When the animal in us comes to life

Such is the human race, often it seems a pity that Noah... didn't miss the boat. ~Mark Twain

By Ashwin Dewan - India Syndicate Sun 1:25 PM

Perhaps, a saying that most aptly sums up what some people are becoming day by day and more so in my country of India which is renowned for its rich cultural heritage and tradition. But, recent events that the dictionary defines as and the world knows as "rape" has got me thinking and thinking hard... Is India slowly slipping back to the dark ages.



Trust me. I am justified in saying this because when a 23 year old girl is brutalised (am not using the word "rape" here because i want to stress on the epic proportions of this horrendous act) by using the word " brutalised". How else can one react when one reads about a young girl who did nothing wrong but was raped violently by a gang of animals(calling them men would be respecting and putting them on par with us normal human beings), beaten up to the point that her intestines have to be removed..Sheer disgust and horror.

As the young and brave girl fights for her life, my thoughts just recollect other such events that have blackened the year starting from February when a woman was raped at gunpoint inside a car in Calcutta. There were widespread protests just like the protests that we are witnessing right now. The media was constantly on the case and as the protest grow louder and if I may add, more violent by each passing minute...can we blame the protestors?

Every day, we hear cases of rape from all over the country. Of girls being raped by beasts, of fathers raping their own daughters and what's more the brother...Oh!Brother​...too decides to join in the act of animals and proceeds to rape his own sister. Perhaps, we are being slowly dragged to the dark ages. After all...how can u justify actions when apart from young girls being violated, the female form is being seen so much as an object of sexual gratification that can be violated anytime, anyplace that even age has ceased to matter. Case being in point...Everyday in the papers, I read of how six to even as small as three year old girls being violated...Horror and more horror.

INDIAN DREAMS Vs REALITY: ENERGY SECURITY THROUGH RENEWABLES: THE ONLY WAY A...

INDIAN DREAMS Vs REALITY: ENERGY SECURITY THROUGH RENEWABLES: THE ONLY WAY A...: The quest for Energy Security has been the endeavour of mankind from times immemorial. The growth and prosperity of nations has revolved a...

Courtiers vs Politicians

TK Arun
27 December 2012, 10:04 AM IST

Courtiers vs Politicians

What recent events in Delhi show is a rare shortage of politicians in the leadership of the government and an abundance of courtiers.  How to tell one apart from the other? It’s not always easy, true: only the jester wears a conical hat with a tassel at the very top. The difference lies in to whom their antennae are tuned. The courtier is focused on the throne, the politician on the people. When home minister Shinde boldly went where no man has gone before and asked a couple of television anchors if the home minister of the country should rush to address a few hundred people whenever they agitate, whether in Delhi or Garchiroli, he proved people are nowhere on his radar.

The politician would know when a few hundred give vent to the pent-up feelings of millions and when they articulate their own arcane concerns. He would respond accordingly. Minister of state for home RPN Singh said on live TV that he would deign to meet protesters in the flesh if someone would provide an ironclad guarantee that there would be no violence. If meeting real people is a risk that he or fellow refugees in ministry woodwork cannot take, why are they in this business of the people, by the people and for the people? Courtiers, of course, are accountable only to her highness.

The politician instinctively knows when a vote bank is stirring. Even if he himself stands for no strenuous principle, he knows to raise his voice in support of one when a vote bank rallies around it. In India, women are rarely considered a vote bank. They constitute half the voters of the country — actually a little less, thanks to violent social bias that kills off little girls in the womb, puts the little girls who do make it to the world on tight rations so that their brothers can go to school, forces them to rely on their own immunity to battle disease, so that whatever little the family can spare for healthcare goes to protect the male child, and generally reverses the natural tendency for women to outnumber men in a population. This is a vote bank that today is both stirred and shaken. Raisina hill unfortunately has turned concave under the weight of its worthy occupants and they cannot see this huge, agitated vote bank beyond the rim of the depression they have created for themselves.

State vs people

Exploding tear gas shells, water cannons, men in uniform beating up men, women and children, the jackboot of brute authority stamping down on democratic protest Tahrir Square, Cairo, where the ‘Arab Spring’ has become bitter winter? No, it was India Gate, New Delhi, last Sunday, when the police clashed with largely peaceful demonstrators protesting against the savage rape of a young woman in the city.

As protestors uprooted the wooden barriers erected for the Republic Day parade and set fire to them, the symbolism couldn’t have been starker; it was the people versus the state. And the battle didn’t take place somewhere in the remote, rural ‘badlands’ where self-styled Maoist insurgents combat para-military forces. The battle took place in the heart of the country’s showcase capital, the seat of our democracy.

Later, police spokesmen blamed the shameful episode, which left more than 60 people injured, on ‘lumpen elements’ who instigated violence. There could well have been troublemakers in the crowd of largely peaceful protesters. But the reference to ‘lumpens’ sought to tarnish all the demonstrators with the same besmirching brush. When citizens demonstrate people power, as distinct from the state which claims a monopoly on power, they become ‘lumpens’. However at election time, the same ‘lumpens’ become the lauded ‘aam admi’ whose votes politicians covet and desperately vie for.

