Thiruvananthapuram: The premises of the Central Jail at Poojappura here wore a festive look on Wednesday noon. Prisoners and jail authorities were busy making arrangements to receive a ‘VIP’ visitor.
A ‘pandal’ was erected in the open ground inside the prison and colourful flags fluttered atop poles erected from the massive wooden doors at the entrance of the venue. Shortly after 1.30 p.m., the VIP visitor wearing an orange salwar kameez with an overcoat, walked up to the dais in a hurried manner. On the way in, she paused to have a word with the prisoners who stood up to receive her.
Noted prison administration reformist Kiran Bedi was all smiles as she took her seat on the dais. The brief function was organised to inaugurate a prison intervention project launched by the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC)-India.
When her turn came, Ms. Bedi, who spoke in English, requested a Malayalam translation for the benefit of the prisoners. Inspector General of Police A. Hemachandran came forward.
In her address, Ms. Bedi exhorted the prisoners to make use of their time to learn English and vocational skills. “That is the way to reform,” she told them. “It is never too late to learn. Learn whatever you can. Spend time in the jail library. Do not learn laziness, or you will find yourself in trouble,” she said.
She urged the jail authorities to arrange English classes for all the inmates. Ms. Bedi distributed mementos to the doctors and voluntary workers involved in the intervention project. She, later, received a memento from veteran freedom fighter K.E. Mammen. Additional Director General of Police, Prisons, Alexander Jacob, Director of Information and Public Relations Department M. Nandakumar, stage director Soorya Krishnamoorthy, Chief Welfare Officer, Prisons, K.A. Kumaran and ADIC adviser Ravi M. Nair were present.
It is only when you remove your shoes that you realise how hot it is around Bikaner. The incessant heat of India in August becomes bearable with time, but when your feet are not shielded by shoes and you are forced to pick your way through the detritus on the bald ground you appreciate how the midday sun has penetrated the earth as the heat creeps through your socks.
There is a slight queue for the temple and I wish that my feet were on its cooler marble floors. But once I get inside I realise that it is impossible to tread a clear path through the Karni Mata Temple; or, to give it its other name, Rat Temple.
There is faeces everywhere; its dark, decaying omnipotence is outnumbered only by the volume of rats. They drink from bowls of sweet milk, fight on the steps, and sleep as they hang off railings.
Rats drinking sweet milk at Karni Mata temple
Rats scamper around the temple, traversing across the bony feet of the man in front of me who does not flinch. Instead, he squeaks excitedly; the rat is a Hindu god, and the crowds are enthralled by the cluster of rats lazing in the shade of the temple walls.
Two rats fight - or are they kissing and making up?
Outside, I get my shoes back. Carefully, I peel off my socks – heavy now with hundreds of rat droppings compacted into them – and my bare feet touch the warm earth. There is an audible intake of breath around me as I deposit my once-white socks into the bin.
I look down, and realise that none of the Indian men and women are even wearing socks. Hiding my embarrassment, I force my feet quickly into my shoes and move away. What were moments ago just a shield against the warmth of the ground become another reminder of a cultural barrier.
India, China and other developing countries face “the spectre of hazardous e-waste mountains” unless they step up action to collect and recycle e-waste, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned.
As sales of electronic products in India, China and other developing countries are set to rise sharply in the next 10 years, these “e-waste mountains” would have “serious consequences for the environment and public health”, said a report released here during UNEP’s governing council meeting.
The report, “Recycling — from E-Waste to Resources”, used data from 11 developing countries to estimate current and future e-waste generation — which includes old and dilapidated desk and laptop computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo and music devices, refrigerators, toys and television sets.
The report estimates e-waste generation in India now at over 100,000 tonnes a year from refrigerators, 275,000 tonnes from TVs, 56,300 tonnes from personal computers, 4,700 tonnes from printers and 1,700 tonnes from mobile phones
Electronic waste from old computers will jump 500 percent in India, and between 200 and 400 percent in South Africa and China by 2020, the report predicts.
By that same year in India, e-waste from discarded mobile phones will be about 18 times higher than 2007 levels and, in China, seven times higher.
By 2020, e-waste from televisions will be 1.5 to 2 times higher in China and India while in India e-waste from discarded refrigerators will double or triple.
Most e-waste in India is incinerated by backyard recyclers to recover valuable metals like gold — practices that release steady plumes of far-reaching toxic pollution and yield very low metal recovery rates compared to state-of-the-art industrial facilities.
UNEP Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary-General Achim Steiner said: “India, Brazil, Mexico and others may face rising environmental damage and health problems if e-waste recycling is left to the vagaries of the informal sector.”
The report was co-authored by the Swiss EMPA, Umicore and the United Nations University (UNU), part of the global think tank StEP (Solving the E-waste Problem).
An excerpt from the Rebuttal by Eminent Historians of Hindu Fundamentalist, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi’s “Preamble to the Manifesto” of BJP. While one is skeptical of claims by Political Parties, the Hindu culture ingrained in us takes the “Guru” at face value. But we are taught new lessons every day. The lesson that this episode teaches us is take nothing at face value. When you read your News paper be armed with as much tools that you can lay your hands on – encyclopedias, reference books and what not. For every one has his turf to protect. The politician his vote bank and the eminent historians ?
Shri Muli Manohar Joshi
It has been established beyond doubt by the several reports on education at the end of the 18th Century and the writings of Indian scholars that not only did India have a functioning indigenous educational system but that it actually compared more than favourably with the system obtaining in England at the time in respect of the number of schools and colleges proportionate to the population, the number of students in schools and colleges, the diligence as well as the intelligence of the students, the quality of the teachers and the financial support provided from private and public sources.
Contrary to the then prevailing opinion, those attending school and college included an impressive percentage of lower caste students, Muslims and girls.
Eminent Historians
There were no schools or colleges as we know them today in ancient India. Upper caste children were educated in mathas, agraharas and sometimes monasteries. Children following a profession were apprentices in that profession. Lower castes and women were not educated generally. In Sanskrit plays they are the ones who speak the vernacular language Prakrit whilst the upper caste, educated persons speak Sanskrit.
I would have looked into Shri Dharampal’s “The Beautiful Tree-Indigenous Indian Education” to find the truth on the above controversy. But we have demeaned our quality of discussion so much that Scholars are first categorized into Hindu Fundamentalist or Marxist Secular even before the lay public like us get to read what they write. The only choice is to look at what an independent source untouched, unlabelled Scholar Will Durant says.
“When the British came there was, throughout India, a system of communal (My note: Communal here means “common” and not “Religious” as we seem to have corrupted the word) schools managed by the village communities. The agents of the East India Company destroyed these village communities, and took no step to replace the schools; even to-day, after a century of effort to restore them, they stand at only 66% of their number a hundred years ago. There are now in India 730,000 villages, and only 162,015 primary schools. Only 7% of the boys and 1 ½ % of the girls receive schooling; i.e., 4% of the whole. Such schools as the Government has established are not free, but exact a tuition fee which, though small to a western purse, looms large to a family always hovering on the edge of starvation……
In 1911 a Hindu representative, Gokhale, introduced a bill for universal compulsory primary education in India; it was defeated by the British and Government-appointed members. In 1916 Patel introduced a similar bill, which was defeated by the British and Government-appointed members; the Government could not afford to give the people schools. Instead, it spent most of its eight cents for education on secondary schools and universities…..
