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[email protected] Today's topics: * Fwd: [Aid-awareness] Indexing inhumanity, Indian style by P. Sainath - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/ad8f7a8bf1396422?hl=en * Community Protests Coca-Cola Plant in India - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/30a0a878376b67ad?hl=en * Gandhi, Marx etc :: Social Workings - 2 messages, 2 authors http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/a71dd43c54359019?hl=en ============================================================================== TOPIC: Fwd: [Aid-awareness] Indexing inhumanity, Indian style by P. Sainath http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/ad8f7a8bf1396422?hl=en ============================================================================== == 1 of 1 == Date: Sat, Oct 27 2007 1:31 am From: "Abhijit K" ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Priya Ranjan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Oct 26, 2007 11:28 PM Subject: [Aid-awareness] Indexing inhumanity, Indian style by P. Sainath To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Aid-awareness] 'Disaster Recovery is Directly Related to Democracy' Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:15:24 -0400 From: Priya Ranjan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * [image: donate] *<https://secure.aidindia.org/aidadmin/donate/current/Donate.jsp> ** <https://secure.aidindia.org/aidadmin/donate/current/Donate.jsp> * * <https://secure.aidindia.org/aidadmin/donate/current/Donate.jsp> [image: AID logo]* * * <https://secure.aidindia.org/aidadmin/donate/current/Donate.jsp>* <http://www.cathnews.com/news/708/87.php>* * * * * Indexing inhumanity, Indian style *<http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/26/stories/2007102653981200.htm> by P. Sainath Courtesy: The Hindu * * *Petition on stopping Dow recruitment in IIT Chennai.<http://petitions.aidindia.org/IITM_dow/index.php> 410 people have signed this petition so far.<http://petitions.aidindia.org/IITM_dow/supporters.php> * <http://aidindia.org/main/content/view/492/182/> <http://aidindia.org/main/content/view/492/182/> * Indexing inhumanity, Indian style * P. Sainath ------------------------------ * It took minutes for the top guns to swing into action when the Sensex fell by several hundred points. But no Minister came forward to calm the nation when India hit the 94th rank in the Global Hunger Index. * ------------------------------ It all happened around the same time. The day the Sensex crossed 19,000, India clocked in 94th in the Global Hunger Index -- behind Ethiopia. Both stories did make it to the front page (in one daily at least). But, of course, the GHI ranking was mostly buried inside or not carried at all that day. The joy over the stunning rise of the media's most loved index held on for a bit the next day. The same day, India clocked in as the leading nation in the number of women dying in childbirth. In this list, the second, third and fourth worst countries put together just about matched India's 1.17 lakh deaths of women in childbirth. This story appeared in single column just beneath the Sensex surge. Next came the fall of several hundred points in the Sensex. That is, barely a couple of days later. It took minutes for the top guns to swing into action. Fingers were in every dyke. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram lost no time in reassuring worried investors via the media. Other top officials were all over television, doing the same. "FM soothes the Market's nerves" ran the ticker. The barrage -- both media and official -- kept up through the day. The panels of experts convened to celebrate the 19K summit were reconvened to explain why they'd tripped off the cliff. They then droned on about the merits of P-Notes, regulation and the future. What stood out, of course, was the swiftness of both government and media response to each twitch in the index. No Minister came forward to calm the nation when India hit the 94th rank in the Global Hunger Index. That's out of 118 countries. The daily, *DNA*, though, did capture the essence of the story with its report: "Ethiopians manage hunger better than us." For indeed, they do these days. At least by the measure of the International Food Policy Research Institute's Global Hunger Index. Ethiopia ranks a notch above us at 93. Draw the baseline anywhere in the 1990s, and you'll find Ethiopia worked better at reducing hunger than we did. Pakistan ranks ahead of us, too, at 88. China logs in at 47. All our South Asian neighbours do better than us on this index, except Bangladesh. And who knows when it will overtake us? None of the countries boasts an economy growing at 9 per cent a year. You'd think it was an issue worth some attention. But it was hard to find panels debating this on television. Or any editorials in the newspapers doing the same. No Ministers or top babus soothing the nerves of the hungry. No experts with furrowed brows warning that the trends could continue, even worsen. The GHI is by no means the only measure of what's happening. The United Nations' Food & Agriculture Organisation put it simply in 2006. Its State of Food Insecurity in the World report confirmed yet again that we have the largest number of undernourished people in the globe. The 2004 edition of the report had shown that India had added more people to the "newly hungry" in the planet than the rest of the world together. There, too, nations much worse off had done far better. Between the years 1995-97 and 2000-02, hunger grew in India at a time when it fell in Ethiopia. There was also another link begging to be made. Not just between the Sensex and hunger stories. Let's revert to the latest maternal mortality figures released by the WHO and others. Some 536,000 women died in childbirth in 2005. Of these, every fifth one of them, at least, was an Indian. That is, 117,000 of them. A total that could only be matched by Nigeria, Afghanistan and Congo together. Almost 99 per cent of all these deaths worldwide occurred in developing