What is happening in our Indian Army?

The controversy started from the retirement age of Army chief General V.K.Sing now ended in a leakage of confidential letter that was written by him to the Prime Minister of India. Now the political parties demanded the resignation  of Defence Minister Sri.A.K.Antony, citing new disclosure about his "inaction" 

The retirement age controversy ended  with the direction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. Now  things have changed to bribe charge, Army Chief letter leak, Trucks deal, Tatra BEML deal, Defence procurement scam etc. 

Due to the recent controversies, some section of the people are raising doubts about the innocence of V.K.Singh and some others saying that the present incidents for preventing somebody's promotion to the post of  next Army Chief. The overall incidents have created a mood that there is some misunderstanding between the government and the Army Chief.  

Now it is heard that the Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad wrote to Mr.Antony on October 5, 2009, asking him to investigate the Tatra Trucks scam. But nothing was done at that time. This is the reason for raising the resignation of  Defence Minister, by the political parties. 

In my opinion whole incidents came up have created a bad impression about the country's defense system among people of India and at the international level. Also there is an impression that the scam in various deals is a general issue in the Army even the same is considering as the country's prestigious defense system. Hence proper attention should be given by the concerned authorities for changing this bad impression about the Indian Army. 

Wasteful claim of an additional Ministers post

Soon after the declaration of Piravom Assembly bye election results, the Indian Union Muslim League which is the second highest coalition partner, raised claim for getting an additional cabinet berth to them, and now the media is projecting the news related to this, citing various explanations of the leaders. 

Some section of the people are discussing about the percentage of minority, if an additional minister comes from IUML. Another section of the people are discussing about the total number of Ministers will rise to 21 and hence avoided. The leaders of the IUML claimed that they have 17 MLAs and hence should get an additional minister.

It is shameful to note that nobody is seen discussing about whether there is any actual requirement of an additional minister in the state cabinet. Now 19 ministers are holding charge of various portfolios in which 4 from IUML. Sri.Anoop Jacob, newly elected MLA may get cabinet berth soon, in place of his father late T.M.Jacob.

In this regard I wish to point out some serious issues related to this, if an additional minister is sanctioned which are noted as follows:-

1.The common man is paying various kinds of taxes and it holds a major share for the functioning of Government.

2. When a new minister took charge, he or she will immediately be appointed some people which are very close to the Minister to the post of driver, personal staff etc. 

3. These appointments are exclusively set apart for the people who are selected by the concerned Minister considering his political advise. 

4. Several other direct and indirect appointments in his office and in his official residents would also be made by the Minister. 

5. Travelling ,Telephone expenses are some of the other expenditures of a minister.     

All the above expenditures are going to meet from the public money contributed by the common man without getting any additional benefit to them. The benefits are going only to the concerned minister and his party.    

Nobody is bothered about this huge expenditures that are going to come from if an additional post of a Minister  is sanctioned without providing any additional benefits to common man. 

In my opinion, at present there is no requirement of an additional Minister in the State Cabinet. The Chief Minister and his party should take a strong stand on this issue for preventing the misuse of public money from state exchequer which are being contributed from the common man's pocket by way of various taxes.   

Canal Cleaning Move by Kochi Corpn.

It is interesting to see that the Cochin Corporation has started the canal cleaning drive before the rainy season, this year. The cleaning move started in the Warehousing Corporation Road, near South Railway Station. During rainy season water logging is a general problem in several part of the city especially in this area.

When rain continues from 30-45 minutes, waste water from the canal is entering in the western side of the road where several buildings of hotels and office of the Kerala State Warehousing Corporation are situated.  The hotel owners have already spent lakhs of rupees for constructing additionsl facilities to prevent the water from the canal entering in their premises, but in vain.

The main reason for the water logging in this area is the canal is filled with mud, plastic bottles, plastic carry bags etc. and even the human wastes coming from the nearby residential areas through pipes. The shop owners in the eastern side of the road are not caring about the wastes filled in the canal and even the wastes from their shops are flowing to this canal. The Corporation authorities are not able to clean the canal properly in this area since the shops are situated on the concrete slabs of the canals. This results the waste in the canal has accumulated in the absence of proper cleaning and hence waste could not be removed for the past nine years. This is the main reason for the waste water in the canal is overflowing to the surrounding areas during rainy season. The people coming to their offices and several tourists have been faced various diseases like rat fever when they were walking through the waste water. 

