The poverty line.

The latest comic for Manta Ray. Published full page in the newspaper Mint on October 12, 2011.
Here is the hi res from the epaper.

The Tigerwallahs

 Full page comic in the newspaper Mint. Published Sep 12th, 2011. Link here.

The Red Dot

Open publication - Free publishing - More activism

It gets more and more relevant in the light of recent news from the dark world of mining:

1. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Essar-GM-arrested-for-paying-protection-money-to-Maoists/articleshow/10141964.cms

2. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/goa-mining-scam-cm-kamat-under-scanner/187261-37-64.html

3. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ballerylike-mining-scam-unearthed-in-orissa/188072-3.html

India's poverty line

 The Planning Commission told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that anyone spending more than Rs 965 per month in urban India and Rs 781 in rural India will be deemed not to be poor. Updating the poverty line cut-off figures, the commission said those spending in excess of Rs 32 a day in urban areas or Rs 26 a day in villages will no longer be eligible to draw benefits of central and state government welfare schemes meant for those living below the poverty line. 
From TOI.

A roadmap

Click on the image to enlarge and read.

I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who. Rudyard Kipling
 

At the very best, The Great Indian Clearance Sale is an art and design project that asks questions and visually explores the environmental issues that affect all of us. The process has been live through blogging, Twitter and Facebook in the hope to inspire everyone to ask questions and explore the world around us in newer and braver ways. 

When we began we knew that every art and design project comes with an expiry date, but we said to ourselves, ‘not this one!’. How could we ever stop asking questions? 

And we won’t.

And we hope neither will you.

But at some point in time, The Great Indian Clearance Sale will become irrelevant and boring, as it happens with art. It just fails to appeal to people. And sometimes the artist moves on. 

But we hope that you will keep asking questions. The wonderful reality of our times is that if you ask questions, you will find a lot more answers than you ever did. And we believe that, people, armed with the right information will make better choices about their future.

Here’s a little roadmap for your adventure in information. We hope you will enjoy going on this adventure as much as we have.

Monsanto's ad in the newspapers. Some questions.

It seems to be a bit factually incorrect.
1. They say in the fine print about Bollgard making cotton resistant against pests.
But:
For the first time anywhere in the world, biotech agriculture giant Monsanto has admitted that insects have developed resistance to its Bt cotton crop. Field monitoring in parts of Gujarat has discovered that
the Bt crop is no longer effective against the pink bollworm pest there.
The company is advocating that Indian farmers switch to its second-generation product to delay resistance further.
-The Hindu, March 06, 2010

2. They throw in percentages like a number game. Since we are all educated, they should tell us what does 87% of Bt Cotton Farmers mean in numbers. We know for a fact that a lot of Cotton Farmers have committed suicide. So, going by this ad, of the remaining few 87% are leading a better life. Right?

3. GM corn and cotton are engineered to produce their own built-in pesticide in every cell. When bugs bite the plant, the poison splits open their stomach and kills them.
The Bt-toxin produced in GM plants, however, is designed to be more toxic and cannot be washed off the plant.
Flu like symptoms are now being reported by farm workers throughout India, from handling Bt cotton.
Studies has also shown Bollworms developing resistance to Bt toxin and becoming infinitely more dangerous and uncontrollable.
Add to this the fact that cotton is not only attacked by Bollworms, but about 160 other pests as well

4. And while we are at it, what about the fact that Bt Corn is a massive failure and is destroying whole crops?
http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2011/08/29/mkts_midday_monsanto.cnnmoney/
and

5. 42.4 crore additional days of employment. The mind boggles. So let's break it down. If there were 500,000 Bt cotton farmers (unlikely), that would mean 840 additional days of employment for each one of those people. Anyone who has travelled to the cotton belt of India will tell you that if there is so much employment there, it certainly doesn't show. We are not good at Math. Someone, please help us out here.

How to manage our environment - 4

How to manage our environment - 4. Lessons from real government policies and plans. (If they weren't true, they would be as lame as these cartoons.) Today's lesson from the wikileaks expose and the government’s BRAI plan. (Wikileaks on how US diplomats are promoting GMOs: http://bit.ly/pwini2 How Indian govt is sabotaging public debate on BRAI: http://bit.ly/nvWIeC )

Of foreign hand, circuses and other such.

