Panther - Do and donts?

C I R C U L A R

Sub : Sighting of Panther in the campus

Residents of the campus may recall previous circulars issued on the
subject cited above. Panthers were seen at various places in the campus
during the last few days. All out efforts are being made to ensure that
the panther is trapped/chased away from the campus by the Forest
Authorities.
Special patrols are being deployed everyday to patrol the most vulnerable
areas where the panther is being sighted frequently in jeep and
motorcycles equipped with high power search lights and fire crackers.
Campus residents are requested to inform any suspicion about presence of
leopard on the telephone numbers given below:

Main Building Security Control
Intercom no.: 1100, 1122 & 1112
MTNL no.: 25767912, 25728000

For the purpose of precautionary measures, the campus residents are
requested to observe the following:-
1)Not to provoke the animal by stone throwing or attempting to hit it with
anything.

2)Not to take photograph, nor should the animal be followed or make
provocative gestures.

3)If the cubs are sighted, do not indulge in any provocation whatsoever,
as the panther accompanying the cubs can be highly dangerous.

4)Not to allow small children unaccompanied by adults to move around
during night.

5)Not to sleep outside and, doors and windows should be secured.

6)Lonely and dark stretches of roads should not be used during night.

7)When dogs bark or run frantically at night, it may be taken as warning
of panther’s presence nearby.

8)Panther is afraid of lights and cracker bursts. Hence, it is advisable
to carry a torch and flick it around while moving at night.

9)In case of a pet dog, it should be kept indoors at night.

The Institute has approached the authorities concerned to remove/scare
away the panthers. This section will be bursting crackers during nights.
Hence do not panic on hearing sounds of crackers.



Security Officer
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Universal Declaration of Human rights - 2

In the June, 2008 issue, we introduced you to this declaration and also took up a few issues relating to Article-1 of this declaration. In this issue, we will talk about the second Article. We will try and understand all the articles through cases as we thought of before, so that we will be able to connect better and bring about a positive impact.
Article 2: All people are entitled to rights without distinction based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, opinion, origin, property, birth or residency.
All human beings are born free but grow with a feeling of segregation. These divisions are all man made. Of course cultural diversity is important, but discrimination on various fronts, not just on the individual, but on groups of people is what we believe, will lead to various unnecessary problems. Most conflicts today are because of self made segregation.
Apartheid in South Africa (past), Communalism in India, the Israel – Palestine conflict for “property”, the ill- treatment of the aborigines of Australia and the Roma gypsy community of Europe are all examples of violation of this article. These are just a few of the many hundred’s of cases. These are a few which completely violate the principles of equality and non-discrimination.
This article (2) is extremely broad, encompassing various aspects of people’s interaction with others. Let us rewind back to the “ World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance” which took place in South Africa, 2001. This was a coming together of more than 150 countries who are members of United Nations, specialized UN organizations and government organizations on this common agenda. The UN has been trying hard to fight racial discrimination. But, unfortunately it slid into the background due to the 9/11 attacks which took place just days after this conference concluded.
There were various issues discussed including the sources, the victims, the measures for prevention and the strategies required to overcome these challenges. At the end of it, a total of 160 states agreed with the final declaration. It urges all governments, "who have not contributed to restoring the dignity of the victims to find appropriate ways to do so" but does not call for the United Kingdom, and other former colonial powers, to pay reparations. Almost all countries recognized that there was still racism and related intolerance still existed in a large extent and that they will have to work in that direction. They came out with various strategies including involving other NGO’s, organizations working in that area to be taken into decision making in major policies and providing access to education and health facilities without discrimination. This conference had a huge participation from all countries and it was aimed to bring together a positive impact. We want to take this forward and make everyone aware of this.
Here, in Sambhav, the people who we work with have also been discriminated due to their descent. Prior to 1952, there were communities who were classified as “criminal tribes”, and anyone belonging to these communities automatically became criminals! Though now the name has been modified to “de-notified tribes (DNT)”, the stigma still remains even after more than 50 years. But unfortunately along with the Criminal tribes Act of 1952, the government concurrently enacted a series of Habitual Offenders Acts. These Acts asked police authorities to investigate a suspect’s criminal tendencies and whether his occupation is “conducive to settled way of life”. Although the Habitual Offenders Acts have been banned, police forces around the country still persecute the De-notified and Nomadic Tribes the same way on many cases. These tribes are regularly subject to public humiliation, beatings and custodial deaths.
It will take time to for the people to change their mind; but again, it is us who will have to initiate this change. We need participation of all individuals and people in making our society free of any “man-made” barriers. We have to ensure justice for all and see that every individual enjoys his human rights. We believe that all people constitute one human family, however different their cultures may be.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 1

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
Following this historic act the General Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."

