SUMMER CLASSES

CRDES conducting Summer classes for 9th pased students of Indrakaran Village of Sangareddy mandal .The faculty members are from ordnance factory employees of CRDES volunteers, taking classees for Maths, science, English etc of 10th class syalabus. The Classes stgarted on 26th April 2012.

  10 AI flights cancelled as stir enters eighth day      Court to pronounce order on Raja’s bail today      Bodies of Nepal crash victims to be handed over to families      Hundreds of Dharun Ravi supporters hold protest rally      Seven Indian nurses rescued in Saudi Arabia      Rayudu, Patel fined for ugly spat      'Jindal has chance to be selected as Romney's running mate'      Sensex extends losses, down by 93 points in early trade      TV channel alleges 'murky deals' in IPL      Deranged woman attempts suicide      Rs 2-crore robbed from bank vehicle      Docs, students flee med college      Lokpal bill unlikely in this session      Maya’s role in NRHM scam under scanner      Elephant census in six states to begin on May 22      Merkel party loses key state election      Patel, Rayudu in post-match verbal war      Little Tia’s moment of ‘revenge’!      Moody's downgrades RIL to credit negative on dip in gas output      Use FE kitty to rein in rupee slide, says Panel      Members forget vow, disrupt proceedings      RAW treated its official with indifference: CAT      Two thrown out of train, one dead      Maid jumps to death in Gurgaon, employers booked      Charges made by BSY against me are like blessings: Eswarappa      Not worried: Sekar      We need to play well against Daredevils: Hussey      My place in the playing XI is not guaranteed: Gilchrist      11 cos including GAIL, OIL eye stake in Mukesh Ambani's RGTIL      Bravo last-ball six takes CSK to 5-wkt win over KKR      Economist group favours "near universal" PDS in Food Bill      Court can hear plea against judge, needs CJ's nod for FIR: HC      BJP underplays Karnataka crisis      List of Indians killed in Nepal air crash      Air India loses Rs.100 crore due pilots' strike      Govt to ban cartoons from school textbooks      Ministries spar over EU envoy’s Nagaland trip      CBI alleges lapse in awarding 2010 Games contract      Aishwarya in aid of AIDS at Cannes      2G case: Court to pronounce order on A Raja's bail tomorrow      'Satyamev Jayate' grows more popular than Aamir!      Suit against websites: Facebook India seeks deletion of name      Anticlimax as BSY retreats      Karat seeks president's intervention for justice to Sori      PC shipments up 3.5 pc at 2.63 mn units in Jan-Mar: Report      Real GDP growth to recover at 7.6 pc in FY13: CMIE      Fat turns into flab 3 hours after big meal      Negi youngest to win Asian Chess Championship      Katrina waiting for Mr. Right      Congress snubs Yeddyurappa over Sonia praise      SC refuses anchor permission to US ship off Gujarat coast      Over 7,000 army personnel deployed in UN peacekeeping missions      Rayudu blitz floors Bangalore      Moody's downgrades LIC to Baa3 on ONGC, banks exposure      Life beyond telly: Actors in alternate businesses      Sania climbs up the ladder      BCCI ropes in Sawani to head its new anti-corruption unit      Negligence, violation of security norms helped robbers      Thackeray's condition stable, to be discharged in evening      Moody's downgrades ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank      IOA seeks PM's intervention to host SAG as scheduled      Sarita stuns Tatar to progress      Krishna condoles Nepal air crash victims      Britons buy 75 percent of Olympics tickets      India sets up helplines to convey info about Nepal plane crash      Stab me, but don’t doubt my integrity: PC      Chennai family among crash victims      Cartoon issue generates heat in Lok Sabha      Dantewada Naxal attack: CISF DG rushes to Kirandul      CBI serves summons on Jaganmohan Reddy      Cartoon row: Four accused sent to police custody      No arrest in murder of teen who witnessed mother's rape      Plea against RS seat for Sachin rejected      Mudslinging over Madurai 'mutt' appointment      Dead man wakes up at his own funeral      Lankan forces bust biggest-ever secret LTTE arms dump      Tiwari restrained from leaving India until DNA test      US to give $680 million for Israel's anti-missile system      Keshubhai Patel queering the pitch for Modi in election year?      Yeddyurappa to announce decision by evening      49 mutilated bodies found on Mexican highway      Hearing in Aarushi murder case adjourned till May 16      13 Indians among 15 dead in Nepal plane crash      AI stir enters 7th day, 14 international flights cancelled      Plot to kill Iranian president foiled in 2007: Tehran Times      Rs 35-crore haul from Chiru kin house    