Click on the image to enlarge

Is that a foreign hand or are you just excited to see us selling India?

There is a foreign hand behind this uprising of people. There is no doubt about it. The government has been selling the nation to companies like Vedanta – foreign, Monsanto – foreign, POSCO – foreign. In fact the whole development model that the government follows is so foreign that people are really fed up and have taken to the streets. So, yes, there is a foreign hand. The movement is to take it out of the corrupt politicians’ a$$e$.

The Liberal’s view of the uprising – It’s a circus

Oh well, some of us are upset about the show and chaos and music and drums and tamasha. Well, guess what, that’s what a revolution in India would look like. Those sadhus and charlatans and unkempt people and crazy histrionics and Gandhigiri and all that is as Indian as you or me. When the revolution comes, these are the people we will be fighting shoulder to shoulder with. Let’s accept it. The revolution we read about in our books and saw in our minds will make for a great play and a great book. Let’s write that book. We’ve had enough of trashy literature anyway. Meanwhile, the real revolution in India will be non-violent and it will be fought on Gandhi’s principles. Nothing else will work in this country. Nothing else has.

Where were these people when other struggles were happening?

In their homes. Trying to figure out where the hell will they get their next dal and roti from. Trying not to eat tomatoes and cut down on onions. You think that is not a struggle? And these are the people who are out on the streets. How is their struggle to live a life any less than a Niyamgiri or a Dantewada?

Anna Hazare

In the last 65 years, this is the first time, and probably the second time in our history as India that one man has brought the entire nation together to fight against the disease that is eating the country alive. If you don’t see greatness in that, check your eyes and hearts for their expiry date.

Independence Day, India.

Photograph: Deepak Dogra

Overcome by an overwhelmingly celebratory mood this independence day, we looked for ONE defining image of our country today. One image that would accurately describe the governance and the governed. One image that would define our development model. One image that is so 2011, that 2011 stops it its tracks and asks, where the hell did you get this mirror. We found the image! Happy independence day.

Bollworms and Ladders

Go ahead, take a print out of the game and play. And if you think it is a one sided game, then raise your voice against it. Don't let people die in this game agri companies are playing with millions of farmers.

A bright and rosy death of our nations' food security.

Project Sunshine, Golden Days, Rainbow, Golden Rays. Sound bright and optimistic? Brace yourself for the most important stories of this year. Which, if not paid attention to, will become the obituary of our nation's food security. (Click on the image to know more).

So what's going on?

So, what’s going on with all of us? How is it so easy for a few corrupt people and a few corporations to take all of us for a ride and sell our land, our forests, our food, our common sense to the lowest bidders? We dug deep here’s what we found.

How to manage our environment - 3

How to manage our environment - 3. Lessons from real government policies and plans. (If they weren't true, they would be as lame as these cartoons.) Today's lesson from the coal the hell out of India policy. WHich would make a single Indian state one of the world's top 20 emitters of carbon emissions. http://www.guardian.co.uk/envi​ronment/2011/jul/14/india-coal​-rush?intcmp=122

The death of the environment ministry.

Today you were killed by the government.
You had been in coma for years before. Until a man called Jairam Ramesh came and breathed life into you.
He said he was doing things “in enlightened national interest”. And he did. He thwarted Monsanto’s attempts at contaminating our biodiversity.
He said no to Vedanta who would have us believe that Niyamgiri was their jagir and the tribals their slaves.
This man tried. Failed. Stumbled. Bumbled. Got pushed over. Made mistakes. Did wrong. Did right.
He was a human after all. Standing in the crossfire between the development debate and the environmental concerns.
It’s a damn tricky place to be in. Try talking to your rich friends about tribals and mining and see how red eared and how blood pressured you become. And this man was making policies and making decisions that not only angered the rich friends and industry but the corrupt politicians as well.
And when they clipped his wings, he still pranced around, making noises.
Then, with one move they chopped off his head. And said they promoted him.
A country where the environment ministry isn’t the most important ministry has lost its bearings. To take away the ministry from a man who cared, is not promotion. It’s murder.
Of the environment ministry.
Monsanto, Vedanta, POSCO, you win this round. There is a chink in our armour.

