Money, money everywhere, Chennai corporation not ready to spend

Chennai, January 28: An RTI petition filed by DC with Chennai corporation reveals that Rs174 crore, collected as education cess, is in the corporation's kitty that has remained unspent for the last eight years. The cess money, which should be utilised for the improvement of infrastructure of schools and to upgrade the quality of education in the corporation schools, has not been spent. 

Educationists say that there are schools in Chennai where 100 children are squeezed into one classroom and quality of education has not been improved with library and lab facilities using the cess funds.

According to the RTI reply, elementary education tax is collected along with property tax at the rate of 2.50 per cent of annual value of the building. The expenditure from this tax is spent especially to improve corporation school infrastructure and special works in and around the school area.

Social activist A. Devaneyan points out that schools in Kannagi Nagar and Chemmenchery do not have adequate classrooms and the children in these neighbourhoods are forced to travel to the city for better quality education.

"There are just three middle schools and one each higher secondary and high school in Kannagi Nagar. Whereas, the student population crosses more than 15,000. In case of Chemmenchery there are more than 6,000 children in the neigbourhood. There is just one middle and a high school for children. These two schools are not adequate to cater to all the 6,000 students here," said Devaneyan. He added that due to lack of additional classrooms, more than 100 students are pushed into one classroom in Chemmenchery.

Schools in Korukupet, Nehru Nagar and other north Chennai neighbourhoods are worse still. For instance, students of the middle school in Coronation Nagar attend school on shift basis because the construction of school building, started almost two years back, is yet to be completed. "Since the construction of new classrooms has been going for several months, students were asked to attend school on different shifts. Students from class one to five attend school in the mornings and students from class six to eight occupy the same classrooms in the afternoon," a parent, who sends her two daughters to the school, said, requesting anonymity.

Locals suggest that the corporation could spend the education cess to rent a spacious area to provide regular classes to the children. SFI state president Uchi Mahali complains that in some instances, education cess is diverted for works like road laying and providing drinking water facility to neighbourhoods close to the schools. "Education cess should not be used for any other purpose other than upgrading the school premises and the quality of education provided there. We strongly condemn the under utilisation and mishandling of education cess," says Uchi Mahali.

Disabled students charged fee despite fee waiver 

Chennai, January 8: The University of Madras is in the soup. Disabled rights organisations have complained that the university charges disabled Ph.D. students while the government ordered fee waiver way back in October 2008. After their meeting with the vice-chancellor on Tuesday night failed to bear fruit, the disabled students have now approached Governor K. Rosaiah, who is also the chancellor of the university, for help.

Two weeks ago, T.M.N. Deepak was recommended by the selection committee of the University of Madras for admission to do Ph.D. programme in the department of politics and public administration. He was asked to pay Rs8,080 for his programme. “A  government order issued in 2008 clearly states that disabled persons are exempted from paying the fee for the Ph.D. programme, I told the university management that I am qualified for fee waiver. But they insisted that I should pay the fee,” said Deepak.

When Deepak explained about the fee waiver, the university staff strictly told him that he must pay the fee. Along with other disabled rights activists, Deepak met vice-chancellor R. Thandavan to redress the grievance. “We told the vice-chancellor about the existing G.O. and the fee waiver. But even he did not respond properly. I am raising this issue because despite this G.O., several disabled persons would have been asked to pay the fee for the last five years. And so all the students who qualified for waiver would receive reimbursement,” he said. Efforts to contact vice chancellor Thandavan went in vain.

Grand farmer Nammalvar no more 

Chennai, December 30: Monday was a black day for scores of  environmentalists and farmers. The death of ‘Iyarkai Vinayani’ Nammalvar(75) came as a shocker at the end of 2013. Well-known for his fight against pesticide farming and multi national seed firms, Nammalvar was the sought after expert in national and international conferences on agriculture. Even on his last day, he participated in the protest in Pattukottai, against the coal bed methane exploration project planned in delta districts.

While several scientists conducted trails on pesticides and hybrid seeds, Nammalvar quit the cushy government job as an agricultural scientist within three years and started his voluntary work in organic farming. He worked with experts like P.R.Dominic Pyre as agronomist and conducted trails in organic farming. His ‘Vanagam’- a voluntary organisation in Karur district, had inspired several IT professionals and young people from various sectors to take up agriculture.

Though I first met Nammalvar for an interview in 2009 as a part of my work, I became his fan and he became my friend. After the first meet, I called him many times not just for interviews but also to share my views and also to widen my knowledge. Whenever I rang him up, he remembered my articles and encouraged me to write more on organic farming. I was gifted with an opportunity to proof read one his books early this year.

I recall his last talk that I observed in a public meet. Here goes: We are proud that India, as a developing nation, exports all consumer goods ranging from car to T-shirts. But we have to think why the importing countries couldnt  produce these goods on their own. These importers want to keep their water sources clean and buy products from us. They protect their environment clean and green and we exploit the same.

Many times he stressed in his speech that we have to get back to agriculture from agribusiness. “You dream for bumper profits in agri business; but in agriculture- you attain good and healthy life for your family, your society and the country. Agriculture is sustainable not agri business,” he said.

From my book shelf

In this section, I am writing notes which I took from the following book.

ASHOKA - CHARLES ALLEN

Preface- Page number –12

British historians and archaeologists working in India in the nineteenth century were quick to blame the eclipse of Buddhism there on the Muslim conquests. For seven centuries zealots did indeed inflict horrendous human and cultural damage on India in the name of Islam, yet the fact is that Buddhism in Indi was in terminal decline long before Mahmud of Ghazni first crossed the Indus in the year 1008CE. Already by the ninth century Buddhism practised by its adherents in India had become so esoteric, so isolated from the wider community as to be unable to compete with revitalised, devotional Hinduism promoted by the ninth-century reformer Adi Shankaracharya and his followers. However, there is another equally important reason for the failure of the Buddhism in India- one that few followers of the Hindutuva nationalist movement (which believes that the only good Indian is a Hindu Indian) are prepared to accept: Brahmanical intolerance, which at times was an unbending in its hatred of heresy and heretics as later Muslim hardliners were in their jihads against unbelief and unbelievers.

