E-Weekly-4/20
G
E
M
An E-Newsletter for the cause of Environment, Peace, Harmony and Justice
 Let us listen to the cry of the Planet and the Marginalised
 GEM Inspirational series
 Readers’ Letters
 A Distress Call from Planet Earth
 Creating a green haven in the city’s midst
 Mumbai: WR looks for ways to cool
Churchgate glass house...
 Mumbai has largest number of upcoming green buildings
 Mumbai: Rs.3crs wasted on mechanical brooms not suited to city, finds civic audit..
 Machines to clean up arterial roads
 Urbanisation clipping wings of
Karnala birds
 BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN
TRIBUNAL, WESTERN ZONE
BENCH, PUNE
Remember - “you and I can decide the future ”
 30-min protest that forced Sajjan
Jindal to ‘drop’ port dream Tamil
Nadu to take policy decision on sand mining
 Mangalore: Yettinahole project -
Dakshina Kannada's lifeline under threat?
 Wastage of a third of food makes it a major carbon emitter: UN
 Japan switches off nuclear power
 Karnataka minister, staff jump into lake, save 6 from sinking car
 A month after finding new home, ex-millionaire editor back on pavement
 The new 'popemobile' is a 1984
Renault 4
 The candidate for PM that India does not need
 GEM PLUS – Job vacancies
 GUM PLUS LAUGH TIME
For Christian readers
BIBLE FOR THE SIMPLE (with Bible Quest 5)
OCT/NOV. 2013 issue
(please open the other attachment)
— John Muir, Travels in Alaska, 1915.

Exclusive Development.
We are in the context of Exclusive Development and Growth Model
Economy. This has been happening since Globalization and
Capitalism. A few are making profit at the expense of the vast
Thomas Kocherry thomasksa@gmail.com majority. A few are becoming richer and richer and the vast majority are becoming poorer and poorer. There is Social Justice and distributive Justice. There is no labour laws. By hook or by crook a few are making profit. In this growth model economy one can make profit only by depleting the natural capital, polluting water bodies and air. It is a rape of the planet and rape of women to make profit. You call this privatization, liberalization, with out which no country can survive today. This is what the ruling class all over the World
Believe. However we see Mariginalization side by side with Globalization. MNCs are ruling the World. All the countries are surviving through the profiteering of the few.
All over the World we see this rape of the planet. We are going to see some of the examples. Sometimes the Planet react. Some other times the Victims also react. The victims are looking for an all Inclusive Development.
Instead of bio energy and green energy the USA went to Nuclear Energy in a vast level. This is organically linked with Mass Destructive weapons.
This reached its climax dropping atomic bombs upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing thousands of
The Planet did not spare Russia. 3% of Chernobyl innocent people and spreading radiation for thousands of years. This is a crime against the
Planet and Humanity. The planet reacted that was why the USA had to face Three Mile Island
Disaster. In spite of Continuous Protest in the USA and in Japan the ruling class went ahead with it.
The next crime was using Nuclear Waste the USA used atomic bombs in Iraq. Iraq is in total atomic radiation. Sr. Rise and others warned the USA .
But the court and the ruling class have never listened to the Cry of the Planet and the
Marginalised.
Nuclear Plant was burst. 97% is still alive and the
Russian Scientists do not have the knowhow and
Technology to kill the live Nuclear Plant. 92 lakhs deformed children have been borne since then in and around Chernobyl. 150 KMS radius around the plant became barren.But the Russian Government never took any responsibility in looking after these children. But other International Charitable
Organisations have been looking after them. The radiation has spread to all over Europe. They are all still facing cancer and other sickness resulted by
Radiation. Chernobyl unit 4 is now enclosed in a large concrete shelter which was erected quickly (by
October 1986) to allow continuing operation of the other reactors at the plant. However, the structure is neither strong nor durable. The international Shelter
Implementation Plan in the 1990s involved raising money for remedial work including removal of the fuel-containing materials.
Some major work on the shelter was carried out in
1998 and 1999. Some 200 tonnes of highly radioactive material remains deep within it, and this poses an environmental hazard until it is better contained. Instead of learning from the cry of the
Planet and the Victims, Russia and India began
Kudankulam Nuclear Plant in 1988. This is the money making rackets of the MNCs.

The Union Carbide Gas Factory was burst and
People had to run on four different directions and thousands lost the life. The Bhopal gas tragedy , was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster. It occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide
India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals. The toxic substance made its way in and
around the shanty towns located near the plant.
Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of
Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.
[3] Others estimate 8,000 died within two weeks and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases. A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused
558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.
. Neither the MNC nor the GOI and MPG took to responsibility towards `the victims and the Environmental destructions until today. The victims have been fighting their court cases till today for compensation. The victims have been agitating till today. The Union Carbide sold everything to Dove
Co to escape from the liability. Once the tragedy took place everybody has been washing one’s own hands from liability. How can the people trust anybody anymore? Enough is enough. Will we learn anything from this disaster? All around the plant even today there is no pure drinking water is available even today. This is the kind of crime that is going on in the name of Exclusive Development.
This was the worst form of Nuclear Disaster in the recent times. 4000 people have been working day and night to kill the plant. But the radiation has reached even in the USA waters. On 5 July 2012, the Japanese National Diet appointed The
Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent
Investigation Commission(NAIIC) submitted its inquiry report to the Japanese Diet.The
Commission found the nuclear disaster was
"manmade", that the direct causes of the accident were all foreseeable prior to March 11, 2011.
The report also found that the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant was incapable of withstanding the earthquake and tsunami. TEPCO, the regulatory bodies (NISA and NSC) and the government body promoting the nuclear power industry (METI), all failed to correctly develop the most basic safety requirements—such as assessing the probability of damage, preparing for containing collateral damage from such a disaster, and developing evacuation plans for the public in the case of a serious radiation release
The victims have been protesting against Nuclear
Plants in Japan. Even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Disaster the ruling class of Japan has not learned anything. In spite of the fury of the Planet and fury of the Victims the ruling class is going ahead with
Nuclear Plants. Who will teach them?

In 1998, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the multinational beverage company, was granted a license to operate a bottling plant in
Plachimada, a small village in the state of Kerala in southern India. Within two years of the plant's opening in 2000, indigenous people living near the plant, known as the Adivasi people, began protesting the bottling plant's presence in their community. The local population complained that
Coca-Cola was lowering the water table and polluting surface and groundwater within the plant site and in the local community. Farmers complained of decreased yields and many local wells ran dry or were too contaminated to be used.
Although Coca-Cola contested these claims and insisted that decreased rainfall and unusual monsoon patterns had caused the problems, several studies, including one by the Ground Water Board, backed the protesters' complaints.
The fury of Utterakhand has been unparallel. It is
100% human made. In spite of continuous warning by movement led by Behaguna and Vimalbai , the ruling class gave a deaf hearing to it. Even though the Prime Minister touched on the rebuilding of
Utterakhand during his Red Fort Independence
The recent landslips and disaster in Idukki Districts of Kerala has been a big warning to the Exclusive
Development. This has created untold misery to the environment and the people who live in and around.
All the constructions of Dams and other activities invited this calamity. Gadgil Report was another warning but the ruling class rejected this report.
Gadgil wanted an all Inclusive Development.
However the Green Tribunal has asked the
Government to consider the Gadgil Report.
"Idukki is a classic case where conservation of green zones and large perennial tree growth that can stop soil erosion, mitigating the risks of landslides,'' saidMadhavGagdil, the architect of
Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP).
The WGEEP report had in fact given the top priority to, Idukki, which tops the list of taluks
The victims continued the agitation for compensation. The Legislative Assembly appointed a Tribunal to assess the damage. The campaign was successful in closing the plant, and in 2011 Coca-
Cola was declared financially liable up to $48 million dollars for damages and clean up from operation of the Plachimada plant. The Kerala
Legislative Assembly Unanimously passed a resolution accepting the award. But the GOI rejected the award. For GOI , MNCs are more important than the people of India. Though it is in the Indian Constitution(IC) that every citizen of
India should have free access to clean water within
50 years of Independence, no ruling class implemented this mandate fro the IC, though they all came to power after taking an oath to abide with it. What a kind of Contradiction? Who will correct this kind of situation? The victims have to rise up!!!!.
Day Speech, he did not touch upon the failure of
Exclusive Development. But he declared that he would go ahead with more economic reforms. He does not understand the basic contradictions involved. Hundreds of Dams and Flat constructions and roads on the sensitive riverine bed will never be corrected. Money making tourism will continue with destruction upon the Environment. Unless the
PM and CM of Utterakhand admit the main reasons of the Disaster, rebuilding will be another patch work upon the Planet and the victims of the
Disaster. Rebuilding is possible only if we find the root cause of the problem. Exclusive Economic
Development is the root cause of the Problem. It is
100% human made Disaster through Exclusive
Development. Where is the ruling class of this country going in spite of such warnings? which are in eco sensitive zones1, category. The report recommended that in taluks like
Thodupuzha, Udumbanchola, Devikulam and
Peermade there need to be a ban on the use of private forest land for non-forest purpose. The report, however, allows extension of village settlements to accommodate people. Let us pay attention to Gadgil Report.

