ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends We are into the monsoon season, but unlike last year, this time round, rain god is playing hide and seek. It’s not been even 50% of the last year, when, it caused unprecedented devastation in Uttarkhand. Thousands had died and loss of property has been colossal. While the rebuilding is still in its limping stage, the memory of the dead shall linger for a very long time to come with dead bodies still popping up from no-where. A complete account of the loss of life may never be possible with the kind of topography the state has. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was not functional then, hope, it is activated by this time to be available in case of need. According the Meteorological people, July shall have better monsoon. Hope it is proved right or else we will have a serious socio-agrarian problem. Month-in-Perspective, as usual, has tried to cover as many issues of relevance as was possible within the space constraints. We have tried to be as fair as possible...

NEW DELHI: ‘Good days are coming’ has been the clarion-call of Modi’s campaign in Election 2014. Modi has been rather innovative, in his verbose in the election rhetorics. Result, we have all seen. After 30 years, there’s a single party government in New Delhi. Narendra Modi has certainly arrived on the national stage like none before him. Hence the expectation of ordinary Indians, especially those who voted for him, is justifiably there, of good days ahead. And comes the bomb shell, by way of 14% hike in the railway passenger fare and 6% in the freight charge. As expected all political parties went to the town to cry hoarse. Even BJP would have done the same before Election 2014. But that is politics. This is the only way it functions in a country like India. Media informs that the increase of 14% and 6% was planned in the last vote-on-account proposals of former Rail Minister of UPA, Mallikarjun Kharge. But due to possible election fallout it was not tabled in the parliament. Thus...

GOVERNORS AS TOOL OF PARTY IN POWER The recent ongoing debate on the removal or otherwise of Governors of states by the incumbent government has prompted us to revisit this institution to put in public domain, how some of the governors appointed by the government of the day played their constitutional role so very unconstitutionally in tune with the agenda of the ruling party at the centre. We all recognize that governorship of any state is a kind of reward for an old war-horse or to rehabilitate a retired babu, who has been a partner in the past with their political masters in their wheelings and dealings. Also at times to send a troublesome party leader into political ‘vanavaas’, this governorship was rewarded. Governors playing politics or appointed to play politics was started by Indira Gandhi and continued through Rajeev Gandhi to the latest government of Sonia/Manmohan combine. Looking back over the shoulder, walking down the memory lane, there have been many governors, acti...

EcoSan toilets bring dignity to life of villagers SUGATA ROY, Krishnagiri (Tamil Nadu) Contrary to the common perception of most Indian farmers T. Venu finds a high water table a bane for the community in his village. For, he has experienced difficulties in having a conventional leach pit toilet in his village, which has a high level of ground water. Because of this, Ponagavananthanagar Village under the Thimapuram Panchayat in Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu, did not have household toilets till 2008, and open defecation was a way of life for the community. “After my retirement from the Indian Army, I returned to my village to lead a serene life. I was shocked when hit by the reality that there are no toilets in my village,” says Venu, who had worked in the Army Medical Corps. “It was difficult for me to accept the practice of open defecation.” Venu immediately got in touch with the block office and constructed a conventional leach pit toilet in his house. But he soon ran into p...

Why stress, fear trigger heart attacks New York: In a first, scientists have come up with an explanation to why a sudden shock, stress and fear may trigger heart attack and they found that multiple bacterial species living as biofilms on arterial walls could hold the key to such attacks, reports IANS. Hormones released during these events appear to cause bacterial biofilms on arterial walls to disperse, allowing plaque deposits to rupture into the bloodstream, the findings showed. Because the biofilms are closely bound to arterial plaque, the dispersal of a biofilm could cause sudden release of the surrounding arterial plaque, triggering a heart attack. “Our hypothesis fitted with the observation that heart attack and stroke often occur following an event where elevated levels of catecholamine hormones are released into the blood and tissues, such as occurs during sudden emotional shock or stress, sudden exertion or over-exertion,” said David Davies of Binghamton University in the ...

