POVERTY IS THE ONLY PROPERTY WE HAVE

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Far far from gusty waves these children's faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn around their pallor.
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper-
seeming boy, with rat's eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father's gnarled disease,
His lesson from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel's game, in the tree room, other than this.

On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare's head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this world, are world,
Where all their future's painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky,
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.

Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, and the map a bad example
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal--
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.

Unless, governor, teacher, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open 'till they break the town
And show the children green fields and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books, the white and green leaves open
History is theirs whose language is the sun. 

Stephen Spender

THE RICH HAVE TO SPARE SOME TIME AND SHARE THEIR WEALTH

Poverty in India is widespread, with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's poor. In 2010, the World Bank reported that 32.7% of the total Indian people fall below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 per day (PPP) while 68.7% live on less than US$ 2 per day.

According to 2010 data from the United Nations Development Programme, an estimated 29.8% of Indians live below the country's national poverty line.^[2] A 2010 report by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) states that 8 Indian states have more poor people than 26 poorest African nations combined which totals to more than 410 million poor in the poorest African countries.

According to a 2011 poverty Development Goals Report, as many as 320 million people in India and China are expected to come out of extreme poverty in the next four years, while India's poverty rate is projected to drop to 22% in 2015.^[5] The report also indicates that in Southern Asia, however, only India, where the poverty rate is projected to fall from 51% in 1990 to about 22% in 2015, is on track to cut poverty by half by the 2015 target date.

The latest UNICEF data shows that one in three malnourished children worldwide are found In India, whilst 42% of the nation's children under five years of age are underweight. It also shows that a total of 58% of children under five surveyed were stunted. Rohini Mukherjee, of the Naadi foundation — one of the NGOs that published the report — stated India is "doing worse than sub-Saharan Africa."

The 2011 Global Hunger Index (GHI) Report places India amongst the three countries where the GHI between 1996 and 2011 went up from 22.9 to 23.7, while 78 out of the 81 developing countries studied, including Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Kenya, Nigeria, Myanmar, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Malawi, succeeded in improving hunger conditions.

India has to repay $172 billion debt by March 2014

THE HINDU HEADLINES

" India’s short-term debt maturing within a year stood at $172 billion end-March 2013. 

(Rs.1,02,37,95,60,000.00)

This means the country will have to pay back $172 billion by March 31, 2014. The corresponding figure in March 2008 — before the global financial meltdown that year — was just $54.7 billion. India has accumulated a huge short-term debt with residual maturity of one year after 2008. The figure has gone up over three times largely because this period also coincided with the unprecedented widening of the current account deficit from roughly 2.5 percent in 2008-09 to nearly 5 per cent in 2012-13. Much of this expanded CAD has been funded by debt flows.

This may turn into a vicious cycle.

More pertinently, short-term debt maturing within a year is now nearly 60 per cent of India’s total foreign exchange reserves. In March 2008, it was only 17 per cent of total forex reserves. This shows the actual increase in the country’s repayment vulnerability since 2008.

Theoretically, if capital flows were to dry up due to some unforeseen events and NRIs stopped renewing their deposits with India, then 60 per cent of the country’s forex reserves may have to be deployed to pay back foreign borrowings due within a year."

Poliomyelitis

Key facts

• Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under five years of age.
• One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.
• Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an
  estimated 350 000 cases then, to 223 reported cases in 2012. The reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease.
• In 2013, only three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988.
• As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200 000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.
• In most countries, the global effort has expanded capacities to tackle other infectious diseases by building effective surveillance and immunization systems.

---

Polio and its symptoms

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

People most at risk

Polio mainly affects children under five years of age.

Prevention

There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.

Following words and deeds are from the legend AMITABH BACHCHAN

"For 10 years, I have been telling India the life-saving message that every child  should take two drops of oral polio vaccine every time it is offered. And it is working. Today, India stands on the brink of eradicating polio – arguably the greatest  public health achievement in its history. When the polio eradication campaign started, India was reporting around 500 polio cases per day. Since then, more than 4 million children have been saved from paralysis or death.

