abt franchisee appointment

From: "SYED RAIHAN ...wanna fight??"Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 10:40 PM
Subject: abt franchisee appointment.


> hi bhinti!
> i hv found out some way-outs for the franchisee appointment issue.
> 1/register yourself in franchise.com . thorugh this site u cn contract to several franchise-aspirants.the aspirants have already registered themselves. u can select those people by selecting them exact region-wise. it will b a very cost effective solution.
> 2/contact some add-agency to show-case ur proposed website with some demanded site..
> i hope these steps will fulfil ur need...
> anwz, did u hv a chat with mr. alam. for designing the website...if feel the need i cn also help u in stretetiging inputs for the site(in the marketing plan cllaboration aspect of the site)
> bye.gud nite.

How to become a successful businessman

How to become a successful businessman

Sunder Ramachandran
http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/jan/18entre.htm

Believe in yourself

Being an entrepreneur is a lot more risky than the conventional job routine. There is no regular salary; you have to find customers on your own. Marketing your product/service and financing the project are also of concern. I noticed that most entrepreneurs use a combination of due diligence and gut instincts while evaluating their product/service. They are good at spotting a need in the market and then backing themselves up to believe that their idea can fill that void.

Lesson one -- Believe in your idea. Never underestimate what you can do. You may surprise yourself
Hire the right people

Most entrepreneurs highlighted this as the toughest aspect of building a business. Sanjay Bhargava, who co-founded Paypal, recommended entrepreneurs to bring in people who are really good at what they do and also to focus on ensuring the team members get along with each other.

Some entrepreneurs confessed they made the initial mistake of hiring friends and people they liked, but soon realised that friends were not always the best employees.

Lesson two -- Build your team with people possessing complementary skills, not 'yes men' who are always showering praise. You need employees, partners and mentors you trust, who will give you honest feedback and take your company to the next level.

Be money wise

While some entrepreneurs went in for conventional sources of funding from a venture capitalist or banks, etc, quite a few started out with their savings or by borrowing money from friends and family. Most entrepreneurs said they focused on increasing efficiency and optimising costs and overheads. One entrepreneur shared that he consciously stayed away from non-essentials like an extravagant office, equipments, etc. The focus was on superior execution and high quality service.

Lesson three -- It's tempting to dream of a corner office, a pool table and expensive chairs, but give it some time. Start small and start efficient. Being better is more important than being bigger.

Concentrate on the message

"As a small business, most of our marketing is word-of-mouth. Our clients appreciate the kind of work we do and our reputation for delivering results," said Vidhanshu Bansal, founder of an information-technology company called Pixel Webtech.

Most entrepreneurs said that in the early days, their tendency was to focus on sales activities and as they grew, they started looking at various marketing initiatives, as that is the cement that gels customers, vendors and employees together. Their strategy kept changing, depending on what worked -- direct mailers, e-mail marketing, presentations at seminars, etc.

Lesson four -- Marketing a start-up business is a 24/7 activity and you need to pay attention to the message you're sending out to existing and prospective clients. Your message has to be tailored to meet the customer's expectations.

Keep the team motivated

Do not indulge in fault-finding or blame games. That was a clear message from most entrepreneurs. Pigeonholing a particular member of the team may spread negative vibes within the team and cost you time and quality. Celebrating every small success and appreciating team members will build a sense of camaraderie.

Lesson five -- Be a coach, rather than the star player. Appreciate and acknowledge the positive behaviours of team members so that the behaviours turn into consistent practices.

Make mistakes

"If you ain't a little bit scared, you ain't driving fast enough," said Deepak Wadhwa, another entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs agreed. Give your people the license to fail. It's ok to make a mistake as long as they are succeeding 9 out of 10 times, and making sure that they don't repeat those mistakes in the future.

Lesson six -- The worst mistake is the one that gets repeated. Create a culture of learning and experimentation right at the start of the business. This will become a powerful value with the growth of the business.

Be passionate

Most entrepreneurs accepted that the rewards of being an entrepreneur can be terrific but they were also of the opinion that there is no 'secret sauce.' There are a lot of magazines, self-help books and biographies of successful entrepreneurs that one can read, but at the end of the day, it's about execution. What you really need is to be passionate about your work.

Lesson seven -- If you are doing something and the day flies by, if you are surrounded with people you like to work with, then you have most of the ingredients for entrepreneurial success.

Monday: Interview with venture capitalist Alok Mittal

Sunder Ramachandran, managing partner, WCH Training Solutions, can be reached at sunder@wchsolutions.com

WATER TREATMENT OF BORING WATER FOR IRON & HARDNESS

DESIGN DATA:

Bore Well Water Quality

SL Parameter Unit Value
01 pH 7
02 Turbidity NTU 10
03 Total Alkalinity ppm 60
04 Total Hardness ppm 180
05 Calcium ppm 135.07
06 Magnesium ppm 14.83
07 Total Iron ppm 1.7
08 Chloride ppm 50
09 TDS ppm 295
10 Sulphate ppm 10

Treated Water Quality

SL Parameters Unit Value
01 Service Cycle Hrs 12
02 O.B.R. Cu mtr 900-1000
03 pH 6.8-7
04 Turbidity NTU <1
05 TSS ppm <1
06 Total Hardness ppm <5
07 Total Iron ppm NIL
08 Sulphate ppm 9-10



FLOW CHART:

In--- Online Lime Doser --- Aeration Tank with rotary type air blower --- Pump---Iron Filter ---- Softener—Treated Water Tank

UNITS OF THE SYSTEM PROPOSED:

Sr No Item Specification Qty Amount(Rs.)
1 Online Lime Doser with storage tank 01
2 Aeration tank RCC Tank 01
3 Rotary type air blower aeration grid in aeration tank 01
4 Main Water pump from aeration tank to Iron Filter 1W+1S
5 Pipe and Fittings LOT
6 Iron removal filter 80.00 CuM / Hr 01
7 Water Softener, 1000 CuM / Regn. @ 180 ppm rwh, 80 CuM / Hr 01
8 Treated Water Tank RCC Tank 01 OPTIONAL

NOTE:

The iron removal depends upon dissolved oxygen present in water. Please make sure that the raw water has at least 0.4 ppm dissolved oxygen. Failing which, an aeration system will be added to the Iron removal plant as mentioned in item no 2 & 3 .

So, testing of water sample is the first step.


Thanks & Regards,


Yours Truely,
Envo Projects

(saleem asraf)

9899300371





















TECHNICAL DATA SHEET : Iron Removal Filter


SPECIFICATIONS
- One mild steel welded construction pressure vessel fitted internally, with raw water distribution and filtered water collection system, supporting legs / brackets etc. Necessary manholes and nozzles for inlet, outlet, air release etc. provided on the shell, coated internally with two coats of epoxy paint and externally with two coats of red iron oxide / zinc chromate primer.
- One set of frontal pipe and valves network for operation and control.
- One charge of fresh under bed ( filter media ) topped CATALYST IRON REMOVAL MEDIA

INSTRUMENTATION
- Pressure gauges and sample points at inlet and outlet.

TECHNICAL DATA
Sl.No. Description Data
1. Plant Model : APRO 3000 IRFD
2. Unit diametre mm : 3000
3. Unit H.O.S. mm : 1500
4. Pipe work : MS ERW Black Class ‘B’ all flanged
5. Valves : C.I. Butterfly
6. Size mm NB : 150
7. Filter media : Natural gravel and quartz sand
8. Adsorbent media : CATALYST IRON REMOVAL MEDIA
9. Quantity of adsorbent media Ltrs. : 7000

OPERATIONAL DATA
1. Max. working pressure kgs. / cm2 : 3.5
2. Min. working pressure kgs. / cm2 : 1.0
3. Max. rate of flow m3 / Hr. : 100.0
4. Min. rate of flow m3 / Hr. : 10.0
5. Backwash flow rate m3 / Hr. : 150
6. Backwash period minutes : 15-20
7. Rinse flow rate m3 / Hr. : 50.0
8. Rinse period minutes : 5-10
9. Treated water quality : Dissolved Iron less than 0.1 ppm










TECHNICAL DATA SHEET : DOWNFLOW WATER SOFTENING PLANT


SPECIFICATIONS
- One mild steel welded construction pressure vessel fitted internally with strainer plate at the bottom, raw water and brine distributors at the top and externally with necessary manholes, nozzles for inlet, outlet, air release, resin outlet etc. The vessel coated internally with two coats of anticorrosive epoxy paint and externally with two coats of red iron oxide / zinc chromate primer.

- One open MSRL tank of adequate capacity for brine preparation and measurement. One no. air distributor laid at the bottom for air agitation. The brine tank provided with valves for drain, brine outlet.

- One set of frontal pipe and valves network for operation and control. Pipe work fabricated from MS ERW Black Class ‘B’ pipe and valves to be C.I. diaphragm.

- One set of regeneration assembly comprising of power valve, ejector, brine valve and brine suction line etc. all incorporated into the main pipe work.

