Mumbai: All hell broke loose during the General Body Meeting of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) as Navi Mumbai Mayor Sagar Naik was held hostage and manhandled by corporators of the opposition parties. Even the Deputy Mayor was hit with a sandal by a female corporator while trying to rescue his superior.

The drama which went on for over two hours began when Naik was evasive regarding questions posed before him by members of opposition parties in the house, namely Congress and Shiv Sena, over the sweeping machine project. The opposition sought attention motion to discuss the sweeping machine project and alleged that large-scale corruption was going on in the project. They wanted to know why such exorbitant amounts were being paid to private contractors to keep the roads clean with these sweeping machines.

Naik refused to allow the motion saying the contract was given after thorough discussion with opposition parties and would not discuss the matter further.

'Hostage situation’A break in the meeting was called at around 1.30 pm, but the protesting

opposition party members only allowed the NCP corporators and Deputy Mayor Bharat Nakhate to leave the house. They refused to allow Naik, Municipal Commissioner Bhaskar Wankhede and other senior NMMC officials to leave the house until they gave a suitable reply to the questions posed.

When the opposition party members showed no intention of budging from their stance, Nakhate, a few NCP corporators and police personnel tried to free the Mayor. This led to corporators of the opposition parties manhandling Naik. In an attempt to get out of the house, the Mayor stumbled and even fell once, but managed to reach his cabin with the assistance of the police.

Chappal in handMeanwhile, Nakhate who was trying to ensure Naik made it to safety,

got embroiled in a spat with women corporators of the opposition parties. The enraged women mobbed Nakhate and one of them even hit him with her sandal.

At around 3.30 pm Navi Mumbai police escorted the municipal commissioner and senior officials out of the house, but only after the

November 1-15, 2012 Vol. 8, Issue - 09

A-223,Vashi Plaza, Sector - 17, Vashi,Navi Mumbai 400 703. Tel: 67912189 / 27894570

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“The home is where the hearth is” goes an old English saying. No home is complete without a kitchen and no kitchen is complete without a hearth. Kitchen in India from time immemorial has been an institution, sacred like marriage and joint family, all of which are today under attack. While marriage as an institution is in the brink of a disaster, the joint family has already disintegrated. The kitchen was not only a cooking place but also an assembly point and an exhibition of culinary art. More than this it was a laboratory of recipes and tastes. The division of labour was the hallmark of the Indian kitchen in which in laws and mother in laws shared the taste and the food, love and affection.

The proposed FDI is a direct threat to the Indian kitchen . The invasion of the kitchen by food and food products has already resultant in the extinction of various permutations and combinations of culinary as practiced for centuries. How the taste buds of the Indians will respond only time will tell. With the sambar, rasam and poha standardized, the Idli , Dosa and Poori shall soon have the ISO certification and this is a country in which today apples cannot be eaten without peeling off the wax coating on its outer skin- is FDA listening ?

It is well known that the

biggest beneficiary from the disintegration of the joint family system is the insurance business. The joint family system with all its defects and demerits ensured traditionally that every one under the family tree was secured, whether he be an orphan or she be an handicapped or disabled. The family values and compassion came to the rescue. With no one to look forward today such unfor-tunates have only insurance com-panies and orphanages as pro-tectors and shelters.

The same applies to the marriage, whose sanctity as an institution stands violated and the concept of mutual consent codified. No wonder the indivi-duals are tempted towards adultery and living in relationship etc. Whether the society accepts these as immoral and evils depend upon the consequences and the inputs in the social engineering. The deplet-ing influence of religion on its followers has also helped in the degeneration of values which we are witnessing.

Fast foods, made to order readymade foods and the concept of community kitchen are all against the kitchen culture per se and once this is destroyed cookery, shall remain only a subject within the walls of catering colleges, walmarts and McDonald. This may also help in the proliferation

of road side joints, hotel chains as well as restaurants on wheels on the model of pantry cars of the railways. While all these have their own shares in a developing and dynamic economy, the kitchen is too small and sacred a place to experiment FDI or supply chain. Food is a much precious commo-dity and the taste is highly individual. To make it sarvagenic is to nationalize and destroy.

Long live the king, the king is dead-Long live Indian kitchen.