Narmada Bachao Andolan under the leadership of
Medha Patkar has been fighting against Sardar
Sarovara Dam, a big threat to the Environment, and the tribals and the fisher people who depend on this river for livelihood. The Narmada is India's largest westward-flowing river and is of immense religious and cultural importance to the people living on its banks. It is also the subject of the largest river development project in the world, the Narmada
Valley Project, which envisages the construction of
This has been a historical Struggle against proposed
POSCO steel plant to be constructed by the South
Korean MNC. From 28th June 2013 onwards, the government of Odisha again started the forceful destruction of our beetle vineyards in Govindpur village of Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha. At least 20 persons including Mr. Tuna Baral, Mr. Tofan
Mohanty, Ms. Shantilata Swain were injured in a police lathi-charge who are opposing the forceful land acquisition for POSCO. The police has taken one of PPSS leader Mr. Kalpataru Mantri of
Govindpur village.
The Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police P.
Satyabrata Bhoi and his 10 platoons (300 personnel) of police force beaten up elder persons, women and children who opposed betel vine demolition. They acquired land without consent of thirty large and hundreds of small dams along its length.
The Narmada projects are the epitome of unsustainable development. Two of the largest proposed dams, Sardar Sarovar and Narmada Sagar, have been under construction since 1961.
According to Narmada Bachao Andolan, the dams force the displacement of about a million people and affect many more, largely poor peasants and tribals. They also cause immense ecological damage through the inundation of forests, including prime habitats of rare species. Resettlement and compensation have been totally inadequate and there is not the remotest prospect that the displaced people, the 'oustees', will be adequately resettled, nor that the ecological damage can be compensated for. There are also real doubts, borne out by the experience of large dams elsewhere in India, that the dams will yield their projected benefits of hydropower, irrigation and drinking water. The project is set fair to become another human and ecological 'development tragedy'. However the ruling class rejected the protest and went ahead with Exclusive Development. Will we ever learn?
the farmers. Some of the protesters attempted suicide by consuming poison at the land acquisition spot, police took them into custody for some hours.
As you know the state government earlier took our president Mr. Abhya Sahoo into the custody in order to use force for acquiring our land.
(- See more at: http://sanhati.com/articles/3634/#sthash.zPVNdezc.dpuf) people went through such a struggle and finally they saw the victory. POSCO withdraws from the scene. We still do not know whether the withdrawal of POSCO is final or not.
.
National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) has been fighting for the protection of Coastal Regulation Zone
(CRZ) in India. CRZ was the creation of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. But MoEF instead of protecting it has been diluting it. In 1989 the NFF organized a national campaign with a slogan Protect
Waters/ Protect Life. Finally it reached Kannyakumari on 1 st May 1989, when 25000 people gathered to

protest against Kudamkulam Nuclear Plant. The police opened fire and 8 got wounded and Fr. Servatius was beaten up by the police. However nobody pay any attention to our struggle. So the struggle continues.
It has been twenty years since coastal regulation came into force. The regulatory framework has so far not been able to stop the transformation of the coast into an ulcerated zone. This new phase where the fishworker unions and the government are in negotiation may hold the promise of a more precautionary based regulation of the coast. At least, that is the hope. Can we protect the sea and beach and the people, who depend on these. The ruling class and the Congress will not even respect Indira Gandhi. They are following MNCS and Reforms.
international financiers and bankers to facilitate a soft loan for the project planned as the largest
nuclear power project in the world. The 9,900 mega watt (MW) plant, is to be set up at Madban village in Ratnagiri. Residents are opposing it, saying it will destroy 938 hectare (ha) of eco-sensitive land
People protesting the proposed nuclear power plant at Jaitapur, Maharashtra, close to their villages, made public a letter written to French and European bankers. The letter was released two days before negotiations at Paris between Indian nuclear bureaucrats, the French nuclear company Areva, with creeks and mangrove.
The people have been protesting against the proposed Nuclear Plant in Jaithapur under the leadership of Ms. Vaishali Patil. Many fisher people have been beaten up and some were killed.
It is a French MNC collaboration. Though the present ruling class in France came to power opposing Nuclear Plant. After coming to power they forgot about their electoral Promise to the people. The people in and around Jaithapur are determined to continue the protest against the
Nuclear Plant. Let us hope the ruling class and
French MNC Areeva listen to the CRY of the people.!!!
Land struggle in Chengara, Pathnamtitta district,
Kerala by landless Dalits and Adviasis (as well as scores of families from OBC communities,
Muslims etc) from all parts of Kerala, started on 4
August 2007. The movement is a fight to re-claim ownership of land that has been part of a long standing promise of the Government. At present nearly 5000 families, more than 20,000 people, have entered the Harrison Malayalam Private Ltd
Estate, living in makeshift arrangements. The
Chengara Land struggle demands permanent ownership of agricultural land through transfer of ownership from the Harrison Company to the Dalits and Adivasis. The Sadhu Jana Vimochana
Samyuktha Vedi (SJVSV), the collective that leads the struggle, has opted for the land take-over as strategy remembering the tradition of the great leader Ayyankali, the militant dalit leader whose mission was to ensure liberation of dalits from various forms of slavery, right to agricultural land, as well as right to education in Kerala. The movement salutes Ayyankali and Ambedkar whose role in rights movements in Kerala is disproportionately highlighted in the modern social literature on Kerala. Raising the names of
Ayyankali and Ambedkar as sources of inspiration is a political challenge to the mainstream political left parties. There is a widespread popular belief in
Kerala that the official left were the sole forces which ensured rights to Dalits, including land rights. Such misrepresentations are now globalised through some academic works as well.
(http://sanhati.com/articles/535/#sthash.jfzfYF80.dpuf)
Though the Indian Constitution is very clear about
Land Reform, the ruling class have been Landlords refused to part with their land and so they never implemented Land Reform. The land less have been agitating for Land Reform all over India. In
Chengara in Kerala under the leadership of Laha
Gopalan occupied Harrison Malayalam Plantation
Estate and about 5000 families have taken over there and put up their house and started cultivation.
What is noteworthy about the bourgeoning local activism is how often it differs from the campaigns led by established anti-nuclear groups, who typically focus on the morality of nuclear weapons or the risk of a cataclysmic nuclear power plant accident. Instead, India’s new grassroots activists are struggling against the government’s nuclear energy plans for a wider variety of reasons, ranging from ingrained distrust of the government due to corruption and lack of accountability, to tangible local concerns such as losing

land rights and economic livelihoods. The affected communities, largely comprised of farmers, fisherman, and miners, are essentially concerned with the broadand deep issues of democracy, citizenship, and government responsibility. At its core, the resistance is challenging the distribution of power and how it governs relationships between the state, citizens, and private interests. National
Fishworkers Forum (NFF) has been fully involved in the protest.
People in Haripur of West Bengal have been protesting against proposed 10000MW Nuclear
Plant with Russian MNC collaboration. After MS
Mamatha Banerjee was elected as the Chief
Minister of West Bengal, she cancelled the Plant.
But the PM who is for the Nuclear Plant holds that the Nuclear Plant would be constructed. This is a great victory of the people and the Planet.
favour of the Kudankulam nuclear plant, the people in Idinthakarai village - the epicentre of the struggle against the project - have decided to stick to their struggle stating the verdict cannot deter them.
S P Udhayakumar, convener of People's Movement
Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), told media that they can only accept the verdict of people's court.
"The case was filed by Poovulagin Nanbargal and
Since 1988 the people around Kudankulam Nuclear
Plant have been fighting against the Nuclear Plant.
Since 2011 after Fukushima Disaster the Local not from PMANE and we are not connected to the case. We will go by the verdict from the people and not from the court," he said, referring to the SC judgment on Monday.
The sea is under radiation with the hot water fisher people emerged as a vey big protest unheard of in the history of struggles in India. Under the coming from the Nuclear Plant. The struggle continues. The ruling class refused to listen to the leadership of Dr. S.P. Udayakumar the struggle continues for a Nuclear Free World. Though the
CRY of the Planet and the CRY of the local people.
Supreme Court (SC) pronounced its verdict in
Conclusion
We need an Inclusive Development to protect the Planet and the people depend on Natural
Resources for their Livelihood. It includes Social Justice with Distributive Justice. It is pro poor and pro environmental. It means conservation of the Planet and all the human beings depend on the planet for livelihood. We need growth economy but with distributive Justice.
The life of the Planet and the dependent Health of the Humanity should not be sacrificed by the Greed of a few.
Thomas Kocherry, thomasksa@gmail.com, www.thomaskocherry.com
Manavalakurichy .
15-8-2013.
Thomas Kocherry
World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP) Special Invitee,
National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF), India
National Alliance of Peoples Movements(NAPM), India.
7/48, Vayakarai, Manavalakurichy-P.O., Kannyakumari Dt.,Tamilnadu-629252.India
Tel/Fax: (91)4651 237 297, .Tel: (91)4651 200 517.Mobile: (91) 936 064 5772.
Supportive Emails: thomaskocherry@rediffmail.com, thomask_sa@hotmail.com,
Web:www.thomaskocherry.com
In case there is no response from my mobile please contact: +91 9159750660
-----------------------------------------------------------
"The life of the Planet and the welfare of the whole humanity should not be sacrificed by the greed of a few".

