the great editor

Fighting cancer with fibre-rich food

2011-05-16T16:15:00.001+07:00

Fighting cancer with fibre-rich food: "Eat food like medicine or you may have to consume medicines like food, says Dr Anupama Krishnan In Ayurveda, cancer can broadly brought und..."

SWINE FLU: ABOUT ALL

2009-08-02T12:31:00.007+07:00

What is Swine Flu

Swine flu is an infection caused by a virus. It’s named for a virus that pigs can affect pigs. People usually do not get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. The virus is contagious and can spread from human to human. Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.
Swine flu also known as swine influenza, hog flu and pig flu. In 2009 the media labeled as "swine flu" the flu caused by 2009’s new strain of swine-origin A/H1N1 pandemic virus just as it had earlier dubbed as "avian flu" flu caused by the recent Asian-linage HPAI (High Pathogenic Avian Influenza) H5N1 strain that is still endemic in many wild bird species in several countries.
Swine flu is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. This new virus was first detected in people in the United States in April 2009. Other countries, including Mexico and Canada, have reported people sick with this new virus. This virus is spreading from person-to-person, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread.
Although symptoms have generally proved mild, a small number of patients will develop more serious illness. Many of these people have other underlying health conditions, such as heart or lung disease, that put them at increased risk.
On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) signaled that a global pandemic of novel influenza A (H1N1) was underway by raising the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6. This action was a reflection of the spread of the new H1N1 virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus. At the time, more than 70 countries had reported cases of novel influenza A (H1N1) infection and there were ongoing community level outbreaks of novel H1N1 in multiple parts of the world.

Swine Flu Symptoms

Usually symptoms of swine flu have generally proved mild. However a small number of patients may develop more serious illness. Many of these people have other underlying health conditions, such as heart or lung disease, that put them at increased risk.

Flu symptoms can include:
· Fever
· Cough
· Headache
· Weakness and fatigue
· Aching muscles and joints
· Sore throat
· Runny nose
As with any sort of influenza, how bad and how long the symptoms last will depend on treatment and the patient’s individual circumstances.
Most cases reported in India have been relatively mild, with those affected starting to recover within a week. Persons with swine flu infection should be considered potentially contagious for up to 7 days following illness onset. Persons who continue to be ill longer than 7 days after illness onset should be considered potentially contagious until symptoms have resolved. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.
A confirmed case of swine flu infection is a person with an acute respiratory illness with laboratory confirmed swine flu infection by one or more of the following tests:
· Real-time RT-PCR
· Viral culture

Prevention and Precautions for Swine Flu

Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through droplets created while coughing or sneezing by a person infected with swine flu. Infected person may be able to infect others beginning one day before symptoms develop and up to seven or more days after becoming sick.
Stay away from people who display signs of swine flu. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR MOUTH AND NOSE WITH YOUR HANDS. YOU MAY TOUCH SURFACES ON WHICH A PERSON MAY HAVE EARLIER SNEEZED OR COUGHED. WASH & SANITIZE YOUR HANDS FREQUENTLY
Information on the effectiveness of facemasks and respirators for decreasing the risk of swine fluis extremely limited. Thus, it is difficult to assess their potential effectiveness in decreasing the risk of swine flu (H1N1) virus transmission. In the absence of clear scientific data, the interim recommendations below have been developed on the basis of public health judgment, the historical use of facemasks and respirators in other settings for preventing transmission of influenza and other respiratory viruses.
· You can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza by covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
· Washing your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. You can also use alcohol-based hand cleaners.
· Avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
· Trying to avoid close contact with sick people.
· Staying home from work or school if you are sick.
The impact of swine flu is becoming more severe everyday. If you suspect you have caught it, it recommended that you stay at home to avoid infecting others. The virus typically spreads from coughs and sneezes or by touching contaminated surfaces and then touching the nose or mouth. Symptoms are similar to those of seasonal flu, and may include fever, sneezes, sore throat, coughs, headache, and muscle or joint pains
Because swine flu is a new virus, most people have no natural immunity. People older than age 50 are getting swine flu at far lower rates than younger people, which may be an evidence older people may have some immunity from prior exposures to a similar virus.

How Does Swine Flu Spread?

Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through droplets created while coughing or sneezing by a person infected with the influenza-A (H1N1) commonly known as swine flu. Infected person may be able to infect others beginning one day before symptoms develop and up to seven or more days after becoming sick.
Follow simple steps as cough etiquette (covering mouth & nose with handkerchief or tissue paper while coughing), stay at least an armâ€™s length from persons coughing or sneezing, avoid gathering and wash your hands frequently. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids and eat nutritious food.

How To Protect Yourself from swine flu

· Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
· Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
· Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
· Try to avoid close contact with people having respiratory illness.
· If one gets sick with influenza, one must stay at home, away from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them. However, if one is having any respiratory distress, one should report to a nearby hospital.

What should I do if I Identify Swine Flu Symptoms?

People who have traveled from the affected countries in the past ten days and show symptoms of influenza A (H1N1, swine flu) like fever, cough, sore throat and difficulty in breathing should immediately contact the telephone number given below or the nearby Government Hospital.

IMPORTANT CONTACT NUMBERS:
Outbreak Monitoring Cell (Control Room, NICD): 011-23921401
Websites: www.mohfw.nic.in and www.nicd.nic.in

Steps being taken by Government of India to prevent outbreak of swine flu in India:
· The strategy is basically to detect early cases among the passengers coming from the affected countries either by air, road or ship.
· The Government has launched a massive mass media campaign to inform and educate people on dos and donts.
· Sharing information with public through media.

Two Things in Your Home Can Reduce Swine Flu Infection by 30%

You may be getting concerned at the news of the swine flu virus spreading rapidly throughout the country. There have been around 280 confirmed cases of swine flu in India as of 17th July.
It is important to understand how swine flu or for that matter any flu spreads. Contrary to the popular belief, swine flu is not air borne. The two main ways it spreads: first if someone who’s infected sneezes or coughs and you come in contact with the virus in the air. The other is if you touch an object which may have have the virus and you touch your eyes, mouth or nose.
It’s common for people to touch their nose, eyes and mouth. Most of these actions are sub-conscious like licking your tongue for flipping pages of a book or a magazine. As soon as you feel an itch you immediately rub or scratch your eyes.
Remember the virus can be anywhere - a door knob, a remote control, phones, computer keyboards, etc. The idea is not to get paranoid and stop using them. A simple task can protect you from infection.
Two things in your home - soap and water can reduce the chance of infection by 30%. All you need to do is keep washing your hand with soap and water frequently. And most importantly, stop touching your face. Make it a conscious effort to observe and stop. Another side effect of not touching your face too often - your skin looks better!

How to Identify Swine Flu?

Swine flu Vs Common Cold
What are the typical symptoms of Swine Flu and how do you differentiate it from the common cold or the regular flu?
The swine flu and the flu look identical to most people. Both have similar symptoms such as
· Fever
· Headache
· Cough
· Sore Throat
· Body Aches
However in some cases the swine flu may cause more discomfort. Patients could complain of nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, which are not typical symptoms of Influenza or Flu. People over 65, children under age 8 and anyone with a chronic medical condition are more susceptible to the virus.

a smiley in the sky

2008-12-11T11:38:00.001+07:00

Smiling moon, which appear in the sky on 1st december

photo taken by

AV Musafir Hasam

avian flu

2008-02-01T12:26:00.000+07:00

ALL ABOUT AVIAN FLU

One of the most dreaded epidemic and potensial pandemic is again making news. This contagious disease of animals has led to death of millions of wild and domestic birds. The major concern worlwide is that of disastrous bird flu outbreak in humans, if the virus mutates into a form which can spread easily from man to man. The ability to mutate quickly poses a hinderence for vaccine preparation and is a hurricane task for the human immune system.

The cause of bird flu is Influenza A virus which has 16 H subtypes and 9 N subtypes. Among them H5 and H7 subtypes are known to cause highly pathogenic disease form.

The illness develops within 1-5 days of exposure to virus. The symptoms in birds may range from ruffled features, a drop in egg production to highly pathogenic form including damage to internal organs and ultimately death.

The symptoms in humans include cough, fever, sorethroat, muscle ache. Complication are viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress.
Mode of transmision of bird flu:- Migratory waterfowl (natural carriers) shed virus in their dropping, salvia, etc...

The domestic poultry (chicken, turkey, geese) becomes infected through condaminated water, feed or soil. Pigs are especially vulnerable to avian and human viruses. So they serve as ideal medium in which the virus can exchange genes.
Bird flu spread quickly and fataly within domestic poultry and is transported through farm equipments, tractors, cages, etc...

The open air markets, bird smuggling, selling and butchering of sick birds are other prime factors for disease spread.
Avian flu generally doesnot affect humans but in 1997 six persons in Hongkong died due to bird flu. Laboratory confirmed human cases have been reported in four countries - Combodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam. The virus is now considered endemic in these countries.
Humans become infected via direct contact with infected bird or contaminated surface like feather, droppings, saliva, etc...

The young children and healthy adults havebeen mostly affected although all age groups are affected. Man to man transmission is not yet confirmed.
Magnitude of risk is alarmingly high due to characteristics of Influenza A subtypes.

