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Ginger cultivation in Mysuru district destroying the Environment

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Photo: K.K. Mustafah

Photo: K.K. Mustafah

by Vivek Cariappa

To:

The Deputy Commissioner and Dist. Magistrate, 6th Nov, 2013.
Mysore district.
Dear Madam,

Ginger cultivation in Mysore district is growing exponentially this year as the projected prices have shot up. Agricultural irrigated lands are being leased at high rates all over.

Ginger growing in Mysore is taken up by growers from Kerala, who have come across the border because Kerala state has banned many of the toxic pesticides used in Ginger cultivation; furthermore, land and labour are cheaper here making the ginger crop even more lucrative.

Out of state cultivators avail ALL the agri subsidies given to our farmers ( e.g. Finance, irrigation, power, fertilizer, sprinkler and drip irrigation equipment subsidy, etc.) and the crop is harvested and taken back to Kerala without payment of any taxes of any kind to Karnataka. As if this was not bad enough, these contract farmers leave behind a plethora of problems ranging from health issues to toxic pollution of our local water bodies, soil, air and ground water.

Irresponsible usage of huge amounts of toxic chemicals , in certain cases, have in the past resulted in severe damage and extensive losses to certified organic farms and sericulture operations. The first step for Ginger cultivation is to change the PH by adding huge quantities of lime to the soil, making the soil highly alkaline: this is permanently devastating to other crops grown thereafter.

Ginger cultivation uses huge amounts of herbicides (2-4D being one of them) Roundup in particular , pesticides and fungicides. Some of them like 2-4D and Endosulfan are banned in India, the ban is enforced in Kerala as the toxicity has had disastrous effects on the people there.

Most of these chemical residues end up in local water bodies causing unseen pollution and direct poisoning of all life forms in the water. Those that survive carry lethal concentrations of toxins that effect human and animal health in insidious and long term ways.

Last year as the water levels in ALL our water bodies was exceptionally low, the actual toxicity levels ended up dangerously high with increased Ginger cultivation. This will have widespread effects as toxicity levels increase.

As a warning, take the case of Ginger cultivation along the Kabini, Taraka and Nugu rivers and in the Paddy fields irrigated by these 3 Dams, the water, along with its toxic wash off is being supplied for drinking purposes to towns and cities as close as Nanjangud and as far as Mysore and Bangalore. Even in the villages; one village on the river side upstream pollutes water for the one’s down stream.

This year ginger cultivators are paying upto Rs.50,000 per acre per year, and have extended their operations within and around the Notified Eco-Sensitive Zone (Bandipur National Park), what effect this will have on the surrounding wildlife is left to the imagination, as no one is paying any attention at the ground level.

Further, in H.D.Kote a lot of the land being leased belongs to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) people. This makes them landless labor on their own lands. The question here is WHO WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS HEINOUS CRIME?

I sincerely urge the Government of Karnataka, specially the administration of Mysore district to regulate Ginger cultivation carefully to ensure minimum damage to our general environment and specifically our soil, water and health – human and animal (domesticated and wild life). To not take pre-emptive action would not be just negligent but a willful destruction of our natural resources, biodiversity and the future lives of our population.

Some suggestions:

  1. All lease of land for Ginger cultivation must be legally registered with the revenue and agriculture dept. and the local APMC, only on issue of license should cultivation commence. Forest dept should restrict the areas under ginger cultivation in eco-sensitive zones and regulate the chemicals being used and its effects in terms of wash off.

  2. Banned and highly toxic pesticides must be avoided. The relevant ban must be enforced and offenders punished according to law.

  3. Ginger cultivation must be banned in eco-sensitive areas such as near forests, on the banks of lakes, rivers and dams.

  4. Being a cash crop the harvested produce should be taxed according to state norms.

  5. Ensure that license for Ginger cultivation is Not granted near Sericulture operations and silk worm rearing houses, and do not pollute certified organic farms.

  6. Enforce the Legislation for penalizing the polluter for toxic pollution resulting from Ginger cultivation.

Ginger cultivation is cheap in Karnataka as the environmental costs have not been calculated and paid for as yet, that is why contractors from Kerala have been operating here. The pollution control board needs to make regular checks on Ginger growing farms to ensure existing laws are adhered to.

Mysore is not only a tourist hot spot, the district is an Internationally recognised Bio-Diversity zone, with forests and National Parks. The ill effects of excessive use of highly toxic chemicals here will show up only in the future, as it did in Kasargod dist. of Kerala, where use of Endosulfan had permanent damage on the people and environment, by the time the authorities reacted it was too late for many.

Can we hope to be more proactive here, and learn from our neighbors mistakes ?

Looking forward to an early response from you,

Yours sincerely,

Vivek Cariappa

Halasur village, Birwal P.O. H.D.Kote taluk . 571121 . Mysore dt.

Vivek Cariappa is an organic farmer and Karnataka State award-winner

Satellite image shows fighter jet launching missile at Malaysian Boeing MH17

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Satellite image shows fighter jet launching missile at Malaysian Boeing MH17

by Pravda.Ru

An anonymous individual sent a letter with a satellite image and results of their own investigation into the disaster of Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight in Ukraine, writes LifeNews. The letter arrived from the USA. One of the photos, which was exposed to the general public by First Channel on November 13th, clearly depicts the Malaysian Boeing and the attacking fighter, supposedly a MiG-29.

