Random Thoughts-15: "Fatal Road Accidents"

During my last visit to Chennai, I was travelling in a car on the GST Road. My daughter pointed out to me white circles with 304-A on the road. She explained that it means that there was a fatal accident at that spot. During our half-an-hour ride, I could see a lot of white circles with 304-A inside. It was very painful.

Then I looked up with the help of Google to know what exactly 304-A means. At Vakil No.1.com I found the rule. Section 304-A, Indian Penal Code - Causing death by negligence, reads: "Whoever causes the death of any person by any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both".

I came across this disturbing statistics in The Times of India, Chennai, of October 23, 2008. In the year 2007 alone, more than 1.3 lakh people died on Indian roads!

I do not know how to drive gear vehicles. I have only an without gear moped. I have never bothered to learn driving gear vehicles. Whenever I ride on the pillion with somebody in Chennai, I keep praying all the time. The journey seems so hazardous. So I try to avoid travelling by two-wheelers in Chennai. But the Chennaiaites don't seem to worry. Men, women and children they drive two-wheelers and four-wheelers casually and nobody seems worried. They overtake on the left and the right. I have seen two-wheelers threading their way between buses and lorries without a care. God protect them!

When I read about fatal accidents, especially those involving youngsters, it pains me greatly. All joy and promise nipped in the bud. I just can't even imagine the agony of the parents who lose their beloved children in such accidents.

I could see girls driving two-wheelers at breakneck speed with gay abandon. In one way, I am happy. They are so fearless and bold. Kudos to them. Probably if you are born and brought up in Chennai and not a rural pumpkin like me, you get it easily and naturally.

However, one thing is clear. Our roads, especially city roads, are totally inadequate to cope with the alarming traffic congestion and exponential increase of traffic; they need to be widened, rules strictly enforced and offenders punished. More flyovers, more subways, more one-way roads and above all educating the public about road safety measures are needed.

"DRIVING OUR YOUTH SAFELY INTO THE FUTURE" from YoungDriverAwareness.com:

http://www.youngdriverawareness.com/

Detailed Wikipedia articles on "ROAD TRAFFIC SAFETY":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_traffic_safety

Detailed Wikipedia articles on 'ROAD ACCIDENTS":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_accidents

"HIGHWAY RESCUE PROJECT" from Lifeline Foundation:

http://www.highwayrescue.org/concept.htm

"PROGRESS IN ROAD SAFETY SLOWING DOWN" from IRTAD portal (International Road Safety Data and Analysis Group":

http://www.cemt.org/irtad/IRTADPublic/trends/pressrelease_2008.pdf

"BASIC ROAD STATISTICS" from the Dept of Road Transport & Highways, Govt of India:

http://morth.nic.in/index2.asp?sublinkid=157&langid=2

"TRANSPORT IN INDIA" from International Transport Statistics Database under the iRAP (International Road Assessment Program) funded by the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society:

http://www.iraptranstats.net/in

ASIRT (Association for Safe International Road Travel's) portal:

http://www.asirt.org/

"ACTING TOGETHER FOR SAFER ROADS" from UNECE (United Nations Economic Commssion for Europe):

http://www.unece.org/trans/roadsafe/rsabout.html

"TRAFFIC SAFETY CENTER" of the University of California, Berkeley:

http://www.tsc.berkeley.edu/

Grateful thanks to Vakil No.1.com, YoungDriverAwarreness.com, Lifeline Foundation, IRTAD, Dept of Road Transport & Highways, Govt of India; FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society; ASIRT, UNECE, University of California and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Best Birthday Present I received

Yesterday was my 59th birthday. As usual, I was greeted by near and dear. I also received the best birthday present. Aravind handed over to me a folded ruled paper, saying it was his gift for my birthday. I opened the folded paper. Inside the fold piece, there was another folded paper which contained his 'gift' to me, which I have scanned and posted below.

It was very thoughtful of him. For a 10-year-old, doing 5th Std, this is the best he could think of. It pleased very much. I feel it is the best birthday present I have received.

'Suri' in Tamil means 'sun'; probably that is why he was put two suns symmetrically at the top portion. As he could not buy a cake for me, he has drawn a cake. I am near the cake. He is by my side, probably ready to receive the first piece of the cake. Great imagination! I think this deserves to be put in 'My Photo Album' and am placing it as such.

