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q u o t e

Thursday, May 29, 2014

aranmula air port


what is wrong with an airport in aranmula ?

1. where is the need ?
          where was the need for cochin airport
          50 years back ? or a railway line 200 years
          back ? or kochi metro 10 years back ?

         the fact is that this infrastructure will
         definitely find use 5 years from now
         and will be indispensable from say  the
         tenth  year onwards.
  
          let us not be shortsighted while
         assessing infrastructure needs.

2.  is it not upsetting the ecological balance ?

         probably yes. as is reported if it is going
         to create an island in the centre of  a vast
         paddy field blocking water flow and
         obstructing natural movement, yes, it will
         damage the ecology.

        but let us know how big the damage is.
        and if  remedial action is possible . at the
        cost and responsibility of the airport company.

         if nothing is possible let us debate whether
        it is a reasonable price to pay for development.

        let us not  use the ecology sword and
       cut down  all developments.

3.  didnt the green court say
         the study was not proper
         and the feed back arrangement  inadequate ?

       let us have a proper assessment  by the best agency
       and put the report on public domain long enough to
       collect all the feed back.

      let us not discard the whole book saying it
      contains spelling mistakes which can easily
      be corrected in the next edition

if development calls for a little partiality
let us show that partiality consciously




       

article 370 ...contd

the strangest defense i heard against discussing repeal
of article 370 goes thus..
      president of of india can modify article 370  but only
      with the consent of state council. this council does not
     exist now . it is prorogued. so no one can ever  change
     article 370.

 to my mind it looks akin to the following situation
 
    a man is allowed to build a road along the boundary
    of his house but he should take a no objection from
    his neighbour. this neighbour dies before the road
    work is started. which means  the poor man can
   never build his road.

the neighbour here was given an opportunity to raise
objection if  he had any. now that he is no more, there
is no question of objections. in other words
this absence of objection is really the consent.

doesnt the same logic apply to article 370 ? when the body
which was supposed to raise objections does not exist,
the very concept of objections does not exist. in other
words it is consent by default.

but the learned expert above argues it is eternal ban.
probably the strangest logic ever.

--- to continue--

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

article 370

i think  the invitation to discuss article 370
should be accepted. to oppose, if not for anything
else, those who say article 370 is so sacrosanct that
even a public discussion  will be considered an offence.

now coming to the article 370 itself, i know nothing much
about it. i believe a vast majority is with me.

but many including me know that it is something which
facilitates special treatment of  J & K and keep the control
of the govt of india  to the minimum. probably necessitated
by the special circumstances under which the state joined
the indian union.

so far so good. but that these privileges should continue  as long
as  sun and earth exist is unacceptable.  the need to continue
the privileges should definitely be reviewed.

it is already too late. let us not lose further time.

 ---  to continue ---










Tuesday, May 27, 2014

a background check on our new ministers

this is a half page extract taken from a 25 page report by ADR.
read the explanatory note below and the full report in their website
www.adrindia.org

        Data in this Kit is presented in good faith, with an intention
        to inform voters. Ministers'   affidavits obtained from the
         ECI website (www.eci.nic.in)  with nomination papers is
         the  source of this analysis.


Ministers with Criminal Cases: Out of the 44 Ministers analysed, 13 (30%) Ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves.  Ministers with Serious Criminal Cases: 8 (18%) Ministers have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping, electoral violations etc.

 Minister with case related to Attempt to Murder: Uma Bharti from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh of BJP has declared a case related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307)
 Ministers with cases related to causing Communal Disharmony: Uma Bharti from Jhansi constituency, Uttar Pradesh of BJP has declared a case Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC Section-153A)
 Ministers with cases related to Electoral Violations: Uma Bharti of BJP from Jhansi constituency, Uttar Pradesh, has declared a case related to Illegal payments in connection with an election (IPC Section-171H). Upendra Kushwaha of Rashtriya Lok Samta Party from Karakat constituency, Bihar and Ram Vilas Paswan of LJP from Hajipur constituency, Bihar have each declared a case related to Bribery (IPC Section – 171E)
 Ministers with cases related to Kidnapping: Munde Gopinathrao Pandurang from Beed Constituency, Maharashtra of BJP has declared a case related to Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person (IPC Section-365)


             

very difficult to comprehend

1. why tejpal of tehelka is in jail for so many months.
   for attempting to rape a colleague ? unbelievable.