All our hard work  is paying off. But the simple truth is that as long as polio exists anywhere in the world, the threat will persist. I am immensely proud that independent studies have shown that the ‘Every child, every time’ slogan is one of India’s most recognizable messages. I am even more proud that Indian parents have answered that call. During two annual National Immunization Days, normally held each January and February, approximately 170 million children under 5 are vaccinated by immunization teams going door-to-door to every house in the country. Then, every month from March to December, almost all children under the age of 5 in India’s two traditionally polio-endemic states and highest-risk areas are vaccinated during polio immunization campaigns – campaigns that reach 40–80 million children a year. Pause for a second to examine those numbers.

 Then consider what characterizes the highest-risk areas for poliovirus transmission: high-density living, poor sanitation, poor access to clean water, poor access to toilets, poor breastfeeding rates and poor nutrition.

Polio now is a virus of the poorest, making its final stand in the most forgotten places, among the most forgotten people. Reaching these people – the slum dwellers, the nomads, the migrants, the brick kiln workers, the families of

construction workers living beside the plush high-rises they build (for a dollar a day) under a sheet of plastic – is one of the greatest challenges in public health. The polio eradication programme is actively following a detailed  underserved strategy’ to target India’s hardest-to reach people, including those living in urban slums, in order to raise immunity among those populations at highest risk.

It is not an easy task – literally millions of migrant families move back and forth across the country each week, and in the traditionally polio-endemic states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, around 750,000 children are born each month. In order to eradicate polio in India, it is essential to reach and immunize every last child. And in the swelling slums of India’s heaving cities, every last child is hard to find. Consider Dharavi, one of the largest slums in my home town of Mumbai – home to a million people in just 3 square kilometres. Here, poliovirus immunization teams must follow carefully developed micro-plan maps, walking single file along the tiny lanes, scrambling up rickety ladders to reach the children living in corrugated iron homes stacked one on top of the other, three or four stories high.

The immunization teams then mark those corrugated iron walls with chalk, so that the monitors who will follow in the coming days can see which houses have been reached – and which children have been immunized. Additional teams return to cover any children who were missed. Mumbai, India’s financial capital and home to its film industry, is among the world’s biggest and richest cities. It is also believed to contain the highest proportion and largest absolute number of slum dwellers. By some estimates, between 100 and 300 new families arrive each day in search of work. All too often, migrant families of low socio-economic status find themselves in a slum. All too often, these arrivals are never tracked, never chartered, never given a name. All too often, the hardest-to-reach children in our country are living right under our noses. India’s polio eradication programme demonstrates that it is possible to ensure equity in the availability of health services in even the poorest, most densely populated environments. It proves that you can find every last child in the city. And it means that in Mumbai, while the children of the slums continue to face many threats, polio need not be one of them. "

URBAN LIVING A HELL HOLE FOR THE POOR CHILDREN

DOES THIS EARTH BELONG TO THE RICH ALONE?



DEAR SUPER RICH,
ARE YOU NOT ASHAMED 20% OF YOUR CITY KIDS LIVE IN SUB-HUMAN CONDITIONS?

When many of us think of the world’s poorest children, the image that comes readily to mind is that of a child going hungry in a remote rural community in sub-Saharan Africa – as so many are today.

But as The State of the World’s Children 2012 shows with clarity and urgency, millions of children in cities and towns all over the world are also at risk of being left behind. In fact, hundreds of millions of children today live in urban slums, many without access to basic services. They are vulnerable to dangers ranging from violence and exploitation to the injuries, illnesses and death that result from living in crowded settlements atop hazardous rubbish dumps or alongside rail road tracks.

