Taste the bitter!!

I think those who read Agri magazines regularly might be knowing Bengali Venkatesh very well.Bengali Venkatesh is award winning Agri-writer;A farmer who practices organic method of farming in Sirsi Taluk.I read his articles on Adike Patrike and other Agri magazines very often.This is a photo sent to me by Anithakka of CAM.
You can see a lad (Who happens to be Anithakka's son!)enjoying with organic bitter guard grown by Bengali Venkatesh!

Thanks Anithakka

-Jayakishore Bayadi

Hey naughty!!

Who's out there...!!???
(My niece Prarthana)
-Jayakishore Bayadi

'Media should touch grassroots'

By CAM Team

Gadag MLA D.R. Patil urged the Union Government to bring in a bill where in bidding below the support price for a farm produce is a crime. He was addressing the audience at Centre for Agricultural Media’s ( CAM ) seventh anniversary held at K.H. Patil Krishi Vijnana Kendra at Hulkoti on November 25, 2007.

He presented his views on the present agrarian crisis and the role of media in changing the prospects of farmers. He also said that agricultural universities and scientists should help farmers to achieve self-reliance and thus reduce suicidal tendency among them. More emphasis should be given to less-external input, non-chemical farming which is proved to be sustainable. Journalists have to play a significant role in ensuring that such a method is accepted and their write-ups should reflect the situation at the grassroots.

Renowned development journalist ‘Shree’ Padre complimented CAM ’s effort in guiding a generation of writers on need-based development communication. He said that such a work in the last seven years has developed a new team of writers whose write-ups have made an impact on farming and rural development. He added that farming sector is losing hope in the present situation. At this backdrop, people of varied background joining the course with an objective to focus on much-needed but neglected rural issues is a welcome development.

He stressed, “When we say sustainable development we should understand that need-based communiation is also an important input towards achieving it.”

Nineteen candidates who completed the course last year were hounoured as CAM Fellows. ETV Kannada channel’s News Coordinator G.N. Mohan gave away the certificates to the successful candidates. A total number of 37 persons have completed the course successfully in the last four years.

Speaking on the coverage of development issues in media, G.N. Mohan said, more space should be given to development issues in the media. If there is less space we should effectively utilise. At the same time he added, it is also the responsibility of development writers to create space in the mainstream media. He hoped that CAM team would become a pressure group to strengthen farmer-friendly journalism in Karnataka.

Three books titled ‘Savayava Tharasi Tota: Ondu Inuku Nota’,‘Velvet Beans: Nelakke Jeeva Tumbuva Magic Balli’ and ‘Sahaja Samrudha: Beledu Banda Dari’ written by CAM Fellow Anusuya Sharma, journalist Ganadhalu Srikanta and another CAM Fellow Rekha Sampath respectively were also released on the occasion.

D.R.Patil and veteran development writer Nagesh Hegde gave away state-level farm journalism award instituted by CAM to Balachandra Hegde Saimane, Ravishankar Doddamani and Girish H.C.

A three-day contact programme was held to the fifth batch of CAM correspondence course in farm and rural journalism at the KVK from November 23-25, 2007. A two day development communication workshop was also organised by the centre on November 24-25, 2007. During the programme candidates were given orientation on the basics of development journalism, approach towards rural development etc. Practical training was also included in the programme as two sessions of field visits were arranged. Participants wrote articles based on their visits, which was then evaluated by the resource persons.

Nagesh Hegde, H.N. Ananda, ‘Shree’ Padre, G.N. Mohan, Shivananda Kalave, L.G. Hiregoudar, Sathya S., Prakash Bhat, Poornaprajna Belur, Mallikarjuna Hosapalya, Anandatheertha Pyati, Ganadhalu Srikantha, G. Krishnaprasad and Shivaram Pailoor were the resource persons.

K.H. Patil KVK head Dr. L.G. Hiregoudar, environmentalist Mukund Maigur, organic farmer R.S. Patil were also present on the occasion.

CAM Chaiperson Anitha Pailoor welcomed the gathering and compered the programme. Development Journalist Poornaprajna Belur presented vote of thanks.
(Photo:Girish H C receiving state level farm journalism award)

Flow of affection and love...

By Jayakishore Bayadi

She is Nadi. Nadi stands for river in Kannada. She is barely two months younger than my sose (niece), Prarthana. I just cannot explain the eonian bliss I get whenever iam with these little goddesses. For me, kid’s smile, is always bewitching. Their cry, smile, laughter are truly captivating, enchanting and inspiring.

So happened when I visited my good friend, Ganadhalu Shrikanta's house recently. Nadi is his daughter. Ganadhalu wanted her name to be Nadi just because; he wanted his daughter to be associated with nature always. Kudos Gans…

Indeed, nature and kid’s smile are related. Just because, nature as such is pure, green always. And so is the child’s smile. I think that’s why, home with a baby is always filled with repose isn’t it?

But as child grows, when he or she has to face the so-called ‘civilized human world’, they turn into ‘real humans’. Distressing fact is that nobody can exist here as pure as child. Most of the times smile doesn’t come from within….but still we can smile…from the heart at least, when we are with little goddesses….

By the way, Ganadhalu loves nature a lot. He can talk about organic farming, vanishing lakes in Bangalore, velvet beans and so many things at a stretch. Recently, This zealous journalist has released a book on velvet beans, in a function held at Gadag, organized by CAM. My hearty congratulations to Ganadhalu.I think, soon, he is going to launch a new Blog on his love, ‘nature’, it seems. We all eagerly wait for this.

It's Sweet Seven for CAM

By CAM Team

Centre for Agricultural Media ( CAM ) enters into eighth year of its activities with an encouraging note from its associates and well-wishers. Nineteen of the twenty-eight candidates of the farm and rural journalism course have successfully completed the course this year. They will be honoured as ‘CAM Fellows’ on the occasion of the centre’s annual ceremony on November 25, 2007 at K.H. Patil Krishi Vijnana Kendra, Hulkoti near Gadag in Karnataka.

CAM awards for best farm writings in Kannada will also be conferred on the occasion. The programme also includes release of three books. Hulkoti MLA D.R. Patil and G.N. Mohan, News Head, ETv Kannada will be the chief guests on the occasion.

Farm journalism awards: In the practicing farmer category Balachandra Hegde Saimane’s ‘Mane manegalalli tentaa enne’ published in the July 2007 issue of Adike Patrike a farm monthly published from Puttur has bagged the award.

In the general category Girish H.C. and Ravishankara Doddamani have shared the award. The award winning article by Girish titled ‘Cholenahalli kereneerige panne raitare donnenaayakaru’ describes a unique water management system of Cholenahalli tank in Madhugiri of Tumkur district. Ravishankar Doddamani ’s article ‘Tenguraajyadinda bidirige shapamoksha’ is a case study of an organisation which has helped villages in Waynad district of Kerala to earn a livelihood by utilising the much-neglected bamboo.