Monsantorattus

Public safety warning! A strange new breed of rat has been let loose in India and it feeds on the blood of the farmers and it can't be controlled by pesticides, because it makes them. And the rat has been seen and caught red handed flouting bio-safety norms and threatening India's food supply. http://www.greenpeace.org/indi​a/en/news/Monsanto-caught-red-​handed-violating-rules/?src=sn​et

How to manage our environment - 2

How to manage our environment - 2. Lessons from real government policies and plans. (If they weren't true, they would be as lame as these cartoons.) Today's lesson from the policy of moratorium on industrial pollution. http://downtoearth.org.in/cont​ent/gentle-critical-pollution

How to manage our environment-1

Click on the image to enlarge and read.

Lessons from real government policies and plans. (If they weren't true, they would be as lame as these cartoons.)
Lesson 1, based on this report:
A High Powered Committee on efficient allocation of natural resources and telecom spectrum puts market above people: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/pay-and-take

TISS protests against the Great Indian Clearance Sale!

TISS students protest against the great Indian clearance sale. Jairam refuses to listen. Stands firm on Jaitapur. Meanwhile Japan decides to back off nuclear energy. Wonder why they are so afraid? They should learn from India. (photos: Faiza Khan)

An adventure in information

So here it is then: An adventure in information; our first publication. We asked a lot of questions and found some answers along the way. Here are some of them in this illustrated journey that took us into the heart of darkness and out of it. Hope it helps you on your little quest of finding out the truth.

‎Play Clan has very kindly agreed to stock our publication. You can get your copy at:
DELHI

Play Clan
G-07C,GF
Near Atrium
Select Citywalk Saket,
New Delhi
Tel: 40534559
Open all 7 days
11.00 am to 10.30pm

Play Clan
Shop 17
Meherchand Market
Behind Habitat Centre
Lodhi Road
New Delhi
Tel: 24644393
Open all 7 days
11.00 am to 8.00pm

MUMBAI

Play Clan
Shop 4, Libra Towers
Hill Road, Opp St Peters Church
Bandra West
Mumbai
Tel: 26401675
Open all 7 days
11.00 pm to 8.00pm

You

Turn up the volume.

Description: The Great Indian Clearance Sale isn't about the corrupt people. Not about Monsanto. Not about coal. Not about mining. Not about environmental disasters. It is about one person who will be most affected by it. You.

The monsters of consumerism.

Consumerism sure is inspiring. Here is, hopefully what will become a series, an attempt at an animation. Our billionnaire honcho Ambani's home in Mumbai consumes as much electricity as 7000 families in a month. That's about 21000 people. A family of 5 consuming as much electricity as 21000 people? God help us.

Are you capable of selling your country? Test your IQ now and find out. Test 1: Endosulfan.

Please click on the picture to enlarge and read the questionnaire.

Think about it. Why is Endosulfan not banned in this country? What could be the reasons?

You may want to read a bit of Wikipedia.

Or, find out more from Center for Science and Environment.

Or an article from one of the 72 countries which have banned it.

You can of course google it too.

The blood of elephants

Where will we go when we have killed all the elephants? To the Siddhivinayak Temple and pray to Ganesha?

The Other India's 2011

January

haunted by the ghost of the year gone

cold woebegones

hangover of consumerism

the corrupt plan their loots for the year

nothing about the next eleven months looks promising

something should disrupt the black

but nothing does

February

The corporate plunder

claws at the heart of my country

ghosts of the dead rise and question

the spring season in the capital

the nasturtiums in bloom

could almost make you come out

of your self imposed exile

and if you do

the mixed smell of diesel, blood and perfume

will intoxicate you

to a sleep that the 350 million

are only too content to sleep

Visions of a dystopian future

Some thoughts on armchair activism.

Let’s sit down with a cup of coffee, shall we. Let’s not talk about anything. Let’s just look around, let the images and words and sounds make their way into our minds. And let’s rise above the noise of it all. What do you feel?

