100. Obama's comment on Indians eating too much. P S Remesh Chandran

100

Obama's comment on Indians eating too much

P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
 Article Title Image By Sasint. Graphics: Adobe SP.

ADB Chief Economist Dr. Rhee’s warning that left unchecked, the food crisis presently experienced will badly undermine the recent gains in poverty reduction made by the Asian countries is to be heeded to. Efforts to stabilize food production can certainly be given the centre stage and greater investments can also be made in agricultural infrastructure to increase crop production and to expand storage facilities. But what can effectively be done to ensure that what grain is produced is not wasted? Soaring food prices is a clear indication of supply and demand not balancing. If supply won’t increase, what solution is there to this crisis other than lowering demand? 

Following the recent visit of President Obama’s to India, a controversial debate arose as to his supposed comment that the world food crisis is due to the Indians eating too much. If he said it, it was the utmost truth that he said. But it is not the men who eat all this lot but the millions and millions of house dogs! They equal people in the 1:1 ratio. It is not junk food or left-over these pets are fed four times a day but executive food. And the quantity of food they eat! Not one person in authority likes to mention the culinary tastes of their dogs leading to a world food crisis. And not one newspaper editor has ever written anything about this most conspicuous thing. Criticizing the venerable Obama is far easier and safe. No one wishes to antagonize their wives. The objective of his brief comment is not to examine the wisdom or lack of it of enacting laws placing dogs very near to gods, but to point out the most lucid explanation for the recent food crisis in Asia mentioned in the article. 

[In response to news article ‘Food prices push millions of Asians into poverty’ on 05 May 2011]

099. TV advertisements after each run in cricket show. P S Remesh Chandran

099

TV advertisements after each run in cricket show

P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
 Article Title Image By JD X. Graphics: Adobe SP.

I still do not know what attraction there is in Cricket, but I do know that Cricket is fast displacing Foot Ball, the Poetry in Sports, as a national game. Examining the virtues and vices of Cricket or Foot Ball is not being attempted here or the diverse opportunities and scope opened up by Cricket in creating an atmosphere of Political Detente is not ignored either, but pushing the poor man’s game out of the arena can not be left uncommented. Poor rural village boys with enough stamina could easily have become Peles and secured a life and employment through this game of Foot Ball. But history shows that only boys from the rich and middle class families have ever become Cricket Stars and secured lives. So it was naturally expected that our political and sports authorities would promote Foot Ball in the first place and help it grow as India’s national game. But now we see that Foot Ball has been pushed back to the backyard. This was entirely due to the commercial prospects of Cricket. Where there is money involved, national heroes are shameless to go after it, kicking out good sports. In Television, advertisements can be shown after each Run in a Cricket Show and in Cricket the Runs are many But in Foot Ball advertisements have to wait at least for the finish of a game. It is the greatest national folly of India in sports- to have entrusted to advertisement makers the responsibility to decide which sports to survive and which not to survive. 

[In response to news article ‘Mohali- the new face of cricket diplomacy’ on 06 April 2011]

098. Some Indian leaders consider corruption as their birth right. P S Remesh Chandran

098

Some Indian leaders consider corruption as their birth right

P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
 Article Title Image By Mesh. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The real change in Indian politics during the last forty years is that people with authority began to consider corruption as their birth right. Bribery and Corruption is the Asian Lubricant. Suppose the son of a good school teacher and the son of a black marketer rise to authority. What will each of them do? It is evident. Good birth is an important thing, which decides the destiny of nations. A few years back, Indian History Congress made a desperate plea, requesting bright students to turn to studying history, without which the field of Historical Research in India will be filled with dull wits, as if it has already not happened. The same is the problem with politics in India. Young men and women born in very good and decent families turn their backs to politics, as a result of which supreme positions in the establishment and administration of this country has become to be occupied by cut-throats, looters, pilferers, cheaters and stealers. Now they demand liberalization of laws against corruption and introduction of new laws and stringent measures against those who submit complaints against corruption. Exactly what their fathers made them like. The present situation in India is very much similar to that of the turbulent times of Jayaprakash Narayan. The only difference is, there is no Jayaprakash Narayan or Chandrasekhar now. But a World Revolution against corruption is going on, in the wake of which mighty governments are going under. Everyone knows this fact, but no one likes to think about its imminence, except the perpetrators of massive corruption in India. The present rush is to gather everything and flee before the storm comes. 

