Mullaperiyar : A Question of Life And Water

 

Happy Diwali
It's the "Festival of Lights" today,
It's again the day of Diwali,
It's time to dress up folks,   
It's time to adorn the thali.

It's the occasion to throng the temples,
Pray to the Gods and give them offerings,
It's an opportunity to entreat the deities,
To bless us all and rid us of sufferings.

It's the day to light the diyas,
Ignite the rockets and burst crackers,
But it's also the time to be safe,
From the fireworks and all the sparklers.

It's the season to pay a visit, 
To all our friends and relations,
To hand them over sweets and presents,
Diwali is our splendid chance.

But while you spend a time of joy,
Don't think it's merriment all the way,
Out there wait many of those,
For whom it's no time to be gay.

Denied of laughter and smiles for days,
They know not what it is to enjoy,
Can you not share something you have,
Can you not bring them a little joy?

When you can make someone else smile
When you can be someone's ally
That's when you can yourself be glad
That's when you'll have a HAPPY DIWALI!

__________________ hi friends , and dear readers this is a poem about diwali made by me and my cousin 2 years ago .. enjoy it ....

2G SPECTRUM SCAM

The 2G spectrum scam involved officials and ministers in the Government of India illegally undercharging mobile telephony companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they would use to create 2G subscriptions for cell phones. According to a report submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General based on money collected from 3G licenses, the loss to the exchequer was 176,379 crore (US$39.16 billion). The issuing of the 2G licenses occurred in 2008, but the scam came to public notice when the Indian Income Tax Department investigated political lobbyist Niira Radia and the Supreme Court of India took Subramaniam Swamy's complaints on record [With Case type:Writ Petition (Civil),Case No:10, Year:2011]. The case details of the main PIL filed with the supreme court is Type:Writ Petition (Civil),Case No:423, Year:2010.

Former Telecom Minister of the NDA government Arun Shourie was the whistleblower who helped uncover the scam and also exposed many loopholes in the UPA government's policy towards issuing telecom licences.

In 2008, the Income Tax department, after orders from the ministry of Home and the PMO, began tapping the phones of Nira Radia. This was done to help with an ongoing investigation into a case where it was alleged that Niira Radia had acted as a spy.

Some of the many conversations recorded over 300 days were leaked to the media. The intense controversy around the leaked tapes became known in the media as the Radia tapes controversy. The tapes featured some conversations between politicians, journalists and corporatation. Politicians like Karunanidhi, journalists like Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi and industrial groups like the Tata Group were either participants or mentioned in these tapes.

Parties involved

The selling of the licenses brought attention to four groups of entities - politicians who had the authority to sell licenses, bureaucrats who implemented and influenced policy decisions, corporations who were buying the licenses, and media professionals who mediated between the politicians and the corporations on behalf of one or the other interest group.

Politicians involved

• Kanimozhi,Member of Parliament and daughter of DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi.In November 2010 Outlook published transcripts of six conversations between lobbyist Niira Radia and Kanimozhi from May 2009. India Today claims that these conversations reveal that Kanimozhi filtered the information flowing to her father (the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu) and thereby "tipped the scales in favour of" A. Raja, who was Minister of Communications and Information Technology during controversial 2G wireless spectrum allocations in 2008. The New York Times's Delhi correspondent Lydia Polgreen said Raja's rise to telecommunications minister was "emblematic" of how politics in India really work, with the DMK "more closely resembling a sprawling family business empire than a political party," and highlighted Mr. Raja's "close relationship" with Kanimozhi.Raja was arrrested on February 2, 2011 for his alleged role in manipulating rules to allocate favorable spectrum to some telecom companies at throwaway prices.

Following the Central Bureau of Investigation's raid on Tamil Maiyam, an NGO of which she is a director,Kanimozhi said the DMK party will come out clean in the CBI probe, stating "The law has to take its own course. It is a process to prove us not guilty."After the February 2nd arrest DMK party members and workers immediately passed a resolution declaring that the arrest doesn't mean Raja is guilty, and claimed opposition parties were targeting him for political purposes.