And their situations – and needs – are often represented by aggregate figures that show urban children to be better off than their rural counterparts, obscuring the disparities that exist among the children of the cities. The growing body of evidence and analysis, from UNICEF and their partners, that scarcity and dispossession afflict the poorest and most marginalized children and families disproportionately. It shows that this is so in urban centres just as in the remote rural places we commonly associate with deprivation and vulnerability.

The data are startling. By 2050, 70 per cent of all people will live in urban areas. Already, 1 in 3 urban dwellers lives in slum conditions; in Africa, the proportion is a staggering 6 in 10. The impact on children living in such conditions is significant. From Ghana and Kenya to Bangladesh and India, children living in slums are among the least likely to attend school. And disparities in nutrition separating rich and poor children within the cities and towns of sub-Saharan Africa are often greater than those between urban and rural children.

Every disadvantaged child bears witness to a moral offence: the failure to secure her or his rights to survive, thrive and participate in society. And every excluded child represents a missed opportunity – because when society fails to extend to urban children the services and protection that would enable them to develop as productive and creative individuals, it loses the social, cultural and economic contributions they could have made. We must do more to reach all children in need, wherever they live, wherever they are excluded and left behind. Some might ask whether we can afford to do this, especially at a time of austerity in national budgets and reduced aid allocations. But if we overcome the barriers that have kept these children from the services that they need and that are theirs by right, then millions more will grow up healthy, attend school and live more productive lives.
Can we afford not to do this?

SUFFERING DUE TO EXCESS.

There is enough rice and  wheat to feed all indians. But the  fact is the rats and insects are luckier than the human beings.

Malnutrition is more common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa. One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India. Malnutrition limits development and the capacity to learn. It also costs lives: about 50 per cent of all childhood deaths are attributed to malnutrition.

In India, around 46 per cent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age, 47 per cent are underweight and at least 16 per cent are wasted. Many of these children are severely malnourished. The prevalence of malnutrition varies across states, with Madhya Pradesh recording the highest rate (55 per cent) and Kerala among the lowest (27 per cent).

Malnutrition in children is not affected by food intake alone; it is also influenced by access to health services, quality of care for the child and pregnant mother as well as good hygiene practices. Girls are more at risk of malnutrition than boys because of their lower social status.

1 in 3 of the world's malnourished children lives in India

Malnutrition in early childhood has serious, long-term consequences because it impedes motor, sensory, cognitive, social and emotional development. 

Malnourished children are less likely to perform well in school and more likely to grow into malnourished adults, at greater risk of disease and early death. Around one-third of all adult women are underweight. Inadequate care of women and girls, especially during pregnancy, results in low- birthweight babies. Nearly 30 per cent of all newborns have a low birthweight, making them vulnerable to further malnutrition and disease.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies also affect children’s survival and development. 

Anaemia affects 74 per cent of children under the age of three, more than 90 per cent of adolescent girls and 50 per cent of women. Iodine deficiency, which reduces learning capacity by up to 13 per cent, is widespread because fewer than half of all households use iodised salt. Vitamin A deficiency, which causes blindness and increases morbidity and mortality among pre-schoolers, also remains a public-health problem.

UNICEF REPORT

A HUNGRY MOTHER?

Should I cry to be heard by some?
If  I cry will it be heard by some?
Will I be allowed to cry?
Why should I cry when I know,
my fellow men are wry?

Divided by colour
Divided by race,
Divided  by region,
Divided by religion,
United by hunger...
Dear mother,
Why were you hungry
to get a child like me?

Inside your womb I was safe,
Could you guide me to a tomb
before a bomb breaks my bones?






























COURTESY :GLOBE POST

TURN TO ORGANIC

Bhutan set to become the world’s first wholly organic country

Posted by Robhin

Bhutan plans to become the first country in the world to turn its agriculture completely organic, banning the sales of pesticides and herbicides and relying on its own animals and farm waste for fertilisers.

