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12月22日 Hungry Kya?Arundhati Roy in her article points out thus,
a small box on the top left-hand corner in the inner pages of a national newspaper (sponsored by a pizza company, I think) said, "Hungry, kya?" ("Hungry eh?"). It, then, with the best of intentions I'm sure, informed its readers that, on the international hunger index, India ranked below Sudan and Somalia.
No news channel bothers to chase this issue like I would like to see. Here is BBC on th International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) report.
Twelve Indian states have "alarming" levels of hunger while the situation is "extremely alarming" in the state of Madhya Pradesh, says a new report
....
"When Indian states are compared to countries in the Global Hunger Index, [the central Indian state of] Madhya Pradesh ranks between Ethiopia and Chad," it says.
The report, released as part of the 2008 Global Hunger Index, ranks India at 66 out 88
Here is the chart and how Indian states are ranked.
 Arent you a bit surprised that Modi's "Top investment destination" state is ranked worse than Orissa?
Here's an article by corporate spokesman Suhel Seth titled "Why India needs Narendra Modi":
The passion for development; the passion for an invigorated Gujarat; the passion for the uplifting the living standards of the people in his state and the joy with which he recounted simple yet memorable data-points. For instance, almost all of the milk consumed in Singapore is supplied by Gujarat; or for that matter all the tomatoes that are eaten in Afghanistan are produced in Gujarat or the potatoes that Canadians gorge on are all farmed in Gujarat.
Hmm, so now you know?
12月19日 India Shining? Think again.Next time you are worried about India's superpower status, remember this report from the Govt. of India website: (Let it be known that governments seldom accept their failures).
(Report submitted to Prime Minister on 5th November' 2007)
says:
Such a buoyancy in the economy did lead to a sense of euphoria by the turn of the last century. However, a majority of the people, who did not have even Rs. 20 a day for consumption,were not touched by this euphoria. At the end of 2004-05, about 836 million or 77 per cent of the population were living below Rs.20 per day and constituted most of India's informal economy. About 79 per cent of the informal or unorganised workers belonged to this group without any legal protection of their jobs or working conditions or social security, living in abject poverty and excluded from all the glory of a shining India
...
what is quite significant is that 79 per cent of the informal or unorganised workers, 88 per cent of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 80 per cent of the OBC population and 84 per cent of the Muslims belong to the poor and vulnerable group. They have remained poor at a bare subsistence level without any job or social security, working in the most miserable, unhygienic and unliveable conditions, throughout this period of high economic growth since the early nineties. There have been some inter se changes within this total group, such that the proportion of the Extremely Poor and the Poor has come down, while the number of marginally poor and the Vulnerable gr
groups have increased. But the percentage of population suffering from poverty and vulnerability has remained substantial.
...
Since data from the 61st Round of the NSS are now available we are in a position to compare our estimates of the 55th Round (1999-00) with those for 2004-05
....... What this means in simple terms is that the entire increase in the employment in the organised sector over this period has been informal in nature i.e. without any job or social security. This constitutes what can be termed as informalisation of the formal sector, where any employment increase consists of regular workers without social security benefits and casual or contract workers again without the benefits that should accrue to formal workers.
....
While the percentage of population below the poverty line has come down, albeit at a slower rate during the nineties and until recently compared to in the eighties, the movement is within the group of broadly poor (41 per cent) or the poor and vulnerable (77 per cent) of the population.
....
It is quite evident that the Indian growth story has been characterized by a rapid growth of middle class and the rich, expanding their consumption of non-food, non-essential and durable items and thereby providing a huge market of 253 million people that includes imports of these items from the global market. There is no doubt that this "Shining India" has expanded in the past and is still expanding at a very high rate. But this picture is spoiled by a virtually stagnant consumption expenditure and miserable working and living conditions of the 77 per cent of our population who are poor and vulnerable.