Thank you my dear Aravind, thank you very much! May God bestow on you His choicest blessings and may you lead a perfect, prosperous and purposeful life!

Letters-47: "Ethnic Strife in Sri Lanka"

1. The rapid developments in Sri Lanka and an imminent LTTE defeat have led to the political parties in Tamil Nadu passing a resolution calling upon the Members of Parliament from the State to resign if the Centre does not ensure a ceasefire in the island nation in two weeks. It is a pity that the political parties have failed to discriminate between legitimate political aspirations and militant demands.

The LTTE has thwarted all moves to find a peaceful solution to the ethnic strife and suppressed the Tamils. It has been banned in many countries, including India. Its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, is the prime accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Since 1991, India has kept out of Sri Lanka's affairs. But since a peaceful Sri Lanka is in its interest, it should help find a solution to the problem. - K.P.R.Iyer, Bangalore.

2. India has already burnt its finger by sending a peace-keeping force to the island. The political parties of Tamil Nadu, including the ruling DMK, should leave the issue to the Centre for diplomatic handling. - R.Sekar, Visakkhapatnam.

3. The all-party resolution saying the MPs from Tamil Nadu will resign if the Centre does not ensure a ceasefire in Sri Lanka is unfortunate. Were the MPs elected to serve the people of the State or Sri Lanka? What steps have they taken to alleviate the sufferings of the people who are reeling under the impact of long power-cuts? Where were they they when the people of Kandhamal were driven out of their homes? - G.Stanely Jeyasingh, Nagercoil.

4. It is not in India's interest to interfere in Sri Lanka's domestic affairs, especially when the aim of its military exercise is to isolate and eliminate one of the world's most dreaded terrorist organisation. - S.Jagadish, Bangalore.

5. If our representatives feel that the Sri Lankan issue is more important than the misery of the people of the State, caused by power-cuts and other burning issues, they should go ahead and resign immediately. We can at least vote for those who really care for their voters. - S.Pushpavanam, Trichy.

6. One is not sure whether the MPs will indeed resign but their threat to resign does not speak well of them. Surely, there are other ways of expressing solidarity with the Sri Lankan Tamils in Parliament? Is it not naive to assume that New Delhi can help ensure a ceasefire in Sri Lanka, that too in just two weeks? - V.S.Venkatavaradan, Salem.

7. The political leaders of Tamil Nadu are playing a dangerous game. With many pressing issues at home requiring immediate attention, they seem to have got their priorities wrong. Their plea to save the Tamils sounds hollow because it is obvious that the only Tamils who are facing the heat in Sri Lanka are the LTTE cadres.

It is strange that the State unit of the Congress has jumped on the bandwagon. One wonders whether it has the blessings of its high command. - Aravind Narayan, Mauritius.

8. The all-party meet has failed to call a spade a spade, in that it has conveniently sidelined the LTTE, the major and perhaps the only force that has contributed to the existing situation. Why don't the parties declare publicly that they do not support its undemocratic and unethical means? - S.R.Badrinarayanan, Chennai.

9. I welcome the magnanimous support extended by our political leaders to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. But I wonder why, till date, not even one party or MP or MLA has stood up for the cause of our own brothers and sisters in Orissa. I hope our political leaders will respond to the demands of not only global issues but also to the cries of our brothers and sisters at home. - Rev.Thomas K.Mathew, Chengannur.

10. The political parties of Tamil Nadu are making an obvious effort to save the LTTE from total rout and possible extinction. The argument that innocent Tamil civilians are suffering untold miseries is not new.

Ever since the war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government started, Tamil civilians have been caught in the crossfire. But our politicians did not even raise a murmur. Now when the whole world has shunned the LTTE, blocking its funds and arms, the Tigers have started feeling the heat. The outcry against the civilian-suffering and human rights violations is an alibit to salvage the LTTE that is at the receiving end. - R.Ramakrishnan, Chennai.

11. Until the LTTE gives up violence, it is impossible for any peace-loving nation to help the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

The LTTE has failed to utilise the opportunities to end the conflict and it is to blame for the mess the country is in today. Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and has every right for preserving its territorial integrity.