[In response to news article ‘Anna Hazare’s fast against corruption’ on 10 April 2011]

097. Indian democracy is now the autocracy of a corrupt bureaucracy. P S Remesh Chandran

097

Indian democracy is now the autocracy of a corrupt bureaucracy

P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
 Article Title Image By Kokomo Cole. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Indian democracy has become the autocracy of a corrupt bureaucracy. Elected representatives of the people shamelessly live at people’s expense but no more represent people. The only powerful weapon still in the hands of the people is the ballot. When elections come, the knees of powerful politicians and their dependent-bureaucrats weaken and their heads spin, for the ultimate power which is still vested with people they may wield. The mighty Indian prime minister and Congress leader Indira Gandhi never even in her dreams thought she and her party would be thoroughly beaten through the ballots of millions of illiterate Indians. Nothing prevented the common Indian citizen from showing his contempt for her regime by sweeping away cleanly her and her cronies from power in an election. In that election, when the most educated states of the country including Kerala voted for her Congress Party, the most poor peasants and workers in the vast North Indian States turned against her and voted her regime and retinues out. History teaches us that there are nothing new but only repetitions of the past. We saw the Shaw Commission trials after the lifting of Emergency in 1977 and the installation of Mr. Morarji Desai’s Ministry and how the bureaucrats of India who among their family circles and friends’ circles were thought to be invincible wept in Courts, after the horrendous crimes they committed against the people of India in the name of democracy were read out to them. The only other unique example in the contemporary history of the world was the trial and conviction and Mao-Tse-Tung’s wife and her cronies for crimes committed in the name of communism and socialism against the people of China. The other example of Marcos’ wife Imelda and her cronies trialed and convicted in Philippines for crimes committed against people is not relevant here because it was not in the name of democracy, communism or socialism or any other ism. 

Before these three women’s and their cronies’ actions were exposed in trial courts set up by succeeding governments upon people’s demand in India, China and Philippines and they wept before court on being convinced of the horrendicity of their actions, the newspapers and magazines of the world were portraying them as magnificent people in power and printing thousands of articles describing their actions as benevolent and kind! Leading people to such falsities through glorifying articles is still the business of media. But everyone including people and media men knows that their show of chivalry and courage is just ballooned-up ostentation which is going to burst in future trial courts set up by succeeding governments upon people’s demand. 

If people once taught more powerful and tactful politicians a lesson once, they will again do it. The next time it would be easier for them to debunk a prince of darkness for they would be more experienced in the steps to take. So it is good not to mislead and cheat people by writing articles on the pseudo courage of such ‘powerful administrators and legislators’ as are mentioned in this article. Please don’t discourage the true democratic spirits of people and dampen their confidence in their own power by portraying worms as giants and projecting their thoughtless puny little acts as mighty international deals. When people read about such magnificently foolish personalities in articles like these they laugh, for they know these fools are doing nothing in this world but only digging their graves. What higher crime can the fourth estate do to the fifth estate than projecting rogues as Robin Hoods instead of investigating them? There is no need to project condemnable exploitation syndicates as lovely regimes of industrial growth and administration for people to believe their words and follow these figure heads: history goes the other way, takes the other route. Remember, more powerful economic empires went to smithereens in Japan recently, a country better known for money management, man management and materials management- the three basics of management. Japan’s bubble economy burst under those very luminary heads whom the world newspapers and magazines had been praising, celebrating and writing about for years. To keep inflation in check and deflate speculation in share market, they raised inter-bank lending rates, which projected for a short time to grotesque proportions their inflated economy which already was a bubble making itself ready to burst. Huge financial losses of institutions were deliberately allowed to be postponed before recognition and heavy capital infusions were flowed into these failed institutions illegally by the Bank of Japan and the Japanese government. When recognition set in, their economy collapsed- a situation anyone could have predicted in 2011, whatever their apex bank the Bank of Japan said. It’s the same Niagara of collapse towards which China’s economy is moving after its behemoth takes-over and capital infusion in foreign countries at the risk of collapse of internal economy, which to anyone can predict in 2011. Where Japan’s money wizards failed, and China’s money mandarins are going to fail, who will think a Dream India will emerge except in economical statistics convoluted and boosted to grotesque proportions- a maze of financial statements which even their creators now do not believe in? 