Indian Kitchen nukedNuclearisation of the kitchen

has been happening in a silent mode since the disintegration of the joint family system in our country and the invasion of our kitchen by various gadgets emitt-ing alpha, beta and gamma rays. Iam fully aware of the fact that the latest and modern accessory in the kitchen is the mixer grinder which has sent the grinding stone to oblivion, giving tremendous relief to the housewife. The latest addition is the modern gadget called micro wave oven whose radiation emission is confined to the cubicle. While the dosage of exposure and its ill effects are still being debated another gadget is finding increasing acceptability amongst housewives and kitchen managers is the induction cooker, thanks to the LPG control and the

Pages : 4PRESS ACCREDITATION

FDI in Indian KitchenAdv. Sivasankaran

(Continued on page 4 )

Shilpa - A victim of quackery ?

The death of Shilpa, the 12 year old girl from Thane, was indeed tragic. Allegedly, she was a victim of medical negligence.

On Thursday, the 4th of October, Shilpa, a V11 standard student of Little Flower English School in Vartak Nagar, Thane, complained of pain in her leg muscles. She was shown to a homeopathic doctor who practiced near her house in Majiwada, Thane West. After taking the pills given by him, Shilpa suffered from nausea, which according to the doctor, was caused by gas. On reaching home, Shilpa's pain became severe and she was again taken to the doctor. He gave her an injection. This was late in the evening on Thursday and by next morning, the girl's condition took a turn for the worse. She became restless and couldn't even walk.

Shilpa was then taken to Kausalya hospital by 9-30 in the morning. Her blood pressure was low and condition serious. She was therefore admitted in the ICU.

N. Rajasekharan Nair

Chappals Hurled at Navi Mumbai Mayor

(Continued on page 2 )

Bite that can kill:Bedbugs found tocarry superbugs

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN

CURE

CALLIMMEDIATELY

However, she breathed her last at 11-30, barely two hours after admission.

Shilpa was the only daughter of Suresh Pillai, a contractor and Shubha, a teacher in the Mewa School in Vartak Nagar. They belong to Mavelikkara in Kerala.

Since Shilpa died under suspicious circumstances, the police have registered a case and are making investigations. The cause of death would be known only after the post-mortem report is received.

Social activist Srikant Nair and members of the local Progressive Malayali Samajam are pursuing the matter and have enlisted the support of MLAs Eknath Shinde and Rajen Vichare as also member of the Corporation, Lawrence D' Souza.

It is rather bizarre that a pain in the leg muscles would lead to one's death. In Shilpa's case, it is therefore natural for anyone to suspect wrong treatment to be the cause of death.

Investigations would reveal

whether the homeopath who treated Shilpa was really a registered medical practitioner or not. It would also establish what pills and what sort of injection were given. It is seldom that practitioners of homeopathy administer injections. Whether they are allowed to, is also doubtful.

It is commendable that members of a social organization have taken up the matter, as otherwise, the grieving family would be unable to do anything other than cursing one's fate.

According to reports, the homeopathic doctor who treated Shilpa, hasn't opened his clinic ever since te tragedy occurred. Therefore, the finger of suspicion points to him.

There is no doubt that quacks have set up make-shift clinics in every locality. They are a menace to society. The authorities should conduct periodic checks and take stern action against them, as otherwise, citizens' lives would be at risk.

Human Rights – Its toxic face ndia, our Mahabharat is the Iland of not only epics,

miracles and wars but also the biggest human tragedy unleashed on human beings by fellow human beings. We are at the verge of forgetting the Bhopal disaster of December 1984 in which an unsuspecting population suffered death and maiming. As per the estimate 6000 people died on the very first day of the MIC leak from the tankers of the multinational union carbide. In a clever move and much against the conscience of the humanity the company was allowed to go scot free with no criminal proceedings against the culprit. The government in a vulgar display of partiality and favourisam used all the tricks in the books and the power in their armory to bail out the multina-tional. The victims of this tragedy knocked every door for justice and solace but had to be content with a pittance and false promises.

We have not yet learnt our lessons and the hotspot activities continue unabated. There are number of hotspots, to be precise toxic hotspots in our country which continue to emit and belch filth in the air and dirt in the water. Look at the fate of our ganges, the immortal river sacred to all the inhabitants of this aryavarta . The water is toxic at many places and the toxic ingression has made the water on the banks of the river and even in hinder lands unpotable and unusable. The state of affair continues to defy solution with the authoritarian indifference alarm-ingly casting a shadow. We call it progress.