Give Selflessly, Experience Abundant Joy
Sri Chinmoy, Courtesy: TOI, Speaking Tree
We want to experience joy. How can we be joyful? We know well the difference inner joy. We think that the possessor of outer joy is someone else, not ourselves. between pleasure and joy. Pleasure is always followed by frustration, anxiety, worry and depression, whereas joy is followed by peace and more joy. We get joy not by coming forward before others, but by bringing others to the fore. Real joy is experienced by self-giving, not by possessing or showing our own supremacy.
When we allow others to get joy first, we feel our joy is more complete and more perfect.
We can have more joy and less tension in life only in self-giving, not in demanding.
When there is tension, it is because we want something to be done in our own way while others want it done in their way. We become tense because we see light in one way and others see light in some other way. So there is no peace, no poise; only tension
Understand that God operates not only in us, but in others as well and in our socalled enemies, too. But these are not our real enemies. Our real enemies are our doubts, fears, anxieties and worries.
When, instead of trying to perfect others, we try to perfect ourselves, then we will have joy. If we do not expect anything from anyone, we will have joy. If we can know that we are not indispensable, that without us the world can go on perfectly well, we will have joy. This way, we can all have abundant joy in life.
The outer sign of progress is inner joy.
Inner joy is something very sweet, intense; it always fulfills our thoughts and action.
There are two kinds of joy, outer joy and
Again, we may try to get joy by talking or mixing with others. But inner joy is not obtained like this. When we meditate or contemplate, at that time, we feel that we are the soul of joy. The joy we feel inside is like a fountain; it comes spontaneously.
Inner joy has no fear. And it can transform our nature.
Nobody can be as happy as a person who is detached. When we are attached to something or someone, we become a victim of that thing or person. If we want to have true joy and peace, we must be totally detached. Detachment does not mean that we shall not work for the world; we will work for the world, be in the world, but we shall not allow ourselves to be carried away by anything.
We get real joy from silent and profound meditation. In outer life, when we talk and mix with people, or exchange ideas with others, we may get a kind of satisfaction.
But this is not real joy. Real joy is something very deep, illumining and fulfilling. When the heart is open, you will feel boundless joy, boundless love and boundless purity. The first thing you will feel is purity. You will feel infinite love, boundless love, and this love will be absolutely pure. It will be within you and without. Then you will see joy in everything. A day will come when you will get spontaneous joy from everything. You will look at a flower and get joy, you will look at a child and get joy, and you look at the world and get joy. You will also get peace and the feeling of universal oneness.

From,
Wilson.Kudirical@ril.com wilson.kudirical@ril.com
Hi, Fr. Felix
Am from Panvel. Great to see such valuable movements to create an awareness among all of us. Wish u all the best and keep going, god bless you.
Regards,
WILSON
From manager@eprindia.com
Dear Sir,
This is with reference to our earlier meeting on 14 sept in at the panvel church for installation of biogas plant.
I would like to inform you that my company has started a new social initiative titled as "Research League" in which we help students to pursue research in various ways.
This is initiative has been started as a social cause with the mindset of encouraging students to learn more as well as to engage themselves in research activities which will in turn would be beneficial for society.
Under this programme we provide the students various opportunities to learn and improve their skills.
We would be pleased to offer our help to your institution and support the students.
Kindly find in attachments a pamphlet for RESEARCH LEAGUE which will help you to understand more about the initiative.
Thanks and regards,
Sachin
Mobile No- 9221836618
Environment Policy and Research India
219, Gopi Cinema Mall,
Nana Shankar Sheth Road,
Dombivli (W) - 421202
Phone: 0251-2192839; 2400405
Web: www.eprindia.com

From,
Felix Raj felixrajsj@gmail.com
A Statement By Fr. Felix Raj SJ, Principal, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.
"What has happened in Christ Church School is an uncivilized way of protesting. Any good person will definitely condemn what happened. The arrest of the Principal is on flimsy grounds and the whole way of handling the situation by the authorities has been very unsatisfactory.
The Christian Community has been a peaceful and service-oriented Community and this incident at Christ Church School has not only shocked the Christian Community in the state and the country, but also all the right-minded people of the whole country.
Such incidents should not be allowed to continue anywhere in any part of the state.
This is a very poor way of teaching our children which in turn can have a negative effect on them.
An educational institution is a temple of wisdom and we must promote love and fellowship in such institutions instead of hatred and violence.
While sympathizing with the parents of the girl who died, St. Xavier’s College strongly condemns the violence and destruction of the school property and the way the mob took the law into their hands.
St. Xavier’s College seeks the Government to intervene in the matter and do justice.
In response to the call of the West Bengal Association of Christian Institutions
(Archbishop’s House, 32 Mother Teresa Sarani) and in solidarity with the
Management, the Principal, teachers and students of Christ Church School, Dum
Dum, St. Xavier’s College will be closed on Thursday, September 19, 2013.
Rev. Dr. J. Felix Raj, S.J.
J. Felix Raj, SJ
Principal
St. Xavier's College(Autonomous)
30 Mother Teresa Sarani
Kolkata - 700 016
From, karlton cerejo karlton@rediffmail.com
Regina Pacis is a non profit Trust which is run by the Religious of Mary Immaculate.
They need your help so that they can continue to run the school, children's home and other charitable works and have time only upto December 2013 to generate the sum of 10 crores.

Please visit the website http://savereginapacis.com/ to find out more details about their work and how they educate, provide a safe and healthy home for children and young girls.
You can send your donations in cash/cheque to VINCENTA MARIA SOCIAL SERVICE
SOCIETY as mentioned in the attachment VMSSS.jpg and also benefit from their
80-G exemption.
Any amount you give, even if small can help their cause, please also forward this mail to your contacts who can help in this drive.
Thank you in advance for your help.
May God bless and protect you and your loved ones.
Rds
Karlton
By Anita Britto,
Auckland
Courtesy:
Daijiworld.com

indira rodericks, TNN | Sep 12, 2013

NERUL: Until five years ago, Brahmagiri hillock, in picturesque Nerul, was nothing but a plot of barren land and rock. While one side of the hillock was reserved for religious ashrams, the other side was designated as a green zone. That was until the devotees of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math decided to convert the desolate space into something rather productive.
"The plot is almost an acre and we thought rather than have it barren, we should alter it into a patch of greenery," said Swami Chaitanya, who heads the ashram.
Landscapers were consulted before the ashram decided to re-design the plot. "We tried digging a bore well and the drillers went below 200 feet but the hillock is so rocky that getting water is not possible. To maintain the garden we now have to rely on tankers," he added.
The garden, open from sunrise to sunset, is home to a large collection of plants.
From large date palm to stubby lemon trees, one will find an interesting blend of flowering and non-flowering plants, shrubs, saplings and overgrown rain trees that give the open space an overhead protection from the heat or in this season the rain.
Being a hillock, the ashram devotees took care not to level the ground. In that sense, the garden has been created on the land as it was in this case a slope. Steps lead you down to the two levels of the plot, walk down even further and you can exit on the other end. "We kept the large overgrown trees as they are since they provide an excellent green cover for the garden. But we have planted neem, guava, table palms, lilies and gulmohar to add a touch of colour to the garden," said Swami
Chaitanya.
"We were aware that maintaining a garden of this size would not be easy, so we have grown plants that are hardy, given the soil conditions and that flower throughout the year. Planting perennials would mean a constant seasonal change and we wanted to avoid that," explained committee member K N Pillai.
"The season is perfect to explore the garden. During the mornings and evenings, devotees, visitors and residents enjoy a brisk walk, meditate and do a bit of yoga.
Even though the garden is open throughout the day. We ensure that the space is not misused and keep unwanted elements out," he said.
DNA Mumbai, Sep. 15, 2013
Western Railway seems to have built for itself a white elephant in glass. Over two-and-a-half years after covering the ground-plus-seven floors of the Churchgate administrative building with almost 16,000 square feet of glass, Western Railway (WR) officials are literally feeling the heat.
The 1,200-odd employees working inside the building have been complaining about how the glass panels have stopped the cross-ventilation of air for which this 1956-built structure was known. But the authorities seem to have reached a dead end as they scramble for a solution.
One idea that has been floated is to remove 40 to 60 window glass panels to restore crossventilation. The WR’s construction department is studying whether blowers or heavy-duty exhaust fans can be placed to bring back the airiness. But that will come for a price: the project had cost around Rs4.85 crore, and removal of these glass panels and setting up of blowers can cost