If the political parties of Tamil Nadu really want to help the millions of innocent Tamils, they should condemn not only Colombo but also the LTTE which is killing its own people for personal gain. - Padmasani Rangarajan, Ontario.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai (Letters to the Editor), Oct.16, 2008.

Detailed Wikipedia article on "SRI LANKAN CIVIL WAR": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Civil_War

Grateful thanks to M/s.K.P.R.Iyer, R.Sekar, G.Stanley Jeyasingh, S.Jagadish, S.Pushpavanam, V.S.Venkatavaradan, Aravind Narayan, S.R.Badrinarayanan, Rev.Thomas K.Mathew, R.Ramakrishnan and Padmasani Rangarajan, The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Health News: "Childhood Obesity"

Children who skip breakfast each day are twice as likely to be obse, a new study has shown. It is the opposite for kids who eat breakfast daily, experts say.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, Oct.20, 2008 ("Newscape")

Detailed Wikipedia article on "CHILDHOOD OBESITY":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_obesity

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Facts & Figures-53: "Food Crisis will Deepen"

Even as the United Nations warned further escalation of food prices, the Food and Agricultural Organisation in its newly-released report has asked governments to go slow on a biofuel policy as it might have a negative impact on food security.

On the occasion of World Food Day on October 16, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon issued a statement which said 800 million people across the globe were going to sleep hungry every night even before the price rise.

Expressing concerns about surging food crisis, he described it as a  "colossal human tragedy".

Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, Oct.16, 2008 ("UN Chief says Food Crisis will deepen")


Detailed Wikipedia article on  "FOOD  CRISIS/SECURITY":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Crisis

Grateful thanks to the Correspondent who authored the above; Deccan Chronicle, Chennai and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Letters-46: "Freedom of Speech: Drawing a Line"

Freedom of speech is prized by democracies because only in a climate of free speech can the people remain informed on issues that affect their society and thus make an informed choice of government to reflect their best interests.  Yet nobody in most free societies can have a platform to incite violence, murder, sexual abuse, racial abuse or any other activity deemed repugnant by the vast majority of people.  Random House's decision to bow down to a hypothetical threat is surely a good decision.

There is a clear demarcation between intellectual discourse and subjecting a group of people to crass verbal abuse.  Every society permits their citizens to express themselves within its legal limits.  People should always know what constitutes hate or where to draw the line on free speech and it is not a license to target vulnerable groups. -  Dr.T.Marx, Lecturer, Dept of English, Pondicherry University, Puducherry.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, Oct.19,2008.

Detailed Wikipedia article on  "FREEDOM  OF  SPEECH":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Of_Speech

Grateful thanks to Dr Marx, The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

My Photo Album-27: "Parents with some of their grandchildren"

Parents with some of their grandchildren. I don't remember the occasion. Obviously, it is old, maybe around ten years. The children are all grown up now. Photo taken at the open terrace of my residence at that time by my friend, Annamalai or his brother.

Self-Improvement-37: "Dream, Dream, Dream!"

"SHOUT, we will win and avoid despondency," Former President of India, Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam advised secondary school children on a visit to the Nation Agro Foundation (NAF) for rural development in Illedu, Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu.

Celebrating his 77th birthday with them after cutting his birthday cake, he told them, "Dream, dream, dream.... Dreams will transform into thoughts which will result in action and progress."

Interacting with them, Dr.Kalam explained, "Night and day are experienced through the interaction of sun and earth which man cannot control. But we can control the days and hours at our disposal. We must make each day productive and resolve to make it useful for ourselves and our country."

Later, while talking to farmers, self-help group members and primary agricultural cooperative bank employees, he asked them to use genetically modified seeds to improve agricultural productivity. He pointed out that farmers were not able to get remunerative prices in the market. Hence, they needed to adopt the cooperative approach in farming and marketing of agricultural produce. Farmers needed to pool their inputs, cultivation practices and technology so that they had a better clout while going to market to enable them to get a fair price.

Earlier, Dr.Kalam inspected the agricultural, cattle and social production at various villages in Kancheepuram district. These included the total sanitation and adult literacy programme at Puthirankottai, the watershed project at Kumili and farmers club at Manappakkam.

