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Tuesday,
July 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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A case of double
standards The mess in Delhi |
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Gunning
for gutka THE decision of the Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh governments to ban the sale and manufacture of gutka and similar tobacco-based products deserves a qualified welcome. The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently imposed a ban on using public transport for advertising gutka and pan masala. The Centre also intends to introduce a law for banning the production and sale of all forms of tobacco-based products.
Country
left high and dry
The lady
is a gem
Why do politicians
shun openness?
Wet-dredging
Sukhna Lake: pitfalls ahead
A
computerised system for fitness
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A case of double standards THE Central Government’s reported move to impose President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir before the coming Assembly elections in the state does not appear to be guided by logic, whatever the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s compulsions. This will amount to openly declaring that a free and fair poll is not possible under the state government headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference. But, then, what is the guarantee that the Governor’s administration will be impartial during the elections and will not expose itself to the allegation indirectly being levelled against the existing political dispensation? This is not to argue that the Abdullah government is composed of angels or saints. Obviously, it will behave as other regimes do in such situations. One can understand that the Chief Minister will do everything possible to help his party emerge victorious in the battle of the ballot. But can this not be expected in Gujarat, which too is going to the polls soon? Can the caretaker Narendra Modi government not try to take advantage of its position to favour the ruling BJP? The state has had a traumatic experience in the recent past with the Chief Minister’s allegedly partisan role. Can the same person guide the riot-torn state to have free and fair elections? One doubts if the law and order machinery under the present arrangement will carry out its constitutional obligations to the satisfaction of every section of society. Yet the Centre does not consider it necessary to bring Gujarat under Governor’s rule. One can argue that there can be no guarantee of free play even when there is the Governor’s administration running the show. True. But the same argument holds good for Jammu and Kashmir too. It will be a clear case of double standards if the two states are treated differently. The NDA government at the Centre finds itself caught in its own web in the context of Kashmir. It has reportedly promised the Hurriyat Conference to hold the Assembly elections under President’s rule to ensure the participation of the 23-party conglomerate. The Hurriyat’s participation, no doubt, has strategic significance for the country, and the Centre must take all the possible measures for the purpose. The Hurriyat leadership, perhaps, wants a reassuring climate for the conduct of free and fair elections. It is learnt that in view of this an understanding had been reached between the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, with the latter having accepted the imposition of President’s rule. Dr Farooq Abdullah had agreed to forego his present position in return for some plum assignment in New Delhi. The deal has, however, fallen through. If at all there is truth in all this, no one has the right to barter away the country’s interests on any pretext. The conduct of free and fair elections is the responsibility of the Election Commission. The Union Government is duty-bound to provide all the necessary facilities to enable the commission to discharge its constitutional obligation in a transparent manner. If this suits the Hurriyat, well and good. If it refuses to prove through a democratic process its claim of being the true voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, all that the Hurriyat says will be considered meaningless. Any course which undermines the position of the Election Commission or a democratically constituted government will not be in the interest of the nation. |
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The mess in Delhi THE Delhi bandh on Monday organised by the new Delhi BJP president, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, in protest against the power and water crises in the Capital expectedly caused a lot of inconvenience to the general public. Even though essential services like hospitals, schools and public transport were kept free from the bandh, the hardship it caused to people because of the closure of shops and other facilities was avoidable. Clearly, bandhs are no solution to Delhi’s woes for which successive governments are responsible. Sloth and insensitivity seem to have overtaken governments which do not bother about the difficulties being faced by people, especially those belonging to the lower strata of society. In a place like Delhi, rich people can order cartons of mineral water or tankers for their daily needs at a handsome price. They turn to inverters, generators and the like to overcome the continued power crisis. Reports suggest that in the last few days, some affluent families in South Delhi have been making use of their airconditioned cars to pass the dark nights. But what about the ordinary people? In