anything between Rs10 lakh and Rs20 lakh.
For many within the railways, the project seemed ill-planned from the beginning. According to some officials, the move was hasty which got conceived in the end of 2010 and got completed by the start of 2011, with RN Verma as the general manager.
Initially designed to replicate the intricate track-crossings of a railway yard on the glass, the plan had to be modified with the engineers realising that certain portion had to be kept free of glass in order to cool the building. “The change from the ‘yard on glass’ model to the current one robbed the plan of its aesthetics. Now, it is just a mistake we are trying to rectify. The problem is that with a length of 50 metres and width of 30 metres, this building has huge floor plates and getting a central air-conditioning system won’t be easy,” said a senior WR official.
Initially the WR officials had boasted about having a railway office at par with those found in developed countries, but the mood got changed after the employees started complaining of heat and lack of ventilation.
Efforts to address the problem turned futile after the Railway Board shelved the Rs14-crore plan of central air-conditioning for the building. The plan by the then general manager Kul Bhushan in mid-2011 was supposed to have been added in the Pink Book — the official book enlisting works sanctioned for a particular year. But, the prohibitive cost made the ministry to rethink. “A Rs14crore project for just one building was impossible when the total amount given for all of WR during the year 2012-13 in the Pink Book was around Rs63 crore,” said an official.
WR chief spokesperson Sharat Chandrayan said mitigating measures were being worked upon, though nothing had been finalised as yet.
Mumbai, Sep 16 (TNN): Mumbai has the country's maximum number of environment-friendly buildings under construction, a survey has shown. The city has 60% more green building projects compared to Delhi and Bangalore, which are second and third on a list released by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).
The list has six cities, including Pune,
Hyderabad and Chennai.
Mumbai has 319 registered projects that fall in the green building category and are spread over 229 million square feet, according to the IGBC. Delhi is second on the list with 199 projects, followed by
Bangalore with 198 and Pune with 197.
The IGBC report says India with more than
2,111 registered green building projects covering 1.54 billion square feet is among the top five countries on the world green map.
A green building is one that uses less water, improves energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants as compared to a conventional building. "These are judged on the basis of material used, sites chosen, ventilation and use of lights, among other things," said a member of the Confederation of Indian Industries
(CII).
Constructing green buildings is costlier.
"Earlier, it was 15-18% more expensive than a regular building. Now, the cost has come down to 3-5%," said M Anand, principal councillor, CII. "A green building ought to use minimum quantity of glass.
We insist on only 7-8% of glass use. Also, builders are asked to go for highperformance glass that won't reflect much heat."

Machines Rarely Used, Now Lying Idle
Bhavika Jain TNN
The mechanized brooms that the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) bought in 2007 for Rs 3 crore rarely saw action and have not been functioning for years now. A
BMC audit report has found that the 20 hi-tech brooms, bought to ensure effective cleaning of city roads and inaugurated with fanfare by then mayor Shubha Raul, are lying in the civic garage in Santa Cruz.
The BMC had bought the machines arguing that civic labourers failed to clean roads properly.
However, the machines were soon damaged due to lack of expertise to operate them and poor maintenance.
Moreover, the audit report released last week observed, it was very clear that the machines were not working to their full capacity due to the unsuitable condition of Mumbai roads. While the mechanical brooms were ostensibly bought to reduce manpower, but in reality roads would be cleaned by labourers and the machines later used to mop up the dust. The report also said the BMC should have initially bought two or four
Machines to observe their functioning, instead of buying 20 machines in one go.
The Rs 7-crore deal also included Rs 4 crore as maintenance charges. But the audit report said that amount wasn’t paid to the supplier, who was also responsible for maintenance, as he didn’t cognizance of repeated complaints. The machines broke down several times within the first year itself.
The report says the brooms’ dust cleaning capacity was 14-16,000 sq m per hour, but records show they were used only for 2,000 sq m per hour. “They were distributed to wards, hospitals and the zoo. But they would break down, so staff didn’t want to use them. Now they are in the garage as they have stopped functioning,” said a senior official from the solid waste management department.
QUICK POTHOLE-FILLERS
Three pothole-filling machines bought by the
BMC in 2008 for Rs 78 lakh each have remained largely unused. The machines were bought to speed up the process of filling a pothole as it used a technology which could fill a pothole in 15 minutes, making the road usable for traffic again.
ROBOTIC MULTIPURPOSE EXCAVATOR
| Wires of the 8-crore RME bought in 2012 were eaten by rodents in the civic garage within months of purchase. The machine was finally fixed this year and was used by the BMC for desilting
NMMC spends Rs 77 crore, which also includes the cost of eight vehicles
The mechanised sweeping machine project, which was a failure in Mumbai, was on Monday launched by Navi
Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).
The NMMC has spent Rs77 crore, which includes the cost of eight vehicles and charges for a five-year contract, to make this initiative a success.
The vehicles, which were purchased by the civic body under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission, were launched by mayor Sagar Naik during a function held at White House in Koparkhairane.
Incidentally, Antony Infra, a group company of Antony Waste Handling, whose services were terminated by the corporation for inept handling of garbage, has been given the contract.
The company will operate and maintain four of the eight vehicles, which will be put to service on the arterial Palm
Beach Road. Undeterred by the failure of the project in Mumbai, Naik defended the launch of the vehicles in the city, saying, “In Mumbai, the roads are narrow and after cleaning them, the dust used to pollute the air as the suction system of the vehicles was inefficient. I have personally examined these vehicles and wherever there has been problem, I have it pointed it out to the officials asking them to bring about the necessary changes.”

Giving details of the project, Naik said, “Of the eight vehicles, four will operate on the Thane-Belapur Road and four on Palm Beach Road. The NMMC has inked a five-year contract with Antony Infra and BVG for maintenance and operations.”
He also denied that there would be traffic jams when the roads would be cleaned. “The roads where these vehicles will be used are wide and, therefore, the question of traffic jams does not arise,” he said, adding, that these vehicles will clean at least a 30-km-stretch everyday.
Deputy civic commissioner, Aziz Sheikh, in-charge of the solid waste management department, said, of these eight vehicles, two are washers and six are sweepers. “The washers will help clean signages and dividers as well,” an official from solid waste management department said.
However, residents are sceptical about the project. “What’s the need for mechanised sweeping machines for
Thane-Belapur Road and Palm Beach Road?. This is nothing but wastage of public money,” a resident of Belapur said.
Source: DNA
Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013,
The project involves developing a Viscose staple fibre plant at a distance of around 1.5 km from the sanctuary boundary. The plant is likely to produce gases, such as sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and carbon disulfide, which will inadvertently expose the rich avian biodiversity of the area to polluted air and water and acidic rain. The project is also supposedly located at a distance of around 700 mts from Patalganga river.
The sanctuary is home to 147 species of resident birds,
37 species of migratory winter birds and a number of rare species, including ashy minimet and spotted heart woodpecker.
Advocate Godfrey Pimento of the Watchdog
Foundation said, “This ecology is already on the verge of deterioration owing to rapid urbanisation. These elements ultimately threaten the very existence of these birds.”
“We are not against industrial development in the region, but any development that is not sustainable will be opposed by us,” he added.
The foundation, under Pimento, has filed a PIL in the
Bombay high court against the project and also written to the prime minister asking him to look into the matter.
The sanctuary has been under threat from more such projects even in the past and it has been observed that a few species, which were a common sight earlier, have now become rare because of the increasing development surrounding it.
The project was granted Terms of Reference in
September 2011 but environment clearance was pending as it needed recommendation from the National
Board of Wildlife and from the chief wildlife warden.
There will be a hearing after August 19. The officials of
Lenzing Modi Fibres India were unavailable for comment.
Read below the latest NGT judgment in the issue forwarded by Adv. Godfrey Pimenta
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL, WESTERN ZONE BENCH, PUNE
ORIGINAL APPPLICATION NO. 170/2013 Nicholas H. Almeida V/s Lenzing Modi Fibres India Pvt. Ltd.
& Ors.
CORAM: HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE V.R. KINGAONKAR, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON’BLE DR. AJAY A. DESHPANDE, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant/ Appellant : Shyam Moorjani, Adv.
Respondent No 5: Shyamli Gadre, hottle and Co.
We have heard Learned Counsel. By consent of Learned Counsel for the Applicant, Paragraph 4(A) of the application stands deleted in as much as such pleadings are unnecessary. The Respondent No 1 has sought clarification regarding the order of the ‘ Status Quo ”’. It is argued by the Learned Counsel for the Respondent No 1 that the expression “Status Quo ” may not e erroneously interpreted by the concerned authorities to cause impeadment for the process of deciding the applications pending before them. The Counsel for the Applicant has no objection to do so in case the representation of the