- One set of salt saturation system comprising of air blower, air distributor and the interconnecting pipe connection.

- One fresh charge of Ion Exchange Resin ( INDION - 220 Na / Imported Resin ).

- One pressure gauge at inlet and outlet each. One sampling point at outlet.

TECHNICAL DATA
Sl.No. Description Data
1. Plant Model : APRO – 1850 - SDZ
2. Plant Diametre mm : 1850
3. Plant H.O.S. mm : 2600
4. Brine Tank Capacity Ltrs. : 3500
5. Pipework and Valves size mm NB : 150
6. Quantity of Resin Ltrs. : 4000

OPERATIONAL DATA
1 Maximum Treatment Flow m3 / Hr. : 100.00
2 Minimum Treatment Flow m3 / Hr. : 10.00
3 Designed Treatment Flow m3 / Hr. : 80.00
4 Regenerant Required : NaCl - Common Salt
5 Quantity Required per Regeneration : 600 kgs.
6 Treated Water Hardness : Below 5 ppm
7 Net output per Regeneration m3 : 1000 M³ at 180 ppm

(MANAGEMENT) Delegating work? 5 must-avoids you must know

Delegating work? 5 must-avoids you must know

Anil T http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/jan/16delegate.htm

Though people do try to delegate smartly, it often becomes difficult to do so. As usual, this can be analysed down to a simple list of easily avoidable mistakes. These include:

1. Not defining a clear 'follow-up and finish' schedule

"Typically, all I get in the e-mail is an FYA (For Your Action)," says Vaibhav Sankule, who works as an IT Analyst with a leading technology firm.

His case epitomises the prevailing trend to treat a task as an 'out of sight, out of mind' issue. Delegating a task is only the beginning; you need to keep track of it until it is executed.

"To do this well, we need to ask ourselves three simple questions," says Pune-based corporate trainer Asha Chander, who conducts regular sessions on time management.

When and how frequently should I do a status check?
What is the end date for the task?
What are the parameters against which I will assess the work to see if it has been satisfactorily done?
"If you can do this, even in a simple excel sheet, and review it frequently, your tracking will improve dramatically," she adds.

2. Dictating, not delegating

Those used to running the show by themselves often end up micromanaging when they delegate to others. The best way to assess the degree of handholding required is by matching the person with the task. As a general rule the lesser the experience, the more explicit the delegation. It also makes sense to monitor things closely if the situation is changing rapidly.

"We monitor our new employees extensively to ensure they get the process right initially," says Ashwin Mascerenhas, who works with a banking BPO. "However, after about three to four months, we just do a daily review of the tasks and follow up on the pending ones".

3. Delegating to the wrong person

However much we globalise, Indian firms, and Indians in particular, tend to be protocol conscious. More importance is given to who the task is being delegated too rather than what is being delegated.

"That means if you follow the wrong path, your tasks might become low priority, even though they may have a high business impact. Conversely, if you go through the right people, or have the right person forwarding your request, things get done in a jiffy," says Sankule.

"You also need to be careful to delegate to someone who is your equal or junior to you in the hierarchy. If you send it to someone higher, even unknowingly, chances are they will consider it an affront. Even if you are lucky, and that does not happen, it might look like an escalation and not a delegation to your counterpart in another division."

4. Delegating what you can eliminate

As a thumb rule, you should follow the 'eliminate, automate, delegate sequence' for routine tasks.

Even if the task is mundane and boring, it's good to give credit to your team members and encourage them for even small improvements.

"When everyone today is a knowledge worker and well-educated, a person can easily differentiate between a growth opportunity and something that has been dumped on him/ her," says Chander.

5. Playing passing the parcel (sub-delegating and cross-delegating unnecessarily)

The party game Passing The Parcel gives an interesting insight into the practice of delegation. In the game, people sit in a circle and pass a parcel around until the music stops. When it does, the person with the parcel has to perform a punishment -- usually a comic task -- given by the other players. He/ She has to then leave the game. After multiple such rounds of music, the last person who remains wins.

Sometimes, a hot issue in a company is treated in a similar manner. It just gets passed around, until the senior management steps in. In the meanwhile, the matter is needlessly degated from A to B and onwards because nobody wants to be holding this particular 'parcel' when the 'music stops'.

Honestly, in some situations, such a situation is unavoidable. But if you really care about adding value, it helps to stop the unnecessary rounds. Speaking up will result temporary unpopularity but, in the long run, if you are at the right place, it will be much appreciated.

As you move higher and the scope of work you handle grows, delegating will become even more importance. Understanding these don'ts will go a long way in helping you master this skill.

Summing up, Mascerenhas adds, "The corporate hierarchy is like a game of Snakes And Ladders. Except here, instead of rolling the dice, it's the phone number that you dial (to delegate) that makes the difference and decides how you will grow."

(WATER TREATMENT INDIA) New technology to remove arsenic from water developed

http://www.hinduonnet.com/holnus/218200611131220.htm

New technology to remove arsenic from water developed

New Delhi, Nov. 13 (PTI): An inexpensive technique to remove arsenic from drinking water has been developed, a finding that could be of help to millions of people living in India and other developing countries.

It is through nanotechnology -- the manipulation of materials so tiny that they are measured in nanometers or one billionth of a metre -- that the hazardous elements in drinking water could be removed.

This discovery of ultra-small specks of rust or crystals of magnetite by scientists at Rice University Centre for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) in Houston has been described in the journal 'Science' where it has been mentioned that thousands of cases of arsenic poisoning each year are linked to posioned wells.

The researchers said arsenic contamination in drinking water is a global problem and while there are other ways to remove arsenic, they require extensive hardware and high-pressure pumps than run on electricity.

Scientists said their approach involves nanoparticles of iron oxide that can be produced cheaply by heating mixture of rust and vegetable oil.

Iron can bond with arsenic and hence could help remove arsenic from drinking water by simply adding rusty and then removing the bonded partciles with a magnet.

After making crystals of magnetite, they found that when they were smaller than 12 nanometers, 5,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, they were 100 or 1,000 times more effective at removing toxic contaminants like arsenic from water than exisiting filters.

According to Vicki Colvin, the center director and the lead author of the study, magnetic particles this small were thought to only interact with a strong magnetic field.

"Because we had figured out how to make these particles in different sizes, we decided to study how big magnetic field we needed to pull the particles out of suspension. We were surprised to find that even hand-held magnets could move the nanoparticles," he said.

In an effort to find out the risks of the arsenic residue being consumed, scientists also plan to undertake field tests.

(WATER TREATMENT INDIA ) Low-cost remedies to remove arsenic

Low-cost remedies to remove arsenic
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2004060200151100.htm&date=2004/06/02/&prd=bl&

A STAINLESS steel filter device has been found effective in the removal of arsenic from contaminated drinking water and in making it safe for human consumption.

Interestingly, the filter medium itself is a processed waste material from the steel industry. The device is easy to operate and affordable, even for use in households, according to researchers at the Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL), Ambernath, Maharastra.

Six prototypes of the arsenic removal filter have been put through field trials in the arsenic-affected villages of West Bengal for more than six months.

NMRL, a laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has filed for a national patent for the process and an international patent (US) for the product (filter).

The main investment (one-time) in the novel device is around Rs 500 for the stainless steel filter and Rs 150for the plastic parts.

The cost of removing arsenic from the contaminated waters works out to Rs 27-30 per 1,000 litres of water.

The life of the filter is five years and it requires little maintenance — just the normal washing and replacement of active ingredients. It does not require power (electricity or battery) and is easy to operate and maintain.

The wastes generated can be converted into cement bricks that can be used for construction, say the NMRL scientists.

Explaining the use of the device, Dr Narayan Das, Director, and Ms Kshipra Misra, Scientist, NMRL, said the filter works on the principle of co-precipitation and adsorption, which is followed by filtration through treated sand. The medium used in the filter is a processed waste of the steel industry and is easily available.

The device has three containers. The reactant material is placed in the first, and the sand-bag in the second.

The water contaminated with arsenic is allowed to flow into the first container, through the second and through the cloth filters. The water thus filtered is collected in the bottom-most container.

The reactant material and sand are periodically replaced, according to the usage.

There are several waste-water treatment technologies and kits for removal of arsenic available in the market.

Their high cost, problems of waste disposal and effect on the environment have been major limitations to their acceptability, said the scientists from the Marine Biology and Environmental Sciences Division of NMRL.

Interestingly, the device was judged one of the most innovative technologies and, recently, NMRL has successfully transferred the technology to the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA). The technology has been given on a non-exclusive basis, Ms Misra said.

The next phase of the development involves the fabrication of community type filter devices that can be used in hospitals and schools, and to meet the safe drinking water demands of larger communities.

For this, NMRL has entrusted the job to the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT). A one-year project for the development of prototypes has been finalised, Ms Misra said.

An alarming 66 million people in the Indo-Gangetic belt and around 55 million people in neighbouring Bangladesh are exposed to the threat of arsenic poisoning as the water sources are contaminated.