Currently, NAF has enabled drop-out school children of Classes X, XI and XII to educate about 4200 village members through the adult literacy pro9gramme. This enables them to read and write Tamil and read the newspapers. However, 10,000 are still left to be educated.

At Puthirankottai, every household has received government subsidy of Rs.1200 and a bank loan of Rs.2500 to build a toilet under the total sanitation programme of NAF.

The NAF was founded by C.Subramaniam, the architect of India's first Green Revolution.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express, Chennai, Oct.16, 2008.

Grateful thanks to ENS Economic Bureau and The New Indian Express.

Eyecatchers-117: "GPS could save Airlines Fuel"

Chicago: A Second World War-era air traffic network that often forces planes to take longer, zigzagging routes is costing airlines billions of dollars in wasted fuel while an upgrade to a satellite-based system has languished in the planning stages for more than a decade.

The $35-billion plan would replace the current radar system with the kind of global positioning system (GPS) technology that has become commonplace in cars and cell phones. Supporters say it would triple air traffic capacity, reduce delays by at least half, improve safety and curb greenhouse gas emissions.

An analysis of industry data found that if the system were already in place, US airlines alone could have saved more than $5 billion in fuel this year alone.

But funding delays and the complexities of the switchover have kept the project grounded. The government does not expect to have it up and running until the early 2020s. - AP.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, Oct.15, 2008.

Wikipedia article on "GPS (GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Health Facts-8: "Vitamin D and Calcium"

Vitamin D controls your body's use of calcium. About 15 minutes of sunlight on your skin each day normally produces all the vitamin D you need.

Excerpt from "Health Facts", Chennai Times, Supplement to The Times of India, Chennai, Oct.16, 2008.

Wikipedia articles on "VITAMIN D" and 'CALCIUM":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium

Grateful thanks to The Times of India and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A Thought for Today-146:

Grateful thanks to Vinod for the photo - clicked by him with his Nokia N70M

The world is too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love - Chennai Times, Oct.16, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Chennai Times.

Health News: "CLEAN HANDS"

Daisy, Gulshan and Yamuna, three-year-olds enrolled in a balwadi in Chintadripet, were excited about the soap suds that bubbled up when their teacher asked them to wash their hands before a meal.

The children were part of the Global Handwashing Day awareness programme organised by UNICEF. Little Gulshan did not understand much about germs and diseases, but she got her basics right. "I must clean my hands before eating," she said.

The awareness programme held at Chennai Corporation High School at Chintadripet reached out to students from pre-kinder-garten to Standard X. The children were given a demonstration on how to wash their hands thoroughly with soap, especially after using the toilet. Deputy Mayor R.Sathyabhama told students that they must also use footwear to keep their feet clean. UNICEF education specialist Aruna Rathnam said parents sent small children to school without footwear fearing that the children would lose them. She suggested that the children be allowed to keep their footwear on rather than leave them outside class so that they would not lose them.

Corporation schools, at present, do not provide soaps for children to wash hands. However, Corporation Deputy Commissioner (Education) Anu George said the idea would be considered. Students also took out a short rally holding placards on sanitation.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Chennai.

Wikipedia article on "GLOBAL HANDWASHING DAY":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Handwashing_Day

Grateful thanks to the Staff Reporter who wrote the above article, The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Letters-45: "Ethics are needed in Business"

This refers to the editorial 'No Half Measures' (The Times of India, Chennai, Oct.13, 2008). I agree with your views. However, business ethics are also important and need to be inculcated in our business practices. The lack of such ethics has led to the financial catastrophe confronting us today. Rather than honestly analysing a particular business practice, we opted for unrealistic assessments. These wrong practices not only weakened us from within but also created the bubble that caused so much trouble when it finally burst. - Rochak Aggarwal, Gurgaon.

Courtesy: The Times of India, Chennai, Oct.16, 2008 (Edit Page: Mail Box : My Times, My Voice).

Wikipedia article on "BUSINESS ETHICS":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_ethics

Grateful thanks to Rochak Aggarwal and The Times of India, Chennai and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Facts & Figures-52: "33 Nations Face Grave Food Crisis"

Thirtythree countries, chiefly in Africa and Asia, are experiencing "very serious" to "grave" food supply problems, two food assistance groups have said.