Farm and rural journalism course: This time a record number of nineteen candidates have completed the course successfully. They will be honoured as ‘CAAM Fellows’ on the occasion. New fellows are: Anusuya Sharma, Ravishankara Doddamani, Akshayarama K., Harshavardhana Sheelavanta, B.T. Poshini, Nitin Muttige, Lalita Rao M.G., Srikanta, H.V. Divya, Dr. Siddhalinga Swami Hiremath, G. Shivanna, Jayaprasad Ballekere, Sudha Rayanagoudar, Hema Moraba, R.B. Hiremath, Shreeprakash, Chandrashekhar Kallimani, B.M. Lavakumar, and Dr. G.V. Muralikrishna. All of them have proven their skills in writing on issues related to farming and rural development. Some of them are already getting assignments from major farm journals and farm supplements.

Anusuya Sharma has been selected as the best candidate of the year. Harshavardhana Sheelavant’s dissertation on the ‘Traditional medicinal practices in Uttara Kannada’ has been chosen for a special prize for the exhaustive study and beautiful presentation.

A three-day contact programme for the fifth batch of farm and rural journalism course will be held from November 23 to 25. Twenty nine candidates have been selected for this year’s award. They include practicing farmers, scientists, agriculture officers, journalists, freelancers and students. Nagesh Hegde, ‘Shree’ Padre, H.N. Ananda, G.N. Mohan, Shivananda Kalave, L.G. Hiregoudar, Sathya S., Prakash Bhat, Poornaprajna Belur, Mallikarjuna Hosapalya, Anandatheertha Pyati, Ganadhalu Srikantha, G. Krishnaprasad and Shivaram Pailoor will be the resource persons. During the course, candidates will be given practical training on farm and rural journalism.

Development communication workshop: A workshop on development communication has also been arranged on November 24 and 25. Twenty-five participants have been enrolled for this workshop. The two-day workshop aims to orient participants on the concept of development communication, its significance, techniques of writing, and different forms of development journalism and mode of presentation in electronic media.
Book release: Three books will be released on the occasion. Anasuya Sharma’s dissertation on organic terrace gardens titled ‘Savayava Tharasi Tota: Ondu Inuku Nota’ will be published by CAM and released on the occasion. CAM with financial support from well-wishers has been planning to publish one dissertation every year in the form of a book.

Journalist Ganadhalu Srikantha who won the farm journalism award last year, for his article on Velvet Beans, a legume which is of multiple uses for farmers has written a comprehensive book on this topic. This book titled ‘Velvet Beans: Nelakke Jeeva Tumbuva Magic Balli’ will also be released on the occasion.
Another book ready for release on the occasion is CAM Fellow Rekha Sampath’s dissertation on ‘Sahaja Samrudha: Beledu Banda Dari’. This explains the formation and growth of Sahaja Samrudha, an organic farmer’s group in Karnataka.

For more Details: Centre for Agricultural Media,#119, 1st main, 4th cross,Narayanapura, Dharwad- 580 008, E-mail: caam@sancharnet.in ~ Web: www.farmedia.org: Cell: 9900517749

New way to create water discovered!

Scientists at the University of Illinois have discovered a new way to create water, and without the pop. Scientists said that their work could also lead to better catalysts and less expensive fuel cells.

"We found that unconventional metal hydrides can be used for a chemical process called oxygen reduction, which is an essential part of the process of creating water," said Zachariah Heiden, a doctoral student and lead author of a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

A water molecule (formally known as dihydrogen monoxide)consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. But you can't simply take two hydrogen atoms and combine them onto an oxygen atom to create water. But the actual reaction to make water is a bit more complicated: 2H2 + O2 = 2H2O + Energy.

In English, the equation says: To produce two molecules of water (H2O), two molecules of diatomic hydrogen (H2) must be combined with one molecule of diatomic oxygen (O2). Energy will be released in the process.

"This reaction (2H2 + O2 = 2H2O + Energy) has been known for two centuries, but until now no one has made it work in a homogeneous solution," said Thomas Rauchfuss, professor of chemistry and the paper's corresponding author.

Interestingly, the well-known reaction also describes what happens inside a hydrogen fuel cell. In a typical fuel cell, the diatomic hydrogen gas enters one side of the cell; diatomic oxygen gas enters the other side. The hydrogen molecules lose their electrons and become positively charged through a process called oxidation. At the same time the oxygen molecules gain four electrons and become negatively charged through a process called reduction. The negatively charged oxygen ions combine with positively charged hydrogen ions to form water and release electrical energy.

The "Difficult side" of the fuel cell is the oxygen reduction reaction, not the hydrogen oxidation reaction, Rauchfuss said. "We found, however, that new catalysts for oxygen reduction could also lead to new chemical means for hydrogen oxidation."
Rauchfuss and Heiden recently investigated a relatively new generation of transfer hydrogenation catalysts for use as unconventional metal hydrides for oxygen reduction.

In their JACS paper, the researchers focus exclusively on the oxidative reactivity of iridium-based transfer hydrogenation catalysts in a homogenous, non-aqueous solution. They found that the iridium complex effect both the oxidation of alcohols, and the reduction of the oxygen.

"Most compounds react with either hydrogen or oxygen, but this catalyst reacts with both," Heiden said. "It reacts with hydrogen to form a hydride, and then reacts with oxygen to make water; and it does this in a homogeneous, non-aqueous solvent."
The new catalysts could lead to eventual development of more efficient hydrogen fuel cells, substantially lowering their cost, Heiden said.

Edited By B Jayakishore

JurnoJK gets pat from CAM!

(CAM News November issue-2007)

CAM News reported: JurnoJK is a blogspot created and maintained by enthusiastic journalist B Jayakishore based in Bangalore. He says that the blog is an 'Open Discussion Forum' to give spark to our thinking process and to be friends irrespective of our geographical boundaries. Most of the articles in JurnoJK give a passionate touch of the grassroots, particularly agriculture.

My sincere thanks to CAM Team

B Jayakishore

CAM Awards announced

Centre for Agricultural Media (CAM) has announced state level farm journalism awards in Kannada for the year 2007.

Balachandra Hegde Saimane has been selected for the award in practicing farmer category while Ravishankara Doddamani and Girish H.C. have shared the awards in general category. The awards carry a cash prize of Rs.2000 for each category besides a citation and a parisara shilpa.

The awards will be presented on the occasion of CAM’s seventh anniversary at K.H. Patil Krishi Vijnana Kendra at Hulkoti in Gadag district on November 25, 2007.

My congratulations to all awardees!-Jayakishore
(Courtesy:CAM Website)

Little living Goddess!

By B Jayakishore

She is a little living Goddess for me! Look at her lovely and naughty smile! Don't you feel inspired? Don’t you get wish to relive your life again? I do. I feel it strongly. Infact, I relived my innocent life again last week with my dear little baby, Prarthana! Indeed, it was a fantastic journey to her little world!

She took me away to a wonderful and different world of her own, where only peace, fun and love exist. It was such a marvelous experience of bliss I had ever. I’ll never forget it. It will continuously linger in my heart for ever!

Yes. She is my little lovely niece,my sister's Daughter aka Prarthana,who made me happy once again. She Recharged me once again without any medications, but only with her pretty smile!