The population of Vashi is condemned to live in gas chamber day in and day out.

Topographically this 20 Km stretch of land has long been found unsuitable for Human inhabitation. It is doubtful whether this kind of

causing a kind of panic and appre-hension amongst the residents particularly those residing close to Pawne, Thurbe, and Sanpada area. Instead of making the citizens pay, the time has come to consider compensation to those who were compelled to find a roof over their head in these areas and have fallen victims to the environ-ment related disorders. The winter months are sure to become months of agony unless the industries around are disciplined. We have enough number of rules in the books but they should not remain in the domain of academics. If an impending human tragedy is to be averted, the authorities must act now. It is imperative that they put an end to this deadly ecological lawlessness by some rogue industries. The MPCB must accept responsibility, ensure legal com-pliance and come out of the lethar-gy at any cost or ensure evacuation of the Vashi area residents to an environment friendly and less polluted nearby node. Clean air and drinking water are our basic requirements which we have been compromising for long. The winter pollution aggravated by high temperature inversion, peculiar to this area should not be allowed to play havoc with the life and health of the citizens. The retributive power need to be exercised before the situation goes out of hand. In the absence of a concrete action plan, we shall forfeit our rights to talk about human rights and our commitments to international protocols such as Stockholm .It has already breached the threshold. Is there anybody listening?

Satyameva Jayate (The author is a Mumbai based

retired safety Engineer, Disaster mana-gement expert and a practising Advocate with an MBA in environmental studies .He can be contacted on Mobile No. 9867193025)

hotspots exist in any part of this globe. An estimated number of 2000 industries a large number of chemicals and hazardous chemi-cals are operating in the valley of the hill that lies in between Kalwa in the North and the Nerul in the South. The chemical corridor is the result of a policy decision to relocate such industries outside the island city but the subsequent decision to develop the land parallel to the chemical corridor as a residential township is the result of a policy failure. A lot of publi-city and cover up operations have been under way to gloss over the criminal neglect which resulted in large human settlement in a fouled atmosphere. The entire population has become victims of this slow poisoning, without help, support or any concern from those respon-sible. Officials and environmental agencies known for their apathy has found it convenient to ignore the issue and even play it down from time to time. This kind of consti-tutional tort should not be allowed to be condoned any more. There cannot be a more glaring example of wanton and criminal neglect on the part of the authorities. While the municipality is ruthless in collecting taxes, be it property tax, land tax, municipal cess or a host of license and permit fees , they are culpable by their silence and inaction which is

(The writer is a Post Graduate from IndianInstitute of Human Rights, New Delhi.)

November 1-15, 2012

It is a shame that liquor baron Vijay Mallya's airline Kingfisher is to be given 60 crores of rupees in “humanitarian” assistance by public sector banks. This in effect means that the tax payer's money is going into Kingfisher. It is not enough that public sector banks have already burnt their fingers already. Last year State Bank had already converted 1400 crores of their debt to Kingfisher into worthless equity shares that fell later on and made the bank lose more than 1000 crores.

It needs to be asked as to whose money is being given? It is the public money. Money that you and I pay as taxes to the Government. It could be argued that it is the banks that are paying it. But these are public sector banks that are owned by the Government and so essentially these banks and their moneys belong to the people of the country.

People in this country have to do paperwork for months together to get a simple loan of even a lakh of rupees. Then how come Kingfisher Airlines gets their thousands of crores worth of loans excused and on also be eligible for “humanitarian” assistance with a decision that has been taken in just a day?

It is one thing for a poverty stricken village or a town to be given humanitarian assistance. But why should a liquor baron's airline be given funds on a humanitarian basis? What is the meaning of humanitarian assis-tance ? Is there any law in the banking sector that says it can give money to a corporation on “hum-anitarian” grounds? And if so what is the financial limit of such a law?