But rather than accept that this will mean farmers of the small Himalayan kingdom of around 1.2m people (according to Pema Gyamtsho, Bhutan’s minister of agriculture and forests; the World Bank estimates it at around 740,000) will be able to grow less food, the government expects them to be able to grow more – and to export increasing amounts of high quality niche foods to neighbouring India, China and other countries.

The decision to go organic was both practical and philosophical, said Gyamtsho, in Delhi for the annual  susatainable development conference last week. “Ours is a mountainous terrain. When we use chemicals they don’t stay where we use them, they impact the water and plants. We say that we need to consider all the environment. Most of our farm practices are traditional farming, so we are largely organic anyway.

“But we are Buddhists, too, and we believe in living in harmony with nature. Animals have the right to live, we like to to see plants happy and insects happy,” he said.

'WASTE' SHOULD NOT HARM US

                        

             Bio- hazardous Waste (Regulated Medical Waste)

Some wastes associated with biological materials must be disposed of in special ways because they may have been contaminated with infectious organisms or agents. These  are potentially infectious or biohazardous materials. These wastes include the following:

• All sharps, e.g. glass implements, needles, syringes, blades, etc. coming from facilities using infectious materials 
• Biologically-cultured stocks and plates, human blood or tissues

For disposal of these wastes, the lab personnel:

1. Sterilize or disinfect waste materials associated with viral, bacterial or other agents infectious to humans (by autoclave or chemical treatment equivalent to 1:10 bleach solution). 
2. Place all biohazardous wastes, except for sharps, directly into the red bag-lined medical waste boxes. 
3. Place sharps into labeled sharps containers which when filled are placed into the medical waste box. 
4. When the Medical Waste box is filled, seal the bag liner and box and notify janitor for pick-up.

   IMPORTANT LABELLING REQUIREMENT:Lab personnel must apply an adhesive-backed label completed with generator information to each bag or container (such as autoclaved bags or filled sharps containers) placed into the medical waste box. Building Services provides such a label that has space to record Date, Building, Lab #, and Contact Person. Apply this label to all containers placed inside the medical waste box AND to the exterior of the sealed medical waste box before it is made available for pick-up by Building Services. Alternatively, the inner bags and containers can be marked clearly with a permanent marker to indicate "Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey."

Other wastes generated in these facilities that are not contaminated with biological agents or materials are not treated as bio-hazardous and may be discarded in the regular trash container, with recyclables, or into other specially designated waste containers. These include such items as recyclable and non-recyclable waste glass, gloves, unused plates or tubes, fly media or embryo plates, etc.

 It is intended for laboratories using biological and/or chemical materials.
Choose the waste model that most clearly fits the waste being generated and follow the indicated management procedures. 

Patient Care Waste Disposal

All disposable wastes generated in hospitals' direct patient care are considered potentially infectious and are disposed of in the medical waste stream. Syringes, needles, and other sharps are placed in the provided sharps container which, when filled and sealed are placed in the provided medical waste box. When boxes are filled and sealed, they are removed. Patient care waste generated at other sites on campus by medical response personnel (i.e. Public Safety) are placed in biohazard bags and brought. 

A program is in place to ensure that needles and syringes generated as part of personal diabetes care will not be an exposure hazard to others. Collection containers are available from McCosh Health Center which, when filled, are returned to Health Center for proper disposal in the medical waste stream.

PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENT

                              "YES, ME  TOO - LIKE YOU- CONSCIOUS OF MY APPEARANCE. 

                             OF COURSE  IF I POSSESS A MIRROR IT 'D HELP ME."

                             "DENTIST SIR, CAN YOU ADD MORE TEETH TO ME?"

           RIO DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT


                             Principle 1

    Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. 
They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.


                             Principle 2

    States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the
principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own
resources pursuant to their own environmental and developmental policies, and
the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or
control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas
beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.


                             Principle 3

    The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet
developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations.

                             Principle 4

    In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection
shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be
considered in isolation from it.