countries. Much of this, again, is amongst the poorer sections of the population. If we were to look at specific groups or communities, this would be even clearer. Let alone on the hunger index, India's rank in the U.N.'s Human Development Index is anyway dismal. There, at 126, we are below Bolivia, Guatemala and Gabon. Yet even that rank does not tell the full story. If we were to isolate the rich and the better off as a group, they might enter the top 10 nations. Efforts last year to look at adivasis as a group led pretty much in the reverse direction. One study found that if we were to derive the HDI for our tribes only, they would rank in the worst off 25 nations of the world. Please read the full article at http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/26/stories/2007102653981200.htm -- -- -- -- -- _______________________________________________ AID-awareness is grateful to Shreyas, Ved, Anish, Devi and whole Free/Open source coummunity (Yo GNU/LINUX!!) for their tremendous technical support. We are also grateful to numerous contributors who make us more and more aware about the Indian world around us. Aid-awareness mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe please login at http://lists.aidindia.org/mailman/listinfo/aid-awareness -- Abhijit Minakshi About my name: www.geocities.com/abhijit1303/aboutname.txt ============================================================================== TOPIC: Community Protests Coca-Cola Plant in India http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/30a0a878376b67ad?hl=en ============================================================================== == 1 of 1 == Date: Sat, Oct 27 2007 2:09 am From: "Abhijit K" More against coke and pepsi... and the likes... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Padma Govindan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Oct 8, 2007 10:05 AM Subject: {Youth for Social Ch Fwd: {greenyouth} 2000 days of Plachimada Struggle To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This is a forward on 2000 days of struggle against Coca Cola factory at Plachimada, Kerala. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- 2007 Oct. 12 PLACHIMADA STRUGGLE towards 2000 days. Seminars, Solidarity meetings, film show, Dedication of 'suffering for justice' Sculpture, Cultural Programmes. at Plachimada On 12th and 13th Oct. 2007. Send your Solidarity Signals to : Plachimada anti coca cola struggle committee Plachimada Struggle Solidarity Committee Kannimari P.O., Palakkad District., 678 534. Phone : 9349501699, 9447019546. e-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Padma Govindan The Shakti Center E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cell: 09940025231 Website: www.shakticenter.org (under construction) -- Abhijit Minakshi About my name: www.geocities.com/abhijit1303/aboutname.txt On 10/25/07, Social Ownership <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > *Community Protests Coca-Cola Plant in India > * > Community Files Police Report Accusing Coca-Cola of Water Theft and > Pollution > > For Immediate Release > October 25, 2007 > > *Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, India (October 25, 2007): * Over 600 people > marched and rallied against the Coca-Cola bottling plant in the village of > Sinhachawar in Ballia district in India yesterday, demanding that the plant > be shut down permanently. > > The community has accused the bottling plant of pollution and also > illegally occupying land held by the village assembly. > > A visit by community members to the factory premises in May 2007 found the > bottling plant indiscriminately dumping its hazardous waste inside and > outside the factory premises. > > In 2003, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India assessed the > sludge at eight Coca-Cola bottling plants, and found them all to contain > excessive levels of lead, cadmium or chromium. As a result, the CPCB ordered > the Coca-Cola company in India to treat its waste at all its bottling plants > as industrial hazardous waste, and deal with it accordingly. > > Four years later, the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar has failed > to follow the orders. In particular, the dumping of such hazardous waste > violates the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989 from the > Ministry of Environment and Forests of India. > > "We are demanding that the Coca-Cola bottling plant cease its operations > permanently because they are destroying our land and water, the very source > of our livelihoods," said Mr. Baliram Ram of the Coca-Cola Bhagao, Krishi > Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, the main organizer of the protest. > > The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar has also built its boundary > walls encompassing some land that is owned by the village assembly. In > December 2005, villagers noticed that the Coca-Cola bottling plant had > blocked access to a public road that went through the bottling plant. The > villagers forcibly removed the gates placed by the bottling plant on either > side of the road. The community is alleging that the Coca-Cola bottling > plant illegally occupies another 1.5 acres of village assembly land. > > The community is also concerned about water shortages in the area as a > result of the extraction of water by the Coca-Cola bottling plant. The area > is already experiencing water shortages, and the villagers point to other > communities in India around Coca-Cola bottling plants where the water crises > have been severely exacerbated as a result of Coca-Cola's operations > > The bottling plant in Sinhachawar is a Coca-Cola franchisee owned unit > operated by the Brindavan Bottlers Limited, which is owned by India's > largest bottler of Coca-Cola, the Ladhani Group of Companies. The bottling > plant is in the process of being bought by the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages > Private Ltd, the subsidiary of the Coca-Cola company. > > The protest at the Coca-Cola bottling plant came a day after another > demonstration at the District