• A. Raja, the Ex-Minister of Communications and Information Technology who was the minister when the controversial second round of spectrum allocations took place. Mr.Raja, an MP of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam from the Nilgiris constituency, was forced to resign following the public outcry. He was appointed the minister of telecommunications again for the second time when the UPA returned to power in the last general elections despite huge reservations from economists and other political parties. This was due to the pressure exerted by the DMK, one of the main allies of the Congress. He was arrested for his role in the spectrum scam and currently is lodged in the Tihar Jail in Outer Delhi. The CBI has raided his various houses, offices and other NGOs and beneficiaries related to A.Raja.

• M. Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the DMK chief. Kanimozhi is the daughter of M.Karunanithi and the entire scam is hugely directed toward the top brass of his party. The Radia tapes indicated his wife and his daughter as beneficiaries in the deals involving huge corporates. Recently, Kalaignar TV, a television channel owned by Karunanithi and his family members was raided in connection with the spectrum scam. CBI has unearthed evidence of money trail leading towards the Kalaignar TV.

Bureaucrats involved

• Siddhartha Behura, former telecom secretary who served in the DOT at the time of the 2G allocation.
• P. J. Thomas, Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications at the time of the 2G allocation.
• Pradip Baijal, a bureaucrat who is alleged to have recommended policies that favored certain Telecom companies when he was heading the TRAI. Post retirement, Baijal joined Noesis, a consulting firm Raja has made references to Baijal's decisions in 2003 as the basis for his decisions in 2008; something which has been attacked by Arun Shourie and several media pundits. The houses and offices of the bureaucrat were recently raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation as part of their investigations.
• R K Chandolia, private secretary of Raja during UPA-I when the licences were awarded. He was an Indian Economic Service officer of the 1984 batch cadre.When Raja became the Telecom Minister once again in UPA-II, Chandolia had been promoted to the Joint Secretary rank. Raja re-designated him Economic Adviser, that gave him the charge of all important policy-related work. Chandolia interacted with all the licensees. It is said that it was Chandolia who, from DDG-access services A K Srivastava's room, had handed out letters of intent to representatives of various companies.

The above mentioned all are involved with the case.

Corporations involved

• Unitech Group a real estate company entering the telecom industry with its 2G bid; sold 60% of its company stake at huge profit to Telenor after buying licensing (Including land values properties for towers)
• Swan Telecom sold 45% of its company stake at huge profit to Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) after buying licensing
• Loop Mobile
• Videocon Telecommunications Limited
• S Tel
• Reliance Communications
• Sistema Shyam Mobile (MTS) – Sistema Mobile Russia
• Tata Communications
• Vodafone Essar
• Dishnet Wireless
• Allianz Infra

Corporate personalities involved

• Anil Ambani - Reliance Group (ADAG)
• Shahid Balwa - DB Realty and DB Etisalat (formerly Swan Telecom)
• Vinod Goenka - Dynamix Group
• Venugopal Dhoot - Videocon Group
• Prashant Ruia - Essar Group

All of them have either been question by the CBI or are prospective suspects in the scam.

Media persons and lobbyists involved

• Nira Radia, a former airline entrepreneur turned corporate lobbyist whose conversations with politicians and corporate entities were recorded by the government authorities .The contents were later leaked by unknown parties creating the Nira Radia tapes controversy
• Barkha Dutt, an NDTV journalist alleged to have lobbied for A. Raja's appointment as minister.
• Vir Sanghvi, a Hindustan Times editor alleged to have edited articles to reduce blame in the Nira Radia tapes.

Petitioners

• Subramaniam Swamy, activist lawyer and politician, whose letters to the Prime Minister demanding action and affidavits and cases in the Supreme Court brought the issue into the public limelight.
• Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a journalist who was one among the very first to write on the irregularities in the awarding of 2G spectrum allocation by the Telecom Ministry. He is also one of the petitioners in the 2G PIL currently being heard in the Supreme court.
• Prashant Bhushan, on behalf of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation.
• Anil Kumar, on behalf of the civil society organisationTelecom Watchdog
• Others:Several eminent people like former chief election commissioners J.M. Lyngdoh, T.S. Krishnamurthy and N. Gopalaswami and former central vigilance commissioner (CVC) P. Shankar are also petitioners in the suits filed by civil society groups