. Direct transmission - H5N1 virus can directly jump from birds to humans.
. Virulence- Fatality noted in 100 percentage of infected birds and morethan half of infected persons.
. Genetic mutation - Virus has a particular capacity to combine with human flu virus and thereby form a new viral strain which can easily spread from humans to humans. Such a posible undesirable situation would evoke a pandemic.
. Rapid spread- Infected birds amounting to millions have succumbed to death often within 48 hours.
In Ayurvedic perspective it can be considered as ‘Sankramika Roga’ which spread through touch, inhalation etc...
In the broader sense it can be visualized as ‘Janapada Vidhwamsa Karana’ (causing destruction or death of large population) resulting from Adharma ( unrightous behaviour) or ashuchi (unhygenic conditions)
The Bhuta apghata (assault by micro organism) leads to Ojoksaya which implies diminition of essence of body elements. Therefore remedial measures must start from upliftment of body immunity ‘Vyadhiksmatva’ - the ability of the body of prevent development of deseases and resist the develpoed desease.

This can achieved through administration of herbal medicines purifactory therapies, favourable diet and regimen.
Preventive measures include high standards of hygiene, uses of soap and warmwater to wash hand after handling rawpoultry.
. Clean and disinfect surfaces (cutting boards, vessel) in contact with poultry products.
. Since the virus is destroyed by heat, thorough cooking (upto 70 degree celsius) renders cooked poultry harmless for consumption. However avoid use of raw or undercooked eggs. All parts of the poultry should be cooked well (no pink parts, no running yolk).
Juices from raw poultry and poultry products should never be allowed during food preparation to touch or mix with item meant for raw consumption.
The absence of effective vaccine and limited production and high price of the currently used medicine (Tami flu and Relenza) instigates us to give more attention towards preventive measures.

By
DR.ANUPAMA KRISHNAN

2007-12-27T22:08:00.000+07:00

PAKISTAN : POWER AND POLITICS

Timeline: Pakistan

1947: Pakistan is founded after partition from India. Muhammad Ali Jinnah becomes the country's first governor-general and Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan its first prime minister.

1948: Death of Jinnah. Khawaja Nazimuddin becomes governor-general.

1951: Liaquat Ali is assassinated. Khawaja Nazimuddin becomes prime minster. Malik Ghulam Muhammad becomes governor-general.

1953: Muhammad Ali Bogra becomes prime minister.

1955: Iskandar Mirza becomes governor-general. Chaudhry Muhammad Ali becomes prime minister.

1956: Pakistan is proclaimed an Islamic republic, Iskander Mirza becomes first president

1958: Martial law is declared, Mirza is sent into exile and Field Marshal Ayub Khan declares himself president.

1962: Martial law suspended.

1965: Ayub Khan wins presidential election.

1969: General Yahya Khan takes over following Ayub Khan's resignation, martial law declared.

1971: President Yahya cedes power to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who becomes president.

1973: Martial law suspended as Bhutto becomes prime minister and Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry becomes president under new constitution.

1977: General election is followed by rioting as Bhutto's Pakistan People's party is accused of vote rigging. General Zia ul-Haq becomes president and martial law declared.

1978: Zia becomes Pakistan's sixth president.

1979: Political parties banned, Bhutto is hanged.

1985: Martial law and ban on political parties lifted.

1986: Bhutto's daughter, Benazir, returns from exile.

1988: Zia dies in mysterious plane crash. Ghulam Ishaq Khan becomes president, Benazir Bhutto becomes first female prime minister of a Muslim country.

1990: Bhutto dismissed on charges of corruption. Nawaz Sharif elected prime minister.

1993: Khan and Sharif resign under pressure from the army. Election returns Bhutto as prime minister. Wasim Sajjad becomes interim president. Sardar Farooq Leghari replaces Sajjad as president.

1996: Leghari dismisses Bhutto amid allegations of corruption.

1997: Nawaz Sharif wins election to return as prime minister. Wasim Sajjad becomes interim president.

1998: Muhammad Rafiq Tarar becomes 11th president of Pakistan.

1999: Bhutto and her husband convicted of corruption. Bhutto stays out of the country. Sharif overthrown in coup led by General Pervez Musharraf.

2000: Sharif convicted of hijacking and terrorism and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is pardoned by military authorities and goes into exile in Saudi Arabia.

2001: Musharraf declares himself president while still head of the army.

2002: Musharraf elected as president in referendum criticised as unconstitutional. First general election since start of military rule. Mir Zafarullah Jamali elected prime minister.

2004: Musharraf announces he will continue as head of the army despite having previously said he would give up the role.

April 2007: In April Musharraf suspends Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the chief justice, following demonstrations. Chaudhry is reinstated in July.

August 2007: Pakistan's supreme court rules Sharif can return from exile, but he is sent to Saudi Arabia within hours of his return in September.
The same month Musharraf agrees to step down as head of the army after presidential elections in October.

October 2007: Musharraf wins presidential elections in Pakistan, but must await decision from the supreme court as to whether he was eligible to be a candidate.
Also in October, Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister, returns from exile to Pakistan. During a parade in the city of Karachi attended by thousands of her supporters, a suicide bomb attack kills more than 130 of her supporters.

November 2007: Musharraf declares a state of emergency in Pakistan. Troops surround Islamabad's state-run television and radio stations and police surround the supreme court.

December 15: Musharraf lifts a nationwide state of emergency amid mounting criticism that general elections scheduled for January will not be free and fair. Musharraf cancelled the six-week long emergency law a day after he made changes to Pakistan's constitution.

December 21: At least 50 people are killed in a suicide bombing at a mosque in northwest Pakistan, apparently targeting Aftab Khan Sherpao, the country's former interior minister.

December 27: Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister, is killed by a suicide bomber who first fired shots at her before blowing himself up during an election rally in Rawalpindi, 14km south of Islamabad.

Source: Al Jazeera

2007-08-16T16:43:00.000+07:00

REAL CHANGE, REAL RESULT

For five years, IIM Kozhikode has set an example for dalit and adivasi empowerment,

ALL THOSE who oppose caste-based reservations on the grounds of a dilution of merit might find themselves forced to a rethink by the Centre of Excellence at the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. A joint venture of the IIMK and the Kerala government’s SC/ST department, the Centre’s achievements have made it a model for other states and centres of higher education.
After his BA, K. Dilraj, attained the life ambition of most young men from his tribe: a job as a lower division clerk under the ST quota. Five years later, Dilraj, now in his late 20s, is ICICI-Lombard’s Regional Manager in Chennai, and his monthly earnings are about to cross Rs 1 lakh. Dilraj’s is not an isolated case, however. For five years now, the Centre’s five-month Certificate Course for Professional Development (CCPD) has been selecting disadvantaged Dalit and Adivasi youngsters from across Kerala, and providing them the training to make up for their cramping lack of exposure and resources. They are then turned out to take on the world, reservation or no reservation.
According to programme director DD Namboodiri, the CCPD has already supported, groomed and empowered 217 SC and ST youngsters, and 40 more are waiting in the wings. At least 35 percent of the CCPD’S alumni are already with top MNCs,national corporates and other organisations, while some even run their own companies. Thirty-seven percent were inspired to return for higher studies. The transformation, for many, has been amazing. Dilraj, who was among the first batch in 2002, says: “It changed everything — my personality, exposure, skills, outlook. My confidence really went up, and I had a go at the CAT. I made it, and here I am.” VM Sreejith, who runs a bio-informatics company, says the Centre re-moulded him. “I was always withdrawn — I had no self-confidence and I could not even meet people without stammering. My ambitions were no different from those of anyone else from my background.
But the Centre of Excellence transformed me.” Other alumni include people like MM Risha — daughter of a Dalit labourer, motivated to pursue higher studies after the programme and now with an MNC in Hyderabad — and Sarita Velayudhan, a young Dalit woman from a modest Kerala home, now an executive with a US-based firm in Kochi.
SC and ST communities are 10 percent of Kerala’s population, but their numbers in private corporations are negligible, obviously because they lack soft skills and exposure,” Namboodiri says.
``We focus mainly on communication, IT skills, and personality and entrepreneurship development, but touches upon almost every other aspect the disadvantaged SC/ST student may have missed out on.”
The entry criterion is graduation, but most alumni have higher qualifications. Apart from the IIM-K faculty, guest professors from places such as France, the US and Indonesia also take classes here. Each week, the faculty ensures that students from the Centre interact closely with the IIM-K’s MBA students, to bring down mental barriers and boost confidence.
The Centre is to become an autonomous institution next year, with support from IIM-K, the National Institute of Advanced Studies and the Tata Institute of Social Science. It will then be called the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation, and will focus on research, training, and advocacy for marginalised communities.
Most IIMs have three-week preparatory classes for disadvantaged students. But what is really more important is removing the barriers to their entry and giving them the competitive edge. That is what the Centre of Excellence is proving now.

K A Shaji

2007-07-07T12:45:00.000+07:00

A `rags-to-rubber'

struggle for Kani tribals

Retnakaran Kani is a rich man. He belongs to a rare group of tribal nouveau riche who have made their fortune from rubber. Kani owns 180 rubber trees which earn him an average Rs 7,000 a month.
`Imagine me ten years ago.., the trees were planted but I had to wait for 7 years before the rubber came. In those days I was having no breakfast, tapioca for lunch and gruel for supper. I sold medicinal plants and tuber crops. Today my family can have puttu, dosa, rice or anything. I can call up a friend in Dubai with this mobile phone,'' he exclaims showing off his new acquisition from Nokia.
Retnakaran is one among the 3,000 families of Kani tribals living in the Njaraneeli forests of Nedumangad taluk in Thiruvananthapuram. These families have benefited from the Tribal Development Rubber Planting Project undertaken by the Central Government's agency Rubber Board. As part of the project, the board has planted the trees selectively on forest land in the possession of the tribal people in several areas of the State.
The 49-year-old Kani has no intention of wasting his new wealth. He plans to save money and send his three daughters to college and get them jobs. A fellow tribesman, Pushkaran of Peppara, earns much less. ``I manage to sell rubber for about Rs 2,000 on an average a month and also run an autorickshaw. I have to look after a ten-member family,'' says he. But then income is erratic for him. It all depends on the health of the trees that one gets to grow.

