Save Mother Earth

By Ashutosh Sharma

Our reaction to global warming has gone in waves. First we were in blank denial: how can releasing an odourless, colourless gas change the climate so dramatically? Now we are in a phase of displacement: we assume we can shop our way out of global warming, by shovelling a few new light bulbs and some carbon offsets into our shopping basket. This is a self-harming delusion. It's hard to give a sense of the contrast today between the magnitude of our problem, and the weediness of our response so far. But the best way is offered by the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Crutzen.

He explains that until 10,000 years ago, the planet's climate would fluctuate violently: sometimes it would veer by 12 degrees centigrade in just a decade. This meant it was impossible to develop agriculture. Crops couldn't be cultivated in this climatic chaos, so human beings were stuck as a tiny smattering of hunter-gatherers.

But then the climate settled down into safe parameters, and humans could settle down too. This period is called the Holocene, and it meant that for the first time, we could develop farming and cities. Everything we know as human civilisation is thanks to this unprecedented period of climatic stability.

Today, we are bringing this era to an end. By pumping vast amounts of warming gases into the atmosphere, we are creating a new era: the Anthropocene, in which man makes the weather. There is an imminent danger of it bursting beyond these safe parameters, and bringing about a return to the violent, volatile variations that prevented our ancestors from progressing beyond spears and sticks.

Every week, there is greater evidence that we are nudging further from our safety zone. The hottest year of the 20th century, 1947, is now merely the average for the 21st century.

And what are we doing? Many good, well-intentioned people are beginning to grasp this problem, and then assuming green consumerism is the only answer to hand. They shop around for items that have not been freighted thousands of miles to make it to their supermarket shelves. They change their light-bulbs. They turn down the thermostat a few degrees. They make sure they buy products that don't sit on electricity-burning standby all day. They buy the more energy-efficient cars, and scorn SUV drivers.

They are an absolutely essentially part of any solution. But we have to be honest. This is not even the beginning of a solution, and by pouring so much energy into it, we may actually be forestalling the real solution. I know a huge number of people who are sincerely worried about global warming, but they assume they have done their bit through these shifted consumption patterns. The truth is: you haven't.

In reality, dispersed consumer choices are not going to keep the climate this side of a disastrous temperature rise. The only way that can ever happen is by governments legislating to force us all, green and anti-green, to shift towards cleaner behaviour. Just as the government in the Second World War not ask people to eat less voluntarily, governments today cannot ask us to burn fewer greenhouse gases voluntarily.

It is not enough for you to change your bulbs. Everyone has to change their bulbs. It is not enough for you to eat less meat. Everyone has to eat less meat. It is not enough for you to fly less. Everyone has to fly less.

The only way we will get to the situation where we are all required by law to burn fewer greenhouse gases is if enough people pressure the government, demanding it. Green consumer choices often drain away people's political energies to do this. You have a limited amount of time to spend on any political cause. If you have an hour a week to dedicate to acting on global warming, and you spend it scouring the supermarket shelves for the product shipped the shortest distance, that time and energy is gone; you feel you've done what you can. Part of you might also assume: I've made these choices; other people will too; in time, we'll all be persuaded. But we don't have time.

There is a much better way for you to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Every minute you would have spent shopping around for a greener choice, you should spend volunteering for Greenpeace, or Friends of the Earth, or Plane Stupid, or the Campaign Against Climate Change. But nothing seems to be working; the cry for a stable and safe climate is eluding us for good, which will destroy the human race. INAV

Congress sandesh with budget

By Kshama Sunil

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has suddenly become silent. The man who chided Sonia Gandhi of taking the Gujarat defeat so much to heart that she needed hospitalization, is now silently feeling that Congress is getting its act together ahead of the next elections BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani also feels that it was a mistake on the part of the saffron to speak of "India Shining" before the 2004 elections indicating thereby that it cooked the NDA goose.