Shortfall of money

A. Raja arranged the sale of the 2G spectrum licenses below their market value. Swan Telecom, a new company with few assets, bought a license for 1,537 crore (US$341.21 million). Shortly thereafter, the board sold 45% of the company to Etisalat for 4,200 crore (US$932.4 million). Similarly, a company formerly invested in real estate and not telecom, the Unitech Group, purchased a license for 1,661 crore (US$368.74 million) and the company board soon after sold a 60% stake in their wireless division for 6,200 crore (US$1.38 billion) to Telenor. The nature of the selling of the licenses was that licenses were to be sold at market value, and the fact that the licenses were quickly resold at a huge profit indicates that the selling agents issued the licenses below market value.

Nine companies purchased licenses and collectively they paid the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology's telecommunications division 10,772 crore (US$2.39 billion). The amount of money expected for this licensing by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India was 176,700 crore (US$39.23 billion).

Relationship between media and government

Main article: Nira Radia tapes controversy

Media sources such as OPEN and Outlook reported that Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi knew that corporate lobbyist Nira Radia was influencing the decisions of A. Raja. The critics alleged that Dutt and Sanghvi knew about corruption between the government and the media industry, supported this corrupt activity, and suppressed news reporting the discovery of the corruption.

Ratan Tata petitions over leak

The tapes leaked to the public include conversations between Nira Radia and Ratan Tata. Tata petitioned the government to acknowledge his right to privacy and demanded accountability for the leak, with theMinister for Home Affairs, CBI, Indian Income Tax Department, the Department of Telecommunication, and the Department of Information Technology as respondents in the petition.

Response to scam

In early November 2010 Jayalalithaa accused the Tamil Nadu state chief minister M Karunanidhi of protecting A. Raja from corruption charges and called for A. Raja's resignation..By mid November A. Raja resigned.

In mid November the comptroller Vinod Rai issued show-cause notices to Unitech, S Tel, Loop Mobile, Datacom (Videocon), and Etisalat to respond to his assertion that all of the 85 licenses granted to these companies did not have the up-front capital required at the time of the application and were in other ways illegal. Some media sources have speculated that these companies will receive large fines but not have their licenses revoked, as they are currently providing some consumer service.

In response to the various allegations , the Govt of India has replaced the then incumbent Telecom minister ,A Raja with Kapil Sibal who has taken up this charge in addition to being the Union minister for Human Resources Development.Mr Sibal contends that the "notional" losses quoted are a result of erroneous calculations and insists that the actual losses are nil.

The CBI conducted raids on Raja and four other telecom officials - former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's personal secretary R K Chandolia, member telecom K Sridhar and DoT deputy director general A K Srivastava on 8 December 2010.

Raja, Behura and Chandolia were arrested on Feb 2nd 2011.

Impact on stock markets

The first casualty in Stock Markets once Raja was arrested was DB Realty. DB Realty had given 200+ crores to Kalaignar TV( owned by Karunanidhi's Wife) . The news led to 20% fall in the stock prices of DB Realty. Sun TV had its shares fall by 10% on the next day following rumours of Kalanidhi Maran having stake in Kalaignar TV. Sun TV COO refused the allegations. Swan Telecom Chief Balwa was arrested on Feb 8  and this led to rumours of links with Anil Ambani's Reliance ADAG and it led to 20% fall of his stocks . Its reported that nearly 2 Billion USD was eroded from his stocks .Spicejet stocks went down after reports of investigation on Maran's recent takeover of Spicejet .

Dangers, Properties, possible Uses and Methods of Purification of radioactively contaminated (drinking) Water (e.g. in Japan)

Most methods and tools being recommended here on the Internet such as purification by filtration will not lead to your desired result of decontaminating “radioactive water”.

a) Radioactive contamination of drinking water in Japan at this point in time can come about in only two ways:

1) The source is actual surface water like lakes or rivers, possibly filtrated through river banks and thus came into contact with e.g. radioactive rain and/or dust. The Netherlands rely almost totally on water drawn from the Rhine and fed into the drinking water supply after conditioning.