Alcoholism

Not many others of the tribe are as responsible as Retnakaran and Pushkaran. They spend big chunks of their earning on drinking. ``Eight out of ten men in our colony drink thanks to the illicit brewers. Even young boys have taken to this habit,'' says Sadasivan Kani, a CPM member of the Peringammala panchayat. Sadasivan appeared to be the most well-off among the three tribals and has a spacious tile-roofed house. He has a direct-to-home TV connection and a CD player.
However, most tribesmen are not used to saving their money or planning for the future. The result: they often run seriously short of cash with nothing to pawn off. ``That was how some of them even began to lease out their trees to non-tribesmen,'' says Easwaran Kani, a respected tribal doctor of Njaraneeli. Leasing out 50 trees for a year may fetch the tribal a quick money of over Rs 10,000. The business savvy non-tribesmen tap the maximum yield from the trees for a specific period. According to the doctor, about 10 per cent of his tribesmen resorted to this kind of fund-raising.

Bad news

The Rubber Board is not willing to admit the bad news as this is against the declared aims of the TDRP project . ``It is a fact that some people do lease out trees. But you cannot generalise this as a trend. The positive side of the project far outweighs such stray incidents,'' Mr T Sreekumar, development officer at the Rubber Board office in Nedumangad.
`You should not forget the changes that rubber has brought to the lifestyle of the tribal folk. This project is one of the most meticulously executed tribal welfare projects in the whole country,'' claims Sreekumar.

Deadly mix

Good income has certainly brought more income into the lives of many tribals. But it has also become a deadly mix for many others who resort to drinking. It has had a debilitating effect on their work and made them lazy. ``It is not just the arrack. You will be surprised to see how many fathers turn up for the parent-teacher association meeting of our school. It is an all-woman affair,'' says Noushad who is a member of the Government UP School PTA at Njaraneeli.
`The tribals have been forced to lead the life of a non-tribal with the arrival of development and money from rubber,'' says Mr Viswanathan Nair, former director of the Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development Studies for Scheduled Castes & Tribes.

By R Gopakumar

still raining

2007-06-16T22:44:00.000+07:00

It rains line and light

As the popular advertisement
says, nothing covers Kerala
better than the rain. The same
is applicable to literature and
film. It rains heavily and
elegantly in both with cascading
impact, drawing even the dry
hearts to the niceties of life.
Monsoon is the source of
Malayalam literature. It rains
abundantly on our stories,
poems, music, folklore and
movies. Because Monsoon is a
part of Malayali life. So an art form dealing
life cannot ignore it. Though monsoon
has many meanings such as trade wind,
silk etc., in Kerala, monsoon simply means
rainy season and that includes all.
From the classical story
Vellappokkathil (In the Flood) by
Thakazhi in which the fierceness and
horror of rain is personified as death
which steals the life of Vedamanikyam,
to the much quoted Khasakkinte
Ithihasam (The legend of Khasak) in
which Ravi, the protagonist, lays on
earth, waiting death to be
embraced, fully wet with rain
drops, Malayalam literature
gracefully illustrates the vivacity
of monsoon.
In Rathrimazha (Rain in the
Night), a masterpiece of
Sugathakumari, our nature poet,
night-rain gets unison with the poetess
herself who experiences different
situations of life. Zakhariah’s story, Mazha
(The Rain) is considered as the lone heavy
rain in the genre of short story of
Malayalam literary arena whereas M.N.
Vijayan looks into the rain as a market
system, which reflects the discrimination
of God’s justice.
Rain remains always as an integral part
of Malayalam cinema. Even in that day
when technology was not much
advanced, Hariharan’s Vellam (Water)
draws a clear picture of a terrified face of
village submerged in a great flood, with
mind-boggling perfection. The distress
and violence caused by drought and
water scarcity is artistically illustrated in
the movie Vaisali by Bharathan using the
possibilities of myths abundantly.
The ecstasy of love in the background
of rain is beautifully pictured in Mazha
(The Rain) by Lenin Rajendran. The
movie Perumazhakkalam (The heavy
rainy season), as the title means, tries rain
as an actor filled with its presence through
out the movie like a shadow.
In short, the oeuvre of Malayalam
filmdom is rich with raindrops.

B. Harikumar

curtasy kerala caling

snow man

2007-04-14T23:16:00.001+07:00

snow man

a picture from
Madison, Wisconsin
Photo: Sindhu Velsar
sinduvelsar@gmail.com

ice tree

2007-02-24T15:07:00.000+07:00

A Picture from Madison, Wisconsin

Photo: Sindhu Velsar

sinduvelsar@gmail.com

malicious leer

2007-02-02T19:46:00.000+07:00

WHO WILL KEEP SMILING
TILL THE LAST MILE

A Battalion of 380 El
salvadorean soldiers
prepare to fly to Iraq.

windy kerala

2007-01-16T19:48:00.000+07:00

Why wind energy?

Power generation from wind has emerged as one of the most successful programmes in the renewable energy sector, and has started making meaningful contributions to the overall power requirements of some States.
Energy is a major input for overall socio-economic development. Use of fossil fuels is expected to fuel the economic development process of a majority of the world population during the next two decades. However, at some time during the period 2020-2050, fossil fuels are likely to reach their maximum potential, and their price will become higher than other renewable energy options on account of increasingly constrained production and availability. Therefore, renewables are expected to play a key role in accelerating development and sustainable growth in the second half of the next century, accounting then to 50 to 60% of the total global energy supply.
The government has introduced a package of incentives which includes tax concessions such as 100% accelerated depreciation, tax holidays for power generation projects, soft loans, customs and excise duty relief’s, liberalized foreign investment procedures, etc. This gives a levelised cost of energy generation in the range of Rs. 2.00 to Rs. 2.50 KWh, taking into consideration the fiscal benefits extended by the Government. Now the banks are also supporting non renewable energy sources with low interest loans.

disadvantages and solutions

Wind energy is a variable resource: We get electricity only when the wind blows. Although modern wind turbines regulate power well and level off at their rated capacity, the amount of power they produce varies throughout the day. Hundreds of installations have demonstrated that utility systems are capable of accommodating the changing wind power just as they modify their output to follow changing demand. Experts predict that wind power can compose 20% or more of our energy mix before reliability of the system would be an issue.
Wind energy is also capital intensive: That's why local, state, and central governments must support wind energy development through production incentives and public policy to encourage its growth and technological advancement. Such support does make a difference.
In summary, modern wind turbines safely and efficiently turn wind into useable energy. Hundreds of rural landowners throughout the country have learned how to harvest the wind. Many of these people have been operating small turbines on their farms for years. Others are just beginning to investigate the large wind turbines. As they would with any investment, these landowners must carefully weigh the benefits and risks and research just what a wind turbine on their property would involve.

Cost comparison

Cost per unit from Diesel generation - > Rs 6.
Cost per unit from grid connection - Rs 6.
(For commercial connection)
Cost per unit from wind energy - Rs 2 to 5

(Without subsidy)
While for the other two sources, the rate of energy is to grow day by day, we have a constant rate factor for wind energy based production.
Solar energy although advisable for smaller systems cannot be supported for an entire house hold electrification in high area, as the minimum input requirements are often not met.

Solutions provide

1. Large scale systems (industrial connection)

2. Small and medium connections (villages, house hold etc.)
3. Wind electric water pumps

1. Large scale systems (Wind diesel systems)

Can connect WEG directly to the load side of the substation or the panel board of the DG(diesel generator)set
No battery will be required.
An electric control will regulate the generation
The wind generation cost will be between Rs.2 to Rs.5per unit; the higher the wind speed the lower the generation cost. (DG cost will be above Rs.6 per unit.)
water pumping project can be considered separately with this project, which can be alone with highest efficiency using wind energy
To decide the capacity of WEG (wind energy generation) to be installed, a feasibility study is first required; that includes wind monitoring for one year. The cost of wind monitoring is Rs50 000.

2. Small and medium scale project

This type of systems can be implemented on locations such as:
Large house holds
For remotely placed housing colonies
Shopping complexes
Resorts/Hotels
· If the site has a good wind regime (climate) a stand alone wind electric power plant can be suggested. This includes a wind electric generator (WEG) connected to a battery and inverter.
· A 5 KW WEG can generate about 18 KWH per day if the place is good wind site. When a house hold uses 60 W of power for 5 hours per day (i.e. 300 Wh/day) the demand of 40 houses will be 12 KWh per day. The remaining 6 KWh can be used at a community centre that holds common facilities like TV or water pumping.
· Total installation cost for a 5 KW WEG can be about 6 Lakhs, exclusive of distribution line battery bank and house wiring.
· 40 batteries, each of 90 Ah and 12V will be required for the above project. The inverter should be of 7.5 KVA.
· The distribution line can be of 6 mm 2 copper conductors. Internal wiring needs 1.5 mm 2 PVC wire.
· The Operation & Maintenance costs can be met by levying small charges on the house holds per month.
· The project can get subsidy from Ministry of Non conventional Energy Sources (MNES). The state nodal agency is ANERT Trivandrum.
· Initially a feasibility study is required by monitoring the wind for a year for the complete design of the system. Its cost is Rs. 50,000.
· The total cost of the project depends upon the wind speeds and it can vary from Rs. 7 lakhs to Rs. 10 lakhs.