The levels of arsenic found in drinking water range from 50 ppb (parts per billion) to 20 ppm (parts per million) in parts of Bihar, West Bengal and Chattisgarh States, as against 10 ppb stipulated by the WHO.

The problem of arsenic in groundwater is not unique to India. Reports of arsenic poisoning have emerged from China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Vietnam and even the UK, though the levels are far lower.

What happens if people drink arsenic contaminated water for long periods? The known health effects are skin cancer, bronchitis, conjunctivitis and cirrhosis.

NMRL scientists have installed arsenic removal filters in Kamdevkati and Chatra villages of 24 Paraganas District, one of the worst affected in West Bengal, and have run trials in association with `Save the Environment', an NGO and the AIIHPH (All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health) in September 2003.

The arsenic and iron concentration fell well below the WHO/EPA drinking water standards of less than 10 ppb and less than 300 ppb respectively.

The filtered water quality is being monitored by the NMRL team and the AIIHPH.

The Jadhavpur University has done an extensive study of the prevalence of arsenic pollution in groundwater in West Bengal and the State Government has also initiated steps to control this growing menace.

The Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), has also done studies to get to the source of the problem.

Four foreign funding agencies have also joined hands with the environmental engineering cell of Bengal Engineering College to install 85 arsenic-removing units in three districts of West Bengal.

They are: Water For People (a non-governmental organisation based in North America), Rotary Club of Puerto Rico, US-based Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and Das Foundation.

Bengal Engineering College, a deemed university, has installed 10 such units in 24 North Parganas.

The university has an arsenic removal unit, a device that uses activated alumina and is attached to the hand-pumped tubewells.

The alumina absorbs the arsenic and raw iron present in the water. One unit can treat 6,000 litres of water per day.

There is an ongoing Indo-Australian initiative to examine the steps being taken to eliminate arsenic and recommend cost-effective and ecologically sustainable approaches.

The Murdoch University of Australia and the Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Bhubaneshwar are the lead organisations in this project.

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) has extended support of Rs 2.7 crore. The AusAID also supports a major project in Bangladesh, where arsenic pollution is severe.

While in the short term there is an urgent need to provide immediate relief to those suffering from the ill-effects of drinking water contaminated by arsenic, the long-term solution has to be based on an scientific assessment of the reasons, sources and geographical spread of the problem and in choosing technologies that are effective and affordable, suggest the NMRL scientists.

(WATER TREATMENT INDIA) ARSENIC -Nano-solution to a mega-problem

Nano-solution to a mega-problem
http://www.hindu.com/seta/2007/01/11/stories/2007011100081500.htm
BANGLADESH HAS been battling with a silent public health disaster for the past thirty years. The culprits are the deadly arsenic compounds present in the country's tube-well water.

Earlier to the 1970s, health authorities there found an epidemic of gastrointestinal diseases, due to the contamination of surface water from the lakes and rivers by disease-carrying microbes.

Well-intentioned move


In a well-intentioned move, they embarked on a programme, in collaboration with UNICEF and private parties, of digging tube-wells, so as to provide safe drinking water. By the end of 1997, over 80 per cent of its population had access to tube-well water.

Alas, tube-well water is not safe either. It contains arsenic salts at levels far higher than permissible. The problem is not a directly man-made one. Silt from rivers upstream has been, over the centuries, collecting and depositing arsenic in subterranean layers.

A silent killer


Tube-well water arsenic contamination is thus not restricted to Bangladesh alone, but is also seen in Bihar and Eastern UP, but it is Bangladesh that has been hit so calamitously.

Arsenic is a silent killer. It causes skin lesions, affects the stomach, liver, lung, kidney, and blood, disabling them over time. It combines with proteins and enzymes, inactivating them and thus causing slow metabolic disorders.

Past examples


At the extreme, it causes cancers. History is replete with examples of arsenic-induced poisoning and death. Two Popes and even Napoleon Bonaparte are thought to have been murdered through arsenic poisoning. But the scale in Bangladesh is massive, over 40 million of its 130 million are affected. The first case was detected in 1983 by Dr. K. C. Saha of the dermatology department of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine. Since then, thousands of cases have been reported.

Professor Dipankar Chakraborty of Jadavpur University, Kolkata, has written about the problem in detail in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, Nature and other journals.

Some methods have been suggested and used to help clear the body of ingested arsenic and prevent skin lesions. Selenium intake appears to remove some arsenic.

Some have suggested that iron sulphate be used in order to help flush arsenic out of the system. Others have suggested that the amino acid methionine may help in reducing the lesion.

How does one plan to remove the offending arsenic from water? Boiling the water to precipitate the arsenic does not work, since it does not come out of solution, as calcium does from hard water.

Nor does boiling convert arsenic into any harmless form, as happens with water contaminated by microbes. What we are looking for is an efficient, inexpensive method.

Applicable for all


The method should be applicable at all scales, from the individual families to the city water supply agencies. A group of researchers from Rice University at Houston, Texas, U.S. has been working for the last several years on precisely this problem.

They have now come out with a workable solution that appears to satisfy many of the above requirements. And their solution, published in the 10 November 2006 issue of Science, makes use of magnetic nanoparticles of iron oxide.

We humans, with our height and girth in metres, are `metre-particles'.

Tiny ants, fruitflies and lice are `millimetre particles' or `milliparticles', while bacteria, which are a thousand-fold smaller, are `microparticles'. Scaling equally down, we reach molecules and atoms whose sizes are in nanometres or even less.

As we reach this nano-scale, the properties of materials change remarkably. Size matters here; it becomes the determinant of the property. Gold glitters as a nugget, as a millimetre speck, and even as a micron particle. Cut it down to the nano scale; it loses the glitter; even its electrical conductivity changes.

New laws


New laws of physics, of the quantum world, begin to operate here. Chemically it is the same, but in various physical properties, nano-gold is quite different from macro-gold.

Even in the nano-dimension, size matters. A 3 nanometre (nm) particle of cadmium selenide shines green, but emits red when its size increases to a bit more than 5 nm. Take the example of magnets. Magnetite, a composite oxide of iron, is a good magnet.

But its magnetic property changes as we cut chunks of it into smaller and smaller pieces. Below 40 nm in size, its magnetic properties actually become more pronounced, and it becomes what physicists call a superparamagnet.

At the same time, as the particle size reduces, the proportion of surface area it exposes also increases. This allows it to `stick' to material more avidly than in the bulk phase.

What the Rice university researchers have done is to exploit this nano-size behaviour of magnetite. They prepared 16-nm size magnetite particles, stirred up a bit of this material in a beaker-full of arsenic-contaminated water.

Large surface area


Two things happened. Magnetite, being an iron-containing material, has an affinity to bind to arsenic salts, and it did so very avidly, thanks to the large surface area it presents at this nm size.

This removed the dissolved arsenic very efficiently from the water. Secondly, they placed an external magnet under the beaker.

This external magnetic field induced the aggregation or clumping of the magnetite into large chunks, which could be decanted or filtered out, leaving arsenic-free water. What does it mean to Bangladesh, and other areas affected by arsenic-contaminated water?

The use of nano-magnetite and a small magnet helps remove the arsenic quickly and efficiently. Here then appears a method worth trying both at the small scale and at the larger community level. Nano-Davids for Mega-Goliaths!



D. BALASUBRAMANIAN


dbala@lvpei.org

( WATER TREATMENT INDIA) incompetent people

incompetent people ,they blame others for their misery, don’t own up their own responsibility for their present state
They Try to Bring Others Down To Their Level
They Give Up Easily. Incompetent people don't have the persistence to stick to one path.
They Take the Easy Way Out, there is no shortcut to hardwork.

Need for a second Green Revolution

Need for a second Green Revolution
G. K. Nair
India needs a paradigm shift in its agricultural policy

India needs a paradigm shift in its farm policy to overcome the "fatigue in the green revolution due to increasing cost of production, dwindling natural resources and climate."