Amma says that children are living Gods! Obviously, now, even I endorse this saying. Normally, we worship God for prosperity, peace, bliss, empowerment, fulfillment and finally for enlightenment. But, I feel, I got entire these while playing with my dear Prarthana!

Yeah! It’s true. She knows nothing about this world and its cruelty. She knows nothing about the people, pressure, pain, sorrow, failure and whole of these mucky system in which we are living in. She knows only to cry when she is hungry; she falls down while attempting to walk or when some body says loudly Haapppa... (=way of giving warnig about some thing)for her naughty and ‘loot’y (=mischievous in Kannada) acts!

Not only this, I learn’t a lot from her. She literally became my teacher! You know? Prarthana even knows how to learn from failures! While trying to walk, she falls often. But you’ll not notice any signs of loosing hope in her face. Her zeal to learn and adopt doesn’t allow all these. More than that, she doesn’t know about all these. She looks around, of course, if nobody is bothered (if somebody spots her fall, then she will start...aaaaaaaaaa!!),she again attempts to stand up and walk!! She never looses her enthusiasm to learn and try out new things! These are all part of growth!

I often wonder why can’t we also be like her always? Why not we too take every thing we experience as a part of our growth? I think, and then there will be no much pain and sorrow, violence...etc., except some inevitable things of life.

Malathi akka told me once. Whenever you feel dull or depressed, just imagine a child’s smile, her giggle. You can observe that a small smile will appear in your face as well! It fills spirit in you. You’ll experience a total bliss, which will drive away all your worries and recharge your mind.

Certainly, it is very true.

Indeed, Prarthana has made my life beautiful!

Monkeys are in trouble!

Our good old friends, more than that mankind's closest living relatives - the world's apes, monkeys, lemurs and other primates -- are on the verge of extinction due to threat from destruction of tropical forests, illegal wildlife trade and commercial bush meat hunting, says a new report.

The report titled "Primates in Peril: The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates--2006--2008,*" compiled by 60 experts from 21 countries warns that about 29 percent of all species are in the danger of going extinct. Add to this it warns that climate change will now exacerbate the first primate (Primates--an animal order including lemurs and tarsiers and monkeys and apes and human beings) extinctions in more than a century. Overall, 114 of the world's 394 primate species are classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Hunters kill primates for food and to sell the meat; traders capture them for live sale; and loggers, farmers, and land developers destroy their habitat. One species, Miss Waldron's red colobus of Ivory Coast and Ghana, already is feared extinct, while the numbers of golden-headed langur of Vietnam and China's Hainan came down to dozens. The Horton Plains slender loris of Sri Lanka has been sighted just four times since 1937!

"You could fit all the surviving members of these 25 species in a single football stadium; that's how few of them remain on Earth today," said CI President Russell A. Mittermeier, president of he IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group.

"The situation is even worst in Asia, where tropical forest destruction and the hunting and trading of monkeys put many species at terrible risk. Even newly discovered species are also on the verge of extinction.’’

As "Flagship Species" and our closest living relatives, nonhuman primates are important to the health of their surrounding ecosystems. Through the dispersal of seeds and other interactions with their environments, primates help support a wide range of plant and animal life that makes up the Earth's forests.

The World's Twenty five Most Endangered Primates list, compiled at the 21st Congress of the International Primatological Society, Entebbe, Uganda, follows the similar assessments in 2000, 2002 and 2004.

By region, the list includes 11 species from Asia, seven from Africa, four from Madagascar, and three from South America, showing that non-human primates are threatened wherever they live.

Interestingly, All 25 primates on the 2006-2008 list are found in the world's biodiversity hotspots--34 high priority regions identified by Conservation International that cover just 2.3 percent of the Earth's land surface but harbor well over 50 percent of all terrestrial plant and animal diversity. Eight of the hotspots are considered the highest priorities for the survival of the most endangered primates: Indo-Burma, Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands, Sundaland, Eastern Afromontane, Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa, Guinean Forests of West Africa, the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, and Western Ghats-Sri Lanka.

Habitat loss due to the clearing of tropical forests for agriculture, logging, and the collection of fuel wood continues to be the major factor in the declining number of primates, according to the report. Tropical deforestation also emits 20 percent of total greenhouse gases that cause climate change, which is more than all the world's cars, trucks, trains and airplanes combined. In addition, climate change is altering the habitats of many species, leaving those with small ranges even more vulnerable to extinction.

Hunting is another major threat to primates, especially in Africa and Asia. Live capture for the pet trade also poses a serious threat, particularly to Asian species.

The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates, and the countries where they are found:Greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus), Madagascar ;White-collared lemur (Eulemur albocollaris), Madagascar ; Sahamalaza Peninsula sportive lemur (Lepilemur sahamalazensis), Madagascar ; Silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus), Madagascar ;Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), Nigeria, Cameroon ll; Roloway monkey (Cercopithecus diana roloway), Ivory Coast, Ghana ;Rondo dwarf galago (Galagoides rondoensis), Tanzania ;Tana River red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus), Kenya ;Miss Waldron's red colobus (Procolobus badius), Ivory Coast, Ghana ;Kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji), Tanzania ;Pennant's red colobus (Procolobus pennantii pennantii), Equatorial Guinea (Island of Bioko) ;Variegated spider monkey (Ateles hybridus), Colombia, Venezuela ;Brown-headed spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps), Colombia, Ecuador ;Peruvian yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda), Peru ;Western Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock), Bangladesh, India, Myanmar ;Horton Plains slender loris (Loris tardigradus nycticeboides), Sri Lanka ;Western purple-faced langur (Semnopithecus vetulus nestor), Sri Lanka ; Pig-tailed langur (Simias concolor), Indonesia (Mentawai Islands) ; Siau Island tarsier (Tarsius sp.), Indonesia ; Delacour's langur (Trachypithecus delacouri), Vietnam ; Golden-headed langur (Trachypithecus poliocephalus poliocephalus), Vietnam ; Grey-shanked douc (Pygathrix cinerea), Vietnam ;Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus), Vietnam ; Hainan black-crested gibbon (Nomascus hainanus), China (Hainan Island) ; Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii), Indonesia (Sumatra).

The report was prepared by the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN's Species Survival Commission (SSC) and the International Primatological Society (IPS), in collaboration with Conservation International (CI).

Edited by B Jayakishore

BEWARE: IPhones are toxic!

Do you use iphone? Then it’s time to wake up. An Environmental activist group in California, Greenpeace has revealed a scientific analysis, which says iPhones contain dangerous levels of chemicals such as bromine, chlorine and “phthalates,” chemical compounds used to increase the flexibility of plastic in its body parts.

After this revelation, now, Environmentalist lawyers are threatening to sue Apple Company, which manufactures iphones, within 60 days, if the iconic US Company fails to make iPhones greener or at least warn buyers of toxins in the devices.

Also, the Center for Environmental Health in Oakland, California, sent a notice to Apple after environmental activist group Greenpeace released a scientific analysis of how Earth-friendly iPhones are.

