Is Pune On The Way To Be Kachra-Kundi Free City ?

Pune Muncipal Corporation is doing great work in eliminating garbage bins from locations one after another. These dirty way of citizens throwing their waste is being replace by door to door collection on semi-coomercial basis. Garbage will then be transferred into PMC containers and taken to Urali Kanchan / Saswad. PMC has contracted a private company which has set up a segregation/recycling/processing plant there.  Seggregated plastic, complex hydrocarbons, compost, fuel and biogas will be products out of this.

Let us congratulate citizens and politicians of Pune and Urali Kanchan, PMC staff, judiciary, Swach and other NGOs. And wish them and us more success

Maternal Mortality Rate declines in all states in India

The Karnataka State’s Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), which has been a cause of concern in the past, has seen a significant fall in the last three years. From 178 per lakh live births in the period between 2007 and 2009, the State’s MMR has come down to 144 in 2012, a decline of 34 percentage points.

Although the State is still behind Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the rate of decline here is the highest in South India. While the rate of decline in Andhra Pradesh 24 percentage points, it has been seven and 15 in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, respectively, in the same period.

The latest Sample Registration Report of the Registrar-General of India that gives the new MMR estimates for the three-year period (2010-2012) was released in New Delhi on December 20.

Maternal deaths are defined as the number of women who die during pregnancy or within 42 days of the termination of pregnancy. The State sees nearly 12 lakh pregnancies every year.

According to the report, the new MMR estimate for the country shows an overall decline from 212 (in 2007-09) to 178 in 2012, resulting in saving lives of around 9,000 mothers per year.

It also shows a declining trend in all States.

M. Madan Gopal, Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), told The Hindu on Wednesday that the decline in MMR means nearly 1,500 mothers were being saved now. “Although the numbers look insignificant, every mother’s life saved is precious,” he said. “If we sustain our efforts and incorporate a few policy changes, we can bring down MMR to less than 100 in the next three years,” he added.

Mr. Madan Gopal said, “The achievement was possible thanks to the integration of Central programmes such as Janani Suraksha Yojana that promotes institutional deliveries, 24 x 7 primary health centres, first referral units with the State’s programmes such as Madilu, Prasuti Araike, 108 Arogya Kavacha. The commitment and dedication of all our field functionaries have played a major role.”

According to the report, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have achieved the country’s maternal health Millennium Development Goal (MDG) which is 109 per one lakh live births by 2015.

While Kerala’s MMR stands at 66 per one lakh live births, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra’s MMR is 90 and 87, respectively.

The report has stated that India is 69 percentage points away from the MDG target. “Despite such an impressive decline for three periods in a row (2004-2006, 2007-2009 and 2010-2012), India is likely to miss the MDG target,” according to the report.

'Rice for Oliver Ridley Turtle Consevration Scheme' for fishermen

After a prolonged wait, fishermen families identified under Rice for Oilive Ridley Conservation (ROrC) scheme have become the recipients of Public Distribution Scheme doles in coastal districts like Kendrapara in Odisha.

So far 2200 families who are affected by 7-month-long prohibition on marine fishing for turtle protection measures every year were distributed special eligibility cards for the subsidised rice benefits, according to officials.

Altogether 10,133 fishermen families have been targeted to get PDS coverage to make up their vocation and livelihood loss in Kendrapara, Puri, Ganjam and Bhadrak districts where the turtles arrive for nesting each winter.

The bulk of the affected families are from Kendrapara as the coastal district is home to the restricted sea corridors of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.

It is a livelihood stakes package for poor fishermen communities to ensure them food security.

Because of prohibition of fishing from November 1 to May 31 each year, the community is adversely affected with depletion of income sources.

Under the scheme, each family will be provided with 25 kg of rice at subsidised rate of Re 1 per kg every month. 2200 families were distributed special cards.

The cards entitle them to get subsidised rice each month from PDS retailers of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department, said Additional Fisheries Officer, Paradip, Ranjit Dash.

Of the 10,133 identified beneficiaries, 6,255 families are from Kendrapara district. The rest of the targeted families are from Puri, Ganjam and Bhadrak district.

