Spheris Is Cycle Friendly

My office, Spheris India Pvt Ltd, yesterday approved free parking for cycles inside the office premises. It all started with a small thread in the intranet forum. For an employee strength of 1500+, there weren't even 30 replies I guess on that thread including the ones like "you'll get crushed under a BMTC bus." There wasn't much demand from the masses, except a small handful (really, really small) who were bit serious about it including me the on-paper-cyclist-without-a-cycle. Its remarkable that they approved it considering the low demand and the fact that other private transport like motorbikes and cars are differentially charged a monthly parking fee of Rs 200-400 pm if they want to park in the official parking area and not outside on the road. Also, the company has been discouraging people using private vehicles right from the beginning since they provide free company transport. I'm a bit too elated cos with hardly any takers, the company could have easily avoided the trouble.

Critical Mass Ride - Bangalore

Critical Mass - Bangalore

All you people out there with any kind of cycle...doodhwala cycles,
newspaperwalla cycles, mtb's, road bikes,
with and without gearwallas (and walis), with and without helmets...
here's calling all of you to bring along your cycles and join in the
first ever Critical Mass ride in Bangalore
spread the word and join the bandwagon....
Let's make it happen guys!!!!

The intention is to ride in a single line (i.e one cyclist behind the other)
and draw attention to the fact there there are people who cycle on the roads
and that other people using the road should know about us and provide us
equal opportunity to use the roads.
Just a simple peaceful ride!
Be there and lets have fun and make a statement!

Those who are interested to participate please turn up at the start point by 6.30pm.

Start : Lalbagh West Gate
End: To be decided
Time : 6:30 pm.
Date : 28.11.08 (last Friday of the month)

We cycle in a single file
No breaking red lights
No cussing
No arguing with motorists
Just a quiet ride. And it'll be fun.

A little background about Critical Mass.

All over the world, The Critical Mass (CM)
is done on the last friday of the month..
Even though its a working day, the idea is to spread the message in
a live form to a large commuter base. If it were to be on a weekend
it would simply be a weekend leisure ride. CM helps in recognizing
the importance of respect that cyclists who commute daily deserve.

The first Critical Mass event was organised on September 25,
1992 in San Francisco, USA.
Over the years, citizens of 300-odd cities across the world have
embraced the concept. It is known by different names, such as
bike-lifting, corking and mass-up, in various cities.
Some Critical Mass events across the world have participants
not only on cycles, but also on skateboards and wheelchairs.
India is still not convinced about promoting cycling as a means of
transport but Amsterdam (Netherlands), New York, San Francisco,
Chicago, Portland (in USA), London (UK) and Paris (France)
boast of a flourishing bicycle culture

Btw, Even Delhi is having a CM on the same day
http://www.cyclists.in/events/delhi-critical-mass-on-28th

http://www.delhicriticalmass.in/how_to_start_Index.htm

Human Chain Protest 22nd June 2008, 11.00 am, Agara Lake, Kormangala, Bangalore

Join the Human Chain on Sunday, 22nd June 2008, 11.00 am at Agara Lake (Kormangala).

This is to protect and save our lakes from privatization, which will ruin our water bodies and exploit them for commercial interests.

Most people think "There'll be thousands of people there, it does not matter if I don't go". Unfortunately, most people's protest does not extend beyond their armchair, and you'll find that your presence does make a huge difference.

So please do take part yourself, and forward this to as many people as you can.

Every person counts.

For details on why we are doing this, see the petition below.

www.ipetitions.com/petition/blorelakes/


16th June 08

To:

Dr. Dilip Kumar, IFS
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests
Karnataka State Forest Department
Aranya Bhavan
Bangalore – 560003

Dear Sir,

We are aware that the Honorable High Court of Karnataka has directed you to file a status report with regard to status of lakes in Bangalore that are being privatised.

The undersigned wish to express their deepest concern over the ongoing efforts of the Government of Karnataka through the agency of the Lake Development Authority (LDA) to privatise lakes in Bangalore, and hand them over to private profit making bodies. Already four prime water bodies - Agara Lake, Hebbal Lake, Vengaiah Kere and Nagawara Lakes have been already been leased out by LDA. As per the lease agreements signed between the LDA and the private entities, these lakes have been handed over on lease of 15 years, subsequently extendable, ostensibly for development of the lakes.