In a You Tube video posted at the Greenpeace website, scientist David Santillo claims that iPhones contain dangerous levels of bromine, chlorine and “phthalates,” chemical compounds used to increase the flexibility of plastic.

“Electronics companies have traditionally relied on the cool clean image of their devices in order to sell them,” Santillo says in the video, which begins with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs ebulliently announcing the iPhone launch.

The level of phthalate esters, a chemical which can cause birth defects, in plastic coating of iPhone earphone’s wires is greater than the permissive level that allowed in toys or childcare items sold in Europe, according to Greenpeace.

“If a pregnant woman uses iphone regularly, then chances of she is getting exposed to this chemicals are high. That is a big piece of our concern.” center chief executive Michael Green said.

Now, the notice sent to Apple and the California state attorney general by Center for Environmental Health gives the nonprofit environmental law group a moral and legal support to sue Apple in 60 days.

It is said that lawsuit could compel Apple to put warnings on iPhone packaging but doesn't require the renowned maker of iPods and Macintosh computers to recall devices or alter the composition of models yet to be sold.

“There are chemicals in some of the parts that come with the iPhone that are well known in California to cause birth defects. We want those chemicals out.” Green said

The center's experience in “hundreds of different cases” is that companies prefer to get rid of offending chemicals rather than taint images of brands with health warnings, according to Green.

“It makes No sense in warning people when they can just use different chemicals to make it free from toxic chemicals.’’ Green said.

Edited by B jayakishore

Cows can boost Methane production in SOIL!

This has been the hot issue of debate for a year or more. It is already a known fact that the ‘holy cow’, or ‘goddess’ as we worship it, contributes considerable amount of Methane to atmosphere, which is produced at the time of digestion, is expelled continuously to the atmosphere.

Now, interestingly, a recently published science report says that cows can also boost the production of this climate gas in SOIL as well. A team of German scientists from the Institute of Soil Ecology of the GSF – National Research Center for Environment and Health and Czech colleagues at the Budweis Academy of Science, have been able to show that these bovine animals can also boost the production of this climate gas in SOIL.

Researchers say, this happens in the soil in the pastures, where these animals graze intensively. During this point of time, the soil becomes more compact and the microscopic plants of the soil get compressed. In addition, this area gets very high amount of organic matter from the excrement of the animals, thus stimulating the production of methane.

Thus the study, carried out on a Czech farm, proved that two factors are vital for this process to take place: The amount and quality of organic material from the excrement and secondly, the strong compaction of the soil due to the weight of the cattle.

Grass lands that are not used intensively for agriculture generally act as sink for the greenhouse gases, methane, carbon dioxide and laughing gas (NO2). However, this situation can change if intensive management of the pastures with cattle occurs.
Indeed, it is known also that well-aired soils have the potential for producing methane. Hence, the scope of the study should also include examination of the extent to which the ‘over-wintering’ of cattle on pastures stimulates the production of methane, and grassland soils really become a methane spring.

The investigation was carried out on a farm in south Bohemia. In the process approximately four hectares has been used since 1995 for the over-wintering of about 90 cows from October till the beginning of May.

According to Researchers, “At the end of this season, we could clearly see the consequences of the over-wintering, on the soil.” Unlike typical summer grazing, where the animals spread out evenly, the animals on the winter pastures prefer to stay near the feed house. As a result, no vegetation was visible more in the wide area. But at the places where animals grazed intensively, it was found that the ground was strongly compressed. In addition, this area was marked by a very high incidence of organic matter from the excrement of the animals.

The intensive grazing in the areas close to the cowshed led to a clear increase of methane emissions throughout the whole winter. These showed 1,000 times more production of methane than in the area where no bovine animals were kept.
But the classical process of methane oxidation, which is related to aerobic conditions, was restrained in the intensely grazed areas. According to Schloter, however, this is explained by the high quantities of urea in the ground.

The scientists were able to show further that methane producing micro-organisms from the gastro-intestinal tract of the cattle could survive in the soil and suppress parts of the microscopic plants in the compressed soil. The micro-organisms profited from the new environmental conditions in these soil, namely the extensive organic material.

Although in summer and autumn the animals were kept on other pastures, the composition of the micro flora barely changed in the strongly over-grazed areas. Indeed, the methane production rates clearly decreased during these months, because the continuous supply of organic material was absent, researchers said.

“We shall continue the project, because we also suspect consequences for the nitrogen cycle,” adds Schloter, a key researcher in the team. “In addition, we have possibly proved a very rare process in the strongly compounded areas, namely the anaerobic oxidation of methane.

All in all, it can be said that just about every agricultural measure has its positive and negative consequences. What weighs more in each case, however, is a social, rather than a scientific question.”

Edited by B Jayakishore

Jaipur glimpses!

By Shree Padre

Last week I was in Jaipur. Visited some villages where Lakshman Singh & his organisation Grameen Vikas Navyuvak Mandal, Lapodiya is doing outstanding rural development activities.

Here are some glimpses:
*Ghir Cows that have brought prosperity & given a new tool - animal husbamdary- to drought proof these villages.

Below:
*KHELI - safe platform for birds to eat grains - offered by villagers.
*Chauka System that does a double act - Fodder improvement & GW Recharge;
*Lakshman Singh explaining the 'Cahuka Kammal'

(I thank Shree Padre sir for sharing the Info 'n' photos)

How many E-mail ids do you have?

By B.Jayakishore

The Government is planning to bring a new clause in Draft Information Technology (IT) Act of 2006, which will make the furnishing of fictitious information on the Internet a 'Punishable offence'. The Government is said to have taken up this measure to save the IT Act, from its 'Toothless Tiger' reputation.

Presently, providing false information on the Internet to get new or alternate email ids on the same Web site is common practice. But, Even though most email service providers refuse to provide two ids to one and the same person, somehow many have managed to get the multiple ids on the same Web site.

Well, if the Government gives Green Signal to the proposed new 'Section 66A', in draft Information Technology (IT) Act 2006, it will make such perpetrators liable for punishment of up to Two years of imprisonment.

Not only that, all clauses applicable under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for similar such offences will automatically become applicable to the offenders.

However, Information regarding fake email identities will be established with the help of Internet service providers and IP addresses. But, It will remain up to investigating agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) to Prove weather a person is using false or misleading information on the Internet.

Currently, the Department of Information Technology is in the process of reviewing the draft Information Technology (IT) Act 2006, and has sought feedback on proposed changes from all its stakeholders.

May PEACE prevail in all

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. May PEACE prevail in all...(On October 2, Gandhi's b'day is being observed as world's non-violence day.)

-jayakishore

Let’s face the BARE facts!

By Prasanna and G.Krishna Prasad

Do you know?

1) Farming community (Farmers and Agricultural labourers) is nearly 60% in India and 56% in Karnataka.

2) Nearly 6300 farmers in Karnataka alone have committed suicide over the past six years and nearly One Lakh farmers have lost their lives in the last Ten years. Vidarbha in Maharashtra has emerged as the epicenter.