2) The water may have been contaminated after production (e.g. in open cisterns/basins), which in effect is similar to bullet a1).

In all other cases it springs from groundwater (wells) and has often been concealed for years before being extracted again. As limnologists would say “groundwater” has an elephant’s memory, i.e. if you drop a can of used oil in a forest it may take ten years until you become aware of oil traces in your drinking water. This means that on one hand ground water wells should as a rule not yet show contamination from rain fall so shortly after a nuclear accident and on the other hand that when it appears further “down the road” all short-lived contamination should have decayed. This is by no means meant to downplay the issue.

So far I would have thought it unlikely to already find radioactive contamination in water that does not come from surface water or bank filtrate. If it should be true it would be alarming.

Now though, let’s assume it were true as authorities would rather hush up things than exaggerate them, thus let’s take some degree of water contamination for granted.

b) How can you reprocess radioactively contaminated (drinking) water so that it is (relatively) safe to use?

All radioactivity in (drinking) water can take only one of three forms:

1) It is in the form of radioactive hydrogen (called tritium, three times as heavy as normal hydrogen and emitting very weak beta rays, i.e. electrons, which, however, can damage yourgenome and cause cancer etc. when swallowed). When tritium has been released to the environment it will be incorporated in “heavy” water molecules. However, these are chemically indistinct from normal water, hence you cannot chemically separate radioactive water from normal water. You will have to live with tritium in your water and air (vapour) until it has decayed. With a half-life of approx. 12 years it will be down to one thousandth in about 120 years … All you can do (in theory) is move to another location where the tritium from “your” power plant has not yet reached (eventually the tritium will be evenly dispersed world-wide by wind and wave, however, then also the dosage of radiation will diminish reciprocally with its dilution). Or you “import” clean water (and add a pressurised air cylinder from a clean pristine source for good measure).
And don’t forget: once you’ve moved to another place there might be yet another malfunctioning nuclear power station around the corner – from the frypan into the fire … Help close down all nuclear power stations and so-called reprocessing plants!

2) The water could contain gases, esp. radioactive noble gases (like neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), radon (Rn)) Rather unlikely but for the sake of completeness we will mention them here. These can be driven out from the water by heating it to boiling temperature as hot liquids dissolve less gases than cold ones (with solid solubles, e.g. salts, it is vice versa with the rare exception of kitchen salt –sodium chloride- which hardly changes in solubility from almost zero to 100 degrees centigrade).

3) The main contaminants by far should be soluble solids, e.g. metal salts of e.g. radioactive caesium, rubidium etc. These can not be filtered e.g. by charcoal or any ceramic or paper filter with whatever fine pore structure since they are dissolved! You can only either try to demineralise that water (e.g. by reverse osmosis) or purify it by distillation thus leaving the radioactive solids behind (the condensed water in the lids of your pots consists of such distilled water droplets). A third potential method would be chemical precipitation. However, in order to know which chemical to use to precipitate the contaminant(s) with, you’d first have to analyse the water components. And in all probability the traces would be too small for normal analysis and if the salt etc. was determined then you might find there is noprecipitant to go with it or it may have adverse side effects, e.g. be poisonous. So de-mineralisation or distillation it is.

These are the only three viable methods that might help in this predicament. Anything else is “snake oil“.

While activated charcoal does by virtue of adsorption delay the passage even of solved saltsall these filtration methods are only really designed for capturing suspended matter. But what has been bank filtrated or springs from ground water wells is not a suspension, or at least no water utility would dare inject murky water into its system!!!

If anyone could translate this into Japanese – you are most welcome to post this anywhereif you attribute the source, and in any form and language!
See the German version here, if you are more comfortable with German:
http://www.dasgelbeforum.de.org/forum_entry.php?id=209608
And if so, you might also be interested in my collection of articles on the Japanese catastrophe, nuclear energy in general and what all this means for Japan and the rest of the world:
http://www.dasgelbeforum.de.org/forum_entry.php?id=208864

Do not use automatic translators – they will garble the meaning beyond comprehension!!! If you lose its precision you might as well drink the water “as is”.

