SPEAK, SING, SMILE AND DANCE

NATURE HAS MYRIAD COLORS
MYRIAD TOO ARE ITS MOODS
THEY SPEAK WHAT WE COMPREHEND
DIVIDED BY COLORS
BUT UNITED BY FRAGRANCE.
LET THE WORLD BE OF FLOWERS AND FRAGRANCE FOR EVER

ALL PHOTOS BY SUBODH PANCHAL

PROVIDE A HAPPY ENVIRONMENT FOR OUR KIDS

A Nigerian child  (4 year old ) got his mouth locked up by his father.

As we are all aware ' man alone is vile' we can't predict his bad behavior. A poisonous cobra has got just one weapon -its bag of the venom  in  its fangs. A terrible tiger -its claws and the teeth.

But how cruel man is, how dangerous he is ... none can predict.

In another  ghastly  terror attack in Nigeria has killed 29 school boys with some burning to death, officials say. Gunmen from the Islamist group Boko Haram stormed a boarding school in the north-east of the country, police and the military confirmed.

Once the schools were greatly feared by kids as the iron rulers ruled the class rooms. After a century of awareness campaigns and framing of laws the torture cells in schools have almost disappeared. But for the occasional corporal punishment meted out by a some managements/  over anxious or poorly read teachers- the menace is out.

But who will save our kids from their parents or other adults who are at their  homes.  At  least 50% of the kids are lucky to have noble parents. They do what they have to do for their kids. But the question is of the remaining 50% kids. It is a big number. It is about 200 millions in India alone.  The problems they undergo is horrible. The homes  have become hostile zones  where marital disputes are very common.  The parents who are supposed to give a healthy, happy and a joyful environment quarrel bitterly for years. Many reach the courts of law. The poor child has to answer to the judge of his preference in  a packed court.  How can a child say he wants to stay with either of them, as he needs them both. There are multifarious reasons for such disputes and both the parents  try to assert their rights and conveniently forget the rights of their own kids. The most common dispute that arises nowadays is due to the drinking habit of the parents- mostly the father. Naturally kids tend to hate the evenings as a red eyed father is ready to hit at an angry mother. 

Parents do impose their choices on their own kids and are with unrealistic expectations. Many of them decide the career of their kids even before their birth. In India the parents send them to coaching centers or boarding schools and are ready to wait till their children clear either IIT/Medicine exams.

I don't want to reveal the methods the parents follow to achieve their ambitions through their kids. But the world over those who beget kids are expected to provide a safe , healthy and happy childhood for kids. Those who are gifted with ego and blessed with pride ... please avoid kids. Even yesterday newspaper revealed that a father killing his own two daughters to avenge his wife. These may be rare but not rarest.  Hope soon the society would come out with some suitable mechanism to provide a joyful environment for all our kids.   

1.  Father pleads guilty to killing his three daughters by slitting their throats 'to get back at his ex-wife' - but claims he was insane 
2. Man allegedly kills daughter in Odisha for being late to serve food

UNITED WE STAND

Big Idea 2014: The Year for Climate Action

UN Photo

My big idea is not new. Nor is it, in the larger sense, mine. But it is an idea that will be one major focus of my work next year, and one in which I believe deeply. In 2014, we must turn the greatest collective challenge facing humankind today – climate change – into the greatest opportunity for common progress towards a sustainable future. Next year is the year for climate action.

We can delay no longer. Our hopes of eradicating poverty, achieving the Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015 and implementing an ambitious development agenda beyond 2015 rest on tackling this challenge now. The costs of inaction will only rise.

Countries have agreed to finalize an ambitious global legal agreement on climate change by 2015. But there is a steep climb ahead and 2014 is a pivotal year for generating the action and momentum that will propel us forward.

Ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising and the oceans are becoming more acidic. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise – we e are the first humans ever to breathe air with 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Extreme weather events – heat waves, floods, droughts and tropical cyclones – are more frequent and severe.

We need look no further than the recent catastrophe in the Philippines. All around the world, people now face and fear the wrath of a warming planet.

The science is clear. Human activities are the dominant cause of climate change. We cannot blame nature.

I am deeply concerned that the scale of our actions is still insufficient to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius, the point where the most dangerous impacts of climate change are expected to take hold.

A solar ger — traditional Mongolian tent.