The Biocellar: Urban Farming Moves Underground in Cleveland

By: Jeff McIntire-Strasburg

Just over a month ago, we took a look at Chateau Hough, an urban vineyard in one of Cleveland, Ohio’s most distressed neighborhoods.  The idea of using urban agriculture as the means for revitalizing a community is pretty innovative in and of itself, but activist and developer Mansfield Frazier has plans for a first-ever addition to the vineyards: a biocellar. We mentioned this in passing in

sustainablog (http://s.tt/1vFm7)

Zero Waste: From Dream to Reality in the Philippines

By: Guest Author

By Anne Larracas and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives

“Environmental Possibilities: Zero Waste” features new ways of thinking, acting, and shaping government policy that are circling the globe. Each week, we highlight a success story in the zero waste movement, excerpted from a report by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). GAIA is a powerful worldwide alliance of more than 650 grassroots groups, no

sustainablog (http://s.tt/1vO73)

Black money: India ranked 8 among 150 countries - Hindustan Times
India is among the top 10 developing countries in the world with a black money outflow of $1.6 billion ( Rs.8,720 crore) in 2010, a report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) said. The report, to be released on Tuesday, said the total outflow of black money from India since independence 

until 2010 was $232 billion, generally in the form of corruption, bribery and kickbacks. The cumulative value of illicit assets held by Indians during the same period is estimated to be $487 billion.

In the post-reform period of 1991-2008, deregulation and liberalisation accelerated the outflow of illicit money from the Indian economy, the report by Washington-based GFI, Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries, said.

“Almost three-quarters of the illicit assets comprising India’s underground economy — which has been estimated to account for 50% of India’s GDP (around $640 billion in 2008) — ends up outside of the country,” the report’s author and former economist with IMF Dev Kar, said.

The earlier edition of the report has been quoted by the government in its white paper on black money.

The report found illicit financial flow in 2010 from these countries was $858.8 billion, just below the all-time high of $871.3 billion in 2008.

Maximum outflow of illicit money was from China with India ranked eighth.

The report said that astronomical sums of dirty money continue to flow out of the developing world and into offshore tax havens and developed country banks, meaning that the poor in source countries are being deprived of their right to development.

There is a statistical correlation between larger volumes of illicit flows and deteriorating income distribution in the developing countries, the report said.

The finding that only 27.8% of India's illicit assets are held domestically supports the argument that the desire to amass wealth illegally without attracting government attention is one of the primary motivations behind the cross-border transfer of illicit capital. 

Opportunities for trade mispricing grew and expansion of the global shadow financial system - particularly island tax havens - accommodated the increased outflow of India's illicit capital flight, the report said.

The government has, however, claimed that it has taken several steps including signing treaties with foreign countries to know about Indian black money stashed in foreign banks.

It also claimed that the Income Tax department had initiated action against persons regarding whom information has been received from these countries.

Why Realty Sector Contributes To Black Money In India?

By SiliconIndia   |   Wednesday, December 19, 2012   

Bangalore: In a recent Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2012 survey, out of 176 countries, India ranked 94, which is even worse than China and Brazil. Corruption prevails in the real estate segment too. Corruption has become an unresolved issue in India that has been spread throughout the country like a deadly plague hindering the country’s growth. There have been many corruption cases that made headlines and caught our attention because of its illegal money involvement.

Below are few reasons why the land in India attracts lots of black money, reports Alam Srinivas from BBC News.

1) Mismatch in the equation: demand and supply

In India, the rate of urban housing shortage has decreased since 2007 but still, a quarter needs housing, according to the report of the Technical Group on Urban Housing Shortage.

The report showed that Indian cities are falling short of around 18.8 million homes. Alternatively, the current housing shortage scenario has improved in comparison with 24.7 million in 2007 which was recorded by the same group.

Nuclear Power Plant Flood Risk: Sandy Was Just a Warm-Up

As Hurricane Sandy approached the East Coast late last October, more than a dozen nuclear power plants from North Carolina stretching up to New England were in its wide-ranging path. On Oct. 29, the night that the eye of the storm made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, five nuclear plants were forced to either reduce power or make emergency shutdowns.

The most serious event was at the Oyster Creek Generating Station located in Lacey Township, near Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, about 40 miles north of Atlantic City. Amid 75-mile-an-hour winds, power to the region was knocked out, including at the Oyster Creek plant, just before 7 p.m. The plant’s backup diesel generators kicked on to keep its crucial cooling equipment functioning. Nevertheless, by 9 p.m. the plant’s pumps were facing another danger: rising floodwaters. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) spokesperson Neil Sheehan said that Sandy brought a surge of 7.4 feet to Oyster Creek. The plant is obligated to prepare for the consequences of flooding at 8.5 feet, he said, and, at 9.0 or 9.5 feet — Sheehan wasn’t sure — the plant’s pump motors would begin to be flooded.

The storm surge led the plant to declare an “Alert” — the second step in theNRC’s four-tiered emergency action system.

