ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends, Sometime in May, after the result of 10th standard public examination, a popular local Kannada daily had carried a news about the mismatch in answer and marks in one of its issues of mid-May. This paper had a VOX-POPULI (peoples’ voice) column. We have read in the past many stories about wrong marks to right answers and students and their parents going thru’ harrowing times. This is an all India phenomena, and innumerable students have suffered by this whimsical examiners. Most students have been able to get justice, but it did leave a trail of unpleasant memories of bitter experiences to all those who suffered at the hands of examiners/valuers. A similar story of injustice was published in this daily. Story informed about a student who should have got 8 marks in maths got 80 marks and the other who expected 90 got only 9 marks. The writer informed about ‘the mental turmoil of the later student and how his being poor and hence unable to pay the fees for revaluation had made th...

In one of his bravest moments, the Union Law Minister Moili fired his salvo at the Supreme Court, reacting to the judgment delivered on 6th June 2010 on the Union Carbide gas tragedy in Bhopal. Mr. Moili has reportedly stated "The apex court has reduced the gravity of crime at Bhopal to a truck accident. Cases of mass destruction should have standard law. Mass destruction is not an accident, but a disaster." Print media screamed in its headlines "After 25 years and 25000 deaths only 2 year jail term," commenting on the conviction of 8 executives of Union Carbide India for the greatest industrial disaster on the midnight of 2nd Dec- 1984. Electronic media had its own take, how government did not act on time, and how government machineries were allowed to be used to facilitate the departure of Warren Anderson, the Chairman of Union Carbide in the U.S. How the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh played his suspected diabolic role in the escape of American boss of Uni...

WATER AND HUMAN HEALTH Prof. B. M. Hegde, hegdebm@gmail.com "Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up." Robert Frost. This planet is mainly a mass of water and only a small portion of it is land. Despite all that only a minute share of water in the planet (2.5%) is potable. Most of the latter is locked up as ice while only one per cent is available in lakes, rivers and underground water tables for human consumption. Human body is 65-70% water. Therefore, human health and life on this planet depend on water to a very great extent. If one understands this one could easily comprehend how important it is to keep the water balance adequate to remain healthy all through one’s life. Water makes up more than two thirds of the weight of the human body. Human brain is made up of 95% water; blood is 62% and lungs 90%. Even as little as 2% drop in body water could trigger dehydration. This is not easily made out as thirst is a rather late symptom of dehydration. Earl...

GANG LEADER FOR A DAY Ms. Bailey’s Neighborhood I ran into Ms. Bailey pretty regularly. Sometimes she accompanied J.T. as he made his rounds of the building; sometimes I’d see her with a police officer or a CHA official. She always said hello and politely introduced me to whomever she was with. But I didn’t really know what she did or how she did it. Although she was present at the backroom gang negotiation I witnessed at the Boys & Girls Club, she hadn’t gotten very involved. So I was curious to learn more about her. Specifically, I wanted to know why residents spoke of her with a mixture of reverence and fear, much as they spoke of J.T. "Oh, you don’t want to mess with Ms. Bailey," they’d say. Or, "Yeah, Ms. Bailey can tell you’re a lot about what’s happening, but make sure you have five dollars with you." Even J.T., who agreed that I should spend some time with Ms. Bailey, vaguely hinted that I ought to be careful around her. Part of my motivation to observe ...

An open letter to the Home Minister Dear Shri Chidambaram, This is in response to your repeated taunts on NDTV that the civil society must respond to the wanton killing by the Naxals. It appears that the interview was tailor made for getting the consent of the Cabinet for more firepower and airpower to combat the moist. The diabolic support of Arun Jaitly, be it by describing you an injured martyr, was designed to achieve his ambition through the support of the mining barons of the BJP ruled states. As a member of society I hope I am being civil in disagreeing with you on your hard line approach against the innocent tribal. I also hope you will not find it too shocking for being accused of being largely responsible for the rise and growth of Naxalism, as the following happened on your watch as Finance Minister. Is it not true that Naxalism grew exponentially in the last ten years to become the present menace? In fact you have yourself identified the time frame of the last ten years in ...

Pitfalls in Implementation of Right to Education P M Kamath Prime Minister on behalf of the UPA II released recently its one year’s progress report to public. Naturally, I am sure UPA II would look forward for public response to it. I would like to comment on one item from it as an educationist and educational administrator. The report card claims credit for the government’s successful implementation of Right to Education Act which was passed by the Union Parliament in August 2009 and implemented by it on all fools day—April 1, 2010. The report card claims it as a significant social legislation that is going to benefit Aam Aadmi. No doubt it is extremely important social legislation if implemented to support its underlying spirit. But as of today more appropriately as per its date of implementation it seems to fool Aam Aadmi. My journalist friend tells me that I should first state my main conclusions first and then advance reason for the same. On that line, I would say that in speedy r...

