as india gallops towards growth, in our finance minster word 'wealth creation', it seems to have conveniently forgotten about 'health creation'.

as per lancet, the uk based medical journal and i quote from the report, "According to data analysed in the series, over 51 per cent of children in India under five are stunted. This is a third (34 per cent) of the global total of stunted children. Anaemia affects 79 per cent of children in the lowest economic strata and 64 per cent in the better-off families."

vow. that is development indeed. when children go hungry, when tribals gets smashed, when rivers and ecosystems gets murdered and when wealth is created - all these are indeed development.

the word 'social policies' has indeed become a bad word for government as government itself is increasingly in the rolls of corporates. so instead of 'constitutional duties', the elected law makers seems to be more interested in 'corporate duties'.

next time when you tell india is developing, you might want to tell 'india is developing without the 51% of india's children'. well 51% is not a big number. 90% we will be alarmed. 51% is good to go!!!

Q: What is the government's stand on Dow Chemicals
investing in India right now ?

Mr. Kamal Nath: Well, the tragedy was in Union Carbide,
and Dow, by integration, inherited Union Carbide.
Dow themselves had no status in this,
so Dow's investment is not affected by that.

- press conference, Washington, DC June 28, 2007


Union commerce minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday strongly opposed forcible acquisition of land for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the country. - Hindu

when a minister can tell dow chemicals is innocent, he can tell anything i guess. by virtue of taking over union carbide, dow also took all the disaster that was permeated by union carbide. dow chemicals is a multi billion dollar corporate entity. it wont take much to be a man and say what happened was a disaster and they regret it and they will take remedial action to make sure all wrongs are corrected.

instead it seems that honorable ministers have become enrolled in dow's rolling calls. shame is the mildest word to think of.

the same minister now says he opposes forcible land acquisitions. hello..... india is a country of buddha and gautama . so no forced land acquisitions please. but little bit of kicking, displacing, spitting and jailing is okay in order to acquire the land. of course, these are not forcible acts. these are just a mother telling her kid to behave. hello... indians are the one who invented non-violence and we, the group of ministers, follow it to the core

of course when you are on the roll of dow chemicals, you can tell anything because you have already stooped so low.

fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me. how about poor indians being fooled everyday?

as the bhopal protesters continue their dharna in new delhi, the prime minister office and the prime minster himself is busy deep asleep.

asleep over the injustice that is still not corrected to the gas disaster victims, asleep and signing welcome letters to dow chemicals, asleep and happy on the fake development that is happening in india.

as nity writes, the cause of bhopalis is much bigger than bhopal. it is super high time our sleepy prime minister takes notice.

this past 5 years of this government has been nothing short of a disaster. a clueless finance minister who was busy chasing 10% gdp growth that benefits only a narrow section of urban elite, an agriculture minister who chases cricket matches and a sleepy prime minister who has no clue on what's happening.

all 3 have one in common. that is to talk endlessly about 'development'. oh yeah, development for the rich and destruction for everybody else.

kerala cheif minister and veteran politician is about to launch a green drive with high school students in kerala on planting more trees.

the same kerala government is ruthlessly proceeding on implementing the ill fated and destructive athirapally hydel project that will submerge an ecosystem that is more than million years old in western ghats forest area.

something big time is wrong in this. no, no, nothing is wrong here. this is the concept of development in india. wherein anybody can do anything including greenwash.

posco mining issue in orissa illustrates how rotten the concept of development that is happening in india.

stab in the chest,
stab in the stomach,
stab in the face,
stab each and every body part

kick in the head,
punch in the face,
spit on the woman,
thrown them in the dust,

we need their land,
we need their fields,
we need the iron ore,
through blood and gore

care we not,
of the poor peasants,
damn they can go
we need development.

madhumitta dutta has a brilliant article on the posco situation in downtoearth. it causes me to throw up on reading articles like this which hits at the very root of basic human rights and environmental rights.

well, it is india, money can buy anything. and the same money can stab and kick too with such ease you would think that stabbing and kicking is part of normal day to day life!!!!

the sorry plight of bhopalis brutalized by the bhopal gas disaster continues. dow chemicals, which has taken over union carbide is washing off its hands from the biggest industrial in india is gleefully being welcomed by several state governments whereas the victims of the gas disaster is begging for justice.

and our honorable prime minister is happy meeting with big industries folks at any time, has not got even a single second to meet the bhopal gas victims who have walked several kilometers to remind the prime minister of his unfulfilled promises even as simple as the one's like giving potable drinking water.

well, mr prime minster, how low can india go. in binayak sen episode, in farmer suicides, in bhopal injustice, in brutal SEZ's, in the fake indo-america nuclear deal, the bar is set lower and lower and lower.