The photo also depicts the moment of the missile launch from the fighter jet into the cockpit of the passenger liner. Experts note that the terrain, weather conditions and the dimensions of the aircraft fully correspond to the circumstances of the disaster.

“We saw a satellite image that was taken from not very high orbit for general reconnaissance of air and ground space. In accordance with the coordinates specified on the picture, we may assume that the picture was taken from an American or a British satellite. We conducted a detailed analysis of the image and found no signs of forgery,” vice president of the Russian Union of engineers, Ivan Andrievsky, told First Channel.

The Malaysian Airlines airliner, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed on July 17 at about 19:00 Moscow time near the village of Snezhnoye, in the Donetsk region. The crash left no survivors – all 298 people were killed. Official international investigation, led by the Netherlands, has been unable to shed light on the circumstances of the tragedy.

On board the airplane, there were 298 people, 154 nationals of the Netherlands, 27 Australians, 45 Malaysians (including 15 crew members), 12 Indonesians, nine Britons and four German nationals, four Belgians, three Filipinos and one Canadian.

Noteworthy, Pravda.Ru analyzed this version of the disaster in August in an article about Romanian military expert and pilot Valentin Vasilescu, who said that the plane was shot down by Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter that was possibly piloted by a Polish pilot.

Also read: Boeing-777 was downed by Ukrainian MiG-29, Romanian expert says

The expert strongly rejected the version, according to which the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, which, according to American and Ukrainian versions, was launched from a Buk-M1 complex owned by militia forces.

The plane, as shown by black boxes, fell apart in the air, which was possible only in case of horizontal peak from an altitude of ten thousand feet.

“Teach about Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi as national hero”: Global Hindu Foundation to Ministry of Education

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by Teesta Setalvad

Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi is a “national hero” who “fought for independence from the British” and whose reputation has been tarnished by previous governments and who should figure prominently among the new list of national heroes to be taught in all government schools.

So urges a controversial letter dated November 15, 2014 addressed to Smriti Irani, cabinet minister for Human Resources Development, and posted on the home page of savetemples.org, the website of the “Mission to Save Hinduism and Hindu Temples”. Touted as a ‘Project of Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) USA’, the mission operates out of the ‘Save Temple Office’ opened in Hyderabad city in June 2012.

The letter urges that the Modi government should encourage teaching about national heroes “who sacrificed their life in order to guarantee freedom for the future generations.” According to the letter Godse is one such.

“…It is time to teach about their heroism, their love for Bharath, their struggles with British rulers, their imprisonment, their hangings and/or suffering. Their martyrdom is unparalleled and unmatched. They cheerfully sacrificed their life for the sake of the people of Bharat to enjoy their unbridled freedom with dignity and pride.” Others, who figure in this letter along with Godse who deserve to be taught about are Balagangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal, Subhash Chandra Bose, Veer Savarkar, Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, Sukhdev, Chandrasekhar Azhad, Vasudev Balwant Phadke and the Chapekar brothers.” Needless to say, Gandhi does not figure in the list; nor does Jawaharlal Nehru, or even Sardar Patel.

It appears that the Save Temple project is funded entirely through saffron dollars raised in the US. The appeal for donations towards the end of the letter informs potential donors that the GHHF is exempt from the US federal income tax rules. It is not clear whether the Save Temple Project is registered under FCRA.

The letter also stated that most of the books written by Marxists, Muslims and Western historians “are so slanted, abusive, hateful, repulsive and intolerable to the true history of India, so derogatory to the national freedom fighters, so demonizing to Sanatana dharma, so negligent of the contributions of great emperors to establish Hindutva, and so boastful of the Muslim aggressors as contributors to the Indian culture”. The letter extols the virtues of Subramanian Swamy for “calling for the burning of the writings by Nehruvian historians.”

The letter adds that, “We feel that it is time to fire all these left wing historians who have stabbed the Mother India for many decades and employ those scholars who appreciate the richness of the Sanatana Dharma into National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), National Censor Board and other agencies. It is time to reclaim what is lost, revamp the whole school curriculum, and rewrite the history debunking these leftwing Nehruvian historians.”

This letter comes at a time when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s brand of history writing is attempting a complete capture of India’s institutes of higher learning and research, and also at a time when the RSS backed Shiksha Bachao Andolan is planning a national level conference at Ujjain of 200 ‘academics and experts’ to ‘review’ the emphasis and focus of the previous Radhakrishnan, Mudaliar and Kothari Commission reports. Supremacist and exclusivist brands of ‘history writing’ are making their political advantage felt with their unquestionable hold on the Modi government.

In this letter sent to Smruti Irani today, the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation has also, chosen specifically to advise the Modi government to misinform Indian children about the three sites of perpetrated conflict that have had specific import for the politics of communal mobilisation in India since the mid- 1980s, that is Faizabad-Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. The issue of the site where the Babri Masjid, a 400 year old Mosque stood is at present before the Supreme Court of India after the Mosque was illegally demolished on December 6, 1992. The other two sites, at Mathura and Kashi, have been at the heart of the BJP-RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal mobilisation that aims to ‘re-claim’ or ‘destroy’ the Mosques that stand cheek by jowl to temples at these sites. Presently they are governed by the Places of Worship Act, 1991 have also mentioned in a Supreme Court directive, generally protecting their status. An infamous slogan of far right in India since 1992 when the 400 year old Mosque was demolished has been,’ Abhi to bas yah jhanki hai, Kashi Mathura baki hai’ (This gives but a glimpse, Kashi/Banaras and Mathura still remain [as the objective]).