Fire tenders supplying water Nagpur: While elsewhere the fire tenders are used to douse fires, in Nagpur, the civic body is using them to supply drinking water to several parts of the city, and it is unable to use them in fire-fighting operations. The Fire Department has pointed out that this year has seen at least 10 fire calls more from housing and commercial sector, in comparison to the corresponding period last year. According to sources, the department’s Sakkardara fire station is facing the biggest problem as residents of East Nagpur are combating acute water shortage everyday. Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s water tankers have failed to solve the crisis. So, some of the corporators of these areas have allegedly forced the NMC officials at Sakkardara fire station to distribute potable water in their respective wards. The wards that are getting water from the fire brigade include Janki Nagar, Sarvashri Nagar, Manewada Road, Juna Subedhar Layout, Ayodhya Nagar, Bidipeth, Diamond Roa...

Heart transplant patient gets donor’s traits Yeh dil maange more Do heart transplant recipients take on the characteristics of the donors? David Waters (24), from Adelaide, was given the heart of Kaden Delaney (18) left brain dead after a car crash. Earlier, Waters had ‘no desire at all’ for burger Rings, ring-shaped hamburger-flavoured crisps, which were one of Kaden’s favourite snacks. He now craves for them, reports dailymail.co.uk. This case adds weight to a theory that the brain is not the only organ to store memories or personality traits. Scientists say there are at least 70 documented cases of transplant patients having personality changes which reflect the characteristics of their donors. Remembering it by heart Gluco Track for pain-free blood sugar test An end to painful pricks? Diabetics can soon gauge their blood glucose levels without the need to prick the skin or maybe the painful laboratory tests. Many sufferers have to prick their fingers up to four times a day. Diabete...

Porn films, a thriving industry in Karachi Karachi: Karachi, the largest city and business capital of Pakistan is emerging as a new hub for porn film-making industry luring youngsters to earn quick money. The newly-launched ‘Tribune’ newspaper carried a report saying that many young boys and girls, mainly students and runaways were turning towards the local porn industry to make big money. Sources in Karachi police and intelligence told PTI that some people were indeed making porn films and distributing the CDs privately through a strong network of regular shopkeepers in the whole country and by posting them on the Internet. "It is true that local porn films are being made in Karachi. Some time back we raided a photo studio in Clifton (upmarket area of Karachi) run by a guy named Bobby. We caught him making a porn film with boys and girls and he admitted he was into this business," a intelligence officer said. A film typically costs Rs. 400,000-600,000 and can make as much as...

Ahmadi’s links with carbide for lifetime Bhopal: Justice A M Ahmadi, who, as the Chief Justice of India, along with fellow judge SB Majumdar, diluted the charges against Union Carbide Corporation and its officials in the Bhopal gas leak case, has been in a way associated with carbide and its victims even after the infamous verdict. In fact, the former Chief Justice of India is the chairman of a hospital trust set up with Union Carbide’s money. Justice Ahmadi was appointed lifetime chairman of the trust on his retirement by the Supreme Court itself. The appointment, it will be recalled, had led to a flutter in legal circles at that time with eminent Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaisingh opposing it on the grounds that Ahmadi had provided relief to carbide officials accused in the Bhopal criminal case. In October 1991 the Supreme Court had directed Union Carbide Corporation, US, to finance a 500-bed hospital for the long term medical care of survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster. In respon...

Shocking waste of eye donations In a shocking report, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on health has expressed disbelief over thousands of eyes donated to the government eye banks going waste because of lack of infrastructure and maintenance facilities. Only 432 of the 13,896 eyes donated between 2005 and 2008 could be actually transplanted on recipients and the rest were either thrown away or utilised only for research purposes. "There was a big gap between overall figures of eyes donated and utilised during the period in nine states," the committee headed by Amar Singh said in a report tabled in Parliament. The states scrutinised were Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Orissa, Jharkhand, Assam, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The committee report points out that only five per cent of eyes collected by the government eye banks could be used, while it was much better in case of the private eye banks which reported use of 50 percent eyes from among 44,064 collected in the n...

Have guts to take on IAS, IPS babus? : SC New Delhi: The Supreme Court ticked off the Centre for frequently filing appeals challenging issues relating to class IV employees, but not having the ‘guts’ to take on IAS/IPS officers over such issues. "Why do you come to us frequently against labourers, kalasis and chaprasis. Do you have the guts to take on IAS/IPS officers? You keep on filing petitions against class IV employees but not against IAS/APS officers. That’s because you don’t have the guts," a bench of Justice B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumat remarked. The apex court passed the observation while dismissing the Centre’s appeal challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court direction to appoint Jarnail Singh as a labourer in the Ministry of Defence. According to Wasim Ahmed Quadri, the Centre’s counsel, though Singh was selected after an interview, he could not be appointed to the post for want of sanction as it was ‘time barred’. Peon’s daughter makes it to IAS Chandigarh: S...