3. Water Pumping

Water pumping can be done most effectively by wind based systems. Efficiency of up to 90% can be achieved.
The Wind Electric Water Pump (WEWP) system consists of a WEG coupled with the motor pump.
Continuous monitoring up to 1 year will be required for the correct designing of the system and for finding the low wind fall times of the year.
For a location having continuous and good amount of wind, we can install a 1500 W WEG coupled with a 500 W motor pump. The cost will be around 2.5 lakhs (without subsidy). Subsidy more than 50 % will be available for rural areas.
For rainy seasons the system can be kept arrested.
By adding WEWP to the existing motor pump they can reduce the operating hours of the existing motor and hence electric bill can be reduced. This can be done also in case of diesel pumps also.

COST AND FEASIBILTY ANALYSIS

With subsidy the return of investment can usually be achieved during the first 8 to 12 year operation. Given a life expectancy of 25 -30 years saving are considerable. This would be the most possible if not the only options for many remote locations. Wind energy will get up to 50 % subsidy for any installations and many more schemes exist for rural areas, educational institutions, government offices etc. Some of the financial benefits of the system are:
80% Depreciation in the first year.Operation and maintenance costs are low.Zero input fuel cost.Pay back in shorter duration.Cost of generation is almost zero after pay back period.

by Arun

CARDN Kalamassery,

Cochin -683104,

Phone- +91 484 2557799, 98955 16811,

mail at: card.online@gmail.com

woman teacher

2007-01-01T12:40:00.000+07:00

SOCIAL RELEVANCE OF THE WOMAN TEACHER

In the field of education and literacy, Kerala has done extremely well. High life expectancy, low child mortality rates, awareness about hygiene and good health can be counted among the Malayalee’s achievements. And in all these achievements women have played an important part. Because a child’s health habits, concepts and imagination originate from the home or to put it more clearly, from the mother. The child comes to school from this home and the school becomes a second home for him /her.The child begins the learning process at home through information received and his/her experience. A school should be a place for a continuation and broadening of this learning process. A school should impart social lessons to ready the child to become part of society. It is at this point that we begin to see the social relevance of the woman teacher.WHY WOMAN TEACHER?As mentioned earlier, women play a significant role in Kerala’s progress. In a child’s development and evolution of the team spirit, the school, as a miniature form of society is quite important. Interestingly the statistics regarding the number of women teachers also points to the need for more focus as women teachers. In 1957, just after the birth of the state of Kerala, only 41% of the teachers were women. Thereafter in 1976-77, women caught up with men and their numbers got equalised. 30 years later, in 2004-05 the records show that out the total 1,74,881 teachers 1,21,016 are women and only 53,865 are men. Which means that the percentage of women among the teachers has risen from 41% in 1957 to 69.5% in 2005! Women’s supremacy in this field has come to stay (see figure).

Year...............,...................Male ..............................Female

1956-56...........................46128 ...........................3152419

61-62...........................64367 ...........................4449019

66-67...........................70362 ...........................5445919

71-72 ...........................78026........................... 6840819

76-77...........................82224 ...........................8198419

81-82 ...........................82007 ...........................9642819

86-87 ...........................77460 ...........................11412419

91-92 ...........................69577 ...........................12123319

96-97 ...........................62885 ...........................125602
2004-05 ...........................53865...........................121016

(source:statistical unit, DPI,Thiruvananthapuram)

In spite of the attractive salary, job security and social respectability why are men staying away from this profession. This is a question nobody is raising. And when the teachers’ organisations select their leaders, the representation of the woman majority is sadly being ignored.NEW SCHOOL SCENARIO In changing Kerala, new ideas have been put forward that education should be child centred and that the teacher’s role should be that of a co-student. This increases the social responsibility of the woman teacher. But what is being observed is that while the child’s world becomes wider the women teacher’s world is getting narrow. How can teachers as a whole overcome this malady?The foremost need is to be able to identify the nature of the child. The woman teacher in her class faces children coming from a variety of social and economical backgrounds, -a miniature edition of society. It is the important that the teacher has the capacity to realise and accept these differences.Women teachers should be given an upper hand in making education policy making and implementation at school and state level. There is a need for an organised movement to achieve this Apart from this, the woman teacher should be able to understand the changes in society and also put her knowledge into practice. The woman teacher should voluntarily participate in people’s social groups like Kudumbasree, Ayalkkoottam and Gramasabha. Discussing her problems with her colleagues is one way for a woman teacher to arrive at an understanding about her students.WHAT CAN BE DONE DURING TRAINING Eighty percent of the candidates studying at the numerous teacher-training centres in Kerala (Govt., aided and unaided) are women. But the mode of training indicates that this fact has been knowingly or unknowingly ignored till now. The B.Ed. curriculum should be designed in such a way that the teacher acquires the ability to take up social responsibility, identify the changes taking place and to decide by her self upon the necessary changes required in her work in accordance with the changes. The present method of ‘promoting’ the teacher’s commitment by increasing the number of record books has to end. In its place a new training method should be evolved that takes into account that the majority of teachers are women. In this way, teacher-training students will learn to think and act by themselves developing their own personalities and also widening the possibilities of knowledge and wisdom.

ROOBIYA. K. M., RADEENA. D. N.

about sree....

2006-12-19T23:10:00.000+07:00

Sreesanth a rare fast bowling find for India

JOHANNESBURG: Indian wins abroad have usually been historic but this one against South Africa will be really special, because a genuine fast bowler has been discovered. Shantakumaran Sreesanth is not hype but a reality and his figures of (8-99) at the Wanderers have celebrated cricketers struggling for encomiums and praise.
“I can only think of Chetan Sharma in my time who left such an impression abroad so early in his career,” remarks Ravi Shastri, dipping deep into his experience of 25 years of association with top class cricket. If Sharma’s name evokes a scowl, it’s worth remembering that the Haryana cricketer and his 10-wicket haul at Edgbaston in his 12th Test was the reason India secured a rare major series win abroad in 1986 — a feat which was only recently emulated in the West Indies after 20 years.
Sunil Gavaskar rakes up a comparison with Kapil Dev in England in 1979 when the latter picked up 16 wickets from four Tests and had a five-wicket haul but more importantly bowled with genuine pace, perhaps the last time he was seen doing so in international circuit. “He (Sreesanth) has consistently bowled upwards of 140kmph and that’s not common,” said former South African skipper Kepler Wessels. “Everything about him is impressive.”
Allan Wilkins, former Gloucestershire medium-fast bowler and now a television commentator, chooses to describe the lift Sreesanth provides to his left-leg at the point of delivery and his high-arm, perfect wrist position to hit the seam on the deck which has made him return impressive figures at the Wanderers. “He is a very skillful young man and I can only think of Glenn McGrath in modern day cricket who has hit seam so consistently as Sreesanth has done in this match,” Wilkins said. “During my time Malcolm Marshall of West Indies was master at hitting the seam, that too tilted, at will.”
South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock feels India has unearthed a talent who should serve them for years to come. In between all these praises, Sreesanth prefers to play the mumbling fool in front of media and public though all this changes when he has the red cherry in his hand.

secrateriate

2006-12-08T01:26:00.000+07:00

this is the front view of our Secrateriate.

that means kerala secrateriate.

it is also a historical monument.

but ...

we assure that

you never see such scenery

any other place in this world....

When Ryan Mottesheard met Kim Ki-Duk

2006-11-20T20:06:00.000+07:00

When Ryan Mottesheard met Kim Ki-Duk

When I met Kim Ki-Duk to talk about his new film "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" I didn't quite expect him to be so... well, normal. I don't know what exactly I expected of the Korean enfant terrible, but after seeing his movies, I didn't think it would be the soft-spoken, courteous, humble, youthful-looking gentleman who sat across from me and thanked me for being familiar with his earlier work (as if I was doing him a favor). After all, this is a guy who, with 2001's "Bad Guy," raised the ire of feminist critics in his native Korea with his sympathetic portrait of a pimp who enslaves a young student into prostitution. The same guy whose international breakthrough, "The Isle," concerns a murderer, a mute woman, and some very interesting uses for fish hooks.

But then, there's nothing predictable about Kim. When he, very reluctantly, talks about movies, he offers that he feels the most kinship with American doc-shock jock Michael Moore, despite the fact that Kim's subtle, abstract films about modern-day Koreans who lives on society's fringes is (to me anyway) the polar opposite of Moore's sledgehammer technique. Maybe it's Moore's blue-collar background that Kim admires, as Kim himself tends to flaunt his lack of formal education on his sleeve. A high-school dropout, Kim worked in factories from the ages of 16-20, then spent five years in the Korean military before moving to France to peddle his paintings on the streets. Only after returning to Seoul did he think about film as a career and even then, it was with an autodidacticism that more closely recalls silent-era pioneers of a hundred years ago than the media-saturated generation that he belongs to.

