DMK for the first time seems to be serious or rather seriously saying that Raja might be thrown out or punished if found guilty. Unfortunately for them, he was a ‘man being accused just because he was from backward caste’ (backward class or schedule caste forgive me for my memory, it is difficult to remember the castes, but the deeds).

People who must have named him or Raja himself must be very happy and content as he personafied his name and live like the Raja (King) till the time had to abdicate the throne, which were full of thorns now.

But can we say justice would be done? Difficult looking at most of the similar cases where the ‘biggies’ or Kings (Rajas) are involved. Nevertheless Indians are generally optimistic and we hope the guilty get punished as in some cases like the Jessica Lal case or the Priyadarshini Mattoo case.

And all this in the backdrop of Prashant Bhushan’s (eminent Supreme Court lawyer and civil rights advocate) statement  that many of the last few Supreme Court Chief Justices were corrupt and he getting support from some of the top and respected civil society leaders like Rajendra Singh, Aruna Roy, Arvind Kejriwal and many other supporting him. In fact, they have all dared the Supreme Court to initiate Contempt proceedings against them also as the Court did in the case of Prashant Bhushan as they were also suporting the Senior Advocate’s stand.

Let’s see what happens now and hope for a Better for tomorrow!

Those who spoke on the occasion were: Suresh Tripathi, President – Delhi and NCR Chapter, NHRDN; President-HR, SRF Ltd,  SY Siddiqui, Regional President – North, NHRDN; Managing Executive Officer – Administration (HR, IT, Finance & COSL), Maruti Suzuki India Limited, NS Rajan, National President NHRDN; Partner, EMEIA, People & Organization Leader, Ernst & Young, SK Chaturvedi, Conference Chairman; Chairman and Managing Director, Power Grid Corporation, Dr Pritam Singh, Conference Academic Director; Professor of Eminence, MDI- Gurgaon and Arun Maira, Member Planning Commission was the Chief Guest.

The mantra forthe coming time was Business Strategy with a sustainable, equitable and inclusive growth with a significant focus on the Human aspects. The rights and aspiration of people and a holistic view had to be taken in this context. People need to given what are due in terms of Human Development and basic facilities like Healthcare, Sanitation, Decent Housing, Livelihoods, Nutrition and Education.

Ethics, value systems, equitable distribution and Micro, Small and Medium businesses and entrepreneurs (fireflies) would have a major role in taking India at a sustainable, inclusive and regular high growth rate in order to take advantage of the democratic dividend.

While concluding his speech at the Inaugural Session, the Planning Commission Member Arun Maira said, “Emerging India is India of Fireflies and we can not teach Leadership, but people must connect and take the first step to lead.”

Speaking before the Chief Guest, Padamshri Pritam Singh suggested to the people present to take that the Conference was like taking a Sangam and they should try to take a holy dip, gain wisdom and go back with great ideas.

This conference was preceded by the B-School Conclave co organised by the FORE School of Management at the Powergrid Township at Gurgaon.

* The author is Managing Editor & CEO, Radiance Media, Founder, Social and Green Business, President (Hon), The Oceanic Group

The official website says, “Big Broadcasting will be launching a bouquet of TV channels catering to the diverse needs of audiences across genres. The aim is to provide the Indian audience with a wholesome entertainment mix. The offerings will be spread across genres to appeal at a national, regional, mass and niche level keeping in mind the modern Indian consumer lifestyle and mindset.”

RBB already has a big stake and control in the FM Radio space with 46 radio stations. RBB is believed to have applied for business, crime and sports news genres in English, Hindi and regional languages with channels like Big News Business English, Big News Business Hindi, Big News Crime, Big News Urdu, Big News Sports and regional channels Big News Gujarati, Big News Marathi and Big News Punjabi. The operations of its business news channels, the first among these (Big News Business English and Hindi) are likely to begin in the first quarter of next fiscal.