[In response to news article ‘Corruption on the rise in Indian democracy’ on 11 April 2011]

096. Will new software prevent girl child foeticide and dowry and take away their tuition fees? P S Remesh Chandran

096

Will new software prevent girl child foeticide and dowry and take away their tuition fees?

P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
 Article Title Image By Artsy Bee. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The instant a female child is born in India the first thought that comes to the mind of her parents is the huge dowry that has to be found someday for her marriage. Even though India has been ascending to her higher world status and economic importance, no political parties including the Communist Parties of India have taken a bold stand against the Dowry System. It is a curse in the Hindu religion as well as in Christianity and Islam, causing a national shame just above the level of corruption among the highest authorities. In the highest-literate state in India-Kerala- the highest crime the government engages thousands of officers in full duty to hunt down which is motorcyclists riding bikes without helmets! Not even one single case has been registered for demanding dowry, unless specifically complained by a bride’s relatives. Ministers of State and fleets of Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers who are supposed to be on the lookout for dowry crimes regularly attend marriages where huge dowries are paid. Even a look at the tonnes of gold and diamond ornaments worn by the bride, the groom and their relatives would have convinced any one of them how much dowry would have been paid in those marriages. But they simply eat those delicacies served there and return to their offices in those official cars which they brought to those venues of marriages unauthorized. Not a single person in authority has ever returned from a marriage to his office and started an ‘Arising File’ and written a Note, stating that ‘he has attended a marriage and he suspects that a huge dowry must have been paid which should be investigated’. Without such loyal and trustworthy officers and watchful state ministers, what use is there in passing laws against dowry? When the Government of India announced free education to all girl students in the country, the largest and the oldest girls’ school in Trivandrum, named after a Holy Angel, situated just two furlongs away from the seat of Government in the Secretariate, won’t allow any fee concession at all to girl students. No good in passing laws for girls without there being a Government whose officers will smell out dowry and report, and will not shy away from closing down schools which will not waive the tuition fees of girls. Dismiss one or two of such officers and state ministers; once terrorized, they will begin to reflect original Government policies on girls. 