David Tillman, spokesperson for Exelon, the utility company that owns Oyster Creek, would not answer specific questions about the evening Sandy hit the plant (such as the height to which the water level rose, the height of the pump motors, or the actions taken by the plant in response to the alert).  Characteristically for the industry, he insisted that everything worked perfectly and that there were no problems.

INDIAN DREAMS Vs REALITY: INDIA CRYING:
.It is a widely acknowledged fact that the nation is suffering in its war against corruption, black money, and maintaining law and order because of inadequate manpower for tax enforcement, police department, investigation agencies and judiciary. This invariably results in  cases related to all streams lingering on for decades. Punishing perpetrators of these crimes within a reasonable time frame has so far remained a mirage. Thanks to the priorities of the rulers of the country in spite of the fact that the government is aware of this fact, whole of the polity of the country knows this, the citizenry of the country have been clamoring to have an effective system in place for quite some time.

In recent times, a lot of  cases about rapes and gang rapes have been reported from different parts of the country. In fact a rape crime takes place every 20 minutes in this country. It is a well known fact that majority of the cases go unreported because of social stigma that falls on the victim. There is a lot of anger among the public over the insensitivity on the part of government over an issue that affects all members of Indian society. The protesters and all the well meaning citizens of the country are demanding justice for the victim in the quickest possible time as also necessary government measures so that such occurrences do not happen time and again. The deterrence has to come from

INDIAN DREAMS Vs REALITY: BLACK MONEY: A CURSE ON INDIAN DEVELOPMENT STORY: In one of the latest reports by a Washington based research and advocacy firm,  Global Financial Integrity (GFI), India lost $123 billion ...

Wishful thinking on nuclear power

 

 

BY DR. DALE DEWAR, THE STARPHOENIX DECEMBER 21, 2012

  

Dewar is executive director of the group Physicians for Global Survival.

In the article Cameco CEO bullish on nuclear future (SP, Nov. 30), Tim Gitzel presents a report of the nuclear industry that is very much at odds with the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2012 and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

While Cameco's chief executive is well paid to sell the industry, apparently being factual is unnecessary.

The authors of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report are not particularly friendly to the nuclear industry, but neither are they a bunch of rabid antinuclear environmentalists. They simply tell it like it is. The IAEA promotes and licenses the nuclear industry worldwide.

Gitzel says there will be 80 new nuclear reactors online in 2021. To make that a reality, there would need to be a lot more groundbreaking today. Of the 59 reactors currently listed as being under construction, nine have been on the list for more than 20 years, four for 10 years and, according to the IAEA, 43 are not yet close to an official startup date.

Some of Gitzel's figures are wishful thinking. He says that four new plants are being built in the United States. In fact, there are no new plants being built south of the border. In addition to U.S. cancellations, Brazil, France and India have cancelled their new builds and the Netherlands may follow suit.

And China may want to have 26 under construction, but not a single construction site has yet been opened. Constructions in Bulgaria and Japan have been abandoned, and the Finnish Okiiluoto 3 site is so delayed and so far over-budget that it is in jeopardy.

Readmore:http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Wishful+thinking+nuclear+power/7729997/story.html#ixzz2Fo3r5gOI

We Are Being Nuked With False Information on Atomic Energy

(Image: Chelsea Green Publishing)According to nuclear energy debunker Gar Smith, if we want the truth about nuclear energy, we won't be getting it from governments. That's a key message in Smith's new book,"Nuclear Roulette: The Truth about the Most Dangerous Energy Source on Earth." You can learn more by reading "Nuclear Roulette." Receive a copy from Truthout with a minimum contribution. Just click here.

Below is an excerpt, Chapter 16, from Smith's wake-up call about "the most dangerous energy source on earth."

"Run! Run as fast as you can. Don't believe the government. The government will lie to you."

—Natalia Mironova, Russian nuclear engineer and Chernobyl "liquidator"

One consistent lesson from Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima is clear: when the public is at risk, plant operators and government officials inevitably cover up and lie. "They lied to us," physicist Michio Kaku memorably told CNN on June 22, 2011. "TEPCO isn't in cold shutdown and won't be for another year. And, if there's another quake, it could start all over again." Behind the official reassurances from Tokyo, full meltdowns were under way at three of the six reactors, 600,000 spent fuel rods were at risk of burning off into the atmosphere, and the fallout burdens turned out to be 10 times greater than officially reported. Plutonium rained down 28 miles from the plant and strontium-90 turned up 155 miles away–well outside the official 12.5-mile "evacuation zone."

INDIAN DREAMS Vs REALITY: IS INDIA PROGRESSING OR REGRESSING ?

INDIAN DREAMS Vs REALITY: IS INDIA PROGRESSING OR REGRESSING ?: Day in and day out Indian government reels out statistical data on the growth of GDP, per capita income and the consumption of steel, ceme...

INDIAN DREAMS Vs REALITY: WHY THRUST TOWARDS RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES IS LAN...

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ENERGY SECURITY NEWS, VIEWS & OPINIONS: Jaitapur plant safety debate rages on – Indian Ex...