Yet I am also hopeful because I see gains on multiple fronts towards a low-carbon future. Many governments, businesses, community groups, women, youth and indigenous leaders are innovating and forging solutions.

New programmes for sustainable cities and climate-smart agriculture are already delivering benefits. Many initiatives are working to reduce emissions and air pollution while strengthening resilience. Countries and companies are realizing the economic advantages of combating climate change. Global demand for clean energy, such as solar and wind, continues to rise very sharply and clean energy investment has quadrupled over the last decade.

We now know it is possible to close the emissions gap. We must build on this momentum.

To achieve the large-scale transformation necessary to stabilize the climate, countries not only need to send the right policy signals and meet their climate finance commitments but also set much bolder targets. Climate finance is an investment in the future. It must not be taken hostage by short-term budget considerations.

The rewards can be considerable. As well as reducing emissions, we can light rural clinics and schools, empower local businesses and invigorate economies. Universal access to clean energy can benefit people’s health and advance gender equality. We can open new markets, create decent jobs, and sustainably design burgeoning urban growth.

Private investment is essential to meet the growing demand for energy in the developing world.

Geothermal power plant in Iceland.

But we cannot mobilize private resources without a public lever. Smart public financing can encourage local and international private investments. Investors and companies need to join forces with the public sector.

I will convene a Climate Summit in New York on 23 September next year, one day before the opening of the annual UN General Assembly debate. This Summit is meant to be a solutions summit, not a negotiating session. I have invited all Heads of State and Government, along with leaders from business and finance, local government and civil society.

I am asking all who come to bring bold and new announcements and action. I am asking them to bring their big ideas.

Until then, I will continue to put every effort into mobilizing political will, moving financial investors, influencing business leaders and motivating people everywhere to do all they can.

Rising to the challenge of climate change is a big idea for next year. But it is also a big idea for the future – of humankind and of our planet. It is a momentous responsibility to shoulder, but I firmly believe that every one of us can step up and become leaders in combating climate change, promoting sustainable development and building lives of dignity for all.

Future generations will judge our action on this issue. In 2014, we have the chance to step over to the right side of history. Let’s take it.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

               THE    BODY SEARCH AND THE PHOTO SESSION

Throughout history the peoples of the world have migrated and
intermixed, but still national boundaries do coincide with discrete
sub-races in the modern world. Blacks of the United States and
elsewhere in the New World are mixed. The Aryan mix in the Indian
context too is very much relevant. Racial mixing has been going on for
centuries but at a pace which we do not yearn. The superiority complex
of some races, based mainly on the pigmentation of the skin is so
thick that it refuses to get thinned. Wars have been fought physically
and psychologically to sustain this assumption or demolish the myth
but both have met with failure as the groups that support or oppose
the  decadent theory   are still in a majority. 'Man alone is vile',
is being proved by man in day in and day out. The talk of 'global
village' backed by the resurgent IT and communication revolution
recedes into backdrop when the original ogre of racial differences
raises it's ugly head.

The 'body search' carried out on the erstwhile Indian defense minister
by the American immigration authorities and the 'unfriendly push'
given to the ICC President  by the Australian gentlemen during the
photo session  carry the traces of racial complexes that do exist.
Outright condemnations of such occasional instances, holding
demonstrations and boycott calls may add strength to both groups'
stands but yield little to achieve any realistic goals. Crimes are
conceived by many but only the perpetrator becomes the criminal. In
the instances cited, the anger of the insulted goes against the
individuals, whereas the real culprit is the community's perceptions
in which he is a member. These unsavory instances actually help
communities to comprehend the ground realities and show them the long
distance, which they all have to walk to establish a 'real global
village'.

The American authorities tried to apply the law in letter but not in
it's spirit and thus sacrificed the soul of civilization at the altar
of barbarism. In their zealous application of rules, triggered by
mounting insecurity, the humanity has become the victim. Suspicions
lead to false alarms, false encounters and help build false
conceptions. It's true that the physical distances have shrunk but the
emotional differences have grown.