Applicant is permissible and hearing is given to the Applicant by the concerned authorities.
The “Status Quo” is granted in respect of Project Proponent activity and the concerned authorities including NBWL may consider the representation of the applicant and of the Respondent No 1(Project
Proponent) subject to condition that the Applicant may be allowed to make representation, if he so desires, and he be heard in person or through Counsel, as he would so desire, by the competent authority, prior to giving of the decision on application of the Project Proponent. Representation shall be made by the Applicant, if he so desires to the concerned authorities within a period of 2 weeks hereafter.The authority concerned may consider the representation and hear the Applicant thereafter within a period of 2 weeks further and shall decide the application, as far as possible, within a period of 2 weeks thereafter. The time frame shall be followed without asking for any adjournment or seeking any time by any party though the authority may do so if there is some technical difficulty in deciding the application. We deem it proper to appoint a Committee for the purpose of spot inspection to give report on following aspects:
1. The distance between outer limit of Karnala Birds Sanctuary and the site of the Project.
2. The outer limit and the length of Karnala Birds Sanctuary on Lonawala side rom its commencement from Raigad side.
3. Committee may also examine the issue about the present position of the land site where the proposed project is to be made functional. It may also consider the previous maps or may consider the google maps in existence, prior to the alleged site clearance work done by the Project Proponent, and the present google map as well as the factual situation about the topography of the site in question.
4. Committee shall also record the distance between the Patalganga River and the proposed Project.
5. The Committee should give prior notice of such inspection to the parties. The Applicant as well as authorized representative of the Project Proponent may also assist the Committee in conducting the survey and the work of site inspection. We deem it proper to appoint the Committee of the following 3 persons: i. Collector, Raigad or his nominee of rank not below the Addl. Collector/Dy. Collector. ii. Chief Conservator of Forest or his nominee of rank not below that of D.F.O. iii. Head of Department of the Civil Engineering IIT or his nominee having due experience and knowledge about the development issues, the project activities and construction activities.
The transportation and incidental expenses required for conducting the work of inspection, by engaging such expert of the IIT Pawai / Mumbai though is required to be born jointly by the Applicant and the
Respondent No 1, yet for the present such cost may be incurred only by the Respondent No 1 present ly and that the part of the cost which is to be recovered from the Applicant will be the subject matter of further directions.
The Committee may call for the authenticated map of the District Land Surveyor or any other Govt agency as may be deemed proper. The Committee shall conduct the work of inspection within a period of 4 weeks and shall give Report to the Tribunal without any delay. At the most within 2 weeks thereafter. The Applicant is at liberty to submit copy of this order to the above nominated Members of the Committee and so also, the Project Proponent is at liberty to do so. The Respondent No’s 2 and 4 is represented by Counsel who seeks time for filing the affidavit. Thr ee (3) weeks’ time is granted to file the reply. So also, we direct the Respondent No’s 2, 4 and 6 to give proper intimation to the
Members of the Committee to conduct the work of inspection in terms of the above directions.
We further direct that no construction or any type of activity shall be undertaken by the Project
Proponent without obtaining prior approval of this Tribunal in as much as the status quo is to maintain the same position of the site in question. Reply of the Respondent No’s 2 and 4, shall be submitted on 7-10-2013 on which date the Counsel for the other parties may not appear and the reply shall be served to them by the Counsel for the Respondent Nos. 2 and 4 through courier. The matter will come thereafter on 24 th of October , 2013.
Stand over to 7 th October, 2013.
...................................................,JM
(V. R. Kingaonkar)
..................................................., EM
(Dr. Ajay A. Deshpande)

By Ram Parmar, Mumbai Mirror
|
Sep 18,
2013
The villagers, mostly fishermen, are opposed to the all-weather port fearing they will lose their livelihood and centuries-old houses.
Boisar villagers opposed to JSW
Infrastructure's proposed all-weather port in
Nandgaon, 100 kilometres from Mumbai, on
Sunday picketed company chairman Sajjan
Jindal's car and let him go only after he gave them a written assurance to scrap the project.
Villagers have been protesting against the project for a while now, but could never meet Jindal in person. When they heard he was scheduled to visit the site on Sunday, they decided to intercept him. They picketed his car for over 30 minutes and made him to sign a letter saying he will stop all construction work and scrap the project.
"We have been protesting against the project ever since it was announced," said
Vaishnavi Thakur, sarpanch, Nandgaon.
"When we learned that Jindal was vising the site on Sunday, we decided to confront him." Sources in JSW on Tuesday said
Jindal was away in London and was not available for comment. JSW's corporate communications executives refused to comment on the incident.
Asked if the villagers really believed the company will honour a commitment written on a plain piece of paper, Vivek Thakur, a protester, said they had trust in JSW and
Jindal. "It is a respected group," said
Thakur. "Moreover, the gram panchayat has not issued a No-Objection Certificate, which is a vital document to get the necessary clearances. But if Jindal still goes ahead with the project we will plan our agitation accordingly."
JSW had set aside Rs 1,500 crore for the first phase of the proposed port with a capacity of 8 million ton. The full cost of the entire project, which will eventually be scaled up to 16 tons, will be around Rs
10,000 crore. Locals, a majority of whom are fishermen, were opposed to the project, fearing that they would lose their livelihood and centuries-old houses. But they could never get an appointment with Jindal or other company officials to air their grievance.
On Sunday, villagers missed Jindal on his way from a makeshift helipad to the project site in the Alewadi-Gundwali area. But when he was returning to the helipad from the
Jindal Guest House in Tarapur, a group of
100 locals managed to block his car.
"We were firm that we will let him go only after he gave us an assurance," said Dhiraj
Gawad, a protester. "He had never met us on the issue. This was our only opportunity to approach him."
Jindal heard them out and first gave a verbal assurance that he will call off the project. But the villagers demanded a written assurance. When he said he did not have a company letter head, the villagers agreed to take his assurance on a plain piece of paper.
"We also told Jindal that we do not want of any of his social projects as part of corporate social responsibility," said Thakur.
"Projects like company-constructed hospitals and schools in Nandgaon. We did not want them either. We also made him mention that he was writing the letter under no coercion. He is a big man and can later claim he did it under duress."
Jindal wrote the letter in English and gave it to the villagers. "I, Sajjan Jindal, on my own will is withdrawing the port project from
Nandgaon port & no project will not come up here and no donation will be given to any school or hospital here at the Nandgaon village," the letter said.
The villagers then let him go. Babban
Jadhav, a senior JSW official at the
Nandgaon site, said if the locals did not want the port, the company will abide by their decision. "No homes will be demolished for the project and only after the gram panchayat gives us the go ahead will our group start the project," said Jadhav. "As of now, residents are opposing the project and there is a misunderstanding."