Can India with a population of 120 crores and 70% of them with-out food to eat; afford to pay 60 crores in “humanitarian” assis-tance to a cash strapped airline? What has the people of the country

got to do with an airline? Has even 10% of the population of the country ever travelled in an aircraft? More than 90% of the people in this country have nothing to do with airlines. When these people don't have food to eat, they are hardly given any humani-tarian assistance by Vijay Mallya. Now, why should their money be used to splurge on the liquor baron's airline in trouble?

Why can't Vijay Mallya sell his holdings in the liquor industry or use his vast personal fortune to fund the airline? Doesn't he have faith in his own airline? If he himself does not have faith then why should the people of this country have faith and put their money into it? Has Vijay Mallya ever given free or subsidized airline tickets to India's poor? Has he even given free or subsidized liquor or Kingfisher beer to the public, except in times of elections? The answer is a big NO. Vijay Mallya needs to understand that when he has not given subsidized tickets to the poor, his airline is not entitled to get money that belongs to the poor.

When public sector banks fund such airlines, it means a free market economy for the poor and a welfare state for the rich. If an airline or any corporation is inefficient, it has to fall. This is the way free market forces operate. By propping up loss making corpora-tions by funding them, India is regressing backwards towards socialism for the rich. The Govern-ment needs to take stern action against these banks so that public money is not squandered away in this fashion. Accusations of corruption will soon start coming from all quarters. Maybe the accusers will be made to shut up with offers of free Kingfisher beer and free Kingfisher airline tickets. This is the sorry state of this country.

Suggestions and Guidelines for Reform he Proceeding study and Tenumerated findings and

conclusions lead us to make cer-tain suggestions to effect reforms in the legal frame work with a view to better achieving human rights of the accused. The present sugges-tions would mainly relate to the Indian legal system which could emulate worth while features from the soviet system as well.

Since our conclusion is that every person who is arrested is entitled to invoke the right to be informed of the grounds of arrest so that the right to consult and be defended by a lawyer can also be availed of.

Since it has been found that the liberty of an individual is regarded as one of the most important basic human rights in India as well as in the Soviet Union, an amendment should be made in Indian Criminal Procedure code by which the wide power of the executive to make arrests even for petty offences, like ticketless travelling etc. could be curtailed. It may be pointed out that in the USSR arrest as a preventive measure is only reso-rted to when the offender's act threatens the peace of the society.

Since our findings have shown that the police in India, resort to third degree measures in extract-ing information from the accused it would be advisable that the remand of the accused to Police Custody under Section 167 of the Code should be allowed only in special cases and for such limited periods as the necessities of the Case might require. It may be pointed out that under the Soviet law, a person may be arrested with the procurator's sanction only for a strictly limited period after which the case is brought before the court. Any further remanding to

custody is settled by the court alone.

Again, since the honour, dignity and reputation of the accused is at stake when subjected to the interrogation, search and seizure by the police, a provision should be inserted in the Indian criminal procedure code, which would provide the accused with the right to appeal against the illegal measures of investigation resorted to by the investigating authorities. At present, any atro-cities committed by the investi-gating (police) authorities in per-sons detained in police custody are challenged now and then by public spirited citizens under the concept of public interest litigation.

The conclusion has been that the existing is unable to cater to the needs of the poor people, immediate legislative steps should be taken to expand the category of non-bail able offences and as suggested by the 78th law commi-ssion Report a limit is imposed on the maximum amount of bail that could be enforced person having committed minor offences.

Why should liquor Baron's Airline get “Humanitarian” Assistance ?

Adv. Sivasankaran

price increase of the gas. These gadgets are claimed to have less power consumption and more empowerment. The hazards of these gadgets are often not fully reveled. What happens when the house wife when with bangles on her hands and chains in the neck stand in front of the micro wave or the induction appliances is a ques-tion worth pondering.

Ever since the advent of the nuclear family in India, the size of the kitchen has been shrinking. From a 10/10 size, the kitchen today in a 3 bedroom flat boasts of a 6/4 one, almost on par with the size of the toilet, of course both are vastu compliant. Since the space is mostly occupied by made to order store wells and other gadgets, there remains only limited space for maneuvering with the result that cooking itself is often avoided. Microwave ovens are often used only for reheating the food stuff

(FDI in Indian Kitchen .... Continued from page 1)

stored in the refrigerator. Nuclear family is fond of its privacy which lasts at least till the honeymoon period and this is ensured by one at a time in the kitchen as the space permits.