some colonies in South Delhi, which is worst affected, water comes only for five minutes during which it is difficult for a housewife to fill even a bucket. There is no way for them to escape from the acute water problem or the blistering heat. The bane of Delhi is that no government has shown the political will to resolve pressing civic problems such as the shortage of water and power. There is no point in accusing the present Chief Minister, Mrs Sheila Dixit, for the current mess even though she cannot be entirely absolved of the blame. Mr Madan Lal Khurana is equally responsible for showing lackadaisical attitude towards Delhi’s problems when he was the Chief Minister. It is said that Delhi faces a huge water shortage of 160 MGD (million gallons per day). What concrete steps have the authorities taken over the years to solve the water problem? The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) says that 52 underground water reservoirs should be constructed for rationalisation and equal distribution of water. Surprisingly, however, no land has been acquired for the purpose even though it is felt that these reservoirs would help solve the water problem of most of the remote areas and the localities that receive marginal supply at low pressure. There is no dearth of committees and reports, but nothing seems to be happening on the ground. The same is the case with the power situation. The problem is mainly due to abnormally low voltage in the Delhi system. In addition, too many cable faults, breakdowns and inability of the privatised distribution companies to repair them within a short span of time have aggravated the situation. The general impression is that the power situation would not have been so bad today had the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) taken steps to augment the system in February or March. No maintenance work was carried out as the Delhi government was convinced that privatisation was round the corner. A new twist to Delhi’s ongoing crises is the lack of coordination between legislators and officials of the DVB and the DJB. If it is true that Chief Engineers, Superintendent Engineers and Executive Engineers of these boards are indifferent to people’s problems and do not listen to complaints even from legislators, then, something is rotten in the system. Delhi, being the nation’s capital, should have been a trendsetter and a role model for all the states and union territories in water supply and power distribution. The fact that it is far behind many other states in improving the two critical sectors of the economy is a sad reflection on the powers that be. |
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Gunning for gutka THE decision of the Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh governments to ban the sale and manufacture of gutka and similar tobacco-based products deserves a qualified welcome. The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently imposed a ban on using public transport for advertising gutka and pan masala. The Centre also intends to introduce a law for banning the production and sale of all forms of tobacco-based products. A half-hearted ban on life-threatening substances would result in the loss of revenue to the state governments without achieving the goal of protecting the health of the people. Prohibition was introduced in Haryana when Mr Bansi Lal became Chief Minister. However, the ban helped the police and the enforcement authorities make additional illegal income by allowing the production and sale of liquor. Those travelling between Delhi and Chandigarh became targets of harassment for inadvertent violation of the ban on carrying liquor through the territory falling in Haryana. There are any number of studies to show the harmful effects of tobacco in any form on human health. However, the powerful tobacco lobby has managed to scuttle any serious effort to run them out of business. For instance, the areca farmers of Karnataka have been resisting for long the attempt to scale down the production of the nut used for making gutka. Awareness campaigns and adverse publicity in the media resulted in the price of areca falling from a high of Rs 200 a
kilogram to Rs 90 some years ago. Karnataka with a 37 per cent share in the arecanut production wants to highlight the scale of unemployment the ban on gutka would result in. The cultivation of beetle nut provides sustenance to nearly 20 lakh families in the state. The politics of allowing the cultivation of tobacco and related products is very complex. For instance the turn-over of the Kanpur-based Kothari products is over Rs 400 crore. Over 80 per cent of this is from gutka and pan masala. Managing Director M. M. Kothari alleges that tobacco giant ITC was behind the anti-gutka campaign because of the mounting popularity of chewing tobacco over cigarettes. Those against passive smoking oppose cigarettes but have no complaint against gutka and pan masala. In any case, the movement against smoking in public places has forced governments to introduce laws. But have smokers begun to follow the strict laws against smoking in public places? The gutka ban may meet a similar fate. So, what if smoking claims over six lakh lives every year? Who cares for the statistics that show gutka chewing as the primary source of oral cancer? Without sorting out the conflict between health and economic interests well intentioned initiatives cannot be effective in saving the present and future generations from the ill-effects of gutka and cigarettes. |
