STILL, WHY MILLIONS GO HUNGRY ?

29 July 2011

STILL,  WHY  MILLIONS  GO  HUNGRY  ?

Following is the current scenario of food grains in India :

  

·      Food grain production :

·     2009 – 10  ………………….  218 million tons

·     2010 -  11  ………………….  241 million tons

  

·      Stocks held ( as on June 2011 ) :

·     65.5 million tons

  

·      Food grains needed by 2020-21

·     281 million tons

  

·      Additional storage capacity approved on 15 July,2011 :

·     15.2 million tons

  

·     Annual wastage of food grains due to rotting in open:

·     55 million tons – valued at $ 12.2 billion ( as per Colin Gonsalves-Civil Rights Lawyer )

  

It is not difficult to see why 3 million people ( mostly children ) die of starvation in India every year !

And given the current generation of corrupt / criminal politicians having powerful vested interest in maintaining status quo, a 100 million children will die of starvation before things change for better !

May be India is another Somalia in making !

With regards

Hemen Parekh

Nuclear Power

Proposed nuclear power plant at Jaitapur [ India ], will have liquid sodium cooled reactors.

Every high school student knows that sodium catches fire instantly when coming in contact with air. So, any leakage of coolant during an accident, will be disastrous. This issue must be addressed and public must be educated.

But then, how many people have died so far due to a nuclear plant accident ?

A few hundreds in Chernobyl [ Russia ], 25 years back.

On the other hand, how many people have died / are dying, due to carbon dioxide emission of coal based power plants ?

Possibly millions !

Except that dying by pollution is a slow process – almost invisible.

Then in India alone, some 6800 people are dying everyday due to malnutrition ( 2.5 million every year ) – even as millions of tons of food grains are rotting in the open !

It is about time we reworked our priorities.

With regards

Hemen  Parekh

Name them right

What name should you give your children ?

That depends on what you want them to become when they grow up.

Based on a study of 100 million profiles, LinkedIn recommends following names for children to become :

Ø   CEO ………………….                    Deborah  /  Peter

Ø   Athlete …………..                      Ryan / Matt / Jessica

>    Law Enforcement Officer ………. Billy / Troy / Rodney

Some more hints from LinkedIn :

Ø   For male CEO………………………………..select 4 letter names

Ø   For Sales Professionals ………………..Give shorter names

Ø   For Engineers………………………………..Choose long names

Ø   For Female Engineers……………………’ Kiran’ is your best bet

Ø   For Restaurant Workers………………..’Thierry ‘ is first choice

LinkedIn provides no clues as to what your children themselves may want to become when they grow-up, irrespective of the names you give ! At least, they will appreciate your intentions !

If you sport any of these names yourself, go for the LinkedIn IPO !

With regards

Hemen  Parekh

Want to contest elections ?

In India, candidates contesting elections to local bodies must have passed 8^th standard of school.

That is no problem.

Now the minister for rural development wants to enforce an old provision that makes it mandatory for candidates to have a toilet in their residence.

Minister Jayant Patil tells candidates,

“ I can understand that you cannot build a Taj Mahal for your wife. But if you truly care and love her, you can at least provide a toilet.

  Does any husband like to see his wife squatting in the open in the absence of toilets at home ? “

Yes Minister – I mean No Minister !

He could have added that the nice thing about a toilet is that it can be built during a wife’s lifetime – unlike Taj Mahal which took 30 years to build !

With regards

hemen  parekh

OPIUM OF THE MASSES ?

26 July 2011

OPIUM  OF  THE  MASSES  ?

Karl Marx is supposed to have said ,

“ Religion is the opium of the masses “

Indian politicians are re-writing this to read,

“  Voting in a democratic state is the opium of the masses “

Vote and get into a state of stupor !

Why else would they all gang-up to make voting compulsory ?

Forgetting their differences, political parties are telling the Indian voters :

“  You must vote.