when it comes to development, the bar needs to be lowered so low that everything else can look much higher.

mr.jairam ramesh, is a young minister and a well known face of several congress teams. and he is also now a minister of state for power.

what would a young and supposedly dynamic minister do when it comes to the situation pertaining to his ministry. we would assume he would do a full study on the situation with respect to ministry (in this case electricity). things like electricity generation, distribution, infrastructure, renewables, conservation, usage patterns, etc are the things in the realm of analysis.

but what does our young minister do? he jumps on the nuclear bandwagon gleefully. and he tells that to increase 6 times (!!!) the electricity from nuclear plants, we need to sign the indo america nuclear deal asap and get hold of nuclear technology and nuclear fuel.

great. let's do it. let's also kick our environment, our coastal regions and rivers with toxic radiation. let's kick our fishermen on the face where the nuclear power plants will be forced into.

forget about massive solar energy that is possible in india. forget about massive conservation that can be done via tax breaks, awareness, penalties, etc. forget about the massive 30 to 40% transmission and distribution losses.

but remember only one thing. kicking in the stomach and faces of poor coastal people where these monster nuclear power plants will be forced into.

kicking and brutalizing - 2 hallmarks of fake development in india.

as the maverick politician dr.subramanian swamy and many others crank up the heat on the disastrous sethu project on religious and political lines, one sad part remains the same.

that this project is a disastrous one for the vital ecology in the area in which the sea wildlife, the fishermen community and the very foundation of the ocean itself depends.

sudarshan of atree has a powerful article on this and more vitally no one has understood how the sedimentation in the bay is formed, reformed and continues this process every single minute on which depends the entire ecology.

basically the sethu project fanatics are embarking on a project in which they have no clue and what is going to happen is this endless dredging of the bay at a huge cost is not going to end ever at all wherein the only job of the sethu project is to dredge, dredge and dredge and basically to keep on doing this which not only makes sense for this project but also disastrous for the entire bay.

well, when money is the only motivation for the sethu project fanatics it does not matter whether the project is economically and ecologically feasible.

fake development like this that is happening in india is aptly put in the title of the article - a mockery of science, conservation and environmental laws

NATIONAL CONVENTION

3rd and 4th JUNE 2008 at CHALAKUDY

ATHIRAPPILLY SATYAGRAHA CROSSES 100th DAY

Dear friend ,

As you are aware, an indefinite satyagraha is going on at Athirappilly demanding the scrapping of the proposed 163 MW Athirappilly HEP in Chalakudy river since 25th February 2008 . By this time more than 70 different social, political, environmental , youth based organisations from across the State of Kerala have participated in the Satyagraha and the support is growing. However, the Government has been ignoring the Satyagraha spearheaded by the Chalakudy River Protection Forum and the Athirappilly Action Council. Meanwhile, the two Public Interest Litigations pending in the High Court of Kerala are due for final hearing during the first week of June.

We are planning a National Level Convention on the 3rd and 4th of June when the Satyagraha crosses the 100th day.

The Convention intends to

Demand a 'WHITE PAPER' on the electricity scenario of Kerala before going ahead with the implementation of the project given the fact that the proposed Athirappilly Project is not an absolute necessity for meeting the power demands of Kerala with several other measures and options open before the government . Also it is a well known fact that the entire process of gaining Technical and Environmental Clearance for the project has been ridden with violations and manipulations.

Demand a 'RIVER BASIN LEVEL DIALOGUE' on the proposed proejct between the Government and all the different communities, departments and agencies dependent on and concerned about the well being and future of the Chalakudy River given the fact that no prior informed consultation on the project among the different river basin communities has been initiated by the Government or the Kerala State Electricity Board so far.

The Convention intends to bring together different grass root struggle movements, social, environmental and political groups supporting the satyagraha, delegates from the literary, art and film world, students and youth and children etc. with different sessions being planned for each of the different support groups.

The final schedule shall be communicated later.

Please consider this letter as our invitation to the two day convention with a demand declaration and press meet included . A memorandum with the above demands endorsed by all the participants shall be presented to the Chief Minister of Kerala after the convention.

Please intimate your willingness and travel plans by return e mail.

Don't forget to bring along/ send by post, Exhibition panels, posters, films , booklets etc on the struggles and movements of which you are part or supporting.

Let us remember that the future of a beautiful Western Ghats River depends on our concerted will power and compassion.