Magistrate's office in Balia on October 23 > where community members presented their demands to the District Magistrate. > > The bottling plant has come under increased scrutiny after the community > visit to the plant which confirmed that Coca-Cola was carelessly and > illegally dumping its waste around the factory premises and into the > surrounding fields. > > The head of the village council, Ms. Chinta Devi, has led the campaign to > permanently shut down the plant. Last month, the union of village council > heads in the district passed a resolution against the Coca-Cola bottling > plant, insisting that it be shut down. > > The protest at the Coca-Cola bottling plant ended after community members > lodged a police report accusing the plant of pollution, illegal land > occupation and theft of water. > > The Coca-Cola company's operations in India have been challenged by > various communities across India who are experiencing severe water shortages > as well as polluted water and land as a result of the company's practices. > The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, one of the company's largest in > India, has been shut down since March 2004. > > The local campaigns to challenge Coca-Cola in India have found tremendous > support internationally, and particularly among college and university > students in the US, UK and Canada. Over twenty five colleges and > universities have taken actions against the Coca-Cola company. > > The full report of the May visit to the Coca-Cola bottling plant with > images can be found at > http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2007/cokebaliafact.html, in > Hindi at > http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2007/baliahindireport.pdf > > For more information, visit > www.IndiaResource.org<http://www.indiaresource.org/> > > ---ends--- > [image: []] > > > > > > -- Abhijit Minakshi About my name: www.geocities.com/abhijit1303/aboutname.txt ============================================================================== TOPIC: Gandhi, Marx etc :: Social Workings http://groups.google.com/group/BM_discussion/browse_thread/thread/a71dd43c54359019?hl=en ============================================================================== == 1 of 2 == Date: Fri, Oct 26 2007 9:17 am From: "Surendran B" Well, dint we see what the status of Bagat Singh is today. It needed a Wikipedia to tell his date of birth and a movie like "Rang De Basanti", to tell people who he was. Please do not see this in the light of recognition received but I wrote this to hint at the conditions of person who did a true sacrifice. When so many people have started like this and ended up no where, we are feeling that risking with the life of even one person who has fallen into the ocean is dangerous because so many people had done this in the past and therefore there is no wonder in the common man being apprehensive to such players who come up on the stage. Should we be one among those who jumped and vanished at the first instance or should we be somebody who wants to make a lasting impact? We chose the latter. That does not mean fear/unwillingness to jump in. Waiting to step in does not always mean reluctance. Trying to build resources does not always mean trying showing economic arrogance. Writing in "high" words does not always mean trying to hijack the minds of people. You had raised the point of internal slavery at one point. May be I would not agree with the exact terminology you used but I do agree with the issue you wanted to convey. The question I would like to ask is, is this problem (if it can be seen as a problem) contemporary alone. We may find several such instances if we analyze our history. Only when a westerner pointed out that "every Indian village is a society in itself, so self contained and self dependent", did many amongst us realize its true meaning and potential. Until it was called YOG, it was not so popular and we did not realize its importance. Somebody needed to go to the west, popularize it as Yoga, and prove that whatever spelled out in YOG is scientific too and just not random. Only then we, the creators of the art, understood the importance it could play. Similarly, it took a person like Vivekananda to go to the west and proclaim that there is a society called Indian society, which is far more advanced than yours, may be not technologically but on the whole. Only then the westerners understood the importance of India as a society. And I would not be wrong if I say we also learn the glory and the power of Indian society, only from writings and speeches of such people. In all these 3 instances, the difference was noted by people who had the knowledge of both the sides. If Vivekananda had not studied both the societies, he would not have been able to proclaim the greatness of our society and system in a meeting filled with westerners. But at the same time, he was not against the western systems and he has also appreciated certain things of the English society. You rightly said it when you said Indian society is already mature and we also believe in that strongly. One underlying thing I find in common in all your points, if I am not wrong, is that you are trying to point out why we should be evaluating ourselves based on the western models and in the due course of time, we are becoming the slaves. I would not say what you say is right or wrong for one's belief is a product of the experience and the knowledge one gains out of that experience. I would like to differ here. Let us consider the impact of the western world on us. For example take this mail itself. But for the creation of a thing called email, I would not have run into you and you would not have known me. Fine, we have to accept that the people working there may be Indians but the western world does claim supremacy over others with this creation. Should we call this as our ignorance or their brilliance? The question is open. This situation is not limited to technology alone. While many western countries claim to be the champions of democracy, we can proudly claim that democracy and balance of