The Food Agriculture Organisation Director-General, Mr Jacques Diouf, while addressing a meeting of the World Affairs Council of Northern California in San Francisco, recently, said: "In the next few decades, a major international effort is needed to feed the world when the population soars from six to nine billion. We might call it a second Green Revolution." The original Green Revolution of the 1950s/1960s doubled world food production by bringing the power of science to agriculture, but "relied on the lavish use of inputs such as water, fertiliser and pesticides," he said.
In the Indian context, with reports of farmers committing suicides in several States such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, the need for a second green revolution becomes imperative. The predicament in agriculture speaks of serious flaws in the country's farm policies.
Appreciable progress
It is true that the nation has made appreciable progress in this sector during the past over five decades. The foodgrains production has made a quantum leap from 51 million tonnes in 1950 to 108 million tonnes in 1970-71, 172 million tonnes in 1989-90, and crossed 200 million tonne last fiscal. Production of rice, wheat and other coarse grains have improved significantly. But this is not enough to cater to the needs of a population growing briskly. The population growth rate for 2005-06 is projected at 2.3 per cent against the projected overall GDP growth rate of 8.1 per cent. The lacklustre performance of the agricultural sector can be attributed to policy flaws.
Rise in population
Significantly, the population, which was 350 million in 1951, shot up to 850 million in 1991 and to an estimated 1,085 million in 2004. Of the population of 1,025 million in 2001, about 740 million were in agriculture. The total economically active population is only 451 million, of which those active in agriculture is estimated at 267 million.
Much more concentration is needed on improving output and area under coarse cereals. Production of pulses continued to dwindle between 11 million tonnes and 14 millions tonnes for decades. As a result, their per capita consumption, which was 69 gram per day in 1971, fell to 35.9 gram/day in 2004. The sharp decline in the consumption of pulses is a cause of serious concern. India has been importing pulses in large quantities to meet the domestic requirement.
Inequitable distribution of the means of production, especially land, could be one of the major reasons for this predicament.
Hence, the land reforms should result in increased agricultural production, in general, and food output, in particular; rational use of scarce land resources;re-distribution of land to the landless class; preventing the exploitation of tillers; use of improved methods of cultivation, and increased per man acre and per unit input productivity.
Agricultural packages
The agriculture packages, announced regularly, which include fertilisers, seeds, irrigation, water and credit, in practice, are invariably siphoned off by influential landowners. They miss out the most precious input — the farmer. He instead has become the passive recipient of inputs, imposed by the superior technology of extension workers.
Even credit becomes useless as a stimulus to innovation without motivation. A vigorous local self-government would have changed all this in favour of the small farmer, but how could articulation of the masses happen when elected bodies are captured by the rural elite?
Besides, new strategies for irrigation and water management need to be implemented. Since water is a scarce resource, it is necessary that emphasis be shifted on its more efficient use. According to the FAO chief, in many regions, water for irrigation is being pumped out of the ground faster than it can be replenished. In Tamil Nadu , over-pumping has lowered the water level in wells by 25-30 metre in a decade.
Focus on small farmer
Given this scenario, deliberate introduction of agrarian development towards the small farmer, that is, what he and his family can do and want to do with their knowledge and labour, be it in developing new techniques, seed varieties, extension service, distribution of inputs, improved farm practices, is the need of the hour. The aim should be to increase his productivity and income.
The economic capacity of the small farm may be restricted, but economic capacities can be socially determined and the Government must encourage the formation of voluntary multi-purpose cooperatives for joint farming, pooling of inputs, marketing to eliminate the middlemen, and involve the small farmer actively in what he does.
Credit institutions also need to be streamlined to support the extremely small and scattered clientele.
Agricultural prices need to be remunerative and incentive-based to make production reasonably safer for the small farmer who is continually sustaining losses; it is not industry alone that needs incentives to promote a healthy investment climate. And its support prices are remunerative and government procurements are well timed lest farmers' over-dues accumulate.
At the recent Congress Chief Ministers' conclave, Mr N. D. Tewari, Uttaranchal Chief Minister, said that India needs a paradigm shift in its agricultural policy to overcome the "fatigue in the green revolution due to increasing cost of production, dwindling natural resources and climate".


===========================


Pitfalls of the second green revolution
By Devinder Sharma


A wide range of policies—and the second ‘Green Revolution’—that the government is introducing in conjunction with Indian corporate houses, American agribusinesses and food multinationals, will have a catastrophic impact on Indian farmers, on sustainability and on food security. The effects are already evident in states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
Forty years after the first Green Revolution, Indian agriculture is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. Unmindful of the destruction caused by the technology used for the ‘revolution', the impact of which is being felt all over the country – drastically declining yields, soil gasping for breath – India is preparing to introduce a second Green Revolution that will push farmers out of agriculture altogether.
Some years ago, a former vice-president of the World Bank and the then chairman of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Dr Ismail Serageldin, made a presentation at a conference in Chennai. What he revealed did not come as a shock. Quoting a 1995 World Bank study, he said that the number of people migrating from rural areas to urban centres in India by the year 2010 would be twice the combined population of UK, France and Germany—that is, close to 200 million.
In other words, 400 million people are expected to be taking—now and in the near future—the distress migration route, migrating from rural areas in search of menial jobs in the sprawling urban conglomerates. It has been estimated that by 2020, India could have the world's largest number of megacities, with populations of over 10 million each. Seventy per cent of Tamil Nadu, for example, will live in these urban centres.
Numerous national policies are being recast at a frantic pace and are facilitating this distress. The underlying objective is clear in policies related to seed, water, biodiversity, adivasis, the environment, biotechnology, trade, food safety and agriculture, amongst others – make way for the big agro-industries
With the support of a political system cutting across party colours, Indian industry and business are upbeat about the potential of agriculture. A slew of FIICI-sponsored ‘reforms' for raising farm incomes plans to pump large amounts of public money into an industry-driven agriculture, while the farmer survives on the margins. The ‘reforms' are clearly not aimed at resurrecting agriculture but at bringing profits for the owners of the industries.
Policies that encourage contract farming, future trading in agricultural commodities, leasing of land, the formation of land-sharing companies, allotment of homestead-garden plots, direct procurement of farm commodities and the setting up of special purchase centres, will all drive a majority of India's 60 crore farmers out of agriculture.
The process has already begun. The agricultural reforms that are being introduced in the name of increasing food production and minimising the price risks that farmers continue to face are actually destroying the land's capacity to produce and further marginalising farming communities.
Industry-driven agriculture will aggravate the existing agrarian crisis. The new technology that the multinationals, as well as the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), plan to introduce, will keep a majority of farmers outside its ambit. ‘Precision farming' is one such technology that is getting the government's budgetary support. Other ‘reforms', such as removing the bottlenecks in the commodity supply chain by amending the APMC Act and enlarging the scope of future trading are also aimed at helping agribusinesses.
In pursuit of this World Bank model of agriculture, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh invested huge amounts into industry-driven agriculture. This led to an environmental catastrophe and destroyed millions of rural livelihoods. The rate of farmer suicides in both states has been increasing.
Both states have made it smoother for big agri-industry (backed by foreign financial insitutions and international banks) to move into the rural areas. Andhra Pradesh's Vision 2020 document talked of reducing the number of farmers in the state to 40% of the population, but did not have any significant programme to rehabilitate the 30% of the farming population that would be driven off the land.
The Rs 1,000-crore Indo-US Knowledge Initiative in Agricultural Research and Education, launched by American President George Bush in Hyderabad on March 3, is expected to bring Indian agriculture under the direct control of US corporate groups. If the first Green Revolution was facilitated by the introduction of the land grant system of agricultural research and education, the second Green Revolution is being tailored to the needs of American corporate interests.
In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bush signed a farm technology agreement. Addressing a joint session of the US Congress, the PM said, “The Green Revolution lifted countless millions above poverty.... I am very happy to say that US President George Bush and I have decided to launch a second generation of India-US collaboration in agriculture."
The agreement was prepared without transparency and its details have been kept confidential. Two multinational giants—supermarket leader Wal-Mart and the seed multinational Monsanto—are part of this Indo-US initiative. The two multinationals have already said they are not interested in research and development but in the increased trading opportunities that India offers.
One implicit objective of such agreements is a transfer of the unwanted and risk-laden technology of genetic engineering of plant and animal species. The US sees India as an easy dumping ground and has used the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to ask India why it is curtailing the import of genetically modified food. The process is being put in place without first ascertaining the reasons for the terrible agrarian crisis, which in part is due to the imposition of an alien and damaging technology.
This ‘knowledge initiative’ is, however, a boost for the cash-starved ICAR, the umbrella organisation for agricultural research and education in India. It will give plant scientists an opportunity to justify the huge public sector investment in the monolithic and gasping research insitution. The ICAR has clearly shifted its goalpost – from subsistence to commercial farming.
Even in America, the entry of retail chains in the agricultural sector has transferred the profits to a clutch of middlemen—retailers, processors, certification agencies, quality controllers and others. Farmers earn only 4% from whatever they sell. In 1990, farmers could earn as much as 70% from their sales. In Canada, the National Farmers Union has shown in a study how the combined profits of 70 retail and agribusiness firms have multiplied while the farmers’ losess have mounted. The same model is now being shifted to India.
Nowhere in the world has big agribusines worked in real cooperation with farmers. In North America and Europe, agribusiness companies have pushed farmers out of agriculture. Only 900,000 farming families are left on the farms in the US. In 15 countries of the European Union, the number of farmers has dwindled to less than 7 million. The underlying message is crystal clear: farmers should get out of agriculture. A similar process will lead to a catastrophe in India, worsening food insecurity and multiplying hunger.
As part of the process, the Economic Survey 2005-06 categorically talks of dismantling the minimum support price (MSP) and the procurement-based food subsidy system in India. This will enable the food retailers to directly purchase from farmers. In other words, Indian farmers will have to face not only the vagaries of the monsoon but also of the market. The Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister has prepared a report that calls for a shift in price policy – leaving the farmers at the mercy of the market forces.
In a country where land holdings are meagre, the big challenge lies in making agriculture more sustainable for the small and marginal farmers. In the former Green Revolution areas of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, parts of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, agriculture faces a severe crisis of sustainability. Punjab and Haryana are fast heading towards desertification – a process that renders the land unable to sustain the production levels achieved during the ‘revolution’.
The answer does not lie in allowing private corporations to take over through contract farming. Private businesses enter agriculture with the specific objective of garnering more profits from the same piece of land. Contract farming has already done irreparable damage to agriculture in countries like the Philippines, Zimbabwe, Argentina and Mexico.
The private corporations, as experiences in other countries show, bank on intensified farming practices, drain the soil of nutrients, suck groundwater in a few years and leave the once-fertile lands almost barren after four or five years. They are then likely to hand back the barren and unproductive land to the farmers who leased it to them and move to another fertile piece of land.
This is already happening in many parts of India. Contract farming accentuates the crisis of sustainability by destroying whatever remains of the land’s production capacity. The monoculture methods of contract corporate farming destroy biodiversity in the region, which further affects long-term sustainability. Contract farming is the modern version of ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.
It took decades to realise that the technology promoted by the USAID and unthinkingly followed by national agricultural research systems in developing countries, was disastrous. This realisation came about after the technology had already inflicted irreparable damage on human health and the environment. It would be dangerous to believe that the second Green Revolution promoted by the United States, that is being allowed through open doors into India by the government, will not leave behind still more damaging consequences.
We must ask several pertinent questions—how will the second Green Revolution aggravate the existing agrarian crisis? Will it push farmers out of agriculture and allow agribusinesses to take possession of the farm land and then destroy its production capacity? Will it not disable and drive out farmers and create an enabling environment only for agro-industries? With what untold consequences will the vital power to produce food be shifted into the profiteering hands of multinational food giants?
(Devinder Sharma is a Delhi-based agricultural scientist, researcher and policy analyst who specialises in issues related to global food and agriculture. He was invited to address six Parliaments in Europe in 2004-05.) Devinder Sharma can be emailed at: dsharma@ndf.vsnl.net.in)