Wherever news regarding health activities in a state in India is reported in newspapers, there will be mention of a district collector, participating, presiding or inaugurating. It seems these Indian Administrative Service personnel are not interested in running their important offices and are jealous of MBBS doctors and grieve in their hearts for not selecting a doctor’s profession which has no retirement. Unlike the IAS officers, a doctor is a doctor to the end of his life. Therefore everywhere health services’ activity is going on, the district collector makes his appearance, invited or not, and makes a speech, relevant or not. They like to impose their administrative power elsewhere because no one in their offices would obey them. In many states, doctors in government hospitals are bypassed by district collectors in decision making. Many state governments, to please politicians who have no other job, constituted hospital development committees with the respective district collector as the chairman and these ignorant and poor-educated politicians as members. They meet in committees in the hospital office, drink tea and munch cashew nut, discuss things which ought to have been discussed by qualified doctors alone, take decisions which the health authorities alone should have taken, and part to meet again soon. In these meetings, instead of development, the administrative problems only are discussed, including who should work where, etc. After two or three meetings, it begins to function as an administrative committee. In many districts, the district health administration have begun to be forced to report disciplinary action on their staff to the district collector for proposing what punishment is to be given! No one now knows where the head and tail are. Of all the dozens of departments in a state, doctors alone are not allowed to rule their department. What will happen if a district collector is posted as superintendent of a district hospital and the superintendent posted as the district collector? What again will happen if deciding what actions to be taken in the district revenue administration are left to a similar revenue development administrative committee? Each and everyone in government service have his portfolio and limit of authority. Everywhere in India, district collectorates are in administrative paralysis. Thousand of petitions reach these offices each weak from aggrieved citizens, but no district collectors are there to look into these grievances. They are busy, ruling the offices of other departments where they have no role, a self-assumed position. A few years back, if someone submitted a complaint to a district collector, action was sudden. Now action is never. They never even read these complaints. It is said in the Times news from Trichy that to prevent female foeticide, uploaded data from ultra scan centres would be monitored by authorities. Which authority, the health service personnel or this district collector? 

[In response to news articles ‘Girl child neglected’ on 20 April 2011 and ‘New software to prevent female foeticide’ on 05 June 2012]

095. Mobile phone tower radiation increasing and house sparrow population declining. P S Remesh Chandran

095

Mobile phone tower radiation increasing and house sparrow population declining

P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
 Article Title Image By PublicDomainPictures. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The most conspicuous reason for the house sparrow and tree sparrow population dwindling in modern day India is radiation from mobile phone towers. Assam Agricultural University found that house sparrows survive more from tower radiation than tree sparrows in Guwahati. It only proves that house sparrows living in more protected environments than tree sparrows are less affected than tree sparrows that live in the open. They all are being eliminated en mass and is becoming a nearly extinct species anyway. Excessive use of pesticides by man and his constructing houses with practically no nesting places for birds nowadays only add to worsening of the situation. It is accepted knowledge that radiation and vibration from mobile phone handsets and mobile phone towers is not tonic to animal body and birds but a hazardous necessary evil, for the time being. It is inconceivable that authorities believe radiations from Mobile Phone Towers do not affect human and avian health and well-being. Even if we are sitting inside a rocky cave surrounded on all sides by dense forest or are lying hidden inside a rocky pit in the deep and unfathomable bowels of the Earth, our mobile phones still would have range and we can still send messages and receive messages, which means the atmosphere around us and our surrounding air is saturated with radiations and unperceivable vibrations. It is known all over the world, even to tiny school children, that our little mobile handsets are much harmful to human body than the large television sets. Who will deny that saturated presence of unnatural radiations is harmful to human body? At times, authorities including the union minister for communication will issue press releases, assuring that every step is taken to prevent excessive radiation from mobile phone towers. But what steps are they taking or can they take, apart from dismantling towers and resorting to other costlier communication technologies? At times they will say that some kind of directives has been issued to limit radiation to harmless levels. What harmless levels, undefined and ambiguous? Are these directives being kept and observed by the tele-communication department? And the sound pollution caused by these omnipresent mobile phone towers! Almost all of them have diesel generators attached to them to substitute electrical power when electricity fails, which almost always does. Never seen or heard about a costly noise-proof generator attached to a mobile phone tower in India. Noise-proof generators are must for all mobile phone towers, but except just a few here and there, almost all of those towers use diesel generators. No lawyer has ever approached a court nor has a judicial court ever issued an order prohibiting the use of diesel generators. So now, all over India, we have freely-functioning mobile phone towers, transmitting as much communication and radiation as they can, and affecting the health and life our children, pregnant women, ailing old men, avian beings and livestock. Occasionally, a few research organizations, funded by government which in its turn is funded by BSNL, Airtel, Tata and Reliance, would conduct some divertive studies and declare that they have found beyond doubt that mobile phone towers causing hazardous radiation on humans and birds is a baseless allegation. 