ENERGY SECURITY NEWS, VIEWS & OPINIONS:
Jaitapur plant safety debate rages on – Indian Ex...: Jaitapur plant safety debate rages on – Indian Express – Indian Express INDIA NUCLEAR NEWS  Even as Nuclear Power Corporation ...

INDIAN DREAMS Vs REALITY: AADHAR BASED PAYMENTS ARE A BIG STEP FORWARD

INDIAN DREAMS Vs REALITY: AADHAR BASED PAYMENTS ARE A BIG STEP FORWARD: Unique identification number (UID) or the Aadhar based cash transfers will take effect from January 2013 in 51 districts of India. This in...

REFORMS: CABINET COMMITTEE ON INVESTMENTS AND LAND ACQUISITION BILL: A VIEWPOINT

Cabinet committee of Government of India cleared two much hyped reforms, namely the formation of cabinet committee on investments chaired by the prime minister and the land acquisition bill. The two measures are in response to policy paralysis tag on the government and only time will tell about the efficacy of these measures in sorting out the problems faced by the infrastructure sector as also the growth of heavy industry.

Cabinet committee on investments under the chairmanship of prime minister is nothing new and has been in existence since Jun 2009 in the garb of cabinet committee on infrastructure and nothing worthwhile came out of it. This only suggests that the will to do something concrete in giving fast track clearances to various projects is simply not there and clearances are being delayed because of environment concerns, Adivasi land concerns etc. We as a nation should understand that the mineral resource location does not obey the dictates of anyone and it is for the government to act as a competent facilitator and find ways and means in a fast track mode to help the nation reap the fruits of mineral based commodities. It must understand the exigencies of national priorities. Strangely there has been little coordination among various ministries, so much so that the all important topmost priority sector of power also has been a victim of such apathy. We have the power plants ready but the fuel is not there to run them and transmission lines are not there to take this power to the end user. Sadly the country is sitting on 50000 mw of idle power generation capacity due to these counts only. In fact projects of Rs 1.8 lakh crores are stuck up due to delays in various clearances. Unless and until the gentlemen at the helm of the affairs do not subscribe to the philosophy of " Finding out ways and means of how to do a thing instead of how not to do it " nothing is going to change. 

Land acquisition bill is only at concept stage and requires passage through both the houses of the Indian parliament. No doubt it has given the land owners a lot of bargaining power to ensure hefty compensation  if and when they agree to part with their land. Only the government projects can acquire land without approval of stake holders whereas projects in private and public private partnership in industry and infrastructure sectors will require approval from 80% and 70%  stakeholders respectively. But for any nation the path to prosperity mandates massive urbanization and massive land acquisitions are going to take place for developing new towns and cities as well as growth of existing ones. It is also likely that more and more people will be sucked into realty business. That means anybody having a few acres of land on the periphery of a city will like to become a developer and builder. We have seen this in the case of villages engulfed in a growing city which are allowed to develop haphazardly in the name of integration without bothering for concepts of town planning and architecture. The same thing is witnessed along the periphery of all towns and cities. I don't think we have rules and regulations ready for this kind of an eventuality. This land acquisition bill when passed will only lead the country to development of haphazard conglomerates of brick houses with slum like infrastructure and facilities.

The Hidden Costs of Nuclear Power » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

A few weeks ago Southern California Edison (SCE) was given several billion dollars by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in a General Rate Case (GRC).  The timing was perfect for SCE.  The Order Initiating Investigation (OII) regarding San Onofre’s twin-reactor wear-and-tear problems is currently in a nebulous 45-day “grace” period, and so the fact that San Onofre wasn’t running and might never run again wasn’t factored in to the GRC that the CPUC just approved — it was as if they didn’t know.

The OII is small potatoes to SCE.  To them, the OII is all about the money, and they’re trying to keep as much of it as possible.  SCE doesn’t really care about who pays — they don’t expect it to cost them AT ALL: They’re sure that the steam generator (SG) manufacturer, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) will cover some of the costs, insurance will cover even more, and the ratepayers will cover the rest.

What SCE cares about — all they care about — is that the work to restart/rebuild San Onofre be allowed to proceed, and that the ratepayer’s rates don’t go down just because the — very expensive — power plant is off-line.  San Onofre’s monthly expenses are enormous whether it’s running or not.  SCE wants ratepayers to pay for rebuilding the reactors, but SCE still doesn’t know how they’ll do that.  In the meantime, they simply want the ratepayers to keep paying for San Onofre’s upkeep.

The effort to restart San Onofre is a totally bogus scam for a totally terrible reason:  To create deadly poisons in enormous quantities and risk releasing those poisons into the environment, destroying Southern California.  Poisons with nowhere safe to put them anywhere.  SCE wants to produce some electricity along with these poisons, the poisons will remain but the electricity which will be gone in a flash.  Furthermore, the electricity could easily be produced by renewable resources, especially if the same money that will be poured into San Onofre were to be put into solar rooftops and wind turbines instead.

