World Cup – A Nation’s True Victory?

World Cup – A Nation’s True Victory?

The crazy world cup fever is back again to India. Round the clock telecast by the media and the spirits going high. But the big question is- “Is Winning World Cup A Nation’s True Victory?”

Does winning world cup make any difference to the people of the country...? Media has been live telecasting about it from past 2 days.., where they are many vital issues which had to be focused upon, nation is gearing up for a mass fast in support of ANNA ji and gearing up for second freedom fight, but none of the news channel focused on it. Apart from these they were many serious issue ignored.

In a recent survey by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) under the aegis of its Social Development Foundation (ASDF), It was found that drinking in the age group of 16-20 had risen by a thumping 100 percent, an official said. "Youngsters between 16-20 years who consumed one to two liters of beer a week have doubled their consumption during the day-night encounters. The consumption further increases to three to five liters a week when India is playing, the reason for this in the survey was found because of Easy availability of alcoholic beverages, cricket fever, lack of parental supervision, peer pressure, a means to de-stress and unwind are reasons for such an increase.

They have been blatant violations of law after yesterday’s win; Noisy crackers give patients, senior citizens a tough time even though the law says that residential areas cannot be subjected to noise levels above 55 dB. But what we saw on Wednesday and Saturday nights proves that the law was not enforced at all, celebrating such a momentous victory is understandable, but disregard of rules should not be tolerated. Ant law enforcers who do not hesitate to arrest and lathi charge if the people of displaced villages come onto streets for justice, failed to take any action against those who openly boozed on streets and were driving after getting drunked.

It’s good to gear up for a sport but we need to remember the fact that it is just a game. It does not make any difference in our lives. At the end of the day glory of the world cup will be forgotten within few days but the problems faced by the nation will continue, which requires the utmost attention by the media and the people of this country.

CAMPAIGN: What is the "Power" of your clothes?

Surprised? Yes, you clothes reflect power – not the power you have, but the “power” you have used.

Did you know that the clothes we wear are also polluting our rivers, destroying crops, making dead zones in the seas and most importantly, increasing global warming?

How is this happening?

Clothes and other textiles can affect the environment to varying degrees throughout their life cycles. Before textiles reach the consumer, they have gone through many different chemical processes. They may be treated with chemicals to dye them, make them more hardwearing or wrinkle-resistant, or less flammable. Some flame retardants that are used in certain textiles contain organic bromine compounds that break down very slowly in the environment, hence last much longer.

Some of these chemicals are carcinogenic or may cause harm to children even before birth. Others may trigger allergic reactions in some people.

All textiles processes have an impact on the environment. The industry uses large amounts of natural resources such as water, while many operations use chemicals and solvents. All companies use energy, produce solid waste, discharge effluent and emit dust, and toxic gases into the atmosphere.

The clothes we wear like everything else we use today in the modern day – use power or electricity and also energy – in the making of the thread / yarn, the making of the cloth, packaging, marketing, merchandising until it comes to you.

That would mean, use of gas and coal for making electricity to run the machines, making plastic for packaging and use of petrol for transportation; which in turn means more coal mining, oil drilling, more thermal power plants or nuclear power plants or large dams to produce more “power” or electricity and to have more “power” for transportation.

And what does all this mean? Increase in Green house Gases and Global Warming.

The greatest problem that each and every one of us is facing today is Global Warming.

The planet is in peril – the green house gases Carbon dioxide and Methane among others are increasing day by day, trapping the sun’s heat on the earth. Thus, the earth is warming up. Our glaciers are melting and if this goes on unchecked very soon, i.e., within the next twenty years or so, our perennial rivers like Ganga, Brahmaputra will dry out. The sea levels are already rising and will rise further submerging the coastal areas. In many parts of India and even in Andhra Pradesh, coastal villages have started to disappear under the sea. Not just this, flash floods have increased and as we saw last year, lakhs of acres of crops were lost under water. If this continues we will be facing a water and food crisis. And future wars will be fought for water and the day may not be far when we see people killing each other for a morsel of food.

So, is there a way out?

Yes, there is – Reducing our carbon foot prints – using low energy alternatives – Handloom and Khadi.

While Handloom clothes use mill made yarn, the rest of the process is entirely hand made, Khadi is a totally hand made cloth – right from spinning of the yarn to production of the cloth. Thus, low energy or no energy is used in this entire process.

Besides being eco-friendly, these clothes generate employment. Handloom is one of the three largest Employment generating sectors in India along with agriculture and retail. There is a total of 3 crore people dependent on Handloom sector.