In any case, Kim's latest, "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" (which opens today from Sony Pictures Classics), represents a huge step forward in Kim\'s body of work. While not entirely abandoning his earlier visual and thematic preoccupations, "Spring, Summer..." is more transcendent, it stays with you longer. Much of this has to do with its stunning formal beauty. But it also has to do with the fact that Kim he has moved beyond the facile sex-and-violence Molotov that he, at times, has used as a crutch.

indieWIRE spoke with Kim about moving into new territory, his controversial past films, and his place in the current red-hot Korean film industry.

indieWIRE: "Spring, Summer..." is widely seen as a departure for you, or at least the beginning of a new stage in your career. Would you agree with this?

Kim Ki-duk: I agree that this film is different. In my other films there has been a lot of brutality and cruelty and anger inside them. But with "Spring, Summer...," I also wanted to show the healing powers of forgiveness and tolerance.

iW: What made you move in that direction?

Kim: I don't know. I think that's the important thing, that I have no idea. When I first visited Jusan Pond (the setting for "Spring, Summer..."), I scratched out a few ideas on paper. But I made this film without a script.

iW: Location is very important in all of your films and here it's the floating monastery on Juson Pond. How did you find this place or did you already know it and devise a story around it?

Kim: Initially, I didn't imagine a floating temple on the water and had never seen one. At first I wanted to build a temple in the mountains, but I was unable to find a suitable place. I kept thinking of a way around this and then finally, I happened upon Juson Pond. Korea has lots of beautiful scenery but Juson Pond is a very unique place since it has 300-year-old trees growing out of the water. And I felt like this would be an interesting challenge, to build a floating temple, which was built from scratch.

iW: Is the temple still there?

Kim: No, it was destroyed. But I hope it still exists in people's minds after seeing the movie.

iW: What relationship do you think a specific location plays within your films?

Kim: I think that location and space are the most important aspect of all of my films. Only after finding a location do I think about the story or about casting an actor. I travel all over Korea to find a particular place and then once I find it, I go about making my film.

iW: You've often been labeled a provocateur or an enfant terrible. What do you think of these claims?

Kim: I understand why people call me a provocateur, but I think this is simply because they see me as an outsider. If they really look at me and my films, they can see that there's something more than that. I am very interested in human beings and I always try to look at diverse human beings with a different perspective. If people really look, they can see my other ideas.

iW: Yet several of your earlier films have been quite controversial, "Bad Guy" in particular. Have you ever consciously courted controversy?

Kim: I never tried to be controversial. My films have been called provocative but I never meant to be. In the case of "Bad Guy," it wasn't controversial at all for me. I just made the film in as honest a way as I knew how. In "Bad Guy," I wanted to examine this character (a mute, violent pimp) and try and figure out if he is really bad or not. If people accept that there are people out there like "The Bad Guy" then they'll understand the movie. But people who have very strict ideas of morality will hate the film.

iW: You quit giving interviews for a while after the hostile reaction of "Bad Guy" by the Korean press. What is the difference between the Korean audience reaction to your films and the international audience?

Kim: European audiences tend to really like "Bad Guy" and they're not as offended by it as the Korean people were. But the interesting thing in Korea is that female audiences liked the film much more than male audiences, I think because males see themselves in the main character.

iW: How has "Spring, Summer..." been received in Korea?

Kim: I've never had really wide success in Korea. "Spring, Summer..." drew 150,000 spectators (recent Korean blockbuster "Silmido" recently topped 10 million spectators) and my latest film "Samaria" has already drawn 200,000. But I don't think it's really important how many people watch "Spring, Summer...," but rather, WHO watches it. I would rather have fewer people see it and understand it than more people watch without understanding it. Also, I find it interesting that Korean people will see one of my films and get hooked on watching them, despite the fact that they don't like them.

iW: As your films have gotten more well-known, has the broader international audience affected your filmmaking style?

Kim: This is my tenth film but from the beginning, I never thought of my films as "Korean films." I've always had an orientation toward international film, and probably because of this I've been able to develop an international reputation faster than other Korean filmmakers.

iW: The cinema isn't the most logical place for you to have wound up considering your background, as a factory worker and a soldier. What was it that initially drew you to cinema?

Kim: I just woke up one day and realized I would be a filmmaker. It's ironic, but I was able to become a filmmaker specifically because I never had a film education. There are so many people who study so hard to become film directors and maybe this is why they're unable to actually do it. I think a director is someone who films life and the biggest obstacle for film students is that they waste too much studying films and not enough studying life.

iW: Korean cinema has received quite a lot of attention in the last few years, both at home and abroad. Do you feel a certain kinship with any of you contemporaries such as say Chan-wook Park ("JSA," "Old Boy"",1] or Sun-woo Jang ("Lies")?

Kim: I'm very different from those two filmmakers. Maybe at the beginning of my career I was somewhat more involved in that movement, but now, I don't really feel any kinship with other Korean films that are being made.

iW: Why then do you think there has been this resurgence in Korean cinema then? Shucking the global trend, in 2003, eight of the top 10 top grossing films in Korea were domestic films.

Kim: I think there are two main reasons. Firstly, Korea has a long history of government regulation and censorship so we couldn't explore certain subject matters. That was always an obstacle. But now, everything has changed and directors can freely express themselves by making their own unique films. And secondly, Korea has lots of students who have studied film. It's quite a boom right now. But I don't think that Korean cinema is the best cinema in the world... at least not yet. Most of it just copies trends and styles of Hollywood film. Maybe there are one or two directors out there who making a new style of Korean film such as Lee Chang-Dong (2002's "Oasis").

iW: I've read that you have expressed interest in working in Hollywood. Is this true?

Kim: (laughs) Yes, I actually said I would like to remake "Bad Guy" in Hollywood with Brad Pitt as the lead. But I don't think Hollywood is very interested in this idea. I don't really understand why Hollywood studios buy remake rights to Korean films. If they like the film in the first place, why don't they just distribute the Korean version?

'Kiss Me Not On The Eyes'

2006-11-11T23:32:00.000+07:00

This is an Interview with Director of

'Kiss Me Not On The Eyes' film,

Jocelyne Saab.

In this interview at Sundance with Indie Wire, Jocelyne Saab talks about her early life in Lebanon and her experience as a film maker. She also talks in great detail about the difficulties she had to overcome in directing this film...

Please give us information on your background, and what were the circumstances that lead you to become a filmmaker?

I was born and raised in Beirut in the '50s, the golden age of a Lebanon in "dolce vita mode." I started my career hosting a pop music program on the national Lebanese radio that I called "Marsipulami got blue eyes" and from there moved on to become a newsreader for television. When the notorious Lebanese civil war took place , I started working on various independent documentaries until I landed the job of second unit director on Volker Schlondorff's movie on the Lebanese civil war, "Circle of Deceit" in 1981. I continued covering the events of the war as a reporter and filmmaker until I lost everything I had in Beirut, material and not: friends, family, house. I then moved to Paris, France and continued, while being based there, my coverage of conflicts in the Arab world and the Middle East.Today I live between Paris and Cairo where I wrote, directed and produced the feature film selected for Sundance, "Kiss Me Not on the Eyes" (original title "Dunia"). I learned everything I know about filmmaking on the field. I wrote and directed all of my films, except my first feature film "A Suspended Life," written by Gerard Brach. I studied economics in college, even for my graduate studies, but in parallel, I built a "film culture" due to watching as many films as possible, from the American classics, to the nouvelle vague.Having reported and witnessed some of the most violent conflicts of the second half of the twentieth century I became extremely concerned with human rights, a theme that I carried with me through my fiction work, and which remains the focus of my latest fiction feature.

Where did the initial idea for your film come from?

About seven years ago, I conducted a study on youth sexuality in Egypt. The idea came to me through similar studies conducted in France and I initially thought that my findings would make a good basis for a three-hour documentary on the topic. As my research progressed though, the findings became harrowing by Arab cultural and moral standards, so much so, that the person in charge of typing the findings refused to do so. Actually it was pretty "out there" by any standard, so I realized that it was impossible to get any of the people interviewed to disclose this information for the camera.I [then] let it go. I left Egypt for Vietnam, and shot a documentary called "The Lady from Saigon." Yet, as I was sitting there one day, one particular anecdote came back to me... I could not forget this girl, what she talked about and how, framing her head with her hands, the source of many of her pleasures. And I remembered a quote from one of the 14th century Arab poets, "Pleasure is a small death." And I started revisiting these texts, that praised freedom, love and their politics as a way of being, a way of dying, a cultural heritage that we seem to have forgotten.This led to a new perspective, a potential fiction from all these witness accounts. The stories surrounding FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) and its repercussion on the sex life, and sensuality of women , was my second starting point, and I conducted fresh research with the help of international organizations about the [topic] itself and its related traumatic effects. [Combined with a lot of other] research down the line (concerning the architecture of Cairo, Arab poetry and dance), and the script was awarded the special jury prize for best screenplay at the annual screenplay competition organized by the French National Cinema Centre.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in either developing the project or making the movie?

The challenges in making my film... Where to begin..? The struggles and difficulties surrounding the making of "Kiss Me Not on the Eyes" were unfortunately of epic proportions. It would take pages and pages just to headline each one of them. Suffice it to say though that my main challenges were: To obtain permission to shoot the film on location in Cairo, Egypt as the censorship body fought the scenario fiercely... Considering it to be pornographic. [After the] permission was obtained, the next challenge was to set up production, which usually is quite a task, and being weighed down by such controversy only made it harder.Then came finding actors, who had to be convinced of assuming responsibilities for their roles. It was a long and hard process as all [the actors were] concerned about their reputation and also their safety. Once casting [was completed], the challenge of having them work in an acting methodology that steers away from the melodramatic school that [dominates] Egyptian cinema is deserving of a headline itself.Then came post-production. When the controversy first arose before the shoot, our Arab backers walked out on us with all the money [earmarked] for post-production. Finishing the film was only possible due to the help of many people and institutions who believed in the potential and importance of the work.Today, a new wave of violence and controversy is surrounding the film, [in which] polarized Egyptian public opinion [is resulting in] a love or hate stance and propelling debates concerning freedom of speech and FGM into the public sphere. This whole frenzy culminated with an article recently condemning me to death for tarnishing Egypt's reputation.