India unveils Aadhaar payment services

Summary: Country takes a major step toward financial inclusion with the launch of Saral Money, enabling the common man to open and operate an "instant" bank account through micro-ATMs.

By Swati Prasad | December 12, 2012 -- 10:21 GMT (18:21 SGT)

NEW DELHI--India's leading banks along with global financial services company Visa have launched a new payment initiative aimed at bridging the country's digital divide, and to provide millions of financially-excluded Indians a simple way to open a bank account and access financial services.

Launched here Wednesday by Delhi's chief minister Sheila Dikshit, Saral Money is a Visa "instant account" which is linked to an individual's Aadhaar number--a 12-digit individual identificationissued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on behalf of the government of India.

Five banks--Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, and the State Bank of India--will offer Saral Money through their banking correspondents (BCs) across the country in a phased manner. BCs are individuals who work as bank agents in areas which do not have branches. A BC company manages these agents.

India's uphill battle against "black money" in real estate

By Aditi Shah and Swati Pandey

MUMBAI | Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:15am IST

(Reuters) - Ulwe, a village of dusty, uneven streets on the outskirts of Mumbai, lacks basic amenities like water supply and electricity, but a two-bedroom, 1,000 sq ft house costs about 5 million rupees, beyond the reach of many middle-class Indians.

According to prospective buyers, many developers will demand up to 30 percent of that price in cash, a small slice of the ubiquitous, unaccounted "black money" that costs India's straitened exchequer billions of dollars in lost taxable income.

Legislation that would bring more transparency to the industry will be considered during the winter session of India's parliament, which starts on Thursday.

However, investors, tax officials and bankers Reuters spoke with were sceptical the law would stamp out illegal practices they say are closely entwined with politics.

"Four out of 10 developers were ready to do it in full white and six were asking for a black component," said 35-year-old Umesh Kolhapure, who was looking for a three-bedroom house around Ulwe, near the proposed site of a new international airport serving the country's financial capital.

Recent high-profile scandals in the coal and telecoms sectors involving large corporate houses and politicians have rattled investors in Asia's third-largest economy, where undeclared wealth has long been rampant.

Real estate accounts for a large share of illicit transactions, thanks to lax regulation and the numerous approvals needed for projects, making many ordinary people party to corruption and pricing some of the emerging middle class out of the market.

That has prompted the newly-appointed housing minister, Ajay Maken, to push a real estate regulation bill.

Designed to bring greater accountability, transparency and prevent fraud and delay, the bill proposes appointing the sector's first national regulator. However, it will not have control over land deals, which is where illicit activity is widely believed to be rampant.

"The bill is not going to help solve the issue of black money," said Anurag Mathur, chief executive officer of project and development services at Jones Lang LaSalle.

"Black money is tied in or shifted through land transactions and the regulator will have no jurisdiction over that."

TAX AVOIDANCE

In the year to June 2012, about $6 billion, or 30 percent of total transactions in the property sector, were executed using black money, according to Liases Foras, a consultancy.

Real estate accounts for more than a 10th of India's $1.85 trillion economy.

The government says black money, a term widely used in India to describe undeclared funds, often meant to avoid taxes, can be present in every stage of a project from land acquisition to home sales.

For the purchaser of a 5 million rupee home like those in Ulwe, a developer might typically ask for 1.5 million rupees in cash while making out a sales agreement for 3.5 million.

Scaling the ladder of corruption

Postnoon | December 9, 2012 | 0 Comments

Criminalisation and corruption, the twin evils, have been eating into the vitals of India for some time and successive ruling parties have made no effort to rein in this scourge.

UPA’s rule has taken India up on the ladder of corruption. Transparency International, a world watchdog, has placed India 94th among 174 countries surveyed in 2012. India was at 72nd among 180 countries surveyed in 2007. The only consolation is that all our immediate neighbours — China, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka — fared as badly or worse.

Public corruption has deepened in India in the recent past with no meaningful steps taken to curb it. Electoral reforms remain a far cry with the political spectrum getting liberally sprinkled with criminals and the corrupt.

This year, India has a score of 36 out of 100 on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), which is a result of an average of 10 studies, including World Bank’s Country Performance and Institutional analysis.

India is ranked below Sri Lanka and China, while Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh fared much worse than India when it came to corruption in public sector undertakings.

Sri Lanka, which is slowly limping back to normalcy after

a three-decade civil war, is ranked at 79, while China is ranked at 80.

STRANGE ARE THE WAYS OF POLITY

In democratic India, we seem to come upon different meanings of democracy every now and then depending upon what suits us at a particular moment. Today after the voting on Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI ) in retail wherein the government managed to win the motion against FDI by a big margin. This win is being termed as a technical one as it was scored on the basis of the strength present in Lok Sabha at the time of voting. It is being referred to as a moral defeat because government could not muster support of half the number of total strength of the house. If this is what democracy is, then what is the locus standii of all the members of parliament as they get elected by getting much less than half the votes polled. Getting the support of more than 50% of the strength of total eligible voters of a constituency is something simply unimaginable. But then a reference to the constitution and the provisions contained therein are cited. Surprisingly when a majority on the floor of the house is concerned everything about the Indian democracy provisions finds a back seat and the morality comes to focus.