Indian Handloom fabrics, were extremely famous the world over and were considered the best fabrics the world ever produced. However, today, Handloom is not valued by our own people. The market for Handloom is shrinking, forcing many skilled craftsmen and women to seek labour work elsewhere and some others, unable to bear the poverty are committing suicides. So, if we switch our choice to Handloom and Khadi, not only do we save these lives, but we can encourage more people to take up this craft.

We, the consumers, have the “power” to change the situation – to better their lives and to protect our environment and thus, our own Future. By using low energy Handloom and Khadi, we reduce the need to produce more Electricity, meaning, we need not set up more Power projects, need not displace any more people, need not disturb our environment, nor destroy people’s lives.

Make a Choice Today

Use your “Power” to Save lives &

Save our future.

USE HANDLOOM & KHADI

Issued in Public Interest

by

National Alliance of People’s Movements (AP Chapter)

204, GKR Mansion, 6-1-89, Saifabad, Hyderabad – 500004

Phone - 9866887299 /9989830711/ 9849718364

ELECTRICITY - WHO’S BENEFIT? AT WHO’S COST?

ELECTRICITY

 WHO’S BENEFIT? AT WHO’S COST?

Do you know what the cost of electricity you consume is? Here I am not talking about the amount of electricity bill you pay for your consumption; it is the cost which goes into the production of electricity. Surprised , yes apart from the natural resources used and other labour cost, a large scale destruction, displacement of villages and effect on their livelihood, along with a long lasting impact on the environment are involved in it too meet our never ending needs.

After Indian markets where opened to capitalization and foreign direct investments which lead to rise of big corporate companies and billionaires in the country and also the rise in population resulted in the demand for more electricity. To meet these “So Called Needs”, construction of dams on large scale took place. Dams on the Narmada valley throws light on how destruction and displacement have destroyed the lives of thousands of people residing there. Today thermal plants have come up in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh with protest from the locals as it not only destroys the wetlands in the vicinity but also has a long lasting ecological effect. And for the future, proposal have been made to built nuclear plants, for which the works have already begun in Jaitapur, Maharashtra and kowada, Andhra Pradesh leaving a scope for accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima.

These entire projects are taken up with an argument by the administration saying that they are development projects for the “People” of the country. The incidents like police firing in kakarapalli, illegal arrest of locals in Jaitapur raise several questions. If these project where really for the benefit of the people then why are the locals opposing these projects? Why the government orders an open fire on the locals and the same being killed? Why today people are illegally being arrested? Why does the construction work take place in the presence of a huge police force? And who is actually being benefited from the electricity produced?

To draw your attention I would like to just take one example here, 27-storey building Antilia of Mukesh Ambani consumes electricity of worth 70 lakhs monthly for just three people which can be used by 7000 homes in Mumbai. During my interaction with some friends, one of them pointed out that it is his hard earn money and I have no right to question the way he spends it. Yes, it’s true I have no right to question the way he spends it but when people’s resources are exploited to produce electricity and the same is consumed in a Vulgar Fashion then we have a right to question. The people of Narmada have a right to raise their voice, the people of kakarapalli have a right to protest, the people of Jaitapur and kowada have a right to say NO and the nation has a right to ask for whom is this electricity being produced for? And who is paying a price for it?

As the heat is rising today we have started using air-conditioners. CFC’s used in air-conditioning depletes ozone. So the heat on earth increases everyday and we use more air-conditioning to get away from it. The big question today is should we stop development then? The question should be how much development do we need?

An Appeal – Do we truly need any more technology than we already have? Or has science and technology and gadget frenzy become new madness of modern man? Why have we stopped listening to nature like our forefathers did and like the animals and birds do even today?

 Dear friends the time has come that we all need to look into ourselves and do a self introspection over the worldly pleasures we have been enjoying at someone else’s cost. In the final checks and balances, we might win, but history has proved that it is more likely that nature will have an upper hand. We need to take up an initiative and reduce our electricity consumption and its wastage. Remember Newton’s third law - For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Today if we continue exploiting our mother nature, the days won’t be far when we will have to pay a price for it.

THE WAY OUT–CONSUME LESS & USE ECO-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVES

IT IS POSSIBLE–YOU ONLY NEED TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP

Sashank Rajwadi

Student/Activist

9966932399, srajwadi@yahoo.com

Associated with National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

http://twitter.com/#!/srajwadi

http://napm-india.org/