Cologne is green, why not Mumbai ?

Cologne is green, why not Mumbai.

Lhendup G Bhutia's article, This Cologne is green, (DNA,Nov.28) is informative and an eye-opener. The Cologne city has taken three initiatives to reduce the city's pollution – cleaning the water of Emscher river, recycling and disposal of products and solar panel for buses. BMC has been talking of widening and cleaning the water of Mithi river since the great deluge of 2005. BMC can form a partnership with companies in Mmbai who have the expertise to purify the water of Mithi as a non-profit company for that purpose as was done in Cologne. Similarly, producers should be entrusted with task of recycling and disposal whatever they produce as in Cologne. Now it is being done by the informal sector of street boys/women. They could be trained by the association of producers to collect and dispose these materials, and make them proper employees of the association.

The third initiative of Cologne city should be the easiest for the city to adopt, and that is green buses. All city buses could be provided with solar panels to power the buses. The concerned citizens and, NGOs should these issues with the corporators and the Municipal administration. The citizens of the city should be made aware of these initiatives of Cologne city and it should find a place in the manifesto of parties in the forthcoming municipal election.

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx

November 28,2010.

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Good News.

Good News.

The reports on Bihar Election and the Manipur militants (Indian Express,22/10) are welcome change from the murky politics of scams and mis-governance. The people of Bihar have to be congratulated for almost peaceful election and for electing ( as per exit poll) the NDA government headed by Nitish Hopeful Kumar who has persuaded people 'to fill your pen with ink' instead of seasoning ' lathi with oil'. It is heart-warming to know that his government has provided new roads and bicycles for children to go to school and that more people are shod and are looking for branded underwear. It is the beginning of a new era in Bihar. .

The Union Home Ministry has persuaded a group of 128 youths of Kangeleipsk Communist Party of Manipur to give up arms in favour education and welfare of their community is another piece of good news. Let this be extended to other militants ( Naxlites and Jehadi) as well. There is a strong case for changing the name of our prisons to reformatories, and make the inmates useful citizens by giving them opportunities to learn a profession. People whose crime does not entail more than six months or a year of imprisonment should be asked to do community work with a recognized non-government organization. The Home Ministry has made a good beginning for a long journey.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-mandate-for-nitish-hope-kumar/714282/ and

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/from-hit-jobs-to-it-posts-former-manipur-militants-come-a-long-way/714311/0

November 23,2010.

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NCC should inculcate social service.

NCC should inculcate social service

Aims of NCC – to develop character, camaraderie, discipline, leadership, secular outlook, spirit of adventure, selfless service – are laudable and most needed in the country today (DNA,22/11). The numbers are great : 13 lakh cadets all over the country in 606 districts in 8,454 schools and 5,337 colleges. Such a huge force of young people can bring about a change in our society. The government has many schemes like old age pension and health insurance to help the poor and the poor are not aware of them. NCC cadets in Mumbai, for example, could help the government to prepare a list of such people in all the wards of the city and help these poor people in getting the benefits intended to them. This could be extended to villages in the vicinity of Mumbai as well.

According Brig. P.C.Roy, Deputy DG, NCC, Maharashtra that the number of cadets in the country are going up from 13 to 15 lakhs. Since our country will have the largest number of young people for the next two to three decades, the country has to equip our people with education including vocational education and the values that NCC inculcates among its cadets. The government should increase the number of cadets. The amount of money invested on education and NCC would give manifold returns to the country.

http://www.dnaindia.com/speakup/report_pride-or-marks-what-brings-you-to-ncc_1470095

November 23,2010.

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Why this inferiority complex ?

Why this Inferiority Complex ?.

It is a sad commentary on the State of Maharashtra that its government has denied permission to 4000 Marathi-medium schools (DNA,16/11). During the British Raj the language of administration was English and this had created a barrier between the people and the state. After Independence, the linguistic states were formed to bring the state close to the people and to promote various languages of the country. The craze for English in country today has divided it into two nations, India and Bharat, which do not understand each other. The superiority complex exhibited by the English speaking people in the country has created an inferiority complex among the people who speak the local language including the politicians who want people to forget their language, its great literature and culture. Mahatma Gandhi and the freedom fighters would have been appalled by this complex.

The state seem to forget that health,literacy and creativity are the keys to progress, not any particular language. The progress made by countries such as Germany, Japan, France and other European countries illustrate this point.Even the tiny Israel is proud of its language, Hewbrew, and it is being promoted.

How can we have swaraj (freedom) and suraj ( good governance) without our own language for communication? Kaviraj Rabindranath Tagore wrote his Geetanjali in Bengali and he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. One can express his innate thoughts and feelings only in his mother tongue. Those who write in English mostly think in English and their knowledge of their own language is poor.They become strangers in their own country.

It is relevant to mention here that the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) has awarded the second prize to an illiterate dalit farmer Dadaji Ramaji Khobragade of the Nanded village in Chadrapur for his innovation of nine rice varieties. Forbes magazine of USA has named him as one of the seven rural entrepreneurs who " are changing the lives of people across country." His HMT variety of rice is grown on one lakh hectares in five states. This is the potential of our country. This potential could be harnessed if the government provides health, education and credit at low rate of interest to all our villages. NIF has a long list of over a lakh of innovators in its data base who are mostly uneducated.

President Obama recognized he inventive genius of India when he told the parliamentarians that : " Indians unlocked the intricacies of the human body and the vastness of the universe. And it is no exaggeration to say that our information age is rooted in Indian innovation including the number zero." Of course he was referring to Aurveda and our heritage in mathematics and science. All this was done in our own languages - Sanskrit and regional languages.

Then why do we suffer from an inferiority complex ? Is it our faulty education ? I leave it to our readers.

http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/report_4000-marathi-schools-denied-permission-in-maharashtra_1432822

Nov.19,2010.

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Doles will not remove poverty, empowerment will.

DOLES WILL NOT REMOVE POVERTY, EMPOWERMENT WILL.

THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTER C.P.JOSHI IN THE FORUM, IDEA EXCHANGE, (INDIAN EXPRESS, OCTOBER 31) STATES THAT " WE ARE ENHANCING LIVELIHOOD…NREGS IS BASICALLY NOT MEANT FOR ASSET CREATION". THAT MEANS THE SCHEME DOES NOT EVEN CREATE ANY ASSET FOR THE PEOPLE, LEAVE ALONE ANY EMPOWERMENT OF THE POOR. IT IS JUST A DOLE.

OBVIOUSLY, HE OR HIS MINISTRY HAS NOT HEARD THE FAMOUS SAYING THAT 'IT IS BETTER TO TEACH FISHING RATHER THAN GIVE FISH TO THE POOR'. IF THE GOVERNMENT REALLY WANTS TO REMOVE POVERTY FROM THE COUNTRY, IT HAS TO EMPOWER THE POOR WITH SKILLS WHICH CAN GIVE THEM JOB AND THEREBY BREAD, BUTTER AND JAM.

THERE IS A WOEFUL LACK OF SKILLS LIKE THAT OF A PLUMBER OR A MASON WHICH A GROWING ECONOMY NEEDS. INSTEAD OF 100 DAYS OF WORK, THE POOR SHOULD BE GIVEN TRAINING IN SOME SKILL WHICH CAN GIVE THEM JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THEIR VICINITY. OR, THEY CAN BUILD HOUSES FOR THE WORKERS AND CHECK DAMS FOR THE VILLAGE. DOLES MAY BRING IN VOTES, IT WILL NOT REMOVE POVERTY.

http://www.indianexpress.com/fullcoverage/the-idea-exchange/39/

November 3, 2010.

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