India has a federal structure and dangers to this constitutional provision are felt when the union government wants some radical reforms like FDI and Lok Pal. Surprisingly no component of this federal structure has taken up a fight against corruption, black money, favoritism, nepotism by bending the rules. In this matter perhaps everybody wants to excel the other in perpetuating this malaise to the utter chagrin and discomfort of common man. In fact the hidden agenda and ulterior motives motivate the ruling class to even assert that  all is well and the malaise is insignificant to demand their attention.

Every now and then, when we have elections in states or centre all kind of false promises are made whereas the fact is that even after 65 years of wonderful democratic rule the nation could not provide basic necessities of life, like food, shelter, cleanliness, drinking water, electricity, education, medical facilities etc.. Yet the political class claims to be selfless workers in the service of the nation and common man while in actual practice they are only working towards managing a lifestyle and amenities for themselves, equal if not better to the ones enjoyed by the rulers of developed nations at the expense of national exchequer. Can somebody explain and throw some light on where from and how funds for these big promised dole outs will come or it is still an effort to fool the gullible masses as had been done during last six decades.

The nation has learnt to live a rotten life, a life which comes across false promises and hopes every five years. It has also learnt that the motto of these men in the service of nation that promises are a means of getting power, a means of fooling the masses and are meant to be broken.It is only the fools who take their  assertions seriously.

TRUE FACE OF POLITICS AND POLITY

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first. 

I always used to wonder about the relevance of such harsh comments on the noble profession of politics by none other than Ronald Reagen, former president of USA. But today witnessing the discussions on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multibrand retail in India and the subsequent voting in the Indian parliament, convinces me about the absolute truth of the above quote.

Two parties namely the Samajwadi party and Bahujan Samaj party and their leaders were seen opposing the decision of the government on FDI in multibrand retail tooth and nail during discussions but when it came to voting against the decision, they preferred to walk out of the house and enabled the government to have its way. Why this double talk? What are their compulsions? Either these leaders are convinced about the good it can usher in the lives of common man of India but feel that maintaining an anti FDI posture in public is a much valuable vote catching rhetoric or they are being manipulated and forced into helping the government for the favour of condoning some of their misdeeds/acts or perhaps they are not wanting to forego the perks of power and authority that come along with for their being people's representative before the expiry of the house. Whatever be the truth it is a sad commentary on the politics.

Without going into the merits or worthlessness or the disadvantages of having FDI in retail, whatever be the reason of this manipulation of voting whether personal or political or coercive, it is a true reflection on the unprincipled nature of political activity on the part of ruling party as also the two parties mentioned above.

India's uphill battle against 'black money' in real estate

Ulwe, a village of dusty, uneven streets on the outskirts of Mumbai, lacks basic amenities like water supply and electricity, but a two-bedroom, 1,000 sq ft house costs about Rs 50 lakhs, beyond the reach of many middle-class Indians.

Ulwe, a village of dusty, uneven streets on the outskirts of Mumbai, lacks basic amenities like water supply and electricity, but a two-bedroom, 1,000 sq ft house costs about Rs 50 lakhs, beyond the reach of many middle-class Indians.

According to prospective buyers, many developers will demand up to 30 percent of that price in cash, a small slice of the ubiquitous, unaccounted "black money" that costs India's straitened exchequer billions of dollars in lost taxable income.

Legislation that would bring more transparency to the industry will be considered during the winter session of India's parliament, which starts on Thursday.

Also Read: Realty spots that can give 91-145% returns in 5 yrs: Survey

However, investors, tax officials and bankers Reuters spoke with were sceptical the law would stamp out illegal practices they say are closely entwined with politics.

"Four out of 10 developers were ready to do it in full white and six were asking for a black component," said 35-year-old Umesh Kolhapure, who was looking for a three-bedroom house around Ulwe, near the proposed site of a new international airport serving the country's financial capital.

Recent high-profile scandals in the coal and telecoms sectors involving large corporate houses and politicians have rattled investors in Asia's third-largest economy, where undeclared wealth has long been rampant.

Real estate accounts for a large share of illicit transactions, thanks to lax regulation and the numerous approvals needed for projects, making many ordinary people party to corruption and pricing some of the emerging middle class out of the market.

That has prompted the newly-appointed housing minister, Ajay Maken, to push a real estate regulation bill.

Designed to bring greater accountability, transparency and prevent fraud and delay, the bill proposes appointing the sector's first national regulator. However, it will not have control over land deals, which is where illicit activity is widely believed to be rampant.

Have we accepted corruption in public life? -- Prof. K. C. Mehta

Published: November 17, 2012 23:42 IST | Updated: November 18, 2012 00:01 IST

Have we accepted corruption in public life?

Professor K. C. Mehta

The Hindu Social activist Anna Hazare. File photo

Political corruption was there even during the time of Pandit Nehru. But later a rapid erosion in the selfless dedication of leaders led to the growth of corruption in the entire body politic. National interest became nobody’s business. Welfare schemes turned the biggest source for siphoning off public funds.