Society And Suicide


By Amit Chamaria
22 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Certainly, a significant attention specially the PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh's attention towards Vidarbha district of Maharashtra is a welcome sign but of the consequences of unpleasant incidents. Obviously, not only the farmers of Maharashtra but the farmers of all states of India are under distress. But the problem of farmer suicides in Maharashtra has acquired the greater length. The number of suicides particularly, in Maharashtra has risen from1083 in 1995 to 4,147 in 2004.However recent announcement of relief package worth of rupees 3750 corers by the Prime Minister to solving the egregious condition of farmers has compelled to do a comprehensive debate by raising the question that-"Is this relief package a satisfactory solution of the problem of farmer suicide?"
Now, it is essential to understand the social analysis of suicide as a social problem. In this situation the significant work of Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist can't be forgotten. As per Durkheim's view simply, 'suicide' means 'self destruction'. But it reveals something lots. At least after the serial suicidal death of Vidarbha's farmers, it didn't remain confine to merely 'self destruction'-the simple means of suicide. If we go by Durkheim, suicide is a social fact and not simply an individual act but a product of social forces external to the individual. In fact, He rejects the various extra social factors such as heredity, climate, mental alienation, racial characteristics and imitation as the cause of suicide. Even 'Poverty' - the most general cause of suicide, as presented by media and politicians behind the every case of suicide, has been utterly rebutted by him. He, for simple understanding, argues that the greater the integration of individuals within the social group the less likely they are to commit suicide.
Apparently, one thing must be raised in our mind that why Durkheim negates poverty as one of the causes of suicide. If we believe at least some amount on a survey report conducted by the agency of the Govt. of India that reveals most developed states have more suicide rate as compared to the most backward states. In 2001, Maharashtra (14618), Karnataka (11881), Tamil Nadu (11290), Andhra Pradesh (10522) have highest suicide rates respectively. On the other hand all tribal dominated states like Arunachal Pradesh (111), Manipur (41), Mizorum (54), Sikkim (94), and the most backward states like Bihar (603) and Jharkand (250) have very less suicide rate. The place Kalahandi in Orissa at one time was the center of attention in media only because of serial deaths of persons and children due to hungry and malnutrition respectively. But it is quiet surprising that no suicide case was reported from Kalahandi at that time.

In addition to this, as per the ' Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers' conducted by National Sample Survey Organisation in 2003, the average monthly income (excluding rent, interest, dividend etc.) from all sources per farmer household ranged from Rs.1, 062.00 in the state of Orissa to Rs. 5,488.00 in the state of Jammu and Kashmir during the agriculture year of 2002 -03 and the all India average are Rs.2, 115.00.

To compare the average monthly income of per farmer household in Maharashtra (Rs.2, 463.00) and Gujarat (Rs.2, 684.00) from backward states like Bihar (Rs.1, 810.00), Orissa (1,062), Rajasthan (Rs. 1,498) and Madhya Pradesh (1,430.00), it can be easily revealed that lower monthly income is not a causative factor of suicide. By analyzing these statements it can be said that Durkheim is very close to the truth.
Then, what are the causes of farmer suicides?
According to him, this kind of suicide falls within the purview of 'Anomic Suicide' - one of the classifications of suicide. In fact, anomic suicide results from normlessness or deregulation in society. Although this kind of suicide occurs during industrial and financial crises, it is not because they cause poverty, since crises of prosperity have the same result but because they are crises of the collective order. If poverty and starvation are really the adequate causes of suicide then the suicide rate in all backward and northeastern states should have been high but it is not. Further he says that poverty protects against suicide because it is a restraint itself. The less one has the less he is tempted to extend the range of his needs. Sociologically, the incident of farmer suicides in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra due to indebtedness is actually the result of the combined effect of 'Relative deprivation' and 'Sudden crises', which came in the category of anomic suicide. Significantly, the feelings of relative deprivation are the outcome of the first green revolution and these feelings has been augmented by the present market policy of Globalization. And it is one of the major drawbacks of the first green revolution. One thing that is essentially noticeable that mainly middle class peasants have committed suicide in that the effect of relative deprivation has fallen greater on them. The big achievement of the first green revolution was the enhancement of crops only by quantitatively not qualitatively.
Now, what should be the solutions of this menace? There are certain measures that should be adopted while formulating the new agriculture policy. Firstly, it is essential to provide better irrigation system and adequate rural infrastructure. So for better farming, farmers should be self-dependent and it can be achieved by maximizing the expenditure on irrigation and other basic facilities. Ironically, India has yet only one rural management institute IRMA after the 57 years of independence though major part of GDP depends on agriculture. Secondly, the causes should be found out that compel the farmers to taking debt either from moneylender or private and govt. banks. Essentially, farmers take debt mainly for boring well and for purchasing seeds and fertilizers.
So govt. should provide adequate irrigation system without disturbing the ecological cycle and a training camp must be organized in various places to provide the knowledge of rain harvesting system. And a comprehensive seed policy should be formulated but not under the pressure of WTO so that farmers could easily get seeds from their own product. The role of moneylender should be the least and in this place co-operative bank come should forward. One thing that is the most vital solution to the distress of farmers is to provide a better market without the intervention of mediators. A policy-"farmer's approach to market directly" should be adopted. But market should not be under the control of MNCs and some big business elites. The concept of market must be based on co-operative principle. Apparently the cotton cultivators committed suicide due to lack of proper market. Undoubtedly agriculture is the biggest source of employment generation. But the employment in agriculture is reducing gradually in accompanying with green revolution and increase in agricultural technology. Significantly the rate of development of employment in agriculture sector has reduced to 0.18 in 1994 from 2.17 in 1988, according to national sample survey report. The people are leaving off the practice of cultivation day by day. The situation of our agriculture will be improved only and only when people come forward for farming with their own pleasure but not as perfunctory. If the second green revolution would be the offshoot of the first green revolution then there is no need of second green revolution because we all have seen the aftermaths of first green revolution. Now it is time to frame a comprehensive policy for the development of sustainable agriculture with considering the every pros and cons in Indian perspective. A policy should be for "Aam Kisan" in that they are the real cultivators.
Amit Chamaria is a freelance journalist.He has done PG in Sociology From PU.
Address:
Amit Chamaria
C-251, Sector-19
Rohini; Delhi-85
Ph: - 9868457198

Need for a second Green Revolution

Need for a second Green Revolution

G. K. Nair

India needs a paradigm shift in its agricultural policy

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India needs a paradigm shift in its farm policy to overcome the "fatigue in the green revolution due to increasing cost of production, dwindling natural resources and climate."