Here’s what I feel. Making my way through the alleys of noise, I find myself being dragged by the sounds of demented television anchors. Loud cacophony of news and views which are more manufactured than the sugary biscuits I munch with the coffee. In this struggle I realize the topic of our discussion is determinants of successful activism and the politics of new technology. And I laugh.

Activism. It’s a loaded word. Let’s google it. Here is what you get. The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause.

We will never get far with activism. We don’t need activism in this world. We don’t really have a cause we are fighting for. Or need to fight for. So, if you ask me what are the determinants of successful activism in new media, I’d say, the first step is let’s not talk of activism.

Here’s what I mean.

Have you ever over-eaten? Have you ever let yourself go on that chocolate for instance? How the euphoria that each taste bud feels and each neuron quickly conveys to the brain makes way for the sickly feeling of having overdone it? Dizziness. Nausea.

Now think of our world having over-eaten on the beautiful, delicious thing called profit. It was great in the beginning. Now we are over doing it. Agriculture, mining, industry everything is overdoing, overselling, over consuming the concept of profit.

Of course the dizziness and the nausea is being felt. Every time a Niyamgiri happens, every time a Monsanto tries to control agriculture of a country, you feel sick. It’s not natural.

But there are no villains. I am sure it’s not necessarily what we want, morally, but what we end up with. Profit, like chocolates, or alcohol, or tobacco is an addiction that is amazing in the beginning but eats away the body and the soul eventually.

So, how can you protest march against something we all are a part of? We all want a good life. We all want the luxuries of life. Yes, those who deny the climate change and those who are fighting tooth and nail about the destruction it will bring. We are all the same. We all want a good life.

But we are over doing it. We are getting obese on our concepts and hypnotizing ourselves to believe in them.

Look at the money being spent by oil companies to fund the climate denial lobby. Look at the money Monsanto and other such companies put out to bribe people and governments. Just to propagate what they believe in.

Just like any other addiction. Your mind will convince you to have another one of that drag, that chocolate, that pint. And you will give in.

Will a protest march against your own body help?

Will a protest march against Coal India Limited help when secretly we desire the profits from its oversubscribed issue?

Will a protest march against Vedanta solve anything, when they can buy and sponsor this march. Or just label it as ‘Naxal’ and have the police shoot at you?

The answer is no. Listen to it. It’s sounded alarm bells in your brain.

No to activism.

So how do we fight this then? How do we make that stand for a better world? Here’s my answer: common sense.

Common sense tells us, genetically modified crops cause genetic contamination. Monoculture kills biodiversity. Biodiversity is the key to the future. Hence, Monsanto can go take a hike.

Common sense tells us that the resources are not unlimited. That the destruction caused by mines in ecologically sensitive areas is far more than the profits the mine will bring on the table. Hence, Vedanta can go take aluminum overdose.

But the problem is, common sense isn’t so common these days.

Because we are living in a world where we are being fed on images and words and ideas by a few. How did we let them control what we feel about things? How does a few unintelligent newsreaders feed ideas into our perfectly capable brains? How did we as a nation allow an actor to tell us about the goodness of colas when science proved they had pesticides?

Common sense isn’t common these days, because we ceased to be a democracy. We live in a dictatorship of the market.

Everything is for sale in this country. From our morals to our land to our forests to our agriculture. And most people end up becoming sales agents of The Great Indian Clearance Sale. And those who are not, are classified as activists. A convenient label that takes the ‘common’ away from sense.

But look at the odds. If a Coal India Limited issue is oversubscribed at $3.2 billion, what will a protest march do?

If the most powerful man in the world is selling Monsanto to us, what chances do you and me have to tell people that GM Crops aren’t the way forward?

The truth is, we are staring blankly at an addiction we can’t control. A cancer that will eat its cure first.

So, why fight? Why try to make our lives miserable? Well, hold on to that thought right there.

Let’s talk about chocolates. Again.

How do you convince yourself not to eat so much of it again? Simple, really. You pile up facts about what it can do, you combine it with your experience and there you have it. Temptation vs Facts. Questionable vs Questions.