Country left high and dry “WATER, water, everywhere but not a drop to drink”, bemoaned a farmer. “Mama, what’s the big deal about water? Just give them Pepsi instead”, remarked an urban schoolgirl. Reactions which reflect the tragedy and brutality of present-day India which boasts of great ancient rivers, plentiful waters. Yet throats remain parched till death finally ends the agony. Of a callous system which has converted the flow of pure water into the sewage of the present to completely drain its future! How else should one react to the drought sweeping most parts of the country? Embracing large swathes of west, north, south and central India in its fold. If in Uttar Pradesh 15 districts are drought affected, in Andhra Pradesh it is 17 of 21 districts. In Karnataka, the figure reads 166 out of 168 talukas and in Orissa 360. In Punjab, the farmers are on their knees praying to the rain god. Gujarat is ruing the loss of its cotton crop and Madhya Pradesh that of its soyabean in 2.5 mm hectares. Rajasthan cries over bajra, the main kharif crop, Himachal over paddy and West Bengal over the destruction of 160 million hectares. The figures of the affected humans and livestock are mind-boggling. What, indeed, is the big deal? Millions of words have been written and millions more will continue to be written. But it is like water off a duck’s back. Our
netagan merely go through the stereotype motions; appropriate noises are made, hollow concerns voiced and instant remedies offered at the time of crisis only to be dismissed as a bad dream post-crisis. Look at this heartlessness. Even as state governments knock at the Centre’s door seeking relief, our “computer savvy kisan”, Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh, has rejected the idea of declaring a nationwide drought. “It is for the affected states to do so”, he told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday last. As for our Right Honourables the less said the better. In the Lok Sabha, an Orissa MP’s calling attention motion got drowned in the Bangla uproar over the creation of a new Railway Zone. In the Rajya Sabha, barely 20-odd members were present in the House for the short notice discussion. Most of them enjoying their afternoon siesta. Neither the Prime Minister/nor the Leader of the Opposition, nor senior leaders down to Party Whips cared to be present. The few that did turn up said their bit and disappeared. All pointing an accusing finger at each other. Their ideas and remedies were as shrivelled and parched as the subject under discussion. So much for their agonising concern! The big question is: “Does anyone really care?” Not really. Importantly, why do our netagan prioritise something as crucial as drought and water supply only at a time of crisis? Why do they do so little to develop a long-term response to what is a very predictable problem? What is the point of releasing foodgrains and fodder only after people and cattle have either died or simply migrated? When it arrives at its destination after a week, thanks to cumbersome bureaucratic procedure, if at all, whom will it feed? Who will be held accountable? And which head will roll? Why do politicians always measure the problem in monetary terms? How does a problem get solved by the monies sanctioned by them? Why must we always depend upon rain for food production? Especially when 4,000 billion cubic metres of rain — 75 per cent of the total rain — falls during the 70 to 90 days of the monsoon? Only 1000 billion cubic metres fall during the remaining nine months. Moreover, the rainfall varies from a low of 0.50 to 55 mm and a high of 12,000-13,000 mm. Also, when we know that our land and water resources are stretched beyond limits due to our burgeoning population. India’s landmass of 329 million hectares accounts for only 2 per cent of the globe’s land area while its population accounts for 16 per cent. Thus, our ancient land’s carrying capacity has been exhausted. Equally scandalous is the government’s stand. It continues to depend helplessly on the weatherman’s predictions, which have almost invariably gone wrong. All are aware that the world is under the grip of the E1 Nino affect. Global warming has reached worrisome heights where even the glaciers of Antartica are melting rapidly. With weather patterns changing drastically, was the government waiting for the drought to occur? And, then, try to minimise its impact. Why was nothing done to stop deforestation, which has resulted in drought-prone areas retaining less and less water? What is being done to stop village tanks from being silted? Why does the Centre not have a full-fledged rain-harvesting plan? Many inter-state disputes are piling up. No plans are in the pipeline to decongest highly populated areas, which result in too many tubewells and a lowering of the groundwater table. Worse, so dependent are we on the monsoon that even irrigation has gone down the tube. Look at the figures. In 1970-71, 41 per cent of the total land was irrigated through canals. And only 14 per cent through tubewells. By 1997-98 tubewells were irrigating 34 per cent of all irrigated lands/while canals accounted for only 31 per cent. Resulting in a major drain on ground water. The reason for this is clear. Over the years there has been a sharp decline in public investment in agriculture. In 2000-2001 public investment was down to just over Rs 4,000 crore from about Rs 4,500 crore in 1993-94. Money, which is insufficient to even maintain the existing infrastructure, let alone expand it. Look at the absurdity. The Centre has earmarked Rs 42,000 crore subsidy for fertilizers, but a pittance for other basic agriculture inputs. Besides, politicians used to big ideas, dreams and bucks, are interested only in major and medium irrigation works. The