This letter quite clearly exhorts the Modi government that, school text books, “should also teach children as to how Krishna Janma Sthala was destroyed, how Ayodhya was converted to Babri Masjid, how Kashi Vishwanath Temple was destroyed and built Mosque in front of the Temple, and how more than 2000 Temples were converted to Mosques.”

Other suggestions coming from the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation include the compulsory teaching of the Bhagwad Geeta in schools where the letter says a “….a mere chanting of few verses is enough to awaken the consciousness of the individual and maintain the balance between the body, mind and soul. In fact, it improves the brain capacity to absorb the knowledge; teach the individual the responsibility of their dharma; emphasize the importance of bhakti, Jnana, karma and raja yoga; equip the individual fearless and give the needed strength to face the problems at hand; encourages one to think and uphold the dharma to protect human existence; and so on. No age is bar to learn and chant Bhagavad Gita. As young as three year olds chant the divine song. Its message is unmatched, unparalleled and unrivalled.”

The Ramayana should also be taught since “ Rama’s name is on the lips of every Hindu. He taught us to be a perfect son, a perfect brother, perfect husband, a perfect enemy, and a perfect king. He taught us how to live according to dharma in the face of un-surmountable hurdles.

Unashamed in its motive to convert history teaching – from a vibrant discipline with specific disciplinary tools for interpretation, analysis, verification and authentication that include contemporaneous sources, an understanding of archaeology, and secondary sources, a thorough reading of ancient and medieval languages — to a politico-religious project, the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation says it would like to see “Rama portrayed as a living national hero and Indian history as Sanatani (upper caste) Hindu… Lord Rama, who is known for his compassion, gentleness, kindness, righteousness, non-hatred, and integrity, has served as role model for all of us to follow for millennia. His respect for father and obedience to his command was unparalleled that all humanity should emulate. Guru-Sishya relationship was emboldened in Ramayana for all of us follow, cherish and nurture, especially in the modern society…”

“…Sita, Lakshmana, Bharatha, Dasaratha, Jataayu, Vali, Vibhishana, and Lord Hanuman have shaped the mind, body and soul of Bharath for many millennia. Every character teaches us how to live a dharmic life and how to establish Ramarajya where justice is rendered without consideration for the name and fame. Ramayana taught us the richness of valor, dharma, loyalty, mutual respect, bhakti, spirituality, wisdom and Jnana to be followed in daily life to uplift the spirit of human life. The message of Ramayana spread all over Asia and even today its popularity is unabated in countries like Cambodia, Java, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Sumatra, Thailand, Mauritius, Bali and other countries.”

Indians should be taught about the ‘Hindu Holocaust’ when 80 million Hindus were stabbed by Muslims in barabaric slaughter according to the Global Hindu Foundation in a letter to the government of India’s Minister for Human Resources Development (MHRD) Smruti Irani today. Gory and unsubstantiated descriptions of Hindus who refused to convert and who were taken atop the mountains and killed with ‘blood flowing from the mountain to the streets below’ find mention in this letter from this Hyderabad based affiliate of the sangh parivar.

The website of the GHF states that it is aimed towards “ Empowering Hindus- Towards a Hindu Worldview” and the controversial letter dated November 15, 2014 addressed to Smruti Irani, cabinet minister for Human Resources Development, and posted on the home page of savetemples.org, the website of the “Mission to Save Hinduism and Hindu Temples”. Touted as a ‘Project of Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, (GHHF) USA’, the mission operates out of the ‘Save Temple Office’ opened in Hyderabad city in June 2012.

The letter of the GHF, dated November 15, 2014 clearly emboldened by the regime in power in New Delhi, also states that students should be given a realistic picture of the brutal regimes of the past (read Muslim and Christian) when ‘Murthies were broken and remnants of Hindu statues used to build Mosques.” Students should also be taught in schools about how “how many Temples were converted to Mosques, how many Christians are converting the Hindus with deception and allurement, how minority appeasement is affecting the quality education and such similar issues should be addressed. Vast literature dealing with “Islamic onslaught” and “Goa Inquisition” should also be included to know the history of denial of fundamental rights to Hindus.”

The politicised project to completely colour and distort the teaching of the social sciences with a majoritarian and supremacist worldview, one moreover that stokes false hatreds against Muslims and Chritisans is in tune with the Shiksha Bachao Andolan (SBA) project run by Dinanath Batra.

Other subjects that the GHF feels should be taught to students through government run schools”

Great Saints of India

“…School books should include the history, message and glory of great saints of India such as Adi Sankara, Madhvacharya, Ramanujacharya, Meerabai, Kabir, Tukaram, Eknath, Gnaneswar, Namdev, Bhagawan Nityananda, Satya Saibaba, Sri Pada Vallabha, Narasimha Swamy, Samarth Ramdas, Veda Vyasa, Valmiki, Sri Aurobindo, Muktananda, Gorakhnad, Sri Prabhupada, Chinmayananda, Ramana Maharishi Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda and host of others. They have kept alive the richness of our culture in spite of the attempts destroy the ancient civilization.