Tell us about the moment you found out that you were accepted into Sundance.

I was busy preparing for the premiere of the film in Egypt at the Cairo International Film Festival. I woke up this one fateful morning and sat on the balcony of a friend's houseboat where I stay during my Cairo trips. I was sipping my coffee and staring at the Nile. The sun was shinning, and that instant coffee just tasted better, as I was asking myself, 'why is everything so hard?'I had been working on this film for over five years now, and every moment had been a struggle. I put an end to my reverie and dragged myself back to the computer screen. I started by checking my mail, and I opened the letter addressed to me by Sundance's Caroline Libresco informing me of my selection. I stared at the screen in disbelief and after a few seconds of utter shock I started banging on the table and screaming. My excitement was beyond words. I was being fought by everyone for daring to dream and realizing this film, and all of a sudden, the best thing that could ever happen to me, happened -- professional recognition by the beacon festival of independent cinema.My friend came running, asking if I was okay and I could not speak, instead I started banging on the table again simulating the percussion music of my film. I closed the email and kept this a secret for three days. I needed to savor it alone for a while -- to allow it to heal some of the wounds the fight for this film had inflicted upon me. Then I shared it with my crew who had long supported me and believed in this film. Their joy was out of this world. Our efforts and the love that went into making this movie were finally recognized.

What do you hope to get out of the festival, what are your own goals for the experience?

I want to watch all the movies. To be honest this is what excites me most about the prospect of being invited to the festival... the chance to screen and listen to all the experiences of the other filmmakers that found their way into the Sundance family. I am also dying to meet Robert Redford in person. He's always been a favorite of mine. Of course I do hope that my own movie will be well-received, and sold and distributed internationally -- an Arab movie breaking into the international market for its artistic and cinematic value. Maybe the graceful look I carry from the east, beyond the veil of cliches that usually stigmatizes the occidental point-of-view, will allow the orient to be restored in its just and rightful place and value. But all said and done, I still want to watch all the movies and meet everyone above everything else.

What is your definition of independent film?

An independent film is an audiovisual creative process that escapes the norms and boundaries imposed by the industry aspect of filmmaking. It is a film that gets funding from various sources, enough to have it exist, but never to impose any creative decisions. And this is what I tried to achieve with "Kiss Me Not on the Eyes"-- primarily, creative freedom and choice. Of course it wasn't easy

If you were given $10 million to be used for moviemaking, how would you spend it?

Ten million dollars in the Arab world... That would be five movies if I took my latest film as the bar. In the states, ten million is a pretty tight budget though... from what I hear at least. I would have to find the right story for it. But ultimately, with such money I would love to write and direct a modern, highly stylized and political musical, based on the paradigms of Western and Arabic musicals -- modernized, combined, with artists from both worlds singing together.

What are one or two of your New Years resolutions?

My New Year's resolution is two fold. One of which is a bit unrealistic, but they do not call them resolutions for nothing. I want to finish a film in 18-months. A brand new one written and directed [by me] but certainly not produced. And, I want to be surrounded by an excellent crew. I already have the core of it and I wish to [maintain] that feeling of creative bonding.

What are some of your favorite films, and why? What is your top ten list for 2005?

Some of my favorite films : Robert Altman's "Shortcuts" because I love its narrative lines and character constructions, this feeling of having to surrender to his world to "get it " ; Kim ki duk's "The Isle" is a masterpiece of love and death ; "La regle du jeu" by Renoir. I love how he perceives a film as a work-in-progress until the last minute; "In the Mood for Love" by Wong Kar-wai for the sensuality [and] his use of movement and repetition [and] the music the colors, I just love this film. "Seven Samurai" is my favorite epic."L'eclise" by Antonioni. For few people have been able to put in images like he has a metapysical feeling of alienation ; Fellini's " La dolce vita " for his portrayal of a Mediterranean lust for life; Kieslowsky's "Thou shall not Kill. Godard... anything by Godard. Don't ask why he just does it for me. [And], "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" is the most entertaining and aesthetically fulfilling film I have seen recently.

2006-11-07T21:03:00.000+07:00

Kerala targets 20 pc increase in

foreign tourist arrivals

Thiruvananthapuram: With the State all decked up to welcome travellers from all over the world, Kerala Tourism aims at a 20 percent increase in foreign tourist arrivals in this season. The domestic tourist arrivals are expected to increase by 5 pc this season. The Government is laying special emphasis on infrastructure development, said Mr. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Minister for Tourism. Apart from encouraging big investments in the hotel sector, small and medium investments and home stays are also promoted to cater to the increasing demands.

An unprecedented increase has been registered in arrivals to the Malabar region. Last year, Wayanad registered around 196 pc increase in the arrival of foreign tourists. Kerala Tourism hopes to get Rs. 100000 million revenue from the sector. Investments to the tune of Rs. 10000 million are also expected in the sector. Special emphasis has been given to the Malabar region in various international campaigns. The nodal centres of the Malabar Tourism Development Project are Bekal, Kannur, Thalasserry, Kozhikode, Nilambur and Wayanad. Other prominent attractions include the Bekal Fort, inland water bodies of Kannur, Dharmadom Island, Muzhuppilangad beach, Sandbanks of Vadakara, Thusharagiri waterfalls, Beypore, Nilambur, Hydel tourism at Banasura Sagar dam and Beenachi eco-park in Wayanad. Beach destinations including Kovalam, Bekal, Meenkunnu, Payyambalam, Muzhuppilangad, Kappad and Beypore are expected to attract large number of tourists. Hilly regions including Muthanga, Tholpetty, Peruvannamoozhy, Aaralam, Pythalmala and Ranipuram have also been promoted. A pilgrim tourism circuit connecting Thirunelly, Kottiyoor, Parassinikkadavu, Thodeekulam Temple, Malik Dinar Mosque, St. John’s Church, Rajarajeswary Temple and Odayil Mosque has also been set up. The state tourism sector is poised to get a major boost with hotel infrastructure projects of various groups are nearing completion in different parts of the state. Though some of the big names in the industry are already in business in the state, many more like the Holiday Inn, Crown Plaza, Ramada, Banyan Tree, Preferred have come up with mega projects. Prominent Indian players like the Taj, Hinduja and Ind Royal have also initiated projects.

our forest

2006-11-03T13:27:00.000+07:00

Forests a Different Approach

Forests need a different approach in our understanding and management.
It deserves to be considered as anecosystem and an insurance of agriculture.It is high time that we clear theambiguities existing in matters likedefinition, control, management,conservation and future.There is no simple agreed definition of"forest" due to varying climatic, social,economic and historic conditions. Thesituation is complicated by the fact that formany governments "forest" denotes a legalclassification of areas that may or may notactually have tree cover. I do not find adefinition of forest in The Kerala Forest Act,1961. The Supreme Court (1996) held thatthe word "forest" must be understoodaccording to the dictionary meaning .

However, the FAO definition is mainlyfollowed in global treatments of forest. Thisdefinition covers ecosystems that areapproachdominated by trees (defined as perennialwoody plants taller than 5 meters atmaturity), when the tree crown cover (orequivalent stocking level) exceeds 10% andthe area is larger than 0.5 hectares. The termincludes forest used for production,protection, multiple use, or conservation, aswell as forest stands on agricultural lands(such as windbreaks and shelterbelts of treeswith a width of more than 20 meters) andplantations of different types.
It also includesboth naturally regulating and plantedforests. The term excludes stands of treesestablished primarily for agriculturalproduction, such as fruit tree plantations,and trees planted in agroforestry systems(but rubber and cork oak stands areincluded). Billions of trees outside the forestin cities, along roads and rivers, on farms,and so on are not included in the twocategories just described. The threshold of10% is crucial in this definition.The total area of global forests isestimated at 4356 million hectares or aboutADifferent30% of the world's land area. India has arecorded forest area of 76.52 millionhectares or 23.28% of the country'sgeographical area.