3) Up to three farmers a day swallow pesticides, hang themselves from trees, drown themselves in rivers, set themselves on fire or jump down wells (They are not crazy). Many of them are plagued by debt, poor crops and hopelessness.

4) In Punjab, 2,800 widows of farmers who committed suicides, who have lost their lands, have to bring up children by working as ‘Landless workers’ on others' land.
Indian farmers in general and Karnataka farmers in particular, have never committed suicide on such a large scale. Being an agriculture dependent nation, It is a completely new phenomenon, the country is experiencing.

Certainly, all these developments are linked to the ill effects of globalization, trade liberalization in today's market and corporate-driven economy. What a pity!

The farmers, who feed us every meal, cannot put two square meals to their own children. What a sad irony? Isn’t it? Let us wake up from our slumber and stand up for farmers' 'Right to Live'.

Well, what can we do for them?

Awareness on the issues can be the first positive step.

On October 2nd, birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who always used to put farmers as backbone and heart of our Nation, we will be organizing a rally in Bangalore to show solidarity with farmers and support to the community. We will act together for our farmers and send a strong message to Government that, we will NOT tolerate this indifference anymore.

This Action is an 'Awareness activity' to inform and involve the community on the issue. You & I will not be talking about this issue now, if not for the Rally, right? It is the duty of every informed citizen to put pressure on Government, to adopt farmer friendly policy, evolving from the grass roots, and not top-down.

Details of the Event:-

Date: Oct 02, 2007,Time: 10.30 am to 12 Noon
Route: BRC Circle (Near Indian Express) to M G Road.

BOOK RELEASE:-Kannada translation of the Book, containing Devendar Sharma's speech on the Agrarian Crisis gripping the nation, will be released on the occasion. The Book is being published by Sahaja Samrudha.

-AID India/Sahaja Samrudha

Toy story continues…!

By B.Jayakishore

Finally, after much of criticism and hue and cry over the safety of Chinese-made products, an executive of the Mattel toy company, the world’s largest toy maker, met China's top product safety official on Friday, to issue an apology.

On Friday, Mattel acknowledged that the company’s design flaws and safety control system are to blame rather than Chinese manufacturing glitches for the recent recalls of tens of millions of toys. (American company Mattel has outsourced its toy manufacturing activities to the Chinese toy making companies.)

According to news reports, Thomas A. Debrowski, Executive Vice President of Mattel’s for worldwide operations, apologized to China for harming the reputation of Chinese manufacturers.

“Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to all the Chinese people, and all of our customers, who received the toys,” Debrowski told Li Changjiang, the head of China’s product-safety operation, in a visit to Beijing.

“The core problem for the recalled toys was the design flaw, instead of the manufacturers,” said Stefano Solo, an expert of the EU Consumer Affairs Commission to a news agency here.

China’s state media yesterday welcomed the toy maker’s apology over its recalls of Chinese-made toys. It said that although this apology came little late, now it should help in restoring the country’s sullied export reputation.

It can be recalled that recently more than ten labourers, who work for a Toy Exporting company in china have committed suicide; after Mattel, an American toy company, to which Chinese company supplies the products recalled all the Chinese toys.

According to the state-run Guangzhou Daily, Mattel’s apology was a little late “but at least it redressed injustice against toys made in China.”

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-B.Jayakishore

Murugha Award for Na.Karanth

By B Jayakishore

Noted Agricultural journalist and Assistant editor of Adike Patrike, a farm magzine published from Puttur has been selected for this years Murugha Developmental Journalism Award, a state level honour instituted by Mysore district Journalists Association.

He has been selected for this award for his article 'Arivina Harivinda Halligala Maru huttu' which was published in Hosa Digantha daily recently.

A Hard worker, sensitive by nature, Na.Karanth has won many awards including CAAM journalism award, Pa.Go. Prashsthi, Prestigious Charaka Award for his informative highly researched agriculture based articles published in various news papers and magazines.

His latest book 'Hasiru Maathu' was acclaimed best book of the year. Sheni darshana, Hasyagaarana antahranga, NudiNamana, Sheni Chintana, Yaksha Kogile, Anthika, Tali Tapasvi were his other books. By the way he is also a well known Yakshagana Artiste.

Award will be presented to him at Patrakarthara Bhavana in Mysore on 27th August. I came into contact with Karanth about Five years ago. I think since then he is winnig an award every year it seems! Hats off to you sir! Congrats Once again!

Farmers miseries and the media

By Na.Karantha Peraje

It is as important as the food we eat, to have a concern about who grows it, for a society in which we are living in.But the indian farmer is in greatest distress than ever before. It is the responsibility of the society to instill the confidence among them. Certainly, our media plays a mojor role in it. But, is our media handling the situation effectively? This was the hot topic for the debate in a workshop for Journalists, which held recently at Centre for Alternative Agricultural Media(CAAM), Dharwad.

Let's Look at this.A farmer commits suicide in a village. We can see his wife children and other family member crying over the dead body repeatedly in our media. It becomes front page news in our news papers. True. It has to. But as time passes; somehow the family of the victim stands up against all odds, after this vicious incident has happened. But do our media, especially the popular or mainstream ever have tried to portray this development as they sensatinalised the 'Suicide' incident earlier?

Certainly not. Because of these kind of hurried and irresponsible acts of our media, now every incident of death becomes a 'Farmers suicide' in our villages.Definitely media could have avoided these 'Blunder' if it had portrayed the issue in a more positive manner.

For instance, look at the incident of death of peacocks, which took place in Gadag recently. 'Actually only around 12 to 13 peacocks have died in the incident. But the media mayhem went on reporting more than 200 deaths! What is perplexing is that few days later when the truth came out, no media was there to cover it! It is indeed sad that our media is interested only in sensationalising the issue rather than portraying factual things. Positive follow-up journalism is almost died its death' argued R.S.Patil, a farmer.

One of the key resource person for the workshop, C.U.Bellakki also had agreed to this. 'Films, gossips, glamour,crime, betrayel etc have filled every frames of our visual media. This is also applicable to our print media as well. Positive stories, Developmental issues are not at all getting priority it should get in our media. It is disheartenig that our media is moving away from the responsibility of instilling confidence among betrayed sections of our society' said Bellakki.

Then how media can handle the 'Worse' situations?

Let's look at this example. North Karnataka witnessed severe drought in recent years. The problem of water scarcity was at its peak. Now how media can report the situation positively? During these tough times Krishi Vijnana Kendra, Hulkoti has done a wonderful job.

Dr.L.G.Hiregowder, professor, KVK said: 'To erradicate the crisis which our farmers are facing, adopting the method of Organic farming is the only way. Because all input costs are very much less here, also the output is of the good quality and quantity. We launched a campaign to create awareness among farmers about positive aspects of organic farming. Along with this we also organized several workshops to make farmers of the region acquainted with benefits of self help groups, Water harvesting techniques, microfinance systems etc. We even carried out mock demonstrations of water harvesting. Iam greatful to our media which covered these aspects well'

'But did our journalists visited the spot where you have carried out developmental works? How many of them really visited and reported?'-Quick reply from another panelist Shivananda Kalave.