While 3,959 families have been enumerated for PDS coverage in Mahakalpada block, 2,296 fishermen families are from seaside Rajnagar block, said a senior official.

Aware of loss of livelihood sources following the seven-month-long prohibition on sea-fishing, the government had earlier announced extension of PDS families in favour of affected fishermen families.

The ban had hit hard livelihood stakes of fishermen communities besides other stakeholders.

After prohibition was lifted on May 31, sea fishing got frequently disrupted owing frequent formation of low pressure.

(Reference: ddinews.gov.in)

Esther Preethi and the true meaning of education

http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/esther-preethi-and-the-true-meaning-of-education/

Esther Preethi and the true meaning of education

K. JAVEED NAYEEM writes: The week that has gone by had a mixed bag of events that have left me with mixed feelings, both happy and sad.

The news that really stirred my soul and elevated it to an unusually lofty level of happiness was about the Sri VenkateswaraUniversity in Andhra Pradesh postponing its engineering examinations by a full week to let the students of one engineering college collect donations to save the life of one of its students —Esther Preethi, the daughter of a poor taxi driver from Madanapalli in Chittoor District, now doing her final year engineering at NBKR Institute of Technology in Nellore.

She reportedly developed liver failure for which she was advised a liver transplant costing almost Rs 50 lakh.

Her father was crestfallen as this amount was far beyond his means and even what he could hope to garner from sources open to him. That was when his daughter’s college-mates decided to do their bit by collecting donations from the public to pay for Preethi’s surgery.

Since the need for surgery was very urgent, as it usually is in such cases, about 540 students of final year engineering rushed to the director of the college, V. Vijayakumar Reddy, with a request to allow them to go out and collect donations by skipping classes.

Touched by the students’ resolve, the college management, too, offered financial assistance and allowed the students to spare no efforts to save Preethi’s life.

Forming about 30 groups, the students went around Nellore town and nearby villages and started collecting donations. Since their examinations too were just round the corner the students again pleaded with their college management to speak to the Vice-Chancellor to postpone the exams on humanitarian grounds.

In perhaps an act of unprecedented magnanimity, the Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) responded to their request and postponed the first semester examinations of its final year, which had to begin on November 14, to give time to the students to help save their ailing friend.

“This could be the first time that a University has rescheduled examinations to allow students to collect funds for a noble cause,” Reddy said after SVU Vice-Chancellor W. Rajendra issued a notification acceding to the students’ request.

My joy is naturally very great because this is the true meaning and spirit of any real education. There is no point in simply quoting rules and applying them mechanically as is usually done all around us when a more humanitarian approach would do much good in a delicate situation.

When the powers vested in us permit us to be kind rather than curt, it is important to take the former approach. I salute all those who did their bit to save Preethi’s budding life and wish her a speedy recovery.

(K. Javeed Nayeem is a practising physician who writes a weekly column in Star of Mysore, where this piece originally appeared)

for philanthropists

http://www.loksatta.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=467%3A2012-09-28-22-07-13&layout=blog&Itemid=465

here is a list of NGOs that marathi Loksatta had publushed for ten consecutive days. they had published their work with other relevant details

Tanjore Marathi तंजोर (तंजावर) मराठी

It is interesting how a language changes its colour shade when it travels across regions. South Indian Maharashtrian Association SIMA in Hyderabad comprises the descendants from these families, who speak Marathi dotted with Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu words. Today there is a write-up on them in The Hindu:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/article3458921.ece?homepage=true

Tanjore / Tanjavur (तंजोर / तंजावर) Marathi has following entries in Wikipedia.org:
in Marathi :-
http://mr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B0_%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A0%E0%A5%80

and in English :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanjavur_Marathi_dialect

Accountaibility in custody

State of Maharashtra, India has recently introduced a regulation proposing compensation to next of kins in case of custodial deaths. Rs.1 lakh (100,000) in cases when CID says that death is due to negligence or torture. And Rs1.5 when CID confirms that death is due to torture in custody. As I see it, the amount is not important but that the government is accepting responsibility of irresponsibly brutal actions by its officers and willing to compensate, in a way, for those. I hope this trend evolves into making officers, and government in turn, into more responsible and accountable institutions for the people.