I will not comment further on any other “alternative” purification methods as these have been sufficiently excoriated.

> Can you still use contaminated water for the following purposes (keep in mind, it is all a matter of how contaminated it all is!):
> – cleaning a garden path for example,
Yes, but may I suggest: only if the path would be less contaminated than before. But before you breathe contaminated dust from a contaminated path by all means use contaminated water to keep it in place!

> – personal hygiene,
Rather not! You would also absorb some contaminants through your skin, however small. However, if you need to decontaminate yourself from a greater dose than what is in your water, do wash it all down and reduce your exposure! Again – “contaminated” water may be heavily or only negligibly contaminated – use your best judgment! We are talking dangerously contaminated here! The situation in your region may not yet be so dire – so please compare to normal radiation levels from the past – traces of radioactivity may not always be dangerous, but are likely to rise with ongoing leaks and further rainfall adding to ground water supplies from contaminated sources above ground.

> – to wash dishes,
Well, if you dry well it would be better than becoming ill from mouldy dishes! Only if your water were excessively contaminated I wouldn’t. However, your utility will not pump such water and your spigot would be dry by then. When your plates and glasses are without water stains, then there is also no radioactive deposit from radioactive salts. Only if you leavestains – these are the radioactive salts, if you want to take a look at them!

> – laundry,
Weigh your options: if your clothes are contaminated they should be cleaned. The harder you spin dry the less water will still remain on your fibres and the more likely what little water then is left to dry will deposit less radioactive material than you just got rid of by rinsing and washing!

> – cooking?
If you use the steam and e.g. your vegetables do not come into contact with the water – then the steam will be relatively “clean” as it is the same process as distillation described above. Also consider frying and other methods that can do away with water. Consider using bottled water if you want to stay on the safe side.

And for drinking, but esp. for your infants or if preparing infant formulas – use bottled water from a reliable brand!!!

And good luck …

Microsoft to Windows Phone owners: 'We can't guarantee anything'

Prior to the release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft made a lot of noises about things like updates that sounded to many like guarantees. Noises such as Microsoft would be handling the updates and not carriers, and that users would be getting a regular drip feed of updates and improvements. How times change when a product is released.

In an attempt to offer up some degree of transparency over the update fiasco that the Redmond giant has created for itself with Windows Phone, the company posted up charts outlining when WP owners in theUS and internationally would be seeing their updates. The charts are somewhat vague and while not offering a timeline measured in geological terms, it does use the phrase ’several weeks’ at one point. But still, it’s something that should give WP handset owners hope. Right?

Maybe not.

Ars Technica’s Peter Bright asked Microsoft Windows Phone support asimple question via Twitter:

“Is there any guarantee that the carriers will authorize the update before the next one is released?”

Simple question, to which Bright got a simple answer:

“We can’t guarantee anything.”

There you have it folks. Microsoft didn’t sell you the handset (someone else did), and it’s not making you any promises beyond what you’ve already got. Microsoft’s not calling the shots with either the handset partners or carriers. Microsoft made the OS, sold an OEM license to manufacturers.

In other words, you get the updates if/when you get it.

End of story.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to focus on drugs, vaccine research

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would focus on investing in drugs and vaccines for diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, the billionaire philanthropist said here on Thursday.

Bill and Melinda Gates have committed themselves to healthcare and community work, especially in rural areas.

Addressing an event on public health concerns, Gates said his foundation would focus on these areas neglected by companies that eye just profits.

"Our focus is are diseases like Malaria, or TB (Tuberculosis) or AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) or trials of diseases whether it's almost no research funding coming out from the profit companies, simply because there is no market for those diseases not large enough to justify the risks involved. And, so we have a particular aim and that's what allowed a lot more TB drug discovery research, TB vaccine research, Malaria research. And in developing countries these infectious diseases are the primary thing that reduces life expectancy and so we'll stay focused on those things because that's where you have this unbelievable neglect," he said.

The Foundation has so far given away 14.5 billion dollars in health grants to organisations worldwide.

The aims of the foundation through the grants are to discover new insights to fight diseases that affect developing countries. It also seeks to develop effective and affordable vaccines and medicines.