A special team will survey 71 mines to see whether the leasers have committed any irregularities.
Posted on September 18, 2013, 5:15 PM
Chennai: Following protest from Church leaders and others against illegal mineral mining in the beaches of Tamil Nadu, Chief
Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Tuesday said her government will take a policy decision on the issue after surveying the mines.
In a statement issued here, Jayalalithaa said a special team will survey 71 mines in the districts Tirunelveli, Madurai, Kanyakumari and Tiruchirapalli to see whether the leasers have committed any irregularities there.
The beach sand mineral includes garnet, ilmenite and rutile.
The protest against illegal mining of precious beach sand minerals gained strength with
Bishop Yvon Ambroise of Tuticorin urging the government to ban mining and confiscate the ill-gotten wealth of the miners.
Villagers belonging to three villages in
Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here, also submitted a memorandum to the government to act against private miners in the district.
"The indiscriminate mining of beach sand minerals has resulted in several health complications for the fishermen in Tuticorin,
Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts. The ecological damage is also immense which in turn affects the fishermen's health,"
Ambroise told IANS last month.
The chief minister said the special team headed by Gagandeep Singh Bedi, secretary, Department of Revenue, formed to survey the beach sand mineral mines in
Tuticorin district has submitted its report to her Tuesday.
The team would survey the 71 mines leased to private parties in Tirunelveli, Madurai,
Kanyakumari and Tiruchirapalli and submit its report.
Till such time the survey is completed, mining in the quarries has been halted,
Jayalalithaa said.
"On receipt of the report a policy decision on beach sand mineral mining will be taken,"
Jayalalithaa said.
The AIADMK government constituted the special probe team after the former
Tuticorin district collector Ashish Kumar sent a report to the government Aug 6 saying that large scale illicit beach sand mining had been detected in the district.
The report also recommended detailed field inspections by a special team comprising officials from the departments of revenue, police, environment and forests, geology and mining to be undertaken.
Incidentally, Kumar was transferred and M.
Ravikumar, district collector, Ariyalur, replaced him.
Officials of Tuticorin district administration inspected the sand quarries in Vaippar and
Vembar villages in the district on complaints that a mining company with a permission to mine in four hectares has been mining in 30 hectares.
"On the basis of complaints from the fishing community, we inspected the mining areas in Vaippar village. The leasee has been given permission to mine in four hectares.
We found the mining was being done in 30 hectares," Kumar told IANS then.
"Around 230,000 tonnes of beach sand minerals have been quarried in Vaippar village without permission from the government. We have sent the report to the government and action will be taken," he said.
"We have not quantified the quantum of loss to the government," he added.
Courtesy:ucannews

Deekshith D V
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore
Mangalore, Sep 18: The people of the erstwhile undivided Dakshina Kannada district lived at the foot hills of the Western Ghats with about 10 lac farmers depending on the Netravati river basin for their livelihood.
‘Netravati’ is a river which has various tributaries that flow from the Western Ghats and gather at certain points. It later takes the form of a full-fledged river which flows into the sea while quenching the thirst of the people of Dakshina Kannada.
The story starts here. The state government, in an attempt to solve the water scarcity problem in Kolar and
Chikkaballapur, came up with the scheme of diverting the streams that merge with the Netravati river, intentionally avoiding the name Netravati although and calling it ‘Yettinahole Project’.
What is Yettinahole project?
It is nothing but a scheme for diversion of flood waters from Sakleshpura (West) to Kolar/Chikkaballapur
(East) districts. According to S G Mayya, professor for water resource engineering, NITK Surthkal, “The project will be carried out in two phases.
In Phase I: Five weirs (low dams) will be constructed to streams, known as Yetthinahole weir 1, Yettinahole tributary 1 weir 2, Yettinahole tributary 2, weir 3, Kadumanehole 1 weir 4, Kadumanehole 2 weir 5, with total catchment area of 87 sq km. From these 5 weirs, 12 tmc water will be collected.
In Phase II: Three weirs constructed to streams known as Kerihole weir 6, Hongada Halla weir 7, Yetinahole d/s weir 8. Here catchment area will be 90 square km. A total of 12 tmc water will be collected from these weirs."
He also asserts, “In Phase I, weir 1 is considered as the main weir from which water is lifted outside the basin.
From weir 2, water will be lifted to a height of 172m to deliver chamber 1. In weirs 3, 4 and 5 water will be lifted to heights of 155m, 55m, and 105m respectively to deliver chamber 2. It is also said that water from delivery chambers 1 and 2 will be diverted to weir 1, through a natural stream.
Water collected in weir 1 is lifted to Doddanagar delivery chamber near Sakleshpur, and from Doddanagar to
Haravanahalli chamber through a height of 45 and a rising main of length 7.88km. In Phase II water from
Kerihole, Hongadahalla and Yettinahole d/s weirs will be lifted to delivery chamber 3 which will be at
Doddanagara.”
On May 19, 2013, EI Technologies Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, submitted a feasibility report to Karnataka Niravari
Nigama Limited.
Fooling the people?
The previous government initiated this project and the present government is continuing the process. The people who rely on the Netravati river basin do not have authentic information about this project and the government has not taken the people of the Netravati river basin into confidence. Though the streams which are to be diverted join the Netravati, the name ‘Netravati’ has been avoided deliberately to mislead the people.
Even the streams Yettinahole, Kerihole, Hongadahalla, and Kadumanehalla are Netravati river tributaries.
Fact is, the water lifted from the streams near the Western Ghats fills 198 tanks in Chikkaballapur and 139 tanks in Kolar. Apart from this, water is also made to feed various tanks of selected towns in Hassan district,
Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Madhugiri, Pavagada and Koratagere, Chamarajasagar reservoir, and
Devanahalli industrial area, states the report. It is learnt from the report the project aims to not only solve the scarcity of drinking water, but even to rejuvenate rivers like Arkavathi, Palar, Jayamangali, Kushvathi, Uttara
Pinakini, Dakshina Pinakini, Chitravathi, and Papanashini.
Effect on ecology
Western Ghats ecology expert panel headed by Prof Madhav Gadgil submitted a report to the ministry of environment and forests, Government of India, on August 31, 2011. Gadgil, in his report, clearly termed the
Western Ghats as ‘ecologically sensitive’. Gadgil even advised the government to declare the entire Westen
Ghats as an ecologically sensitive area.
Western Ghats consists of forests where various kinds of species dwell. Western Ghats has a prosperous biodiversity. Rivers are the oxygen to this region that help the various species to exist. These flowing rivers nurture the living habitats, and eco-tone regions where high biodiversity exists. Forest ecosystems act as sponges during rainfall by absorbing water through root systems. Water is stored in porous forest soils and debris, and then is gradually released into surface and groundwater.

Through these processes, forests recharge groundwater supplies, maintain base flow, stream levels, and lower peak flows during heavy rainfall. Western Ghats is home to most significant 138 endemic species. There are various kinds of trees, birds, and animals dwell in this region. Moreover, numerous east flowing rivers originate from the foot hills of the Western Ghats.
Importance of rivers
According to environmentalist Prof N H Madhyastha, “Rivers flow in various motions. In some places it ripples, it will be stagnant, and in some places it flows very steeply. This is nothing but to create a micro atmosphere for living habitats of particular regions.
"There are organisms that even flow against the water current. These organisms are adapted to the unique ecosystem. In the region of the Western Ghats there are 179 types of amphibians. River water is essential and useful to each and every living organism. Especially the river eco-tone (edges) region has various animals, birds, and micro living organisms like fish, spider, dragon fly, and snails dependent on it. Trees in this ecotone region help to stabilize the environment equilibrium,” he said.
“If reservoirs are built then water will start to flow in a razor edge effect. This will be harmful to these organisms. The river mouth is also called the cradle of fish breeding. There are also chances of the salt proportion increasing and this will affect the aquatic ecosystem. Unless these environmental issues are answered through environmental impact assessment by a competent autonomous body, this project should not be taken up,” he added.
Human intervention in elephant corridor
Already there is an ongoing conflict between elephant and man. According to experts, if this project is implemented or weirs are built the elephant corridor will be blocked. Once again, man will have to face the wrath of wild animals because of the vested interests of a few politicians. Although the government has taken huge projects like diversion of the river, our forest department has no authentic information about the harm that the project can cause to the Western Ghats environment or about the total number of trees that will be cut down.
Convener of Vanaya Charana Balaga, who has 17 years experience in trekking, says, “Western Ghats constitutes of Shola forest and grassland. In this, there are several micro organism which play magnificent roles in preserving the ecosystem. There are 129 types of various ants and termites which help the land to absorb the water and play the role of sponge, which helps waterfalls to maintain equilibrium during hot summer. Diversion of river is to kill a river.”
Already in the region of Yettinahole, a 4 km road has been built. Netravati river basin people are being neglected. People of Netravati river basin hardly get rain fall for 100 days. More than 180 days in the year, there is a shortage of water. What steps has the government taken to meet the water shortage in the basin? Has it planned any alternative measures to provide water during the summer when the city and district face water scarcity?
Pathetic condition of farmers
Generally, people of Dakshina Kannada depend on three crops. First crop depends on monsoon rain. The second crop is partially affected by water scarcity and for the third crop there is lack of water resources. Once this project is completed, the farmer will have to face water scarcity. There is no proper estimation of water demand of the coastal area for various uses like drinking purposes, irrigation, industries, and the city’s use.
The Paramasivaiya Report
Paramasivaiya had proposed two schemes for diversion of Netravati River Water in 2001.
Scheme 1: Scheme for diversion of Netravati river water to North and East. Mainly to supply water to
Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Bellary, Davangere, and Tumkur districts in which he expected 51.73 tmc water within a catchment area of 212 sq km by constructing the Garland Canal along 298 km of the Western Ghats.
Scheme 2: Diversion of Netravati river water to the east for drinking water and ground water recharge. In this scheme, total 90.73 tmc water was to be diverted from the Netravati river, 20.80 tmc through Garland Canal,
35.79 through constructing 27 reservoirs, and 14.14 by interconnecting canals.
According to experts, this scheme of diverting the Netravati river was totally unscientific and economically not viable. Already, the Western Ghats is being exploited by mining, encroachment, and deforestation.
However, it is learnt that the government, without preparing the DPR (detailed project report) has reserved funds for the project in the recent budget. It has also announced initiation of the tender process.
Reactions
“Government should follow the legal procedure while starting any project. The government should organize a

