Happy New Year 2015!

Good Morning Thought - 31st December 2014!

Faith: virtue in religion, vice in science...

Good Morning!

Mahanadi River Waterkeeper live on Zee Kalinga TV at 1 pm today!

Please watch Zee Kalinga TV (Odia) at 1 pm noon time today, I shall be live discussing on the land acquisition ordinance.  Thanks. 

Ranjan Panda

Good Morning Thought - 30th December 2014!

Love is a splendid thing. It emanates from the eternal self of the beings and doesn't stop at any man-made border, be it a country or a religion...

Good Morning!

Good Morning Thought - 29th December 2014!

The story of our dying rivers & vanishing forests would tell you how men contradict and challenge their creator day in and day out...

Good Morning!

Good Morning Thought - 28th December 2014!

In arguing a point, it is always wise to stick to truth than aiming at a win.  As such also no argument is ever complete, and no win is permanent...

Good Morning!

Have a Happy Sunday!!

My Latest Article: Small farms, big values...

Dear Friends,

Happy to share with you my latest article, co-authored by Ajit Panda, titled "Small farms, big values," published in the LEISA India magazine latest issue.  

A brief intro to the article:  Small scale farmers, many of whom are themselves among world’s hungry people, feed the world’s majority. In fact, family farmers not only produce the major share of the food consumed but also help preserve the environment. They continue to farm inspite of facing a number of challenges – like high production costs, lower yields, unsupportive policies, climate change impacts etc.

Farmers in Odisha have to continuously fight against the natural calamities to sustain in agriculture. While it is drought that affects farmers in districts like Nuapada, it is the recurring floods in coastal districts like Kendrapada which makes farmers vulnerable. Farmers are trying to cope with such climate aberrations with new initiatives like vegetable gardening and integrated farming. This article talks about how these initiatives are helping in sowing the seeds of hope among the small farmers in two different geographical regions.

Please find the link to the article below:

http://leisaindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/LESIA-India-Dec-2014-Page-No-6-Small-farms-big-values.pdf

Thanks and regards,

Ranjan Panda

Email: ranjanpanda@gmail.com

Good Morning Thought - 27th December 2014!

The more you seek to know about others, the more you discover yourself.  Each one of us is related to the other in some or the other way...

Good Morning!

Have a Great Weekend!!

Good Morning Thought - 26th December 2014!

All that we supposedly discover are within purview of possibilities already offered by the schemes of the universe.  We just explore as per our needs...

Good Morning!

Mahanadi River Waterkeeper's Latest Update on Jaundice in Sambalpur: 1.30 PM 25th Dec 2014!

Our continuous advocacy efforts have started to pay.  Odisha's Chief Minister at last visited Sambalpur, six months after the menace was first reported, and announced a slew of measures to fight jaundice.  

The package involves a INR 100 crore package for an underground piped water supply project for the town.  The Chief Minister said said all the major nullahs that drain into river Mahanadi will be renovated.  He also informed that the government will bear the cost of the examination and treatment of those infected by jaundice. The CM further said that adequate number of toilets will be constructed in different parts of the town to stop people from defecating in the open.  He also announced some more packages the total cost of which is said to be INR 160 crore.

In fact Ranjan Panda, the Mahanadi River Waterkeeper and Convenor of Water Initiatives Odisha, had already warned - three years ago - that the pathetic water supply and sanitation situation in Sambalpur could invite such epidemics.  Last year, in the run to launching of the 'Healthy Rivers, Happy Cities' campaign, led by Ranjan, a citizen's survey was conducted to assess the pollution of River at Sambalpur.  This voluntary citizen's survey revealed the disastrous condition of Sambalpur's sanitation situation and Mahanadi's pollution due to the same.  The government authorities kept ignoring the warning.  Now, the jaundice has officially claimed 17 lives and near to two thousand people are affected currently.  Further negligence could make things worse.

In the meanwhile, Odisha's health minister has been criticized for his statement terming this 160 crore package as a Gift to the people of Western Odisha.  This is sheer politicization of such a sensitive issue.  Ranjan Panda has asked the Ministers to refrain from such statements.  In fact, the government's apathy is one of the major reasons for the cause of this epidemic in Sambalpur and the government officials must concentrate all their energies to fight this with help of local people, civil societies and others rather than engaging in petty political games.

A latest news coverage of the issue can be found at the following link, which also quotes Ranjan:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/patnaik-announces-measures-as-odisha-jaundice-cases-rise-114122400603_1.html

Merry Christmas Wishes!

Merry Christmas to All My Dear Friends!

Have a Great Time!!

God Bless You All...!!!

Mahanadi River & Pollution Update on 24th December 2014! A published feature in Odia...

Good Morning Thought - 24th December 2014!

Using the weapons of the enemy, no matter how good one’s intentions are, makes one the enemy…

Good Morning!