Afghanistan & a Female cabbie When Afghan taxi driver Sara Bahai has male passengers in her cab, she takes the chance to lobby them on female rights and she hopes the country’s next president will also listen to her arguments. Bahai has been driving the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif city for 10 years, during which Afghanistan has experienced huge changes, including limited improvements in the lives of women. Now, ahead of the Saturday’s run-off election, she says the new president must push ahead with reforms. “Sometimes I argue with male passengers all through the journey to convince them a woman driving a taxi isn’t a bad or un-Islamic thing,” Bahai, who is thought to have been Afghanistan’s first-ever-female taxi driver, told AFP. “Women should be given bigger roles, they should be given seats as ministers. And female teachers should be paid more to help female education. “I see a lot of changes for Afghan women in the past few years. Many are setting up businesses to do whateve...

Inspiring story of a village in Madhya Pradesh Amita Bhaduri     Once water-deficient, Didakhedi in Madhya Pradesh is now a village with year-round water supply The 200-odd residents of Didakhedi, a sleepy village just 13 km from Sehore town in Madhya Pradesh, never had adequate water. Two decades ago, most of the farming in the village was done during the monsoons. The village had no electricity and a lone diesel pump operated the shallow dug wells to irrigate some land during the winter. The shallow wells, their only source of water, would turn dry during the scorching summer months, leaving the people distressed. Once the village got electricity, farmers began drilling tube-wells to irrigate their fields and ground water was depleted faster than it could be replenished. Drinking water was the first casualty. The four hand-pumps and two bore-wells installed by the government in the village started drying up and became unreliable. As the shallow wells dried up, they wer...

Who says it and how? “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.” Charles Darwin. Winston Churchill once said that in any statement there are three aspects which matter. They are * who is making that statement, * how is s/he saying it and * finally,what is said? Of the three, Churchill felt, that the last is the least important. Therefore when a big man makes a statement then the powers that be get energised to act! Reading a news item a few days ago about a statement by a great Sarkari technologist I felt that the future of our ancient medical care delivery system using the nature's bounty of herbal drugs and the folk medicines in India, which has been the backbone of medical care for "times out of mind," has a bright future. This statement came from one of the country's top sarkari technologists, Sam...

FREEBIES TO EMPOWERMENT New Delhi: The government will try strike a balance between reviving a wobbly economy and welfare of the poor sections, but the days of “khairat” (charity) are now gone, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday. “Khairat ka zamaana chala gaya, empowerment ka zamaana aa gaya (days of dole are gone, days of empowerment have now come),” Pradhan said. “Swatantra banana padega logon ko, atma-nirbhar banana padega... Gareebon ke liye hi (unko swatantra) banana padega. Koi isme antar-virudh nahin hai (we have to make people more independent and self-reliant… this is only for the poor people’s good… These are not opposing views).” Stabilizing the economy takes precedence over simply handing out doles to the poor since a weak economy hurts the economically weaker sections the most, the minister said. The top priority of the government was to bring back economic stability, the minister said, adding that economic reforms would not harm but...

Pak Christian lawmaker gunned down by bodyguard Islamabad: A Pakistani Christian lawmaker was shot and killed by his own bodyguard in Balochistan province’s capital city Quetta, according to PTI. Handry Masih was elected as the member of Balochistan’s provincial assembly from the province’s ruling National Party. The lawmaker was shot by the guard near his home in Nawa Kalay area of the city, where he met the people of his constituency on the weekends, Dunya TV reported. He was taken to hospital where he died. One of his nephews was also injured in the attack but he is stable and out of danger. The motive of the attack was not known as yet. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the killing and ordered the provincial government to arrest the killer. Pakistan’s Christian minority is constantly persecuted and attacked by hard-line Islamist elements.   25 Pilgrims killed in Balochistan  Karachi: At least 25 Shia pilgrims, including 10 women, were killed when suicide bo...

