Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The 'Recycled' School

Innovative ways of educating children in India. Good to see such things happen.

Read On..



A school in Pune is a model example of how to follow a greener lifestyle. It's not just teaching its students chapters on recycling, but setting an example.

With walls made of plastic bottles, cow dung plastering interiors, roofs of bamboos and straws and pipes for ventilators, the Aman Setu Primary School on the outskirts of Pune in Wagholi is a school literally made out of waste materials of all kinds.

Its aim is to create an eco-foundation for its children: A fundamental lesson in recycling and conservation.

All classrooms have been built using the Earth Bag Technique - sacks filled with a mix of the earth and waste products have been sealed and stacked up like conventional bricks, tied with barbed wire and plastered over with a mix of natural waste.

The roofs have been waterproofed with old hoardings.

"By creating a learning space like this, we are bringing children closer to nature. Not only is the structure kinder to the earth, aesthetically satisfying, cool and comfortable, it is also a dynamic learning space. It's a hands-on experience for the children to know Mother Nature," said Madhavi Kapoor, founder, Aman Setu.

Staying true to its belief, the students of Aman Setu Primary School are made to play in natural spaces instead of designed playgrounds so that they learn about the flora and fauna and how to live eco-friendly.

They are also taught how to turn organic waste into fertiliser and grow vegetables.

If schools are all about laying the right foundation, this place seems to have got it right. Just as we say, - you learn what you live - here the young minds are learning how to live with nature.

Source: www.ndtv.com, July 04, 2011

Monkey Marriage in India

Strange things happen in India. Here is one of them.

Read On..



The wedding of Raju and Chinki could put Bollywood to shame. The monkeys were married off in a hush hush ceremony by villagers in Rajasthan before the forest department could stop the 'wildlife crime'! The newly weds have now landed in a zoo.

The caretaker families of the two monkeys had planned an elaborate north Indian wedding for the two. Three-year-old groom, Raju, was to ride a horse from Banetha town in Tonk district, some 100 km from Jaipur, to bride Chinki's house in Talwas village in neighbouring Bundi district.

But the state's forest department clamped a ban on it, prohibiting the nuptial plans for the simians on the ground that it was a wildlife crime.

The dream of villagers were shattered - almost. Some over enthusiastic villagers took the monkeys into a nearby jungle and got them married secretly at 5 a.m. Wednesday. Before foresters could reach the venue, the deed was done. 'I attended the marriage. Almost all rituals were followed, including the seven rounds of the fire and the marriage vows,' a village told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Forest officials are not happy over the development. 'It is a kind of atrocity on the monkeys who were not even aware of what was happening to them. We had issued notices to the two families warning them against it,' a senior forest department officer told IANS.

A team of police and administration officials reached Talwas village, but by then Raju and Chinki were already a couple - in the nearby Antari Ka Jungle. 'The villagers took them to a nearby forest area and got them married,' said the officer.

Now the two monkeys have been 'rescued' and sent to a zoo in neighbouring Kota district. And that has saddened Raju's caretaker Ramesh who says he brought up the monkey like a son. 'We had made all the preparations. Marriage invitations had been sent to at least 200 people,' Ramesh said. He said he was surprised over forest department's 'diktat'. Ramesh claims he trained Raju with such perfection that he behaves like a human being.

'When I met Niranjan Pancholi, Chinki's caretaker, a few months back, I made the marriage proposal for them, which he happily accepted. We were planning to bring Chinki to our house in Banetha after the wedding,' said Ramesh.But the zoo is where the Raju and Chinki landed. 'My dreams are shattered,' said Ramesh.

Source: www.newdelhinews.net, 7th July 2011

Heights Of Superstition: Constable refuses to register theft, says he can't start day on bad note

This is heights. A Constable refusing to register theft, saying he can't start day on bad note. What is bad note in that? Does he want us to gift him something daily so that he can start his day on a good note. Such are the people in Indian Police Department.

Read On..



''Please come after 2pm. If we entertain a complaint of theft incident in the beginning of day, the whole day would be passed while handling such complaints.''