Hence the 93% illiteracy of India. In several provinces literacy was more widespread before the British took possession than it is now after a century and a half of British control; in several of the states ruled by native princes it is higher than in British India. “The responsibility of the British for India’s illiteracy seems to be beyond question”
An Aside:- Going by Will Durant’s words the British not only destroyed the Education system but also encouraged drink. “When the British came, India was a sober nation. “The temperance of the people,” said Warren Hastings, “is demonstrated in the simplicity of their food and their total abstinence from spirituous liquors and other substances of intoxication……Miss Mayo tells us that Hindu mothers feed opium to their children; and she concludes that India is not fit for Home rule…….She does not tell us that the opium is grown only by the Government, and is sold exclusively by the Government…..that the Central Legislature in 1921 passed a bill prohibiting the growth or sale of opium in India, and that the Government refused to act upon it;……..She does not tell us that Burma excluded opium by law until the British came, and is now overrun with it; that the British distributed it free in Burma to create a demand for it; that whereas the traffic has been stopped in the Philippines, England has refused, at one World Opium Conference after another, to abandon it in India;…. She does not tell us that the health, courage and character of the Hindu people have been undermined through this ruthless drugging of a nation by men pretending to be Christians.”
The eminent historians obviously have an agenda and so does Murli Manohar Joshi. But the Eminent Historians cannot fight an inconvenient truth with well-intentioned lies.
Next : Famines in India – Will Durant and Amartya Sen
I have been here in Ladakh for 3 days already but today was the first day I’ve actually managed to get out and do a bit of sight-seeing. This has been due to the inevitable bout of altitude sickness that has inflicted me these past few days like many people who travel here directly by aeroplane from Delhi, some ten and a half thousand feet beneath us. In fact, the last time I came here, shortly after I arrived I was ill in bed for almost two weeks, so I’m actually quite pleased with my recovery this time round.
I’m here to hook up with our Rivers team who have been traveling with a Ladakhi family across the mountains in Zanskar, to the south of the provincial capital Leh where I am staying at the moment. Unfortunately, they have been somewhat held up by bad weather and consequently our rendezvous has been set back by 5 days meaning that I will be waiting here in Leh for another few days before I set off to trek to the meeting point.
I’ve never been to Ladakh in the winter time before, an experiential short falling that I evidently share with much of the travelling community as I can report back that there is hardly a foreign soul to be seen anywhere around here right now. There are reasons for this of course. Ladakh’s summer tourist season is a short 3 to 4 month affair, due in the most part to the fact that the only two roads into the area, via Srinagar in the west and Manali in the south, remain closed and impassable for much of the year. In winter the only way in is by plane so the number of foreign visitors declines drastically, especially of Ladakh’s backpacking community who prefer the cheaper routes in by road. Couple that with the fact that it’s very cold and that most of Leh’s guesthouses and cafes are closed and you are left with a travellers’ consensus opinion that this part of the Himalayas does not make a particularly enticing tourist destination at this time of the year.
Well, I have something to admit to you. Having now been out and about a little, I must say that this is most definitely a great time of the year to visit Ladakh, and that coming off-season will probably give you the most rewarding experience you could ever have up here. OK, it’s going to be a little harder than in the summer. If you turn up unannounced, you’ll probably have to knock on a few doors before you find a cheap guesthouse that will take you in, and don’t bargain for the smell of freshly baked croissants wafting past your window from Leh’s German bakery first thing every morning. However, what you can expect are beautiful snow dusted landscapes, quiet monasteries and beaming locals who appear genuinely pleased to see you braving the winter temperatures.
Winter in Ladakh. Not a foreign soul to be seen
Being stuck in Leh is no bad thing for me, even if my favourite coffee shop is closed. Last time I came here I spent 2 months riding a motorcycle through this amazing landscape which is something I would heartily recommend to anyone who really wants to have a good look around this astonishing corner of India. Back then, I bought an old Royal Enfield Bullet from an American couple in Leh for about 400 dollars and promptly sold it at the end of my trip to a Swiss couple for exactly the same amount of money. During my 2 month adventure I managed to take a peek at most of Ladakh’s quieter corners including a myriad of local festivals, isolated glacial lakes and even a rare chance to see the Dalai Lama give teachings in the remote Nubra Valley, accessible only by negotiating a somewhat light headed drive over the infamous Khardung La pass, currently the highest motorable ‘road’ in the world at 18 380 ft.
Taking a breather atop Khardung La
Prior to that trip, I had never ridden a motorcycle before, so don’t think that you need to be an experienced rider to travel the Himalayas on a motorbike. Yes, the first few days in the saddle were scary, but then again it wouldn’t be such a rewarding challenge without a little fear to propel you along. In fact, I would say that of all the places to start riding a motorcycle in India, Ladakh is probably the safest due to the limited volume of traffic on the roads compared to the rest of the country. The main things to watch out for are sand and potholes in the road plus the occasional unbarriered extreme drop off you find flanking a few of the roads, all three problems being easily solved by just driving slowly. It’s important to plan your trips well too, measuring precise distances on maps before you set off since there are only a few petrol stations in Ladakh. You will need to carry extra fuel with you on your panniers, especially if you plan to explore Zanskar, which had no functioning refuelling station when I was there 3 years ago.
Many people who visit Ladakh by bike travel here from Delhi along the notorious Manali road which has become somewhat of a rite of passage for motorcyclists throughout India. It’s a tough two or three-day journey including no fewer than four over 16 000 ft passes, countless water crossings, glaciers and some stomach turning sections of high altitude sandy desert.
Oh... did I mention the hairpin bends?
There is no way to describe in words the feelings you experience cruising down a deserted mountain road alone in the saddle flanked by some of the world’s tallest snow-capped peaks, wind in your hair, a huge smile plastered from ear to ear. For me, riding a motorbike rates as one of the best ways to move through a landscape briskly whilst remaining connected with it and as a photographer it is such a brilliant way to explore a remote environment like Ladakh, giving you the freedom to stop at will and check out every little unmapped road to nowhere you might discover. One day I pursued such a road that went on for absolutely ages. Determined to find out where it went, after nearly three hours I was about to turn back when the faint cry of a young lady on a distant ridge caught my attention and lead me to the end of the track, and her fantastically hospitable family farming cashmere goats at a sensational spot in the middle of nowhere.
The farm at the end of the road
I ended up staying there for 2 days, working with the family by day, and sleeping with them on the roof of their house under the stars by night. It was a truly memorable experience, the likes of which I would never have been gifted were it not for my trusted Enfield.
My adoptive family on the farm
. . .
This morning, I found myself sitting around in the hotel twiddling my fingers so I had a little root around in my laptop and to my surprise I found an old iView MediaPro catalogue file from that last trip to Ladakh. So, as an ode to my previous summer bike tour around these parts, here are a few pictures from that journey.
The view from the roof of Thikse Monastery
A village celebration
Descending from Diskit Monastery
Nuns at Shey Monastery
High fashion in Hundar
The view from some road, somewhere
Monks celebrate the 800 year anniversary of the Drukpa Lineage
The lush summertime Nubra Valley
Monastery dharma
Local public transport
Cashmere goats at the farm
Crowds listening to the Dalai Lama
Beautiful Ladakhi traditional dress with turquoise
The town of Lamayuru tucked away in the mountains
Myself and my friend Ankit Goyal at Pangong Lake. I rode with Ankit for many days in Ladakh including our numerous failed attempts at reaching the Siachen Glacier. Next time mate!
This rainy afternoon, Will and I watched Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations – which we’ve both become obsessed with. This episode featured a trip to India.
During the episode, Anthony visited The Taj Lake Palace – also known as the location where Octopussy was filmed. After seeing the accommodations and the food, we’ve made our mind up. We will be taking a trip to Udaipur, India within the not-to distant future. This year we’re heading to Ireland so India will likely be a 2011 trip, but how amazing does this gorgeous hotel look?