public hearing to brief people about the project, especially for people who are affected the most. Environment
Impact Assessment should be done to study the possible impact of this project. According to Indian Forest
Policy each state should have 30% land but Karnataka has only 19% of forest land,” said Kishore, president of
Malanadu Janapara Horata Samiti.
Umesh, a resident of Goddu village expressed concerns on the man-elephant conflict and said, “Because of
Hemavathi Dam and various mini hydel projects, the elephant corridor has been seriously affected. Due to this, man-elephant conflict has increased in the villages of Sakleshpur. People fear to walk out after 5 pm. If this project is implemented, we will have to face elephant attacks more often.”
Though the monsoon has not completely ended, the flow of river Netravati has already become weak. Some place have even dried up. If this is the condition now, what about summer? Mangalore city is developing day by day, the thirst of the entire Mangalore city is quenched by Netravati river.
Response of representatives
The people's representatives who won from Dakshina Kannada were either not available for comment, or knew very little about the project. The people of the Netravati basin too are not aware about the scheme. It is high time the governements, irrespective of political parties, stopped considering the coastal region as a laboratory for experiments.
AFP, Rome, September 11, 2013
Steiner said that eliminating food wastage had
"enormous potential" to reduce hunger and called on citizens to take individual action to tackle the issue.
"Each one of us has a role to play. Starting with the ridiculous phenomenon in wealthy countries of not buying crooked vegetables any more," he said, adding that over-zealous observation of sellby dates was also leading to huge quantities of food being thrown away.
High-income countries waste during the food consumption phase, while developing countries are losing food during production, the FAO said.
One-third of the food produced worldwide is wasted, costing the global economy around $750 billion (more than Rs. 47 lakh crore) a year, a new report by the UN food agency said on
Wednesday. The Rome-based Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said some 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted every year, with the Asia region including
China seen as the worst culprit.
The report fingered Asia in particular, saying that over 100 kilos (221 pounds) in vegetables per capita are wasted every year on average in
"Industrialised Asia", a region including China,
Japan and South Korea.
It estimated that the region also wastes 80 kilos of cereals — mainly rice — per person, warning that rice cultivation was also high-intensity in carbon and had emerged as "a significant environmental hotspot".
The food agency's director general, Jose Graziano da Silva, told a press conference that in total
"one third of the food produced today is lost or wasted... equivalent to the Gross Domestic
Production (GDP) of Switzerland”.
Wastage of vegetables in Asia occurred "during agricultural production, post-harvest handling and storage, and consumption phases," the FAO said.
Achim Steiner, head of the United Nation's
Environment Programme (UNEP), described it as
"a staggering phenomenon”.
Other key areas identified in the report in terms of waste and environmental impact were the meat industry in North America and Latin
America, as well as fruit wastage in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
"This is a big wake up call. We may not even have captured many of the more indirect impacts of food waste... and the costs which will be born by our children and grandchildren," he told the joint press conference.
"It will take less than 37 years to add another two billion people to the global population. How on earth will we feed ourselves in the future?" he asked.
Produced but uneaten food occupies 30% of the world's farmland, the report said.
"Food wastage reduction would not only avoid pressure on scarce natural resources but also decrease the need to raise food production" to meet the demands of a fast-growing world population, it said.

TOI dt 16.09.13
Japan on Sunday began switching off its last operating nuclear reactor for an inspection, with no date scheduled for a restart amid strong public hostility towards atomic power.
The move will leave the world’s third largest economy without atomic energy for the second time since the Fukushima nuclear crisis in March 2011.
Nuclear power supplied about one-third of the resource-poor nation’s electricity before a tsunami knocked out cooling systems and sparked meltdowns at Fukushima, causing tens of thousands to flee homes.
Prime Minster Shinzo Abe has openly supported a return to the widespread use of atomic energy, but the public remains largely opposed on safety grounds.
Kansai Electric Power (KEPCO) on Sunday started gradually to take offline the No. 4 reactor at its Ohi nuclear plant in the western prefecture of Fukui. “The work started at 4.40pm,” said a company spokesman. “The reactor will come to a complete stop early tomorrow (Monday),” he said. Japan previously was without any nuclear energy in May 2012, when all of the country’s 50 commercial reactors stopped for checkups in the wake of the disaster.
Utilities were unable to restart them immediately due to public opposition. It was the first time in more than four decades that
Japan had been without nuclear power.
Government officials and utilities voiced concern at the time that Japan could face major blackouts without nuclear power, particularly in the western region that relied heavily on nuclear energy.
Their fears proved unfounded but the government last year gave Kansai Electric approval to restart No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Ohi plant, arguing that nuclear energy was necessary to meet increased electricity demand during the winter. The reactors were reactivated in July 2012 and resumed full commercial operation the following month, but the No. 3 reactor was shut down earlier this month for a scheduled inspection. The nation’s other reactors have remained idle.
AFP
ENERGY CIRIS
Japan, the world’s third largest economy, will go without atomic energy for the second time since the Fukushima nuclear crisis erupted after the tsunami in March 2011
It will be nuclear power-free for the third time in more than four decades
Post-Fukushima, the public mood turned against nuclear power Since the disaster,
Japan has been forced to import huge amounts of coal, liquid natural gas and other fuels. The government blames these imports for the huge trade deficits.
Japan posted a trade deficit in 2011 for the first time in 31 years, and another deficit of
8.2 trillion yen ($82.4 billion) in 2012
The average household electricity bill has risen by 30% since Fukushima.
Even if nuclear plants are allowed to restart, many will soon reach their 40 –yr operating limts, raising the issue of whether and how they will be replaced.

Rajiv Kalkod, TNN, Sep 18, 2013, 02.04AM IST
BANGALORE: At a time when politicians are a vilified lot, a 61-year-old Karnataka minister on Tuesday became a hero on
Tuesday morning by jumping into a cold lake along with his guards and saving a family of six trapped in a sinking car.
Primary and secondary education minister
Kimmane Ratnakar was travelling in his official Innova to Bangalore from his native town of Thirthahalli when he spotted the sinking car and ordered his convoy to stop.
Around 7am, the minister's MUV was near
Beguvalli, 20km from Thirthahallli, when a white Maruti Swift car overtook it. About
15 minutes later, as Kimmane's car approached the Beguvalli lake, the minister noticed the same Swift sinking in the lake.
Kimmane, his gunman Halswamy, driver
Chandrashekar and escort vehicle driver
Krishnamurthy jumped into the water. The four men swam to the sinking car, whose trapped occupants were flailing their hands from the windows.
Chandrashekar opened a rear door and pulled out three children and with the help of his men and brought them safely to the shore. The four then returned to the car, which had by now settled on shallow lake bed, and rescued the other three occupants, including a 55-year-old woman.
The man in the driver's seat by then was unconscious.
A doctor called by the minister treated
Uday Kumar, 40; his wife Suma, 35; his mother Geetha, 55; sons aged 14 and 8; and a three-year-old nephew of Uday. The minister called his friends and arranged breakfast and medicines for them. He also gave Uday his clothes before resuming his journey to Bangalore.
Uday, a native of Bhadravathi and owner of an electrical goods shop, was driving back from Karkala, his wife's native place.
Speaking to TOI from Bhadravathi, Uday said it was a "rebirth" for his family.
"I don't know how to thank minister
Kimmane Ratnakar. It's because of his efforts that we are alive. Or else, all the six of us would have drowned," he said.
"I had started at 4am from Karkala. On reaching the tank bund, the steering locked, and the car plunged into the lake."
Water began gushing in through an open window. "I made best efforts to open the door and rescue others. But I panicked and fell unconscious," Uday told TOI.
"I realized what had happened and remembered that there were children inside. Taking both drivers and the gunman with me, I waded into the water and saved them," Ratnakar told TOI. "I must congratulate my three companions, who swam swiftly and made a big difference to the lives of the six people in the car."
Heroic act
4am: Pharmacist Uday Kumar leaves
Karkala with his family for Bhadravathi in a Swift car
7am: The Swift overtakes minister
Kimmane Ratnakar's Toyota Innova at
Beguvalli
7.15am: The minister sees the white car drowning in the Beguvalli lake
7.20am: Kimmane, his gunman and two drivers jump into the water and rescue the six persons in the car.

