MONTH THAT WAS
Maya - waste collector, on climate change
Accused headmistress jailed
Hyderabad: A court in Andhra Pradesh’s Warangal district sent the headmistress of a government-run primary school to 14-day judicial custody for torturing students with a burning log. Police produced 50-year-old Shruti Keerti in the court. The government has already suspended the headmistress, who caused burns to 13 children aged between five and seven years. Angry over the noise in the classrooms, the headmistress singed the children with firewood. She plucked the burning log from the hearth where the mid-day meal was being cooked for the children and pressed it on to the hands, neck and legs of the children. The children received grievous injuries.
Activist gets a year in jail for trying to halt raid
Maya Khodave is a rag picker in Nashik. Presently, she is in Tianjin, China, asserting the role of rag pickers in maintaining the world environment.
"Our work is dirty and hard, but it has real benefits for the larger society as recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions and saves resources. Governments should recognise our work and cooperate with our efforts to improve our working conditions and increase recycling," Maya a leader of Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat, a union of waste pickers, told the international audience at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Exuding confidence Maya, who has studied up to Std V, enlightened the audience of the environmental balance that the work of waste pickers achieve.
At the United Nations negotiations on climate change, leaders of waste pickers’ organisations denounced waste-to-energy technologies and demanded recognition and financial support for their contribution to fighting climate change.
Two more waste pickers Baidabai Gaikwad (Pune) and Sushila Sable (Mumbai) have joined Maya in China.
"Currently we get no benefits. The govt’s support would help us do our work more efficiently. With a little grant money, we can increase our recycling and produce biogas from the organic waste, instead of sending it to landfills," added Maya who also takes care of her two children.
The decomposition of organic waste in landfills is a leading source of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. "Recycling reduces emissions from deforestation, mining, manufacturing, transport and disposal. Nevertheless, the UNFCCC has not taken notice of waste or waste pickers. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has supported waste incinerators and landfill gas systems which have moved towards displacing waste pickers," she added.
The CDM is a big problem, Maya said, "It finances private companies which are burning waste, which instead could be recycled and composted. That increases emissions and hurts us economically," she said, quoting a report by Respect for Recyclers, documenting that the CDM has backed approximately 185 incinerators and landfill gas projects, but no recycling projects.
"Our work is dirty and hard, but it has real benefits for the larger society as recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions and saves resources. Governments should recognise our work and cooperate with our efforts to improve our working conditions and increase recycling," Maya a leader of Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat, a union of waste pickers, told the international audience at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Exuding confidence Maya, who has studied up to Std V, enlightened the audience of the environmental balance that the work of waste pickers achieve.
At the United Nations negotiations on climate change, leaders of waste pickers’ organisations denounced waste-to-energy technologies and demanded recognition and financial support for their contribution to fighting climate change.
Two more waste pickers Baidabai Gaikwad (Pune) and Sushila Sable (Mumbai) have joined Maya in China.
"Currently we get no benefits. The govt’s support would help us do our work more efficiently. With a little grant money, we can increase our recycling and produce biogas from the organic waste, instead of sending it to landfills," added Maya who also takes care of her two children.
The decomposition of organic waste in landfills is a leading source of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. "Recycling reduces emissions from deforestation, mining, manufacturing, transport and disposal. Nevertheless, the UNFCCC has not taken notice of waste or waste pickers. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has supported waste incinerators and landfill gas systems which have moved towards displacing waste pickers," she added.
The CDM is a big problem, Maya said, "It finances private companies which are burning waste, which instead could be recycled and composted. That increases emissions and hurts us economically," she said, quoting a report by Respect for Recyclers, documenting that the CDM has backed approximately 185 incinerators and landfill gas projects, but no recycling projects.
Accused headmistress jailed
Hyderabad: A court in Andhra Pradesh’s Warangal district sent the headmistress of a government-run primary school to 14-day judicial custody for torturing students with a burning log. Police produced 50-year-old Shruti Keerti in the court. The government has already suspended the headmistress, who caused burns to 13 children aged between five and seven years. Angry over the noise in the classrooms, the headmistress singed the children with firewood. She plucked the burning log from the hearth where the mid-day meal was being cooked for the children and pressed it on to the hands, neck and legs of the children. The children received grievous injuries.
Activist gets a year in jail for trying to halt raid
vant from performing his duty can have serious repercussions and consumer activist Raksh Pal Abrol has learnt this the hard way.
The activist, who had interfered in a raid being conducted by the central excise department 18 years ago, was recently sentenced to a year’s rigorous imprisonment. The court also slapped a fine of ` 5,000 on him.
Aborl had a run-in with a senior excise official at the Malad flat of his acquaintance, Kalyanaji Shah, on July 30, 1992 when it was being raided. While one of the officers was recording the statement of Kalyaniji’s wife Bhanumati, Abrol intervened. The activist, along with a lawyer, demanded that Bhanumati state only what he was instructing her to.
The raid was being led by assistant collector of centaral excise Kanu Verma, who told Abrol to stop interfering. Abrol asked Verma to include him as one of the witnesses in the panchnama. Verma refused and asked the team to jot down details of Abrol and his companion. He allegedly threatened Verma, who called the Malad cops.
An FIR was registered against Abrol for assaulting a government servant. It took 10 years to record witnesses’ statements.
Abrol’s lawyer attempted to demonstrate the ‘unlawful’ nature of the raid. "The court is not examining the legality of the raid," additional chief metropolitan magistrate DH Sharma said. "Assault does not necessarily include physical contact. Abrol’s actions had a calculated effect of creating apprehension in the mind of central excise officials." Abrol told TOI that he has now appealed against the conviction in the sessions court.
The activist, who had interfered in a raid being conducted by the central excise department 18 years ago, was recently sentenced to a year’s rigorous imprisonment. The court also slapped a fine of ` 5,000 on him.
Aborl had a run-in with a senior excise official at the Malad flat of his acquaintance, Kalyanaji Shah, on July 30, 1992 when it was being raided. While one of the officers was recording the statement of Kalyaniji’s wife Bhanumati, Abrol intervened. The activist, along with a lawyer, demanded that Bhanumati state only what he was instructing her to.
The raid was being led by assistant collector of centaral excise Kanu Verma, who told Abrol to stop interfering. Abrol asked Verma to include him as one of the witnesses in the panchnama. Verma refused and asked the team to jot down details of Abrol and his companion. He allegedly threatened Verma, who called the Malad cops.
An FIR was registered against Abrol for assaulting a government servant. It took 10 years to record witnesses’ statements.
Abrol’s lawyer attempted to demonstrate the ‘unlawful’ nature of the raid. "The court is not examining the legality of the raid," additional chief metropolitan magistrate DH Sharma said. "Assault does not necessarily include physical contact. Abrol’s actions had a calculated effect of creating apprehension in the mind of central excise officials." Abrol told TOI that he has now appealed against the conviction in the sessions court.
Goa Sena chief booked for extortion
Panaji: The Shiv Sena’s Goa unit chief and vice chief were booked for trying to extort money from a casino operator, police said. Official said that both Shiv Sena Goa president Upendra Gaonkar and his deputy Umesh Salgaonkar had been booked for trying to extort Rs 15 lakh from the management of Hotel Majestic at Porvorim, five kilometers from here.
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