Traditionally the food is made to the taste and everyone with different tastes as well as taste buds relishes it. However a recent survey revealed that nowadays tastes are developed according to the food available and affordable. The days of fresh food has been numbered. Gone are the days of turmeric, tamarind, garlic and chilly all of which are now available in packed powder form minus the taste and aroma. With the advent of walmarts and malls, fast food and fresh food chains in a big way , the Indian kitchen shall stand nuked and so are the taste buds of the natives. Someone should patent it before it is too late at least for the sake of posterity.

The news published by various authors this publication are their sole opinion and Editor is in no way accountable and responsible.

in

DISCLAIMER

In India, baby battering takes place in every home, be it a bungalow, a flat or a lowly hut. No one takes any notice of it unless it turns out to be too cruel and is reported in the media like that of Aahuti Joshi, the three month old child who succumbed to multiple skull fractures at the KEM hospital in Mumbai.

Doctors at the KEM hospital claimed that when the child was brought at around 12-30 am on September 24 in a critical con-dition, they suspected something was amiss. A scan showed she had fractures on both sides of the skull and blood clots. The doctors tried to get a medical history from the parents, but got different explana-tions.

On the previous day, Septem-ber 23, the baby had been taken by her parents Kalpesh and Dhar-mishta to Shivani Medical Centre in Gorai. The doctors there found that she could not breathe and put her on oxygen support before referring her to the KEM hospital.

Kalpesh and Dharmishta Joshi, natives of Kutch in Gujarat, stay in a chawl in suburban Gorai. Kalpesh was a p r i e s t b e f o r e t a k i n g u p employment in the garment industry. Dharmishta is a house wife. They have a one and a half year old daughter Devahuti. Aahuti's twin sister died 12 days after birth. In spite of the doctors' efforts, Aahuti could not be saved. She died of cardio respiratory failure on the 1st of October, 2012. Her autopsy reports showed ex-tensive head injuries, rib fractures and cervical thoracic vertebrae dislocation.

The examinations clearly showed that the trauma was non-accidental and it had classic features seen in battered cases. Professor of forensics Dr. Harish Pathak said that a fall could cause skull injuries on any one side of the brain, not both. The rib fra-ctures were indicative of a blunt impact. Moreover, the mother gave varying statements every time she was asked about the medical history.

Dharmishta Joshi, the mother of Aahuti, the three month old battered baby who died, was arrested by the Borivli police. “She has admitted to battering the

baby. We are trying to ascertain if her husband Kalpesh too played a role in the incident,” Said Additional Commissioner Sunil Paraskar. Dharmishta said that she had wrung the baby's neck and pressed down on her ribs when she kept on crying on 23rd September. She added she had dropped Aahuti while feeding her two days earlier. “At a later stage, our team will look into the death of Aahuti's twin”, said a senior inspector.

Dharmishta was produced in court on Friday, the 5th October and was remanded to police custody till October, 12.

In the wake of the arrest of Dharmishta, another incident has come to light, that of a three year old girl who was beaten and burned by her parents in Dharavi in September 2012.

The child Sunita Shivsharan was brought to Sion hospital by Roshan Shaikh, a social worker on 15 September, after she heard from a neighbor, about the girl being assaulted. “It was a classic case of battered baby syndrome. The child was bleeding from the eye because of assault near the forehead.

She also had burns and several healed scars. We reported the case to the police”, said Dr. Rajesh Dere, Associate professor, forensic medi-cine, Sion hospital. The Dharavi police arrested Sunita's mother Jayashree under relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act. She was released on bail a week later. The child was treated for her wounds and discharged on September, 21.

Two year old Tanaaz lived with her parents and sister at Masiha Housing Society on 90 feet road in Dharavi. She died on August ,3, 2012. An anonymous caller had alerted the Sahu Nagar police that Tanaaz had several wounds all over her body and that her parents were trying to dispose of the dead body. The police rushed to the building and managed to take Tanaaz's body from her parents. A post mortem at the Sion hospital showed the girl had cuts, swellings and abrasions all over her body. While some of the wounds were fresh, there were many old ones as well. The parents denied abusing her, so the police sent them to KEM hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. The procee-dings are on.