However, from my education, I really did not know all these 30 articles in the Act. This is one of the most important acts with respect to human rights and one ought to know about this. I would be covering all the articles of the declaration over the next few issues.

Article 1: All human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights

We do not have to go any further than India to understand dignity and rights. There still exists large discrimination based on descent. India has a large population at the bottom of the caste hierarchy and though there are protections from the law (note that the caste system is abolished in the Indian Constitution), there are still plenty of challenges faced to overcome these social barriers. Caste divisions in India dominate in housing, marriage, employment, and general social interaction. These divisions are reinforced through the practice and threat of social and economic boycotts, and physical violence.

Communities affected by caste include Dalits in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Baraku people in Japan, the Osu of Nigeria's Igbo people and certain groups in Senegal and Mauritiana[2]. I would be focusing on the case of Dalits.

The Dalits (sometimes called untouchables) fall outside the four traditional castes of Indian society. They are often called "outcasts". Dalits have historically been prevented from doing anything except the most menial of jobs like manual scavenging which has been termed as the "most indecent form of work" in a report by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights [4]. In the report, they have estimated that more than a million dalits earn their living through manual scavenging. Dalits are subject to exploitations such as bonded labour and forced prostitution. Dalit children are vulnerable to trafficking and other worst forms of child labor.

Status affects every aspect of the Dalits life. They are among the poorest and the most exploited. They suffer from discrimination in schools and in wages. They suffer from dehumanizing living and working conditions. They aren’t allowed to use the same well and not allowed to enter places of "upper castes". They even suffered from discrimination in aid during the Gujarat earthquake (2001) and the Tsunami (2004). According to government statistics, there were 110,000 registered cases of violence, murder, rape and other atrocities committed against Dalits in 2005[5]. However, hardly any of them got to trial. Manmohan Singh also rightly acknowledged on December 27, 2006 that "The only parallel to the practice of ‘untouchability’ was Apartheid in South Africa". The government has tried to address this issue on several occasions but has been largely unsuccessful till date. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that the Indian government describes as the apex national institution to protect human rights and redress grievances has commented that the law enforcement machinery is the greatest violator of Dalits human rights. According to the NHRC, widespread custodial torture and killing of Dalits, rape and sexual assault of Dalit women, and looting of Dalit property by the police “are condoned, or at best ignored”[1].

The Dalits, given their substantial number (165 million in India) have a strong political presence, especially in Uttar Pradesh. In May, last year, the Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj party came to power with a clear majority after 15 years of a hung assembly. Though the ideology of the BSP is to "break the upper caste oppression", it has not delivered its promises yet. There seems to be a lack of leadership (apart from Mayawati) and there is just too much politics involved in getting Dalit votes in U.P. and there is hardly anything done on the issue of Dalits.

What exactly can be done to help the Dalits and other oppressed castes?
There have been various laws designed to eradicate exploitative labour such as
1) Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993,
2) The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976,
3) The Inter State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Service Conditions) Act, 1979,
4) The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986,
5) The Minimum Wages Act, 1948,
6) The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.

All of these have been largely ineffective. The state should see that the above laws are adhered to. Reservation is also one small way of helping fight this marginalization of Dalits. The onus is on the government to take major steps to overcome one of India's most challenging social issues. The government should see that reservation is effective. It should ensure protection from retaliation for Dalits in local elections where seats are reserved for Dalits and everywhere there is reservation for Dalits. Also it should ensure equal opportunity to them in both private and public spheres. National Hindu organizations like the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) have been to an extent responsible for spreading propagandas targeting Dalits. We should take measures to see that such hate speeches which promote discrimination be stopped and action taken against those involved. The states should provide information on the steps taken to protect Dalits and their results at a regular basis. We, the people of India have a major role to play to overcome this social stigma. We should not take caste as the basis for any decision and see that everyone enjoys their rights without discrimination.




Sources:

[1] Human Rights Watch - http://www.hrw.org
[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk
[3] http://www.wikipedia.org
[4] http://www.antislavery.org
[5] http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/02/india-dalits.html
[6] http://www.google.com

Indian Agriculture & Globalization

Probably the most neglected subject among todays youth is agriculture. How many of us actually know about the state of agriculture in India. Here I would like to bring out some points on the state of Indian Agriculture and the effects of Globalization.

India is the number 1 producer in the world in as many as 10 commodities and number 2 producer in plenty of other commodities. The green revolution has improved India's production from 50 million tonnes to 200+ million tonnes. This is no mean achievement by any standard. There is a 7% growth rate and 900 tonnes of gold is purchased by the middle class(this is enough money to meet the millenium development goal).Sensex is zooming(well after the recent hitch up, it still is moving up).Quite amazing.

