DISINVESTMENT SHOULDN'T BE POPULAR IN PSEs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s continuance of the disinvestment policy appears like the tailing of UPA government’s policy. Previously, the last NDA government had a disinvestment portfolio under Arun Shourie and it went on to pull the disinvestment throttle in full swing. The government’s plan of decreasing its share in public sector banks (PSBs) to conform to Basel-III norms by 2018-19 is just another instance of showing eagerness to disinvest in even profit making enterprises.

As per the earlier Cabinet decision, the government is to dilute its stake in three of the major profit-making public sector enterprises (PSEs) - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Coal India Limited (CIL) and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Limited- to garner an estimated total of around Rs. 45,000 crore based on the current market prices.

The government claims that from a budgetary point of view the sale of equity reduces the need for borrowing from big financial institutions, like World Bank and IMF, which increases the interest burden in future years. But this rationale for preferring disinvestment of stock in profit-making companies to borrowing to finance budgetary expenditures that are in excess of revenues is not clear from accounting point of view. Making provisions of little extra expenditure in budgetary support can save huge payment in dollars to overcome the debt.

The Union government’s reasoning that the profits of some PSEs have gone down over the past few years are true. But many in these companies and independent experts feel that the government itself is to blame for it. What happened during the 2010 Cairn India-Vedanta deal in Rajasthan smacks only of corruption. The Mangala oil rig was the largest onshore discovery of crude oil in India. But on the withdrawal of Cairn, the partner in business, ONGC, was to be the inheritor of the oil rig. However, the rig went to Vedanta under spurious arrangements.

Instead of putting more in infrastructural assistance, the government has always taken a back seat. Even after all this, the PSEs have shown a positive growth, slightly slow may be. PSEs have played a major role in devising strategies to absorb tough economic times like recession, inflation. It seems privatisation has become an easier way for private industries to work in fields developed by the PSEs.

Perhaps, the PSEs are first victims of the economic climate fostered by neo-liberalism. Huge creation of crony capitalistic market is only a tragic aftermath along with the drawing of lines among those who can spend and those who can’t. Banks and other PSEs are just the cases in point.

When Mohit turns to Javed

It was raining that day in 2012. He got off the train, closer to his family than he had been in three years. But nobody would take him those final miles. For one entire day, the 12 years-old sat, cold, forlorn, wet and crying at the Bareilly railway station. He knew his family lived in the city, but he knew not where. He tugged at shirt sleeves, but they brushed him off. “Mujhe bypass le jaao, mera ghar vahan hai.” They dismissed him and thought he was a beggar, a rag picker. He tried to tell them that he had not always been one. But no body seemed to listen. Two days later, Mohit Kumar was back at Kanpur railway station, collecting plastic bottles from the tracks for the woman who was his captor. Hunger had bested him. At least she gave him food.
In September 2009, Mohit and Javed, another boy from their locality, boarded a train to run away from their fathers. Javed was older, the mentor in this escapade. Nine years-old, Mohit thought it would be a great adventure. “Our fathers had scolded us for watching a movie at the kirana store, and he said we would go to Mumbai to be film stars. We sat on the first train we saw, and it started moving. Three stations later, Javed said he was going to toilet. I waited for him to return. He never came back,” says Mohit.
The last station was Kanpur, and Mohit was forced to get off by the railway staff. Then, she met Salma. She was older to him with some white hair. She brought him food. One roti and a leftover sabzi. The next day he became Javed Khan, younger brother to Salma. A beggar and a rag picker. He began with collecting bottles and had to collect Rs 400 a day. Slowly, Mohit was becoming Javed when he heard a man in khaki mention Bareilly. They had come looking for another child; Mohit tried to go to them but Salma became frantic and hit him.
It was sub-inspector Santosh Yadav, looking for missing children under a police operation. He found something amiss. Next day he went back to the boy and sent him back to Bareilly in white clothes with three policemen.  This time the search for home was not futile. “Mohit wapis aa gaya,” they call out worried. He smiles at his name. Javed is already fading away.