focus on large expensive projects ensures that local solutions are not given the attention they deserve. This leads to regional disparities, as irrigation can be assured to only 33 per cent of India’s agriculture. As it stands, the government has spent over Rs 90,000 crore since 1951 on these works. One of the reasons for the failure of the government to provide any permanent solution to the problem of recurring drought is that the money spent, though astronomical, has always been on the “dig and fill-up” variety type. There was no attempt to link the grants to the creation of permanent assets, which could take care of the people during distress. Vast deforestation has further polluted the environment. Generating more heat and leading to a meltdown of the glaciers. This would entail uprooting people and resettling them somewhere else. This is a highly volatile issue as experience in the ongoing Narmada Dam controversy shows. At it stands, there is a severe resource crunch even for the ongoing projects. Shockingly, 169 projects pertaining to the Fifth Five-year Plan continue to be in limbo due to the lack of funds. At the same time, it is undeniable that a large part of the problem can be solved by harnessing simple rain harvesting technologies, which are optimally managed at the level of local self-government. Unfortunately, politicians have not hesitated to muddy the waters. The result is that large areas, which once had abundant supply of water, now reel under water shortage, as the funds available for investment have dried up. Since about 67 per cent of the population is still dependent on rain, groundwater continues to be lifted indiscriminately, resulting in a sharp drop of 3 to 5 per cent every year in the water-tables (from 20-30 ft to 300-400 ft). In some areas all the three levels of soil stand exhausted. Alarmingly, there is no effective coordination among the various rural development programmes. The Agriculture and Water Resource Ministries work in opposite directions. Each minister and his babus guard their fiefdom with zealousness. Let alone coordination, even silly information is shrouded in secrecy. It is high time our netagan pull up their bootstraps. They have to shed their desire to pander to vote-banks and reluctance to focus on long-term rather than short-term planning. The result? The annual scourge of drought and water famine in one part of the country or another. The Ganga and the Yamuna have already earned the title of dead rivers and floating bodies. What of the future, if Lord Indra chooses not to oblige? |
The lady is a gem SHE is 94 years old. A lady of the house, lady of the world. She should have been the first lady of the nation. On her 91st birthday (her late husband’s ninetieth), she danced the fox-trot to a jazz band in Kasauli. She made a house called Red Combe swing like it had seldom done before. Her own house is called Fair View. A panorama, alas, being shattered by noisy civil and military traffic on the Lower Mall. On a July afternoon, the lady sat with three guests under the apricot trees in her garden. One of the guests (Editor of The Tribune), recalled Tribune Trust meetings at the same venue with apricots (khurmanis) falling on the participants’ heads! This time around, the apricots had already been harvested. Their nectar was served to us guests in attractive tumblers, and we happily savoured khurmani and home-pressed juice instead of the routine industrial beer with glycerine floating in it. She let us into a secret. For reasons she did not disclose, she had taken a vow over 30 year ago never to eat fruit except on the 29th of the month. And, mind you, the lady is a vegetarian! With a theatrical flourish of her hands around her head, she enquires of the man with unconventional curls who shall soon find himself, minus a first lady, at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Will he, a techno-scientist, be able to handle constitutional matters, and will he be able to see through the wiles and guiles of the political class? We offer our opinions, suggesting that he should be able to learn on the job. But she remains unconvinced. She is generous in her praise for the dignity and intellect President
K. R. Narayanan and First Lady Usha Narayanan brought to Rashtrapati Bhavan. So Janaab Abdul Kalam Sahib will have a good role model to bank on when he becomes the Head of the Indian State. The lady also feels that old friend Alex in Mumbai should stop sulking, and that the government would do well to send him as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Amarjit Dulat in the PMO might then go into a sulk, but two successive RAW ex-chiefs in Srinagar would, perhaps, not go down too well with sentiments in the valley. She regales us with stories of her diplomatic, bureaucratic and political career with her husband. Once in Srinagar Mrs G. complained to her husband that he was known to share a drink with the Congress (I)’s rival, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah. Her husband retorted: “Whom would you like me to share my Scotch with in the evening, my chowkidar?” And, that uncharacteristically silenced the visiting PM from New Delhi. Our lady host also wanted to know what we thought of the fuss over Time magazine’s article about Vajpayee. She herself was not impressed by the