This group includes the overwhelming population of the dalits and adivasis, OBCs and Muslims. This is the other world which can be characterised as the India of the Common People, constituting more than three-fourths of the population and consisting of all those whom the growth process has, by and large, bypassed.”
....
So much for the piss on (err trickle down) economy!!!
Enuf said!
PS: Thanks Sainath for pointing out the document! 9月17日 David Rockefeller Quote"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time "It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world 7月9日 In other newsMukesh Ambani India's richest man and owner of Reliance Industries Ltd Gifted his wife a Luxury Jet with entertainment cabins, a sky bar and fancy showers for her birthday, He gifted $60 million Air Bus on her 44 th birthday. Rumours are that he is planning to gift her $1 billion home on her next birthday which is a 27 storey home with a helipad, health club, and six floors of car parking and 600 staff
Jerk!
6月26日 Vandana ShivaHere is an interesting observation from Dr Vandana Shiva*.
The war mentality underlying military-industrial agriculture is evident from the names given to herbicides which destroy the economic basis of the survival of the poorest women in the rural areas of the Third World. Monsanto's herbicides are called "Round Up", "Machete","Lasso". American Home Products which has merged with Monsanto calls its herbicides "Pentagon", "Prowl", "Scepter", "Squadron", "Cadre" ," Lightening", "Assert", "Avenge". This is the language of war, not sustainability.Sustainability is based on peace with the earth
*Dr. Vandana Shiva is one of the world's most dynamic and provocative thinkers on the environment, women's rights and international affairs. A physicist, ecologist and activist, she won the alternative Nobel Prize in 1993 6月24日 TOI bats for MonsantoWas I amazed that the news outlet that generally presents a rosy picture of "India" was prophecising a dark future when I read the following headline?
By 2020, India a 'chronic' importer of foodgrain?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/By_2020_India_a_chronic_importer_of_foodgrain/articleshow/3161680.cms Well almost, until the smoking Chekhov's* gun appeared in the fine prints.
A yet-to-be-released report of ASSOCHAM has warned that India could become a chronic net importer of rice and wheat by 2020 if the trends are not reversed.
Ah the ASSOCHAM (stands for Chamber of Ass-os).. werent these guys the same people who said (my emphasis)
With adoption of BT cotton technology, farmers engaged in cotton cultivation earned additional income of Rs. 7,039 crores in 20061; saved Rs. 1,600 on pesticides use in their one hectare of farm land compared to farmers growing conventional cotton hybrids; and had higher access to social services important for family health and welfare, according to two studies on "BT Cotton Farming in India" released today by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
Yeah right, and because of the improved conditions and more money they weren't happy with life anymore and started commiting suicides? Yes?
(my emphasis)
In the year 2007, 1095 farmers committed suicide in Vidharbha, that is one in every eight hours.
Vidharbha in Maharashtra has emerged as an epicenter of farmers suicides over the last decade
Vidharbha is also the region where Monsanto sells most of its genetically engineered Bt. Cotton.
So you see, this is just the ground work to convince people to eventually support more GMO/BioTech enhanced agriculture. Nothing wrong with that, unless you realize that its only going to work for them not us! For, we will either pay with our lives or thru our noses.