This is the story of Channa Basappa Kombali: 'We had a plenty of forest in our place. We didn't even knew what the water scarcity is! But as the consumption of water was increased and since no recharging measures were taken at that time, scarcity of water became a major problem. Now, we adopted water harvesting methods in over 165 wells. Situation has resumed as it was some years ago. Media has covered this development effectively. Channabasappa was even conferred 'Person of the year' award by KannadaPrabha.

"No doubt our farmers are in distress now. ut still there are so many of them who are leading peaceful life by adopting nature friendly farming techniques. The tale of those brave farmers who stood up against all odds' Said Shivananda Kalave. 'We have people who ate pumpkins, sugarcane to live during drought!' he added Dr.Prakash Bhat.

Our journalists should do some responsible journalism rather than 'Desk Journalism'. Media should throw light on positive developmental aspects rather than portraying negative stories and sensationalising it. These were the other major points which came for discussion in the workshop.

(Translated by B.Jayakishore. Na.Karantha Peraje is the assistant editor of Adike Patrike. I thank him for his wonderful article)

Boring Nenapu...

By B Jayakishore

Let's take a little break from serious issues and discuss a funny film seriously! Yesterday I watched a Kannada movie Savi Savi Nenanapu...directed by Santhosh Rai Pathaje.

Well, film has got a great plot. But the way the script has been developed and the way the director had executed the film was very bad. I think this could have been a very good film if it contained some liveliness in it. I see this is the only reason, for a film Savi Savi Nenapu will be a great disaster as it fails at all levels despite having very good technical support from well known technicians like editor Suresh Urs, cinematographer K.S.Chandrashekar/Guruprashanth Rai.

Director Santhosh Rai Pathaje seems to have influenced by some of the English classic movies. Literally he tried to depict the story on the lines of these classics. But fails miserably in his attempt as most of the actors including Prem were 'Just Delivered' their dialogues without any smell of acting in it. Also Pathaje fails to extract the performances from most of the cast. However, Avinash and Tejaswini are impressive.

Well, film has a simple story woven around love and heart transplantation, but rather unconvincing in many aspects. Of course you can not expect scientific explanations or at least plausible narration from sandalwood movies! Prem, a doctor fails to keep his wife Preethi happy; due to his busy schedules of profession. But still Preethi is very cooperative and caring. Meanwhile Preethi dies in a car accident.

During the course of time Prem comes to know that Preethi's heart has been transplanted in Pallavi. Incidentally, Pallavi's husband Raj is a look alike of Prem! Some cinematic incidents make Prem to think that Raj is ill treating Pallavi. But story has a different angle to it. Under guilty conscious for not given attention to his wife Preethi when she was alive, Prem decides to pretend to be Raj when he goes to England on work, just to keep Pallavi happy as she has Preethi's 'Heart' in her!

Now, when Pallavi sees 'Raj'(Prem), once again she falls ill due to anxiety and is hospitalized. What happen next are remains to be seen on screen!

Technically, Savi Savi Nenapu is on par with any Bollywood film. The cinematography, Location, Editing and music are really impressive. Song Savi-savi-nenapu is a very melodious composition. Also the title music.

It seems that Santhosh Rai wanted to make this film in a different way. But he couldn't. Moreover, pace of the film doesn't suits the commercial format. But you can not figure out this film as a classic or serious as it is not convincing at some points. Simply, it lacks depth in treatment of subject. Director could have treated the characters with more lively sequences and of course with extracting natural performances!

I always wonder why our film makers are run behind subjects like heart transplantation; Uterus transplantation etc if they can't portray the story woven around such issues scientifically or convincingly. Frankly, high dose of melodrama and dull narration has completely ruined a beautiful film. I think that's why "Mungaru Male", without any such complications and with its natural treatment has made a mark in Sandalwood history.

Is there NO end?

By B Jayakishore

This time not only the government, but also the nature has played wild game with our farmers. The Rain which created mayhem all over the state recently,set our farmers in turmoil once again.

According to media reports, it has been estimated that as much as worth Rs.4000crores of loss has occured in the state due to rain havoc in the last three months. Out of which worth Rs.3000 crores of crop simply washed away with floods. As much as 1142 villages belonging to Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada,Shimogga, Belagam, Haveri, Davanagere, Bagalkot, Kodagu have been affected by raging floods or strong wind which bufetted over all these villages.

'I think this time almost 80 percent of my yield has been washed away with rain. Add to this heavy wind which bufetted over my arecanut farm has claimed most of the young and yielding trees in my farm' said Shanker Bhat, an arecanut grower in Guththigar, near sullia,DK over phone.

President, All india Arecanut growers association, Mr.Srinivas Acharya says: 'This year rain was mercyless over farmers. Due to heavy rain which lashed all over DK, UK last month without any 'Stop' in between, the cases of 'Kole roga' (A fungal disease, which causes premature fall of ripe arecanuts; Normally un interrupted rain accelarates the growth of fungi, if proper measures like spraying bordo mixture is not been done on time. However, rain god should permit to do this! This time he didn't!) has become rampant all over, which will result in almost 50 percent of fall in crop this year'

Not only in DakshinaKannada, situation is even worse in other districts like shimogga, Uttarakannada etc. Normally an acre of fertile land accomodates about 500 arecanut plantations. Shockingly, In one of my friends farm, near Kollur, wind has swallowed as much as 80 trees within a minute!

Miseries doesn't ends there. As crumbling prices of arecanut has fuelled it further. Model supari(Iam giving accounts of only chaali arecanut being grown in DK) which was getting around Rs.80-85 per Kg till recently; Now has fallen down to Rs.60-70! Market sources say this may come down much lower in coming days.

According to Campco president S.R.Rangamurthy,'We have urged Central government to curb the import of arecanut from other countries. But still tonnes of arecanut has been imported to the country by illegal means'
Kolkotta port is being used by both India and Nepal. This has become a great boon to traders involved in unauthorised import of arecanut. As central Government already imposed 100 percent duty on imported arecanut, traders opted a different route.They import the arecanut from srilanka,Indonasia and such other countries where the produce is available dam cheap, with a 'TAG' of "To Nepal'.

But as Kolkatta port is comman for both India and Nepal, they unload it there and circulate it into indian markets by evading all taxes, customs formalities. What a clever way they adopted right? Because of which more and more foreign arecanut is flooding indian market resulting in slump in prices of indain grown produce.

'Campco has even urged central agricultural minister Sharad pawar to pass an order such that, any arecanut goods that are imported, has to be allowed to enter india only through Mangalore port. Also to appoint campco as a Quality checking agency to check for such imported goods as more often these are of very poor in quality, compared to local produce' says Rangamurthy.

'This has resulted in adulteration of indian grown arecanuts by mixing imported arecanuts, due to which image of the indian arecanut has come down in global markets. Also end users prefer these adulterated goods as they available cheap than indian goods' he adds.

However,'Even central government has agreed to our demand and also it has passed an order in this regard. But traders have filed a pettition against it in Kolkatta HC recently and suceeded in bringing stay on it. This was a big set back to us and once again we are not in a position to have a controll over crumbling domestic arecanut market' says Rangamurthy.