THE INTERVIEW He anxiously swiped his card again, trying to recall the instructions during his orientation session when he joined the company on how to swipe correctly swipe security cards. Nothing happened. He cleaned the magnetic strip on the card with saliva on his fingertips; still no access. “It’s just dirty,” he said with a sheepish smile to the secretary who stood behind him. “It’s okay, Satish,” she said. “If your card don’t work, you can go in with me. I know who you are.” “Thank you, ma’am,” he replied just as he heard the sounds of his card’s acceptance. He pushed the door with relief and ran up the stairs to Tim’s office. Liz waved him in, saying, “Go on in. He’s waiting for you.” “Hi, Tim. What’s up?” As soon as Tim saw Satish, he stubbed his half-smoked cigarette, grabbed his coat from behind his chair, and said, “Let’s go. We are going to be late. There’s a meeting in a few minutes.” “What meeting?” he asked. “Just come with me. No questions,” Tim instructed ...

Too often, we don’t realize what we have until it is gone. Too often, we wait too late to say, “I’m sorry – I was wrong.”                  Sometimes, it seems we hurt the ones we hold dearest to our hearts                 And we allow foolish thing to tear our lives apart. Far too many times we let unimportant things into our minds And then it’s usually too late to see what made us blind.        So be sure to let people know how much they mean to you.        Take that time to say the words before your time is through. Be sure that you appreciate everything you’ve got And be thankful for the Little Things in life that mean a lot.

Airline to pay Rs 2 lakh New Delhi: Low-fare airline JetLite has been directed by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to a flyer, who could not travel from Delhi to Hazaribagh in Jharkhand for a family function because of sudden cancellation of his flight. New Delhi Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum directed the airline to compensate for the harassment caused to Vinod Kumar Singhal and his seven family members in February 2007 and pulled it up for citing fog as a reason for cancellation of the flight. “It appears that opposite party (JetLite) is taking shelter of early morning fog conditions with weather report,” a bench presided by Justice C K Chaturvedi said, while noting that the first reply of the airline did not mention fog as reason for cancellation of flight.

EPILEPSY TO BE THING OF THE PAST  Washington: University of Toronto biologists leading an investigation into the cells that regulate proper brain function, have identified and located the key players whose actions contribute to afflictions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia, reports ANI. The discovery is a major step toward developing improved treatments for these and other neurological disorders. “Neurons in the brain communicate with other neurons through synapses, communication that can either excite or inhibit other neurons,” Professor Melanie Woodin in the Department of Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Toronto ( U of T), lead investigator said. “An imbalance among the levels of excitation and inhibition – a tip towards excitation, for example – causes improper brain function and produce seizures. We identified a key complex of proteins that can regulate excitation inhibition balance at the cellular level,” she said. This complex brings together, three key pro...

Water thieves identified but authorities on slow mode Bhayandar: Ten days after Kashimira police registered a case of water theft against three tanker operators for illegally drawing water from a lake in Jari-Mari municipal garden situated in Janta Nagar, cops are yet to identify the culprits involved in the massive water theft racket. Following complaints of water theft from the lake, civic chief Suresh Kakani had directed officials from the Tree Authority (TA) to take immediate action against the offenders. A team led by deputy civic chief Deepak Kurulekar and TA officer Hansraj Meshram claims to have carried out a surprise raid at the garden last week. It found three water tankers drawing water from the lake with the help of diesel-fuelled pumps. After spotting the municipal team, drivers fled the scene along with tankers. The team informed cops who reached the spot and seized the pump sets. “We noted down registration numbers of tankers and handed it over to the police. Our jo...

A boy from nowhere  arrives on big stage Thane: Son of a cycle shop owner from Boisar in Thane secured third rank in the state in UPSC civil services exam 2013, the result of which was announced on Thursday. Varun Baranwal, lost his father during his SSC exams in 2008, got 32nd AIR rank in the UPSC exams. Varun passed the SSC with 89 per cent marks and it was his mother who encouraged him to pursue Science stream. He later got a Bachelor’s degree Electronics and Telecommunications from MIT College, Pune and has been a gold medalist. Self-defense training to girl students Mumbai: Brihan-Mumabi Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed to continue judo and karate training of girl students for their self-defense. Due to increasing number of rape and eve-teasing incidents, the BMC had started imparting judo and karate training to girl students of standard 5th and 6th last academic year. On successful completion of this pilot project, BMC education officer Shambhavi Jogi said, “Th...