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The Food Agriculture Organisation Director-General, Mr Jacques Diouf, while addressing a meeting of the World Affairs Council of Northern California in San Francisco, recently, said: "In the next few decades, a major international effort is needed to feed the world when the population soars from six to nine billion. We might call it a second Green Revolution." The original Green Revolution of the 1950s/1960s doubled world food production by bringing the power of science to agriculture, but "relied on the lavish use of inputs such as water, fertiliser and pesticides," he said.

In the Indian context, with reports of farmers committing suicides in several States such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, the need for a second green revolution becomes imperative. The predicament in agriculture speaks of serious flaws in the country's farm policies.

Appreciable progress

It is true that the nation has made appreciable progress in this sector during the past over five decades. The foodgrains production has made a quantum leap from 51 million tonnes in 1950 to 108 million tonnes in 1970-71, 172 million tonnes in 1989-90, and crossed 200 million tonne last fiscal. Production of rice, wheat and other coarse grains have improved significantly. But this is not enough to cater to the needs of a population growing briskly. The population growth rate for 2005-06 is projected at 2.3 per cent against the projected overall GDP growth rate of 8.1 per cent. The lacklustre performance of the agricultural sector can be attributed to policy flaws.

Rise in population

Significantly, the population, which was 350 million in 1951, shot up to 850 million in 1991 and to an estimated 1,085 million in 2004. Of the population of 1,025 million in 2001, about 740 million were in agriculture. The total economically active population is only 451 million, of which those active in agriculture is estimated at 267 million.

Much more concentration is needed on improving output and area under coarse cereals. Production of pulses continued to dwindle between 11 million tonnes and 14 millions tonnes for decades. As a result, their per capita consumption, which was 69 gram per day in 1971, fell to 35.9 gram/day in 2004. The sharp decline in the consumption of pulses is a cause of serious concern. India has been importing pulses in large quantities to meet the domestic requirement.

Inequitable distribution of the means of production, especially land, could be one of the major reasons for this predicament.

Hence, the land reforms should result in increased agricultural production, in general, and food output, in particular; rational use of scarce land resources;re-distribution of land to the landless class; preventing the exploitation of tillers; use of improved methods of cultivation, and increased per man acre and per unit input productivity.

Agricultural packages

The agriculture packages, announced regularly, which include fertilisers, seeds, irrigation, water and credit, in practice, are invariably siphoned off by influential landowners. They miss out the most precious input — the farmer. He instead has become the passive recipient of inputs, imposed by the superior technology of extension workers.

Even credit becomes useless as a stimulus to innovation without motivation. A vigorous local self-government would have changed all this in favour of the small farmer, but how could articulation of the masses happen when elected bodies are captured by the rural elite?

Besides, new strategies for irrigation and water management need to be implemented. Since water is a scarce resource, it is necessary that emphasis be shifted on its more efficient use. According to the FAO chief, in many regions, water for irrigation is being pumped out of the ground faster than it can be replenished. In Tamil Nadu , over-pumping has lowered the water level in wells by 25-30 metre in a decade.

Focus on small farmer

Given this scenario, deliberate introduction of agrarian development towards the small farmer, that is, what he and his family can do and want to do with their knowledge and labour, be it in developing new techniques, seed varieties, extension service, distribution of inputs, improved farm practices, is the need of the hour. The aim should be to increase his productivity and income.

The economic capacity of the small farm may be restricted, but economic capacities can be socially determined and the Government must encourage the formation of voluntary multi-purpose cooperatives for joint farming, pooling of inputs, marketing to eliminate the middlemen, and involve the small farmer actively in what he does.

Credit institutions also need to be streamlined to support the extremely small and scattered clientele.

Agricultural prices need to be remunerative and incentive-based to make production reasonably safer for the small farmer who is continually sustaining losses; it is not industry alone that needs incentives to promote a healthy investment climate. And its support prices are remunerative and government procurements are well timed lest farmers' over-dues accumulate.

At the recent Congress Chief Ministers' conclave, Mr N. D. Tewari, Uttaranchal Chief Minister, said that India needs a paradigm shift in its agricultural policy to overcome the "fatigue in the green revolution due to increasing cost of production, dwindling natural resources and climate".

 

===========================

 

Pitfalls of the second green revolution By Devinder Sharma

A wide range of policies—and the second 'Green Revolution'—that the government is introducing in conjunction with Indian corporate houses, American agribusinesses and food multinationals, will have a catastrophic impact on Indian farmers, on sustainability and on food security. The effects are already evident in states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

Forty years after the first Green Revolution, Indian agriculture is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. Unmindful of the destruction caused by the technology used for the 'revolution', the impact of which is being felt all over the country – drastically declining yields, soil gasping for breath – India is preparing to introduce a second Green Revolution that will push farmers out of agriculture altogether.

Some years ago, a former vice-president of the World Bank and the then chairman of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Dr Ismail Serageldin, made a presentation at a conference in Chennai. What he revealed did not come as a shock. Quoting a 1995 World Bank study, he said that the number of people migrating from rural areas to urban centres in India by the year 2010 would be twice the combined population of UK, France and Germany—that is, close to 200 million.

In other words, 400 million people are expected to be taking—now and in the near future—the distress migration route, migrating from rural areas in search of menial jobs in the sprawling urban conglomerates. It has been estimated that by 2020, India could have the world's largest number of megacities, with populations of over 10 million each. Seventy per cent of Tamil Nadu, for example, will live in these urban centres.

Numerous national policies are being recast at a frantic pace and are facilitating this distress. The underlying objective is clear in policies related to seed, water, biodiversity, adivasis, the environment, biotechnology, trade, food safety and agriculture, amongst others – make way for the big agro-industries

With the support of a political system cutting across party colours, Indian industry and business are upbeat about the potential of agriculture. A slew of FIICI-sponsored 'reforms' for raising farm incomes plans to pump large amounts of public money into an industry-driven agriculture, while the farmer survives on the margins. The 'reforms' are clearly not aimed at resurrecting agriculture but at bringing profits for the owners of the industries.

Policies that encourage contract farming, future trading in agricultural commodities, leasing of land, the formation of land-sharing companies, allotment of homestead-garden plots, direct procurement of farm commodities and the setting up of special purchase centres, will all drive a majority of India's 60 crore farmers out of agriculture.

The process has already begun. The agricultural reforms that are being introduced in the name of increasing food production and minimising the price risks that farmers continue to face are actually destroying the land's capacity to produce and further marginalising farming communities.

Industry-driven agriculture will aggravate the existing agrarian crisis. The new technology that the multinationals, as well as the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), plan to introduce, will keep a majority of farmers outside its ambit. 'Precision farming' is one such technology that is getting the government's budgetary support. Other 'reforms', such as removing the bottlenecks in the commodity supply chain by amending the APMC Act and enlarging the scope of future trading are also aimed at helping agribusinesses.

In pursuit of this World Bank model of agriculture, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh invested huge amounts into industry-driven agriculture. This led to an environmental catastrophe and destroyed millions of rural livelihoods. The rate of farmer suicides in both states has been increasing.

Both states have made it smoother for big agri-industry (backed by foreign financial insitutions and international banks) to move into the rural areas. Andhra Pradesh's Vision 2020 document talked of reducing the number of farmers in the state to 40% of the population, but did not have any significant programme to rehabilitate the 30% of the farming population that would be driven off the land.

The Rs 1,000-crore Indo-US Knowledge Initiative in Agricultural Research and Education, launched by American President George Bush in Hyderabad on March 3, is expected to bring Indian agriculture under the direct control of US corporate groups. If the first Green Revolution was facilitated by the introduction of the land grant system of agricultural research and education, the second Green Revolution is being tailored to the needs of American corporate interests.

In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bush signed a farm technology agreement. Addressing a joint session of the US Congress, the PM said, "The Green Revolution lifted countless millions above poverty.... I am very happy to say that US President George Bush and I have decided to launch a second generation of India-US collaboration in agriculture."

The agreement was prepared without transparency and its details have been kept confidential. Two multinational giants—supermarket leader Wal-Mart and the seed multinational Monsanto—are part of this Indo-US initiative. The two multinationals have already said they are not interested in research and development but in the increased trading opportunities that India offers.

One implicit objective of such agreements is a transfer of the unwanted and risk-laden technology of genetic engineering of plant and animal species. The US sees India as an easy dumping ground and has used the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to ask India why it is curtailing the import of genetically modified food. The process is being put in place without first ascertaining the reasons for the terrible agrarian crisis, which in part is due to the imposition of an alien and damaging technology.

This 'knowledge initiative' is, however, a boost for the cash-starved ICAR, the umbrella organisation for agricultural research and education in India. It will give plant scientists an opportunity to justify the huge public sector investment in the monolithic and gasping research insitution. The ICAR has clearly shifted its goalpost – from subsistence to commercial farming.

Even in America, the entry of retail chains in the agricultural sector has transferred the profits to a clutch of middlemen—retailers, processors, certification agencies, quality controllers and others. Farmers earn only 4% from whatever they sell. In 1990, farmers could earn as much as 70% from their sales. In Canada, the National Farmers Union has shown in a study how the combined profits of 70 retail and agribusiness firms have multiplied while the farmers' losess have mounted. The same model is now being shifted to India.

