D.K.Hari of Bharathgyan, folks..its amazing if some one so young (hey, any one of my age is young ain't?) cud have such a biiiiig resourceful data bank..
visit his site, get an overview and attend( or even better, organise) any talk and slowly sink in..meanwhile check with me in the days to come about how u or anyone interested cud be of help in this huge project.