*"If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." 5月16日 Bush Lies media buys. As usual.http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1806579,00.html?imw=Y President Bush has never been known for his eloquence, but his comment earlier this month that India's growing middle class was demanding "better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up" was neither particularly mangled nor, at first flush, offensive. ..... But Bush was not completely wrong, either. There's no doubt that China and India's growing middle classes are consuming more and different types of food. As people get richer they tend to eat more meat and dairy products, for instance, and that's exactly what's happening in China and India. We all know how Indian press reacted to this news. Most of them blaming the US for eating more instead and asking them to stop policing. Over all readers may have been left with an impression that things are much better off in India and they are now eating more, thanks to globalisation. The response that was metted out did not correct that impression and instead showed that US folks ate even more and that they should not bully. Some like TOI even reacted thus: While the Indian government, including the Prime Minister, maintained a dignified silence on the matter, it was mostly the media, his headline seeking colleagues, and Left politicians who feasted on the controversy and made a meal of it in the end. Only a few had the courage to show that it was not just a dumb statement out of Bush's potty mouth, but a blatant lie! And for that lie, Sir, I DO take offense. http://www.countercurrents.org/kavita090508.htm But in India, since the entry of globalisation, the average per capita consumption of food grain has actually gone down from 177 kg per person to 155 kg per person: which is the same as the hunger levels seen during famine in times of the British Raj. And in India, foodgrains absorption is rising fast for the (mainly urban) middle class, which boosts the national average. A large section of rural poor are actually reduced to as low as 136 kg per capita per year – which is the same as that of starvation-hit sub-Saharan Africa. Bush grudges the 350 million-strong Indian middle class its improved diet: he is blithely silent about over 350 million rural Indians who are below the average food energy intake of sub-Saharan African countries! Studies have shown a long-term tendency towards declining per capita calorie consumption, especially in rural India – that is, Indians are growing hungrier year after year. Deaths by hunger are an all-too common phenomenon which Indian rulers are united in denying. 7月20日 In support of Dr Haneef's Human Rights
It is interesting to me that lending a SIM card to a cousin who later turns out to be brother of someone who was involved in a terrorist activity is called an act of recklessly supporting terrorism and can have certain people sent to prison/detention center. While certain OTHER people are allowed to carry on with their lives for providing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to some of the more notorious people How the CIA created Osama bin Laden
With the case against the prisoner already looking thin, news broke yesterday that the SIM card — the single vivid detail that had seen Haneef interrogated, charged and stripped of his visa — was not in the burning Jeep at Glasgow. It had never made it to the scene of the crime but was still where Haneef had left it, down south in the possession of his cousin Sabeel — who has not been charged as a terrorist in Britain. http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/the-trials-of-a-good-indian-son/2007/07/20/1184560040649.html
12月29日 Miracle in SingurMamata was furious!
Her blood pressure high. The wretched Manmohan had called her fatso again! "Ey Moti! Tee hee hee" he had teased her. For once she wanted to blow him to pieces by using her ultra high frequency scream. A nice letter is what she demanded, but our Man was being a naughty boy.
-------------------------------
Kolkata was Bandh,
"Didi, what shall we do now", said one of the perpetually prostrated Bhondu (err Bondhu) at her office. Didi paced the room frantically trying to avenge her insult. "Nirlajjo bichri manush!". How can I show him his place.
"How about you go on diet Didi", screamed another of her prostrated subject as she accidentally stepped on him.
"Why you lowly scum, thats a lovely idea! Then he won't be able to call me Moti!".
Didi was expert in getting political advantage of every move she made. Dieting equals hunger, hunger as in hunger strike. Things were going too good for the incumbents, a new Tata factory was coming up in Singur. Didi declared a hunger strike against the govt's decision to allot the land to Tata's.
------------------------------- The farmers were puzzled,
How come Didi was suddenly worried about them. Every time Didi fought for a cause, the cause commited suicide. But with Didi forgoing her food they saw hope in their lives. Didi had treated the state as her personal "rice bowl" for years! Happily they supported her in this action.
------------------------------- Rock star Kalam was frustrated,
"I can't believe I am dealing with these kids, I would have been better off with a family". He called Man, "Hey why don't you send Mamata a nice little letter and apologize?". "Tee hee hee, don't you think its too soon. Lets have a little fun with her". Kalam agreed, "But do it soon!"
------------------------------- Manmohan was impressed.
Twenty five days were enough. He started writing the letter.
"Hey Moti, I hope you arent dreaming of laddoos, halwa and puri. I had some Aloo Parathas my wife made. Before that Madam sent me some nice pasta and ceasar salad for lunch. This is the NICE LETTER you wanted. Ok TATA. Phir Milenge. Sweet dreams of rosogulla".