One can go on describing similar stories to no end. However, the point is that children are the most vulnerable section in society and a large majority of them are subjected to physical, mental and sexual violence. The girl child is being targeted more often.

Activists say in India, a child is considered the property of parents,

who are rarely held accountable for abuse. They feel they can do anyth ing wi th the ch i ld . Surprisingly, even educated people betray their ignorance of child rights.

The Juvenile Justice Act stipulates that all police stations must have child-friendly and trained personnel exclusively for cases or complaints related to children. Such a facility is rarely provided.

In the western countries, especially in the US and Canada, allegations of child abuse are taken very seriously, irrespective of the justification given by the parents. There are even rules regarding a baby's travel by car. How and where it should be kept is specified.

However, it is heartening to note that in India, the government has woken up to the rights of school children. Corporal punishment has been banned, but it is still being practiced in a majority of schools which goes to prove that there is no effective method for implementation. Similarly, children are not to be employed in any industry or even domestic work, but still there are many houses where young girls work as domestic servants. At least, an awareness has been created in the public mind about childre's rights.

Here, we are more concerned about domestic violence. “The police in our country feel that a case of child abuse is a house hold matter and try not to interfere. In the west, a child is considered a citizen who has rights,” said N i s h i t K u m a r , h e a d o f communication and strategic initiative, Child Line India Foundation.

How many times have we seen small children being beaten up in public and no one, not even policemen, trying to stop it?

The increasing number of battered baby cases is a matter of concern. It is worth noting that most of the battered babies carry the emotional trauma for the rest of their lives, even if physical injuries heal with time. Besides, injuries inflicted on toddlers by their parents or relatives deeply affect their personalities.

It is essential that the general public is made aware of child rights. If a report in the press is to be believed, India is fast earning the dubious distinction of being a country unsafe for its children with an alarming 24% increase in crimes against children in 2011 compared to the previous year.

Battering children NAVI MUMBAI - NEWS

November 1-15, 2012

Sex racket busted, 116 sex workers rescuedAs many as 116 girls

were rescued from the spot in a joint operation by Navi Mumbai police and two NGOs.

"Of the 116 women rescued from the spot, 26 are minors. However, their exact age will be ascertained only after medical examination," said Afzal Khan, President of Adarsh Samaj Sevak Sangh, an NGO working for the cause.

Another NGO called Rescue Foundation had also responded to the quick tip-off and helped with the rescue operations.

According to police officials, the flesh trade had been going on in the area since several years. However, the place was cleared out whenever police went to raid the premises.

Khan said that the spot in Turbhe is very remote and surrounded by a hill, making it difficult for the girls to escape quickly from the spot. "Hence, they are mostly trapped and if they try to escape, they are caught and brought back into the flesh trade. There are not many residences around and those who stay close to the place are mostly pimps.

Khan said that he, along with Deputy Commissioner of Police Purshottam Karad had been chasing the place since the last three months and it was with the help of Karad that they were finally able to conduct a raid and expose the sex racket.

olice have seized 30 boats Pfor illegal dredging of sand at Kallada River, Kerala. Two of the boats seized were loaded with full sand. By the time the other boats were getting ready to fill sand, the police team arriv-ed and most of the boats were caught empty. Case has been registered against the boat owners.

Illegal sand dredging at Kallada River, Police seize 30 Boats

The raid began from Uppudu, Cherupoika and Karinthottuva

areas in the morning at 8 am with the help of speed patrolling boat pertaining to East Kallada police station and ended at 1.30 in the afternoon. The raid was conducted simultaneously from water and from both sides of the river. When the police team arrived, the loaders sank many loaded boats to escape arrest.

The raid was conducted under the leadership of DYSP KM Anto along with police personnel from Kottarakkara, Puthur, Ezhukon, East Kallada, Shuranadu and Shastamkotta police stations.

Private owners won't part with their land The proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport continues to

face opposition from private owners, who would part with their land for the project only after the government gives them incentive compensation. The government is yet to decide on the package to be offered to project-affected people.

The City and industrial development corporation (CIDCO), the planning and development authority for the airport, urged chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday to hasten the decision. Chavan has assured the authority of a final decision soon.

The airport, to be built in Panvel, is aimed at easing the growing air traffic handled by the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Cidco plans to invest more than Rs10,000 crore in this project. According to Cidco's status report presented to Chavan, the yet-to-be acquired 291 hectares of private land is crucial as it is part of the main airport facility.