                             Principle 5

    All States and all people shall cooperate in the essential task of
eradicating poverty as an indispensable requirement for sustainable
development, in order to decrease the disparities in standards of living and
better meet the needs of the majority of the people of the world.


                             Principle 6

    The special situation and needs of developing countries, particularly the
least developed and those most environmentally vulnerable, shall be given
special priority.  International actions in the field of environment and
development should also address the interests and needs of all countries.


                             Principle 7

    States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve,
protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem.  In view
of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, States have
common but differentiated responsibilities.  The developed countries
acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of
sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the
global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they
command.


                             Principle 8

    To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all
people, States should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production
and consumption and promote appropriate demographic policies.


                             Principle 9

    States should cooperate to strengthen endogenous capacity-building for
sustainable development by improving scientific understanding through exchanges
of scientific and technological knowledge, and by enhancing the development,
adaptation, diffusion and transfer of technologies, including new and
innovative technologies.


                            Principle 10

    Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all
concerned citizens, at the relevant level.  At the national level, each
individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the
environment that is held by public authorities, including information on
hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity
to participate in decision-making processes.  States shall facilitate and
encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely
available.  Effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings,
including redress and remedy, shall be provided.


                            Principle 11

    States shall enact effective environmental legislation.  Environmental
standards, management objectives and priorities should reflect the
environmental and developmental context to which they apply.  Standards applied
by some countries may be inappropriate and of unwarranted economic and social
cost to other countries, in particular developing countries.


                            Principle 12

    States should cooperate to promote a supportive and open international
economic system that would lead to economic growth and sustainable development
in all countries, to better address the problems of environmental degradation. 
Trade policy measures for environmental purposes should not constitute a means
of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on
international trade.  Unilateral actions to deal with environmental challenges
outside the jurisdiction of the importing country should be avoided. 
Environmental measures addressing transboundary or global environmental
problems should, as far as possible, be based on an international consensus.


                            Principle 13

    States shall develop national law regarding liability and compensation
for the victims of pollution and other environmental damage.  States shall also
cooperate in an expeditious and more determined manner to develop further
international law regarding liability and compensation for adverse effects of
environmental damage caused by activities within their jurisdiction or control
to areas beyond their jurisdiction.


                            Principle 14

    States should effectively cooperate to discourage or prevent the
relocation and transfer to other States of any activities and substances that
cause severe environmental degradation or are found to be harmful to human
health.


                            Principle 15

    In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be
widely applied by States according to their capabilities.  Where there are
threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty
shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent
environmental degradation.


                            Principle 16

    National authorities should endeavour to promote the internalization of
environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account
the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of
pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without distorting
international trade and investment.


                            Principle 17

    Environmental impact assessment, as a national instrument, shall be
undertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have a significant
adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a competent
national authority.


                            Principle 18

    States shall immediately notify other States of any natural disasters or
other emergencies that are likely to produce sudden harmful effects on the
environment of those States.  Every effort shall be made by the international
community to help States so afflicted.

                                       Principle 19

    States shall provide prior and timely notification and relevant
information to potentially affected States on activities that may have a
significant adverse transboundary environmental effect and shall consult with
those States at an early stage and in good faith.


                            Principle 20

    Women have a vital role in environmental management and development. 
Their full participation is therefore essential to achieve sustainable
development.


                            Principle 21

    The creativity, ideals and courage of the youth of the world should be
mobilized to forge a global partnership in order to achieve sustainable
development and ensure a better future for all.


                            Principle 22

    Indigenous people and their communities and other local communities have
a vital role in environmental management and development because of their
knowledge and traditional practices.  States should recognize and duly support
their identity, culture and interests and enable their effective participation
in the achievement of sustainable development.


                            Principle 23

    The environment and natural resources of people under oppression,
domination and occupation shall be protected.


                            Principle 24

    Warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development.  States
shall therefore respect international law providing protection for the
environment in times of armed conflict and cooperate in its further
development, as necessary.


                            Principle 25

    Peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and
indivisible.


