The first organ donor literate village!!!

THRISSUR: In the morning of 29th September 2010, residents of Pootharakkal in Thrissur will gather at an open ground in the neighbourhood for a noble cause—and to create history as the first organ-donor literate village. More than 2,000 adults from 600 families of this little-known village will hand over letters of consent to donate their organs, according to Father Davis Chiramel, chairman of the Kidney Federation of India.

Local MLA Geetha Gopi, Thrissur district panchayat president K V Dasan, collector P M Francis, senior police officers, representatives from all religions and political parties will witness the noble moment.

"We are happy that the residents of Pootharakkal have promised to donate their organs. We would like to spread the noble gesture to the entire state and so have decided to start a journey on the day with a mission to collect about 10 lakh consent letters from people across the state. The letters of consent will be handed over to the Prime Minister later," said Fr Chiramel.

The priest, who had set an example by donating a kidney, said the idea to hold a public 'consent meet' germinated at a recent interaction with the villagers.

He then launched a door-to-door campaign, ensuring the participation of all adult villagers. "This is just a beginning. We are sure of spreading the mission to the whole of Kerala and then to other states," he added. 

Source:TOI

Faced with drought...Karnataka spends 17 crores to please the rain gods!!

Bangalore: Karnataka is staring at its worst drought in 42 years and its government has asked all the 34,000 temples in the parched state to conduct a special pooja seeking rain. At about Rs.5000 each, the special prayers will cost Rs. 17 crore.


The order comes from the state's endowments ministry. The minister, KS Poojari, whose last name means "priest", has hastened to clarify that tax-payers' money will not be used for these rituals to propitiate the rain gods. Temple trusts will fund the poojas, says Mr Poojari.


Churches and mosques in the state have also been asked to conduct special prayers for rain. The BJP government of Jagadish Shettar wants these prayers conducted on July 27 and August 7.


The state government is yet to calculate the extent of crop loss in this monsoon season of deficient rain. Among the many states of India now facing drought, Karnataka is one of the worst hit. Large parts of north and central Karnataka have recorded almost 27 per cent deficient rainfall.


the big question which comes out is, should such a great amount of money be spent on prayers alone??

source:NDTV

Ethnic art forms disappearing from Arunachal

Itanagar:Many ethnic art forms in tribals-dominated Arunachal Pradesh are dying a slow death for want of support and patronage by local people who have been handed down the practices from past generations.

One of these is the making of dye which is practised by the Nocte tribes living in the higher reaches of Tirap district. Residents of Huakan, Moktowa and Thinsa villages in the district specialise in preparing it.

Denhang Bosai, district information officer, said, "The preparation of this traditional red dye is interesting and painstaking. The colour is extracted from a rare creeper normally found in the deep jungles and is called Bii."

"The literal meaning of Bii means poison and the creeper is indeed poisonous and must be handled with utmost care," Thingkap Nokbi from Huakan village who is an expert in dye preparation, said.

In order to prepare the dye, Bii are collected from the jungles. The bark of the creeper is chopped into pieces and then put in the bamboo tube for boiling. Then the white goats' hair is arranged.

The permanent red dye is used in decorating the traditional paasong, a decorated spear and mooh, used to decorate the arm during festive occasions. These are made of goat?s hair. The stick on which the coloured goat's hair is affixed is made of tisaan bang, a kind of wild palm. The other vanishing tribal arts practised by the Nocte tribe are the making of guns, salt, earthen pot and others many of which are not seen today.

Borduria village in the district was famous not only in Tirap district, but even in the plains of Assam for the black indigenous salt extracted from the many salt wells. Another art form, which is also disappearing, is the making of traditional pots. Even a few years ago Nocte tribals made earthen pots which were very popular in the entire Northeast. The pots were of different sizes. Dadam, Moktowa and Kothin villages were famous for this art.

Ranlit Nokbi, an artisan from Dadam village in Tirap district, felt administrative intervention was required to revive the moribund art forms.

The encouragement of the traditional practices would not only create employment opportunities for the disgruntled youths, but would also augment the economy of the districts, Nokbi felt.

Interestingly, traditional attires like paasong, mooh, pongpaah khaphok are again becoming popular with the tribals in the districts. "The revival of the attires would also encourage villagers to rear more goats as a spin-off as goat's hair is the raw material for these ethnic dresses," Lihang Sumnyan, another artisan from the village, said. 
source:PTI

OVERFISHING KILLING THE FISHES IN BENGAL

Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - 12:00

KOLKATA  :  It is the ultimate in Bengali cuisine and Bengalis in both India and Bangladesh swear by the delicate taste of this premium fish. But the hilsa, or ilish as Bengalis know it, may soon disappear from Bengali homes due to man's greed.