The story is no different for BSP's Mayawati, SP's Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Marxists. Mayawati's action of picking up holes in the ambitious farm loan waiver scheme is signal enough of the unease within. Amar Singh has also spoken on similar lines. Chandrababu Naidu is feeling that Congress has stolen a leaf out of his own book. The Marxists are worried that Congress could laugh its way to the vote bank taking the credit. They all feel that it is time to sit up and think.

The 'please all' Budget 2008-9 has done the trick as Congress is going about town proclaiming that it was pro-actively engaged in getting back its core constituency the poor and the farmer and the Dalit and the minorities.

Two months back, a marathon meeting at 10 Jan Path saw Finance Minister P Chidambaram being bluntly told that he stands to lose his job if he failed to replicate the magic of his dream budget of 1997-98 in the 2008-9 exercise. The meeting was held prior to Gujarat elections and after the debacle in Gandhinagar, the urgency was more for the Congress to take the initiative through economics to score in politics.

Chidambaram's exercise has also turned a hit in backward Bihar with Union Minister Shakil Ahmed finding to his surprise that a day after the Budget a public meeting in his constituency saw tremendous applause by the mere mention of the loan waiver.

RJD MPs who had been demanding the scalp of Chidambaram not too long ago are gung ho about the Budget hailing it as revolutionary and historic. The MPs, threatened by Nitish Kumar's surge in Bihar politics, are suddenly feeling that they can now battle it out. At the same time, RJD MPs are not ready to give credit to Congress for the job well done pointing out that Chidambaram's exercise has come close on the heels of Lalu Yadav's Rail Budget and therefore Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Lalu should jointly share the honours.

Pawar, being the Union Agriculture Minister, is doing everything to project himself as messiah of the kisan as his party wants to emerge "number one" in Maharashtra relegating the Congress. Pawar's immediate priority is to see his daughter Supriya Sule established in politics at a time when Sonia Gandhi is doing utmost to promote Rahul Gandhi.

But an article in the Congress mouthpiece "Congress Sandesh" has baffled party watchers. The article on Dalit empowerment written by AICC Secretary Anil Shastri has expressed the hope that the Grand Old Party would ensure a Dalit Prime Minister sooner than later. The suggestion is not a strange one but a section of the party is reading between the lines and finding it more than strange. This is because Rahul is being projected as the potential Prime Minister and future leader by the AICC and therefore such talk of Dalit Prime Minister is seen as not politically correct.

While the BJP-led NDA has been projecting Advani as the Prime Ministerial candidate, Congress has always shied away from the issue. The pet response of the party is that since Manmohan Singh is occupying the post, there has been no vacancy and to talk about it is futile.

The fact of the matter is that the talk of a Dalit Prime Minister is also aimed at undermining Manmohan Singh. The innocuous suggestion by Shastri, editor of the party mouthpiece, is hinting loud and clear that the Congress would not opt for the economist-politician for the top job once again if re-elected to power. This is a typical Congress strategy ahead of a Lok Sabha election. Checkmating Mayawati on the one hand and keeping Manmohan Singh off balance on the other hand.

The 'hand' is hitting back at the 'elephant' in its own way and is also seeking to trample on the plans of many others. (Syndicate Features)

Coalition politics- Bane or boon ?

By J.R. Aryan

Today the Indian politics through its own hide and seek game has acquired such a crucial stage that the title of today's this article poses itself as a million dollar question to millions of Indians to seek an answer from every of us. In my own way from my own angle of vision I have tried to answer it which the readers, scholars, leaders and the voters in particular and the politicians in general, must go through whether they may or may not agree to but it will, I am sure, set them thinking for the answer in their own manner and measure, to suggest their ways and means to get rid of the political instability for the formation of stable Government of one single major political party with absolute majority at the center as well as in the states to last for a full term to implement its programme and policies successfully through an effective governance; of course through healthy opposition, instead of being under constant fear; stress and strain of being toppled any time in a coalition combination for some internal rifts, differences with its own partners of the Govt. in respect of powersharing or other vested interests.