paranoid response, and wondered if the Editors’ Guild would act on the matter. We cannot have enough of the home-pressed juice before the lunch bell beckons us to a lovely airy dining room. A table for four. A four-course lunch. Sitaphal soup, spinach souffle, creamed mushrooms-on-toast, boiled Dover sole and vegetables, bread from Sharma bakery in Chandigarh, fruit salad (apricots and custard) followed by coffee in dainty bone-china. All very delicious and quite perfect. Finally, the chef, good old Madan, appears to take a bow as the smart waiter-valet Sanju clears the table. The lady is none other than Fori B.K. Nehru, every bit a partner and perfect spouse for the late ‘Biju’ Nehru. May she and her apricots and plums continue to bloom and further enrich Kasauli for years to come. |
Why do politicians shun openness? “FOR a clean public life in which morality and ethics find due recognition, the BJP will make it obligatory on every elected representative to make public his entire income and wealth within 90 days of election..” — BJP’s election manifesto, 1996. In its 1998 manifesto, the party had made the rules more stringent by including “the income and assets of those of his/her spouse and dependent children and parents”. Not only that. It said: “These declarations will be open to public scrutiny and have to be made every year.” All this was when the BJP was still striving to remain as “a party with a difference.” Sadly, every time the party tried to force its own MPs to declare their assets, the latter resisted with determination. The “Maharashtra format” was found “defective”. None other than the present Finance Minister Jaswant Singh had insisted on changing the revised questionnaire, which in the end was reduced to a worthless piece of bare bio data. Even rival faction leaders joined hands — like all parties now jointly opposing the guidelines of the Supreme Court/Election Commission — to raise a set of obstructions: difficulty in evaluating bungalows and real estate in different places when there was no official rates; ancestral and joint family properties and ‘gifts’ to the spouse be excluded; business income, especially family or partnership business, should be exempted; tax officials will use the information against the declarer, etc. Some even derided the whole exercise as of the “licence raj” mindset. The BJP’s tryst with transparency highlights the determination with which the new generation Indian politician resists every move to make him reveal his true colour. It is as pathetic as dragging a sacrificial goat to the altar. It was the same mortal fears that have prompted the assorted group of politicians to jointly oppose the recent cleansing operation of the Election Commission. This has been an issue in the contemporary Indian history on which the political parties as a class find themselves pitted against the people of India. The divide between the vote-seeker and the voter is so total that you can hardly find any citizen who supports the political class on the poll reforms. A common refrain is that the political outfits have formed a cartel to protect their vested interests. Shorn off frills, the issue at stake is whether the voters have a right to know the full background — criminal as well as moral — of the candidates they are supposed to choose. This is precisely what the Supreme Court has emphasised. The commission has accordingly ordered that all candidates should submit details of their criminal background, if any, and their income, assets and liabilities as also their educational qualification along with the nomination form. Educational qualification is not a contentious issue. Politicians have contested the commission’s guidelines on two grounds. First, sweeping powers to the returning officers to evaluate the furnished details and affidavits will lead to arbitrariness. There is no immediate remedy if a returning officer rejects nominations on flimsy ground with mala fide intentions. Some of them can even act for self interests or for pecuniary benefits. This has been the reason cited by the Left parties who are otherwise ready for declaration on assets and criminal background. But this could have been remedied by incorporating suitable safeguards. The second objection is more fundamental. They fear that by imposing guidelines, the judiciary and commission have tried to encroach on the realm of legislature. Hence they unanimously decided to replace the guidelines by a bill amending the Representation of the People Act. In principle, there can be no objection to this. However, sadly, the subsequent draft bill as it stands today seems to have dashed all hopes of a fair deal to the voters from the political class. In the first place, the new Bill confines itself to 14 ‘heinous crimes’ like murder and rape. It does not include the white collar crimes, some thing the new class of smart politicians are adept. This is some thing very crucial to democracy because more than the hardened criminals, it has been the gentlemen swindlers who does deeper and wider damage to the system. To please them, the bill has also done away with the stipulation for assets and income declaration. This is on the premise that a separate bill in this regard is expected soon. If past experience is any indication, this may not come that ‘soon’. The main purpose of the Election Commission’s guideline has been to bring the criminal background, if any, of the candidates and their claimed income and assets to public scrutiny. This might have worked as a restraint on the unscrupulous politicians. True, in some cases the people have overwhelmingly voted known criminals and dons. But let us don’t forget that even this was made possible with the help of dominant political parties. As the BJP’s experience shows, the politician is going to oppose tooth and nail any move on declaration of assets and their source of income. If it really becomes unavoidable, they would chose submission of the returns to the speaker — as they file doctored