Images courtesy of Travel and Leisure, Luxury Property, WeArePrivate.com
After some exciting action in the champions league, the focus now shifts back to the premier league this weekend were the race the top position is getting hotter and hotter as the league is going in the last quarter. All the league teams will be in action over the next two days with the top teams meeting the lower places ones but as seen before the giant killing action may impact them.
In an early kick off, Manchester United will be up against Everton who are in excellent form as they defeated leaders Chelsea a week ago thus narrowing the gap at the top and also Sporting Lisbon in the Europa Cup. Sir Alex Ferguson will be travelling to Goodison Park without Nani and Rio Ferdinand who are suspended. What would be concerning the red devils will be their former place Louis Saha who is in excellent for hit 15 goals so for which included his double over Chelsea days ago. For those who have forgotten, Wayne Rooney will bre going to he club where he made headlines in 2003.
After committing many blunders against Porto in the champions league, Arsenal will be out their to prove with a win against mid tablers Sunderland who have not won a single match in their last six outings. More good news for the Gunners is that Nicklas Bendtner is back form his injury for the match which is expected to stop their scoring drought.
Sunday will be crucial for both Liverpool and Manchester City when they meet at the City of Manchester Stadium. The reds will be hoping to take back and retain the fourth place. After their 1-0 win over Unirea Urziceni in the Europa Cup two days ago they would like to continue their winning momentum.
The match timings are:
Saturday:
Everton Vs Manchester United
Arsenal Vs Sunderland
West Ham United Vs Hull City
Wolves Vs Chelsea
Portsmouth Vs Stoke City
Sunday:
Blackburn Rovers Vs Bolton Wanderers
Aston Villa Vs Burnley
Fulham Vs Birmingham City
Manchester City Vs Liverpool
Wigan Vs Tottenham Hotspurs
Prof. CNR Rao, a former Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Indian Prime Minister, is one of the most renowned Indian scientists. However, I see a stint of fundamentalism when he says that IT has destroyed Indian Science. He goes on to say
Why does one need to study engineering if the ultimate aim is to do an MBA and sell soap?
In an interview with the prestigious scientific journal Nature, Prof. Rao goes on:
Q. Aren’t the foreign R&D centres contributing to Indian science?
A. They create jobs but do not help Indian science. They do not interact with us. Six of my PhDs joined General Electric research centre in Bangalore.
————
I have to disagree with Prof. Rao here. An individual is free to pursue the career that he/she wants to pursue in life. Is someone working in an IT company or private sector less moral than someone who does research? Prof. Rao seems to look down upon people who work for IT/private sector in general.
I do not see enough dedicated scientists like in early days. Old timers are working hard but the value system of today’s youngsters has changed. A boy of 18 wants to be a millionaire before the age of 25. He does not think of becoming the best scientist or engineer.
Prof. Rao, please permit me to say something from experience. India does not offer the best educational system to encourage people to pursue research. I still remember how hard it was just to get a research internship as an undergraduate (This, when I was a student in what are supposed to be the best colleges in India). The US and Canada, on the other hand, actively seek undergraduates to come and pursue research, give generous summer research grants, etc. Also, our courses hardly explored things like the role of ethics in science and engineering, entrepreneurship etc…
Now, having said that, I should also point out the range of wonderful career choices that I have seen my peers make. A lot of my friends after engineering have gone on to technical jobs. Many have opened their own companies, or are in the process of doing so. Some have pursued research while some have gone in to consulting and finance. I do not believe that there should be a criticism of ethics based on an individual’s career choice. Everyone has their own vision and priorities in life. Interests and motivations change. If one has done an engineering degree, that should not impose a lifetime of either research or job or any other thing. It is a matter of motivation, choice and vision.
I believe that instead of finding character issues with people who make choices to pursue different careers (or with companies), people at positions where Prof. Rao is should really work hard and make science a viable, attractive choice for potential candidates.
Also, I believe that letting foreign professors and institutions to come to India will not lower our academic standards, nor will it be a threat to our intelligentsia. Instead, just like the liberalization of economy, this will make us more competitive and strong. Not to mention the indirect benefit due to the diverse set of educated people who will come internationally.
Like every thing, the Peace and War have also their own stake holders. Although they are less effective despite their enormous strength of empowering the rulers, the masses should be categorized as stake holders in peace.
Both the civil and military establishments of Pakistan and India have sustained the status quo with the help of elements brainwashed to the extent that they don’t stop on less than the dismemberments, division and destruction of their neighbor countries. These elements exist on both sides of border. They “create” the maps of their “enemy countries” which show the “enemy” country divided into so many countries.
Any positive gesture from the leadership of one country receives warm reaction from the other but all at suddenly we witness that an incident, I directly blame the establishment of both countries for orchestrating it, evaporate the feelings of goodwill which falls as fire on both countries.
The need of the time is to reassess our enemies and if done this job sincerely I am sure the poverty will occupy the top in the list followed by unemployment, price hike, lack of education and basic health facilities.
I strongly agree that the aims of Indian leadership being guided [read it misguided] by the military and civil establishment of Dehli has always been cynical and thus it is less sincere in what we describe as the composite dialogues including talks over the issues ranging from Kashmir to Water dispute, but there arises some questions which should be asked from the leadership of Pakistan and India. Will the war benefit the masses of these so-called welfare states? Will the bomb feed the masses of their countries? Can they win over each others? Shouldn’t the budget spent on buy weapon for killing others be spent on buying machines for saving their own masses?
This is what the stake holders in war think. But what the stake holders in Peace think? Thanks to the ruling class, masses are misguided and divided on the issue of relationship of both neighboring countries. But there are forces that “Aspire for peace”. They intend to show the masses their real problems. There is difference between Welfare and Warfare. Two most powerful media groups of Pakistan and India, the Jang Group and The Times of India are aspiring for Peace which will result in welfare of common man. This Indian doctor is healing the wounds of his Pakistani neighbors. The aspirant for peace can heal the wounds caused by the military establishment of both countries of their respective countries. All is not well on state level but something is well on some level. Let’s overcome state level by some level. Criticize Thakre but please don’t hesitate in admiring this Indian doctor to whom “the patient is patient and not Pakistani or Indian”.
Brand Licensing is a strategic relationship between a brand owner (licensor) and a manufacturer (licensee) in which the licensor grants the licensee the right to manufacture and distribute specific products or services under the brand name. For example, Timex Group has recently acquired license from the International Cricket Council (ICC) for launching merchandise using the ICC World Cup 2011 logo. Timex can use the ICC World Cup 2011 logo on its special edition watches.
LICENSOR:
A licensor is the brand owner, who will license the brand as effectively as possible to different manufacturers and retailers. At the same time the brand owner will be concerned about the quality of the merchandise and that the brand is being used correctly in accord with the agreement.
LICENSEE:
A licensee must come up with the designs for the proposed merchandise. The licensee must be quick and flexible implementing the licensor’s stipulations and turning the designs to pass from the approval stage to market. The licensee works closely with the brand owner to develop a product or service which is in line with the brand image and the brand philosophy.
LICENSING AGENT:
A licensing agent represents the licensor’s products. Its role is to find an appropriate company that will license the brand of the licensor and pay royalties to the licensor. The agent manages all the aspects of the formal licensing process. At times, licensors may even delegate the responsibility of collecting royalties, and evaluating the quality of products too to the agent.
RETAILERS:
Not only manufacturers, but also retailers can license the brands. For example, Godrej is planning to license its brands to future group. According to the deal, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) will license brands like Godrej Tea, Evita, Banish and others to the leading retailer Future Group for a period of three to five years.