Cidco's managing director, Tanaji Satre, said that acquiring the 291 hectares as early as possible was important. “In addition to the 12.5% of developed land, the people want more as compensation. We urged the CM to fast-track the decision.”

The project monitoring committee had last year cleared the proposal for issuing request for quotation (RFQ) to invite quotations from prospective developers.

“We cannot issue RFQ without acquiring all the private land. We have completed all other requisite formalities required at this stage,” said Satre. As per official information, the RFQ was to be issued in January 2012 and the private developer to be finalised by June 2012.

In all, 485 hectares of private land need to be acquired for the airport. Of the 2,072 hectares of airport land – including private and government 1,160 hectares are required for the airport facility including runways and terminus buildings.

Satre said Cidco is in possession of 1,575 hectares of land as on Friday. The procedure of acquiring private land was started in September 2011.

Seven villages (5,000 families with 25,000 people) will be given alternative accommodation at Dapoli, Wadgaon and Wahal villages.

Sreekumar Menon

Trials and TribulationsBible says: My brethern, count it all, joy when you fall into

various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing (James 1:24)

November 1-15, 2012

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Ready Possession

Q. Sir, are you convinced that our legislations with regard to industrial safety and environment sufficient and effective ?

A. Gentleman, to be frank I must say that all the legislations in this regard are nothing but bills of “pains” and “penalties”. It has no retributive power or bite. What if a company with a 1000 cores turnover is fined Rs. 500 or 5000 by a magis-trate? In all probability our white collar criminals would pay the fine for a couple of years in advance. That is the reality.

Q. F Do you mean to say that our laws have no deterrent power? If so why ?

A. Most of our legislations are outdated and ineffective to control the high-tech industrial activities which are often prejudicial to the health, safety and environment. The very number of legislations have enough loopholes and escape routes. Proliferation of legislations are often

F

counterproductive. The epistolary jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under article 32 and 226 has often come to the rescue of the citizen.

Q. F We are known as a country committed to health, safety and environment and then why is the mess?

A. Way back the French philo-sopher Roussaw (17-12-1778) said that arts and Science have brought corruption to the mankind. They have also brought environ-mental pollution. Ever since these problems have multiplied exponentially and our laws could not catch up. We have provisions in our penal code to take care of public niceness (S 268), fouling of water of public springs and reservoirs (S277), making atmosphere noxious (S-278), negligent conduct with regard to poisonous substances (S284) and injury by mischief (S438) .Apart from these we have a plethora of laws to abate public nuisance under (S133) of CrPC and section 37 and 47 of specific relief act.

Q. You have mentioned about the Endosulfan tragedy in your book. What exactly went wrong ?

A. See this was a case of hu-man right violation by authorities in collusion with manufactures of this deadly chemicals for almost 15 years. This chemical was being sprayed from helicopters (areal spray) over the heads of people residing in the northern part of Kasargod district in Kerala. The chemical thus sprayed caused terrific problems and many were born with defects and other physical and mental ailments. Now rule 43 of the insecticide rules 1971 stipulates conditions pertaining to areal spray. This operation needs the permission of the district authority and the district authority gave permission without ensuring compliance. Now, who is guilty here? 100s of persons were ruined for life with no one to take care of. Those who violated the legal provisions got scotfree. Our political system ensured this.

F

Interview with Adv. SivasankaranQ. But tell me, how our

country being a signatory to many international treaties could allow such violations?

A. It is well known that we have been giving only lip services to our international obligations. We have not complied even with the provi-sions of Stockhome conference and the declaration remains only in paper. We are also a signatory to ILO convention no-170 which stipulates code of conduct for pesticide usage but we are yet to implement the integrated policy on chemicals and insecti-cides. The same is the fate of the Montreal protocol (1987) with regard to ozone depletion. The Basel convention (1989) regulat-ing the trading in toxic waste is yet to be ratified by most of the countries. So far only 106 coun-tries have signed this and our country has gained the distinc-tion of being the dumping ground of toxic waste.

F Q. It appears to me that you are an environmentalist and is against all kinds of development and technology. Any comments?