Some other players have also applied fro new channels to expand their presence in this space. Zee News Ltd. (Zee Biz, Zee Bangla USA, Zee Telugu, USA), Triveni Media (TML Voice of India-NCR, Voice of India-Gujarati, Voice of India-Punjab, Voice of India-Amchi Mumbai), Sahara India (Sahara Marathi, Sahara Bengali, Sahara Bhojpuri, Sahara Gujarati, Sahara English) and INX News (Delhi011, Mumbai022, Kolkata033, Bengaluru 080) and TV18 India (CNBC TV18-South, CNBC TV18-Gujarati, CNBC TV18-Channel-3) are the major companies and their channels awaiting for licence.

Everyone now wants to tap the regional and city specific advertisers. It would not be surprising if one sees categories like retail and education becoming big on television. RBB already has a good presence in DTH space. With the 33 channels added, it will have a total of 51 channels in the broadcasting space. The kind of strategy and aim to control a large chunk of the market, Reliance Big Broadcasting would prove to be the Real Big Brother for the existing broadcasters and TV channels.

* Founder, Radiance Social & Green Businesses and Managing Editor & Communication Head, Radiance Media

Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment & Forests asked SAARC countries to demonstrate a collective commitment to ensure that CDM survives post 2012 because such a market mechanism should continue to be in place to mitigate the problems of green house gas emission that lead to climate change.

Inaugurating the SAARC CDM Conference in Delhi yesterday (1 September), Ramesh said India is ready to share its experiences with SAARC countries on clean and green energy initiatives and urged the SAARC countries to stand united on the CDM. He quoted an international survey that says that India is the best implementor of Clean Development Mechanism, CDM, to curb the problem of climate change.

Ramesh informed that Climate Change was the theme for the next SAARC Summit and the timing was perfect since the Conference of Parties at Copenhagen would have just concluded and there would be important issues for deliberations. He added that environment cannot be bottled into a national framework and suggested implementation of cross border CDM projects such as forestry projects with Bhutan and projects on tackling desertification with Pakistan.

He mentioned the institutional initiatives have been taken by SAARC for the promotion and expansion of CDM in this region. The SAARC Action Plan on Environment provides for the establishment of the Coastal Zone Management Centre in Maldives which has already been established, and also approved the establishment of the SAARC Forestry Centre in Bhutan.

Sheel Kant Sharma, Secretary General, SAARC, emphasized the need to ensure social and economic development to make the SAARC region climate change resilient. He referred to the Dhaka Declaration on Climate Change and the SAARC Action Plan on Climate Change adopted at the Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change held in Dhaka in July 2008 underlines the significance of capacity building on Clean Development Mechanisms and calls for development of CDM projects.

Sharma said that though development can not be compromised, but the SAARC countries have to look forward to explore clean regional energy initiatives alternate resources like new and renewable energy. The development of CDM projects in energy initiatives bring about considerable benefits in terms of energy initiatives, employment generation, emissions reduction and transfer of environmentally friendly technology among others. This would also generate income and create economic opportunities for our people and contribute to global efforts to address climate change. He added that South Asia had the potential for projects related to sustainable energy options and afforestation besides hydro-power, biofuels, solar and wind energy. “SAARC countries can also work jointly towards acceptability of nuclear power under CDM both as a primary energy source as well as for producing hydrogen.”

Vijai Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests stressed on the need to take stock of the actual situation on the ground.

TS Tirumurti, Joint Secretary (BSM), Ministry of External Affairs, said that the 8^th Meeting of the SAARC Ministers scheduled on October 19-20, 2009 will contribute to the deliberations on Climate Change. He urged that there was need for a forward looking and principled approach to deal with the challenge of climate change in the SAARC region.

Dr Prodipto Ghosh, former Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests spelled the need for increase forestry and greenery and reducing Green House Gases, Carbon Dioxide and Methane.

RK Sethi, Director, Climate Change, Ministry of Environment and Forests said that whereas growing forests help absorb more Carbon Dioxide and Methane, there is a need to take care of the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of polluting substances. “Methane has 21 times more GWP potential than Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide has 310 times more.” He also told that unfortunately there was no CDM project from the Agriculture sector, which had a huge scope, especially in Paddy and a proper methodology needs to be developed for that.