GCPL will be able to cash in on the retailer’s sizeable distribution network, while Future Group will gain access to sourcing and R&D facilities of Godrej Group.
Spykar is using the brand licensing route effectively to increase the turnover of the brand. Spykar is delivering quality products in the relevant youth categories like travel gear, eyegear, deos, etc, increasing the customer loyalties towards the brand. The customer need not go to different places, the customer can get maximum brand value and brand satisfaction for all their styling and lifestyle needs at a single Spykar store.
(A feature piece I did for this past Sunday’s edition of NOW.)
“It never tires me, ” Tseten Dorjee, master thanka painter, says with a grin. “I’ve been painting for almost forty years, I should get bored. I’m always surprised that I don’t.”
Dorjee’s house is that wonderful mix of traditional atmosphere and modern amenities, and I can see why he would feel that way. On my way in I pass the room where his students sleep, and even from the doorway I could hear the buzz and purr of laptops, cellphones plugged in to charge, and an Xbox 360 game console. But the comfortable sitting room where we chat is filled with dozens of little paint bottles and a half finished canvas in peaceful pastels. A box of Indian sweets sits open on the table, and a small, ancient looking radio plays softly, tuned to a station from Tibet. When our tea comes Dorjee gets up and turns the radio off.
“It is nice to hear our own language, sometimes,” he says a little wistfully.
Born in India just after the exile, Tseten Dorjee grew up in Darjeeling trading hand-drawn greeting cards for sweets. When he was fourteen his father noticed his early talent in art and drawing and took Dorjee to train in thanka painting with a famous monk who worked for one of the Dalai Lama’s teachers. He doesn’t come out and say it, but I get the sense that Dorjee was something of a prodigy at thanka painting. Most thanka students spend three years making pencil sketches of the myriad Tibetan deities and demons before moving on to using paints, but Dorjee did it in half that.
Fifty years old now, Dorjee is one of the Northeast’s most talented thanka artists. Over the course of his career he has practiced, taught and spoken on the ancient Tibetan Buddhist art style in North and South India, Germany, and America, and has taken students from all over the world — North America, Europe, Tibet, Bhutan — into his home. He has worked for Sikkim’s royal family and helped Germany’s Dagyab Rimpoche produce a book on thanka. Not that it has always been so easy: it is tough for any artist starting out, even one of Dorjee’s caliber, and in 1993 Gorkhaland violence forced him to flee to Sikkim from his home in Darjeeling. He eventually set up a shop in MG Marg which was a staple of the market until he moved his practice to his home in Rongyek just four months ago.
What is thanka painting? Dorjee stresses that it isn’t just an art style; the work, the product, and the way the paintings are used are all immensely spiritual. Painting a thanka is “like meditation” and takes weeks or months of careful, intensely detailed labor, first penciling in the featured deity, then the background, then painting first the background, then the deity, finishing with the eyes. When a piece is finished, it must be inscribed on the back with mantra symbols to prevent evil spirits from using the painting for malicious ends, and it must be consecrated by a rimpoche. These precautions are necessary because a thanka isn’t just a beautiful picture, but is believed to literally contain the deity depicted. Unlike normal art, which only benefits those who view it, by bringing a god into our plane a thanka is thought to benefit all sentient beings.
Most of Tseten Dorjee’s practice is painting thankas for monasteries and personal shrines, but a good chunk also comes from painting thankas on the occasion of a person’s death. In Tibetan Buddhism each person is assigned a specific deity at birth to guide them towards enlightenment. The identity of this deity is found astrologically by an individual’s birthday, but can also be determined by the date and time of their death. A person’s god helps them move closer to the non-suffering world in the afterlife, and a properly constructed thanka painting helps the dead recognize their assigned deity from amongst the many enlightened ones offering sometimes imperfect help.
When a Buddhist dies a thanka painting must be commissioned and completed within forty-nine days. After consecration the painting is brought to the family’s shrine and should be prayed to and purified with incense regularly from then on. When Dorjee was commissioned by the Sikkim royal family to do a thanka after the death of their daughter, it took them nineteen days to decide on a design, and they chose one so elaborate that it would take most thanka painters two and a half months to complete. Dorjee worked day and night and completed the painting in the remaining thirty days. The royal family was so impressed that they began to hire him regularly.
According to Dorjee there are two kinds of thanka painting now: a traditional form that paints pieces to be meditated over in monasteries or used in funeral rituals to guide the dead through the afterlife, and a commercial form sold in shops as simple decoration. Dorjee is quick to mention that he doesn’t have anything against commercial painters, but he says that too often they miss certain details. To a traditional practitioner like Dorjee, these details are everything.
The traditional form follows an ancient script and measurements, visualized long ago by meditating lamas. A thanka painting intends to put Buddhist scriptures, prayers and stories into a visual form, just as chanting monks transform these same scriptures into voice and sound. Leaving out minute details of the painting is like skipping a chapter of the story or a verse of the prayer.
Not that Dorjee claims to always get it completely right. “People always ask, ‘when do you get perfect in thanka painting?’” he laughs. “I asked my teacher the same thing. He said that you will never be perfect at Thanka painting, but you will be perfect at everything when you are enlightened.” According to Dorjee a thanka by an enlightened painter should be so powerful that the pictures move and speak.
Dorjee takes the religious aspects of his art very seriously, and when he takes students he mixes his rather informal teaching with lessons in Buddhism. But thanka painting is also still his business and his livelihood. A single painting can cost anywhere from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 2 lakhs, depending on the intricacy of the design (and therefore man-hours required) and the quality of the materials. For cheaper commissions Dorjee uses modern acrylic paints, but for more expensive works (often ordered by Westerners) he uses traditional paints from colored rocks brought from Tibet, Bhutan and all parts of India that take days or weeks of being ground by hand with a mortar and pestle to produce the proper powder. Some paintings even use precious metals like gold, refined to a pure form elsewhere in India with secret techniques and costing as much as Rs. 2500 per gram.
Even on the less elaborate commissions there are some things Dorjee refuses to skimp on. He spends hours hand stitching the cotton canvas into its wooden frame, even though the painting is eventually cut out of the canvas and hand stitching provides no noticeable advantage over much faster machine stitching.
“If you change the method of thanka painting, your work may be a masterpiece, but it will not be a thanka painting,” Dorjee says. “Thanka isn’t art, but a deity itself. We are not painters but devotees.”
With that sort of attitude it is easier to understand how Tseten Dorjee has practiced his craft for thirty-six years without getting bored, and is still going strong. He is a humble man, and jovial, and his work and students obviously bring him much joy. But he says few of his students go on to make a life out of thanka painting, and economic pressures drive younger painters to less traditional methods and materials. Dorjee has held the torch of traditional thanka painting as a perfected craft for decades now. When he is gone, will anyone be left to take it up?
Mumbai: Shahzad Ahmad, the Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district on Monday, was planning a 9/11-type attack with a small chartered aircraft.
The Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the UP police said Shahzad alias Pappu had targeted an educational institution in the state for the aerial attack. The assault was scheduled for May, when the place is normally crowded with students attending counselling sessions.
Shahzad, 21, had learnt flying at a private aviation academy in Bangalore for the purpose. Sources, however, said his aerial terror module could be aiming at more sensitive targets like the disputed Ayodhya structure, the Taj or the Narora atomic plant in west UP. The ATS is probing Shahzad’s links with Pakistani-born American terrorist David Coleman Headley. The National Investigation Agency had shared inputs on these lines with the stateagencies.
“Shahzad was wanted in connection with the September 2008 Delhi serial blasts. He is also an accused in the killing of Delhi police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who was killed during the Batla House encounter,’’ ADG Brij Lal told reporters.