“…The saints have played significant role in the preservation propagating the ideas and philosophies that were necessary to bring unity and much needed reforms to bring the appropriate changes in the society. Considering the Mughal domination of the India, the saints veered and helped bhaktas toward Bhakti marga, the path of devotion, instead encouraging them to conduct Temples pujas, especially North India.

Hindu Temples – History and relevance

“It is time to know the power, energy, and vibrations present in Hindu Temples. They are the place of worship where devotees worship their chosen Gods at different times day in and day out. Devotees go to the Hindu Temples to experience the infinite divine power through their individual prayers as well as collective worship. Hindu Temples have been built over more than twenty centuries providing opportunity to practice their social, religious and cultural milieu. Each Temple is dedicated to one of the manifestation of infinite power of the unfathomable divinity of the Almighty. Every Temple will have a sanctum sanctorum with a presiding Deity who represents the power and energy of GOD. Hindus believe that God is ever powerful, all pervasive, everywhere and everything is in God.

“…The Hindu Temples have served as centers of learning and knowledge; foci for social gathering; institutes for art, dance and music; hubs for upholding the dharmic values; nucleus for peace and nonviolence; lighthouses for philosophy and spirituality, cornerstones for worship services; promoters of age old, time tested universal values; institutes for yoga and meditation; holy places for conducting different festivals and rituals; and nexus for expressing devotion through music, singing and chanting; and centers for social services.

Gomata

“…Cow is revered, respected and honored and is regarded as a holy mother. Cows milk is light and easily digestible for a child. Its products such as milk, ghee, urine, cow dung and curd, and are considered sacred and has many medicinal values that improve the health of the humans and purifies the climate. Cow is considered as Kamadhenu (wish fulfilling Deity).

Lord Krishna worshipped cows, used to play flute that attracted the cows and used assemble around him.

“…All the scriptures such as Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Mahabharata, Manusmriti, and others extoll the virtues of the cow. All the Gods reside in her and killing her is considered the most heinous crime. It is often said “jivantu avadghnyah ta me vishasya dushanih” meaning that let cows live without slaughter for their whole life-they remove poison and toxins. Many sages, many Hindu Temples and numerous Ashrams maintained Goshalas (cow shelters) for centuries recognizing the numerous benefits that accrue from the cows.

The ancient ‘Hindu Past’, its ways of relating between men and women and the Scientific achievements of Ancient India are the values that should be taught in Central government schools today.

In a detailed letter written to the Minister for Human Resources Development (MHRD) Smruti Irani today, November 15, 2014, the Hyderabad based Global Hindu Foundation (GHF), has, taking a leaf out of Dinanath Batra’s nine books being taught as Supplemenatry materials to four hundred thousand students in Gujarat’s schools, urged the Modi government to take this model of teaching to the nation. This letter has been posted on the home page of savetemples.org, the website of the “Mission to Save Hinduism and Hindu Temples”. Touted as a ‘Project of Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, (GHHF) USA’, the mission operates out of the ‘Save Temple Office’ opened in Hyderabad city in June 2012.

Apart from the exhortations to teach Nathuram Godse as a ‘National Hero who fought the British’, and unsubstantiated details about a ‘Hindu holocaust by Muslims, this letter states that the following subjects should be taught in Central government schools:

Mahabharata

“…Mahabharata is one of the greatest epics and every single character teaches us the richness of our culture and traditions, morals and ethics that surpass the time. Numerous are the characters and numerous are the lessons one can learn from Mahabharata. Yudhishtira taught us how to follow dharma in face of numerous difficulties also the weakness of (gambling) that can bring down the kingdom; Bhishma taught us how to fulfill the wishes of his father and sacrificed his life as well as keeping his word for the rest of life and maintain celibacy; King Santanu taught us danger of yielding to sensate pleasure and the weakness toward other sex; Karna taught us the consequences of blind loyalty and passion for power as well as the generous nature of dana (gift); Dhritarashtra taught us how blind love for children can cause untold misery and destruction for the humanity, also how passion for children can smog the moral and impartial judgment; Draupadi taught us how even a small weakness resulted ….can… lead to war of destruction and also taught us how to behave with the husbands; and other characters such as Pandu, Veda Vyasa, Kunti, Dushyasana, Shikhandi, Satyavati and others were equally important in teaching us the morals and code of conduct.
“….. Finally the teaching of Bhagavad Gita by Lord Krishna to Arjuna about the responsibility of a Kshatriya and in general about Swadharma is unmatched humanity in recognizing the importance of Sthitipragna.

Puranic Stories and Morals

“In Naimisharanya, the assembled sages worshipped the learned Romaharshana and said, “Please tell us the stories of the Puranas. Who created the universe, who is its preserver and who will destroy it? Please instruct us in all these mysteries.” There are 18 main Puranas and18 upapuranas that describe the various aspects of cosmology and are considered the storehouse of stories that enriched with morals and traditions; manifestations of (dasavataras) Vishnu incarnations, and the paths of karma, bhakti and Jnana yogas. In fact they even described the origin of the universe, life cycles, trials, tribulations and richness of human life, respect for living and nonliving elements and scientific nature of the universe. They talk about the worship services, numerous samskaras, formation of earth, and mathematical expressions of the universe. They give us the experiences of people through their stories, symbols and rituals. Every community has its own reality, but underneath all these realities there is an underlying theme governing the basic principles and morals that guide the human life.