A. I am all for development but a sustainable one. I am not a luddite or carborexic but I am convinced that we need not reinvent the wheel and also need not commit the follies indulged in by developed nations. We have today technology options avail-able. We can choose and select appropriate technology.

Q. F Would you like to conclude this talk on a positive note?

A. Yes, positive or negative it is contextual and I would like to conclude this with a quote from Martin Luther King

“The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for we live, our scientific power outcome our spiritual powers. We have guided missiles and misguided man”.

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(Continue from previous issue)

NEW YORK: There seems to be an upside to losing hair, at least for men! According to a new research, bald men appear tougher and more powerful than others. Men with shaved heads are not only perceived by others as more manly and dominant than other men, but also taller, stronger and having greater potential as leaders, researcher Albert Mannes from the University of Pennsylvania has found, the Time magazine reported. In the first experiment, nearly 60 participants looked at a series of photos of men who were similar in age and attire. The difference was that some men had shaved heads while others had full manes. The participants rated each man in terms of how powerful, influential and authoritative they looked. When the results were averaged, shaved men topped the ratings. In the second study, Mannes showed participants images of four men. Each man was shown twice, once with hair and once without. Not only were the men perceived as more dominant when they were shown digitally bladed, but they were also viewed as nearly an inch taller and 13% stronger. In the final study, Mannes gave the participants

To look tougher, just shave your head

verbal and written descriptions men. Some men were described as having thick hair and others had shaved heads. Once again, the participants rated the men with shaved heads highest for mascu-linity, strength, dominance and leadership potential. "I was surpri-sed that perceptions of dominance and masculinity extended to concrete, physical characteristics such as height and strength," Mannes said. Mannes theorizes that it's the boldness of the act of head-shaving that feeds into the perception of dominance. He also found that men with thinning hair - those who are presumably just resigning themselves to their own

baldness - were rated as less dominant than men who took the initiative to shave their heads altogether. The research also found that men with shaved heads were considered less attractive and older-looking than those with thick heads of hair - and attractive-ness is also correlated with perception of dominance. "So, whatever a man gains in domi-nance directly by shaving his full head of hair will be offset to some degree by his diminished attrac-tiveness," Mannes said. For men with thinning hair, however, the benefits offset the downside.

Apart from the above, a clean shaven head has its own advan-tages. Keeping head clean is a problem in tropical countries. Washing hair and carrying it requires repeated rinsing, sham-pooing and conditioning. This involves the usage of a lot of pre-cious water. Now bottled water cannot be used for rinsing hair or washing head not only because of the cost involved but also because of the effect of such treated water, ozonised or otherwise on the hair. In any case water saved on account of a clean shaven head is water produced. A bit of contribution in a monsoon deficit year.

( .. continued from page 1)Chappals hurled...

municipal commissioner assured the opposition parties that their queries would be answered.

Money wasted?Dasharath Bhagat, corporator

and president of Navi Mumbai district Congress said to the media during the drama, "We have found through our investigations that the administration has wasted tax-payers' money by awarding the sweeping project to private com-panies and paying them exorbi-tantly.

There was no need of the sweeping machine project for a whopping Rs. 74 crore when the same work could have been done for under Rs. 3 crore if NMMC carried out sweeping manually. So there is major corruption in which the Mayor and NCP corporators are involved along with the adminis-tration. We will not let anyone go from the house till they give an explanation." Bhagat added that he would file a complaint with the chief minister and demand an inquiry into the matter.

Dirty politics?When asked why he refused to

discuss or answer the question posed to him by the opposition, Naik claimed that there was no need for a discussion since everything was discussed earlier with the opposition parties in the house.

"We have already discussed the issue several times with the opposition parties before awarding the contract to private companies. If the opposition parties had any doubt when the project was being discussed, they should have raised the issue then only. Now these parties are raising the issue just to

play dirty politics," Naik said.Bhagat claimed that a case of

assault has been registered against Nakhate in CBD Belapur police station for manhandling the women corporators during the melee. However, when contacted, Shekhar Tore, senior police inspector of CBD police station, said, "We have received a complaint, but no case has been registered so far. A case will be registered only after con-sultation with our senior officials." When efforts were made to speak to Municipal Commissioner Bhaskar Wankhede, he was at a meeting and unavailable for comment.