Such development involves introduction of restaurants, kiosks, boating, water sports, jetty etc, as it has already been seen in the case of the Nagawara Lake by Lumbini Gardens Pvt Ltd, and by M/s Par – C Systems in the case of Vengaih Kere. We are deeply distressed by this development as we find this unethical and counter to the objective of environment conservation and maintenance of lakes as our public commons. The kind of activities that have been allowed distance visitors from nature, and feed into a consumerist culture that we could well do without.

Incidentally, these lakes were comprehensively de-silted, restored and rehabilitated by grants from the Norwegian Government under the Indo-Norwegian Project and the National Lake Conservation Programme of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. As a result these lakes are fantastic water bodies and excellent habitats for birds - both migrating and local. In addition they support a wide diversity of flora and fauna, and support the livelihoods of tens of fishing families.

Over time, these lakes have been intensively used by all local residents and the general public for various purposes. While Agara is being used for walking, jogging and recreational purposes, Hebbal Lake has been used for customary and traditional occupations like fishing, grazing and irrigation. In addition, birdwatchers have been visiting these wetland habitats regularly documenting the excellent diversity of migratroy waterfowl. All these lakes, and Hebbal in particular, have been the subject of numerous scholars and researchers studying wetlands, birds, aquatic life and so on. Hebbal Lake has infact been repeatedly proposed for conservation as a bird refuge, and its watershed as a Regional Park (per the Lakshman Rau Committee Report – 1988).

These water bodies are also critical open spaces for children of surrounding neighbourhoods whose sensibilities towards nature and its dynamics are also awakened by the easy access to such open spaces.

We sincerely believe that it is an unnecessary and damaging investment to now lease out these very lakes for advancing commercial interests. Besides being illegal this will take away our public commons and our natural heritage and will only benefit a few commercial entities. This loss will be dear and felt by present and future generations.

Keeping all this in view, we urge you to recommend to the Honorable High Court of Karnataka that the programme of lake privatisation must be abandoned. We strongly feel that lakes must be maintained as our common heritage, their maintenance undertaken with the cooperation of local communities and no activity inconsistent with the traditional and specific use of the water bodies should be allowed now or in the future.

As concerned individuals, we are keen to assist the Government of Karnataka and its agencies in any intervention that will ensure the protection and sustenance of our lakes systems.

A BRIDGE TOO FAR ........

A BRIDGE TOO FAR ........

The Lord surveyed the Ram Setu and said "Hanuman, how diligently and strenuously you and your vanara sena had built this bridge several centuries back. It is remarkable that it has withstood the ravages of the climatic and geographical changes over centuries. It is indeed an amazing feat especially considering the fact that a bridge at Hyderabad built by Gammon using latest technology collapsed the other day even before they could stick the posters on its pillars."

Hanuman with all humility spoke "Jai Sri Ram, it is all because of your grace. We just scribbled your name on the bricks and threw them in the sea and they held. No steel from TISCON or cement from Ambuja or ACC was ever used. But Lord, why rake up the old issue now."

Ram spoke "Well, Hanuman some people down there want to demolish the bridge and construct a canal. The contract involves lot of money and lot of money will be made. They will make money on demolition and make more money on construction. "

Hanuman humbly bowed down and said "Why not we go down and present our case" Ram said "Times have changed since we were down there. They will ask us to submit age proof and we don't have either a birth certificate or school leaving certificate. We traveled mainly on foot and some times in bullock carts and so we don't have a driving license either. As far as the address proof is concerned the fact that I was born at Ayodhya is itself under litigation for over half a century, If I go in a traditional attire with bow and arrow, the ordinary folks may recognize me but Arjun Singh may take me to be some tribal and, at the most, offer a seat at IIT under the reserved category. Also, a God cannot walk in dressed in a three-piece suit and
announce his arrival. It would make even the devotees suspicious. So it is dilemma so to say."

"I can vouch for you by saying that I personally built the bridge."