------------------------------- The fast was over!
Banerjee, whose blood pressure has dropped drastically, said she had got a "nice" letter from the prime minister late on Thursday night.
Doctors attending on Banerjee at the private nursing home, where she was taken for treatment, said they are examining any damage to her liver and kidney due to the 25-day fast.
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/29mamta.htm?q=tp&file=.htm
------------------------------- The doctors were stunned. A miracle had happened in Singur.
Didi was five kilos heavier!
11月18日 Asha Seattle Workshop- I“As I am an Architect student that’s why I didn’t gone(sic) for this social work” say’s some chick in a cosmetic shop in New Bhopal as she laughs nervously. The reporter had just asked her what she knew about the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. The clipping is from a documentary called “We for Bhopal” made by a few students from Delhi(read more). Ok, it’s a bit sensational journalism, but all the youths from the “Other side of the Lake” appear to be disconnected from the tragedy that is still far from over. I am sure the chick can name every movie SRK acted in, though I doubt any Architecture curriculum discusses that. I am hardly in a position to blame her; perhaps I am in the same boat. More about Bhopal some other time, we have much broader things to discuss today.
Every six months or so Asha for Education’s Seattle Chapter organizes a Workshop. The folks gather over the weekend and go thru various presentations/documentaries and also discuss their priorities and strategies. Being associated (Note: That’s different from volunteering) with Asha for a few years now, I decided to attend the one held on 12th-13th Nov. The above mentioned documentary is one of the documentaries that was on the list for workshop. My next few posts will discuss some of my experiences. I am hardly a person to comment in this area, but try I must.
Michael: Saturday evening we were pleased to have Michael Mazgaonkar with us. Read this too for more on Michael 1, 2. Michael, along with wife Swati, has been living in a village called Juna Mozda in Gujarat for last 14 years. He is actually a textile engineer but doesn’t mind people calling him an electrical engineer(search around for articles on him) J. We had just finished watching a documentary called “Buddha Weeps In Jadugoda”. A horrifying tale of the price a few unfortunates are paying to help India blast into the nuclear club. If you happen to be curious I’d insist you watch this documentary. Michael came in as we were discussing our views the documentary. A humble man with open mind, Michael discussed his work and answered the questions of the curious minds in the room. One of the most interesting quotes he made was that “Everyone doesn’t have to be a social worker or volunteer for a social cause, but everyone needs to be aware”. It was an open session and everyone had a question or two for Michael. The brief summary of the evening was that we realized how poorly educated we were with regards to the life outsides our cities. His approach with them was an eye opener. Michael insisted that his job is not at all to teach the residents of Juna Mazoda of the ways to live as we do. Instead, he was merely there to provide whatever knowledge he has to offer while living with them as one of them. At most, he said, he acted as a bridge between them and us. In duration of few hours he had made our respect for these people grow. Michael’s session also included him warning us about the horrendous mess made by industries along the “golden corridor” of Gujarat. The industries, unchecked by the government and hailed as sign of progress instead, have been pouring tones of pollutants in the rivers and ecology around this area. Read the article here to further your knowledge on this. The MOEF(Ministry of Environment and Forests) recently issued a draft notification in which they propose to put the development of India on fast track. The finer prints, however, are that its going to come at the cost of “reduced” enforcement of clearance requirement for industries that can cause environmental damages. Checkout http://www.esgindia.org for further details on this.
Here are a few other links:
PRESS RELEASE: MoEF Stormed to serve Death Certificate;
Here’s another from TOI(Yes!): http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1291432,curpg-2.cms
Some of the questions that have been passing my thoughts this week are along the same lines. I wonder if we are blinded in our effort to imitate the progress of the West. While the West seems to be paying more attention on their surroundings we are opening up our doors to them to come and make a mess. Much like a case of outsourced environment? Don’t get me wrong, I am a die hard fan of progress. What I don’t understand is the mutual apathy of people from different parts of the country.
I am still looking for answers.