Islamabad—Even as India and Pakistan were actively engaged in laying a framework for normalizing their relations in the aftermath of Operation Parkaram (Dec 2001 – Oct 2002), RAW’s Counter Intelligence Team – X (CIT-X), assigned to conduct subversive operations targeting Pakistan was working relentlessly to destabilize the country. According to well placed sources the details of these plans came to light once a copy of the classified document detailing these activities was accidentally lost and became available for public scrutiny.
The strategy to advance the interaction with Pakistan on the diplomatic channels, while perpetrating acts of terrorism on a parallel track, was envisaged after the failure of Indian spell of coercive diplomacy vis-Ã -vis Pakistan during the Premiership of Atal Bihari Vajpaee. The document lays out the extensive espionage network dovetailed into the diplomatic missions in Central Asia, particularly Afghanistan, and Middle East which the Indian under cover intelligence operatives utilize to rake trouble not only in FATA but in Pakistani hinterland as well.
As per details given in the purloined paper, agents for anti-Pakistan subversion were trained in 57 training camps established in the IHK, East Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Assam. Activists of anti Pakistan nationalist groups were the focus of Indian search for recruits who received cash weapons and ammunitions from undercover RAW operatives masquerading as Al Qaeda agents. While sections of the Taleban have been named as perpetrators of some of the most heinous and bloody acts of subversion in Pakistan, it were their Indian handlers who manipulated the invisible strings. Mossad’s tactics of infiltrating Palestinian resistance acted as model and provided the modus operandi for CIT – X to stir insurgency on Pakistan’s Western border that, hitherto fore, had remained free from a military threat.
Apart from concentrating on the FATA Region, stoking the fires of sub-national movements in Pakistan can be identified as one of the vulnerable area where Indian Agencies are focused; reveals the document. Targeting interior regions of Sind province, Seraiki belt and the Northern Areas of Pakistan forms pivots of the Indian plan, receiving riveting and ceaseless attention of CIT – X , reveals the classified document.
CIT “X” OPERATIONS
1. A declassified document of RAW has revealed CIT ‘X’ Operations which spells out the Mossad / RAW / CIA plot against Pakistan Indicating that Pakistan has been effectively engaged in for a long hot summer as the “Summer Offensive Continues”. Following contents are the proof that Pakistan has been looking for:-
a. Tactics of the Dragon Policy. In retaliation to the alleged unending terrorist pursuits of Pakistan, RAW and MOSSAD had conceived the “Summer Offensive” a year ago. Modus operandi has been successful. The operational tactics are:-
(1) Intelligence has successfully tapped known international drug and mafia dons against Pakistan. CIT “X” is effectively training agents for covert operations in Pakistan. Under the Vajpayee government, the CIT “X” and other sensitive organizations were authorized to strengthen contacts with sleeping agents, and recruit new front men to carry out covert operations in Pakistan.
(2) All possible international criminal and mercenaries, including Afghans were engaged for covert purpose during LK Advani’s tenure in the Home Ministry. CIT “X” is actively involved in drug trafficking to finance its covert operations.
(3) Illegal poppy is being cultivated in bulk in Himachal Pradesh, Arunchal Pradesh, Mizoram and Uttar Pradesh. Drug barons have close links with their Afghan counterparts, completely controlled, and continuously monitored by various intelligence agencies. India today stands as the fifth largest country in the world in the production of illicit opium. Laos is 4th with 20 metric tons and has directly tied up with RAW and internal drug barons. Some people of Indian origin living in Surinam and Holland have been engaged to facilitate Indian agencies in drug trafficking. Under the benign patronage of CIT “X” the business of drug trafficking is flourishing and the money earned is accounted for and is being directed towards covert activities in Pakistan.
(4) The summer offensive includes establishment of 57 training camps in Occupied Kashmir, East Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnatka and Assam to train and launch terrorists inside Pakistan. Trainees are generally drawn from the Indian hatched dissident groups of Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), Jiye Sindh Mohaz,
b. Offensive under Diplomatic Cover (The MOSSAD Hands)
(1) RAW Centers at London, Dubai, Iran, and South Africa operate against Pakistan jointly with Israeli MOSSAD. However, for its summer offensive RAW in a joint effort with MOSSAD has laid out a whole network around Pakistan to ensure success through destabilization.
(2) During Wana operations the miscreants were fed cash, weapons and ammunition indirectly by RAW operatives under cover of Al-Qaeda. Mossad and AMMAN have also contributed heavily towards the funding and material requirements for those operations.
c. Ministry of Information and Security (Iran’s Involvement)
(1) Iran, having contiguous borders with Pakistan, is a hot bed of intrigues and constant source of support and inspiration to RAW functionaries. The Indian Embassy at Tehran and Consulates in Zahidan, Mashhad and Bandar Abbas are actively engaged in establishing links with disgruntled elements of Balochistan and Sindh for destabilizing these provinces. RAW is maintaining contacts / their sources / links in Pakistan through their consulates at Zahidan and Dubai. Most of the staff at Indian Consulate in Zahidan is from intelligence / security organizations including RAW, Intelligence Bureau and Military Intelligence. Irani intelligence has been providing reliable information and support to RAW operations by using disgruntled Shia elements in Pakistan.
d. Intelligence Model
(1) This intelligence model is an improvement on the practices of MOSSAD, which has infiltrated several Jewish agents into the occupied territory of Palestine as Muslims. These agents practice Islam like any ordinary Muslim. Mingle into local Muslim population just to wait for the appropriate time to strike. While Taliban and Al-Qaeda are getting the blame and Pakistan gets the rap for “not doing enough” by US and FRIENDLY” Afghan authorities
e. UAE Angle
(1) UAE is being used as a launching pad for terrorist activities in Pakistan. Agents are getting hold of young, disgruntled elements and after carrying out their proper brainwashing, they are dispatched to Dubai. Indian Consulate in Dubai is issuing temporary passport to these activists for getting training / briefing. After completion of their formal training, they are launched into Pakistan to carry out their terrorist / sabotage activities.
f. Fake Currency
(1) To cripple the economy of Pakistan, RAW has taken it upon itself the responsibility of pumping fake currency into Pakistan through various illegal means.
g. Subversion
(1) To fan flames of Sindhi Desh Movement subversive literature, published from Bombay and Jammu e.g. Sindh Sujag. Sindh Rises, Sindh Parcham, Sangat and lot of other subversive material is being pumped into Sindh clandestinely. Whereas, RAW is morally and maerially supporting the Saraiki Movement in southern Punjab. Regional Political Parties like Saraiki Suba Mahaz, Pakistan Saraiki Party and Saraiki Sahaliya Sangam are being effectively sponsored. Subversive literature in huge quantity is being published on the subject.
h. Balwaristan Movement
(1) RAW is also involved in sponsoring Balwaristan Movement. It is being organized under Abdul Hamid, self styled Chairman of his own faction of Balwaristan National Front based in Delhi. The Front is working for the independence of Northern Areas. It has been sending into Pakistan a highly subversive material from abroad.
2. The hostile intelligence operatives are making concerted / unified attempts to achieve their aim of destabilizing Pakistan through a well conceived / articulated plan. Pakistan needs to counter it by utilizing all means available.
It sounds like talks held to talk about having more talks to solve the water disputes between India and Pakistan.
This week, representatives from the Indian side of the Permanent Indus Commission visited Pakistan in accordance with the stipulations outlined in the Indus Waters Treaty.
At the end of the five day visit, the biggest decision to come out of the talks was an agreement to set a deadline by which talks must finish and a decision on how to resolve the disputes must be made.