2. why talwars are given life sentence . for killing their
   only daughter ? unbelievable.

3. why maadhani is in jail for almost all his life.
    for plotting to break the country ? unbelievable.

there is something very very wrong with our systems.
including our courts. why we are so compalcent and
unconcerned is very difficult to comprehend.
 

Monday, May 26, 2014

can any one do any thing ?

an old report republished. 
may be the govt of india
can demolish this vice den.


Beaten, raped and locked in cage by paedophiles at the age of 9 - India's modern day slaves


The Mirror investigates the horrors of the modern day slaves in Mumbai's sickening child sex trade


Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror

From a dimly-lit alley a teenage pimp emerges to tout a schoolgirl held prisoner inside the six-floor brothel behind him. “I can get you young girls,” he boasts. “Minor, only been used four or five times. Everything is for sale here in Mumbai, sir.”
Somewhere in there is a girl whose stolen innocence is a sordid selling point in the rat-infested red-light district of Kamathipura district.
In this labyrinth of rubbish-strewn lanes, where homeless tots sleep rough beside wild-eyed junkies, there are thousands of such girls, some as young as six. They are slaves, sold to child traffickers by their own penniless families in other parts of India.
Kamathipura was first set up by the British for the use of colonial troops. It was called a “comfort zone”.
When our forces left in 1947 local pimps moved in, scenting easy money to be made by exploiting children.
So while Britain prepares to enact a Modern Slavery Bill which will hand out life sentences to human traffickers, India remains the country with more people trapped in forced labour than any other.

Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror Mumbai prostitute
A young prostitute in the Mumbai red-light district of Kamathipura where thousands of children are trafficked to be sexually abused and locked up in brothels
 A Global Slavery Index released recently said the world’s second most populated nation contains nearly half of the world’s slaves. A total of 15 million people, many of them children, are forced to work for no pay as domestic servants, miners, cotton pickers and, worst of all, prostitutes.
Slavery is the world’s third most profitable business for organised crime syndicates, behind only guns and drugs.
And amid the teeming chaos of Mumbai, the youngest victims of the sex trade are held in pitch-black wooden box cages inside secret rooms deep in the brothels.
These tiny locked cells are concealed behind trapdoors and false walls and the girls, daubed in make-up by their captors, the girls have no means of escape from the paedophiles client who prowl by night, undisturbed by allegedly corrupt police.
Seena Simon, who runs a halfway house for rescued girls, explains: “The girls are kept plump and beautiful in their cages like chickens being factory farmed. The pimps prefer them as young as possible to make more money. Men here will pay more for younger girls. That is why they are hidden away.”
One Indian child rights organisation says 40% of prostitutes inside the country are of school age.

Hazel Thompson India brothel
One of the oldest brothel houses on 14th lane, with gangsters, young criminals and pimps guarding each floor and brothels
 I meet one recently rescued girl, 16-year-old Padma, from the state of Utter Pradesh, who was sold by her indebted parents when she was six.
She tells me her father first resorted to begging, then took out a loan that he couldn’t pay it back. The loan sharks beat up her parents and threatened to kill them unless they sold Padma, their youngest child, to a female trafficker in their gang.
“The lady beat me all the time – I never knew why,” says Padma. “After that she brought me here, to Mumbai.
“First of all I was made to be a slave in this lady’s house. By then I was seven. About a year after that I was handed to this gang. One of the men told me I had to be ready to be a woman.
“They made me start to put on make-up. One day he told me to take off my clothes. I didn’t know what I would have to do.
“He attacked me, he molested me; I had no idea what was happening. I was completely petrified while it continued. When he had finished, the woman who had sold me locked the door from the outside and left me there. I was naked and crying.
“When she came to speak to me the next day, she said, ‘It’s not a sin, it’s just what we do’. I was threatened so many times that I just decided to accept what they wanted. I was nine then. I had become a prostitute.”
Padma speaks with astonishing composure while recounting her ordeal. But while she is dressed maturely in a pink sari, her facial expressions are still child-like.
Our interview is conducted in her dormitory room, decorated like a child’s bedroom with stencilled pictured of angels on brightly-coloured walls.