Amandeep Saini, 27, of Naraingarh was stunned to hear the response of a constable, when the former approached him for lodging a theft complaint of a cellphone at police post PGI on Thursday. The cellphone belongs to a serving Lt Col R K Saini, who was admitted in Nehru Hospital in PGI since July 3, and was stolen from his bed.

Amandeep, a distant relative of the Army officer, said he went to police post with a written complaint which was turned down by the constable. When he stressed that cellphone was costly and swift action of cops might trace it, constable asked him to come back in afternoon, Amandeep added. The cell phone was stolen between 5am and 5:30am from the bed of patient on Thursday.

Source: Times Of India, July 8, 2011

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Rs 10 Crore bill received for looking after Mr. Kasab

It's been about a year since i found time to add something to my blog. The main reason being the blog sites being blocked in my prevoius office. But not now. And this time also its Mr. Kasab again, who has brought me back to write something on my blog..Such an Inspiration right..:)

Recently Maharashtra government received a bill of about Rs 10 Crore towards reimbursement of looking after Kasab. Instead of thinking about is that worth spending that large amount on the terrorist, the Maharashtra Government is writing a letter to the Central government that it cant bear the entire amount and the Central government should help them by giving some money as saving kasab is a national issue, not maharashtra's alone.

Well, i am out of words to tell about the mentality of the government officials. They are asking the central government to give them money to save kasab, instead can't they think that spending such an amount of money on a terrorist is useless. Can't they hang him soon and use the same money for other development rather than wasting money on a terrorist.

May be they dont want him to get hanged, so that they can eat the money using Kasab's name. Bigger Terrorists i can say.

Read on..



Maharashtra government is stunned after receiving a Rs 10 crore bill from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) towards reimbursing expenses on guarding 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab, lodged in the Arthur Road jail here.

Confirming that the state government did receive the Rs 10 crore tag from ITBP, Medha Gadgil, principal secretary, Home, said that the Maharashtra authorities are writing to the ITBP.

"We are in the process of writing to them. We will explain that 26/11 terror attacks is not only an issue limited to Maharashtra but a national issue," she said.

The state government received a request for reimbursement of Rs 10.87 crore from the Director-General, ITBP, New Delhi, R K Bhatia for expenses incurred between March 28, 2009 and September 30, 2010.

"What Kasab and his associates did is an attack not only on Mumbai but an attack on India and it is unfair to ask the state government to bear the burden (for ITBP guarding Kasab)," another senior Home department official said.

The ITPB was deployed in the jail in the run-up to the 26/11 trial, held in a special sessions court set up in the jail premises.

Last year, the home department sought an extension for the deployment of the ITBP which comprised around 200 commandos, armed with sophisticated weaponry and communication equipment, guarding Kasab 24x7.

The ITBP team was deployed for the trial period, after which the state government wrote to the Centre, seeking an extension, the official said.

Source : Times of India, 24th May 2011

Friday, June 25, 2010

Diet of mud and despair in Indian village



Poverty is increasing alarming in indian villages. The rich are growing richer and the poor are becoming much more poorer. In few villages people have come to a stage of eating mud to survive as they do not have anything to eat. This is shame on the ministers and the government officials of those region. Indian Government should serioulsly look into such issues.

Read on..

"We live on a day-to-day basis," Suraj says, as the faint sound of hammering echoes across the village. "What we earn is what we spend on our families in a day." In Ganne, just off the main road about an hour south of the city of Allahabad, this is a simple fact of life. It is home to members of a poor tribal community, who live in small huts clustered around a series of shallow quarries.

Inside one of the huts sits a little girl called Poonam. She is three years old, and in the early stages of kidney failure. Like many children in Ganne she has become used to eating bits of dried mud and silica, which she finds in the quarry. Tiny children chew on the mud simply because they are hungry - but it is making them ill.

When reports first emerged of children eating mud here local officials delivered more food and warned the villagers not to speak to outsiders. But Poonam's father, Bhulli, is close to despair. What can we do? We eat the mud from the quarry when we feel hungry ."What can I say," he shrugs. "We can't afford to eat properly, so how can I afford to buy medicines for her?"