This may be the plight of an arecanut farmer. But In some or the other form every farmer in this country is facing hardships in one or the other way.May be in the form of natural calamities, Unsupportive government, Anti-farmer policies or uncontrolled Market fluctuations...which all lead our farmers into a 'In secure Zone'. We may vote ;Discuss; Debate over agrarian crisis in media. But the turmoil our farming community undergoing is still rampant and perhaps, will continue in future it seems.

Magasaysay award winning journalist P.Sainath rightly puts it in his recent article: 'Sixty years have passed after we become independent. Still rural india is a shambles. The most severe agrarian crisis since the eve of the Green revolution rages on. We fail to invoke even those measures the blatantly unfair WTO allows us; this means the prices our own farmers get for their products collapses by the season'

I ask, Is there NO end to farmers plight in this Country? Are you listening Mr.Manmohan singh?Mr.Pawar? Mr.Kumaraswamy?

Last week appa, who never calls unless there is any urgency, called me and said: 'Kishora, It's becoming very difficult for me to look after farm. So,I've decided to sell it off. What do you say?'

Well, what can I say? I've already fought many times with appa against selling farm, my place, my home where I've grown up, have my trees, my birds, my parrots, sang gange baare gowri baare...

But this time I didn't have any answer with me. I don't know why? I just disconnected the phone without any utter. Since then appa never called me till this day.

BEWARE: car jackers are here!

By B Jayakishore

You might be aware of plane hijacking. But have you heard about carjacking? In US this is common word used to describe car theft. Wikipedia has got a definition for the word which goes like this: Carjacking is the crime

of stealing a motor vehicle when the vehicle is occupied. Typically, the carjacker is armed, and the driver is forced out of the car at gunpoint. The word is a portmantesu of car and hijacking.

Shocking revelation is that now Bangalore is also witnessing such a kind of incidents. But don’t worry. In Bangalore it is not as serious as it is mentioned in the definition. You know how they may steal your car? I mean Carjack your car? Please read on...

Normally what will you do take away car from parking lot? You unlock car and get inside, tighten seat belts and you start the engine and shift gear into Reverse to take out your car (if needed) from parking lot right? Now, when you look into the rear view mirror you may notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window. Obviously it is obstructing your back view in mirror. So what will you do?

You stop the car. Unlock your doors, and step out to remove paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car, these car jackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. Every thing will be over within some seconds! So, now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your money, and your keys...for the time being you have lost every thing!

Recently this kind of incident had taken place in Bangalore, near ITPL-Whitefield outside south gate parking bay and same kind of incident was repeated in Koramangala-ring road near Sanyo BPL office in late evening in the same week.

What can be done: If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away. Remove the paper later. Whenever you step out of your car see to it that your car is locked properly.

Interestingly, when I inquired about this in some police stations, officials said: 'Yes, it has come to our notice that such incidents did happened in city recently. But till today no complaints has been registered in this regard. We are collecting further information about it'

However, some blogs have already broken the news. Interesting isn’t it?

I WISH YOU VERY

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

-B Jayakishore

Meet Mr.Abhay...

By B Jayakishore

Let me introduce my filmmaker friend Mr.AbhayaSimha to you. Graduate from FTII, talented, Bright and filmmaker of the future. Recently he had organized screening of some of his works in Badami House, Bangalore where they received good critical acclaim from audiences, senior journalists present there. Congrats Abhay!

Well, do you remember Dhoom pachak dhoom, an album from Euphoria group? This song became huge hit among youngsters in 1998. Since then they have released more than 15 albums. Rabjaane was their recent release to which my friend Abhay has directed the video. This was his first national level venture. This later went on becoming hit song in MTV, V channel music album charts.

Abhay's family stays in Mangalore. His Father Ashokavardhana is a famous bookseller there. Mother is a housewife. After completion of his graduation in English and Journalism from St.Aloysius College, he applied for a seat in Film and Television institute of India, Pune, a prestigious institute which gave Indian cinema talents like Nasiruddin shah, Girish kasaravalli to name a few. Abhay finally got a seat there after a tough competitive entrance examination.

After joining FTII Abhay’s perception about cinema has changed a lot, as he got the opportunity to watch best classic movies from all around the world. In his recent article he wrote about veteran Swedish director Ingmar burgman in Udayavani.

Abhay had a great opportunity to visit International film school in Cogne in Germany while he was studying at FTII. It was a talent exchange programme, where he directed a short documentary 'Solo singer and the Blue city'.

Well, Till today Abhay has directed more than ten documentaries, Short video films. I liked his short film "Watch out' a comedy non-talkie video running for about 20 minutes.

'Though Mumbai has got more opportunities than Kannada film industry, I prefer to work for sandalwood. I love my language, my soil. I admire Girish kasaravalli immensely. He is also my role model' concludes Abhay.

All the Best Abhay!

Ask what we can do for India?

By DR APJ Abdul Kalam

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our Achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success Stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat.We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a Self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements But our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I Was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the Day After a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid And a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. TheGory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the Newspaper, buried among other news.In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign Things?

We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign Technology.Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that Self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this Lecture, When a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal In life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, You and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. IndiaIs not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you Have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is Yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name -YOURS. Give him a Face - YOURS.

YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International Best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in The stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of MahimCauseway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking Lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or A shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore you Don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.

YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered In Jeddah . YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange In London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD Calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell Anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use Examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are still Talking of the same YOU.

YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system In other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.

We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU.

When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system.

When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government.

Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....

I am echoing J. F.Kennedy 's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians... ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA? AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY.

(Excerpts from DR. APJ Abdul Kalam's Speech in Hyderabad recently. Forwarded by JNATHA P.PERLA, Dubai)

Symbol of love at Lalbagh!

A Taj Mahal with more than 30,000 roses (Around 20,000 Red roses; 10,000 White roses)being built at Lal Bagh in Bangalore on Tuesday(Aug 07) for the Independence Day flower show which will begin from Wednesday(Aug 08). The flower replica is a tribute to Taj, one of the seven wonders of the world.
-B. Jayakishore

The Toy Story!

By B Jayakishore

Do you know how safe are the toys you buy? We might get chinese toys for throw away prices in market. But these toys have become the cause for concern as it has been proved unsafe for use due to harmful chemical contents used in them. As you all know china is one of the largest toy exporter in the world. But recently it got a blow when its largest buyer America banned its toys that are coated with paint believed to contain dangerous levels of lead.

Interestingly, American government has banned several cheap chinese products including tainted seafood, toxic toothpaste and chemical-laced pet food for containing harmful chemicals in it. In a warning to consumers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on its Web site that surface paints on the toys could contain excessive levels of lead, which can cause brain damage in young children when ingested.

Now, Its the turn of Fisher-Price. A famous American toys company owned by Mattel, which has its manufacturing base in China. Day before yesterday, Fisher-Price recalled nearly 1 million of its toys worldwide that are coated with paint believed to contain dangerous levels of lead.The recall covers 83 types of toys distributed in 32 countries, including toys such as Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie, Cookie Monster, Dora the Explorer and Diego.