 

Sandhya Hegde Almane , May 15, 2012, DHNS

In sharp contrast to the world of concrete jungles that our towns and cities have become, is the green heaven of Kyadhagikoppa in Uttara Kannada’s Sirsi taluk, neighbouring the village of Andagi.

This is the world of vanastrees – the women of the forest. Wearing bright sarees, blouses and bangles, these garbed trees are beacons shining in the darkness of environmental hazards.

There is a mutt in the vicinity called Namdhari Guru Mutt which has a sacred grove. This is the abode of the vanastrees. They are the dwarapalakas (gate keepers) of this mutt. It is idyllic. Around the mutt, whenever the wind blows, the dancing trees dressed in their beautiful clothes entrance onlookers with their beauty.

Every amavasya (new moon day), a festival is held. On this day, people from the surrounding areas visit the mutt in droves, bearing gifts in the form of sarees and other vestments, to worship the vanastrees.

Namdhari Guru Mutt is 20 km away from the Sirsi taluk centre. It is renowned for its green-loving ways. Tree worship is common in India and is mentioned in history as well as in legend. At the mutt, all the trees are worshipped collectively.  People from the surrounding areas come to worship the trees in this area and in this manner, the mutt has shouldered the burden of protecting nature.

The system has also inspired a need to conserve nature in all the villages. The founder of this mutt was Avadhutha Kaleshwara Swami. The swamiji, who arrived in Andagi about a decade ago, fell in love with the flora of the surrounding areas. He was known to say that when he attained spiritual enlightenment, he saw holiness in trees. The seer was the first to drape these trees with the holy vestments used for gods in temples. He also inspired worshippers at the mutt to do the same.

Though the seer breathed his last five years ago, the tradition of tree worship has unfailingly continued in the mutt. Worshippers gather there every amavasya, with no boundaries of caste, creed or class separating them.

As usual, the devotees bring vestments for the trees they worship, creating vanastrees in the forest. This ensures that the trees will not be cut down. When wood cutters encounter the garbed trees, they drop their axes and offer a bow of supplication.

This staunch belief of the worshippers has supported the Namdhari Mutt’s movement to protect trees.

With the swamiji’s blessings, the mutt is gaining fame for its unusual, but beautiful practice. Lately, there has been a proposal to build a school for the poor near the mutt.