And in a world where almost all mainstream media is sold out to the companies, what’s your hope to gather facts, start conversations with people who feel that we have had enough of profit. That it is time Bill Gates shut his trap and Monsanto became a museum relic?

The answer is: social media.

The social media revolution is Gandhian by nature. Peaceful, non-violent and very, very effective.

You can force people do follow you by violence, But you can’t convince them, or make them believe. Social media is gentle persuasion. And over time it will turn the tide against the market forces.

But let’s digress and take a quick Chapati break.

The Indian bread that is staple food of a billion people. Rewind to 1857. Indians organized themselves for a fight against the British and till this day the fight continues between historians. Each wanting to outdo the other in putting a label to the revolution. Did I just say revolution? Well, there’s a whole lot which calls it nothing but a sporadic rebellion. Hard to digest. Unlike the amazing little chapatti. Which was used to mobilize people.

Here’s something from the internet http://www.chapatimystery.com/chapatis

The British feared that this news was spreading and the sepoys were mobilizing for a revolt. But how? They suspected that villages across India were using chapatis (flat, round indian bread) to hand-delivered from village to village – especially in Awadh and Bengal – to organize themselves. The secret paper messages were baked inside the chapati, they imagined.

Here’s an excerpt from Homi Bhabha’s essay, “In a Spirit of Calm Violence”, in Gyan Prakash (ed), After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements. Princeton University Press, 2001. pp. 332-336:

It is at the point of the omen’s obscurity, not in the order of the symbol but in the temporal break of the sign that the interrogative che vuoi of agency emerges: What is the vertiginous chapati saying to me? The “indeterminate” circulation of meaning as rumor or conspiracy, with its perverse, psychic affects of panic constitutes the intersubjective realm of revolt and resistance. What kind of agency is constituted in the circulation of the chapati?

It is at the enunciative level that the humble chapati circulates both a panic of knowledge and power. The great spreading fear, more dangerous than anger, is equivocal, circulating wildly on both sides. It spreads beyond the knowledge of ethnic or cultural binarisms and becomes a new, hybrid space of cultural difference in the negotiation of colonial power-relations. Beyond the barracks and the bungalow opens up an antagonistic, ambiguous area of engagement that provides, in a perverse way, a common battleground that gives the Siphai* a tactical advantage.

Give me a chapati and I will astonish the world.

Well, not really, no. The point is people always look for something where they can all connect. A truth which is universal. And that is the only successful determinant of successful – common sense revolution.

Isn’t it what social media is all about? Bringing people to a common place. Letting them have a conversation. Bridging distances. But can it become a vehicle of social change? Or is it just armchair activism?

To me, there is noting called armchair activism. It’s all a move towards achieving that critical mass. If enough people start feeling strongly about something, it will bring in a change. Slowly. But surely. The process is frustrating and painful. But here’s what will happen if more and more people start talking about an issue, and start discussing it. Armchairs or not.

Information will spread

Questions will be asked

More the questions, lesser the lies

Lesser the lies, more the solutions

More the solutions, better things get

I think we are at the stage when people are starting to ask more questions. And lies have less of a breathing space than they ever had. If this isn’t a positive sign, what is?

So can social media and the people overturn the Monsantos and Vedantas of the world? If you really want to know the answer, no.

I have little hope that we can bring about a revolution in our thinking. I think the rot has set in too deep to be curable.

But I wake up and tweet and put links out to the entire world, along with thousands like me. Why? Because I don’t want the history books to be written without the words – ‘we did not want this dystopian future’.

Because I want the luxury of a ‘we tried our best’ sigh. And that luxury is not available at any shopping mall in this or any other country.

Was Gandhi right about India?

Click on the image to enlarge and read.

From the pages of our book: An adventure in information.
Time to ask the question and give a real good thought to Gandhian economics and perhaps start looking to it for solutions.

An adventure in information

A 28 page adventure in information. If you'd like to get this Great Indian Sale book, write to greatindiansale@googlemail.com with your address. The first fifty mails will be sent a complimentary copy.

Water etc. A visual essay.

There's a lot of things going on with the issue of water, water crisis, bottled water. Are those connected to other things? Placed some facts together, trying to connect the dots. Makes for an interesting read if nothing else. Click on the image to enlarge and read.