It has committed approximately a billion dollars for health projects in India.

The Gates Foundation's India AIDS initiative 'Avahan' increased the commitment to 338 million dollars in 2009.

Gates said the foundation would especially back programmes to check TB.

"With TB, you know we look every year when we look at the number of deaths and we say it's unacceptable and so we are backing drug work, vaccine work, diagnostic work. And, so for me it's very similar I think my Microsoft experience prepared me well for the this foundation work and I'm always learning new things, getting out in the field to see what has impact. So, I'd say at least for me running the foundation is a lot like running a software foundation company

Gates and Melinda visited a village and interacted with people in Bihar on Wednesday.

They were on a daylong visit to inspect various philanthropic projects being carried out under the foundation.

They visited the Simraha and Jamsaut villages in the suburban Danapur area near Patna, and interacted with the locals there.

Bill and Melinda Gates met with some community health workers and state officials to launch a five-year 80 million dollar grant made in partnership with the state government. (ANI)

JAPAN UNDER GREAT NUCLEAR CRISIS

The situation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been changing rapidly and growing increasingly complex since the earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11. Problems began that day, and each day has brought new, unsettling developments. With unique conditions at each reactor, slightly different responses are required. But the most common response at this point is water. Workers are pumping seawater into the cores of Units 1, 2 and 3 and spray seawater to the spent fuel pools at 3, 4, 5 and 6. Each reactor has a used fuel pool in the upper level of their buildings. Getting water to the spent fuel pools at Units 3 and 4 from the air and ground proved difficult for several days after radiation levels spiked. Safety officials say they continue to be most concerned about the pools at Unit 3 and 4. External power had reached most of the units by March 23. Below is a chart showing the status of each of the six reactors, with the most recent information as possible.

DigitalGlobe

Reactor No.1	Hydrogen explosion March 12. Primary containment vessel likely not damaged. Seawater is being pumped into the reactor core. Fuel Rods Inside Core: Fuel rods damaged and are fully or partially exposed. The containment vessel is not believed to be damaged. Building: Severely damaged from the March 12 explosion Spent Fuel Pool: No information.
Reactor No.2	Hydrogen explosion March 15, which damaged the containment structure and the pressure suppression chamber. This caused the pressure inside the containment vessel to fluctuate. Seawater is being pumped into the reactor core, and it remains relatively cool, though experts believe radiation has leaked out. Fuel Rods Inside Core: Fuel rods damaged and still partially exposed. Damage suspected to the containment vessel, though the severity remains unknown. Building: Slightly damaged Spent Fuel Pool: No information
Reactor No.3	Hydrogen explosion March 14. Smoke, followed by release of radiation March 16. On March 21 and 23, smoke was seen billowing from the reactor. Fuel Rods Inside Core: Damaged and partially exposed. Building: Severely damaged Spent Fuel Pool: Damage to the fuel rods is suspected and water levels are low. Japanese helicopters attempted to drop seawater on the top of Reactor No. 3 on March 16 and 17 to cool the spent fuel pool. Emergency fire vehicles have sprayed water on the spent fuel pool daily since March 17.
Reactor No.4	Hydrogen explosion March 15, then a fire which heavily damaged the building. The Japanese Self Defense Forces began spraying water on March 20 and continued through March 21. Fuel Rods Inside Core: No fuel rods Building: A blast on March 15 blew an 86 square-foot hole into the wall of an outer building that houses the reactor. The roof is also severely damaged. Spent Fuel Pool: Damage to the fuel rods is suspected and water levels are low. Fire trucks are spraying water on the pool.
Reactor No.5	On March 21, workers switched the reactor to an external power source from the emergency diesel generators. Water is being pumped into the core and the spent fuel pools. Fuel Rods Inside Core: Not damaged; several feet of water covers the tops of the fuel rods Building: Not damaged Spent Fuel Pool: Temperature stable.
Reactor No.6	Unit 6 is running on its own emergency diesel generator. On March 21, the reactor was connected to an external power source. Fuel Rods Inside Core: Not damaged; nearly 6 feet of water cover the tops of the fuel rods. Building: Not damaged Spent Fuel Pool: Temperature stable.