"My dear, Anjani putra, it will not work. They will ask you to produce the lay-out plan, the project details, including financial outlay and how the project cost was met and the completion certificate. Nothing is accepted without documentary evidence in India. You may cough but unless a doctor certifies it, you have no cough. A pensioner may present himself personally but the authorities do not take it as proof. He has to produce a life-certificate to prove that he is alive. It is that complicated."

"Lord can't understand these historians. Over the years you have given darshan once every hundred years to saints like Surdas, Tulsidas, Saint Thyagaraja, Jayadeva, Bhadrachala Ramdas and even Sant Tukaram and still they disbelieve your existence and say Ramayana is a myth. The only option, I see, is to re-enact Ramayana on earth and set the government records straight once for all."

Lord smiled "It isn't that easy today. Ravan is apprehensive that he may look like a saint in front of Karunanidhi. I also spoke to his mama Mareecha, who appeared as a golden deer to tempt Sita maiyya when I was in the forest and he said that he won't take a chance of stepping on earth as long as Salman Khan is around."


This is another forwarded e-mail that I felt I must share..

Ban The Bulb - 1

I switched to CFL long back.. The only bulb in my house is the spare one which I bought long back and is still surviving due to non-use.

So don't be a "tubelight." Ban the damn bulb. One of the least things you can do your bit to Change Climate Change.

Andaman Trunk Road & Jarawas

Date:10/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2007/06/10/stories/2007061050090100.htm

---

Magazine

Trouble down this road Trouble down this road

MEENA GUPTA

The Andaman Trunk Road, a boon for settlers on the island, could be the death-knell for the Jarawas. But little is being done to protect the Stone Age tribe from contact with the 21st century.

THE deprivation of a name, the loss of a homeland, the extinction of a tribe — this seems to be the ominous progression of one of the oldest extant hunter-gatherer tribes in India, indeed, possibly, in the whole world. ‘Ang’ is what they call themselves, but the world knows them as the Jarawa, the Palaeolithic tribe that lives deep in the jungles of the Andaman Islands.

The word ‘Jarawa’, in the language of the Great Andamanese (another Stone Age tribe of the Andamans) means ‘the stranger’ or ‘the outsider’. To the Andamanese, the Jarawa were outsiders; a different people, albeit of the same Negrito stock and inhabiting the same islands. It is unfortunate that this name — rather than Ang meaning ‘humans’, which the Jarawa use for themselves — should become the name by which we know them.

Total isolation

The Jarawa are one of the five Stone Age tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which have lived in almost total isolation in the dense tropical forests of the islands, and have survived virtually unchanged up to modern times. They are hunter-gatherers, who do not practise even rudimentary agriculture, wear no clothes, shun contact with outsiders, and are fiercely independent. Their physical appearance — dark, almost ebony skin, closely curled woolly hair, and negrito features — are quite distinct from the population that originates from the Indian mainland and mark them as a race apart.

Because of their small numbers (240 persons as per the 2001 census, 317 persons as reported by the Andaman administration in 2007) and their being nomadic deep forest dwellers, they are virtually unknown as a community to the rest of India and are only a name even to the inhabitants of the islands.

The plight of the Jarawa has, in recent years, generated a lot of interest because of an almost sudden change in their behaviour in the late 1990s — from avoiding all contact with the outsider to actively seeking such contact. This change, which began in 1997, has heightened their vulnerability and threatened their way of life.

The single activity that has had the most significant, and adverse, impact on the lives of the Jarawa is the construction of the Andaman Trunk Road. Running in a south-north direction from Port Blair, the administrative headquarters in South Andaman to Maya Bunder in the north, the ATR was started in 1958 with the very laudable intention of linking Port Blair with the several settlements scattered in the middle and north of the Andaman Islands.

These settlements, which consisted entirely of people who migrated from the mainland (refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan, other people who had migrated in search of better opportunities, descendants of convicts and jailors brought by the British) were either consciously established by the administration or, more rarely, had sprung up on their own.

