Comment on 2010 on track for warmest year on record published in The Washington Post:
Two days before I wrote on my Facebook (FB), ‘A great reason y v hv spiraling food prices over last decade is increasing meatification of our diet due 2 higher average income!!! r d carnivores human beings listening?’. The reply and the logic argued were more of avoidance than of genuine query about why we should go veg. The greatest logic that our carnivore fellows have is: ‘To keep eating non-vegetarian food and remain silent!’ And that is what most of them have done.
Now that the report released by NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) suggest, I am sure my friends who chose to reply on FB would also realize why April has become the cruelest month literally.
Well someone might say, ‘How does it impact global warming if one individual checks his/her eating habit?’ When I put the same question to Mike Pandey, the winner of Green Oscar last year during one of my environmental projects, he said, “Every single one of us has to take remedial action now. There is a need for collective effort that is missing. Individual participation alone can turn the tide. Laws are good, government can do its best but until we, citizens, every single one of us participates, no action plans, no Copenhagen will be successful. It is very important for every single one of us to start conservation. Whether it be shutting of the tap, using less energy, switching of the TV or mobile phone charger when not in use. Developing reverence for water, not wasting it. Using buckets. Not washing your cars with hose pipes. All these will make a difference. Believe me, every single drop of water, if it goes to the river…every single action can turn the tide…”
When we blame our government of irresponsibility for not checking environmental pollution, sadly we choose to ignore that we too have a responsibility.
Monday, May 24, 2010
In India passion wins at last...
Comment on the article Sangham Radio making waves by Ramesh Menon.
The tragedy of policy making in India is that it is made mostly by those who have never been to villages and who have always seen villages, poor and the so called backwards with a sense of contempt. And to make matters worse, there is a system in place (inherited from the British) which is based on the basic assumption of administration as a rule and not service, something a modern democracy should be.
Wherever you go, there is so much of paperwork, so much of 'Jaan Pehchaan' and 'jugaad' mentality, so much of stress upon letting only those things happen which is of benefit to 'them'. This is essentially why innovation comes in this country at a cost which sometimes destroys the innovation itself.
Sam Pitroda told in a recent interview that he does not remember if he ever had to go anywhere except signing legal papers his counsel prepared, when he was in America. In India, getting the 'permission' to innovate, to be an entrepreneur, to do something new takes more energy than the enterprise itself.
The effort of the Dalit women is definitely a role model. The very fact that they kept waiting for almost ten years is testimony to their determination and passion.
The tragedy of policy making in India is that it is made mostly by those who have never been to villages and who have always seen villages, poor and the so called backwards with a sense of contempt. And to make matters worse, there is a system in place (inherited from the British) which is based on the basic assumption of administration as a rule and not service, something a modern democracy should be.
Wherever you go, there is so much of paperwork, so much of 'Jaan Pehchaan' and 'jugaad' mentality, so much of stress upon letting only those things happen which is of benefit to 'them'. This is essentially why innovation comes in this country at a cost which sometimes destroys the innovation itself.
Sam Pitroda told in a recent interview that he does not remember if he ever had to go anywhere except signing legal papers his counsel prepared, when he was in America. In India, getting the 'permission' to innovate, to be an entrepreneur, to do something new takes more energy than the enterprise itself.
The effort of the Dalit women is definitely a role model. The very fact that they kept waiting for almost ten years is testimony to their determination and passion.
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