Govt should BAN Bt Brinjal

The government decision to permit testing on Bt Brinjal is indeed unacceptable. It’s high time we should start learning from past mistakes. Bt Cotton, in spite of being promoted as farmer-friendly, has been a major contributor to the colossal farmer suicides in our country.

It is an established fact that Genetically Modified (GM) food is fatal for all life forms. Bt Brinjal has tested alarmingly negative on rats. The ill-effects are claimed to be observed in the second and third generations.

Promoters of GM crop seeds claim it to be a variety that requires less water and is pest-resistant. All these claims have already been proved fictitious by Bt Cotton!

Can government provide a justification for introducing artificial crops in agriculture when we don’t face any crisis, especially in case of Brinjals? Also, we have developed many organic approaches to fight pests.

The TRUE Women's Day

Every 8th March, we advocate for having a Men’s Day. The rationale being, that even men deserve a day for being pampered. The fact, however, remains that Women’s Day is NOT celebrated to pamper women. Necessarily, it portrays an impressive history of the courageous struggles led by women in the past.

We live in a highly advanced society today where few know of women facing any kind of suppression. Words like Women’s Rights and Liberation do not astound us today, which unfortunately used to be deemed as being ridiculous till a few decades back!

Inherently, our society has been awfully patriarchic for ages. And the rights that women enjoy today have not come easily. They are fruits of the passionate struggles led by women in all parts of the world during the last century.

Women’s struggles have played another significant role in the forming of the society that we live in today. For instance, the concept of overtime was simply absent, say, 100 years back, when people were made to work ruthlessly for 16 hours in a day! The 8-hours-work-a-day policy was a direct outcome of the constant struggles led by workers all over the world. And women were an integral part of this struggle too.

Today we remember and embrace 8th March as a symbol of such struggles. 8th March is by no stretch of imagination a day for pampering women, and hence the question of celebrating a Men’s Day is bizarre! We must view these days as significant milestones in the history of mankind. And hence we must take inspiration from the struggles of our ancestors.

Global WarNing

India aspires to be a Global Power by 2020. Given the current economic and terrorism crisis, there is no doubt that this vision has been punctured significantly.

This aside, there is one more thing which needs immediate attention. And that is the debacle of Global Warming. It is well established that Global Warming has struck Australia and America. Struck them hard! These countries happen to be world leaders in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.

Lately, Australia has witnessed its hottest days of all times. Hottest months, to say the truth. The recent forest fire, which devastated thousands of families, stands an excellent testimony to this fact.

California is another victim. In recent years, it has experienced severe desertification of cultivable land, resulting in some of the worst droughts in its history.

It is high time we should start taking Global Warming seriously. Experts claim that if the world doesn’t check Carbon and Methane emissions in the next 10 years, things will move out of humanities reach!

People, Wake Up!

Dow ko Bhagao!

This refers to ‘Dow Fire – A Mindless Act’, Pune Mirror, TOI, dated 27 July ’08. The setting of Dow Chemicals’ plant on fire was indeed sad. But let’s also try and analyze the true situation.

Unlike NCL & UICT, Dow is one of the world’s most notorious chemical companies, with an appalling 100 year history of producing world’s most toxic CHEMICAL WEAPONS and pesticides. Thanks to Dow Chemicals, even today, the effects of Agent Orange & Napalm Bomb stand testimony to the havoc created in countries right from Vietnam to Iraq, wherever US has waged wars.

Also, there is always added danger from such research units since these try out and test new chemicals, obviously toxic! Think about the pollution of the nearby Indrayini River, which flows all the way up to Pandarpur.

Furthermore, if Dow claims not to intoxicate the vicinity, why doesn’t it reveal its Project Report, which is a public document by Indian Law!

Besides, Union Carbide (now taken over by Dow Chemicals), functioned on exactly similar lines and was downright responsible for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. The question is, “Is Pune ready for a Pune Gas Tragedy?”

Kill the Cartels

Who has not been affected by the current price catastrophe? Why do politicians deceive people by saying that the current rise in prices is due to shortage?

Why does our honorable agriculture minister provoke North Indians against South Indians saying that the current rise in prices is due to South Indians consuming too much wheat & the North Indians consuming too much rice?

Why does Bush blame Indian middle class for the international hike in prices?

Why doesn’t the true picture come out?

This distressing inflation actually is not due to scarcity of goods, but is a comprehensible result of cartels becoming more and more active by the day. When five or six major corporations or dealers, who control 60-70 % of the market share, come together, they fix on the prices at will. Classic example to this is the Cement Manufacturers Association, which was the master mind behind the recent cement price escalations.

Why does the government give in to pressure from private players who flourish at the cost of common man’s blood?