Established at great human and financial cost, they are now flourishing habitations, with the people conscious and vociferous about their rights. Before the construction of the Andaman Trunk Road, these habitations were connected to Port Blair (and to the mainland) only by sea routes. With the completion of the ATR (an endeavour that took approximately 40 years), a direct and unimaginably convenient land link was established between the settlements and Port Blair.

The trouble was that the ATR sliced right through territory that was, until then, the exclusive and undisturbed preserve of the Stone Age, hunter-gatherer Jarawa tribe. In fact it was because this territory was, by and large, undisturbed that the Jarawa had been able to survive with their way of life almost unchanged over centuries. The incursion into their territory, through the means of the ATR, exposed them to modern civilisation and its baneful influences like tobacco, alcohol, unfamiliar foods and diseases against which they had no immunity, which could together take them to the brink of extinction. What was a boon for the settlers, therefore, could very easily sound the death knell for the Jarawa.

Alarm bells about the impact of the ATR on the Jarawa should have started ringing long ago. When the road first started, sensibilities about the environment and human rights and the different rights of tribals were low. Therefore creating a road through someone else’s homeland, destroying virgin forests was not a matter of great concern.

Opposition

But over the 40 years or so it took to construct the ATR, consciousness of environmental issues and human rights has grown by leaps and bounds. However when the rights of a tiny group of people clashes with those of a much larger one, it is usually the more clamorous and stronger voice that is heard. And that is what has happened in the case of the ATR.

There was certainly no dearth of opposition from the Jarawa. Starting with the killing of the labourers building the road, to shooting with bow and arrows at buses and other vehicles when they started to ply on the road, the Jarawa made their objection to the violation of their homeland and space quite clear. That the administration continued with their efforts could be seen as an act of valour and determination in the face of odds or callousness and insensitivity towards the rights of weaker people depending on the point of view.

The Jarawa became the subject of a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Calcutta High Court in the 1990s with the High Court issuing an order to frame a policy for the Jarawa. The Jarawa Policy was prepared as a consequence, in consultation with a number of experts, and was adopted on December 21, 2004.

The Jarawa Policy dwells not inconsiderably on the ATR and its impact on the Jarawa. It recommends, among other things, that the traffic on the road be restricted to essential purposes (which have been specified) and allowed to move only during restricted hours and in convoys. It repeatedly stresses that all manner of interaction between the Jarawa and the travellers, particularly tourists, be prevented. Very importantly, the policy talks of encouraging and strengthening facilities for travel by boat and ship. The policy also talks of removing encroachments in the Jarawa territory on priority basis, and ensuring that no such encroachment of non-tribals take place.

No implementation

In the two and a half years since the Jarawa policy has come into being, little has been done to implement its recommendations, particularly the more difficult ones. In defence of the administration, it must be pointed out that the inaction was not, perhaps, deliberate. The Jarawa policy was adopted on December 21, 2004. Just five days later, on December 26, the devastating tsunami struck the islands. The Jarawa were not affected by the tsunami, so the administration, whose entire attention got diverted to the affected areas, had little time to think of the Jarawa, apart from verifying that they had not suffered any loss.

The Jarawa policy has thus remained, by and large unimplemented. No attempt has been made to explore alternate sea routes to link the places that the ATR goes to. Little effort has been made to curtail the number of vehicles plying on the road. The average number of vehicles plying on the ATR annually shows a steep increase from 17,179 in 2001 to 35,798 in 2006. The number is poised to exceed 40,000 in 2007.

Convoys of vehicles leave eight times a day from Jirkatang and Middle Strait — the two opposite ends of the portion of the ATR that runs through the Jarawa reserve — with an average of 120 vehicles per day. And despite explicit stipulations of no contact with the Jarawa, vehicles conveniently break down or stop on one pretext or the other on the portion of the road inside the Jarawa reserve to allow tourists to see and sometimes interact with the Jarawa.

The subject of the Jarawa was again studied by a sub-group of experts and officials, set up in January, 2006 by the National Advisory Council, to examine inter alia institutional arrangements for protecting the Jarawa and to suggest various measures to ensure greater protection. By January 2006, the Jarawa policy adopted in December 2004 had not had a fair chance at implementation. Just a year had passed, and the tsunami and its aftermath had grabbed all attention and resources. The sub-group studied various aspects including the notified Jarawa policy and its implementation and made several recommendations.