It is inconceivable that radiations from Mobile Phone Towers do not affect human health and well-being. Even if we are inside a rocky cave surrounded by dense vegetation or hidden inside a rocky pit in the bowels of the Earth, our mobile phones have range which means the atmosphere and our surroundings are saturated with radiations and unperceivable vibrations. It is known all over the world even to tiny children that our little mobile phone handsets are much harmful to human body. Who will deny saturated presence of unnatural radiations is harmful anyway to human body? Are the directives being kept and observed? And the sound pollution caused by this omnipresent mobile phone towers-almost all of them has diesel generators attached to them to substitute for electrical power. Never seen or heard about a costly noise-proof generator attached to a mobile phone tower. It is easy and cozy for those who live in sound-proofed Government-paid air-conditioned houses to turn faces away from urban and rural realities.

 Article Title Image By Zane Lee. Graphics: Adobe SP.
  
[In response to news articles ‘Exposure to mobile phone towers increasing’ on 17 February 2011 and ‘House sparrow population declining’ on 20 March 2012]

094. Dogs more obstruct road travel than roadside rallies. P S Remesh Chandran

094

Dogs more obstruct road travel than roadside rallies. P S Remesh Chandran

P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
 Article Title Image By Godwin Angeline Benjo. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The common man’s right to freedom of movement is obstructed more by dogs than by public meetings on roadsides in Kerala. Why no enactment of laws on this issue? Dogs in the roads are the real menace to road travellers in Kerala. Hundreds of street-walking poor people including school children and tourists from other countries are daily bitten and cruelly group-attacked by packs of dogs roaming the streets. Hundreds of people are daily admitted in Kerala hospitals following severe dog attacks. People who have their own cars or government cars to travel rarely understand the pain of being bitten by dogs on the roads, resulting in losing several days’ wages and labour and undergoing costly precautionary treatment against Rabies. These dogs were the real reason behind the recent waves of Dengue and Chikungunya Fever outbreaks in Kerala, a fact no one would like to admit. This viral fever indeed is transmitted by mosquitoes, but it is also classified as a Zoonosis- a disease primarily occurring in mammals that can be transmitted to humans. The viruses responsible for this disease survive in nature as infections in animals, and human infection is not necessary for the survival of this virus. They need a mammalian body bitten by a mosquito to reside in and grow for a time, before being taken back by other mosquitoes and spread among humans. Dogs provide this temporary residence for these viruses. That is why even when we kill mosquitoes in great numbers, because the dogs are remaining there, Dengue is spreading. Since the ban on the killing of dogs, this rate of spreading increased a hundred and then a thousand times. Those who enacted the ban on killing dogs now say they are unable to control the spreading of Dengue.

Dengue Fever is also an Arbovirus Infection, the viruses being transmitted by arthropod vectors such as ticks, and almost all house dogs and street dogs alike are tick-affected. Dogs are the commonest Animal Reservoir Hosts to Dengue Virus. In all states of India Dengue claims thousands of human lives each year and incapacitates tens of thousands more for ever. The question of paying them compensation will come. And who will pay this compensation to travellers on roads who are freely being bitten by dogs? The High Courts of India and the Supreme Court have clearly stated that the Local Bodies of Administration in the area, such as Panchayats, Municipality and Corporation, are legally bound to pay compensation to those who are bitten by dogs in their area. Dogs on the roads in almost all states have already ruined the tourism industry in those states. Its disastrous impact on other spheres of human activity has only begun to be felt. Not only the road walkers but all motorists in Kerala also know that dogs are the real obstructions to the right of movement, not Public Meetings and Rallies. Anyway it is human beings that are assembled there, not attacking packs of dogs.

Article Title Image By Rebekah Howell. Graphics: Adobe SP.

[In response to news article ‘Supreme Court ruling on roadside rallies’ on 17 February 2011]