Perhaps I am being overly cynical. India and Pakistan will be sitting down to discuss current water disputes. The word “disputes” is fairly vague, though. I assume the word covers Pakistan’s belief that India is withholding water and the five dams India is either constructing or planning in Kashmir. But, despite my being new to the game, I have a feeling all of this has been talked about before.
And frankly I am a little confused as to whether the water talks are the same or different from the talks proposed by India last week. India proposed “open-ended talks at the level of Foreign Secretary on all outstanding issues affecting peace and security, including counter terrorism;” Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi expressed to the media a desire for bilateral talks to end the Indo-Pak water crisis. After captured members of the Taliban revealed a plan to bomb the Baglihar dam, I can see how resolving water disputes could be viewed as counter terrorism. But it is still unclear to me as to whether these talks are the same. More shall be revealed, I suppose.
On a related note, I came across a particularly affecting paragraph in A.A. Michel’s 1960s tome on the Indus River. Hindsight. It’s a marvel.
If the irrigation factor was strong enough at Gurdaspur to vitiate the communcal majority principle to the extent of partitioning a Muslim-majority district and awarding not only the non-Muslim Pathankot tahsil but two Muslim-majority tahsils to India, then the irrigation consideration should have prevailed at Ferozepore at least to the extent of giving Pakistan control of the right-hand portion of the headworks with the intake of the Dipalpur Canal. In other words, if the Ravi was the logical boundary in the Gurdaspur District, then the Sutlej was the logical boundary in Ferozepore. Such an arrangement would have forced the parties to cooperate from the start, and might have set a precedent that would have obviated the need to partition and divorce the Indus Rivers in 1960.
It’s been billed as the battle for the number one position in the Test rankings. Currently India sit top of the table but a series win by South Africa would take them to the top of the log. The Protea’s win in the opening Test takes them a step closer, but an Indian win in the final Test would keep them there for the April deadline, where whoever is leading then gets the cash prize.
So with the series being billed so highly, and with much at stake, surely only the best will do? South Africa has struggled to fill stadiums for Test cricket but the last couple of series, featuring Australia and England have seen record Test crowds show up. But those record crowds are basically half full stadiums each day. Those of us outside India expect to see big crowds for all games. The first Test was very poorly attended and makes me wonder why such a high profile match was not properly assigned? At least we move on to Eden Gardens for the next Test.
The main worry however was the lack of the review system. The ICC wants to make the review system mandatory at all Test matches, and rightly so. Calls for technology to be introduced to ensure the right decisions are reached are always the right way to go. Especially when the match has so much at stake, as this series does. There have hiccups in the trail period of the review system, but that can be sorted by ensuring that all the technology is available for all matches. The South Africa England Series didn’t have hot spot because it was being used in the Australia West Indies and Pakistan New Zealand Series. Everything needs to be used for all matches to ensure parity.
There has been debate about who should pick up the tab for hot spot and the such, with the ICC wanting the host broadcaster to pick up the tab and the host broadcaster wanting the ICC to. My feeling is that the ICC should pay as it is a cricket matter and not a broadcasting one. It would also ensure that the poorer nations would also benefit from the best technology. In terms of India the point is moot. India are the richest cricket board and would have no trouble paying. They make so much from the sport they should be made to put some back in.
But India don’t like the review system and so we aren’t using it. The ICC should insist but everyone bows down to India. India did not have the best time with the review system when they first trialed it and perhaps this is why they don’t want it. England and India are the least in favour of technology and that’s because both haven’t worked out how to use it. England were clueless when they were in South Africa. When South Africa first used it, against Australia, they too struggled with it. But they’ve learned to use it and are fully behind it, ensuring the right decisions are reached. Interestingly as far as England are concerned, they moaned and complained about the review system during the South Africa Series, but had they not been using it England would have lost the series 3-1, with Collingwood being given out on the final day of the Cape Town match before the review should him not out.
India need to embrace the way the game is moving and get used to it as quickly as they can before they are left behind. A problem they face is that their bowlers tend to appeal for everything, so deciding which decisions to review would not be easy. A lot of their play would be called into question and they would be caught out. Maybe this is why they have been so reluctant?
In the opening session of the series, Ashwell Prince, a player under pressure for his position, was given out caught when he didn’t hit it. He looked to captain Smith to review the decision, forgetting that it wasn’t an option. He had to walk. Career defining mistakes can now be rectified and that can’t be a bad thing. It’s all good and well saying that these things even themselves out, but when someone gets a bad decision and is dropped from the team, things evening themselves out offers him little respite.
After all I’ve said Indian captain Dhoni must be commended for walking both times before he had been given out. But the review system is the future of cricket and India need to get behind it. How they can host effectively a Test championship series and not have all the trimmings is crazy and should never have been allowed to happen.
Mariya John Fernandes of Wateraid India presented this paper at the South Asia Hygiene Practitioners’ Workshop, 1–4 February 2010, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Mariya discusses the issue of menstrual hygiene and how an experiment in Chattisgarh where women have got together to spread awareness and even make sanitary napkins themselves.
They have also worked towards designing toilets which dispose the napkins with privacy and dignity … using a sanitary pit which bio-degrades.
Read the full paper.
Q and A and discussion
Here is a summary of the discussion following Mariya’s presentation at the workshop.
Is there a direct causal link established between reproductive tract and urinary tract infection and pond bathing?
Anecdotal evidence but no causal studies. Detailed studies needed.
Since menstrual health is not only about sanitary pads/napkins but also availability, disposal systems, etc etc what are the systemic interventions needed?
Knowledge, awareness, availability of products, disposal mechanisms many things needed. One intervention not enough.
How do we begin?
Let us look at our work places Govt. academia NGO’s . Do we provide such facilities? Let us begin the change ourselves. In schools let us make sanitary facilities for availability of products/ disposal facilities and privacy all available. Think comprehensive and think with girls/women.
It was Bangladesh which spurred me to take this up in India.
Social taboos and breaking the silence is crucial. Start policy level debates, look at universal education if girls drop out during adolescence. Policy level debate is very very important. In Nepal also such work has begin.
The sanitary pads in Chattisgarh are bio degradable. They use cow dung and are able to compost it in two to three months.
More knowledge and open discussion including physiology of women…this has to happen.
Ignorance is widely prevalent on what is used to manage menstrual periods. Cloth, straw, ash, mud is all used.
Addressing adolescent girls is crucial.
See below the video (in three parts) of the presentation made by Mariya with the Q and A session
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Source: zenrainman, Hygiene Practitioners’ Workshop blog, 03 Feb 2010
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I loved getting up late as a young girl and like parents of all good girls my parents never approved of it and conveyed it to me nearly every day. The best excuse I could come up was, the moment I open my eyes in the morning I want my newspaper, without that, it is difficult for me to open my eyes. The only newspaper we bought was Hindustan Times and before eight o clock it belonged to my dad. He may not like the idea of my waking up late but handing me the newspaper before he read it was too much of a sacrifice and fortunately he never made it. My parents efforts to wake me continued as did my resistance. After I got married the problem of the newspaper continued. My father-in-law tried to adjust by sharing the newspaper but we had to order another newspaper because I like to read the whole thing at the same time.
Now after 24/7 news channels and internet we switch on the TV or the internet the moment we open our eyes in the morning. We have no appetite for breakfast till we come to know what happened in the world while we were sleeping. Why is it so important to know what others are thinking, saying or doing, no matter how trivial, nonsensical or destructive. Not only that, we are also ever ready to lend our eyes and ears to the ‘experts’ offering their expert comments on the happenings, the analysis of which takes us nowhere. We want to know what has happened, is about to happen, what can happen or what should have happened. Spending time on daily news, especially current political affairs was a complete waste of time, some of my learned friends would always tell me and I would agree with them most of the time and continue with the addiction. We may curse the media for going berserk about trivial details of our political and other celebrities but the truth is that our newspapers and news channels have opened our eyes many times to the lurking dangers in our cities.