Regarding the ATR, it has suggested that the portion that runs through the Jarawa reserve eventually be closed, after alternate arrangements for transportation by sea or air were put in place. This means a further delay since very little action has been taken to explore other arrangements. Unless a firm decision to close the ATR (i.e. the portion inside the Jarawa reserve) is taken, the administration will continue to drag its feet on alternate routes.

Other alternatives

Despite the Supreme Court having taken such a decision in 2002, the administration has filed a review petition, which is yet to be finalised. It is easily forgotten that before the completion of the ATR (which is fairly recent), sea routes were the only alternative.

Even today, for all other islands, e.g. Car Nicobar, Havelock, Great Nicobar, other islands of the Nicobar group, Little Andaman and many others, transportation is only by boat or ship and, very occasionally, by helicopter. Therefore the people living in North and Middle Andaman can hardly claim that they will be specially inconvenienced.

Almost all the officials who work or have worked closely with the Jarawa, whether of the Andaman administration or the Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti, a registered society set up to look after matters relating to primitive tribes, privately aver that closure of the ATR is essential to reduce contact with the Jarawa and protect them from abrupt induction into the 21st century.

However, other officials strongly claim that closure of the ATR, even a portion of it, is impossible since it is a lifeline for the northern settlements. The attitude of these latter officials is understandable, but unsupportable, if one keeps the future of the Jarawa in mind.

It is apparent they are thinking not of the Jarawa but of the other inhabitants. For these inhabitants, other alternatives are, or can be, made available. For the Jarawa, who virtually have their backs against the wall, there is no alternative, and time is fast running out.

© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

The Last Will and Testament of the Tiger - Amit Dahiyabadshah

The Poet Laureate and the resident poet for ICONGO, Amit
Dahiyabadshah stirs some emotions in the hearts of the Human beings
that have been so callous towards this beautiful wild cat with his poem- The
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT of the TIGER while he pays a tribute to this royal
cat.

The Last Will and Testament of the Tiger


When you have stolen my skin from my entity
and removed the roar from my life
O hunter wield that thunder stick
with some grace some skill
I too have hunted and killed many many times

but every kill
was a prayer in praise of the Creator
My movements were always clear clean and merciful
Such is the way of true believers

Do you now slice slash and pare clean O Skinner
I pray only that you leave no part of me behind
to be eaten by the Jackal and the Hyena
I have ruled this forest on behalf of the creator himself
and there is no honour in a king becoming carrion

So send the sacred colour from my coat
back to the maker of sunsets
Return the darkness of my stripe
back to the shadows and the undergrowth
Send the white from my fur back to the frost of a new ice age
that it return to avenge me
Send my roar back to my maker
that he fill the universe with my rage
at this shabby end for a true king

Send my claws to the young of the high born
to save them from their own nightmares

Send my teeth to Tibet that their aspirations find new Teeth

Send my bones to China that they find a cure
for the fear that builds such great walls

Send my fat to Singapore so they learn to make a balm for pain
that is mine not only in name

Send my Shit to the Alchemists
for that is the only substance they have not yet tried

Give my entrails to whoever shall take them
But hang on to my eyes you puny murderer
That your tribe might know that you did not kill a creature beneath you
that I looked you in the eye and did not flinch when you shot me

Instead I have turned away
Released
from the cancer of your footprint

--Amit Dahiyabadshah

Ghosts of Chernobyl - I

The Ghosts of Chernobyl is a photo show I have put together from what I came across on the web, mostly from Greenpeace.


Nine-year-old Alexandra with her father Vitaly in Gomel, Belarus. Alexandra has a birth defect, called hydrocephalus. Vitaly has quit his job to care for his daughter. The family lives in the fall out zone of the Chernobyl disaster.


Sisters Irina and Elena live in an area of Belarus contaminated by the Chernobyl disaster. Both have had brain tumours removed and now have problems with their thyroid gland.


Galina has thyroid cancer. For surgeon Igor Komisarenko, most of his patients are thyroid cancer victims: "The closer to Chernobyl, the higher the chances of getting thyroid cancer."