Hazel Thompson India brothel box cage
A 'wooden' box cage, where girls are abused and held captive until they are 'broken' and will not try runaway from the brothels
 The building is deliberately in a quiet street far from the predators who might seek revenge on girls who have slipped the net.
Padma calmly describes how she was made to suffer in silence as she was raped by a continual stream of men from 4pm until 4am every night.
If she ever complained about the abuse, she would be beaten, tied up, or even starved of food.
“Once they undressed me, tied me to the ceiling fan and then turned it on,” she remembers. “I was slapped as I was spinning around.”
The account of this torture makes me recoil in revulsion; Padma just carries on telling her tragic story.
“The men would come into the brothel and choose one of us in the waiting room, where we all sat,” Padma adds.
“I would be earning thousands of rupees every night, but I never got any of the money. In the daytime I had to baby-sit some of the younger girls, so I never really slept properly.
“There were many of us, sometimes as many as ten, all crammed together in a tiny, hot room during the day. It was horrible.”
Padma was finally rescued last year when the police raided the brothel.
On that occasion, like many others, the pimps and the traffickers who control the girls all got away.
Another girl at the refuge, Dishita, tells how the brothel keeper would always be warned in advance of a police raid.
She would be temporarily shipped out to another building.

Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror Mumbai trafficked girl
This 16-year-old girl now lives at a refuge for trafficked girls in northern Mumbai following her rescue from one of the squalid brothels in the red-light district, Kamathipura
 Dishita was kept locked up in a room only big enough for a tiny mattress. Food would be pushed through a slot; she had to knock on the door for hours before being allowed to the toilet.
She, like many at the centre, is HIV positive. And she faces a grim future while trying to reconcile her awful past.
Her friend Rashmi, 18, was sold to a brothel by her own mother when she was only eight.
Seena says some of the girls under her care are so traumatised they have totally blanked out their past.
Most cannot sleep at night because they are so used to their nocturnal lives.
“The worst cases I have heard are of children being taken from their mothers when they are still in hospital after giving birth,” Seena says. “They are sold on to eventually be used in the brothels when they are still primary school age.
“You cannot see these very young girls; they are kept out of public view on the streets, but they are there.”
“The traffickers tell their families they will get the girls a job in Mumbai,” she adds.
They pay about £50 to take them away.
She continues: “Once they get here, they are sold on to brothels for ten times that – 50,000 rupees.
“The girls are in their debt from the moment they pass through the door. Until they have worked enough to pay off that 50,000, and a lot more besides, they cannot leave. Often they have to sleep with 15 to 20 men a night. It is the brothel keeper who keeps the money, not them.
“Sometimes the police carry out raids in the red light district, but this still carries on. I think they turn a blind eye. It is totally corrupt. In India, just as in Britain, it is a very serious offence to have sex with a juvenile, but they choose to do nothing about it.
“Child prostitution is growing. It’s a big money-making business and they allow it to happen. None of them are thinking about the effect on a girl’s life.”
In Britain, shocking cases like that of three women held as slaves in south London remain rare.
Here in the seedy, foul-smelling lanes of Kamathipura there are not only slave children in the brothels, but also younger boys and girls forced into manual labour.
Charity Tearfund, which helps fund the halfway house, says traffickers exploit parents who have lost everything after natural disasters.
“When families lose breadwinners and even their homes, they fall prey to opportunistic child traffickers,” the humanitarian agency says.
“Out of desperation, families accept the offer, without realising that their child will be sold into the sex industry or into child labour.”
  • To make a donation to Tearfund go to www.tearfund.org   or call 0845 355 8355


for more
read
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/beaten-raped-locked-cage-paedophiles-3288946     