My friends from Mumbai always used to point out that I am living in a dangerous city where people are rowdy, push each other, break the ques and are not bothered about rules. In defense of Delhi, in a typical meri Dilli meri shaan style I would tell them that Delhi is a lively city, people may be loud but that is because they are large hearted (Dilli dil walon ki). Thanks to our news channels I found a lot of fodder to counter my Mumbai friends and relatives. The Thackeray clan came to my rescue. I gloated about how we in Delhi are Indians first and treat people from all over the country in the same way (North Eastern Indians please forgive, you might not agree with me). My expectation was that Mumbaikars will be apologetic about it and explain the merits and demerits of the case, I myself understand a few of these things. They could not be cowed down, Rahul Gandhi’s Mumbai visit proved that aam Mumbaikar is as civil as they claim to be. Once armed with the greatest media story of the year, Rahul ji’s travel in the Mumbai locals and the famous ATM story, it was the Mumbaikar’s turn to be on the offensive now.
You Delhiwallahs can never feel safe! as long as you have the likes of Digvijay Singh reside and flourish in your city, I was told. They will defend terrorists and accuse the police for killing them. Somebody tweeted yesterday “I suspect after every terrorist attack, humanrights wallahs check dead list for their own name and if its not there they get after policemen”, read Digvijay Singh instead of human rights wallahs and you will understand what we Dilliwallahs are suffering. I feel like requesting Rahul ji’s political advisor Digvijay Singh ji that vote bank politics is an acceptable fact and we have to live with it but sometimes listen to this poet- Lazim hai dil ke pas rahe pasban-i-aql; lekin kabhi kabhi issey tanha bhi chhod dain (it is important that brain should guard the heart but sometime the heart should be left alone) in your case forget sometimes and let the brain, rest in peace! As the elected Chief Minster of Madhya Pradesh for more than a decade you sure understand that your voters need to survive in order to vote . Rahul Gandhi derailed the divisive and aggressive Sena without resorting to bad language and cheap tactics and you need some good advise from him. By trying to create a doubt about Batla house encounter Digvijay Singh has not only hurt Inspector MC Sharma’s family but also the Hindus, Muslims and other religions of India. When a terrorist strikes he doesn’t differentiate between a Muslim or a non- Muslim.You have embarrassed your party and hurt the law abiding citizens of India.
Mumbai, Delhi or any other city of India, we all desperately need peace and security and mere lip service from any body across the political spectrum will not work. People need jobs, clean water, houses and other basic amenities and that is what matters most to them. A Shahid Afridi or Shoaib Tanveer is not a threat to India but the pseudo secularists and fanatics definitely are.
Today we hear from Irfan – an interesting young fellow from South India. Irfan was our driver as we toured around Karnataka – a job he used to save up money for school. We interviewed him in Hampi, a historic ruins site covered in mysterious giant boulders, and home to the ancient Vijayanagara Empire of the 1300’s.
An articulate young man, Irfan had some very interesting comments to share with us. When asked how the world can be made better, Irfan replied that the only way that peace and equity could be established is through instituting a military government. When met with my look of shock at his proposition, Irfan explained his thinking further…watch the videoclip to see if he is able to convince you!
This movie requires Adobe Flash for playback.
In addition to his political thoughts, Irfan felt that the key to a better future for humankind was for each individual to cultivate love and compassion in their minds. ”People have to understand that compared to love and compassion, money is nothing….money comes and money goes, but love and compassion remains.”
Along the same lines, Irfan believes that we ought to change the means by which we redistribute money after someone’s death. He does not believe in family inheritance, for he feels this only leads to the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer. Rather he would prefer to see a deceased individual’s wealth be passed onto the government for use in social programming for the poor. In this manner the general population benefits from the wealth left behind, and the wealth becomes redistributed, opening up opportunities for all.
I suppose one could say that this young idealist did hold hope for the future of humankind. However he certainly had the most unique and unconventional thoughts of how we ought to get there – particularly in his reverance of military governments. To date we have interviewed approximately 80 people on this subject, and I have yet to hear Irfan’s ideas echoed by any others. Perhaps this could be because his ideas are a bit crazy and poorly thought out. Or perhaps he is just young enough and idealistic enough to re-imagine a world that the rest of us can dare not envision.
O’Reilly, K. (2009). Combining sanitation and women’s participation in water supply : an example from Rajasthan. Development in practice ; vol. 20, no. 1 ; p. 45-56. DOI: 10.1080/09614520903436976 (Pay-per view: GBP 23)
Free pre-print version
Abstract
Fetching water in Rajasthan, India. Photo. Dr. Kathleen O'Reilly.
Water supply and sanitation provision are key elements in progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Women’s participation is considered integral to the sustainability of the projects created to meet these two MDGs. Bringing feminist and geographic critiques to bear on gendered approaches to improving sanitation coverage, the research reported on in this article indicates that latrine building and women’s participation may be contradictory goals for sanitation projects, despite the fact that women are the target group for latrine-building interventions. The findings of the analysis suggest that attention must be given to latrine building as both a technical undertaking and a gendered political intervention.
Contact: Kathleen O’Reilly, Department of Geography, 810 O&M Building 3147, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77801-3147, USA, e-mail: koreilly [at] geog.tamu.edu,
Prakash Jha Productions and the charitable / non-government organization Anubhooti have come together in order to raise funds to facilitate the building of a multi-functional hospital in the northern belt of Bihar – a region which significantly lacks any competent health care. Through a projected amount of donations, the hospital will be structured in a format that will be completely self-sufficient and will provide medical help in a completely non-discriminatory fashion for the people of the state and bordering countries like Nepal.
Prakash Jha envisions using the premieres of his latest film, Raajneeti, to raise maximum funds for the hospital. Raajneeti is a politically charged fictional based on the dynamics of the Indian democracy system. It boasts of a star cast that includes renowned actors such as Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, and Naseeruddin Shah – all of whom wholeheartedly support Anubhooti’s efforts. Mr. Jha hopes to leverage the undoubtedly overwhelming response to the film in a manner that will go beyond glamour and entertainment.
This year, the old NASA shuttles take their final voyages to the last frontier. However, as the US is facing a record-breaking deficit, it seems the curtains have dropped for its space program with the budget cuts spelling an end to the Constellation project.
“At the core of the push to the Moon was the Constellation program. Designed by NASA to replace the space shuttle, it has already cost the US taxpayer close to $US7 billion and is several years behind schedule.
In October, the first test flight of the fledging program, the Ares 1-X rocket, successfully launched into the Florida sky.
But that success was overshadowed by the release of the Augustine Human Space Flight Review Committee’s report released at the end of 2009. The committee, which included former astronaut Dr Sally Ride, recommended sweeping changes the way NASA managed its human spaceflight program.” (source)
With the US forced to retire their ageing fleet, it will rely mainly on Russia for its access to space for the near future. However, this does not mean NASA is down and out, although their ambitions will be downgraded and reconfigured. Taking a more financially realistic perspective, rocket development and commercialization will form the main pillars of NASA’s new policy. According to Ars Technica, NASA’s new role in space exploration will be mainly R&D based.