Nastya, from Belarus was only three years old when she was diagnosed with cancer of the uterus and lungs. According to local doctors the region has seen a huge increase in childhood cancer cases since the Chernobyl disaster.


Natalia had a brain tumour at 8 and her little brother Kostya has Down’s syndrome. They live near Mayak, the site of a former nuclear plant in Russia and the most radioactively polluted place on Earth. Radioactive waste was poured straight in to the river. Their mother swam in the river and blames it for her children’s illnesses. "We didn’t know there was anything wrong until many people became ill. We called it river disease."


Ramzis has hydrocephalus. “I don’t like to go to school, because the boys call me bad names. The girls avoid me and don’t want to go out with me. I hope I will not have children who look like me.” Ramzis lives near Mayak, the site of a former Russian nuclear plant and the most radioactively polluted place on Earth.


Ardak lives in the highly contaminated Semipalatinsk nuclear test zone in Kazakhstan. He is 33 and suffering from a rare bone disease that makes his body shrink. His doctors don’t know what is wrong and think he may die. He has shrunk more than 30 centimetres.

In the cancer ward of a Kiev hospital in the Ukraine, 19-year-old Elena is being treated for her second case of thyroid cancer in just 3 years.

India's Nuclear Gamble

Yesterday, I accidentally came to know that today is the 20th infamous anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster (April 26, 1986). So I’m hastily posting an article that I’ve been writing, but not quite finished. I say hastily, because I wanted to collect more data and figures before I make this post. However, since today is the Chernobyl anniversary, I felt that it would be the most appropriate date for this post, looking at the mistakes that others made in the past and perhaps learning something from it.

The initial euphoria of the Indo-US nuclear deal has long since died down, and the way things stand, it’s going to be bumpy ride before the US Senate ratifies the treaty. In promoting nuclear energy, the USA is also advancing its benefit. In the near future, India’s plans are to import 8 nuclear reactors. This, I believe although not sure, are for Tarapur Atomic Power Project 3 and 4 (Maharashtra), Kaiga Atomic Power Project 3 and 4 (North Karnataka), Kudankulam Power Project 1 and 2 (Tamil Nadu), and Rawatbhata Atomic Power Project 3 and 4 (Rajasthan). US is certainly gleeful over the prospect of getting at least 2, if not more, contracts for itself, and this fact comes straight right from an article called “Our Opportunity With India” in The Washington Post by Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of State. According to her, just 2 contracts will generate employment for thousands of US workers. With a bit of diplomacy, I think it is an improbable certainty that US will get at least the bare minimum of what it wants. Another reason for US’ vested interest in promoting nuclear energy in India is our booming economy and industry, which is craving for energy and raising the demand significantly for oil in the international market pushing up prices significantly. India's goal is to have 20,000 MWe nuclear capacity installed by 2020. If we achieve our nuclear energy generation targets, that will put a lesser burden on the international crude prices and also for US.

It is well known that Indian economy is booming at a rate of 8% and the aims are at 10% of annual growth. It’s not going to be an easy task considering the fact that the country is facing a huge energy crisis. To sustain the momentum, India is looking forward to nuclear energy as a ‘cheap’ and ‘clean’ option (?). Also add to the fact that it will lessen our dependence on fossil fuel based power, which has its own disadvantages. Coal is highly polluting and the supply of oil is the monopoly of the OPEC cartel largely dominated by the middle east which itself is a hotbed of unrest and violence. The price of crude has been rising significantly over the past few years, and the dependence on oil is proving to be a major hindrance for India. During the Kuwait crisis, India almost ran out of oil stocks with reserves barely enough to sustain domestic needs for about 1 month if I remember that right. We can’t have such a situation happen again at this juncture of economic growth. Those in power also do not forget to miss out on emphasizing the point regarding the pollution caused by fossil fuel based power plants. The CO2 emissions of India from such power plants itself is accounted to be in the tune of 170 million tons which is the total CO2 output of a country like Netherlands. The point that is clearly missed that nuclear energy is far from being a clean fuel, perhaps we can call it a superficially clean fuel. Superficial because in a nuclear plant, we do not see the thick smoke emanating from sky-high chimneys associated with fossil fuel based power plants. The risk of radiation exposure exists in each and every stage of production of nuclear energy, right from the mining of ore to ore processing to generation of energy to waste disposal. Nuclear waste is highly radioactive and needs to be disposed away in sealed containers buried deep under the earth away from any sort of human or natural interference in order to prevent any radiation leakage. Although it may sound very simple, but practically speaking, it is never a fail-safe method. The risk of spillage of radiation into the environment is omnipresent. Burying it deep in the ground may sound like a good enough option but in a seismically active country like ours, even that doesn’t sound very reassuring to me. An earthquake can easily cause a rupture in the sealed containers and cause them to leak. Worse still, since the leakage will take place underground and without any tools to prevent it, we may not find out about it until the Geiger counter comes alive and the harm has already been done.