It is crystal clear that a coalition formation or a coalition Govt. is the outcome of a political bargain through various conditions of give and take; permutations and combinations of different political parties of different and opposed ideologies who join hands to take refuge under the coalition cover just to grab power under the most unfortunate circumstances for the country when the various divisive antinational and antidemocratic forces for their vested interests under their nefarious designs would have succeeded to divide the vote-bank by misleading the voters on communal and regional lines for a fractured mandate to disable a single major political party to gain an absolute majority to form a stable Govt. These divisive forces by fomenting dissention and differences do succeed, by fair or foul to gain a portion of seats for their representatives either for the Parliament or for the assembly and thus emerge to be with a trump-card in their hand to tilt the balance on the floor of the house this way or that way as per their sweet will under give situation and thus they become the fore runners to install or topple any coalition Govt. any time for their vested interests. The net result is that a coalition dispensation has always to perform under internal pushes and pulls, stresses and strains, pressures and duress of its partners and can't therefore take a straight decision in one go. A combination of different ideologies where some great rivals would have joined hands for power craze only can't run smoothly to take a sound decision, as it cares more for its survival rather than that of the masses.

So it becomes quite clear that it is the dirty politics, the politically supported divisive forces, gangs and elements who by creating fissures in social and communal harmony divide people on regional and communal basis to mislead and coax the voters by their sinister designs to have the ball in their court to cause the division of votes for a hung Parliament or hung Assembly to pave a straight way for coalition combination as to be the last resort for the political parties to join hands under proposition of like-mindedness just to grab power on terms and conditions, and later on expose their infighting, bitterness, taunts and threats on each other for withdrawing support to topple the Govt. as and when their interests clash without caring a fig for the interests of country, masses and the people.

Thus the voters have a very huge responsibility on their shoulders. They must exercise their right to vote in a fair and square manner, without fear and undue favour, with prudence and insight, with their will and conscience in favour of the candidate and the party of their choice which they fell has a clean record in the service of masses and people for healthy development, and which they expect can deliver goods in future as well. The voters must not come under any duress, influence or mesmerism of political hawks and cheats who are the basic enemies of the poor and the country, out to destroy the fibre of democracy and overall development and prosperity.

Another glaring reasons for hung parliaments and hung assemblies is the mushroom growth of regional political parties which is very likely to travel down to street political level in the days to come. It is really unfortunate. It is well said that as the quantity or No. goes up, the quality goes down. Many a cooks spoil the broth.

Third and the most important factor perhaps is the need to amend constitution for which I have already projected so many articles through the press media.

In India if absolute majority formula or the yardstick for Absolute majority for a political party to form a Government is to continue with effectiveness then the situation and the time awfully demands that there should be two or three party system only at National Level as well as at State's level allowed to go for elections, and the multiparty system must come to an end the way it is in Britan and some other countries. But should the multiparty system continue then the condition should be that any single largest party with whatever strength of representatives it has emerged must be allowed to form the Govt. for the full term and the concept of absolute majority i.e. (50% +1 seat) must be dropped. In this case if the ruling party any time loses the support of its own representatives so that its strength falls lower than that of any other party, then the party next to it in strength be allowed to form the Govt. The members of the first ruling party having withdrawn their support to it must also lose their membership of the house the moment they leave the party on whose mandate they had sought election, and must seek election afresh.

At the end I wish to invite the view of the readers and the countrymen, leaders and the politicians, and of course, of the intelligentsia in particular to offer healthy suggestions and solutions for this crucial problem which is posing a great threat and proving detrimental to Indian polity and democratic set-up. Let the T.V. channels of our State arrange a discussion on this vital issue as also on some essential and important amendments needed to Indian constitution which the present situation and time awfully calls for to check and reduce the gravity of the political corruption, criminalization of politics and politicization of criminals.