Presenting the annual Global Hunger Index (GHI) for 2008, the German food relief group Welthungerhilfe and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) warned against neglecting the fate of starving people amidst the current financial crisis. "Nearly one billion starving people are a scandal for humanity," Welthungerhilfe head Mr.Ingeborg Schaeuble said. "In contrast to the banks, they are not to blame for their misery." In order to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals, an annual additional spending of up to $13.6 billion is necessary, he added - DPA.

Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, Oct.16, 2008.

Grateful thanks to DPA and Deccan Chronicle.

Eyecatchers-116: "Software that tells Age just by looking at Face"

University of Illinois has developed a software that reveals a person's age just by looking at his or her face.

Excerpt from "Software that tells age just by looking at face" from The Times of India, Chennai, Oct.16, 2008.

Grateful thanks to The Times of India, Chennai.

Eyecatchers-115: "Coca-Cola's Net Income up by 14%"

Coca-Cola Co posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on strong international demand that offset a drop in volume at home. Coke's net income rose 14% to $1.89 billion in the third quarter ended on September 26 from $1.65 billion a year earlier.

Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, Oct.16, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Deccan Chronicle, Chennai.

Letters-44: "Unkept Promise"

Sir, With reference to the report Parliament ambushed (Deccan Chronicle, Oct.15, 2008), when even the President of the US had taken his people's representatives into confidence, the Prime Minister of world's largest democracy did not keep his promise to Parliament by skipping the traditional monsoon session. While the nuclear deal may be Dr.Manmohan Singh's prestige issue, the nation has lost its prestige by succumbing to such desperation that the US has exploited. - Letter from K.S.Nagarajan, Porur, Chennai to the Editor, Deccan Chronicle, Chennai.

Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, Oct.16, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Deccan Chronicle, Chennai.

S&T Watch-33: "Treating Type-I Diabetes without Insulin"

Type-I diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks and kills insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. About 10% of people with diabetes have this form of the disease. The only treatment for Type-I diabetes hitherto has been intramuscular administration of insulin. But soon a new line of treatment may be available using the hormone leptin. Recent studies with rodents suggest that a little extra production of leptin through gene therapy can bring terminally ill rodents with Type-I diabetes back from the brink of death (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 25 August 2008).

Leptin is a hormone made by fat cells and plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure. It also helps control eating behaviour. A new study suggests that it can also treat diabetes , the first demonstration that the disease can be treated without replacing insulin.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre at Dallas, USA, used adenovirus to insert extra copies of the leptin gene in diabetic mice and rats. The rodents recovered from the most severe side-effects of diabetes, even though they were not given insulin. The terminally ill diabetic rodents making extra leptin recovered with no trace in their bodies, and leptin produced more sustained health improvements than insulin injections did. These included normalising blood sugar for up to 80 days without insulin, stopping the overproduction of glucose by the liver, improving sugar use in the muscles, and allowing the animals to gain weight. The gene therapy also corrected ketosis - a process characteristic of diabetes in which the body burns fat, producing sweet-smelling chemicals called ketones.

According to the researchers, excess leptin probably blocks the action of glucagon, a hormone that works as a counterpoint to insulin, which helps cells use glucose for energy. Glucagon signals the liver to produce glucose from fats and other non-carbohydrate sources. In diabetics, high glucagon levels just raise blood sugar levels even higher and lead to other side-effects.

The researchers are not sure whether injections of leptin will work as well as making extra leptin through gene therapy does. But it is known that persons given injections of leptin for other reasons do show some improvement in blood sugar levels.

Courtesy: 'DREAM 2047', October 2008 ("Recent Development in Science and Technology" by Biman Basu - Email: bimanbasu@gmail.com).

Grateful thanks to Mr.Biman Basu and Dream 2047.

Eyecatchers-114: "Rs.12 crore Unclaimed Deposits!"

Throughout the country about Rs.1200 crores remain unclaimed in various bank deposits. This information was furnished by the Reserve Bank of India in reply to a petition by Mr.Siddharth Mishra of Orissa under Right to Information Act.

Courtesy: 'Dinamalar', Tamil daily, Madurai, Sep.14, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Dinamalar.

Facts & Figures-51: "World Standards Day"

World Standards Day is celebrated today. It aims to create an awareness about the importance of standardization. For more details:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Standards_day

Grateful thanks to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.