The forests of Kerala stateForests13August 2006 􀁺 KERALA CALLINGand used sustainably to fulfill social,economic, ecological, cultural and spiritualneeds of present and future generations".The services provided by forests includeprovisioning, regulating, cultural andsupporting services. The major classes offorest services are dealt with here.
BiodiversityForests are an important repository ofterrestrial biodiversity, across three importantdimensions: structural diversity (such asareas of forests, natural and protected forests,species mixtures and age structure),compositional diversity (numbers of totalfloral/faunal species, for example, andendangered species), and functional diversity( the impact of major processes and naturaland human induced disturbances).Tropical forests cover less than 10%of Earth's land area but harbor between 50%and 90% of Earth's terrestrial species. Othertypes of forests are not as species-rich astropical ones but are relatively species-richecosystems within their own contexts.
Considerable information on forest relatedbiodiversity has become available over thepast decade.Two-thirds of 136 ecologically distinctterrestrial regions identified as outstandingexamples of biodiversity are located in forestregions, according to WWF. SimilarlyBirdlife International identified 218 areascontaining 2 or more species of birds withrestricted ranges. 83% of these 281 areasoccur in forests. Of 234 centers of plantdiversity identified by IUCN and WWF,Over 45000 species ofplants are found inIndia. The vascularflora, which form theconspicuousvegetation coveritself comprise about15000 species. Aspecial feature ofIndia's forests is theoccurrence of bambooas under storey totrees. In total 133species of bamboooccur.
There are 350species of mammals,1200 species of birds,and more than 20000species of insects.with different natural vegetation types, coveran area of 769900 hecatres, in addition toabout 186200 hectares of forest plantations.Services provided by forests are many.The 1992 UN Forest Principles identifiedthe multifunctional and multiservicepurpose of the world's forests: " Forestresources and forest lands shall be managed14KERALA CALLING 􀁺 August 2006more than 70% are found in forests.India is rich in biodiversity at all levels –the gene, the species, and the ecosystem.India is one of the 12 mega biodiversitycountries in the world.
In India over 45000 species of plantsoccur. The vascular flora, which form theconspicuous vegetation cover itselfcomprises about 15000 species. A specialfeature of India's forests is the occurrence ofbamboo as under storey to trees. In total133 species of bamboo occur. There are 350species of mammals, 1200 species of birds,and more than 20000 species of insects.The major forest types represented inKerala include the dry deciduous, semievergreen,evergreen and shola forests.Within these four major forest types areseveral sub-types, forest plantation crops liketea, plantations of timber and pulp woodspecies like teak, eucalyptus, acacias, pinesetc. engaging an area of 186200 hectares.There are more than 4500 wild species offlowering plants of which above 1500 taxaare endemic. There is also equally rich faunalwealth.
There are 102 species of mammals,476 species of birds, 169 species of reptiles,89 species of amphibians and 202 speciesof freshwater fishes.Forest decline threatens biodiversity atall levels. IUCN estimates that 12.5 % ofthe world's species of plants, 44% of birds,57% of amphibians, 87% of reptiles, and75% of mammals are threatened by declineof forests.The World List of Threatened Trees(Oldfield et al 1998) indicates that morethan 8000 tree species (9% of the total) arecurrently threatened with extinction.It is difficult to say with precision theextent to which forest habitat loss results inpopulation or species extinction, because ourknowledge of forest biodiversity is soincomplete. Nonethless, it is clear thatdeforestation, particularly in the tropics, ishaving extremely negative impacts onbiodiversity.
In the state of Kerala and elsewhere thedriving forces behind decline in biodiversityhave been identified to be􀂦 conversion of forest areas for non-forestrypurposes,􀂦 encroachments and other illegaloccupations,􀂦 tourism and pilgrimage,􀂦 invasion of exotic weeds,􀂦 poor regeneration of indigenous species,􀂦 pollution by pesticides/insecticides/fertilizers,􀂦 natural calamities and􀂦 over-exploitation.
Soil and Water ProtectionIn many regions, forest is a majorstabilizing component of natural landscapes,providing protection of soil and water,house-holds, and fields and reducing orpreventing floods and landslides. Levelsof soil erosion in the tropics may be 10 -20 times higher on areas cleared of forests,due to construction of roads, and loglandings during mechanical logging, thanin undisturbed natural forests, and this isparticularly the case in mountainous andother areas characterized by fragile soils.Regulation of hydrological cycles andprocesses is one of the important servicesprovided by forests at large scales. Globally,forests' hydrological functions have beenclaimed to include increasing precipitationand decreasing evaporation; regulating thetotal and redistribution of surface andbelowground runoff; smoothing out theseasonal course of river discharges; increasingtotal river runoff; protecting landscapesagainst soil erosion and landslides, inparticular in mountains; preventing andmitigating the consequences of floods;maintaining water quality; protecting riverbanks against destruction; and preventingsiltation of reservoirs.
It is unfortunate thatmany of our development agencies totallyignore this service by forest ecosystems.Fiber, Fuel, and NonwoodForest ProductsWood is currently the most economicallyimportant forest product. During 1996-2000, about 3.3 billion cubic meters ofwood were harvested annually from theworld's forests, and round-woodproduction has steadily increased byapproximately 0.8% per year.Fuel wood meets about 7% of energydemand worldwide, including about 15%in developing countries and 2% in industrialcountries. Globally, about 1.8 billion cubicmeters of wood is used annually for fuel.Wood fuel constitutes about 80% of thetotal in developing countries , where aboutone third of the total forest plantations wereestablished primarily for that purpose. Morethan 60% of these plantations are in Asiaand 25% in Latin America.Non-wood forest products (NWFP)include a tremendous diversity of items -some of which enter formal markets, butmany that do not.
They can be classified ina number of broad number of categoriesaccording to their end use; edible products,fodder for domestic animals, medicines,perfumes and cosmetics, colorants,ornamentals, utensils, handicrafts, andconstruction materials, and exudates likegums, resins, and latex. Overall, they playan important role in the daily life and wellbeingof hundreds of millions of peopleworld wide as well as in the nationaleconomies of many countries.NWFP are extensively extracted fromIndian forests and their role in rural andforest economies is immense. However, thelong term ecological sustainability of NWEPextraction with respect to resource15August 2006 􀁺 KERALA CALLINGpopulations, dependent animal species andecosystem functioning has remained largelyunexamined. There is a glaring scarcity ofsystematic research on ecological aspects ofNWFP extraction in India. From a fewavailable studies, it appears that speciesdiffer in their responses to harvestdepending on the plant part extracted,natural history attributes and harvestingtechniques.
However, regeneration andpopulation densities of some NWFP speciesare reported to be adversely affected byextraction. Such adverse effects are due to acombination of harvests, damagingharvesting practices and accompanyinganthropogenic disturbances. The availableliterature also indicates a disturbing trendof ecosystem simplification due to intensiveforest use, including extraction of NWFP,which may gradually lead to the weedingout of valuable plant species from Indianforests.
Carbon SequestrationForests play an important role in theglobal carbon cycle and consequently inregulating the global climate system. Twomain features of forests define this role. First,the world's forests accumulate a major partof the planet's terrestrial ecosystem carbon.Second, forests and wetlands are the twomajor land cover classes that are able toprovide long-term sequestration of carbon.Accumulation of carbon in wood and soilsresults in a more significant share of totalnet primary productivity being stored inthe long term than in other land cover classesand can represent as much as 10 – 15% ofnet primary productivity.Deforestation in the tropics has thegreatest impact on the carbon cycle of anyland use and land cover change. It is reportedthat land use change (mostly deforestation)is the source of 1.6 +/ - 0.8 billion tons ofcarbon per year.Recently disturbed and regeneratedforests usually lose carbon from both soiland remnant vegetation, whereas matureundisturbed forests maintain an overallneutral carbon balance.

The rate of carbonsequestration depends upon age, site quality,species composition, and the style of forestmanagement.Sociocultural Values andServicesForests are highly valued for a host ofsocial, cultural, and spiritual reasons. Forestsand people have co-developed, with peopleshaping the physical nature of most forests(including those we today consider"natural") and the forest, in turn, exerting apowerfull influence over human culturesand spiritual beliefs. For many indigenousand traditional societies, forests are sacredand sometimes supernatural places, linkedto both religious beliefs and the very identityof some communities and peoples. Thewidespread existence of "sacred groves" inmany societies is a physical manifestationof this spiritual role and has contributed toforest conservation.
Forests provide spiritual and recreationalservices to millions of people through forestrelatedtourism. Nature-based tourism hasincreased more rapidly than the generaltourism market, evolving from a nichemarket to a mainstream element of globaltourism.Drivers of Change in ForestEcosystemsChanges in forest conditions are theresult of interactions among many factors –social, ecological, economic, climatic, andbiophysical. Rapid population growth,political instability, market forces,institutional strengths and weakness, naturaland human induced disturbances, andmany other factors, may be important.16KERALA CALLING 􀁺 August 2006K.P. Ouseph, IFSThe biggest challenge NatureConservation has been confronting isthe disparity between environmentalconservation & economic development and theremedy lies more in policy matters thantechnical.
Forest Conservation problems of thestate are also not different. On how thisproblem is handled by the policy makers, willdepend the conservation of what is left of theforests in the state.For ensuring actual conservation of forests,the shortsighted concept of `forests' as reflectedin the records, has to spread outwards to thelands bordering the forests.The desire to protect at least the existingmeager forests on one side and the humanconsideration of how to expel the encroachersand where to provide for them who had builthutments and dwellings years ago, on the otherhand. The assumption that illegal forestencroachers are criminals on one hand andregularising the act of encroaching intogovernment property when thousands arelandless among us. This is unjust and will onlyencourage new encroachments. Delay in theCover StoryBiophysical factors, such as a region's history of landscapetransformation, the highsensitivity of forest soils to machinery used for logging, or forestfires can also playa significant role.
Direct drivers of deforestation are human activities or immediateaction at thelocal level, such as agricultural expansion, that originate fromintended land useand directly affect forest cover. These direct drivers can bebroadly categorized intothose related to agricultural expansion, wood extraction, andinfrastructureextension.Indirect drivers of deforestation are fundamental social processes,such as humanpopulation dynamics or agricultural policies,that underpin thedirect drivers andeither operate at the local level or have an indirect impact fromthe national orglobal level. These indirect drivers fall into five broadcategories: economic, policyand institutional, technological, cultural/sociopolitical, anddemographic.
In summary, while it is possible to identify with some certainitythe factorsunderlying deforestation in a general sense, it is very difficult topinpoint a uniformset of drivers and their relative contributions that can be said toapply generally ata global or even regional level.Human Well-being and ForestsForests supply essential services to human well-being across theworld. Humanforestinteractions manifest themselves in many direct and indirect ways,eachdepending variously on the amount of forest, its condition, and itsdistributionover the landscape.More than 1.7 billion people live in the 40 nations with criticallylow levels offorest cover, (India has 100 million forest dwellers) in many caseshinderingprospects for sustainable development. This will triple by 2025 and13 additionalcountries will experience forest resources scarcity. That is theprediction.
Populationgrowth has drastically shrunkthe forest-to-people ratio from1.2 hectares per capita in1960 to 0.6 hectares atpresent. This is also predictedto decline.The expected decline inper capita availability of forestsin developing countriesgenerates additional problemsfor sustainable development.In many parts of the developing world, direct harvesting of forestproducts byrural families contributes to more than 50% of total consumption andother household needs. This large group of people is particularlyvulnerableto the negative impacts of declining forest cover.Many forest settlements now suffer from unemployment and a lackof basic living conditions; subsistence farming , gathering mushroomsand wild berries and fruits, fishing, and poaching have become majorsources for subsistence in many forest regions.Improving the condition of forests and their contribution to humanwell- being is an important and urgent task, both nationally andinternationally.
Recent history, such as international effortsworking withthe Tropical Forestry Action Plan clearly shows both how difficultit is toachieve sustainable forest management in the contemporary world andthat many problems remain to be solved in order to realize thepotentialbenefits that forests have to offer.The author is former Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of CalicutReference:Agenda 21 An Assessment: 2002: Govt.of India, MoEF.State of Environment Report Kerala 2005: KSCSTE.Ecosystems And Human Well-being, Vol.1 : 2005: Mellennium EcosystemAssessment:Island Press, Washington.