World’s Largest Tidal Energy Project in Scotland to light 175000 homes!

269 Sunken Turbines To Make Scotland Home To World’s Largest Tidal Farm

By ARI PHILLIPS

One of scotlands stunning North Atlantic beaches located in the northwest scottish Highlands.

CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK

The world’s largest tidal energy project, capable of powering nearly 175,000 homes in the U.K. with 400 megawatts of power, will break ground next month in northeast Scotland. Atlantis, majority owner of the MeyGen project, announced that its flagship project had met all the conditions required to start drawing down finance through the U.K.’s Renewable Energy Investment Fund.

The completed project will have 269 sunken turbines, according to Atlantis, which expects to have about 60 of these installed and delivering power by 2020.

In the announcement to investors, Atlantis said: “The major construction and supply contractors to this iconic project have commenced design, engineering and procurement works in readiness for commencement of onshore construction at the project site in Caithness in January 2015.”

Tim Cornelius, Chief Executive Officer of Atlantis, said that Lockheed Martin’s project-specific 1.5 megawatt turbines were scheduled to be delivered on time for construction purposes. In November, the MeyGen project was awarded the first-ever Navigator Award at the International Conference on Ocean Energy, in recognition of the “project’s significant contribution to global marine renewable industry.”

Scotland is trying hard to harness all forms of renewable energy as part of its goal of generating 100 percent of its electricity demand from renewables by 2020. The wind-rich country is home to around a quarter of Europe’s total offshore wind capacity. In October, the Scottish Government approved four huge new offshore wind farms that could produce more than 2.2 gigawatts of power, enough to power 1.4 million homes.

Atlantis is also working on tidal energy projects off the coast of Canada. The firm was recently awarded a Feed-in Tariff for up to 4.5 megawatts of tidal generation to be deployed at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) in Nova Scotia, Canada.

“We are delighted that the Nova Scotia Government has chosen to make this substantial award to Atlantis,” said Cornelius. “Having also reached financial close on the first phase of our MeyGen project in Scotland, we are building momentum on our projects around the world, realizing our goal of bringing cost-effective clean energy to market at commercial scale — on both sides of the Atlantic.”

However there are still many challenges ahead for the company and the tidal and wave power industries. Atlantis’ share price dipped on Friday, with the company saying it “knows of no trading or operational reason to warrant this change.”

The Scottish government is also struggling to support large wave energy companies, and has been accused of “pulling the rug” out from under at least two of these major companies as commercial success had yet to materialize.

In the wake of these recent wave power failings, Brian Wilson, U.K. energy minister between 2001 and 2003, wrote that “we should not give up on marine renewables” even if they are oversold to the public and overhyped for their benefits, making them almost guaranteed to disappoint.

“The same problems and challenges exist around the world. But for heaven’s sake, spare us the political hype and downright deceptions. If these technologies are ever going to deliver anything, it will be on the basis of technology — not the spin of politicians.”

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/22/3606131/269-sunken-turbines-tidal-power-scotland/

Mahanadi Pollution Tweets: 10.30 am, 23rd Dec -

Why should the gupchup (golgappa) thelas be punished for the fault of administration? It is duty of the govt to provide clean water to these petty roadside vendors as well. If their food is unhygienic then what the food inspectors have been doing so far? Instead of asking the poor vendors to stop selling, govt must find out a way to make them sell hygienic food.

I am reminded of the incidence when farmers and common people demanded Hindalco's plant be stopped for sometime as it was unable to control pollution from it's smelter pots and fly ash dumps which had already taken a heavy toll. Then the administration made out all efforts to convince the people that no production should be stopped because it involves livelihood of the people. Ministers of the state government argued in TV debates, I was part of, for the company.

In case of the poor road side vendors, the livelihood issue does not count for the administration?

Good Morning Thought - 23rd December 2014!

There is music all around you.  What you have to do is listen...

Good Morning!

Good Morning Thought - 22nd December 2014!

Good Morning Thought - 21st December 2014!

Only the strongest and courageous have the power to accept the fact that death is inevitable...

Good Morning!

Have a Great Sunday!!

My little daughter's tribute to the children who died of terrorist attack in Peshawar, Pakistan!

When you wake me up for school,

when you help me hold the school bag,

when you let me get into the school van,

I remember the men holding the guns…

How I wish you wanted us to see Doremon and Pokemon, but not the Guns…

School, I thought, was a punishment,

each morning when you helped me ride the van,

the bag, the books, the classes; all a burden,

that’s until I meet my chirpy friends…

Schools too are meant for fun…

But Papa, why do we make guns?

(I have tried to draw a poem out of what my 11 year little angel Khushi talked with me last night, about the Peshawar incidence)

Good Morning Thought - 20th December 2014!

Tigers or crocodiles or similar predators kill the smaller species for their survival.  Man can kill almost everyone for greed.  But the books, written by man, describe the other predators as 'monsters'.  Man-ful volume of hypocrisy this!