"I am really worried about my daughter, but I don't know what to do next. The poor need the government's help - if we had it, we wouldn't be in such a desperate state."

People like Bhulli and Suraj make their money filling lorries with bits of rock. It takes about eight hours for five men to fill one load. They carry the stones up from the quarry in plastic washing-up bowls balanced on their heads.

One of the women in the village, Phulkari, approaches to tell us about her little boy. "My son's name is Suraj, and he's started eating mud too," she says. "What can we do? We eat the mud from the quarry when we feel hungry." "Where do we get the money?" she asks. "We usually eat food only once a day. Last night we went to bed without eating anything at all."

The World Bank estimates that one third of all the very poorest people in the world live in India, and stories like those from Ganne have now inspired a national Right To Food campaign. There have been protest rallies in the heart of Delhi, as the Indian parliament prepares to debate a new Food Security Bill. It will dictate how many people in the country get access to massively subsidised food grain.

There's no doubt that India should be able to afford to feed its people. But the devil is in the detail. "It'll only cost the government about 1.2% of GDP to universalize a system of giving food for all, cheap food for all," says Kavitha Srivastava, the national coordinator of the Right to Food campaign.

"They can do it, if they have the political will. It's prioritising - where do you want to put the money?" "We think it should go in building people's nutrition levels. You can't have a country which is weak, which is hungry, which is anaemic. How can you have a nation like this?"

Now the government seems to be prepared to accept a new way of defining poverty, which will increase the number of people below the poverty line by more than 100 million to about 372 million. If you simply throw money at this problem...you'll have to throw four times the amount to get the result you want. And the government of India can't afford that.

If international poverty standards were used, the number would be much higher still - and some Indian economists believe it should be.But whichever figure is used, the poverty line feels like a rather fictitious divide because feeding more than a billion people is a massive logistical exercise. Vast quantities of food provided by the state go missing every day because of corruption and theft.

"Food ought to be a right," says Dr Kaushik Basu, the Chief Economic Advisor at India's Ministry of Finance. "And I believe this is a movement in the correct direction." "But what worries me at times is that we're being too glib and quick about the delivery mechanism."

Official estimates are that right across the country 75% of subsidised grain does not make it to the intended target in villages like Ganne. "So if you simply throw money at this problem, you'll have to throw four times the amount to get the result you want," says Dr Basu. "And the government of India can't afford that. The budget will go bust." In other words, the delivery system needs to be reformed as well - and corrupt local officials need to be taken to task. There is a long way to go.

Jean Dreze, a highly respected Belgian-born academic who has worked in India for many years, points out that the current debate is only about the most basic levels of food intake. There are fair price shops where people can buy subsidised foodgrain
"For a family of five to have reasonably good nutrition, nothing like meat or fish or any such thing, but just one egg per person per day, one banana, some dhal, some vegetables, a reasonably balanced diet - it would cost more than 200 rupees ($4.4; £3) per family per day," he says.

And that is far more than the amounts being discussed at the moment. It is a sobering reminder that feeding India is a daunting challenge - the government knows it, and the prime minister says it must be a priority. But the Right to Food Campaign insists they are not doing enough. The Indian economy continues to grow at impressive speed, and there is no shortage of food in the country. It just isn't reaching the people who need it most, on a consistent basis.

So in Ganne they continue to eat mud. And without finding a solution here in India, the world will come nowhere near the targets it has set itself for reducing global poverty.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk, 15th May 2010

Blind student in india, guided by blind teacher, gets PhD

Hats off to the student and the teacher!!

He could not see it, but the thunderous, rapturous applause that will ring in Sanjay Jain's ears for a long time told him that he had earned it. Having just won the longest ovation of the ceremony, Jain stood up modestly, a big smile on his face.

For Jain, who is blind since birth, this was one of his life's best moments. He was awarded PhD in law during the 97th convocation ceremony of Nagpur University on Saturday. Interestingly, Jain's guide was head of law department Shirish Deshpande, who is also blind.