More to junk food than meets the eye (Sunitha Narain) Junk food is junk by its very definition. But how bad is it and what is it that companies do not tell people about this food? This is what the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) laboratory checked. The results were both predictable and alarming. What was equally predictable was the response of big food companies and their spokespersons—denials and dismissals. But they are missing the point. First the study: CSE tested all that is readily available in fast food outlets or as branded and packaged items in shops across the country. These ranged from instant noodles, chips and Indian bhujia to the ubiquitous colas, chicken fries and burgers. As I said, the results were partly predictable. Junk food is defined as food with empty calories—it provides fat, sugar and salt, without nutrition. The CSE study reconfirmed this but with a difference. Labels on packages do not explain just how much of our daily salt, sugar or fat quota this “fun” food is taking up. We are not told that one packet of chips, devoured easily, supplies half of what we should take daily in terms of fat and salt; one bottle of cola has twice the daily added sugar allowance of adults and children. It is not in the interest of food companies to advertise this. It is in our interest to know. The study also found that companies were not just irresponsible through omission, but also through deliberate misrepresentation of facts about the quantity of trans fatty acids—trans fats in short—in their products. Trans fats, formed during hydrogenation of oil, are linked to serious health problems. But the Indian law does not require companies to declare the quantity of trans fat in their products. However, it does say that a company can make a “health” claim that its food item is trans fat-free, provided that each serving has less than 0.2 gm of it. There are many operative misses in this regulation. Companies can determine their own size of serving and they do. Indian food giant Haldiram’s, for instance, takes 10 gm, which is less than a mouthful, as the serving size. That’s how it claims to be trans fat-free. Haldiram’s bhujia, Pepsi Lays’ chips and ITC’s Bingo chips had trans fat when they claimed otherwise. The rest of the junk food, which was not even pretending to be trans fat-free, was equally bad or worse. Companies can get away with this because nobody is checking. Take the case of Pepsi. It went on an advertising spree, saying its potato chips were healthy because they did not have trans fat and were cooked in rice bran oil. Filmstar Saif Ali Khan was its brand ambassador, urging children and adults to eat without guilt and care. The chips were branded “snack-smart”, implying good. Then Pepsi decided that these chips were heavy on its pocket. So it changed the medium of cooking and removed the snack-smart logo and the declaration of zero-trans fat from the packets. But this time it did not launch an advertising campaign. Why should it? The CSE study found the company was adding insult to injury. First, even what was claimed to be trans fat-free had 0.9 gm per 100 gm. Secondly, packets of chips manufactured in February 2012 had dangerously high trans fat levels of 3.7 gm per 100 gm—much more than what is allowed in daily diet. But under the weak Indian food regulations they did not have to tell people what was in the packet. It is no surprise then that Pepsi, in its official rebuttal to the CSE study, said, “All products are fully compliant with regulations, including those on labeling.” Clearly, food companies are not in the business of food, but in the business of profit. Following the CSE tests two questions were raised. One, why should one test junk food when it is already known to be bad? Two, why test only packaged food when all Indian snacks are said to be equally bad? First, as the study shows, we do not know just how bad this food really is. We should know more because it is critical we take informed decisions about our health. Non-communicable diseases, from hypertension to cancer, are a global epidemic. Bad food and bad lifestyle are major causes of these diseases. Indians are especially vulnerable when it comes to diabetes; as compared to Caucasians, they are genetically disposed to have more fat than muscle and have a greater propensity to put fat around the abdomen. They are also too poor to cope with the horrendous health costs of debilitating diseases like diabetes. Therefore, Indian food regulations have to be even more stringent in limiting quantities of salt, sugar and fat in food. Secondly, regarding food other than junk it must be made clear that traditional and local diets are built on the principle of moderation and balance. Indian diet, with its diversity of regional cuisines, celebrates good food. Problem arises when one adds “new” food and makes it universal—“McDonalise” it or “supersize” it. Therefore, the right thing to do is not to pit junk food against Indian snacks but to consider how much and what you eat. The choice is yours to make. So eat at your own risk. (The author is Director of Centre for Science and Environment and can be contacted at cse@equitywatch.org)

Threat of plastic bags bigger than atom bomb: SC

NEW DELHI: The supreme court on Monday said the threat of plastic bags, which is choking lakes, ponds and urban sewer system, is bigger than the atom bomb for the next generation.

issuing notice in a PIL to the Centre and state governments, a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya said unless a total ban on plastic bags was put in place the situation would be uncontrollable.

The PIL petitioners through senior advocate Shyam Divan cited studies showing veterinary hospital operation data finding 30-50 kg of plastic in cows stomachs across the country.

He said generally people dispose of food in plastic bags in municipal bins. Attracted by the food the cows eat it up along with the plastic bag, which is found to get stuck inside the cow's stomach.