11月8日 Smokin! No more!Boy, am I happy?!
Voter's, lovely voters of Washington approved Initiative 901: ban on indoor smoking in public places.
Voters approved one of the most restrictive statewide bans on indoor public smoking in the country Tuesday, deciding they shouldn't have to tolerate smoky bars and bowling alleys.
The ban goes into affect starting Dec 8th. 8月10日 Aisa Bhi Hota HaiHere are some crazy news from around the world.
Here is a reason why one of my dear friend should limit his games of Forza Motorsport on XBOX.
Man dies after 50 hours of computer games
South Korean left seat in Internet cafe only to use toilet, take brief naps And here is someone who almost got lucky.
The Macedonian did not miss his wife for 6 hours!
This lady wanted to have some space walk
My guess: she confused it with the restroom door. 7月30日 A little public awereness here!I read the following Blog mentioned in Sunil's
Not a good way to start a Saturday. But perhaps its because we all just care about our Friday's and Saturday's. My initial thougts were just as angry ones as those in the post above. I was crazy mad at TOI. They suck anyways. I wouldnt care for them if not for their readership strength. These loonies can shape up the mentality of so many people and thats what scares me. I can only hope that either they change or their reader's choice.
Since we have so many brains thinking about this situation right now, we might as well get some work done here. I hope to scratch those part of your intellect that is capable of generating intelligent and creative ideas.
One thing that clearly emerges out is that we have to pay less attention on what Sallu said to Aish or who sent a MMS to whom. To all those who think they can do better than the current administration/media please start putting your thoughts in. We need them. Ok India is Shining but lets make sure its not just the polish.
Spoke to my Mom(in Mumbai) yesterday and she informed me of all the coverage going on the TV. I wonder why the Media is not educating people instead?
For instance wouldn't it be nice to have the following. ("we" here is everyone not just the media)
News reader: "So because we threw plastic bags into the gutters the system choked in Kurla. We will be airing a special episode on how plastic bags can cause problems". or Heck
Akshay/Sachin tells to what extent they went to avoid using plastic bags.
News reader: "N people drowned because of an open Man hole. Sights of open man hole are not uncommon in the city and its now time to start asking questions. If you see an unattended open man hole please call or SMS at this number. The official place to file a complaint is xxx.xyz.in"
Every one salutes the Mumbaikar's spirit of facing any situation. We have shown that we are great humans. Its time to show that we are homo sapiens. A homo sapien doesnt just take the same problem over and over again. He fixes it! Agreed, this was the highest ever rainfall recorded, agreed it was a natural calamity. I am asking what did an average Mumbaikar know about how to cope with this? How much does he know now? What is a kid taught on how do deal with this situation? Mumbai getting flooded is a thing that happens every year.
I am sure the administration does make some preparation, but clearly that is not sufficient. Can we open up schools for those who are stranded. I have reports that some policemen didnt assist because "Upar se order nahin ayaa". So Upar wallahs can we please have a mechanism that Upar se order can be delievered to these fellas even when there is a communication breakdown. Can the All India Radio issue instructions on air? And very importantly, can it be trusted?
On the brighter side:
I am glad to hear about how everyone assisted without any expectations. Thank fully there was no breakdown of law and order. No large scale panic. A situation like this(assuming administration failure) in the West can lead to a War. There are some amusing news that I keep hearing. I heared how a cousin of mine paid Rs 500 each to 4 guys to push his car home 10 km away(don't even mention towing, so many cars so little tow trucks). Did you know: The flooding situation was worsened by the presence of high tide during the same time it poured.
Post this incident Orange is in shame! They were the first mobile to jam! Reliance on the other hand had a wonderful service. I heard my Mom tell my Dad yesterday "Wo doosra waala Orange cancel karke Reliance le le te hain" (Lets replace the second Orange Mobile with Reliance). All said, my heart goes out for those who lost their lives, loved ones and property in this disaster.
7月28日 Monsoon heading
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