Right to Walk.

Pedestrians in India are a neglected lot. The cruel ignorance for their rights is evident from the fact that there isn’t a single law, legislation, rule or code that voices their rights and gives them the much needed legal platform. This is not to say that a valid law will necessarily make a pedestrian’s battle against the authorities any easier. The time, the money and the effort that go into a legal battle, as is well-documented, do act as challenges for a pedestrian raising his/her voice against a denial of his/her rights.
So this is why we see pedestrians, choosing to risk their lives on a daily basis by walking alongside fast-moving cars and ominous buses instead of fighting for decent and walkable footpaths. The risk to life isn’t just a myth; statistics suggest that more than 45% of all accidents that take place in the city are pedestrian-related.
There are many aspects in the pedestrian environment that contribute to the overall concept of a walkable community. Walking could be a enjoyable activity and would definitely go a long way in reducing air pollution in our city. People walk everywhere – from home to work, to shop, to school, and to the park. Every trip by car or bus or other mode starts and ends with walking.
Is Walking a major mode of transportation? If this is so then the pedestrians also have the right to have a decent place to walk….

Shinto Varghese

PANCHAMI

Panchami is the name of the Self Help Group of the Scheduled Tribes in India. This is the first of its kind in India. With the help of the Central Government 700 crores will be spent for the pilot projects. Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS) which was friendly with Left government had turned to Congress party. They have decided to show their strength in the political bargaining.
The administrative office and training centre is coming up in Cherthala near bypass. The panchami will be divided into zones. They are planning to set up six super markets, food processing units, production units, IT centers, B.Ed and B.Fam schools, printing units, fourteen LPG centers, fourteen petrol pumps, 5 garment units, 10 medical stores, 5 automobile workshops, 10 coffee shops, beauty parlours, tourism heritage centers, 10 flats, apartments.
All these projects will be completed within five years. Ms. Sonia Gandhi has promised her support for the projects.
This is the era of self help groups. They have showed their power to build the community and empower them. With various reasons the groups have gained the bargaining power.
Good luck to PANCHAMI.

Shinto Varghese

Illiteracy = India

India still has the largest number of illiterate adults in the world, but has made "rapid advances" in cutting down the numbers of school drop outs, a new UN report on education has said.
The Education For All Global Monitoring Report, released on Wednesday finds that out of the total 759 million illiterate adults in the world, India still has the highest number.
" Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan has over half of the illiterate adults live in just four countries:," the report said, adding the progress has been "painfully slow" and threatens to obstruct the Millennium Development Goals.
It said about 72 million primary school age children and another 71 million adolescents are not at school, and on current trends, 56 million primary school age children will still be out of school in 2015.
UNESCO's top official Irina Bokova said the world body was apprehensive that the financial crisis would cause governments to scale back funding on education.
Are we ashamed of our illiterate brothers and sisters???

Shinto Varghese

Munnar Demolished?
The state government said that a master plan to turn Munnar into planned tourist destination will soon be ready, and the tourist activities in the hill station will be run. by the state government, Thursday.304 acres of land that was seized by the state will be used for tourism activities and would be run by the government,' Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan told reporters after leading a sub-committee of his cabinet here to discuss the issue of distributing land to the landless.

In March last year Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan gave orders to seize the land that was encroached upon by the tourism mafia in Munnar. In the operations that were launched last year, by now in Idukki district the state seized 16,000 acres. The state has decided to hand over 1,662 acres of land in Munnar to the landless, which includes adivasis (tribal), plantation workers and others. This land would be distributed in three months' time. For this extra officials will be deputed and the land will be distributed in phases.

Munnar is a picturesque hill station bordering Tamil Nadu. Over the years on account of the huge arrival of tourists into Munnar, various resorts had flourished here which has led to large-scale environment problems. In the operations launched in Munnar since March last year, more than a dozen plush resorts have been razed and reports indicate that four dozen more resorts would be razed soon. There will be five more special squads formed to speed up the cases against the encroachers.

The land where the buildings were demolished will be used again by building another structure, which means unnecessary destruction and wastage of money. This messy situation will continue for a long time as our state is going to implement the tourism plans.

Munnar…..Get Well Sooon

Shinto Varghese

FEELING THE PINCH

The State Government can do quite a bit to pacify its citizen consumers and provide some help to tide over the current inflationary phase in the State.
As the State with the highest per capita consumption expenditure (the total payment made by households for consumption of goods and services) in the country, Kerala has special reason to be concerned about the recent inflationary trends.
According to the Kerala State Planning Board, while in the 1970s, the average consumer expenditure per person for a period of 30 days in the rural sector of Kerala was almost close to that of the rural area in the rest of India, from 1980 onwards it began to exceed that of India and in 2002 it attained a level which exceeds that of India by 66 per cent.
PRICE SPIRAL
Such a propensity for consumer spending could imply that the State's citizens are watchful of price trends. These have not been encouraging lately.
According to reports, the prices of food products such as pulses, fruits, vegetables and eggs have increased on an average by as much as 40 per cent in the past year. Garlic prices have shot up by 115 per cent, red chillies by 97 per cent and onion by 92 per cent.
GOVT RESPONSE
The government's response has been predictably lame. It announced that the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) would intervene strongly in the market to hold the price line.
Even as Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan assured the citizens that traders would bring down prices by five per cent, the Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (Milma) announced a hike of Re 1 per litre of milk sold through its outlet.
ROLE OF PDS
With the virtual abandonment of the once-pivotal public distribution system (PDS), Kerala has had to search for alternative means of ensuring supply of essential goods. At one time, Kerala had the distinction of being the only State with a PDS that reached every resident of the State.
According to the Fifth Report of the Kerala Administrative Reforms Committee, Kerala boasted a universal system of statutory rationing covering the entire population (excluding only children below two years of age), which has been hailed as the most effective PDS in the country.
POLICY MEASURES
It is the responsibility of the Central Government to initiate appropriate macroeconomic policy measures to reduce inflation, like reducing Customs duties and tightening liquidity, the State Government can do quite a bit to calm down its citizen consumers and provide some succour to tide over the inflationary phase.