In the past few years, the population of the silvery white fish has been steadily declining in West Bengal's rivers - all due to human beings upsetting the natural balance.

However, over the past few years, fishermen have been catching adult fish as they travel from sea to river. They also catch juveniles ('khokha' in Bangla) on their way back to the sea as well as the fish eggs, considered a delicacy.

The results are there for all to see. "The dwindling population on the Bengal coast for the last decade has made everybody anxious whether the availability will be more or less sufficient or not," Shib Das from the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences in Kolkata told IANS.

Not just the fishermen, the consumers too are to blame. Earlier, many Bengalis would not eat hilsa in the season when the juveniles would swim from the river to the sea. But now, most people, especially those with disposable incomes are eating it out of season.

But there are conscientious consumers of the hilsa too. "I myself completely avoided bringing the hilsa for a few years. But consciously avoiding eating or catching hilsa on an individual level won't help," Paloma Ganguly, a Delhi resident and a hilsa aficionado, told IANS.

Would a blanket ban by India and Bangladesh help in conservation? Overfishing of the Atlantic bluefin tuna has resulted in some European countries now recommending a blanket ban on commercial fishing of the tuna.

But most agree that a blanket ban is not the answer. "Nowhere in the world are people as passionate (and crazy) about a fish as they are in Bengal. Football matches between arch rivals Mohun Bagan and East Bengal will have to be called off if there's a ban," says Delhi-based food critic Rahul Verma in a lighter vein.

Ganguly feels that "A blanket ban won't be feasible. Hilsa is a major export item for Bangladesh. I feel that there should be a collective government ban during a particular season when the eggs are hatching and the young are growing up."

Because of its anadramous nature, hilsa cannot be reared commercially. "It is a purely marine species that migrates to fresh water to spawn and then goes back to the sea. Its breeding biology, physiology and migration behaviour are all very complicated. Culturing the fish in manipulated conditions will be very difficult," said Das.

In a doomsday scenario where the hilsa goes extinct, could it be substituted by another? In expatriate Bengali communities in North America, the hilsa is often substituted with the shad fish (a type of river herring).

"No way. There's nothing that can replace the hilsa. 'Jamai Sashti' (a festival when the son-in-law of the house is feted and fed varied fish dishes) will never be the same again if the hilsa goes extinct," says Verma.

Source: 

Punjab Newsline Network

Hot stuff: India weaponizes world's hottest chili

   
Guwahati, India— The Indian military has a new weapon against terrorism: the world's hottest chili.
The bhut jolokia was accepted by Guinness World Records in 2007 as the world's spiciest chili. It is grown and eaten in India's northeast for its taste, as a cure for stomach troubles and a way to fight the crippling summer heat.After conducting tests, the military has decided to use the thumb-sized "bhut jolokia," or "ghost chili," to make tear gas-like hand grenades to immobilize suspects, defense officials said Tuesday.


It has more than 1,000,000 Scoville units, the scientific measurement of a chili's spiciness. Classic Tabasco sauce ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units, while jalapeno peppers measure anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000.
"The chili grenade has been found fit for use after trials in Indian defense laboratories, a fact confirmed by scientists at the Defense Research and Development Organization," Col. R. Kalia, a defense spokesman in the northeastern state of Assam, told The Associated Press.
"This is definitely going to be an effective nontoxic weapon because its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hide-outs," R. B. Srivastava, the director of the Life Sciences Department at the New Delhi headquarters of the DRDO said.
Srivastava, who led a defense research laboratory in Assam, said trials are also on to produce bhut jolokia-based aerosol sprays to be used by women against attackers and for the police to control and disperse mobs— The Indian military has a new weapon against terrorism: the world's hottest chili.
The bhut jolokia was accepted by Guinness World Records in 2007 as the world's spiciest chili. It is grown and eaten in India's northeast for its taste, as a cure for stomach troubles and a way to fight the crippling summer heat.After conducting tests, the military has decided to use the thumb-sized "bhut jolokia," or "ghost chili," to make tear gas-like hand grenades to immobilize suspects, defense officials said Tuesday.


It has more than 1,000,000 Scoville units, the scientific measurement of a chili's spiciness. Classic Tabasco sauce ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units, while jalapeno peppers measure anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000.
"The chili grenade has been found fit for use after trials in Indian defense laboratories, a fact confirmed by scientists at the Defense Research and Development Organization," Col. R. Kalia, a defense spokesman in the northeastern state of Assam, told The Associated Press.
"This is definitely going to be an effective nontoxic weapon because its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hide-outs," R. B. Srivastava, the director of the Life Sciences Department at the New Delhi headquarters of the DRDO said.
Srivastava, who led a defense research laboratory in Assam, said trials are also on to produce bhut jolokia-based aerosol sprays to be used by women against attackers and for the police to control and disperse mobs.