JM Mauskar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests pointed that as the CDM industry was growing many consultants charged their fees in the form of share of Certified Emission Rights (CERs), which they can encash later like the advocates in US. This was better as then they will put in more effort for the project. This also gives a relief to the project proponent, who would not get any money till the project is not passed.

Dipankar Ghosh, Partner, Climate Change & Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young said that unfortunately the success rate of CDM projects was very low as the acceptability criterion is not met easily. There was also a lack of investment related benchmark.

Saurabh Kumar, Secretary, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) mentioned about the tripartite agreement between the BEE, distribution companies (DISCOMs) and the suppliers. He said that it is made mandatory for the suppliers to collect CFLs after use an there is a provision of Rs 5 to avoid spread of toxic mercury in the cost of the CFL, which has been subsidized to Rs 15 now.

Karun Sharma, Head CDM, FICCI Quality Forum said that there were success stories in other SAARC countries also like the Chemical Industry of Pakistan, which has projects worth 10.50 lakh (1.05 million) CERs.

Dinesh Aggarwal, Senior Manager, Delloite Touche Tohmatsu talked about the untapped potential in CDM in public transport, human habitat (green buildings) and waste management. He also pointed that despite 59% CDM projects coming from Renewable Energy sector, the CERs received was a dismal 12%.

Aseem Chaturvedi, Senior Consultant, Emergent Ventures India said that there were some issues with CDMs like the need to combine carbon credits with the right policies and make the process more transparent and reliable.

This one-day SAARC Clean Development Mechanism Conference, a first of its kind initiative for capacity building on CDM for other member states of SAARC was organized by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in partnership with FICCI. The Conference was attended by delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives and the officials of SAARC Secretariat.

* Founder, Radiance Social & Green Businesses and Managing Editor & Communication Head, Radiance Media

Dr Singh said the procedures for environment must be fair, transparent and hassle free and decisions must be taken within a specified time. He urged all the States who have not yet established State Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Authorities to do so at the very earliest. “Effective coordination between the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the State Ministry is vital if we are to build a credible and efficient system of assessment and clearance”, he said, adding, “first task is to educate people not just on the impact of the crisis we face but also to encourage deeper reflection on what this obliges all of us to do. And arrive at a new equilibrium between man and nature.”

“Climate change is today a major global challenge. The world is seriously concerned about it. So are we. There should be no doubt in anybody’s mind that we fully recognize not just how important this issue is to our country’s future but also our own obligation to address it. We are conscious of our responsibilities to both the present and the future generations and we seek to enhance the ecological sustainability of our development path.”

The PM asked state governments to cooperate to make a success of the eight National Missions and other initiatives that are the key components of our National Action Plan on climate change. He also asked to modernize forest departments with improved resources, communication and improved training of personnel. Referring to tribals as our environmental foot soldiers the he said the tribal rights act is an opportunity to guarantee the legitimate rights of forest dwellers and to bring them in the frontline of the environment movement for regeneration.

The Prime Minister talked about a different and more holistic approach to take river and not the city as the unit of planning and informed the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) has been established  as an empowered body under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. This model will be adopted for other major rivers in our country. He urged State Governments to effectively enforce legal provisions through State Pollution Control Boards to curtail the discharge of untreated industrial effluents that account for nearly 25% of the total pollution load in our river systems.

He suggested island authority of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and also for Lakshadweep Islands to work in close coordination with the Centre to evolve an integrated approach under the Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) Notification which has been reviewed recently. Welcoming recently introduced National Green Tribunal Bill in Parliament, he said it is a positive step forward. This will strengthen environmental adjudication and settlement of disputes.