Scandals of free India

In the post-independence period, only six out of the 14 Prime Ministers had a term of five years or more: Nehru about 17 years, Indira Gandhi 16, Rajiv Gandhi five, Narasimha Rao five, Atal Behari Vajpayee six, Manmohan Singh over eight years to date.

Out of these six Prime Ministers who really matter, five were from the Congress, accounting for 51 years of Congress-led governments. Out of these 51 years, 38 years belonged to the Nehru dynasty. The article gives an overview of corruption during their tenure. All figures are converted to the 2011 price level to make them comparable. The Wholesale Price Index Numbers are used for the purpose.

Govt. of India should act now to stop illegal mining of Atomic Minerals

IAEA Estimates of thorium reserves in tonnes (2005)

Depletion of nation's mineral wealth in placer sands

The note calls attention to a serious issue of depletion of nation’s wealth by illegal mining of placer sands. The illegality is primarily related to avarice of certain individuals controlling corporate entities resulting in a monopoly situation, and failure of government agencies and operatives to enforce the laws of the land to ensure that public interest is served by controlled and regulated but sustainable use of resources of mother earth.

When the fence eats away the field, who is to save the crop for present and future generations? This is the crux of the issue of fighting corruption leading to depletion of nation’s wealth in many sectors. This note is about such depletion of nation’s wealth in minerals of national importance, including Atomic Minerals.

Immediate action is required from Govt. of India:

• To ban mining of Minerals of National Importance (MNIs) from placer sands
• To seize the mined quantities of such minerals from the miners and their associates
• To hand over control of the mining areas to a paramilitary force
• To levy fines on the parties involved in illegal mining activities
• To constitute a Mines Regulatory Authority for Minerals of National Importance
• To cancel and withdraw the illegal notification of DAE issued in Jan. 2006 which transferred ilmenite to Open General Licence treating it as a non-Atomic Mineral (issued in anticipation of Amendment of Act No. 67 of 1957, an amendment which was not approved by the Parliament) which violates the provisions of Act No. 67 of 1957 (List of Atomic Minerals detailed in Item B of First Schedule of the Act of 1957: Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development Act)
• To constitute a Commission of Inquiry on Atomic Minerals and other Minerals of National Importance, on the lines of Justice Shah Commission inquiring into iron and manganese ore mining

Modus operandi of the Rs. 1 lakh crore loot

Gorleben: lessons that India can’t afford to waste

NUCLEAR WASTE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

While Germany struggles with the nuclear waste menace, Indian policy-makers are oblivious of the risk amid massive expansion of nuclear projects.  

P K Sundaram

Gorleben, once a rather sleepy town on the bank of Elbe in Germany, has become a symbol of both insanity and hope in the nuclear age.

Self-assured that history has come to a halt at their feet, the rulers of what was then the West Germany selected Gorleben as a place where they could silently store their highly radioactive waste. They assumed the tonnes of waste in Gorleben could safely wait for ages till the technology to deal with nuclear wastes arrives. The reason it was selected as just that. Being on the border of East Germany and surrounded on three sides by the river Elbe which formed the border the West German government had no fear of anybody coming from the East. On the west side there was just one road leading in that could easily be controlled.

Now it is in the middle of the country and fairly easily approachable.

Not only they failed to predict about the technology, which has not materialized even after four decades, they also failed to predict about themselves: the German Democratic Republic (GDR) ceased to exist after 1989.  Gorleben, which they thought would be safe for waste disposal as it fell on the well-guarded GDR border, is now a bustling town: with much larger population, an active economic life and some important transport routes passing through it.

Gorleben is to receive 120 tonnes of nuclear waste this year, lots of which is high level waste. The waste comes from La Hague in France where Germany sends its spent nuclear fuel to be reprocessed. According to a  governmental contract with the French reprocessing company Cogema, Germany has to take back the residual waste. The container for the irradiated fuel is called “Castor” (Cask for Storage and Transport of Radioactive Material).  Every year since 1996, the train bringing this nuclear waste from France has met fierce opposition, with anti-nuke activists from all over Germany and other parts of Europe and US joining local farmers to protest against the nuclear dump. Along the Castor’s route in France and Germany, people organize most imaginative mass protests: singing, dancing, blocking the train route and confronting the police while suffering its repression.

A train with 11 containers, holding about 123 tons of refuse, left the treatment plant in France for Dannenberg, a town in about 20 kilometres from Gorleben. (Credit: EPA/RUVR)

The Gorleben transport container storage unit (Transportbehälterlager Gorleben)  hosts about 100 containers at present. Its total capacity is of 420 containers. This is an interim storage where spent fuel elements and vitrified, highly radioactive waste is being stored for next few decades. Once this waste is cooled off, this waste is supposed to be sent to the Long-Term Waste Storage Units in Salt Dome. This long-term storage facility is also controversial as experts have raised serious questions over its viability for coming 24,000 years.  The results of exploratory geological drillings done in 1980s have shown that the rock salt there may prove to be unstable and can even seep into ground-water and contaminate it.