Warm regards,

Chalakudy River Protection Forum and Athirappilly Action Council

riverprotection@gmail.com

cholayar@rediffmail.com

Contacts

S.P.Ravi - 09249898773

A.Latha - 09847283120

S.Unnikrishnan - 91-487-2353021

the governor of west bengal mr.gopal gandhi showed a smart way of reducing electricity. he has made voluntary power cut between 1.30 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. in the afternoon, and between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the evening.

will it rescue india from the power crisis, power waste, electricity-is-my-birth-right, etc kind of things. absolutely not. so is the effort by the governor useful? absolutely yes.

in fact the governor should go further and cut off power from 1:30 to 4:30 and from 5 pm to 7pm and rely more on natural trees for cooling, solar power panels for power, green building codes for conservation of electricity as the ultimate aim day after day.

naturally our sleepy not-so-left leftists are alarmed. alarmed by the fact somebody is telling how to live within their means and how to save electricity.

mr.gopal gandhi effort has to be cascaded onto several government departments across india so that electricity usage can be sparing used and not used as though it is a birth right.

when fake development is the main goal along with massive unsustainable fake dams, polluting coal power plants, dangerous nuclear power plants are 'symbols of prosperity', even small actions like the kind of mr.gopal gandhi's in west bengal definitely means something. only if we are willing to listen though.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: May 14, 2008 9:34 PM
Subject: editorial on dr.sen
To: thehindu@vsnl.com
Cc:"readerseditor@thehindu.co.in" readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

dear hindu,
thanks for writing the editorial to release dr.binayak sen (http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/15/stories/2008051554731000.htm) and also on the continous coverage of the illegal arrest and abusive detention of dr.binayak sen.

the arrest and detention the highly regarded doctor and human rights activist is a huge shame on each and every indian. many incidents such as sikh riots, bhopal gas disaster and the still happening injustice to its victims, babri masjid demolition and the aftermath riots, gujarat 2002 genocide have shaken india at its core and dr.binayak sen case ranks amogst those worst moments.

a nation that originated gautama and mahatma stands in utter shame on the blatant abuse of power by the bjp led chattisgarh government and the deafening silence of the congress led central government.

dr.sen was in no way a naxal and the chattisgarh government is rounding up whoever has opposed salwa judum and also the brutal mining policies of the chattisgarh government.

without wasting a single second, the chattisgarh government should release dr.sen. till then, india has no rights to call itself a democracy.

in this 1st anniversary of dr.binayak sen arrest, his comments stand a telling tale on the fake development of india.

He has also expressed his deep concern over rising inequality in India despite the economic boom.

Appeals for Dr Sen's release have poured in from all over the world

"We have to strive for more inclusive growth. You cannot create
two categories of people," he told a journalist.

this anniversary of dr.binayak sen arrest is a HUGE blot on india's human rights record. it is a matter of utter national shame to each and every indian that dr.sen is in jail on blatantly false charges and till very recently even without trial.

in this terrible tragic moment in chinese modern history where more than 10,000 people have been killed and potentially many tens of thousands missing, the world should pause and observe a moment of silence for the death of mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers, friends, collegeues who have died in this terrible tragedy.

the chinese government should spare no effort, in opening the region for full rescue and relief by both chinese and international aid organisations. each and every life that is trapped is so crucial that no ideological moorings is important.

bbc had a piece that showed the difference between how the burmese administration and chinese administration is coping with the disaster.

shame on the burmese generals who treat their own citizens like scum bags. and shame on the american, indian and chinese governments that are only too happy to be in good books of the inhuman burmese generals just for the sake to tap the oil and natural gas out of the country.

in this moment of terrible sorrow for both burma and china, it is super important that we respect human life and take each and every step possible to save every human being possible.

everything else can wait.
(chinese numero uno wen jiabao taking a school child's bag and shows in the earthquake hit south west china. he should stand tall and throw away all silly idealogical moorings and throw open relief and rescue at 1000% speed to take care of each and every human being affected by the earthquake. and he should ruthlessly followup to make sure that earthquake builiding codes are developed and implemented without fail so that future natural disasters can have much lesser impact)

it has been a horrific day for people living in central china as an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 stuck Sichuan and nearby areas. Cities as far as Beijing got hit by the earthquake tremors.

in this sad hour, we should stand by the affected chinese people whose hard work has made them rise from abject poverty in last several decades and in this hour, the chinese government should leave no stone unturned to throw open the affected region to immediate medical and food aid.

we have thousand issues with chinese administration but when it comes to common chinese people we have only one thing. and that is love and affection. and in this sad hour we pray to the almighty to bring quick relief to the affected citizens.

may i add one last thing. earthquakes do not kill people. only man made buildings kill. the chinese government should leave no stone unturned to make sure that building standards has to be fully changed to make sure it can satisfy 1000% the earthquake requirements of the areas that has experienced this disaster so that future disasters can be prevented with total confidence.