                            Principle 26

    States shall resolve all their environmental disputes peacefully and by
appropriate means in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.


                            Principle 27

    States and people shall cooperate in good faith and in a spirit of
partnership in the fulfilment of the principles embodied in this Declaration
and in the further development of international law in the field of sustainable
development.

BIG OR SMALL THE EARTH IS FOR ALL

Not a Day to observe and Pass but a Moment to Think and Act.

World Environment Day-June 5

Many a time people think the talks on ‘global warming’   and ‘climate change’ are issues that they can do a little and seek new ways to overcome the problems  presented by this  new  world.  When man found no water in the river he dug up wells:  when water became scarce in the well and dried up he drilled deep bore wells.  The deep bore wells are empty and today he purchases canned water for his home needs and he never steps out without a filled water bottle. Gone are the days of Dharma when, people used to get not only water but food and shelter too at the innumerable dharmasalas that dotted this land.  

In Chennai you would come across plenty of Lake View roads but without any sign of lakes.  Today water business is a billion dollar one and Indians quench their thirst with packaged waters supplied by Pepsi and Coca-cola.  Forget the purchase; he pollutes the earth with tons of plastic every time he drinks.  In fact he uses and insists on a cup for every sip.  This scene is very familiar in any public place or in events where people dump the polythene cups invariably. This is about only the potable water.

The water for irrigation stands depleted. Most of our rivers are dead and the remaining is dying.  The dead rivers come under various categories. Some disappeared and some show their deep brown scars after robbed of their upper layer by the construction industry. There are rivers in all our major cities across the world that carry sewage and mostly become stagnant.   The dirty water ways are an eyesore for any civilization but people from the poor strata have made those river banks as their habitat. Today water disputes are common among states and countries.  

Man has started to use recycled water and has gone for desalination plants.  He forgets the cost involved for all these – man, money, power and the collateral damage they bring in on the environment.  But he is just searching for ways to earn more money to establish plants or systems that would provide him pure water.  Today in a big city like Chennai those who have no access to safe drinking water have to shell out about Rupees Two thousand per month for water.  Even in remote, rural   areas of Tamilnadu water pockets are freely available. It has become a habit that they fill the land with this undying polythene.  Everyone thinks it’s only a small piece of polythene. But they forget when all do like this, the earth becomes unlivable.

If this is the story of water the condition of air is also pitiable.  Today’s advertisements on housing speak of ‘green lung’ and every advertisement shows a water front with lush green lawns and a lone easy chair waiting for its occupant. In real terms the project would have a small city of concrete, steel and glass and every act mechanized. Why people have to be enticed with such advertisements is not a big mystery.  Our cities are literally unlivable today. Our power plants are our biggest industrial polluters. Each year they pump tons of carbon dioxide into the air. Carbon pollution is causing climate change that drives dangerous heat waves and worsening smog pollution, which causes asthma attacks and other serious respiratory illnesses.

The lakes and oceans have become dirtier. Forest cover is fast depleting and the high rise mountains are becoming valleys after mining and green lands have grown into deserts. Cultivable lands are fast becoming housing or industrial sites. Man digs deep into the earth emptying the fossil and uses it as fuel.   

As for the co-inhabitants of the earth many are extinct and many more are endangered. But for man every living and non-living is under threat today. The earth he lives is endangered. But he refuses to believe all these realities and is on a hunting spree for money and comforts.  He is confident of the deception that he is the sole owner of this earth.

Let us realize that there is danger and it is near. The UNO while celebrating the World Environment Day on June 5th   focuses on food waste and food loss through its Reduce Your Food print campaign. Indeed, at least one third of everything we grow on this planet is lost between the field and the consumer. It is an ethical, economic and environmental issue given the enormous waste of energy, water, fertilizers and other inputs as a result of food that is produced but never eaten.

Each one of us can do something about this and many things about so many things. Let it be a cloth/jute bag on our back when we visit a market or just throwing a mango seed in a watery area instead of dumping it in a dustbin.

