Why borewells no longer turn into graves in Tamil Nadu...

It's a sad template in India; a tragedy, and then a knee-jerk reaction from the authorities. Unlike many other States, Tamil Nadu heeded a wake-up call. And here's what happened.

In a narrow lane in North Chennai, 11 years ago, a five-year-old boy Tamilmani was returning from school. He couldn't reach home, as he died after falling into an open borewell. After a 58-hour agonising struggle, all that could be pulled out from the 35-feet uncovered, unfinished borewell was his lifeless body.

The boy's death led to an outcry. All that it took to stop these horrifying accidents and save precious lives was a law, a few simple precautions and a little alertness from the authorities.

The Jayalalithaa government passed the Tamil Nadu Ground Water Development and Management Act in 2003. It made mandatory for people to get permission from the government before sinking borewells, for the Water Supplies department to intimate the local authorities and for the local authorities to monitor the activity. The onus has been on the Metro Water Department, the Corporation or District Collectors to ensure that all discussed or unfinished borewells are properly covered.

Anshul Mishra, Collector of Madurai says, "We ensure that on the same day itself, the borewell is closed with a lid. With today's technology, within 10 hours, you can dig up to 900 feet!" 

But in Tamil Nadu you hardly have to dig too deep to get water. Chief Minister Ms Jayalalithaa's brainchild in 2002 - compulsory rainwater harvesting has improved the water table. What's more, the diameter of wells that's usually just four to six inches and casing pipes that juts out for at least two feet above the ground level act as safeguards. R Thyagarajan, a borewell contractor, reveals that, "In Chennai, we need to dig borewells of a diameter of only six inches. We get water with that. There is no need to dig beyond that diameter."

It is an all-round effort and involves inter-departmental coordination. And instead of passing the buck, effective police patrolling as a preventive measure has helped. Mr Nataraj, who had served both as Chennai Police Commissioner as well as Director of Fire and Rescue Services, points out that, "Policemen are the ones on the streets. They have the resources to alert the control rooms which are connected to both metro water and metro transport departments."

Clearly, Tamil Nadu has proved that you don't need rocket science to ensure that borewells don't turn into graves for unsuspecting little children. A proactive, common sense approach will do.

July 2012 GK Digest

(01) Alphabetically arranged, which would be the first and last U.S. Senate?

(02) What type of animal was “Lonesome George”, considered the last of its kind, who died recently?

(03) Which country creating the world’s largest marine reserve, covering 3.1 million sq.km of ocean?

(04) Which famous strait connects the black Sea with the Sea of Marmara?

(05) Which alternate two-word term is used for the day of the year with the longest period of daylight?

(06) Which flower gets its name from the Persian for turban?

(07) Name the popular actor, who played Prof. Gilderoy Lockhart in the Harry Potter films, to have been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II recently

(08) Which Palnet’s moons are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope?

(09) What does a Geiger Counter measure?

(10) Alkanes are made up of the atoms of which two elements?

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PRESIDENTIAL EELCTION IN TN – A LOOK

         In Tamil Nadu:-

Number of Elected MLAs	234
Value of one MLA vote	176
Total	41, 184
Number of Elected Mps (LS + RS)	57
Value of one MP vote	708
Total	40, 356
Total Value of votes from TN	81, 540

TN Political Parties and their vote values:-

Party	MLAs	MPs (LS+RS)	Votes
AIADMK	155*	14	37, 192
Total Vote for Sangma in TN			37, 192
DMK	023	25	21, 748
INC	005	13	10, 084
CPI(M)	010	01	02, 468
PMK	003	00	00, 528
VCK	000	01	00, 708
Total Vote for Pranab Mukherjee in TN			35, 536
Abstention
DMDK	029	00	05, 104
CPI	008	01	02, 116

How the Presidential Election is calculated?

   Value of 1 MLA vote = (State Population) / (1000 * Number of MLAs in the State)                        

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   Value of 1 MP vote = (Total vote value of all MLA’s) / (Total Members of Parliament (LS + RS))

   (Population is based on 1971 census; 84th Constitutional Amendment (2000) by NDA government made 1971 census as the basis for calculating the value of vote for Presidential Election)

CHENNAI CITY COLLEGES ATTRACTING MORE FOREIGN STUDENTS

Chennai may not be the most preferred location, but it is definitely catching up and the figures are proof of the fact. The number of students from foreign countries applying to city colleges that had increased by almost 20 per cent over the last three years has hit a new high this time.

          Madras University Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam said that the hostel is being built at a cost of Rs. 18 crore for international students in Taramani, Chennai. It will have a support centre and all facilities to make them feel at ease here. Foreign students at the University mainly study specific subjects in Music, Anthropology and Public Administration. 

Besides a steady flow from Thailand, Mauritius, Italy, Kenya and Bhutan, the university this year has recorded an increase in the number of students from Sri Lanka, the U.K and France for research. Some colleges says that education in English is what the Chinese students are looking for and so they are willing to take up any of the popular courses. 

The online admission process initiated this year by some colleges and their high position on most all-India lists of best colleges are some of the factors that attracted students. Oscar C. Nigli, former director of Foreign Desk, Loyola College, points out that “the city is intellectually vibrant, safe and has a lower cost of living.”