On the other side....

More than 50% of India is malnourished. The Human Development Index is 127(i.e.we are the 127th best country to live in!!) inspite of our high flying sensex. Even Palestine would be a safer place to live.Bangladesh has moved up 4 places with all their internal troubles.But how do we convert this GDP growth into employment?
A classic case of globalization effect. In 2002-03, the farmers were asked to plant vanilla as it would fetch them high returns. They did. It fetched them as much as 1400/bg(not too sure of the quantity). Next year, i.e. in 2004, no one was ready to pay more than 120/bg. Nobody told them that the high returns they got that year was because there was a country named Madagascar which had problems that time and hence that rate.

There is a need to improve our standard of foodgrains. Even war-torn Iraq rejected our wheat! There are various schemes coming up for the 127+ million farmer families but the 107+ million agricultural labour families have not been considered by anyone. Out of the 250,000 crores set aside by the government for the 60 million households, if that money can reach them directly, each household would get Rs.40000!! thus almost entirely eliminating poverty(This was a simple calculation but its meaning is tremendous). Farmers still loan mostly from money lenders(31.7%) who charge outrageous interest rates,banks contribute just 17%.Banks have reached only 1.97crore farmers of the 12.7 crore farmers. This is something which various
organizations, banks and NGO's are working on at the present.The estimated number of extension officers required are 6,25,000 whereas presently there are just 70,000 of them.This amounts to 40 mins/farmer/year.This definitely can be worked upon. There are various initiatives in various fields on various agricultural activities and rural market. But the governments participation is of utmost importance in this regard.

BASICS!!

How can the poor afford things? How can they survive? What does the govenment do? I got to admit that I have been really living in ignominy for the past few years in this regard. We, as a part of the SAMBHAV group here in DA-IICT are taking a survey in Maninagar on various aspects ranging from general details, health and food to awareness and life there. The first thing is that it is really moving to see the state of people there. They have plenty of challenges ranging from shelter to health. On top of that, there seems to be a lack of support from the government which we in India take for granted that the government is useless. Well, they too have the same opinion. Anyway I actually wanted to talk about the "ration card". Guess most of us dont really know how this system works(if at all it does). So I have done some research(rather 'net'search) and had some discussion on the ration card to develop a better understanding of this.
Lets start with the basics. A ration card is a card given by the government, in India it is by the state government allowing the holder to obtain certain rations.Each state has its own policy in issuing these cards.Rationing, by defintion is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods and services. Coming to the main point, ration card helps you get the food cheaper. The government gives a particular colour card depending on your income, white,pink,yellow and green. For example, in A.P, you would be given a white card if your income is less than 11,000 Rs/annum otherwise a pink card. With this one can get upto 20 kgs of rice at 4/kg and other things like sugar,oil and kerosene.
Every state its got its own policy. In Karnataka(not sure about other states), they do not allow any third party, even social workers to apply for ration cards for the poor. So, the government wants the person who can barely make both ends meet to go to the office(again this depends on the state) and submit photos and various proofs and get the ration card. Realllly helpful! In the recent interaction I had with the people in Maninagar, one of them told me that he had paid(and many others too) 1000Rs to a broker to get them their ration card! Nothing is FREE even if called FREE. And also there are plenty of procedures for adding members, address changing, etc. Anyone would find it really lenghty.... So who benefits? Not the people who it was aimed at. There needs to be simpler and easier procedures to actually encourage and reach out to the poor.

Religion and GOD - Part 1

My mind is really confused on this "concept" of "GOD". It(mind) has been baffled by religion, its meaning and its impact on itself. Do people blindly believe because everyone else does or is there something more beyond what we see. Let me take you on a journey to unravel or atleast get an understanding on this phenomenon of GOD.
Let us begin with the origin of religion. Then maybe we can get a clearer picture as to where it might have emerged from. Its a pretty big task mind you and me being a beginner would have plenty of problems going ahead. But anyway nothing can be got without trying.

Let us start with the more "recent" religions. Guess we should do so because the sources could be more trustworthy.
Buddhism:
Buddha was born in the 6th century B.C as Gautama Buddha, who was actually of a warrior class but had renounced all his material pleasures in the search for truth. And it his through his quest that he developed the basic principles of living.
I think it best to forget the particular forms of buddhisms as the council had been divided because of conflicting views of the traditionals and the liberalists.So we shall stick to the Buddhist wisdom.
1. Life is suffering;
2. Suffering is due to attachment;
3. Attachment can be overcome;
4. There is a path for accomplishing this.