tax returns. Public declaration would make it easy for the people to detect the wealth amassed through the business of politics. L.K. Advani had once told this writer that the Congress game plan in those days was to make elections a prohibitively costly business. The most effective reform to curb this came about not through a Bill but by a simple order by T.N. Seshan. He sent observers to record wasteful spending in constituencies. Since then we have less ugly display of banners, gaudily coloured posters, cutouts, buntings and billas on the streets during the polls. Two factors are responsible for the present situation. First, the sweeping changes in the structure of the party hierarchy. Assiduously built on a patron-client relationship from the top to bottom, the boss of the provincial outfits judiciously throws spoils of power at the supporter in exchange for his tiny fiefdoms below. This is the great mystery of the success of one-boss regional outfits who neither have an ideology to bind together nor anything special to offer to the people. Parties like the BSP are known to collect huge funds from the candidates as ‘licence fee’. This paves the ideal breeding ground for a
reign of money and muzzle power. Second, the absence of ideology and social programmes has yielded way to money and muzzle power. The decade-long reform regime has imposed an inescapable programmatic unanimity among the political parties. Even the Left governments have to endorse the privatisation and commercialisation plans in toto. This invariably narrows down the policy options like schemes for the suffering people. Those who misuse caste and religious appeal have also realised the demographic constraints in making any electoral breakthrough. It is a big deal for the political parties if a Pappu Yadav or Anand Mohan could garner additional votes to ensure victory against a Mulayam or Laloo. The latter can counter it by propping up Shahabuddins. When the fight becomes more bitter and victory margin narrower, the search for winning formula gets desperate. In those good old days, you had tall men who have earned a niche for themselves through their life-long work among the workers, farmers, tribals, etc and those with social service background. Political parties seek to substitute this loss by dons and money bags. This is the genesis of the growing muzzle and money power in elections. |
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Wet-dredging Sukhna Lake: pitfalls ahead
THE Chandigarh Administration is preparing for wet-dredging operations at the Sukhna Lake soon to regain the storage lost on account of silting. Last year the work was allotted to a contractor who did not own the needed equipment and wanted to sub-let the task to another firm. This time the bidders will be required to possess the dredging equipment and expertise in handling the work. The project proposal, approved by the Union Ministry of Environment, provides for restoration through wet-dredging of a depth of 4 ft lost to silting involving the removal of some 318 lakh 3 ft of silt from the Sukhna Lake bed. It is proposed to locate a 28 acre sediment collection pond near Kishangarh village. The UT Administration has acquired the land and cleared it of trees. In the sediment collection pond “decantation” of the water discharged as part of the slurry from the dredger would occur and “clear water” would flow back in the Sukhna Lake, restoring to some extent the water lost as part of the dredged slurry. The water in the Sukhna Lake remains muddy throughout the year. So it is not correct to expect clear water to flow back from the sediment detention pond. The maximum amount of soil particles removed through wet-dredging slurry never go beyond 18 per cent i.e. for every unit of silt dredged the amount of water wasted is around 4.5 times or more. So for removal of 318 lakh ft3, the volume of water likely to be lost is enough to create a depth of 22.5 ft in the lake. The water discharged into the pond will have particles of all grades, including fines. It is well known that fine grained particles (below 2 microns) are held in suspension in “colloidal state”. The particles in the colloidal state are governed by the Brownian phenomenon and free from the force of gravity. The particles carry on their surface “negative” charge and they move in a zig-zag fashion with jerky motion not coming in contact with other particles on account of carrying similar charge so repelling each other. Such a state can continue unless some floculent is added to the water to cancel the negative surface charge. The amount of clay or fine grained particles in the dredged slurry would vary and it is not correct to assume that complete decantation would take place in the sediment collection pond. The water flowing out would be muddy carrying particles held in suspension, so the amount of the dredged volume would get lost due to this return flow. The coarse particles settling in the pond would be in very loose state (i.e. having high void ratio around 0.8) in which the forces of “repulsion” and gravity are held in equilibrium. Such sediments in the lakes or dams take very long time for consolidation. This means that the deposits in the sediment pond will have a volume several times that it occupied in the lake before dredging. It is anybody’s guess that in how much time the 28 acre plot of the sediment pond would get full to the brim and the dredged silt starts flowing back into the Sukhna Lake, cleared at great cost and effort. The UT Administration should look for other solutions instead of wet-dredging, which may be in the form of creating extra storage by raising the flood level by 4 ft. This would not need raising of the embankment as the ample free board had been provided by the planner and only some changes would be needed in the spillway. |