Nowhere in the world has big agribusines worked in real cooperation with farmers. In North America and Europe, agribusiness companies have pushed farmers out of agriculture. Only 900,000 farming families are left on the farms in the US. In 15 countries of the European Union, the number of farmers has dwindled to less than 7 million. The underlying message is crystal clear: farmers should get out of agriculture. A similar process will lead to a catastrophe in India, worsening food insecurity and multiplying hunger.

As part of the process, the Economic Survey 2005-06 categorically talks of dismantling the minimum support price (MSP) and the procurement-based food subsidy system in India. This will enable the food retailers to directly purchase from farmers. In other words, Indian farmers will have to face not only the vagaries of the monsoon but also of the market. The Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister has prepared a report that calls for a shift in price policy – leaving the farmers at the mercy of the market forces.

In a country where land holdings are meagre, the big challenge lies in making agriculture more sustainable for the small and marginal farmers. In the former Green Revolution areas of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, parts of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, agriculture faces a severe crisis of sustainability. Punjab and Haryana are fast heading towards desertification – a process that renders the land unable to sustain the production levels achieved during the 'revolution'.

The answer does not lie in allowing private corporations to take over through contract farming. Private businesses enter agriculture with the specific objective of garnering more profits from the same piece of land. Contract farming has already done irreparable damage to agriculture in countries like the Philippines, Zimbabwe, Argentina and Mexico.

The private corporations, as experiences in other countries show, bank on intensified farming practices, drain the soil of nutrients, suck groundwater in a few years and leave the once-fertile lands almost barren after four or five years. They are then likely to hand back the barren and unproductive land to the farmers who leased it to them and move to another fertile piece of land.

This is already happening in many parts of India. Contract farming accentuates the crisis of sustainability by destroying whatever remains of the land's production capacity. The monoculture methods of contract corporate farming destroy biodiversity in the region, which further affects long-term sustainability. Contract farming is the modern version of 'slash and burn' agriculture.

It took decades to realise that the technology promoted by the USAID and unthinkingly followed by national agricultural research systems in developing countries, was disastrous. This realisation came about after the technology had already inflicted irreparable damage on human health and the environment. It would be dangerous to believe that the second Green Revolution promoted by the United States, that is being allowed through open doors into India by the government, will not leave behind still more damaging consequences.

We must ask several pertinent questions—how will the second Green Revolution aggravate the existing agrarian crisis? Will it push farmers out of agriculture and allow agribusinesses to take possession of the farm land and then destroy its production capacity? Will it not disable and drive out farmers and create an enabling environment only for agro-industries? With what untold consequences will the vital power to produce food be shifted into the profiteering hands of multinational food giants?

(Devinder Sharma is a Delhi-based agricultural scientist, researcher and policy analyst who specialises in issues related to global food and agriculture. He was invited to address six Parliaments in Europe in 2004-05.) Devinder Sharma can be emailed at: dsharma@ndf.vsnl.net.in)

 

 

Society And Suicide


By Amit Chamaria

22 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org

Certainly, a significant attention specially the PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh's attention towards Vidarbha district of Maharashtra is a welcome sign but of the consequences of unpleasant incidents. Obviously, not only the farmers of Maharashtra but the farmers of all states of India are under distress. But the problem of farmer suicides in Maharashtra has acquired the greater length. The number of suicides particularly, in Maharashtra has risen from1083 in 1995 to 4,147 in 2004.However recent announcement of relief package worth of rupees 3750 corers by the Prime Minister to solving the egregious condition of farmers has compelled to do a comprehensive debate by raising the question that-"Is this relief package a satisfactory solution of the problem of farmer suicide?"

Now, it is essential to understand the social analysis of suicide as a social problem. In this situation the significant work of Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist can't be forgotten. As per Durkheim's view simply, 'suicide' means 'self destruction'. But it reveals something lots. At least after the serial suicidal death of Vidarbha's farmers, it didn't remain confine to merely 'self destruction'-the simple means of suicide. If we go by Durkheim, suicide is a social fact and not simply an individual act but a product of social forces external to the individual. In fact, He rejects the various extra social factors such as heredity, climate, mental alienation, racial characteristics and imitation as the cause of suicide. Even 'Poverty' - the most general cause of suicide, as presented by media and politicians behind the every case of suicide, has been utterly rebutted by him. He, for simple understanding, argues that the greater the integration of individuals within the social group the less likely they are to commit suicide.

Apparently, one thing must be raised in our mind that why Durkheim negates poverty as one of the causes of suicide. If we believe at least some amount on a survey report conducted by the agency of the Govt. of India that reveals most developed states have more suicide rate as compared to the most backward states. In 2001, Maharashtra (14618), Karnataka (11881), Tamil Nadu (11290), Andhra Pradesh (10522) have highest suicide rates respectively. On the other hand all tribal dominated states like Arunachal Pradesh (111), Manipur (41), Mizorum (54), Sikkim (94), and the most backward states like Bihar (603) and Jharkand (250) have very less suicide rate. The place Kalahandi in Orissa at one time was the center of attention in media only because of serial deaths of persons and children due to hungry and malnutrition respectively. But it is quiet surprising that no suicide case was reported from Kalahandi at that time.

In addition to this, as per the ' Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers' conducted by National Sample Survey Organisation in 2003, the average monthly income (excluding rent, interest, dividend etc.) from all sources per farmer household ranged from Rs.1, 062.00 in the state of Orissa to Rs. 5,488.00 in the state of Jammu and Kashmir during the agriculture year of 2002 -03 and the all India average are Rs.2, 115.00.

To compare the average monthly income of per farmer household in Maharashtra (Rs.2, 463.00) and Gujarat (Rs.2, 684.00) from backward states like Bihar (Rs.1, 810.00), Orissa (1,062), Rajasthan (Rs. 1,498) and Madhya Pradesh (1,430.00), it can be easily revealed that lower monthly income is not a causative factor of suicide. By analyzing these statements it can be said that Durkheim is very close to the truth.

Then, what are the causes of farmer suicides?

According to him, this kind of suicide falls within the purview of 'Anomic Suicide' - one of the classifications of suicide. In fact, anomic suicide results from normlessness or deregulation in society. Although this kind of suicide occurs during industrial and financial crises, it is not because they cause poverty, since crises of prosperity have the same result but because they are crises of the collective order. If poverty and starvation are really the adequate causes of suicide then the suicide rate in all backward and northeastern states should have been high but it is not. Further he says that poverty protects against suicide because it is a restraint itself. The less one has the less he is tempted to extend the range of his needs. Sociologically, the incident of farmer suicides in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra due to indebtedness is actually the result of the combined effect of 'Relative deprivation' and 'Sudden crises', which came in the category of anomic suicide. Significantly, the feelings of relative deprivation are the outcome of the first green revolution and these feelings has been augmented by the present market policy of Globalization. And it is one of the major drawbacks of the first green revolution. One thing that is essentially noticeable that mainly middle class peasants have committed suicide in that the effect of relative deprivation has fallen greater on them. The big achievement of the first green revolution was the enhancement of crops only by quantitatively not qualitatively.

Now, what should be the solutions of this menace? There are certain measures that should be adopted while formulating the new agriculture policy. Firstly, it is essential to provide better irrigation system and adequate rural infrastructure. So for better farming, farmers should be self-dependent and it can be achieved by maximizing the expenditure on irrigation and other basic facilities. Ironically, India has yet only one rural management institute IRMA after the 57 years of independence though major part of GDP depends on agriculture. Secondly, the causes should be found out that compel the farmers to taking debt either from moneylender or private and govt. banks. Essentially, farmers take debt mainly for boring well and for purchasing seeds and fertilizers.

So govt. should provide adequate irrigation system without disturbing the ecological cycle and a training camp must be organized in various places to provide the knowledge of rain harvesting system. And a comprehensive seed policy should be formulated but not under the pressure of WTO so that farmers could easily get seeds from their own product. The role of moneylender should be the least and in this place co-operative bank come should forward. One thing that is the most vital solution to the distress of farmers is to provide a better market without the intervention of mediators. A policy-"farmer's approach to market directly" should be adopted. But market should not be under the control of MNCs and some big business elites. The concept of market must be based on co-operative principle. Apparently the cotton cultivators committed suicide due to lack of proper market. Undoubtedly agriculture is the biggest source of employment generation. But the employment in agriculture is reducing gradually in accompanying with green revolution and increase in agricultural technology. Significantly the rate of development of employment in agriculture sector has reduced to 0.18 in 1994 from 2.17 in 1988, according to national sample survey report. The people are leaving off the practice of cultivation day by day. The situation of our agriculture will be improved only and only when people come forward for farming with their own pleasure but not as perfunctory. If the second green revolution would be the offshoot of the first green revolution then there is no need of second green revolution because we all have seen the aftermaths of first green revolution. Now it is time to frame a comprehensive policy for the development of sustainable agriculture with considering the every pros and cons in Indian perspective. A policy should be for "Aam Kisan" in that they are the real cultivators.