who lives in the neighbourhood, to treat her to a tomato omelette with gram flour and ketchup later in the evening.
“I don’t eat non-vegetarian food on Tuesdays.
Food is not an issue for me as the gurdwara takes care of that, but there are times when I like some variety in my diet,” she said with a smile.
Back with a bang
Mumbai, Sep 18 (Mid-Day): Nearly a month after Sunita Naik and her ageing Pomeranian
Sashi found a new home with Vile Parle couple
George and Christine Misquitta, the 65-year-old former editor has returned to the footpath outside the gurdwara where MiD DAY had found her.
Naik maintained that she now has the confidence and energy to bounce back and lead her life with dignity.
Neena said that after Naik left to live with
Misquitta, there had been two instances when people stepped out of their cars and enquired about Naik, wanting to host her at their homes.
Citing adjustment issues and minor squabbles,
Naik moved out of the Misquitta residence on
Monday morning and returned to the pavement outside Sachkhand Darbar Gurdwara in
Versova.
Hindi film and television actor Mangal Dhillon, who was keen that Naik take up residence in one of his vacant flats, said that in her absence, a buyer purchased the property.
Naik, who claims to have been the editor of a prestigious Marathi magazine, had made the footpath her home for over two months – after mysteriously losing the millions she claims to have made with the sale of her two Worli apartments and cars in 2007.
“We offered to take her to my Ashram in
Ludhiana, Punjab, but she wants to stay in
Mumbai and rebuild her career. She is also keen to track her missing money, so now, we are hunting for an alternate accommodation for her,” said Dhillon.
What went wrong?
Soon after her story appeared in Sunday MiD
DAY, reader George Misquitta and his wife
Christine decided to bring her to their apartment in Vile Parle (West), where they live along with their 10 pet dogs.
“Christine was really sweet to me and would take good care of me. George too would prepare meals of my choice and would even wash my clothes, but eventually what I found was that there were too many differences creeping up on a daily basis, owing to difference in our respective lifestyles. It was in our mutual interest to part ways amicably,” said Naik, looking healthier, more alert and visibly happy in the company of gurdwara officials and local friends, when MiD DAY visited her on Tuesday afternoon.
Friend in need
At the beginning, Naik was at ease at the
Misquitta residence, and had even memorised the names of all the 10 dogs in no time. But squabbles started soon. “Arguments started over trivial things like excessive spice in food and giving Crocin to the pet, which I feel is very harmful. We tried our best to cope with the continuous flow of her friends. Naik would often make demands of food she ate when she had money, but it was an unrealistic challenge for us,” said Gregory.
He added that their relationship took a further beating, when Naik lost two of his brand new mobiles that had been gifted to her in quick succession. “At the end of the day, coming to live with us was her choice, and so is her exit.
We would like her to be happy wherever she stays,” said Gregory.
Naik was seen asking her friend Neena Saini,

Philip Pullella for Reuters International,
September 13, 2013 inside the walls of the tiny city-state.
"I think the pope will drive it a bit himself inside the Vatican," the Holy
See's deputy spokesman, Father Ciro
Benedettini, said on Thursday.
After the pope appealed to priests several months ago not to drive expensive cars but to save money and give it to the poor, Zocca wrote him a letter saying he had used the same car for decades and wanted to give it to the pope as a symbolic gift.
He brought it last weekend, along with
Pope Francis plans to drive around
Vatican City at the wheel of a some of his parishioners, to the Vatican, where the pope told him he knew how to drive it because he had had a Renault 4 in Argentina.
"popemobile" that is a lot like him: frugal,
The pope, 76, then got in and drove it, clad in white, and with a fair bit of
Zocca told the Italian Catholic magazine mileage.
Famiglia Cristiana (Christian Family).
The 1984 Renault 4 economy car with Francis, who, as a cardinal in Buenos
300,000 km (186,000 miles) on the clock Aires, travelled by subway, has shown a was given to him by a 70-year-old priest predilection for simple means of from northern Italy, Father Renzo transport even after his election in
Zocca, who took the pope for a spin March as the first non-European pope in
1,300 years.
Cedric Prakash, Ahmedabad
On September 15, two days after the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, he addressed a public meeting.
Before a huge crowd, many of them ex-servicemen, Modi said it was he who envisioned and built the 700km Kutch pipeline, which carries fresh drinking water

across Gujarat state to troops stationed on the border with arch-foe Pakistan.
The three-time Gujarat chief minister said he did it out of respect for the soldiers stationed at the border. This statement was obviously greeted with thunderous applause. But it was far from the truth.
The Kutch pipeline was initiated in 1985 by late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. In
January 2001, Gujarat chief minister, Keshubhai Patel, Modi's predecessor, inaugurated it. By May 2003, barring a small stretch up to the border, most of the work was done. Under Modi, it was finally completed on August 16 2013, more than
10 years later. His speech demonstrates how he simultaneously takes credit for the achievements of others and glosses over his own inactivity.
Gujarat in Western India has been one of the country’s more progressive and industrialized states. Today however, there is much hype over the so-called
“Gujarat development model” under Modi, who has been chief minister since
October 2001. But these are highly manipulated statistics, since Gujarat economic data for the years preceding 2001 was even more impressive. Gujaratis are known for their entrepreneurial skills and financial acumen. And economists tell us that
Gujarat would have achieved this level of economic growth with or without the BJP; with or without Congress; with or without Modi.
In fact, under Modi, Gujarat’s social indicators are abysmal. Child malnutrition has increased; the male-female ratio is widening; the status of women has declined; unemployment and poverty in general has grown. So what is being flaunted as
“development” or “good governance” is essentially a sham.
On the human rights front, Modi’s performance is poor. The killing of more than
2,000 Muslims and the displacement of several thousands more during the “Gujarat carnage” of 2002 took place on his watch. Several legal cases in which he is named as the primary accused are ongoing. The National Human Rights Commission and even the Supreme Court have stated that responsibility for the protection of those citizens was definitely his.
In March 2003, Modi introduced the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, one of the most draconian laws in India. It is clearly aimed at those who want to embrace another religion, and contravenes the Indian constitution, which guarantees Indians the right to preach, practice and propagate one’s religion. In February 2006, at the
Shabri Kumbh Mela, a Hindu religious gathering in the Dangs area of Gujarat, Modi ranted and raved against Christian missionaries and their work.
Modi has also been accused of being behind the alleged killing of several Muslim youths, in what are commonly known as "police fake encounters," in which officials kill “armed” people in stage managed shootouts. In a 10-page letter written on
September 1, D G Vanzara, a former senior Gujarat police official who was jailed several years ago in connection with the killing of several of these innocent Muslim youths, pointed the finger directly at Modi and Amit Shah, the former state home minister. He said he and other accused policemen were following government policy.
Modi has been schooled in the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS), an extremist, right wing, paramilitary organization that was allegedly responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and several recent terror attacks. The core teaching of the RSS is "Hindutva"-- the formation of a Hindu nation state where minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, are accepted only as second class citizens.
There is little doubt that Modi subscribes to this Hindutva agenda which goes against the secular, democratic and pluralistic fabric of the constitution. Thus promoting Modi as a prime ministerial candidate poses a very serious threat not only to India, but also to the whole of South Asia. Modi’s style as a politician,

besides being divisive, is also authoritarian. This style does not have a place in an era where coalition politics has come to stay in India, and which emphasizes the need and importance of collaborating with political partners across the spectrum.
National elections in India are due in May 2014. Candidates who are likely to win seats are those who best represent the interests of all, particularly the poor and the marginalized. The ‘Modi for PM’ campaign will be on overdrive in the coming months. But the people of India will vote for a party or an individual that stands for the democratic and secular traditions of the country based on justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. Modi does not fit this bill.
Cedric Prakash is a Jesuit priest and the Director of PRASHANT (Tranquility), the
Ahmedabad-based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
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JOB DESCRIPTION FOR SALES MANAGER
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