A computerised system for fitness IN an attempt to encourage overweight people to eat less and exercise more, a computerised system has been developed in the USA whereby automated phone calls help such people stay fit and healthy through a question and answer session. In a study conducted by the Centre for the Advancement of Health in Washington DC, almost 300 people with sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets were asked to do a little exercise, like half an hour of walking daily, and eat healthy foods. However, instead of a human counsellor ringing them up for a chat or inviting them over to a clinic for a face-to-face session, they were instructed to ring a number linked to an automated answering service, which quizzed them about their habits. They replied back by pressing a number on their phone. At the end of it all, the computer, having assessed their motivation or rather lack of it, offered them a task or goal. The patient’s doctors received regular monthly reports from the computer, detailing their progress. It was found that after three months, more than a quarter of the Want to throw your mobile phone? Ever wanted to hurl your cellular phone across the room because of its incessant ringing? You can get paid to do that job with researchers, who in their bid to design and build more robust electronic gadgets have built a machine for “crash-testing” mobile phones, handheld computers and other portable electronic devices. By hurling the expensive equipment at a high speed into different surfaces, the researchers hope to understand which components most often break when dropped, which in the long term, could help manufacturers. Battery connections and liquid crystal displays were most prone to suffer damage on impact, found researchers during the course of tests conducted so far, with over 100 different models of mobile phones. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to a guillotine, the crash-tester was developed by Victor Shim and colleagues Lim Chwee Teck and Vincent Tan, National University of Singapore. It can slam a phone, or any similarly sized gadget, down into a surface in any orientation.
ANI Cigarette ads undermine good parenting Cigarette advertising can undermine the best efforts of parents, influencing teenagers to smoke even when parents are highly involved in their lives, researchers say. But good parenting — defined as setting limits for children and taking an active interest in their daily lives — cuts in half the risk that a teen will start smoking, the researchers found. “Even if you do a good job of parenting, this advertising can undermine your effectiveness,” John Pierce, an epidemiologist at the University of California San Diego who led the study, said in a telephone interview. “People come to me and say, ‘I try to do everything right and still my kid starts smoking’,” added Pierce, whose study is published in Tuesday’s issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “The protective effect of recommended parenting seems to come from parents being more vigilant and interactive to keep kids from mixing with peers who smoke. But they don’t appear to be aware of the powerful influence of the media messages.” Reuters |
Without mastering the practice of rhythmic breathing... the state of superior ecstasy cannot be reached. The universe itself is created by the differentiation of breaths that brought for from chaos. Nine distinct breaths sprang from chaos and gave birth to the powers. Light and darkness separated and the cosmos was formed from a coagulation of nine breaths; the unused residues of this creative breath are those that are still circulating in the world under the name of internal breath. It is these that the Taoists absorb in order to obtain immortality. This breath is obviously not the one that we absorb by breathing (external breath) but it is the creative power that resides inside ourselves..... The absorption of the external breath renders the body immortal. —
Daniel Odier, Nirvana Tao: The secret meditation techniques of the Taoist and Buddhist Masters. *** Prana is the link between the astral and the physical bodies. When the slender thread like Prana is cut off, the astral body separates from the physical body..... Breath is the external manifestation of Prana, the vital force. Breath is gross. Prana is subtle. By exercising control over the gross breath you can control the subtle Prana inside..... It is Prana that you are breathing rather than the atmospheric air. Realise the occult inner life-powers which underlie the breath. —
Swami Shivananda, Bliss Divine. *** Respiration being disturbed, the mind becomes disturbed. By restraining respiration, the Yogi gets steadiness of mind. —
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika
*** To control the process of shwasa and prashwasa is called Pranayama. Inhalation of breath is called shwasa and exhalation, prashwasa. ..... If you ever feel giddy, sad or upset due to some emotional imbalance, do Pranayama and you will see how soon your peace of mind is restored. —
Sudarshan Kumar Biala, Yoga for Better Living and Self Realisation. *** All the four Vedas are truthful. Those who read and reflect on them know the distinction between merit and demerit. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Var Asa M1 *** He whom the Lord blesses with truth, practices Truth. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Var Asa, M1 |
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