Minister of State for Environment and Forests (Independent Charge) Jairam  Ramesh Ramesh said that there are six main issues the Ministry is focusing on as part of discussions: environment and management- strengthening compliance and  monitoring standards, cleaning of rivers and lakes, Afforestation – how to accelerate the pace of greening and bringing larger area under forest by  not just increasing the quantity of forest cover but by improving the quality of forest cover, modernization of forestry administration  up to the level of the  forest guard, the relationship between Forest Conservation Act and the Tribals Rights Act, two important legislations and  wildlife management, particularly project tiger and man-animal conflict.

Ramesh informed that Rs Rs.3,600 crore was spent in 2008-09 in the forest sector which is combined share of centre and states, whereas during 2009-10, the total public investment in forestry sector is about Rs 8300 crore. He also stressed that improving the quality of our forest cover have larger carbon sink.

Seven years backlog of CAMPA fund has been removed and ten States received their the  first installment of CAMPA funds to the tune of Rs. 400 crores  by electronic transfer. The states are Assam, Chandigarh, Goa, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. The Ministry intends to transfer the entire amount within next ten to twelve months to states, he added. Total Rs 1000 crore as first installment   will be transferred once all the states have opened their account.

The minister brought some issues to the notice of Prime Minister as expressed by certain states like

·        Increase funds allocated to Rivers and Lakes cleaning project, which was very less.

·        More Funds are also required for environmental issues, ecological balance and sustainable development.

·        Regarding collection of Water Cess, states suggested to change the pattern of payment of Cess to the Centre. At present, the centre returns 80% of the amount to states and keep 20% after receiving 100% Cess amount from the State. In this situation states suggested to deposit only 20 % of water cess directly to the centre.

States like Kerala and Chhattisgarh demanded special incentive in the context of climate change and carbon sink as they maintain green cover and the quality of forests in their states

Ramesh also announced the decision to establish a National Green Tribunal and strengthen and modernize forest administration in our country. He also announced that the conference would now be an annual feature.

The National Conference of the ministers and secretaries of Environment of states and union territories was appreciated by the ministers and secretaries. It was attended by Chief Ministers and Lt Governors from few states, Secretaries and / or Ministers of environment and Forests from all states, Chairman of Central Pollution Control board, Chairman of State Pollution Control Board, Principal Chief Conservators of Forests, Chief Wildlife Wardens, Members, Planning Commission and NGOs.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is inaugurating the conference. The meeting is being addressed and attended by the Minister of State, Environment and Forests (Independent Charge), Jairam Ramesh, Secretaries of Environment and Forests from all States and Union Territories, Chairperson of Central Pollution Control Board, Chairpersons of State Pollution Control Board, Principal Chief Conservators of Forests, Chief Wildlife Wardens, Members, Planning Commission, Chief Ministers, Secretaries in the Union Government, Dr RK Pachauri, Chairperson, Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change and Director General, TERI, and NGOs.

The main agenda of the Conference is:

1. Monitoring compliance with environmental and forestry related laws and regulations and the roadmap for institution – building

2. Improving approach to river cleaning using innovative models and enhanced coordination between Centre, State and Local Bodies

3. Strategies for increasing forest cover and enhancing synergies between ‘Green India Mission’, National Afforestation Programme and CAMPA funds

4 Strengthening of State forest departments by modernization / infrastructure development and capacity building of forest officials

5 Protection of forests in the context of the implementation of ‘The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006

6 Wildlife management including tiger conservation and issues related to man-animal conflict

The National Forest Policy strives to achieve many goals that are basic to sustainable environment management. It focuses on “conservation of biological diversity, checking soils erosion in the catchment of rivers, lakes for water conservation, checking extension of sand dunes, meeting fuel wood, fodder, minor forest produce and small timber requirement of the rural and tribal populations and to increase the productivity of forests to meet the essential national needs. It aims to achieve Afforestation by enhancing / restoring the country’s area under Forest or Tree Cover (FTC) to the one third of the total land area.

Increasing FTC has a unique livelihood linkage as it provides sustainable livelihoods to the large dependent communities in India. The country has about 300 million rural poor including about fifty percent tribals depending on forests for subsistence and livelihoods, over 70 percent rural population on fuel wood for domestic energy needs, a large part of 495 million livestock on forest grazing or fodder from forests and about 100 million people on Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) for meeting part of their subsistence and income needs.  