Infact, this is the latest in a wave of recalls that has heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products, adding to worries about the danger it it might cause. In a statement, Mattel said the recalled toys were made by a single contract manufacturer in China, one it described as having "had a good track record on product safety in the past." The contractor had used lead-tainted paint pigment in violation of "applicable standards" as well as of Mattel’s self-imposed standards, it said.

After this incident, Now, Chinese government has ordered complete overhaul of the safety norms for the manufacturing of toys and other products in the country.Also Mattel has said thatit will conduct a review of all its third-party manufacturing operations in China. Weather chinese companies get contracts in future or not, atleast chinese people will get more safer products from now onwards in the wake of governments strict order.

But What about us?Our children? Has India initiated such a move? Everyday tonnes of loads of toys are being dumped in Indian market.We the people crazy about 'Cheap' Chinese products continue to buy the product without applying mind weather these products are safe or not! However, in our country, can we expect for government to take action?

My Inspiration.....

By B Jayakishore

Yesterday, when Malathi akka told me P.Sainath has won the prestigious Ramon Magasaysay Award, I was really thrilled. I have a reason for that. Frankly speaking, I was deeply influenced by his writings and his views on Deveplopmental journalism. Certainly he is the Role model for any of our aspiring journalists. Of course he is for me.

Sainath is the grandson of former President of India,V.V.Giri. He studied at Jesuits in Chennai at Loyala College. His preoccupation with social problems and commitment to a political perspective began when he was a student in college. He is a graduate of Jawaharlal Nehru University,Delhi.

He is currently the rural affairs editor of The Hindu.

After receiving a Masters degree in history, he launched his career as a journalist at the UNI in 1980 where he received the news agency's highest individual award. He then worked for the Blitz, then a major South Asian weekly in Mumbai first as foreign affairs editor and then as deputy editor, which he continued for ten years.

During this time He got an opportunity to tour nine drought-stricken states in India. It changed his perception about journalism what he is doing. Sainath felt that the media's attention was moving from "News" to "Entertainment" and consumerism and lifestyles of the urban elite gained prominence in the newspapers which rarely carried news of the reality of poverty in India. "I felt that if the Indian press was covering the top 5 per cent,I should cover the bottom 5 per cent", says Sainath.

He quit Blitz and in 1993 applied for a Times of India fellowship. At the interview he spoke of his plans to report from rural India. When an editor asked him, "Suppose I tell you my readers aren't interested in this stuff", Sainath replied prompmtly-"When did you last meet your readers to make any such claims on their behalf?"

He got the fellowship and took to the back roads in the ten poorest districts of five states. It meant covering close to 100,000 km across India using 16 forms of transportation, including walking 5,000km on foot. The TOI published 84 reports by Sainath across all these 18 months, many of them subsequently reprinted in his book, Everybody Loves A Good Drought. Which remained No.1 amongst non-fiction bestsellers on diverse lists across the country. His writing has provoked responses that include the revamping of the Drought Management Programs in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh.

As a reporter, he proved the power of the Press repeatedly. In one state after another, the bureaucracy and politicians acted upon his stories. Today, more than any other journalist in India, he has been responsible for the attention brought to the raging farmers' suicides in the country. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Agriculture Commission in Andhra Pradesh to suggest ways for improving agriculture in that state.

One of his more recent projects, on dalits, for The Hindu, is nearly complete, and he is planning a book based on this work. When the newspapers were unwilling to fund beyond a point, Sainath spent from his own resources, his savings, his provident fund, his gratuity - avoiding corporate sponsors.

His current project is on the agrarian crisis nationwide, particularly those regions where its effects are most severe. He has filed over 100 reports on the agrarian crisis in recent years. He has also himself taken all the photographs that go with those reports, which established a niche of its own.

Hats off to you sir!

(inputs from various sources)

Know your heart...

By B Jayakishore

It is really alarming. Our lifestyle in cities like Bangalore has changed drastically. Though you find yourself fit, unknowingly you are in the verge of falling prey to one or the other ailment.

Days are passing in such a furious pace that we never know how our body systems handle it! However, now we have already accepted living with ailments like diabetes, Blood pressure, Asthma, Hypertension etc. In fact, all these have become our companions! Now it is the turn heart ailments.

Recently, when I had a chance to chat with Dr.C.N.Manjunath, Director, Jayadeva heart centre, Bangalore, he revealed another shocking phenomenon. Incidentally, it is total U-Shift from the way in which our elder generation was lived.

'If we go back to early 70's or 80's, there was a time when younger generation would bring their elders or parents to hospitals for heart treatment. But today the situation has been reversed. Now elders bring their young children of the age 25plus to hospitals' said Dr.C.N.Manjunath.

Shockingly, nowadays not only elders of above 50 are vulnerable to heart diseases, but also younger generation of the age group 20to 40 are vulnerable!

Reason: Stress, Work pressure, drastic change in lifestyle. Appalling revelation is that out of total heart related cases reported every year in India, 45 percent of which are of the people aged below 40!

Interestingly, Jayadeva heart centre alone admits about 200plus heart patients each month. It is very disturbing to note that out of these around 60to 70 patients are below 40! Till 1980 these were only 5to10. But in recent years this has been raised to 40 percent!

According to WHO study, Asians are more vulnerable to heart ailments as there are some genetic factors attached to it. Even Dr.Manjunath agrees with this. 'Indians are genetically different than people in the other continents. Add to this, influence of western lifestyle, food culture are also reason for such a transition' he says.

Let's have a look at the statistics. Currently around 30,000 to 40,000 heart disease cases were reported in Bangalore alone. A many as 75,000 Angioplasty cases were reported every year in the country, while it is around 4500 in Bangalore.

Bangalore is growing very fast. Growth has its darker side too. Today Inflow of people in search of 'Living' also has been increased many fold. This has resulted in spurt of slums. Because the people of these areas do not keep their surroundings clean and most of the time about 10-15 people living in a tiny hut like structure has resulted in increase in the cases of Rheumatic vascular diseases. When a person gets affected by this, his blood purification system and valves which control the blood flow will get damaged.

There has been remarkable transition in lifestyle in urban India in recent years. Upper class people are under more profession related stress than it was five years ago. In addition to this, lack of exercise, bad habits, uncontrolled junk food intake have also contributed for the increase in the cases of heart ailments in younger generation.

Interestingly, there was a time when we were all under the impression that heart ailment was a 'Rich man's disease'. ‘But gone are the days when only lazy and rich gets heart ailments. Now the same reasons are applicable to middle class and lower sections of the society’ says Dr.Manjunath.

However, to keep you fit and away from heart ailments, Dr.Manjunath has some tips.

*Exercise Regularly.
*Control cholesterol content in your body.
*Keep a watch on eating habits of your children.
*If you are above 25, please undergo treadmill ECG test once in a year.
*If you are diabetic, BP patient then regular treadmill ECG test is a must.

So, know your heart before it 'Breaks' you. Keep it fit.