Now with the strong leadership of Deputy Mayor Bhadra with the support of local residents removed all the shops which was functioning on the concrete slabs for several years overcoming the strong protest from the shop owners. Wastes from the canal is now removing with the help of JCB. 

If the wastes now removed from the canal can be removed from the surrounding area, we can expect this area will be free from water logging, this year.

I am really appreciating all the local people who participated in the move and the Deputy Mayor who led the people, for taking this initiative to a successful manner for the betterment of the people.

Following are some of the pictures taken by me from this area.  

Waste from the canal kept in the road side. Concrete slabs are also seen. 

 A shop is now placed near side of the road which was earlier situated on the concrete slab crossing the canal

 The view of the place where several shops were situated.

 Cleaning move is going on with the help of JCB

Two shocking death incidents in East Delhi

I am writing this after reading a paper news about two incidents in East Delhi which led to the death of a one and half year old child and seven year old girl.

One of the death incident, Alima, who was a one half year old child, while playing hide and sleek with her mother fell to from the 4th floor of thier apartment building at Mandanwali. It is reported that inspite of their repeated requests to put a mesh or cover the gaps, nothing has been done by the RWA authorities.

Another death incident, Sheeba, seven year old girl, while on her way to a park, fell in to an underground water tank through the man hole which had left open. It is reported that the water tank is being used by the Delhi Fire Service. But they are saying that the water tank is now being used by the Delhi Jal Board  and the Delhi Municipal Corporation was responsible for the maintenance of the tank. While the Delhi Jal Board officials said that it was a Delhi Fire Service tank and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was constructing a foot path there and they pointed the finger to Delhi Fire Service. 

While reading this news, I got a feel that the above two incidents were occured due to the lapse on the part of authorities. The responsible persons are blaming each other for covering their lapse. In my opinion, this type of incidents should open the eyes of the authorities for preventing such incidents in future.       

Bribe offer to Army Chief

It is shameful to hear that the confession of Chief of the Army Staff General V.K. Singh's that he was offered the bribe for clearing a file with regard to the purchase of tranche of 600 vehicles. The interesting thing to be noticed is that he had informed this issue to the Defence Minister A.K. Antony and the involvement of a retired officer who now works as a mediator. Finally the country's Defence department is now under the scanner and led to the CBI inquiry. 

It is further heard that there is no written complaint was made about this by the Army Chief. 

If the CBI inquiry proves any illegal involvement from any part in this deal, it would adversely be affected the reputation of our Defence service. 

News Paper Agents Strike

A glass of tea with newspaper in the morning. This was the habit of 90% malayalees upto last sunday. But from the morning of 19th March 2012 we are not getting news paper and hence this habit is now changed. During further enquiry, it was learnt that the news paper agent's have been started strike by demanding to increase their commission.  Being a regular news paper reader in the morning, I was also in search of newspaper in the morning of last monday. Several times I came out from my residence in the morning for searching newspaper. Then it was noticed that some of the paper boys were carrying news papers and sending in some near by residences. Immediately I contacted our agent and enquired the reason for not getting the news paper. He then informed me that they are joined in strike and some agents are not participating in the strike. The non striking agents may be supplying paper in our areas. Due to my habit in the morning to get a news paper at the time of bed coffee, it was informed to my agent that I am going to ask another agent who is not in strike to supply news paper to me also. Next day I got the same on 21st. But from the next day morning I have not received the paper and after some time I came to know that all the agents are now stopped the news paper supply due to the pressure of striking agents.

Now the strike has entered on the 5th day and now I have been able to have coffee in the morning without reading news paper. For getting news in the morning now I have started to read e-paper in the morning by spending at least 45 minutes in the morning. 

The Labour Minister has already taken intitatives and decided to invite the striking agents and news paper owners for a discussion on 26th. But now we are getting reports that the news paper owners will not be participating in the discussion. Hence there is no chance for ending this strike. In my opinion, if the present commission is low, it should be enhanced to some extent. 

If the strike continues, the malayalees will be soon shifted to e- news paper or to watch TV channels. This may be adversely affected the news paper business, which is a highly profitable one.      