FTC also helps in Ecological Security: The forested watersheds in the mountains are ecologically important for the national economy and have impacts on agriculture, fishery and livestock. Forests also sequester atmospheric carbon, conserve biodiversity, maintain habitats for wildlife and soil and water conservation. It also helps in the abatement of noise, containment of SOx, NOx etc. 

It also helps negate the intensity and impacts of climate change through carbon capture and sequestration. Increasing forest cover is the cheapest option to address climate change and has both mitigation and adaptation built into it

The Ministry of Environment and Forest is later today releasing the first installment of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) to eight states that have opened their State CAMPA accounts. Uttarakhand, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Sikkim, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Assam will get electronic transfer of the fund.

 This was announced by Jairam Ramesh, the Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest (Independent Charge) at the meeting of Principal Chief Conservators of Forests and Chief Wildlife wardens in Delhi yesterday.

 This means that now the forest sector can get funds from more channels, apart from CAMPA like NAREGA, Intensification of Infrastructure Management, traditional National Afforestation Programme and Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats. The fund would also be used for Human Resources Development, training, recruitments and Data management. The States are free to decide how much funds they can absorb for regeneration and betterment of forests and allied sectors. Ramesh said that the strategy should be to concentrate on regeneration of degraded forest area to medium density forest cover, medium density forest area to high density area and conserve the high density forest area which will turn into heavy carbon sink.

 * Radiance News, Features & Content Service

This is an occasion, when we need to do introspection and self reflection and be a part of the solution of the problems the country is facing. After all, we are in a democracy and we need to enjoy our rights as well as duties. And we need to help strengthen the democracy and the governance system and bring transparency in the system and work towards bringing equity in the society.

Unequal income and resources in hand of some is increasing disturbances in the minds of millions of underprivileged and the political class is even in these times mostly concerned for votes. What options do we have and what all we can do is the question? Not all in important positions are bad. We need to align with the good people everywhere and support them in their fight with the evil forces in the system and help reduce / clear corruption.

Interacting with a wide and diverse range of people form the lowest to the highest strata, there are some points of wisdom, I would like to share on this day.

• It is very easy to find gaps, faults, and a sense of “apathy” almost everywhere, at the same time there is a sense of hope, valor, love, a commitment to rebuild, and to be there for each other.
• As self reflection, one should ask what change I need to bring in my life so that as a first step I myself can be the very change I like to see surrounding myself. And, this is not easy.
• Get rid of the “individual or collective apathy,” we are all very easily lured to as Indians. It is easy to say, “There is someone else to clean up the mess and I can go with my own petty life and its petty priorities.” After any major accident or shocking incident, like the Mumbai attacks many of us feel or say, “Anyway, it didn’t happen in my neighborhood, I do not need to go to those fancy five star hotels, it is someone else’s problem, let me just watch the fun and the associated colorful drama on the TV set.” Are we not clearly and shamelessly shirking our responsibilities?
• Going forward, we might need to / will have to start paying more for lot of things taken for granted, which includes freedom, safety, a sense of well being and well meaning, and a sense of hope for the future.
• We have to be disciplined and honest if we do not want the rapid increase in anarchy in the streets and far off places to reach everywhere.
• Though I am not a hardcore fan, but I am very fond of his statement, that says hat there is sufficient on earth for everyone’s need, but not for greed. So we should adopt the concept of Sustainable Development as we had been doing for over two millenniums till we were forced under foreign rule.
• Clean Air, Water, nutritious and seasonal food, fruits and vegetables, decent housing, clothes, Clean Energy, good Education, Employment & Health facilities, good Public Transport and Communication facilities are some of the basic requirements of everyone and it is not very difficult to fulfill these, if we have a pragmatic approach, with integrated and decentralized plans and their proper implementation. Places like Ralegaon Siddhi, Gopalpura village and Hiware Bazar – A village with 54 millionaires and leaders like Chewang Norphel, Mahesh Chandra Mehta, Dr M S Swaminathan, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Anna Hazare, Sunderlal Bahaguna, Prof. Veer Bhadra Mishra, Arvind Mehta, Kallyan Pukkadan, Medha Patkar, Murlidhar Devidas Amte and Rajendra Singh are worth emulating. And we should not wait for tomorrow.
• Some statistics that may help all of us think more on this:

Greenhouse gases have quadrupled since the 1950s.