It seems NASA is under the knife in general. Facing limited financial resources, it needs to cut jobs to make space exploration fiscally sustainable. Job cuts are likely at least in Louisiana and Florida, creating a sense of betrayal in both states. However, despite the initial backlash, there are voices of support being heard. For example, astronaut legend Buzz Aldrin has supported Obama’s new policy:
“The truth is, that we have already been to the Moon – some 40 years ago,” says Aldrin. “A near-term focus on lowering the cost of access to space and on developing key, cutting-edge technologies to take us further, faster, is just what our Nation needs to maintain its position as the leader in space exploration for the rest of this century.” (source)
Clearly, there are winners and losers in every story. While this may be an end of an era for NASA as it steps down, perhaps irreversibly, from the center stage of space exploration, other players will take its place. Interestingly, one of the winners of this story may be Canada. Claude Lajeunesse, a CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada feels Obama’s new budget will bring business opportunities for Canadian companies. Likewise, China is a probable winner.
The definite winners of this story, however, are private companies. According to NASA’s Chief Administrator Bolden, five companies will share $50 million in federal stimulus funds to jump-start the commercialization of human spaceflight (source for below).
“Blue Origin, the sometimes-secretive rocket venture founded by Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos, will receive $3.7 million. The eight-year-old company has been testing rocket prototypes for suborbital flights at its Texas spaceport, but this is the first firm evidence of its orbital aspirations. NASA’s money will go toward the development of a launch escape system and a composite crew module for structural testing. “We are pleased to be selected by NASA as a member of the CCDev team,” program manager Rob Meyerson said in a statement. “Blue Origin continues to work patiently and step-by-step to lower the cost of spaceflight so that humans can continue exploring the solar system.”
The Boeing Co. - which is the prime contractor for the space station and a partner in the United Space Alliance, which runs the shuttle program for NASA – will receive $18 million for development of a seven-person crew capsule for travel to and from the space station. One of Boeing’s partners in the project is Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace, which has launched two inflatable space modules into orbit and would help design the crew capsule.
Paragon Space Development Corp., an Arizona-based company that specializes in life support systems for spacecraft, would get $1.4 million for the development of an air revitalization system. One of the company’s many projects is to build a “Lunar Oasis” mini-greenhouse that would be sent to the moon aboard a privately funded lunar lander.
Sierra Nevada Corp. would receive $20 million to aid in the development of a space plane known as the Dream Chaser. Through its subsidiary, SpaceDev, Sierra Nevada has worked on microsatellites as well as the hybrid rocket engines used on SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo.
United Launch Alliance, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin venture that offers Atlas and Delta expendable rockets, would get $6.7 million. The U.S. military has been using the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 for years, but they’ve never been approved for sending humans into space. NASA still has to establish a procedure for certifying that commercial rockets are safe for human spaceflight – and industry executives said they were starting to work with the space agency on the all-important safety issue. NASA’s money would go toward developing an emergency detection system for ULA’s rockets.”
It seems NASA is reverting to its original mandate: “With the dramatic changes ordered by the Obama administration, NASA is going back to its pre-Apollo 1959-60 roots, when it was a research-and-development powerhouse more than an engineering factory, said Harry Lambright, a professor of public policy at Syracuse University” (source). There is certainly a lot of pressure for the companies to get it right. Should they succeed, there is a substantial fee involved, but should they fail, the repercussions for the companies, and the US, transcend economic matters.
Despite NASA’s newly found entrepreneurial streak, space travelling has thus been a game between states. During the Cold War and the Space Race, between the Soviets and the Americans, and after the Cold War, an international project between the Europeans, Americans and Russians. However, new players have emerged since. Japanese, Indian and Chinese space programs have become more ambitions in the last decade. And while NASA relies on a risky new move that may or may not bring results in the medium or long term, especially Indian and Chinese space programs are likely to continue on their previous, successful tracks. It may just be that China is the space power that takes the next symbolic step. For China, the moon is an obvious target, and they could be there in 2020.
INFOBOX: 21st Century Space Race (source)
• China was the third country to launch its own manned space missions in 2003 and is now talking of a space station by 2020. Beijing is also in early stages of planning a lunar mission.
• India began satellite missions to the moon in 2008 and plans to send its own astronauts into space by 2016. Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in orbit in 1984 on a Soviet mission.
• Russia will taxi US astronauts to the international space station when the space shuttle programme ends. It plans a missions to Mars, but going to the moon seems a lower priority.
• The European Space Agency concentrates on partnership in the international space station and at present has an eight strong astronauts corps. It has recently – but before Obama’s announcement – talked about grabbing a seat on someone else’s moon mission.
• Brazil is behind in the space race but is hoping to relaunch a unmannned programme on hold since a launchpad disaster killed 21 people in 2003. It also plans a new generation of satellites to monitor agriculture, territory, deforestation and mineral rescources.
The test series between India and South Africa will be similar to clash of the titans. It will be clash for No.1 spot. The winner of the test series will become the no.1 test team in the world.
With the No.1 title at stake and with so many injuries in the batting middle order, it will be up to the younger generation to grasp the opportunity and be counted. Similarly the experience players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan will have to stand up and deliver. They will have to lead the way for the new players. The form that Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan have displayed in the last series, will somewhat lift the spirits of the team and motivate them to give in their best shot.
Meanwhile South Africa is looking set for the clash with their full fledged team. They will definitely come very hard against India. Their bowlers are very much in form, as that is one of the most important factors as to win a match a team needs to pick up 20 wickets. With the series starting in 5 days time it looks to be a cracker of a series.
I wish the Indian team the best of luck for the series hoping that it will win the series and keep the no.1 title with them. The last time a similar series had happened against Australia (One-day), India had lost unfortunately not making it to top spot.
The Indian team for the series is MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, S Badrinath, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhimanyu Mithun, Wriddhiman Saha.
Nagpur’s Sunday street bazaar is a melting pot of cheap crap made in sweat shops all over Asia. My new $4 sandals may last a week or so, but I think they are kinda cute. I especially like the way they misspelled the name brand. They did not need to go so far to try to fool me. The gig was up when I tried them on. I wear a size 7 in that brand, not the size 10 that fit me today. My new 25 cent “designer” earrings will turn green before my new $2 “designer” skirt falls apart in the washing machine. Or maybe before I wash it. The first time I wear it. While giving a speech. The fun of cheap crap is the “oh crap” factor. Where will I be when the heel falls off, the skirt unravels, someone remarks, “er, is that mold growing on your earrings?”
When I think of “bazaar” I think of Morocco’s spicy souks, but the only smells at this bazaar were burned popcorn from a smoking pushcart and the usual poop.
The thrill of bazaar is the venue. Families charging down the street dodging other families, rickshaws, snack sellers, plodding cows, and some African guy I could swear I saw in Rome’s Piazza Navona selling the same plastic singing crickets. “Hi, Fred,” I said. He acted like he remembered me. Anything for a sale, right? He dropped his price as quickly as Drew Peterson drops his pants. But he failed in Nagpur as he failed in Rome.
I marched on to the used book corner. It was calmer there. Earnest students searching for used physics text books. Me, waving rupees for fiction, any fiction. I found a tattered book of lovely prose printed in New Zealand and UK — not in US. It cost more than my sandals. After the first page, I forgave Nagpur for not having a spicy souk. And I will forgive Nagpur when my heel falls off, my skirt unravels, and I throw away my earrings.
The point of this story is not the treasure of fine fiction or the seductive smell of souks; it is Fred and his plastic, singing crickets. I think he is an apparition. Please report any Fred sightings to this blog. If he shows up in Times Square, Red Square, Naperville’s Riverwalk, Cancun, or Piccadilly Circus, I am going to notify CNN.
India, China and other developing countries face “the spectre of hazardous e-waste mountains” unless they step up action to collect and recycle e-waste, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned.