Panchatantra Stories

Panchatantra is a collection stories that teach us how to behave in a particular situation; how to solve the problems one faces; whom to trust and not to trust; how to keep your word against all odds; how to use your intellect instead of arms; how to avoid distrust among friends; how one should not deny the shelter to a needy person; how one should work toward accumulation of wealth and how to protect it; and how one should share their wealth and to whom.

The Scientific achievements

“…It is time to create pride among our youth about our scientific achievements. It was the Yogic seers who invented many mathematical calculations such as Zero, Decimals, Phi, Geometry, Algebra, computer language and more. Arbyabhatta was the champion of Astronomy and Mathematics, Bhaskaracharya was the genius of Algebra, Acharya Kanad was the founder of Atomic Theory, Naragrjuna was the wizard of Chemical Science, Acharya Charaka was the father of Medicine, Acharya Sushruta was the champion of Plastic Surgery, Varahamihra was the eminent Astronomer and Astrology, Patanjali was the father of Yoga Sutras, Acharya Bharadwaja was the pioneer of Aviation Technology, Acharya Kapila was the father of cosmology, and many more.”

Karnataka police circular asks officers to scrutinize passports of Muslims and Christians

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Muslims-in-India

Bengaluru: A police circular asking officers to scrutinize deeper passport applications from Muslims and Christians has stirred a controversy in Karnataka.

Amar Kumar Pandey, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of the Internal Security Wing, faxed the circular to police commissioners of Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum, all major cities in the state with sizeable population of minority groups.

The circular states “Apart from verifying the nationality of applicants clearing passport applications, police should find out religion and sub-sect details. In case of Muslims, they should find out if the applicant is Sunni or Shia. If s/he is Sunni, then delve deeper and find out if the applicant belongs to Deobandi or Barelvi or Ahle-Hadith sub sect. Similarly, if an applicant hails from the Christian community, details like Roman Catholic or Protestant etc should be collected.”

When quizzed by a city newspaper, Pandey defended himself saying he did it in the interest of national security by focusing on “developments across the world.” He refused to divulge further reasons for his issuing the circular saying it was in the interest of ‘security.’

Later he retracted on the circular saying it is “temporarily” withdrawn adding “at this moment, the circular issued by me is null and void. We will take a fresh call on it after remaining it after reexamining the matter. It may take three or four days.”

Though the circular is scrapped “temporarily,” the motivation behind Pandey’s action is still uncertain. When the media questioned him why Hindus have not been named, he gave an evasive reply, saying, “There are so many sub-castes. We are doing it.” But he had no substantive explanation to back his claim.

Modi govt to lend $1 billion for Adani Australia coal mine

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Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

Melbourne/Agencies: Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) won support on Monday from the State Bank of India (SBI) and an Australian state to help it build a $7 billion coal mine, defying a slump in coal prices to 5-1/2 year lows that has stalled rival projects.

The trading and infrastructure conglomerate signed a memorandum of understanding for a loan of up to $1 billion from the SBI for the mine, rail and port project in Queensland, which it aims to build by end-2017.

“The MOU with SBI is a significant milestone in the development of our Carmichael mine,” Adani Group Chairman and founder, Gautam Adani, who has close ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said in a statement.

Adani was in Brisbane with a business delegation for the G20 summit, which Modi attended over the weekend.

The company also won a commitment from the state government to take short-term, minority stakes in rail and port infrastructure needed to unlock massive coal reserves in the untapped Galilee Basin. Coal from the region must be sent 400 km by rail to Australia’s east coast.

Adani aims to reach a final investment decision on the Carmichael project in late 2015.

Australia’s federal and Queensland governments are eager to see the mine built following the loss of more than 4,000 coal jobs over the past two years, but analysts and project finance experts believe Adani may have underestimated the challenge of raising funds for the project.

“People have been very sceptical about the financing of this project. As we always said, we’ll keep getting this, one by one. The pieces are falling in place,” Adani Mining CEO Jeyakumar Janakaraj told Reuters.

Adani, which is also facing a campaign by anti-coal campaigners, is counting on securing A$1.2 billion to A$1.5 billion in funding from South Korea’s export credit agencies, as well as a loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

The company’s apparent momentum on Carmichael is in stark contrast to rival Indian firm GVK’s slow progress on another huge coal mine in the Galilee Basin, the Alpha project, which is co-owned by Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart.

Much bigger coal rivals, like BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) and Glencore (GLEN.L), have shelved coal developments at a time when a third of Australia’s coal output is making losses.

Janakaraj dismissed comments by Indian Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal that the country may be able to stop importing thermal coal within three years.

Women inmates allege forced sex in jail

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Parappana Agrahara

Bengaluru: Some wardens force women convicts to have sex with male convicts, according to a letter written from inside the Bangalore Central Prison. Signed by a group of women inmates, the letter alleges the wardens charge the men between Rs 300 and Rs 500 for the ‘service’.

A judge who found two letters in a grievances box — detailing the goings-on at the Parappana Agrahara prison — has forwarded them to the Karnataka High Court for action. The letters, copies of which have been accessed by Express, are addressed to the Chief Justice of Karnataka, and seek his intervention to end the rampant exploitation of women convicts. One of the letters lists the names of wardens and officials who send convicts to male prisoners, and extort bribes.