From a security point of view, I feel it’s just a big mistake. In an event of war, a conventional attack on any of the nuclear plants can have as devastating enough an affect as using a nuclear warhead. A terrorist strike may sound really far fetched and paranoid, but we thought an attack on the Parliament too as impossible until December 13, 2001, happened, that too when both houses were in session. In the recent past, there have been reports coming into limelight about terrorist sleeper cell agents being active in defense and other sensitive organizations and carrying out espionage activities. HAL had one such incident not so long ago. A terrorist strike need not be carried out with Kalashnikovs and Chinese made grenades. A sleeper cell agent working inside a nuclear plant is quite capable at that and a bigger threat than an attack right upfront. Such cells can strike anywhere but at a nuclear plant, it will be one of the most devastating.

A real and greater possibility than a terrorist strike is something going wrong in the plant, be it for human error or technical malfunction. Both US and Russia have had nuclear accidents. While the one at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, didn’t cause any major issues, Chernobyl, Belarus, wasn’t so lucky as we all know. According to recently released damning report by Greenpeace (click2download), it is estimated that more than 270,000 people will develop cancers and 93,000 people fatal cancer in the future. In the last 15 years, 60,000 people have died in Russia because of Chernobyl and estimates of the total death toll for the Ukraine and Belarus could reach another 140,000. This figure does not take into account the various other non-fatal diseases, genetic mutation defects, etc. The fallout of the radiation crossed boundaries and reached until eastern United States apart from contaminating large parts of mainland Europe and England. The effects of the disaster will be felt for hundreds of years to come. The worst radiated regions will be totally unfit for human inhabitance for 900 years.

The Chernobyl Unit 4 Reactor was of 3200 MWe capacity and much larger than the 240 MWe and upcoming 540MWe capacity reactors of India. The major cities of India are a stone's throw away in terms of nuclear radiation fallout. Narora plant (Uttar Pradesh) near New Delhi, Trombay (Maharashtra) near Mumbai, Kakrapar (Gujrat) which is again near to Mumbai besides Ahmedabad , Kaiga near Bangalore, Kudankulam and Kalpakkam (Tamil Nadu) near Chennai. In the unfortunate event of even a small disaster for whatever reason, it can possibly contaminate a large part of the country and all major cities with high levels of radiation. After all, there have been “200 near miss” accidents till date throughout the world that have largely gone unreported in the media or not given due coverage. The question is whether we can deal in any meaningful way the ensuing humanitarian and economic catastrophe. It is a question than can have only a negative answer.

It has been 2 decades since the Bhopal gas tragedy. More than 15,000 people were killed and 150,000 to 600,000 injured. The Government’s response to the tragedy has been so flawed and callous that even now the factory has not been “cleaned up” properly. Chemicals still leak into the ground from decaying containers polluting the soil and underground water reserves. The hapless victims of the tragedy still have to stage dharnas and satyagrahas at the heart of the capital to make their voices heard in the corridors of power. From an economic point of view, the economic burden of dealing with the number of probable radiation victims, providing them with medical care and rehabilitation will be a Herculean task and capable of crippling any economy beyond repair. All the growth and boom can be just wiped out by an unfortunate twist of fate, a single nuclear accident.