This is perhaps for the first time in the country that a blind guide successfully guided a blind scholar. Jain is only the third visually impaired teacher in the university after DW Wadegoankar and Shirish Deshpande. Jain pursued his schooling from a school for blind and also studied at National Institute for Visually Impaired in Dehradun. He, however, pursued further education from regular colleges.

“My friends, teachers and some members of RSS helped me by being my readers. In those days, all material was not available in Braille and there wasn't any technology,” he said. The subject of his thesis was ‘Taking women seriously – A critical inquiry into the changing parameters of judicial review and perspectives on protection and enforcement of rights of women with special reference to the Constitution of India'.

Jain was earlier rejected by Pune University after he applied for the post of a teacher. Not deterred by the disappointment, he bounced back by getting a teacher's job at the ILS law College in Pune. Sanjay met his wife Suleshi, who has normal vision, when she was a student at Nagpur University. They have a son named Sagar.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 6th une 2010

Friday, June 11, 2010

Cops in India tell mother to strip and have sex with her son

Such a Shame. Being a government servant,indian police misbehaved in such a cheap manner. Such people should be stripped of their jobs immediately and should get severe punishment for what they did. This is really sick of Indian Police.

Read On..

In a shocking tale, police officers, including a woman constable in Delhi, allegedly asked a woman to strip and have sex with her son, a juvenile accused, inside a police post.

The victim, a resident of Delhi's Mayapuri area, alleges that she and her husband had rushed to the local police station after her two sons were detained by the police on charges of theft.

"While returning home from the Mayapuri police station with my wife, I saw a crowd outside our house. While entering I saw a male and a female cop ransacking the place. When we objected and asked about our sons, the cops started hitting us," said the victim's husband.

"After beating us black and blue they took us to the Rajouri Garden police post around 7pm. I saw both my sons there; they had been severely beaten. The male and female police officers there started flogging all of us. They wanted to know about theft of certain items from a car," he added.

The torture ended at midnight. But only the parents were allowed to go. The children were kept in detention.

"They told me to go back home and come back the next morning at 10. But when we showed up, the policemen asked us to go back and return at 4 pm. We went home. But suddenly around 2 pm on May 22, the cops came to our house and took us to the police post.

"There they started beating us again. But after a few minutes one of the constables took me and my younger son out of the room and locked it from the inside. I was worried about the fate of my wife and elder son," he added.

Inside the room, the wife alleges she found herself in the middle of something horrible.

"They locked me and my elder son Raju. Then they started questioning us about the stolen goods. When my son and I denied all charges, the constable asked me to strip in front of my son. When I refused the constable started beating me with his lathi and forced me to strip," she said.

"Then the cops asked me to have sex with my son. Both of us started crying and I begged them to let us go. Then one of the constables asked me to have sex with him instead if I couldn't do it with my son. We begged them again and again to let us go. Finally after about one or two hours they released us," added the victim.

Terrified by the whole incident, the couple went home, silently. But an NGO Society for Social Research Art & Culture got information regarding the episode and encouraged them to file a complaint.

Top police officers refused to comment on the issue saying that the matter was being investigated. But after the NGO interfered, a local cop took the victims to the police post to identify the culprits and assured action against them. The police had lodged an FIR against the victims under section 145/10 of IPC on May 24.

"One of the neighbours called us and narrated the whole incident. We found the victims and we encouraged them to file a complaint against the culprit cops. Then on June 8, the wife wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Police, narrating the whole matter. We have already emailed the victims' story to the NHRC," said Shahnawaz Akhtar Khan, an NGO worker.

MiD DAY has a copy of the letter written by the victims. When the accused policemen came to know that the family was planning to take action, they allegedly tried to bribe them.

"They gave us Rs 3,500 and told us to go away from the area. But I declined and returned the money. They later offered me Rs 20,000 to back off," claimed the victim.

Source: www.ndtv.com, www.midday.com, June 10,2010