20% of the world’s population lacks access to safe drinking water and 50% to sanitation systems.

80% of the world’s original forest cover has been cleared or degraded and 39% of the remaining forest is threatened by mining or logging projects.

25% of the world’s mammal species may be totally extinct.

More than 50% of the world’s coral reefs are threatened

Let’s take the first step and identify good people and form an action group and have actionable local plans in different parts of the country.

* Radiance News, Features & Content Service

Now experts would not offer just religious celebrations, but more than that they will show the latest cheerleaders gyrating. And if one has got bored of the annual Dahi-Handi event, one should definitely thank the caring and prudent organiser of the Janmashtami celebrations at Khar, near Bandra in Mumbai. Vijay Kamble, the NCP leader, very rightly used the Ukranian dancers for his Dahi Handi event.

It is quite ironic that a party which had strongly voiced for as well put a ban on bar girls in Maharashtra suggests such a style, without any second thought.

But what can we do? In India, strange ideas come up and things that should not be allowed to be implemented is also done without much thinking.

Instead of worrying now, I just laugh over some friends who seemed to be devastated by just the thought of such an incident and have been crying shame shame –, it is difficult to change some people and everyone can not be as progressive as the smart political partiers like the NCP. In fact, I will suggest such friends, who sometimes put themselves on a high moral pedestal and start criticizing the evergreen and smart social actors like the NCP leader and cry foul that these people or incidents have destroyed their culture and religion. They should grow up above these small incidents and start enjoying their lives more with modern entertainment tools like these.

In fact, I would suggest a Special award for Innovation in Religious Festivity to Vijay Kamble. Being one of the most modern governments in India, the Maharashtra State government should take the new initiative.

* Radiance News, Features and Content Service

Till now 10 people have died (8.15pm, 11 August 2009). Of these, seven were in Maharastra (six in Pune, one in Mumbai), two in Gujarat (one each in Ahmedabad Vadodara) and one in Tamil Nadu (Chennai). Some of these victims were also suffering from other diseases.

The World Health Organization raised the Influenza Pandemic Alert to the highest level, 6. Till now there have over 1000 cases and about 100 confirmed cases of Swine Flu and the threat of a full blown epidemic in India is very real, with Pune alone having more than 47.

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) chief VM Katoch, National Institute of Communicable Diseases Director Shivlal and Joint Secretary (Health) Vineet Choudhury met today to explore the possibility of developing low-cost kits. Developed by ICMR, these kits will be distributed across the country. Reagents used to test swine flu now cost Rs 5,000 for a negative sample and Rs 10,000 a positive sample.

Health Minister Azad had earlier told about the government’s steps to procure adequate testing reagents by immediately procuring another 22,000 kits, apart from the 27,000 kits recently procured.

Yesterday, the Health Ministry allowed the private hospitals  to test and treat the patients. But the test only costs over Rs 20,000 and the medicine Rs 4000, which was almost free in the government hospitals. The Health Ministry says that medicines in sufficient quantity are available in the designated hospitals.

The notorious virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because early tests showed that many genes in this new virus were similar to those in pigs in North America. It was first detected in Mexico in April, 2009 and later proved that it had gene segments from the swine, avian and human flu virus genes. The scientists call this a ‘quadruple reassortant” virus and hence this new (novel) virus was named “influenza-A (H1N1) virus.”