The story of a migratory home

Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon, Odisha’s Chilika Lake witnessed a huge increase in the number of feathered guests during this winter. According to the annual bird census, over 7.62 lakh migratory birds have thronged Chilika Lake this year.
“Around 7.62 lakh birds of 172 species visited the blue lagoon this year. It was found during the annual bird count, conducted at 1,100 sq km vast lake,” Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Chilika Wildlife Division Bikash Ranjan Dash, said.
The number had decreased in 2013 due to cyclone Phailin, which hit the coastal Odisha, devastating many areas of the state. “Last winter around 7.19 lakh birds of 158 species had visited the lake,” he added.
“Similarly, in 2013 and 2012, around 8.77 lakh of 180 species and 8.83 lakh birds of 167 species respectively had visited the lake. There is no new species of bird sighted in the vast lake during the census,” he said.
There are about four mouths in Chilika including the old Palur mouth. The other three are Gabakunda inlet, Dhalabali inlet and new Phailin inlet (opened after the cyclone Phailin).
The Chilika Lake in Odisha was declared as ‘Destination Flyway’ by the United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) because of its natural treasure and bio-diversity.
“Increase in number of migratory birds in the lake is attributed to the safety measures taken by wildlife authorities and improvement of the habitat in the lake,” said an ornithologist from BNHS, Mumbai. In 2006, contamination of a portion of Chilika Lake around Nalabana Birds Sanctuary has resulted in the deaths of over 1,700 migratory birds within a span of 45 days.
“Chilika is a beautiful place to visit. It has various awe-inspiring destinations like Nalabana, a must place for bird watchers with hundreds of varieties of migratory birds thronging the place every year. There are islands with pristine beaches to recapitulate. On a boat with endless water around you, a dolphin to spot now and then, it is filled with numerous spectacular experiences to have,” said a tourist.
Birds migrate from as far as the Caspian Sea, Baikal Lake and remote regions of Russia, Mongolia and Siberia. The vast mudflat in Nalabana Bird Sanctuary in Chilika Lake provides them adequate feed.
The water body also boasts off about 211 bird species, largest Irrawaddy dolphin population, 217 fish species and more than 30 migratory species, according to an estimate.  At present, about Rs 40 crore per annum is being earned from community-based eco-tourism activities.

जिस तरह से जिंदगी आज सबकी बातों का मुकाम बन गयी है, हर पल एहसास होता है की मैं अब बड़ा हो चला हूँ . जीवन की दीवारें न जाने क्यों इस मौसम में फीकी सी पड़ रही हैं. नहीं-नहीं कृप्या मेरे पेंट मैं खामी न निकालें और न ही मौसम की रुसवाई का बहाना दें. दोस्तों को बातें करता देख और सुन मैं भी कहने को ही सही पर बड़ा हो चला हूँ.

इस गर्मी में छुट्टियां तो भूल ही जायो, बस कहीं सोने का ठिकाना मिल जाये तो यह ही अच्चम्भित करने योग्य होगा. क्या करे साहिब इंजीनियरिंग में आई.आई.टी के बाहर भी तो बहुत बड़ी दुनिया होती हैं..बस हम उसी के बाशिंदे हैं. अब कीजियेगा भी तो क्या? जो कर सकते थे उसे करने की तसल्ली दिल ने लेने न दी. और जो अब कर सकते हैं उसे करने की शिद्दत तो दिल में हैं परन्तु साथ में "परन्तु" भी है!

चलिए फ़र्ज़ कीजिये हम अपना मुकाम ढूँढने निकल गए अपनी बस्ती से बिना लॉव-लश्कर के. जानते हैं जहां भर की बाते सुन्नी पड़ेंगी लेकिन दिल ने तो अब इनसे घबराना ही छोड़ दिया है. डर फिर भी है मुझे..जानता हूँ, करने का माद्दा भी रखता हूँ. बस जब माँ-पापा का ख्याल आता है तो कदम पीछे खींचने की हिम्मत आ जाती है. समझ नही आता की किस प्रकार निरंतरता का साथ दे पाउँगा? 

 

 

Snakes that catches people

Dhenkanal: The Dhenkanal district has its share of beauty
surrounded by peaks, moderate temperature, water bodies along with diverse family of reptiles that include snake in prominence. If Dhenkanal citizens enjoy serene beauty over head, they are often cautioned of serpentines on earth.

Envenoming - to make somebody poisonous - resulting from snake bites is a particularly important public health problem in rural areas. “A recent study estimates that at least 421,000 envenomings and 20,000 deaths occur worldwide from snakebite each year, but warns that these figures may be as high as 1,841,000 envenomings and 94,000 deaths”, says a WHO statement provided by Dr. Sujata Rani Misra, Asst District Medical Officer, District Headquarters’ Hospital (DHH), Dhenkanal.

The major groups of snakes causing envenoming are the elapids (cobras, kraits, mambas etc.) and vipers, and in some regions, sea snakes. Mr Sreenu Appikonda of Dhenkanal Science Centre informed that of these, Russell’s viper, Bamboo-pit viper, Banded krait, Common krait, King cobra, Spectacled cobra are the highly poisonous breeds that exists and catches people in Dhenkanal.

Snake venom is a complex mixture of many different compounds. “The clinical features of the bites of venomous snakes reflect the effects of venom components. These include swelling of the bitten limb to skin and muscle necrosis, abnormal blood clotting, hypotension and shock, neurotoxicity sometimes leading to paralysis of respiratory muscles requiring assisted ventilation”, added Dr. Misra.

Envenoming following snakebite is largely a neglected threat to public health. It affects mainly the poor in deprived rural areas where health facilities are limited and anti-venoms may be hard to obtain. To combat this menace, “DHH Dhenkanal is equipped with anti-snake venom serum polyvalent vaccines, as the varieties of snakes are vivid in this region”, claims Dr. Misra, who treats 12 patients of envenoming every week.