Sugarcane Juice

Now it is a regular scene in our road side some people are engaged in operating a machine (as shown in the picture) for making sugarcane juice and served to the needy people. They are removing the first layer part of the sugarcane and the sugar cane stick is directly being passed through the centre part of the machine while it rotating. When passing through between the two iron rods, the juice came out from the stick and it collected in a separate pan. Some times ginger with lemon also being added for getting extra taste. This is good for health also.  I have purchased one glass of sugarcane juice from a road side seller on the way to North Parur and they had charged Rs.20 per glass of juice. It was a good taste. Now due to the heat during the day time is very high, there are so many people were waiting to have juice. Usually, this kind of juice is not available in other shop which sells other type of juice. The reason for this, for making sugar cane juice, a separte machine is required and it is not possible to make the juice in a shope which have less space.

Since the juice is preparing mostly near the road side or near the temple festival premises, there is more chance for getting the stick covered with dust from the air due to the frequent plying of vehicles, especially during this hot climate.     

A man is preparing the Sugarcane Juice with the help of machine and sugarcane sticks are kept on his left side   

Extract of sugarcane kept near the machine after taking juice from the stick.

Have Breadfruit, control diabetes

Breadfruit is a member of the mulberry family. The fibre present in breadfruit regulates bowel movements. Regular consumption of breadfruit could help reduce the risk of colon cancer. It contains omega -3 and omega - 6 fatty acids which stimulate metabolism, and the growth of skin, hair and bone. It is rich in vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron and phosphorous. The flower can be eaten as a vegetable. The immature fruit can be cooked or stored for future use and the mature fruit eaten raw or baked. The seeds are cooked immediately or dried and used when required.

Research indicates that the fibre content in the fruit could control diabetes, by reducing the absorption of glucose by the body.    

 Picture of Breadfruit

Impact of Union Budget 2012

The decision to increase the income limit from 1,80,000 to 2,00,000 is a welcome decision. The employees would get the benefits of such enhancement. But the decision to increase the Service Tax/Excise duty from 10.3% to 12% was not a good move when considering the common man's point of view. The ultimate result of the increase would bear the common man when they avail a service. If we take an example about most of the common man are paying telephone charge for the their residence telephone which is including the service tax of 10.3%. As a result of the increase in the service tax to 12%, common man are going to bear the extra expenditure in this regard. However we are happy to see that the decision for increasing the fuel price has been postponed. But in the coming days common man would bear the expenditure while increasing the fuel price hike also.

In spite of all financial hardships, common man now trying to overcome this situation in the present time.

No toilets but have Cell Phones

It is interesting to see that as per the Census data released on last Tuesday, nearly half of the all Indians do not have a toilet in their home, but over half own a mobile phone. This shows that 50% of the people in India now giving preference to mobile phones than providing a toilet in their home which is inevitable in each home. 

Only 46.9 per cent of the total 246.6 million house holds have toilet facilities. Of the rest, 3.2 per cent use public toilets and 49.8 per cent ease themselves in the open.  

The data also shows that just 32 per cent of the house holds use treated water for drinking and 17 per cent still fetch drinking water from a source located more than 500 metres in rural areas or 100 metres in urban centres.

The data cast light on the changing character of the media. There has been a 16 per cent increase in the number of house holds watching television, but a 15 per cent decline in the use of radios and transistors. A total of 47.2 per cnet of house holds own a television; only 19.9 per cent have either radio or transistors.

The Mizhavu

The picture shown below is MIZHAVU, which is a musical instrument, used by Kunchan Nambiar. Now the Mizhavu is placed (as shown in the picture) in the Kalithattu of Ambalapuzha Sreekrishna Swamy Temple premises. Those who visit the temple which is situated about 15 kilometres from Alappuzha KSRTC Bus Stand, can have look in to this musical instrument.  Now a days Mizhavu is replaced by some other musical instrument and hence we can't be able to see the instrument in the stage programmes now.  

Vegetable Cutting Instrument

New instrument for cutting Vegetables and Potato. The brand name of this instrument is M/S Olympic. We can easily cut vegetables and Potato to a uniform shape with the help of this instrument. The cost of this instrument is Rs.699/-. Following are some pictures of the instrument and the shape of the vegetables to its uniform shape.  

International Women's Day

The International Women's Day is celebrating on March 8. The facts behind the celebration :- 

The day was officially declared to commemorate the historical march in which thousands of women dressmakers took to the streets of NEWYORK City demanding shorter working ours, better pay and equal voting rights. This historical struggle took place on March 8 in 1908. Today it is the historical day that the world is celebrating the International Women's Day.  