This year, Gorleben witnessed very high-voltage protests. As Germany has recently decided to phase out 

Friends of the Earth’s Resolution on Koodankulam

KOODANKULAM

Resolution in solidarity with the people fighting against the construction of the Kundankulam nuclear power plant in India and against nuclear power plants in other Asian countries

 We, Friends of the Earth International, the largest federation of grassroots environmental justice organizations from 76 countries with over two millions of supporters, gathered at our 2012 Biennial General Meeting  2012 in  El Salvador express our solidarity with the people in Kundankulam, India, who are fighting against the construction of the Kundankulam nuclear power plant.  Similar struggles are also taking place in Malaysia and South Korea and Friends of the Earth International expresses our solidarity also with these struggles.

We reject the propagation of nuclear power plants in the world as it is a dangerous and dirty source of energy that puts peoples’ lives in danger;

We strongly oppose the construction the Kundankulam nuclear power plant on the land of the people of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, putting their lives and livelihoods at risk against their wishes and without their consent;

We condemn the criminalization of anti-nuclear activists and the communities who are fighting to protect their rights.

We demand that the government of India immediately stops the construction of the Kundankulam nuclear power plant, drops all legal actions against communities and anti-nuclear activists, and ensures the rights of the people to life and livelihood.

We also express our solidarity and support for the struggles of our member groups in Malaysia and South Korea for being nuclear free countries.

World Fisheries Day Protest in Koodankulam: MEEENVAR MAKHAL NAMMAL

LATEST

Anitha S.

November 21^st 2012- The World Fisheries Day which is being observed to protect the sea and its wealth, the lives and rights of so many who are connected to and dependant on the vast realm of life. Here too in our tiny coastal village of Idinthakarai on the southern part of Tamil Nadu we observed the World Fisheries Day. We cannot say that it was a celebration because our lives seem to be moving on borrowed time. Like a pendulum of an old clock, our destiny is slowly and painfully ticking from one end to the other. Now the dead date is December 15^th- so many times this has been heard. We see a small ray of hope in the Supreme Court verdict which came the day before that has demanded that the State Government gives assurance about mock drills in 40 villages in the vicinity of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant. Our State heads are muted beyond imagination. But atleast we exist- till now it was projected that there are not so many of us in the area, that there is no cause for fear about safety and so on. Now atleast we are living enough to be taken care of. Though we realise that the safety drills do not assure any safety, we are relieved. It is just a dress rehearsal for the terrible sadistic One Act Play called Disaster in which we are all actors.

PICTURES

This situation has made our observance of the World Fisheries Day more poignant. We all gathered at our dear Samara pandal which sometimes wears a deserted look. Nowadays we take turns street-wise to be there the whole day. Slowly we have gone back to our lives. We go shopping to Koodankulam to replenish the provisions. We have dried the condiments and made fresh masala powders. We have gone back to our beedi- rolling and tailoring jobs that earn some income. We have planted flowering shrubs and vegetables in the new rains. Our men have started going fishing. After all we are Meenvar Makhal. After all we breathe, feel and live the salty world of the ocean. Till now, many of us were not aware that there is such a day as World Fisheries Day which is being observed all over the world by people living by the sea. It is this unique struggle of ours that has made us knowledgeable about the concerns and thoughts of the world. Through the pain and desperation of fighting to live our simple, safe lives, we have gained the strength of knowledge and consciousness about how our lives are connected to the world.

These were our thoughts as we set out today as a procession to Thomayarpuram, a village a few kilometres from ours. We carried a banner proclaiming the day and shouted slogans. We missed Xavieramma, Sundari and Selvi. On Children’s Day, Sundari’s little daughter Shyamili was in the forefront of the group of children who lit candles and prayed for a safe and peaceful childhood. Likewise we were glad that Chellamma whose tears soaked our shores since September 13^th when her brother Sahayam lost his life is leading us today with her slogans and enthusiasm. Each one of us seem to be more determined with the vision of a day when the nuclear energy program of our country will be shelved forever and we can lead our lives in harmony with the wind and sun, the waves and soil.

The village of Thomayarpuram had prepared itself well to hold this event there. Amidst slogans and cheering, we listened to our dear brothers speak about the struggle, reiterating the determined effort needed to keep the spirit of resistance going. We stood there with our friends from Koodankulam, Kootapulli, Thomayarpuram and many other smaller hamlets and felt the strength of anti-nuclear movements in other parts of the world pouring in. We then walked to the seashore with the banners and stood waist deep in the waters. The sea seemed calmer, the sun milder and the wind gentle and cool. In a moving gesture of reverence, the people of Thomayarpuram brought in pots of milk and flowers and poured it into the ocean. We realised that the sea is our mother, upon which our lives are so dependant. Were we asking pardon or were we seeking her blessings as the waters turned white with the milk? Many of us were tearful and moved by this. We knew that all Meenvar makhal over the world were by the sea today showing their love, respect, reverence and dependence on the Ocean mother in their own ways. Even places far from the sea were holding programs to support the people of the coast.