Mining happiness, or mining lies? You decide.

Excerpted from CSE report on mining. Click on the image. Have a read. Think. Get Rich Land, Poor People from CSE.

Darkness at the edge of noon.

A project for the Sambhavna Trust and the International Coalition of Justice for Bhopal: We want as many people in India as possible to send postcards to the Prime Minister of India reminding him that he and others have been blind to the sufferings of the victims of the Union Carbide Tragedy. The worst industrial disaster in the history of mankind.
This is the launch poster, which has postcards attached to it. You can pick a postcard, if you agree with the message, and post it to the PM.
The postcard project will go to schools and colleges and get students to design the postcards. We'll print and sell these postcards to raise funds for the Sambhavna Trust. And get people to post these cards to the PM as well.
December marks the anniversary of the Union Carbide tragedy in Bhopal. This year it will be the 26th year of being blind. We hope that we can open some eyes.

Tell us Prime Minister, did it hurt when they took out your eyes?

They must be gone because things that appal the rest of us, you seem not to see. You are blind to the agonies of 100,000 people who are still sick in Bhopal 25 years after Union Carbide’s gases leaked there.

Blind to report after report recording the presence of pesticides and heavy metals in soil and water, and blood, in wombs, and mother’s milk.

Blind to the children born blind, lame, limbs twisted or missing, deaf-mute, brain-damaged, with cleft-lips, cleft palates, web fingers, cerebral palsy, tumours where should be

eyes – the children of Bhopal. The living children. The stillborn often can’t be recognised as human.

You are blind to the Supreme Court order to provide clean water and the failure of officials to obey it. MP Chief Minister Babulal Gaur said there was no money for clean water, then unveiled a 600 crore plan to beautify Bhopal with ornamental fountains.

Where were you when Bhopali women brought their damaged children to your house? You had them arrested. The policewomen who led them away wept, but your blind eyes did not.

When they came to your office to protest, did you shut your curtains and say to yourself, ‘I am the Prime Minister of India. I do not have to see police kicking and beating children.’

Why are you blind to promises you made after the Bhopalis walked to Delhi in 2006 and 2008? Where is the Empowered Commission on Bhopal? When will you take steps against Dow Chemical, the owner of Union Carbide?

Why are you blind to the note from India’s justice ministry, holding Dow Chemical

liable for contaminating Bhopal? And for paying for a clean-up?

Why are you blind to Dow’s admitted bribery of Indian government officials?

You have proved yourself blind to justice, blind to honour, blind to decency, and to the suffering of the poor whom your high office binds you to protect.

Blind to everything but foreign dollars.

Prime Minister, can we get our eyes removed too? Because it is becoming extremely

difficult to see you ignore the truth and tell us, everything’s ok.

Greenwashing. It's so stupid, it's genius. - 2

“WATER is to Coca-Cola as clean energy is to BP.” So declared Jeff Seabright in 2005, Coca-Cola's manager of environmental affairs, when asked about the firm's new global water strategy.
http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4492835

BP
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-05-12-bp-gulf-oil-spill-oil-corporate-greenwashing/

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-05-11-a-three-way-blame-game-in-bp-oil-hearing

Coke
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/homestyle/04/22/blacklash.bottled.water/?hpt=C2&imw=Y

http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article408788.ece

Vedanta
http://downtoearth.org.in/vedanta.asp

Dow
Run for water:
http://theyesmen.org/dowliveearth

Greenwashing. It's so stupid, it's genius.

Here's the genius at work. Things that BP doesn't want you to know about the oil spill, or things it will get away with:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/7-secrets-bp-doesnt-want_n_563102.html#s87354

Let's try and get this right. Or left.

“On a map of India, mark the districts in terms of forest wealth - where the rich and dense tree cover is found. Then overlay the water wealth - the sources of streams and rivers. On this, plot the mineral wealth - iron ore, coal, bauxite and all things shiny that make economies rich. Then, mark on this wealth of India, another indicator - districts where the poorest people of our country live. These are also the tribal districts of the country. You will find a complete match. The richest lands are where the poorest live. Now complete this cartography of the country with the colour red. These are the same districts where Naxalites roam, where the government admits it is fighting a battle with its own people, who use the gun to terrorize and kill. Clearly, here is a lesson we need to learn about bad development.” - Sunita Narain

So, whose water problem is it anyway?