International Women's Day marks a milestone in the path of women whose hard work and united struggle ensured them a sensible working ambiance. This year women's day is celebrating in Kerala with the sad demise of Soumya in a moving train a year ago and the increasing acts against women in train and other parts of their work field. Recently we came to know from a newspaper that the culprit Govindachami in the Soumya's death is now trying to avoid his punishment by placing senior advocates in his case with the help of mafia gang in Mumbai. 

In my opinion all women should strongly be responded to this type of acts taking place in and around us by taking an oath in this International Women's Day.  

Anayottam (Elephant Race) at Guruvayoor

It is interesting to see that the Temple Festival at Guruvayoor become starts with 'Anayottam' (Elephant Race)

Every year before the temple festival, there is an elephant race in which the elephants belongs to Guruvayur Devaswom are participating. 

This time also there were an Elephant Race and Guruvayur Kannan came first which marked the beginning of the 10-day long annual festival this year at Sree Krishna Temple, Guruvayur. It is interesting to see that this is the ninth time Kannan  wins the race.

The race started from Manjulal at 3pm. Twenty-eight elephants lined up at Manjulal, which was the starting point. 

Hundreds of devotees gathered on the temple premises to witness the Anayottam. Police controlled the crowd with barricades on both sides from Manjulal to the Eastern Gopura Nada.

Since all elephants are participating in the race, in that day the 'Shiveli' is held without the presence of elephants. This is the only day shiveli is held without the presence of elephants. 


Being the winner Kannan will have the privilege of carrying the 'Thidambu' on all special occasions this year.

Kannan can stay in the temple compound for the next 10 days of the annual festival. He was served his favourite food like palm leaves, cooked rice, etc in plenty. He will be the main attraction of devotees who come for the festival.

 
Kannan is the star in the temple festival.................... 

The Beauty of Golconda Fort

I got a chance to visit Golconda Fort at Hyderabad, last year. The various parts of the Fort led us to the early days which the king and others were lived there. Now the tourists from our country and other countries are regularly visiting this Fort. It was very interesting to see that even though some parts of the fort were getting damaged, major portions were not damaged  due to the good construction  works at that time. Following are some of the snaps of the Fort. I am sure that you can watch the pictures with more interest. Please watch and comment on this.

Environmental issues due to the usage of Flex boards.

It is seen that the major political parties are using flex boards in and around Piravom as part of their campaign during the bye election to be held on 17.03.2012. It is shameful that the political parties are not considering the environmental issues due to the wide spread usage of flex boards.  Finally this issue has taken by the Piravom panchayat authorities and it is happy to hear that they will approach candidates in this regard.  

But the candidates already erected flex boards in and around the constituency. If the Panchayat authorities approached the candidates by requesting to reduce the use of plastic boards, it may help to prevent further usage of flex. But it may not be able to remove all the flex boards now erected by these candidates before the election take place.   Hence Piravom area is going to face more environmental  issues during the coming days. 

If strict instructions have been issued before the announcement of election, it may be helpful for the people  and to avoid present situation. The Panchayat authorities have not taken care of this issue before erecting the flex boards by the political parties. They have not able to issue strict guidelines in this regard as they are part of any of the leading front.   There should be some lapse from the authorities. 

Protest against Toll Collection

Activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) laid siege to the Kundanoor-Thevara toll bridge on Friday morning in protest against the pathetic condition of the bridge. The agitation follows the Public Work Department not repairing the potholes and gaps in the expansion joints over the 1.8 Kilometer bridge. Apart from providing a back-breaking ride for motorists, the ill-maintained bridge is causing many accidents. Motorists are still, however, forced to pay toll at the two toll booths.   

The PWD has not acted despite repeated demands by different organisations. There is an ongoing dispute over the collection of heavy amounts as toll from motorists, with organisations like the DYFI alleging that the toll period expired years ago. 

If we closely watch the condition of the roads especially in which toll is collecting, we can observe the authorities either the PWD of the toll collecting agencies are not taking much care about the poor condition of the roads. They are concentrating only to collect toll from the vehicle owners. This system should be changed. There should be a stipulation while opening a new bridge in BOT basis, who will be responsible for the future repair works. At present there may not be no such stipulation and hence the toll collecting authorities are not taken care of the poor condition of the road. This should be changed.