a small local news

എന്റെ നാട് മാമ്മലശ്ശേരി 12:37pm May 25
മേമ്മുറിയില്‍ പൊതുകളിസ്ഥലമായി
Posted on: 25 May 2014
പാമ്പാക്കുട പഞ്ചായത്ത് മേമ്മുറി നെയ്ത്തുശാലപ്പടിക്കടുത്ത് നിര്‍മിച്ച പൊതു കളിസ്ഥലം ഉദ്ഘാടനം ചെയ്തു. സംസ്ഥാന സ്‌പോര്‍ട്‌സ് കൗണ്‍സിലില്‍ നിന്ന് അനുവദിച്ച 3,80,000 രൂപ ഉപയോഗിച്ചാണ് കളിസ്ഥലം നിര്‍മിച്ചത്. പഞ്ചായത്തിന്റെ അധീനതയിലുള്ള 54 സെന്റ് സ്ഥലം മോടിപിടിപ്പിച്ചാണ് കളിസ്ഥലമാക്കിയത്. ഗ്രാമപഞ്ചായത്ത് പ്രസിഡന്റ് ഡോ. എബി എന്‍. ഏലിയാസ് ഉദ്ഘാടനം ചെയ്തു. അംഗം ജയന്തി മനോജ് അധ്യക്ഷയായി. വൈസ് പ്രസിഡന്റ് ആലീസ് ജോയി, അംഗങ്ങളായ പ്രസാദ് പൈങ്കന്‍, പോള്‍ ബേബി, എന്‍.ആര്‍. ശശി, പ്രീത ബാബു എന്നിവര്‍ പ്രസംഗിച്ചു.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

a little politics

the so called discipline bordering on fascism may hold the party together for some more time. but it cannot impress the general public in any way. for that the party needs charismatic leaders and they should have freedom to work. in the present scenario that seems a distant dream. it is not easy to open closed and sealed minds. so any talk of revival of  CPM in india is immature and any hope unfounded.

Friday, May 23, 2014

devayani issue still live ?

this is an old article from the devayani era reproduced. 
incidentally where is devayani? is sangeetha's husband
still in US ? how does the new goverment in india plan
to seek justice in the matter ?

1. India should put in place a standard procedure for 'intake' and
  'keepin'  of detainees  akin to the one followed ( demonstrated in
  the  devayani case )  by the great U S with the following compulsory steps

   i. repeated handcuffing (compulsory )
   handcuffing may not be done immediately. also they may be taken off
   for making calls to request someone to pick up the little kids from
   school and take them somewhere, but  should be put back immediately.
   the time and occasion when the handcuffs were removed should be recorded
   so that it can be explained later that the victim was not handcuffed
   all the time or immediately.

   ii. strip search (compulsory)
   simultaneous all direction cavity search is to be done. but some
   cavities (preferably the nostrils or the ear lobes ) should be
   excluded so that it can be explained later that no cavity search
   was done and that it was only a strip search.

   iii. drug addicts and sex workers (not compulsory )
   if the victim is lodged with the above categories, then it should
   be ensured that they are indian citizens so that it can be explained
   later that the victim was lodged along with indian citizens.

 2. India should strengthen its law enforcing mechanism.
    there are a dozen indian rules a diplomat breaks on any given day.
    india should write to the embassies about these violations, ignore
    their reply and arrest the diplomat for violation of federal rules.
    the diplomat need not be pulled out of the car immediately if it is
    very cold outside. she may also be offered coffee ( which she will
    naturally refuse in anticipation of the forthcoming niceties like
    strip search )

3. India should be more proactive on human rights violations.
   india should collect details of wages paid by relatives and associates
   of all diplomats stationed in india. this should include the wages
   paid in their own countries too. india should look for complaints
   arising anywhere in the world and put in place a mechanism to air
   lift husband and children of the victim especially if there are
   court proceedings against them in their own countries.

4. Indian government should learn to manage their media better.
   leading newspapers should be asked to write edits defending the
   government action. they should be guided to refer to developments
   ( like aam aadmi's success in indian election ) in the affected
   country if nothing solid can be said in defense of the govt action

Saturday, May 17, 2014

an ode to a prime minister

ഹൃദയമിടിപ്പിന്റെ താളത്തിൽ
ഊഞ്ഞാലു  പാട്ടിന്റെ ഈണത്തിൽ
സന്കീര്തനത്തെ ഓര്മിപ്പിക്കുന്ന
   പദവിന്യാസത്തിൽ
ഒരു പ്രാര്ഥനാ കാവ്യം
      sarath chandran  on    face book
hope some one translates it to gujarati