(This is an interactive article. The sentences marked in red will lead you to interesting links, videos and resources. Please feel free to use them in the war against the biggest crisis of our times.)

Those of us who buy bottled water without thinking twice should shut up about the water problem. We deserve it. And we deserve what is going to happen in the future. We deserve the water mafia. We deserve corporatisation of water. We deserve the foul smelling water dripping from taps. We deserve to pay a hundred times more for water. With every litre consumed.

Why, you ask.

For if we had questioned that why don’t we get clean water in our taps we would not be here in the first place - throwing our hands in despair while a handful of people hold our water supply to ransom.

Those of us living in cities where monsoon is aplenty deserve to pay hefty sums for water tankers and fill our tanks with worm infested water. We deserve the trickle supply from the municipal corporation.

Why, you ask.

Why indeed the question would come back to us. Why isn’t our building or house equipped with a water harvesting system? Who will come and do it for us? If we don’t know how water harvesting can solve our water problems, whose fault is it? We have access to more information than any other generation of people in any other age. What stops us from googling water harvesting and finding out just how we can benefit from it.

Those of us living in cities where rivers used to run fresh, deserve the gutters these rivers have become. We deserve the Yamuna and the Mithi and the Ganga and the Chambal. Polluted and out of breath.

We deserve the gutters and our complains should end up like bags of degraded plastic thrown in the river at 2000 per second.

Why, you ask.

Why indeed the question will fill our nostrils like stench. Why don’t we come out in numbers and protest. It’s our rivers. If the land mafia would rather they run dry then take the land mafia to task. If the industries would rather they carried effluents and not water, then let the industries know that there are far bigger things than profit.

Fresh water is disappearing fast from the face of this planet. And in India we used to have enough. We wasted it. We are wasting it. Millions of litres every second. There is only one thing we must remember. It’s not government’s water. It’s not municipality’s water. It’s not Coca-Cola’s water. It’s our water. It’s our problem. And we will have to solve it. Unfortunately it will require more than us using 5 litres less water every day. It will require us asking some serious questions. Addressed to ourselves, to begin with.

Further reading:

India’s Imminent Water Crisis

http://www.arlingtoninstitute.org/wbp/global-water-crisis/606

Water Pollution in India

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/taxonomy/term/28

India Hour, anyone?

Let’s switch off the lights

There seems to be nothing left to see here anymore. That the unsustainable mining is destroying the country and its ecology and its people has nothing to do with climate change.

That we are killing people so we can “mine happiness” has nothing to do with climate change.

That the tigers being hunted for Chinese libido has nothing to do with water scarcity has nothing to do with climate change.

That Coca-Cola destroying the groundwater has nothing to do with climate change.

That Monsanto is trying to sell GMOs in the name of climate change has nothing to do with climate change.

That our corrupt government officials are trying to introduce a Biotech Bill which will take away our right to protest, our food security has nothing to do with climate change.

That we are destroying our agriculture and then inviting companies like Monsanto to take over has nothing to do with climate change.

That while in the International Year of Biodiversity we are propagating GMOs which will destroy biodiversity and lead to monoculture has nothing to do with climate change.

That several hundred million villages in India go without electricity every day and that clean coal is being touted as the panacea to cure that problem has nothing to do with climate change.

Let’s switch off the lights.

And let us all feel glad that we did our bit for the environment.

Epilogue

Last heard Gurgaon in Haryana, India celebrated Earth Hour for 14 hours on March 22, 2010

The cola side of life

Click on the image to enlarge and read

Our memories are so short. Recently a panel has asked Coke to pay 216 crores in damages to the environment. And people say Coke is being made a scapegoat.
Really?
Did you forget 2003 and 2006 reports of CSE? Have a look at this poster to read what happened in short.
And click here to read what happened then in words of Sunita Narain.
You will also find the detailed report of CSE's findings on their site. Have a look and open an ice cold can of worms. They are delicious.