The women are allegedly fleeced for everything: they pay Rs 200 to Rs 300 just to meet relatives, even though the visits are legitimate.

Officials have created an environment where nothing can be accessed without money. This forces women convicts to give in to their pressure, the letter, written in Kannada, states. “If we don’t pay, they yell at us like they would at dogs, and don’t allow us to talk to our relatives,” it says.

The Home Department has been ordered to conduct an inquiry into the alleged sexual harassment of women inmates in the Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara, said Home Minister K.J. George, who also holds Prison Department portfolio, on Friday. “We have asked the Home secretary to conduct a detailed probe and submit the report in 15 days,” he said.

However, Deputy Inspector General of Prison, P M Jayasimha said, “The women wardens mentioned in the report do not work in the Central prison any more and did not have access inside the prison.” The prison is covered with CCTV cameras and the barracks for men and women inmates are separated by at least half a kilometre, he added.

The inmates could have discussed their problem when a high-level committee from Delhi comprising 15 women, which visited the prison to enquire into their well-being, he said.

Tsunami alert sparks panic in Indonesia

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Tsunami Indonesia

Kota Ternate, Indonesia/AFP: A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia Saturday, sparking a tsunami warning and causing panicked people to flee their homes.

Small waves generated by the undersea quake were detected in several parts of the sprawling archipelago, local authorities said, although there were no reports of casualties or major damage and the tsunami warning was lifted after a short while.

Nevertheless, the prospect of a major tsunami set nerves on edge in one of the most seismically active countries in the world, almost a decade after quake-triggered destructive waves devastated western Aceh province.

The tsunami of December 26, 2004, left more than 170,000 people dead in Aceh, on Sumatra island, and tens of thousands more in countries with coasts on the Indian Ocean.

Saturday’s tremor struck northwest of the town of Kota Ternate, at 0231 GMT, the US Geological Survey said. It was followed by a series of aftershocks that measured between magnitude 4.3 and 5.8, the USGS said.

“Tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 kilometres,” said the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The centre also warned of small tsunami waves in the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and islands in the South Pacific.

On the tiny Sangihe Islands close to the epicentre in Indonesia, people ran out of their homes when the quake hit, Toni Supit, head of the islands’ Sitaro district, told AFP.

“People in coastal areas felt the strong quake, which lasted for quite some time, and they immediately went to the sea to see if the water was receding abnormally, which is a sign of an incoming tsunami,” he said.

  • Ring of fire –

Tsunami waves nine centimetres high were detected at Jailolo on Halmahera island, in the Maluku Islands, the meteorological agency said. Tiny waves were also detected in Tobelo on Halmahera, and in Manado, on nearby Sulawesi island.

An agency official on Sulawesi said early reports indicated that cracks had appeared in the walls of some houses after the quake, although full damage reports had yet to come in.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said earlier that waves up to one metre high could hit parts of Indonesia, while waves below 30 centimetres were forecast for the coasts of the Philippines.

Indonesia’s meteorological agency warned people in the northern Maluku Islands and in the north of Sulawesi in particular to stay away from the coast.

Julius Galgiano, a Philippine government seismologist, said the Philippines had also issued a tsunami warning.

“We are telling (local communities) to have a tsunami watch in areas along the coast,” he said, but added that no evacuation orders had been issued and the tsunami waves were not expected to be high.

Around two hours after the quake, the warning centre said there was no longer a tsunami threat.

“The tsunami threat from this earthquake has now mostly passed. Any remaining threat should be evaluated by local authorities in impacted areas,” it said.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity, and has been hit by numerous deadly earthquakes over the years.

A 6.1-magnitude quake that hit inland in Aceh in July last year left at least 30 people dead and thousands homeless. It caused a mosque to collapse in one village, killing six children as they took part in a Koran reading session.

Meet the warmongering billionaires who will spend a fortune to influence the next U.S president

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The candidates will be flooded with money from these pro-Israel extremists.

Sheldon Adelson, left, and Haim Saban flank Israeli-America Council Chairman Shawn Evenhaim at the IAC conference in D.C. (Shahar Azran)

Sheldon Adelson, left, and Haim Saban flank Israeli-America Council Chairman Shawn Evenhaim at the IAC conference in D.C. (Shahar Azran)

by Alex Kane is AlterNet

On November 9, the ugly face of America’s money-saturated election process was put on full display.

Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban, two billionaires with right-wing, pro-Israel agendas, took the stage at the Israeli American Council’s inaugural conference in Washington, D.C. They fantasized about bombing Iran and about buying the New York Times because they said it’s biased against Israel. Both are bound to play an outsized role in the 2016 presidential elections by flooding the campaign with money to support their favored candidates. In a post-Citizens United world, Adelson and Saban are kings, and Israel will be the beneficiary of their largesse if the donors have the ear of a future president.

Saban and Adelson are on opposite ends of the mainstream (and narrow) political spectrum. Adelson is a casino mogul who bankrolled the 2012 presidential campaigns of GOP candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. Saban is in the entertainment business and is a major Democratic Party donor. But when it comes to U.S. foreign policy and Israel, Saban and Adelson take many of the the same positions, displaying an eagerness for war with Iran and a desire to keep the U.S. alliance with Israel rock-solid.

“There’s no right or left when it comes to Israel,” Saban said in what news reports called a joking reference to the moguls’ seating positions at the conference where they spoke.