താങ്കൾ കണ്ട നല്ല വശങ്ങൾ സത്യമായി വരട്ടെ. ഭാരതം മുഴുവൻ ആ നല്ല കാര്യങ്ങൾ (മാത്രം) നടപ്പാവട്ടെ. BJPയുടെ നേതാവിൽ നിന്നും ഇന്ത്യയുടെ പ്രധാനമന്ത്രിയാവാൻ ശീ നരേന്ദ്രമോഡിക്കു കഴിയട്ടെ. ഇന്ത്യയുടെ വികസനം ഗ്രാമങ്ങളിലെ സാധാരണക്കാരന്റെ വികസനമാണെന്ന സത്യം അംഗീകരിക്കുവാൻ അദ്ദേഹത്തിന് കഴിയട്ടെ. മന്മോഹന്റെയും കൊണ്ഗ്രെസ്സിന്റെയും അനുഭവങ്ങൾ പാഠമാവട്ടെ. ഇന്ത്യയിലെയും വിദേശങ്ങളിലെയും കുത്തകകൾക്കുവേണ്ടി ആവാതിരിക്കട്ടെ അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ ഭരണം. ജയിപ്പിച്ചത് അംബാനിയും, മിറ്റലും, ടാറ്റയും, ഒന്നും അല്ല, ഗതികെട്ട സാധാരണ ഇന്ത്യൻ ജനങ്ങളാണെന്ന് എന്നും അദ്ദേഹം സ്മരിക്കാൻ സർവേശ്വരൻ നമ്മളെ അനുഗ്രഹിക്കട്ടെ..........

Sunday, May 11, 2014

mullapperiyar

1. കല്പാന്തകാലത്തോളം   ആയുസ്സില്ല .------      ശരി.
    ഒരു നൂറു വര്ഷം കൂടി ? പറയാനാകില്ല അല്ലേ ?
    അത് തന്നെ ആണ് പ്രശ്നം . പത്തോ ഇരുപതോ  
    വര്ഷം കഴിഞ്ഞു decommission ആലോചന
     തുടങ്ങിയാലും ഒന്നും സംഭവിക്കില്ല. തമിഴകം
     നമ്മളെ തോല്പിച്ചു എന്ന വിഷമം അല്ലാതെ.

     2. മൌലികാവകാശം ....  തെറ്റ്. അങ്ങനെ ഒരു അവകാശവും  ഇല്ല.  ജീവിക്കാനുള്ള മൗലികമുന്റെന്നു പറഞ്ഞു ചെന്നാൽ ആരെങ്കിലും നമ്മെ ജീവിപ്പിക്കുമോ ?.  fundamental rights is just an index to help arrive at  a decision in case of a tie in the interpretation of the constitution.
 
  3.  നമ്മളെന്താ ഇടുക്കിയുടെ കാര്യം പറയാത്തത് ?
       എന്നാ  decommission  ചെയ്യേണ്ടത് ? നമ്മൾ എന്തൂട്ടാ ഇതുവരെ decommission ചെയ്തത് ?

4.   mullapperiyar is a fight which we started unprovoked which we fought unprofessionaly  and above all  which tamil nadu won on merits.  അതുകൊണ്ടു എനിക്ക് സങ്കടം ഇല്ലെന്നില്ല. നിങ്ങളുടെ ആത്മരോഷത്തിൽ  ഞാനും പങ്കു ചേരുന്നു

Thursday, May 8, 2014

മഴ

ഇത്രയും കണ്ണീർ ഈ മാനം എവിടെ ഒളിപ്പിച്ചിരുന്നു  ഈകാലമത്രയും  എന്തിനു ? സമയാസമയത്ത് പെയ്തൊഴിഞ്ഞു കൂടായിരുന്നോ ?
കരഞ്ഞാൽ തീരുന്നതൊക്കെ കരഞ്ഞു തീര്ക്കണം എന്നറിയാത്ത മാനം മനുഷ്യനാ ?

Sunday, May 4, 2014

RTI can kill. beware

chandra mohan sharma is no more. he died in his burnt car.
a non air conditioned car. with windows shut and doors locked.
in greater noida. in the early hours of friday the 2nd of  may 2014.

he had fought the land mafia thru RTI.

many RTI activists lost their lives in the past too.

RTI kills. and none will have any right to information
on the killer.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2619121/Chandra-Mohan-Sharma-burned-death.html