Amit Chamaria is a freelance journalist.He has done PG in Sociology >From PU.
Address:
Amit Chamaria
C-251, Sector-19
Rohini; Delhi-85
Ph: - 9868457198

Make teamwork 'work' for you

Make teamwork 'work' for you

Abhishek Kumar

why Japanese companies were outperforming their counterparts in the West. The studies, while identifying numerous socioeconomic and geopolitical factors, identified two intangible traits which gave an edge to the Japanese -- Quality and Teamwork.

Let us try and understand some basic attitudes that would help you become a more effective team member:

What's bigger -- your ego or the team goal?

It seems like an easy call, but many people find it amazingly tough. Teamwork, more than anything else, is a mindset. And it is extremely difficult for us to change our focus from ourselves as individuals to what the team is trying to do.

Most of the time, we are so focused on our own experience and feelings that we tend to ignore what the team is trying to do. If you can shift the limelight from yourself to the task at hand, your contribution and value in the team would increase tremendously. Ironically, when you shift your focus to the team's goal, your ego's needs are almost always automatically met.

The best way to get something...

As a team member, what do you want?

Do you want recognition? Give recognition.

Do you want help? Give help.

Depending upon your world view, you might have an opinion about how 'realistic' this insight really is. Here is a suggestion though, try it. When you 'fight' for recognition or trust or resources, you reaffirm to yourself that there isn't enough of it to go around, leading to a deficient experience.

When you give what you want freely, you tell yourself there is enough of it and manifest that in your team as well.

Your team members really want...

In an organisational context, team members usually have two needs. The first is a need for motivation. The second is the need for competence. Any team member would contribute their best if they want to contribute (motivation) and if they can contribute (competence).

For example: in a game of cricket, I will perform best if I can play the game well (competence) and if I am motivated to perform (motivation). A good team member would identify my immediate need and try to fulfill it. When you interact with other team members, identify what their main need is and try to fulfill it.

If they need competence, coach them, teach them and guide them. If they need motivation, talk to them, listen to them, empathise with them and understand them. If you give a co-worker what they need, when they need it, you will build yourself a fan following.

Be comfortable with yourself

What does this have to do with teamwork? Everything. Can you imagine yourself implementing the insights mentioned above without confidence or self-awareness?

All of us instinctively dislike pretentious people. This is because we know they are trying to be somebody else. The strong message that sends to us is that they don't really like who they actually are. We tend to pretend or try and be somebody else because we are scared, we want acceptance and we want to be liked. Unfortunately, pretending never works in the long run and it usually doesn't work in the short run either.

The millions of verbal and non-verbal signals that you send will reveal the truth anyway, irrespective of what you project. The only alternative is to really like yourself and be okay with who you are. People who win approval and acceptance are ironically, people who do not care much for it.

If you try to adopt the mindsets described in the article you will enhance the effectiveness of your role as a team-member. You will also become a valued resource and feel more comfortable in team settings.

Abhishek Kumar is a corporate trainer.

10 important parenting resolutions

10 important parenting resolutions-----Kanchan Maslekar


http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2006/dec/26pres.htm

Set an example

Most of us do not realise the degree of influence we have over our children. This is why we should walk the talk when it comes to them. Have a healthy diet, don't jump traffic signals, don't smoke, don't eat in front of the television... If you do, you will most likely pass on these bad habits to your children.

Some of the other things you might want to add to the list include learning to control your temper, not making any racist/ sexist remarks, showing sensitivity towards people working for you and teaching kids how to share.

Resolve to teach them compassion and gratitude, which are as important as good marks, if not more, by practising it yourself.

Effective discipline

There should be no compromise in effectively disciplining your child. However, don't forget discipline and punishment are not the same thing. It's most likely that, if you hit your child, your child will hit someone else.

Most importantly, when your child gets in trouble, stay calm. Avoid physical punishment. Use the 'Time Out' technique and talk to her about her behaviour. Teach your child what is 'done' and what is 'not done', from an early age.

Bring nutrition to the table

Remove/ reduce junk food in the house and concentrate on healthy meals for the entire family. Bring nutrition to the table and involve your child in your resolutions by talking about them.

Says Meenaxi Dasgupta (33), homemaker and mother to Aniket (10) and Saurabh (5), "Though we concentrate on healthy diet, junk food has slowly started creeping in to our meals. Hence, we have resolved to limit junk food to Sundays, provided the boys finish all their veggies during the week."

Provide healthy choices, including fruits, vegetables. Add variations and innovations in dishes like adding sprouts to pav bhaji, replacing pav with brown bread or using wheat pizza base instead of the regular pizza base.

Regular physical activity

Make fitness a family affair. The increasing rate of obesity among children is scary. Start regular physical activity early. Encourage older children to have at least one hour of outdoor physical activity everyday.

Limit television time and video and computer games. Instead, join your child in some evening activity like cycling, walking, jogging, swimming or simply playing ball.

Communicate and be fair

Start when your child is a baby and talk to her. Your child must be sure you are willing to listen to her and that you will be fair. Whenever your child throws a tantrum, is happy, sad or angry, encourage her to talk about it.

How many times have we yelled at our child and then realised we are just passing on our frustration?. Resolve that you will be fair to your little one. If you've had a bad day in office or don't approve of your in-laws' or spouse's behaviour, don't let it affect your attitude towards your child.

Teach your child something new

Resolve to teach your child a new skill this year. It could include making paper designs, a sport, dance, singing, etc -- anything she loves.

The best way to start any activity is to give your child a choice at the outset. Once she has made her choice, encourage her to stick with it. It is most likely that she may want to drop out after a few sessions. Encourage her to continue. Teach her to be responsible for the decisions she makes.

Read to her

Make it a point to read at least one story to your child. Apart from adding to the child's vocabulary and language skills, it is also a great bonding exercise. You will spend some real quality time with your child before she retires for the day. Reading to your child is relaxing for her and for you -- try it!

Make her independent

Give her small tasks and ask her to help you around the house. This will not only keep her involved but also teach her to be independent.

Asking your child to help you does not mean you love her less. A parent who does not teach his child to perform small tasks, like keeping the shoes in the shoe rack, or the toys and books, in place is overpampering her. Such a child is likely to grow up and be dependent on others for every small activity.

Get the father involved

Says Rashmi Vallabhajosyula (31), founder, Metrics Media, and a marketing consultant, "Whenever my kids need anything, the first word out of their mouth is 'mummy'; my resolution is that it should change to 'daddy'."

"I see to it that my husband gets equally involved with parenting, so he also enjoys watching his kids grow. Besides, by involving him, I can get some free time as well. He is a good parent. I don't have to drive him to do things for the kids, but I would like them to grow up and relate to both parents equally well. I don't want a typical Indian father-child relation where the mom is always in the middle," adds Rashmi, mother of Pradyumna (3) and Samyukta (2).

Spend time together as a family

Family time is on the decline. Make it a point to have meals together. Once a week, go for small outings. Switch off your mobile phone and make these bonding time. Encourage your children to spend time with their grandparents.

Finally, in 2007, let's not...

Yell at our kids so much
Act/ React in anger
Pass on stress or strain onto our children
Watch too much television
Use "Not now..." as often as we do
Be overprotective about our children
Get so involved in parenting that we forget ourselves

Five things every entrepreneur must know

Five things every entrepreneur must know----Dalbir Bains


launching a business is a very serious issue and one that you should consider for a long time before you take the plunge. Here are five key learnings from my experience in setting up a business. These should be part of the checklist for any new business.



Research



It may sound obvious but many businesses fail because they have a concept that has not been properly researched. Make sure your business proposition is viable and that you have researched the business concept thoroughly.



Detail



If you focus on the small details, the big things will look after themselves. Never let go of the fine business details until you feel you have covered every angle.



Networking



In a country as populated as India, you need to spread the word as best you can to your particular audience. You will be surprised at how many people do not get to hear about your business. Advertising can be a very expensive in the first year of any business. Identify your target and try as many inexpensive options as possible.



Never give up



Most businesses take at least 18 months to get established. This is what is referred to as the gestation period. You will always come across many people telling you your idea is not viable. This tends to happen before you start your business or when you are going through teething troubles. At this time, it is important to stay focused and strong. Don't let anyone challenge your vision.



The customer is always right



In any service-led business, you will always have consumers who will be happy and unhappy with your service. You have to adopt a service level that keeps your customers happy and loyal to you. This requires maturity and vision and, often, a fair amount of concessions on your part. Until you become established, you need your customers more than they need you.



I will elaborate on all of this in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, as all my business contacts say in Mumbai, I'll be back in two minutes...



Dalbir Bains' store, Boudoir London, is located in Mumbai.

http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2006/dec/20bains.htm

national institute of homeopathy

http://www.nih.nic.in/