But the quip was more than just a joke. It was a nod to how the Democratic and Republican parties are united in singing Israel’s praise, backing its military actions and voting to give the country $3.1 billion in U.S. military aid annually. If Adelson’s and Saban’s chosen candidates in 2016 get their way, that unity will shine through during the presidential campaign, with the debate being reduced to who would support Israel the most.

Saban, an Israeli-American famous for producing the TV show Power Rangers, is currently the CEO of the Saban Capital Group, which invests in media companies around the world. A 2010 New Yorker profile of Saban by Connie Bruck paints a portrait of a man who is heavily influential, charming and hawkish. “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel,” he told the New York Times in 2004.

At the the event with Adelson, Saban had a crude prescription for what Israel should do about Iran. “I would bomb the living daylights out of the sons of bitches.” The answer came during a discussion of what Saban would do if he were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and thought a nuclear deal with Iran was a threat to Israel.

His chosen candidate is Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic Party nomination in 2016. As Bruck reported in the New Yorker, Saban has given millions of dollars to the Clintons in the form of donations to Bill Clinton’s presidential library and the Clinton Global Initiative.

Speaking about Clinton to the Washington Post at the conference, Saban said, “I have told her and everybody who’s asked me, ‘Whatever it takes, we’re going to be there…’ She would be a fantastic president for the United States, an incredible world leader and one under whom I believe — deeply — the relationship with the U.S. and Israel will be significantly reinforced.”

Clinton has given backers like Saban ample reason for thinking of her as the perfect candidate for Israel. During the 2008 presidential election, Clinton was asked by ABC’s “Good Morning America” what she would do if Iran used a nuclear weapon on Israel. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them,” she said. This year, in an interview with the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, she doubled down on her pro-Israel agenda. “If I were the prime minister of Israel, you’re damn right I would expect to have control over security [in the West Bank],” she said.

GOP donor Adelson’s choice for who to back in the 2016 race is trickier. The leading GOP candidates include people like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, two politicians with divergent views on U.S. foreign policy, though Paul has been moving towards a more hawkish position in recent months. What is more clear is that Adelson’s impact, no matter who he backs, will be large. After the GOP losses in 2012, Adelson promised he would “double” his donations to the party. That means Adelson is prepared to spend as much as $300 million on Republican candidates.

Adelson, who made his fortune in the casino business, is one of the richest people in the world. He has used his largesse to shower pro-Israel groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Zionist Organization of America with millions of dollars. In 2012, it was Adelson who prolonged the GOP primary by boosting Newt Gingrich, who famously proclaimed, in line with Adelson’s views, that the Palestinian people were “invented,” that there is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. When Gingrich finally dropped out, Adelson gave $30 million to a pro-Mitt Romney super-PAC.

His influence in the Republican Party was made clear in March of this year. Chris Christie and other potential presidential candidates flew out to speak to the Adelson-backed Republican Jewish Coalition. But Christie tripped up when he used the term “occupied territories” to refer to the West Bank and Gaza. While the Palestinian territories are indeed under occupation–a term used even by the U.S. State Department–Adelson and his ilk reject that view. The audience at the RJC event in March was no fan of the “occupied” remark, and Christie later apologized to Adelson.

The casino mogul apparently believes Israel should hold onto the West Bank forever, even at the cost of democracy in the area. “I don’t think the Bible says anything about democracy,” Adelson said on November 9. “God talked about all the good things in life. He didn’t talk about Israel remaining as a democratic state, otherwise Israel isn’t going to be a democratic state — so what?”

Adelson also said that the U.S. should “not just talk [with Iran]. I would take action.” Last year, Adelson made waves when he suggested that President Obama should launch a nuclear weapon at Iran to send a message to the country’s leaders. Saban’s and Adelson’s tough talk on Iran comes as a deadline to reach a final nuclear agreement with Iran approaches. Many Democrats and Republicans are deeply skeptical of reaching any deal with Iran.

The 2016 election campaign will likely feature the GOP and Democratic candidates slugging it out on issues like climate change, inequality and immigration. But when it comes to Israel and Iran, the two candidates, backed by people like Saban and Adelson, will have many of the same prescriptions: ramp up pressure on Iran and back Israel no matter what. The only debate will be on how far to take those positions. Think of it as a battle between the Saban position of bombing the “sons of bitches” vs. the Adelson position of nuking Iran.

US/India WTO agreement: How corporate greed trumps needs of world's poor and hungry

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‘The big question is why do governments even need the WTO to decide whether they can guarantee the right to food to their people?

Farmers harvesting in India. (Photo: Asian Development Bank/Rakesh Sahai/flickr/cc)

Farmers harvesting in India. (Photo: Asian Development Bank/Rakesh Sahai/flickr/cc)

by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams

The United States cheered on Thursday an agreement it reached with India as progress for the World Trade Organization (WTO). Critics, however, say deal is likely a win for corporations and economic loss for developing countries.

A fact sheet from the U.S. Trade Representative explains that there are two parts to the deal that broke what had been an impasse over agreements from Ministerial meeting last year in Bali. The first is that the two countries stated they would move forward on the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)—the WTO’s first multilateral trade agreement of the body’s two-decade existence. The second is an agreement on India’s food security program, which allows for domestic “food stockpiling.”