Page number -13

The politicians who in 1991 egged on the mob that destroyed Babur’s mosque at Ayodhya on the grounds that it was built over the Hindu warrior-god Rama’s fort may be surprised to know that some of the most famous Hindu temples in India almost certainly began as Buddhist structures, often incorporating Buddhist icons, either in the form of images of deities or as lingams. Four likely examples- selected simply because they come from the four corners of the subcontinent- are the Badrinath shrine in the far north Garhwal Himal, the Jaganath temple at Puri on the east coast, the Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala in Kerala and the Vithalla Shrine at Pandharpur in Western Maharastra.

 

Final day of UN confernece looked like an Indian fish market

Warsaw, November 24: It resembled a typical Indian fish market. The last leg of the UN climate change summit turned out to be a marathon session of almost 40 hours of hard bargaining in high decibels by the environment ministers from across the globe, who mostly pushed their national agendas rather than the health of Mother Earth.

It was a mix of joy and pain for the global media—there were hundreds of journalists covering the summit—to watch and report on the proceedings that took unexpected turns every other minute. As the talks that should have been over on Friday spilled over to the whole of Saturday, many delegates appeared agonised. Some African delegates already left the COP19 stadium to catch flights back home.

Fiji and Philippines won their match against the super rich nations that ultimately agreed to provide funds for the loss and damage in poor countries hit by natural calamities. With India and China pecking at the polemical issue-- timeline for the climate finance--the US, UK, Australia, Singapore and Canada gave up dodging and agreed to put some
money in the loss and damage fund basket.

Earlier, the UN Chair- Poland minister Marcin Korolec and executive secretary of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Christiana Figueres found it difficult to knit up the climate fabric as the countries kept demanding for redraft of the agreements on finance and emission targets.

After some three to five hours of hard bargain, the developing nations agreed to announce the emission targets in early 2015. That was a celebrating moment for the UN Chair because there is no text in the UNFCCC that has a word “all parties (countries)”. For all these years, only the rich nations had been asked to come up with targets. This was
the first time that all the countries, both the developing and developed nations, are on the same page.

Then came the finance drama. The rich nations were reluctant to give away money for the countries that suffer extreme weather events because of climate change. The rich nations, which have their pockets full of historical responsibilities, were obliged to give as they had polluted the earth since the 18th century with the industrialisation. The UN Chair announced a 15-minute huddle to arrive at a final conclusion on finance. The clock ticked on to over 50 minutes when the rich finally gave in and agreed to pay for the disasters.

The UN Chair immediately announced that loss and damage funds could be distributed from the current year itself. Philippines, which lost 5,000 lives in Typhoon Haiyaan just a fortnight back, took the opportunity and announced its application would be put up immediately. Source said Philippines climate change commissioner Yeb Sano, who
fasted for the last 13 days to observe solidarity with the people back home starving for food, broke the fast; and danced.

Philippines and India on the same platform : Yeb Sano, climate commissioner, filipino

YEB SANO, Philippines climate change commissioner

Warsaw, November 22: India and Philippines stand on the same platform in terms of cyclone damage, says, Philippine climate change commissioner Yeb Sano. Mr Yeb Sano has been fasting for the last 12
days to observe solidarity with the people in his country, who are struggling for food after the recent typhoon Haiyan. He stole the attention at the UN summit on the first day two weeks ago as the
cyclone killed more than 10,000 people.

Speaking to me about the final day of the climate change summit, Mr Yeb Sano said, “I came from my country after seeing huge devastation. Even now, several of my relatives and neighbours are yet to be traced.We were shattered and reached this summit with lots of hopes. As the talks have not reached any conclusion  till late evening of the final day, I am afraid for the outcome.”

He added that there was a glimmer of hope on funds for the loss and damage due to natural calamities in his country. “I am worried but still have a little bit of hope on this last day. In that case, I see India and my country standing on the same platform. Though the loss of lives might differ, both of us are on the same page,” he said.

Stating that developed nations should support poor countries, he said,“There are heated discussions but the talks are dragging. The loss and damage mechanism was accepted in the last Doha 2012 climate talks. I
think many rich countries favour delay."

Rich countries dodging; Poor countries demanding

Warsaw, November 19: The developing countries including India have asked the developed nations to come out with timeline to provide the green climate fund (GCF)without any delay. There are expectations that they would urge the rich countries to provide at least a small percentage of the allotment before winding up the UN climate change summit in Warsaw. Negotiators said they do not want the Warsaw summit to end like yet another talk game. They said they would push the developed nations to finalise the road map for issuance of the GCF.

Speaking to me one of the negotiators of India said, “The whole game of providing US $100 as GCF by developed countries to developing nations before 2020 should not go on and on. We want them to arrive at a road map of giving away the money. We will urge them to talk clearly about the allotment during this week.”

When asked about the proceedings in the last one week, negotiators said that the talks were not concrete. “We spent almost three to four hours everyday in seminars. But there was no light. As ministers from all countries would arrive in a day or two, we expect things to fall in place,” they said.

Key negotiator of India Ravid Shankar Prasad, joint secretary of union environment ministry said, “Developed countries want to delay the flow of funds for the loss and damage due to environmental calamities in developing countries. They want a separate window for the loss and damage funds. But the developing nations are very particular that there is no need for a new window. The funds could be given along with the GCF.” He added that opening a new window is time consuming process and there is need for that.