    We are giving you a vast choice to vote and select from amongst 10 / 20 / 30  thoroughly incompetent / corrupt / criminal candidates.

   With so much choice, what is your problem ?

   If you still do not vote, you are a traitor and must be put behind the bars.”

But the voters are saying :

We will go and vote, only when the law permits us to cast a “ negative vote “ -  or provide a blank space on voting paper where we can add the name and vote for an honest neighbor who has neither money for a poll-campaign, nor for “ security deposit ‘ and who we know, will not rob / torture / rape us for the next 5 years.

We will go and vote when we have a “ Right to Recall “ those who utterly fail to represent us.

With regards

Hemen Parekh

SURVIVING IN BIHAR

20 July 2011

SURVIVING  IN  BIHAR

The 66^th round of survey of National Sample Survey Office of India ( NSSO ), paints a grim picture of the state of Bihar.

The Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure ( MPCE ) in Bihar is nearly the lowest of all states.

And that forces the people of Bihar to spend most of that on “ food “, as can be seen from following figures :

·     Amounts spent on food

·     In rural Bihar  ……………  Rs. 505  out of a total of Rs. 780

·     In urban Bihar …………… Rs. 655  out of a total of Rs. 1238

Any wonder why Biharis are leaving Bihar for earning livelihood elsewhere ?

With regards

Hemen Parekh

THE PRODIGAL RETURNS ?

19 July 2011

THE  PRODIGAL  RETURNS  ?

Apparently, the British youth are returning to their safe havens – parent’s homes.

Nearly 25 % of all UK university graduates will head for parent’s home after graduation. And why ?

According to market research firm Mintel ( as reported in Mumbai Mirror / 14 July,2011 ), here are the reasons :

• To save money  ……………………………….  41 %

• For being between jobs / terms……...  34 %

• To enjoy home comforts ………………..   13 %

• Could not pay mortgages  ……………..   30 %

• Relationship broke-up  ………………….    25 %

And how do parents feel about this new trend ?

• Returning children hurt their finances  ……..  50 %

• Feels good to be able to help children  ……..  60 %

It seems when FaceBook fails, it is “ Father knows best “ !

With regards

HEMEN  PAREKH

Food and Famine need not co-exist

On one hand, thousands of people are dieing of starvation everyday in Sudan / Somalia / Ethiopia / much of sub-Saharan Africa.
Even in a rapidly developing country like India, some 3 million people ( mostly children ), are dieing annually due to starvation.
Then on other hand, in India , granaries are overflowing with a stock of 65.5 million tons of grains. Much of this is rotting in rain, out in the open.
And world as a whole is wasting 1.3 billion tons of food ( grains / fruits / vegetables etc. ) annually – enough to feed 3 billion people for an entire year !
We need only 2 acres of land to grow enough grains to feed one person for one year.
But it takes 18 acres of grazing land to nourish enough cattle to feed one person for one year !
I am acutely aware that all the people of the world cannot turn vegetarian overnight but surely all of us can immediately stop wasting food.
Let us observe “ Asteya “ – the dharma observed by the Jain community of India.
No more food on your plate than what you can eat.

With regards

hemen parekh

Vacancies Galore

Times of India [ 21 Feb 2011 ] reports a study carried out by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability [ CBGA ].

CBGA found huge no of vacancies in :

Ø  Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan .........................20 % ( Teachers )

Ø  National Rural Health Mission…………………. 64 % ( Doctors  )

Ø  Intregated Child Development Services…..22 % ( Workers )

                                                                 43 % ( Supervisors )

    >  Mahatma Gandhi National Rural                34 % ( Engineers )

Employment Guarantee Scheme…………….  28 %  ( Accountants )

Reason ?

State Governments do not want to spend their share of staff salaries !

National Skills Development Corporation plans to impart “ Skills “ to 500 million youth by 2022.

Who will hire these “ Skilled “ youth if the State Governments continue to remain “ bankrupt “ ?

With regards

hemen  parekh