Begging WTO for Food Security

As the Associated Press summed up: “India had insisted on its right to subsidize grains under a national policy to support hundreds of millions of impoverished farmers and provide food security amid high inflation.”

Regarding that food security program, theNew York Times reports, “Indian and American officials agreed to a peace clause that protects India’s program from a legal challenge until W.T.O. members reach a permanent resolution of the dispute.” India had held out on this issue.

But as the Transnational Institute (TNI) pointed out in a report released this week: “The big question is why do governments even need the WTO to decide whether they can guarantee the right to food to their people? The right to food is a universal human right that should not be subject to trade rules.”

The report also notes that the need for such a peace clause highlights the “deep hypocrisy embedded within the WTO,” as the EU and the U.S., unlike India and other developing countries, are able to pour billions into their own agricultural subsidies.

Deborah James, Director of International Programs at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, echoed these points, explaining to Common Dreams: “The entire debate is outrageous.”

“The world has passed through multiple food crises since the WTO rules were written, and nearly every global agricultural agency now recognizes the dire need for developing countries to invest in agricultural production to promote food security, rather than relying on a global market rife with rich countries’ trade-distorting subsidies and speculative distortions. And due to a mass Right to Food movement, India now has a food security program that has been hailed as the most ambitious in the world,” James stated.

“It is beyond shameful that the United States blocked these negotiations all year in 2013, and that India and other developing countries were left with a peace clause as a consolation prize,” she continued.

Mary Louise Malig,  Researcher, Trade Analyst, and author new TNI report, stressed that the deal does not offer a permanent solution to food security,  and that it “is just a tiny step more than what is already agreed in the Bali Package.”

Yet, according to Timothy A. Wise, who directs the Research and Policy Program at Tufts University’s Global Development and Environment Institute, that India and the U.S. were able to reach an agreement on this issue could be positive.

“India was under enormous pressure to settle this, and its allies were under pressure to abandon India. The good news is that India’s firm stance exacted some concessions from the United States that may lead to good-faith negotiations on the food security issues. Time will tell,” Wise explained to Common Dreams.

The TFA as Corporate Win

The agreement also moves forward the WTO’s TFA, which is also problematic, critics charge.

As CEPR’s James wrote in July:

The new agreement on “Trade Facilitation” would set binding rules on customs procedures and trade operations that would demand huge investments from developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to modernize and streamline – according to U.S. and EU standards — their port operations. This means that while we still don’t have binding international rules on, say, the right to water, corporations would have the “right” to have their products exported into developing countries quickly, easily, and cheaply. That’s why nearly 200 organizations around the world opposed the agreement when it was being negotiated last year.

The TFA would also divert limited resources away from priority development needs such as health, education, and domestic infrastructure investments in LDCs and developing countries. Developed countries refused to make binding commitments on financial support during the negotiations. The World Bank announced on July 17 that it would make available, through its Trade Facilitation Support Program (supported by Australia, the EU, the U.S., Canada, Norway and Switzerland) an embarrassingly paltry $30 million for over 100 developing countries to assist them in implementing the TFA.

As TNI’s new report puts bluntly, the TFA is a win for transnational corporations. As they “control the global supply chains across the world, [they] will gain the most from an Agreement that slashes costs and relaxes customs procedures, easing the flow of imports and exports,” the report states.

Malig added in a statement to Common Dreams:  “The clear winners of this break in the impasse are the Transnational Corporations, all poised to benefit from the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement.”

While the WTO had touted the economic gains of the Bali deal, Wise stated: “The bad news is that trade facilitation remains a largely unfunded mandate that will not produce the laughable estimate of $1 trillion in economic gains for the world, as my colleague Jeronim Capaldo has shown. And it may well create economic losses for some least developed countries.”

The WTO said Friday that the U.S./India agreement will probably be implemented by the full 160-member body within two weeks.

Putin "prepares for economic war", buys whopping 55 tonnes of gold in Q3

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Putin-Obama

by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge

Just as China is buying ‘cheap’ oil with both hands and feet, so Russia, according to the latest data from The World Gold Council (WGC) has been buying gold in huge size. Dwarfing the rest of the world’s buying in Q3, Russia added a stunning 55 tonnes to its reserves, as The Telegraph reports, Putin is taking advantage of lower gold prices to pack the vaults of Russia’s central bank with bullion as it prepares for the possibility of a long, drawn-out economic war with the West.

Russia bought more gold in Q3 then all other countries combined.

As The Telegraph reports:

Vladimir Putin’s government is understood to be hoarding vast quantities of gold, having tripled stocks to around 1,150 tonnes in the last decade. These reserves could provide the Kremlin with vital firepower to try and offset the sharp declines in the rouble.

Russia’s currency has come under intense pressure since US and European sanctions and falling oil prices started to hurt the economy. Revenues from the sale of oil and gas account for about 45pc of the Russian government’s budget receipts.

In total, central banks around the world bought 93 tonnes of the precious metal in the third quarter, marking it the 15th consecutive quarter of net purchases. In its report, the World Gold Council said this was down to a combination of geopolitical tensions and attempts by countries to diversify their reserves away from the US dollar.

By the end of the year, central banks will have acquired up to 500 tonnes of gold during the latest buying spell, according to Alistair Hewitt, head of market intelligence at the World Gold Council.

“Central banks have been consistently adding to their gold holdings since 2009,”Mr Hewitt told the Telegraph.

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