If you think you are too small to be of use, you have never seen an ant or a honey bee.re too small to be effective, you have never been in bed if

By

RETTAVAYAL S KRISHNASWAMY                         Volunteer-gogreenindiacampaign 

MEN OF STERNER STUFF

COWARDS ARE DEAD EVEN WHEN THEY ARE ALIVE; BRAVE WILL LIVE EVEN AFTER THEIR DEATH







Numbers numb us. Nature is not ready to spare the battered people. Violence unabated in J &K. Innocent soldiers killed by the terrorists. Countless in the deep jungles still. The country with maximum number of scientists blinks and clueless. The citizens play all types of games including cricket. The original Champions are without any trophy whereas the scam tainted 'game' sters claim in millions.
The media shows the champions  spraying champagne and are callous as usual. 

A NATION  BOASTS OF SCIENCE WITHOUT ANY CONSCIENCE. 

But the Real Champions are somewhere else.

1.  IAF's rescue chopper crashes in  Uttarakhand,      EIGHT dead

2.   EIGHT   soldiers killed in militant attack
3. over 8000 still stranded in Uttarakhand

LET US SALUTE THE BRAVE MEN OF ARMY, AIR FORCE, NAVY , ITBP  and all other brave souls  who fight and die for our survival. Help them in any manner you can.

You can give your seat in a public transport when you notice him standing

You can help a soldier's son/daughter  in his/her studies

When their spouses visit an office give priority to them and attend.
Greet them whenever you happen to see a soldier.

Yes, show your gratitude in the way you choose. Celebrate the heroes.

LONG LIVE THE SOLDIERS.

Do you want proof?  


"Our helicopter rotors will not stop churning 

till such time we get each one of you out. Do 

not lose hope and hang in there,''


IAF chief Air Marshal N A K Browne




GAUCHAR: Over 8000 people remained stranded in 

Uttarakhand on Tuesday with fresh landslides, cloudbursts

coupled with torrential rains hampering rescue operations 

as the death toll climbed to 822 with 142 bodies being found, 

including 127 in Kedarnath.

IS THERE ANYONE WHO CAN KILL THIS  'DEATH'?

BICKERINGS OVER TRAGIC TRAGEDY

 Updates on Uttarakhand

As per the media reports bitter bickering has erupted among various  political parties in India  over the help they extend to the human beings who are inside deep jungles,deep valleys and on steep hills fighting for their lives. MAN CAN'T  GO MEAN BEYOND THIS. THIS IS THE PROOF TO SHOW HOW  UGLY THE HUMANS ARE.  

LORD OF THE FLIES'  hero could make smoke and escaped but today at least a few hundreds are still struggling to be noticed by helicopters. Pl. pass on any ideas if you have to locate such persons and save them. 

As per the reports coming in , after a mere  8 days of this terrible tragedy   a telephone firm has come out with help lines -that too toll free! What a great alacrity! Nowhere in the world and never in human history man has succeeded to offer free helplines within eight days after  a Himalayan tragedy. 

Uttarakhand rejects choppers/help

Another humane act that we come across is the news item reported that the local government has not accepted the help offered by  yet another state.

The only solace to us is  that our  Army  and other armed forces' men doing selfless service non-stop for the last eight days. We salute their grit and sacrifice. All the good souls of this nation are with those brave men. Long live India.

1. Uttarakhand Floods Information

   Uttarkashi:	(+91) 1374-226461
   Chamoli:	(+91) 1372-251437, 9411352136
   Rudraprayag:	(+91) 1364-233727,9412914875
   Control Room (Uttarakhand):	(+91) 135-2710334, 9557444486

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MAN HAS GROWN TALL?

THE REAL NATURAL FIBRE NESTS

THE UNREAL CONCRETE NESTS

THE LONGING AND THE RETURN TO NATURE

THANKS TO ALL