it has been almost an year after the illegal arrest and detention of well known doctor and an high standing human rights dr.binayak sen. in this sad first anniversary, the land of gautama and mahatma stands ashamed.

the land that orginated non-violence and ahimsa, now scouts places all over the world especially human rights abused places like sudan, burma, etc competing for natural resource to forward 'development' of india and at the same time jailing its illustrious sons like dr.binayak sen. double whammy. don't care about human rights around the world and don't practise inside india also. when fake 'development' is the mantra, all slogas goes to hell.

there are protests going all over the world on this illegal detention of dr.sen inlcuding one in san francisco this week. there is a good website that captures the story of dr.binayak and his illegal arrest.

as part of the protests, an awareness campaign was done in fremont, california pictures of which are below. one thing stand outstanding in dr.binayak illegal detention. india has lost its soul - lock, stock and barrel.

(local awareness campaign in front of namaste plaza, fremont, california. around 200 nri's were reached out to and information about the illegal arrest and detention of dr.sen was conveyed)

nowadays, state government sitting in headquarters of nice urban areas seems to mandate one thing. the one thing is the development of the state at the cost of local ecology and local livelihood.

the opening of sand mining depot in a village in the banks of tamiraparani river flies in the face of the logic. without even conducting a small eia or getting local public opinon, the tamilnadu state government has given permission to open sand mining depot in a village in the banks of the river.

well, what about the thousands of people who will be screwed up in the village due to indiscriminate sand mining?

what a joke question. let them go to hell. poor marginalised people like them have no place in development of india!!
(people of Suththamalli Village in the banks of river tamiraparani protesting against permission for indiscriminate sand mining. what do they know about development of india huh?)

n.ram, the chief of the hindu newspaper group is a well known personality. his newspaper amidst the chaos of corporatist media seems to giving very fair balanced positions on several issues.

but on tibet he seems to off target like an arrow that kills the hunter instead of the hunted.

let's see what he told and i quote
Tibet’s all-round development over some years has raised the living standards of its people, which by itself constituted progress in human rights, N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, said here on Tuesday.
People’s welfare and quality of life are indices to measure human rights too, he said in a lecture at the Beijing Forum on Human Rights.

so, as per mr.ram, if people are given good quality of life mandated by the state, then it is good to go. does not matter if there is zero freedom of speech, does not matter if cultural cleansing is happening, does not matter if the spiritual leader of millions of people has been sacked from the land and made an untouchable, does not matter if monks are fired upon, does not happen if a region is cascaded and locked down from outside world, does not matter.....

taking the same example, as per mr.ram, it is okay if people of tamilnadu is having good quality of life then there is no need for hindu kind of newspaper. why have a newspaper when people are happy?

the bottom line is this: it is state's duty to respect human rights. human rights is not a gift from the state. the state has a constitutional duty in decent nations to respect and adhere to very high standards of human rights.

but this as per mr.ram is secondary since people are already 'made happy' by state gifts.

interesting, i wonder what would the founders of the hindu newspaper group think and tell on this blatantly false and useless talk?
(the stance of hindu and mr.ram is 360 degrees opposite to sanity and strikes at the very foundation of the very newspaper and newsgroup they are heading. as per hindu and ram, 'happiness' in state mandated tibet is good to go rather than genuine human rights for the hapless tibetians. wonder what is the need for newspapers like hindu when 'happiness' and 'wealth' is good to go?)

if we can ask a question to our ministers it might this. how often have you traveled to ground level to inspect how the situation.

if you ask this question sharad pawarji, the cricket minister aka agriculture minister, he might answer probably 5 times.

if you ask this question to public distribution supply minister, the answer will be 0.

if you ask this question to our finance minister, on his travels to see the financial plight of marginalized people and the reasons for it, the answer will be 0.

but....if you ask this question to environment and forest ministry, the answer will be huge. of course those are not the trips to western ghats forests to see the sorry plight of the majestic mountain ranges or to bhimshankar tiger reserve or melghat tiger reserve on the huge pressure's they are facing, or to sanjay gandhi national park that has been fast turning into garbage park in mumabi, etc.

these are trips to foriegn countries of course, to 'study' how to improve the condition of environment and forests in india. and some of the countries to quote are below.
It stated that former Minister of Environment and Forests A Raja had gone abroad 17 times, his visits including countries like Switzerland, Argentina, the UK, Japan, Maldives, Canada, Australia, the UAE, Bangladesh, Japan, Kenya and Germany.

interestingly western countries seems to be the favorite haunt of our foreign moef minister. why not? when those countries offer good quality air to breathe and a perfect ecology to relax, why not?

what about india's environment and ecology. damn to hell of course. we need development. not clean air or clean water or good ecology you fool....