There is also a possibility that such an accident may never happen. Being a Sagittarian, I think its only natural to be an optimist about the whole radioactive topic. If India is lucky enough to pull it off without any mishaps, it’ll really thrust the nation into the league of developed countries. CO2 gas levels, as mentioned above, will fall significantly. However, the million-dollar question is, what if things go wrong somewhere someday? Is it really worth taking the risk? Do we really need to turn a blind eye at the potentially fatal risk that we are getting into for a few Rupees more? Our greed of growth might turn into a horrible dream that will last for hundreds of years. I would rather pick economic backwardness and/or slower growth rather than have a nuclear accident and consequent near-eternal economic backwardness coupled with a population plagued by cancer and genetic mutations for generations to come. By the time the radioactive dust of the fallout settles down on us, the glitter of India shining would have instantly rusted and decayed resembling the sarcophagus over Chernobyl Unit 4 Reactor and the ghost town that now surrounds it.

[PS: This article may contain few unintentional factual errors due to the paucity of time I faced at the time of this post. I shall make every attempt to cross check and make necessary edits as soon as I get the time. Inputs from Greenpeace,Wikipedia, and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd etc on the net.]

Chernobyl Certificate No 000358

This is Annya. She is more than just a number.

Being a victim of the Chernobyl disaster means more than just a number. Often, it's a lifetime of suffering due to a dirty and dangerous industry still being promoted with our tax money.

Annya was born in 1990 in a village highly contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown of April 26, 1986. A cancerous brain tumour at the age of 4 marked the end of Annya's childhood, and the beginning of a life of pain and illness. Annya, now 15 and bed-ridden, has spent her life in and out of hospital between tumours and life support. Every 15 minutes of every night, she must be turned in order to prevent further pain and bedsores.

Twenty years after the Chernobyl disaster, Annya and her parents battle everyday with the cruel and personal legacy of Chernobyl. Their home village in the south of Belarus, irradiated and uninhabitable, was razed and buried years ago. Gomel, the region where they live now, is economically and socially depressed and work is hard to find.

Annya's is just one story. In Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and beyond, there are 100,000's of people who lost a chance of a normal life to nuclear disaster on a quiet spring night in 1986. Thousands of stories. Thousands of certificates. Thousands of lives forever and irreparably scarred.
Nuclear technology is inherently dangerous. Today, thankfully, it is also unnecessary. Our energy needs can be met with safe and efficient renewable energy technologies so why are so many politicians peddling nuclear power at the very time we need it least when we have safe and sustainable sources available to power the world?

Why does the UN, through its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), continue to promote the nuclear technology that creates the very materials used to make the nuclear weapons it is mandated to stop? Is it the role of a UN agency, funded by your taxes, to advance the profits of the nuclear industry? Do we not have the right to expect the IAEA to focus only on the values and principles of the UN - peace, security, and human rights - and not on private industry's profits?
In some ways, sadly, Annya is just a number. She is one of hundreds of thousands of victims living the devastating aftermath of Chernobyl. For Annya and for the thousands of children like her, WE need to speak out and say NO more nuclear, NO more Chernobyls. If WE don't, who will?

[This article copyright of Greenpeace and not my original creation. However, I couldn't agree any less with the message conveyed in the article. The article has been edited a bit here and there but overall content remains the same]

Something New

As a Greenpeace cyberactivist, I routinely follow up various national and international environmental stories as much leeway as time would allow when I'm not shuttling between office-home-college-home. Until now, my "cyberactivism" was limited to writing to various heads of state, elected representatives, members of parliament, etc., urging them to take action regarding various environmental issues. I am quite sure that they get thousands of such similar mails from other cyberactivists too, and they would definately not have the time to read them personally. I don't blame them. There are much important things a member of parliament a has to do than bother about an environment under threat, e.g. elections, swindle tax-payer's money, and well, you know the rest. Regardless whether they read it or not, I have got few replies. Taking it a step further, I just thought of writing about environmental issues on my blog. I dont have a large group of visitors on my blog, just a few of my friends and colleagues, but I hope that people who read it will be a bit more aware about whats going on and perhaps take a positive step.