by prof. m.k. prasad

curtasy kerala caling

this happend in god's own country

2006-11-02T16:30:00.000+07:00

mining in mangalapuram

2006-10-31T18:14:00.000+07:00

CLAY TURNED IN TO CURSE IN MANGALAPURAM

Thiruvananthapuram: At first they were welcomed; they offered a pathway to prosperity. Now they are seen as cancers, as killers. The Clay mining controversy contiues.

"Just as cancer invades one cell after another, similarly the clay mining companies cunningly crept into our village. At the outset they lured us by offering employment and were ready to buy our land at high prices. Some of us hoping for a better standard of life, fell for this and sold our land. Presently 60 percentage of the landscape has been brought under the ownership of the mining companies."- says Sunil Hassan an activist of Solidarity, the agitating group in the wretched village now.

the people of Mangalapuram panchayath struggle to exsist. Not only have they lost their land, they have lost their water and their health is at risk.

The rush of miningcompanies started five years ago. Mangalapuram, situated around 30 k.m. away from the capital city Thiruvanathapuram, in the neighborhood of Techno Park, is the main target of the mining gamble owing to it's plentiful supply of superior quality chinese clay. Mangalapuram is a small panchayath of around 21.66 sq.ft.km. and inhabited by population of 37,000. It ranks one among the best sites processing first quality clay in the world. Owing to this, English Indian Clay limited (EICL) and 19 other small companies are indulged in clay mining in this small area. The nearby areas of Manikkal, Murukkumpuzha panchayath are also endowed with abundant source of clay deposits. The comparatively inferior clay in the region has however not been an obstacle in the massive extent of mining process. The villages of Melthonnaykkal, Azhoor, Andoorkonam and Pothenkode are most hardhit areas.

One faces shocking scenes on entering Mangalapuram. The landscape engulfed by deep and fearful trenches, gives as an impression of a predator with its mouth open to swallow it's prey, is a mind rocking sight. Although mining has been done upto a depth of 400-500 ft. in many areas of the panchayath, yet clay deposits worth mining for many decades is still persisting.

The ruthless mining has lead to drastic decline in water level of the area. As a result, wells and other waterbodies have dried up, culminating in severe water shortage. The mining borne dust particles and the factory affluents equaly pollute the drinking water sources. The water purifying plants said to be owned and operated by the companies is viewed with suspicion.

The majority of inhabitants have succumbed to diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and skin diseases. Dr. Najeem, Medical Officer, PHC Mangalapuram, noticing the deteorating health condition, conducted the pilot survey two years ago which was an eye opener to the grave health problems persisting among the people. In the light of the pilot survey, he submitted a project of detailed medical survey to the panchayath.

The region has become highly prone to accidents over the recent years. The mad rush of tipper lorry has significantly added to the road accidents in the locality. The horrifying trenches have awarded death to more than 15 persons and countless livestock. The latest victims were two youngsters who had come for site-seeing. There is an incidence of the owner of the mine himself falling into the deep trench, thereby loosing his life.

As if water shortages and ill health were not enough, the villagers have yet another problem: they life in a defaced, ugly landscape and land values have declined. 'The market value of land here has drastically declined over the past few years, owing to ruthless mining in this area. Anticipating the future fall in land value and the situation of fearful isolation, the helpless villagers are forced to sell off their remaining piece of land at mere prices.'- says Mr. Shajeer, real estate agent.

According to the records 125 hectares of land was under paddy cultivation in 1997. By 2004 the figures had declined to a staggering 75 hectares. The present discouraging condition of paddy cultivation is due to severe water shortage in the area alongwith widespread land purchase by mining companies.

The ugly landscape is caused by companies ruthlessly violating the rules regarding trench refillment. The dug out top soil meant for refilling the trenches is on the contrary transported illegally to other sites. The justification for not refilling the trenches was their 'so called convertion' into rain wells, duly incorporated under the Govt. project of rain harvesting. The hidden agenda is to procure surplus Govt. grants as well as precious rain water and to avert the responsibility of trench refillment - comments Mr. Suresh, the helpless villager.

The Outbreak of Agitations

Not surprisingly, the villagers took to the streets in the beginning of 2005. The outraged people were as usual guided by enthusiastic politicians. The final outcome of the compromise talks comprised of assurance of employment to the natives and supply of safe drinking water through tanker Lorries (except on holidays). Another step taken was the construction of boundary walls around the mining areas to avert accidents. Topsoil was excluded from sales category.

The leaders of the agitation who were once in the forefront of the strike are now ironically dead against further strikes. Lack of motivation and leadership has tarnished this public protest. ''The company is supplying drinking water to the local population after polluting our water resources. This annoying fact is however unknown to the affected villagers.

The extent of groundwater extracted by the companies here is much more alarming than that at Plachimada. The tapped groundwater is used for processing of clay; it is never supplied to the needy inhabitants. Our misfortune is that we lack a strong panchayath with a firm backbone, like that of Perumatti panchayath''- says Mr. Pradeep Divakaran, activist and State committee member, Janathdal. But the president of the panchayath holds a different view. ''The hue and cry made over this particular issue is rather baseless and far from truth, since most of the problems have been resolved. Further taking a negative stand against clay mining without sound reasons will only bring the wrath of judiciary upon the local self administration.''- comments Mr. Ajith, the President of Mangalapuram Panchayath .

Mr. N.Krishnakumar, Director, Mining and Geology claims that enviornmental issues linked with clay mining has been tackled efficiently. ''The subcommittee appointed by Govt of Kerala under the Chairmanship of Director of Mining and Geology dept. authorised to monitor the enviornmental situation, is doing a fine job. The panchayath and companies have due representation in the committee. The measures such as regular refilling of the trenches with topsoil, sprinkling of water on the dusty roads and supply of safe drinking water to the needy population are commendable''- Says the Director.

But Mr. R. Ajayan, Convener, Plachimada Ikkyadhardya Samithi disagrees; he says that the plight of Mangalapuram is as evident as daylight. The deep trenches and adjacent mud hills reveal the naked reality of non refillment of the dreadful trenches. Further the committee authorized to tackle enviornmental problems in the affected zone unfortunately do not include any member from the protestors. Inspite of all this discouraging facts, he has decided to follow up the complaint which is presently submitted before the subject committee of Kerala Legislative Assembly.

Meantime EICL denies all the accusations. Mr. Jayan Nair claims that their's is a reputed company which maintains International standard. On humanitarian grounds the company took up the hurricane task of supplying safe drinking water to the people, in the event of severe water shortage problem.

Intervention of Human Right Commission

When the public protest gained momentum the Human Right commission enterd the scene, following which Kerala University was authorized to study about the concerned envoirmental and health issues. The report submitted a year ago by the expert three member committee headed by V. Sobha, Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences, has revealed shocking truth.

The quality of ground water in the mining areas is quite below WHO's standard for drinking water coupled with pH values below the required limit. The committee views on rehabilitation of the grossly mined areas as the most patent issue. The report emphasized the need to conduct chemical analysis of the soil to assess the toxicity level. In the light of the report, one year later, HRC member S.Varghese ordered the immediate shutting of unauthorized clay mines in Mangalapuram Panchayath.

As usual, this report also concludes in appointing another expert committee for detailed suggestions. The formation of a new committee and submission of its report will be lengthy procedure. Amidst the controversies, what remains certain is the uncertain fate of the ignored villagers. While waiting in the endless quest for drinking water supplied by tankers, even in the season of heavy downpour, the villagers painfully acknowledge how clay had turned in to curse.

BY S.SANTHOSH KUMAR

santhosh