D-Sector for Development Community

   Sunday, May 26, 2013
Agriculture - Duties and Rights - Education - Environment - Food - Global - Governance - Health - Indian Economy - Indian Society - Physical Development - Social Welfare - Water and Sanitation
 
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Sharp Quotes
By D-Sector Editorial Team

Interesting, profound or out of the box comments on various issues.
 
"We must look to the consequences of our own demand and consumption: the energy we use, the kind of cars we drive, the products we buy, the food we eat, and our individual impact on the natural world."
- Dennis Kucinich, US Congressman (D-OH)
 
 

"Owing to the gap between creation and dissemination of knowledge, agriculture output has not converted into income for farmers. The distance is worrying since this sector remains critical to the well-being of India."
- Dr Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission of India
 
 

"Repression and injustice are flourishing in the global justice gap, condemning millions of people to abuse, oppression and poverty."
- Claudio Cordone, interim Secretary General of Amnesty International
 
 

"In too many places, children are seen as commodities, in too many instances they are treated as criminals instead of being protected as victims, and there are too many conflicts where children are used as soldiers, spies or human shields."
- Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, United Nations
 
 

"I cannot be oblivious to the larger development agenda of the government. I cannot perennially be putting spokes in every wheel."
- Jairam Ramesh, Indian Minister for Environment and Forests, indicating pressure on him to put economic growth before environment protection
 
 

"Biodiversity loss is moving ecological systems ever closer to a tipping point beyond which they will no longer be able to fulfill their vital functions"
- Ban Ki-moon, United Nations' Secretary-General
 
 

"Many economies remain blind to the huge value of the diversity of animals, plants and other life forms and their role in healthy and functioning ecosystems from forests and freshwaters to soils, oceans and even the atmosphere"
- Achim Steiner, UN Environment Programme Executive Director
 
 

"Let us be very clear. Mining activity cannot come to a halt. But illegal mining must stop."
- Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests, Govt of India
 
 

"I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else. … It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake."
- Bill Clinton, former USA President, apologizing for flooding Haiti with cheap American rice in the mid 1990s which destroyed farm livelihoods in Haiti
 
 

"New Mining policy will be oriented towards development, towards common people on whose land they make their property. Mind that, it's on their land. Ultimately, they are not getting anything. No one is going to accept that."
- Bijoy Krishna Handique, Minister of mines, Govt of India
 
 

"For Bolivians and for indigenous peoples, the idea is to live well. And this term ‘living well’ is important, as opposed to ‘living better’ — living well. Capitalism, to live better, pillages resources in an unbridled manner, exploits the children of Mother Earth, which are the human beings, destroys nature, squandering. It causes so much damage to humanity. Hence the debate is on the structural causes of global warming."
- Evo Morales, Bolivia's President on climate change
 
 

"The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- and especially the hibakusha -- know too well the horror of nuclear war. It must never be repeated."
- Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General on nuclear disarmament
 
 

"It is irksome that the best articles on Himalayan glaciology are from Ohio State University."
- Jairam Ramesh, India's Minister for Environment and Forests
 
 

 
Free Will

Many feel that all hullabaloo on corruption may not rattle the business-as-usual scenario! A peep into the latest developments with the controversial scheme for elected parliamentarians may confirm such apprehension. Each MP has Rs 5 crore each year at his/her discretion for promoting 'local area development'. Whatever it may mean, the privileged members can now assign works under MPLADS scheme without calling tenders and they have liberty to engage any agency or assign the task to any NGO.The only clause being that the assigned party should fit into the subjective interpretation of being of 'national reputation' .
 
That the scheme is under Comptroller & Auditor General's scanner for 'irregularities' doesn't concern the government a bit. Far from taking cognizance of irregularities pointed out by CAG, the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation has gone to the extent of suggesting that MPLADS funds can henceforth be used for works on 'private lands'. With an estimated Rs 21,300 crore riding on members in each session of the parliament under the scheme, the chance for public money to be squandered for private purposes cannot be ruled out. There is enough evidence to suggest that 'that' might indeed be the case!

Water Ignorance

No denying that each drop of water must be conserved. In this light, 92.7 Big FM ongoing campaign on water conservation deserves appreciation. Using multiple celebrity voices, the 'paani bachao life banao' campaign has been pitched around plugging leakages and saving wastages. Targeted primarily at urban listeners, bulk of the messages relate to saving basin wastage, plumbing leaking cistern and restricting car washing. While the 'frequency modulation' medium is being effectively used to spread crucial message, it erroneusly assumes that 'indivuals' have been the cause of the crises. In reality, individuals have little role in the big water crises.   

The question that must be asked is: does water saved get reallocated to those who deserve it more? Ironically, the distribution system has no such provision and whatever little is saved gets sucked within the inefficient system itself. Afterall, municipal consumption is less than 10 per cent of the total water consumed across diverse sectors. For the big picture change, focus needs to shift from acts of personal consumption to gross failure of the system that controls and delivers water. Any campaign taking consumers on a guilt trip by engaging them in what-you-can-do-to-save-the-earth guilt trip is surely misdirected! 

Lead View
Food diversity can fight hunger
By Pandurang Hegde
22 May 2013

Living democracies where farmers make their own decision on what to grow and eat leads to eradication of hunger. It enhances the dignity and confidence of local communities, and teaches them ..
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Water Drops

Provocations for Development

River Dog

Psychology in the Bathroom
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Devinder Sharma
Carmen Miranda
Pandurang Hegde
Sudhirendar Sharma
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