power, distribution of powers etc may be a recent phenomenon known to them, possibly since the past 3 centuries where as we had been be practising it ever since records claim about the existence of Indian society. The point I would like make here is that when a western system or technology or product or anything else, if it is beneficial to our society, there is no harm in adopting it. Merely adopting it does not mean we are becoming slaves to it or we are accepting their supremacy or we are treating them as IDEAL. When we find something is better than what we have there is no harm in trying to incorporate that also in our system. Can we altogether neglect the western models and proceed with our own? Again this question is also open. The answer to this question depends on one's conditioning and need not be same always. For example, I myself would say we need not always neglect the western models, be it in any field. We all use computers but when it comes to some puja we give 'tikka' to our computer also. What does this indicate? When something of this sort is being done in our private lives, why cannot be repeat the same in our public life also. The difference, to me, appears to be only on magnitude and scale and we can carry the same spirit here too. You can effectively counter this by citing a few other examples which would prove that we can still live and succeed without western technologies. And that would also appear to be correct. But aren't we having the same intentions at the bottom of the heart? Your experience and knowledge makes you see things in a different light and I see it in a different light and I bet if we go on discussing even for 100 years, we will not come to a common conclusion. It is utmost unfair to pull people of high stature for an analogy in this context but still I would like to do it. Both Nehru had a western model of development in his mind; Gandhi wanted sustainable form of development. Both belonged to different educational backgrounds. Though Gandhi talked about traditional methods, he was educated in the western system. But both of them united for one common cause and they succeeded too. After independence, we did try both the models but the results do not show a good picture for both the experiments. We cannot rule out even one or both of them to be incorrect. Development is a relative concept. For us the western world may appear technologically well developed than us and for the western world we may appear spiritually well developed than us. Nowadays we see how the so called technologically well developed societies try to follow us and grow spiritually also. If that is so, why shouldn't we borrow something from their world to bring about betterment? Simply because the western world is trying to take our things into their world, does this mean the western world is accepting us as IDEAL? Even now, through this mail thread, what are we trying to do. Aren't we trying to establish some form of ideological supremacy? May be I am too immature to write on such issues, may be there are readers who are more knowledgeable than us, who may be laughing at this discussion and may be there could be people who don't understand even a bit. You can raise doubts, I would counter them and the vice versa would also happen but where are we heading? This thread could be productive if we engage in some form of constructive criticism rather than blaming, arguing and counter arguing or trying to establish whose points are correct or valid. Dear Abhijit, You can agree with whatever Vivekji had said about the middle class and upper class and they are true to some extent too. But you must also realize another fact. Most of the social movements in this world be it the French revolution or the Indian struggle for independence, everything has been started and sustained only by this middle class with a true motive of development. The fact that BM had been started as a novel experiment is very true, but why do you have to see that as one which is bound to fail. The point where this mail thread had started was rightly named as rejuvenating BM and you can see it in that perspective also. You can see this as the demise of a movement called as BM or else you can see this as the resurgence of BM with fresh blood and more energy, overcoming the hitches it had faced in the past. The choice is open to you. == 2 of 2 == Date: Sat, Oct 27 2007 3:05 am From: "Abhijit K" Dear Surendran and all, (please read inline) > > Dear Abhijit, > > You can agree with whatever Vivekji had said about the middle class and > upper class and they are true to some extent too. But you must also realize > another fact. Most of the social movements in this world be it the French > revolution or the Indian struggle for independence, everything has been > started and sustained only by this middle class with a true motive of > development. I disagree with you here... middle classes played their role, but movements were always run by masses.. they owned them... and I'm sorry, I can't debate in an email... it is jut not practical. The fact that BM had been started as a novel experiment is very true, but > why do you have to see that as one which is bound to fail. The point where > this mail thread had started was rightly named as rejuvenating BM and you > can see it in that perspective also. You can see this as the demise of a > movement called as BM or else you can see this as the resurgence of BM with > fresh blood and more energy, overcoming the hitches it had faced in the > past. The choice is open to you. BUM is a name. Names often have their own legacy and problems of the legacy. The spirit, thoughts behind, and the actions make the difference. In that sense, I've continued to walk to path... and trying to walk it better... and faster.. and I'm sure you are also walking the path.. someday we'll meet brother :).. In solidarity, Abhijit Minakshi. ============================================================================== You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BM_discussion" group. 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