NICD, Delhi and NIV, Pune have been identified for testing of suspected cases of H1N1 influenza and early administration of Tamiflu to all confirmed cases has helped in timely containment of cases, said Training on PPE and sample collection of clinicians, private practitioners and microbiologists has been completed for Influenza A H1N1. “All the 19 Regional Directors (Health & Family Welfare), Government of India have been supplied with adequate amount of PPE, N-95, Triple layered mask and Tamiflu tablets as well as syrup for the states catered by them for any emergency situation,” told  Dr. Shiv Lal, Director, NICD and Special DG (PH), Directorate General of Health Services at a meeting on 23 July. 18 Laboratory AI Lab network has been established for testing of the influenza A H1N1 and these labs are operational. Awareness among community and health workers is also being done apart from creating a 24 X 7 helpline no 01123921401.

Symptoms of Swine Flu are similar to the regular seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. But, some people have also reported diarrhea and vomiting.

It spreads from person to person through droplets created while coughing or sneezing and can infect others beginning one day before symptoms develop and up to seven or more days later.

One can avoid spread of infection with cough etiquettes (covering mouth & nose with handkerchief or tissue paper while coughing), staying at least an arm’s length from persons coughing or sneezing, throwing tissue in the trash after use, avoid gathering or touching eyes, nose or mouth and wash hands frequently with soap, especially after coughing or sneezing.  Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective. Good health should be maintained, along with plenty of sleep, physical activity, stress management, fluids and nutritious food.

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.

But some questions remain. Should we not close the educational institutions and other establishments in and around areas with severe risks to avoid the spread of the pandemic and try to whatever work that is possible online from homes? And there is a lot more that can and should be done.

The controversy over the tampering of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) is getting stronger despite the Election Commission (EC) of India loudly proclaiming it to be tamper proof.

BJP and the Shiv Sena appeared yesterday (8 August, 2009) before the Election Commission to allege that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which are now used for all Indian elections, can be manipulated to favour a candidate. PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi) founder S Ramadoss said that he will prove this on 10 August at Chennai and later at Delhi also in front of the EC, media and citizens. AIDMK supremo Jayalalithaa on the other hand referred to the developed nations that “had given up using the EVMs, on the ground that they were an unreliable system for registering votes, for the simple reason that the voting machine works on a programme fed into it.” 

And there are not only politicians raising their voices. Omesh Saigal, a respected former bureaucrat, was one of the first apolitical person to speak about how EVMs can be manipulated and he said that he was ready to display his new software to the Election Commission. Saigal claimed that the software can ensure that EVMs can be manipulated even after the election is over and the machine was locked.

Software expert Anil Lall claims, “I can tell the EVM that I want the manipulation done in any fashion at the any stage – during mock poll and during actual polling.”

Election Commissioner SY Qureshi has also said that the EVMs could only be broken but not tampered with. The Election Commission has invited all those who had expressed fears about the possibility of the (Electronic Voting Machines) EVMs being tampered with, to come and demonstrate the same, but the EC refused to answer many questions that Saigal had put up through an RTI application.

Only once before, on 15 October1989, the then Janata Dal chief, Vishwanath Pratap Singh and senior leader George Fernandes produced a computer expert to at a sensational press conference in New Delhi who proved that EVMs could be rigged in front of mediapersons, then mostly (print media). The IT expert typed and proved that “3 + 3” into the computer after pushing Enter showed the answer 9.

But later host of top experts proved the efficacy and efficiency of the EVMs which was later also used by the then, Chief Election Commissioner, RVS Peri Sastry after discussions with all political leaders, including LK Advani. 

The EVM’s soul is a micro-controller chip that was built by Hitachi of Japan and called an OTP-ROM (one-time programmable read-only memory). The Indian EVM contractors Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) did experiments tom see if the results of the EVMs could be manipulated, but failed and hence it was established to be tamper proof leading to its use in 45 seats in the 1999 General Elections. Buoyed by its success, the 2004 general elections were entirely held on EVMs. In the recent Lok Sabha Elections, 671 million people voted on the EVMs.

Still there are many questions like the company and methodology involved that are questionable and can be doubted as the clear cut answers are yet to come from the EC. Let’s hope that the EVMs remain and are proved sacrosanct, but the truth must come out.