About Finance Budget in India - Interesting Facts

     In India, Budget was introduced on April07,1860

   The first Finance Minister who presented the Budget was James Wilson

  Liaquat Ali Khan, member of the Interim Government presented the Budget of 1946

   Independent India’s first Budget was presented by R.K. Shanmugam Chetti

   Moraji Desai presented a record number of 10 budgets. He was the Finance Minister from1959-1964and 1967-1970

     C. D. Deshmukh was the Indian Governor of RBI to have presented the interim budget for 1951-1952

     Initially, Budget papers were printed in Rashtrapti Bhavan. In 1950, Budget papers were leaked. This changed the printing venue to Minto Road located Security Press. Since 1980, Budget papers are printed in North Block. A week before the Budget is presented, the employees of the press stay in the Ministry itself and have no means of communicating with the outside world.

     The Budget process has its roots in the Bombay Plan of 1944. Bombay Plan was authored by John Mathai. G D Brila and JRD Tata

     The1991-1992 final and interim Budgets were presented by the Finance Ministers of two different political parties. Yashwant Sinha presented the interim budget and Manmohan Singh presented the final budget

     1965-1966 budget contained the first disclosures scheme for black money

     As of now, R. Venkataraman is the only Finance Minister who later became President of India 

CHENNAI’S CONNECTION WITH LONDON OLYMPICS

Members of Chennai-based band Staccato are going to the London Olympics — not as spectators, but performers. On July 30 and August 2, they will occupy the coveted main band stand and perform a string of their compositions. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has requested them to also perform at various other parts of the Olympic Park on these days.“Staccato is one of the two bands selected from Asia. The other one is from China,” says its percussionist P.D. Balasubramanian. “These bands were chosen ahead of hundreds of others that had sent in their compositions.”

The judges were sent two of Staccato’s songs, ‘Sounds Of Air’ and ‘Salsa’, and a set of sample tapes that included percussion grooves. ‘Sounds of Air’ is led by the flute play of Sruthi Saagar, the band’s key player.

The violin-heavy ‘Salsa’ is a product of the group’s interaction with musicians from across the world during their visit to Rio De Janeiro in 2011 for the finals of an out-of-the-box percussion event, ‘Tum Tum Pa’ that was staged across 30 countries.

The band is likely to go in full strength, as they would be required to perform in front of 2,50,000 spectators and on a stage that can accommodate around 40 musicians.

It consists of Sruthi Saagar, Vikram Sarathy, P.D. Balasubramanian, Ajay Gnanasekaran, Tapas Naresh, Kaashif Rafiq, Rohit Krishnamoorthy, Vandana Srinivasan, Aishwarya, Manoj Kumar and Shallu Varun.

Kerala: GOD is vacating His Own Country

BREAKING NEWS: “God is vacating His Own Country, as He cannot bear it any more”

The public discourse in Kerala since May 4, 2012 has revolved round a political murder, that of T. P. Chandrasekharan, CPI(M) dissident, who established a new party, the Revolutionary Marxist Party in 2009.

Political killings are no anathema to Kerala, but the murder of Chandrasekharan became a resonating symbol in the collective consciousness of society. He was stabbed in the face 49 times, and the killing was executed not by motivated cadre but by hired killers. Herein lie the tentacles of a disturbing social trend. Chandrasekharan is an unfortunate symbol of a society in a disturbing transition.

Nobody is safe in the most literate State of India, which is under the delirium of easy money. The last 10 years have conferred a lot of material prosperity on Kerala and its people. Enter the real estate boom and there emerged new breeds of beings novel to the traditional psyche of Kerala. Gangs of varied varieties — real estate brokers, construction mafias, illicit sand mining groups, middlemen of all hues, etc. They were heavily localised, offering “easy money” to willing youngsters, who were needed to put pressure on non-complying people. And thus came into being what are euphemistically known as “Quotation Groups.”

Quotation Groups are hired goons, and a vast majority of them are not hardcore criminals, but unemployed or partially employed educated youngsters who prefer it as a short-cut to savour enhanced material choices. While the number of professional Quotation Groups is formidable, the real threat lies in these ubiquitous amateurs who represent the cross-section of everyday Kerala.

Quotation Groups have their own vocabulary, unfamiliar to the rest of India. Quoting, sketching and drawing are the different stages of this brutal business. The “game of eight” refers to the initiative of handing over a contract to contain a rival. Alas, Quotation Groups have semi-permeable group boundaries, and the docile and ductile neighbourhood boy you see today might be a part-timer in a Quotation Group. Recently, an undergraduate girl hailing from an affluent family was sent to judicial custody in Pathanamthitta district for arranging a Quotation Group to brutally attack another youngster, whose condition remained extremely critical for weeks.

Physical victory over the opponent is the sign of chivalry in mass consciousness, but that is the story of yore. Anybody sans chivalry can settle scores with the opponent provided he has money in hand. Kerala has become successful in democratising thuggery. Pity, Quotation Groups have become part of everyday life, and a Keralite won’t be surprised to hear a primary school child jokingly threatening another that he will be “quoted.”

A redeeming feature is that Kerala is among those rare States where political leaders undertake transformational roles, and many of them truly walk their talk. The top echelons of bureaucracy also reflect a similar picture. But the grass-roots policing apparatus is not at all citizen-centric, and going to a police station is said to be the most intimidating and harrowing experience one can ever have. Unfortunately, the lower level police are yet to learn that the term “public servants” is applicable to them.

Kerala still remains God’s Own Country, thanks to the enlightened media activism which daringly holds a critical mirror up to society through courageous reporting and deliberative wisdom, both rooted in egalitarian impulses. People are aware of the fast deteriorating social health, and it is time to act decisively. The leadership must demonstrate the will to act. It is time to reconsecrate God in his Own Country.