Unity is not achieved by holding together, but in thinking together.
The players of the winning team mounted on one another before the
crowd to be cheered by them. But they forgot the appreciating crowd
consisted none of their clan. In the elation that surrounded them,
they forgot the noble men of their country Don Bradman or the other
compatriot who has made Calcutta his place of pilgrimage. Ugly things
are not often exhibited. Even in their millisecond presence they cause
maximum damage that lasts for many generations.
A player of this winning team, if left out for the next series will
seethe in anger and spit venom on the selectors forgetting the
'holding together' of the trophy and the champagne bath they had. The
powerful emotions are always short-lived and won't last long.

Knowledge- the modern man has acquired may have helped him to increase
his intelligence but definitely not his inner sense. The best ground
grains make the best flour: the best beaten track makes the best
track. Grains or roads do not think on their own; whereas man does.
Let us leave the momentary outbursts of a minuscule minority into the
oblivion and move on further to build a society that will have many
faces but one unitary heart.

Man is the NOBLEST ANIMAL

Kaziranga loses another rhino, horn chopped off

By TNN | 25 Feb, 2014, 09.43AM IST

JORHAT: An adult rhino was killed by a group of suspected militants at Kaziranga National park on Sunday evening. The pachyderm's horn was chopped off before forest staff reached the spot.

The incident took place near the Gorakati anti-poaching camp in the Burapahar forest range bordering Karbi Anglong district at 7.30 pm on Sunday. A group of militants, equipped with AK series rifles, took shelter in the Karbi hills and shot the rhino dead for its horn.

"A strong group of militants were involved in killing the rhino. They used AK-47 rifles and fired at least 30 rounds during the attack. Our staff found empty cartridges from the spot," said park director M K Yadav. He added that on hearing gunshots, forest staff rushed to the spot and opened fire in retaliation, but in vain.

This was the seventh rhino killed in Kaziranga so far this year.

On January 25, a female rhino was shot dead and its horn was chopped off by poachers in Kaziranga. Park authorities said the government had taken up some new strategies to check poaching and work on a few such projects were underway.

Success story in mushroom cultivation

 Shalender Kalra, Hindustan Times  NAHAN, February 25, 2014

  

The combined efforts of a family in Kashipur, a small village in Paonta Sahib, has proved that joint initiatives can be a catalyst for earning a livelihood through diversification of traditional farming.

 Pooling their resources, three brothers, who had never earlier thought of farm diversification, have become successful entrepreneurs engaged in mushroom cultivation that is now paying huge dividends. They also feel delighted when other farmers in the area visit their home to see their endeavour.

The three - Ram Kumar Choudhary, Devraj and Chaman Lal - were engaged in traditional farming but a few years ago they decided to cultivate mushrooms jointly so as to make marketing and delivery of the products easier. They 6,000 bags of mushrooms stored in three halls covering an area of 3,600 square feet have netted them Rs. 7 lakh to 9 lakh this year, which is equally distributed among them. Earlier they were earning only Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 80,000 annually through traditional farming.

As they knew availability of compost could be a major problem the brothers also set up a small mushroom compost plant in the village. "The compost is prepared on different levels of the unit for three weeks, then filled into bags and kept at an average temperature of 21-25 degrees Celsius for 15 to 20 days until the growth of mycelium reaches the maximum", said Ram.

"Earlier we we could ill afford luxuries but today we have motorbikes and now plan to buy an SUV jointly, said Devraj and Chaman.

The brothers noted that the horticulture department had played a key role in their success by encouraging them to go into mushroom cultivation and providing assistance. "They (the three brothers) embarked on their venture without thinking making a profit or loss. Gradually their business grew and today they excel in this area", said horticulture development officer SR Sharma.

He said Rs. 20 lakh project of employing modern techniques in farming under the National Horticulture Mission has been approved. Initially, to help progressive farmers, the department had given them funds amounting to Rs. 80,000 under the National Farmers Development Scheme, he added.

"Unfortunately, small mushroom cultivation as well as small poultry and dairy farming units are being charged commercial power rates, and the government should look into the matter. There is no scheme presently for promoting small mushroom cultivation units in the district", Ram, Devraj and Chaman said.

VICTORY MARCH

                                                 

An army marched very briskly
Millions and millions moved ahead
Black they all in their attire
Had  no arms to harm any one
Not a leader to them all
Their stinking heels made no noise
Stopped not for a little while
Reached their army in a pile
One by one they went up their prey
Soon they took their positions of their choice
Started to pull it with  all their might
Journey began towards their home...

Natural vs Unnatural