We live in a world that is impermanent and imperfect. Moreover, nothing can exist separately.i.e. just by itself. This leads to traits like greed and an effort to trying and hold things ignoring the fact that everything is impermanent.The idea of overcoming attachment will defintely remove suffering according to me as we would not really worry of anything. But not worrying at all of anything is something I have not really experienced or seen anywhere till date. But buddhism also tells us that there are ways to overcome attachments.Let us have a look into what Buddhism suggests:

The Eightfold Path
1. Right view is the true understanding of the four noble truths.
2. Right aspiration is the true desire to free oneself from attachment, ignorance, and hatefulness.
These two are referred to as prajña, or wisdom.

3. Right speech involves abstaining from lying, gossiping, or hurtful talk.
4. Right action involves abstaining from hurtful behaviors, such as killing, stealing, and careless sex.
5. Right livelihood means making your living in such a way as to avoid dishonesty and hurting others, including animals.
These three are refered to as shila, or morality.

6. Right effort is a matter of exerting oneself in regards to the content of one's mind: Bad qualities should be abandoned and prevented from arising again; Good qualities should be enacted and nurtured.
7. Right mindfulness is the focusing of one's attention on one's body, feelings, thoughts, and consciousness in such a way as to overcome craving, hatred, and ignorance.
8. Right concentration is meditating in such a way as to progressively realize a true understanding of imperfection, impermanence, and non-separateness.
The last three are known as samadhi, or meditation.

It includes aspects of morality,meditation and wisdom. This is a something defintely worth pondering about. Your sincere views and comments would be highly appreciated in this regard.

2nd april 2006

well, today being a sunday...it was a holiday. holidays are fun especially when you get a chance to go somewhere and help.some of us were lucky today, in fact we had been for the last few weeks. got to go to maninagar and teach the kids. you know its always great to teach them. they show so much enthusiasm and are never tired. that is the best part of them and not to mention about their 'naughtiness'.
well today i got up at 7.45, little earlier than i expected, blame that on my 10 min fast cellphone...robbed me of some precious sleep. anyway, today was a day after the unusually "not so hectic" exams.i just had 3 exams and 2 of them were easy!well got ready with a quick bath, reached college at 8.30 but left a little later than expected. todays teachers were Das,Ritika,Rohan,Aabhaas,Ravi,Avinash and a first timer in my roomie Sonu(of course i also was there). We reached there at about 10.30, Das immediately got all the material and Sahiba did a fantastic job cleaning the place in quick time.There was a shortage of chalks, again Das did the buying part. Ofcourse Das is always expected to do something out of the ordinary.He got the same chalk boxes for 8 and 12Rs from the same shop! quite amazing. anyway we got started after that with each of us sitting with a few kids.i was really happy to see that they remembered what we had taught them before, infact some of them had even progressed from there.i found a exceptional learner in Sunny.he really can remember... Sonu had a tough time teaching his student. After almost an hour, when i asked him to write ABCD, he could not.But never the less,Sonu had tried hard.Actually some grasp better than others. Das was busy teaching the people who already knew a bit.started writing on the floor from one end of the "class" and finished at the other. there was a shortage of slates, so guess that was not a pretty bad option. Ritika was teaching her girl students and another "small person". dont know his name though,will find out. his pronunciations were like perfect,though his voice could not be heard until our ears go near his mouth.rohan and aabhaas played cricket with them.they never give them batting though. Ravi and AVinash also did their share of teaching.
I was teaching about 5-6 children myself.i too improved in my teaching(i guess so!). got more ideas as to how to help them remember these alphabets. we all taught for about 1 1/2 hours. got to say i had energy to teach more, but the kids would not stay for more than that(not all of course,some really enjoy learning).After this i had to again do this spinning thing. dont know what you call this game.catch the person and rotate him! well not exactly rotate, but its like the tora-tora ride. luckily only 2 of the kids asked for the ride, otherwise my head would have been spinning for more time. During this time Ritika had started reading out a story after which Sonu took over that work.Rohan and Aabhaas were busy batting and Ravi and Avinash were still teaching.Well one of the children made a kite and one of them was drawing. it was more like some fare than a classroom. well after all classes should be like this. thats what we wanted, getting children to develop interest themselves.
At about 1pm,we left from there. there was no afternoon session with the women or the other elders this time as there was some marriage or some other function. We then left by auto to S.T...Sonu went to his LGs place from maninagar itself, then caught a bus and were back. well got to say the last part of the journey was the most tiring, walking to college from G-0.So that is about it for now.