Good Morning!

Have a Great Weekend!!

Good Morning Thought - 2014!

An acute crisis puts both you and your friends to a rigorous test.  That's the time when unreal friends leave you for reasons which make the real ones stay...

Good Morning!

Good Morning Thought - 18th December 2014!

Everybody has the right to die, no one has the right to kill...

Good Morning!

Jaundice Update: Watch me live at Kanak TV tonite at 9 pm, 17th Dec 2014!

@ 9 pm tonite, I shall be in Kanak TV (Odia) for a live discussion on the jaundice epidemic in Sambalpur...

Time permitting, please watch.

Good Morning Thought - 17th December 2014!

Guns, hatred and violence are prerogatives of a weak and demonic mind; hence anti-peace...

Good Morning!

Good Morning Thought - 16th December 2014!

The dog's chance is a small chance.  In a society that gets determined by the market and its competitions, the unfaithful prowls the fabrics of it...

Good Morning!

Good Morning Thought - 15th December 2014!

Impetuous display of spending by a small section of people is creating an illusion of a healthy economy.  In reality creating a market culture for such creatures is alienating the majority from their basic rights and resources...

Good Morning!

Have a Great Start to a New Week!!

Sunday Thought for 14th December 2014, and earlier thoughts!

Each Smile you come across is a messenger of hope.  Each leaf, flower or fruit the tree gives is the same.  Smile back and spread hope on earth...

Good Morning!

Have a Great Sunday!

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If you are habituated in deriving happiness from possessing materials, the market is the best place to keep you dissatisfied by offering periodic doses of satisfaction.  It comes back to you with an updated product of what you have bought, even before you have explored the first one completely...

13th December, 2014

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My education is challenged each time I talk to the farmers, forest dwellers, fisherfolk and many such people whom our society calls illiterate and unaware.  In fact their knowledge and level of awareness surprises me more often than not...

12th December, 2014

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The mind hardly gets a holiday. The periods of joy, synonymous with the feeling of holidays, often fall prey to life's practicalities...

10th December, 2014

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Mankind has only one religion, that's humanity.  Rest what we see are formations of respective interest groups...

9th December, 2014

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Imagine the day when we have lost all our rivers and forests, what would be left for our security forces to defend?

8th December, 2014

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Earth's fate hangs between two types of people.  One, who are happy with what they have.  And another, who keep eyeing at what others have.  It survives as long as the first category dominates...

1st December, 2014

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A disaster is an accelerated entropy.  It often brings more prosperity to the rich in the name of rebuilding the poor's fate...

30th November, 2014

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What we are in is time's creation.  We are under a perfect illusion that we decide, while in reality we just executive time's designs...

29th November, 2014

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Your mind is the most agile, versatile and influential weighing machine...

28th November, 2014

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If you hard sell a piece of advise, you defeat the very purpose of it...

27th November, 2014

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Reconcile with nature as fast as you can, time is running out of our hands...

26th November, 2014

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Whenever you are hurt by someone's behaviour, evoking the child in you helps to recover fast, forgive and move on...

25th November, 2014

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Generosity is when a roadside tea seller happily pours a little extra into your cup without being asked for it...

24th November, 2014

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Our real bank is Mother Earth.  Conserve natural resources to prosper, destroy them to perish.  Choice is yours...

23rd November, 2014

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The time you spend with a kid can bring you moments of joy that truth alone gives.  It's godly...

22nd November, 2014

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Education that is not joyful for the child is no education at all.  Once in a while make your children bunk their classes to see for yourself how cheerful they become...

21st November, 2014

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Distress sale of paddy is Hirakud dam's failure each year!

The Hirakud dam was imposed on people of Sambalpur district in the 50s.  People were driven out of their homes at gun point and were never rehabilitated properly.  The planners, obsessed with big dams, kept justifying this as development by 'modern temples of India'.  Flood control, irrigation and electricity production were marketed as best bets for this development.  Flood control has miserably failed; electricity generation has also succumbed to pressure from industrial houses and the modern farmers - a bi-product of the canals - are forced into a continuous struggle to market their produces.  The people who were displaced could never get benefit of the modern canals and the ones who benefited could never benefit from the escalated farm produce.  Hirakud was, has been and will remain a failure for the people of this region...

At the moment thousands of farmers are facing numerous challenges to sell their paddy in the market yards.  The government machinery, despite promises made each year as part of the preparations, fails in helping the farmers.  As a result, the private mill owners' benefit and farmers face distress SALE...

Thought on International Mountain Day - 11th December, 2014!

Norway pledge takes Green Climate Fund nearer to 10 billion USD

At Peru on 5^th Dec, the Norway government announced to provide NOK 1.6 billion (approximately US$ 258 million equivalent) to the Green Climate Fund over the next four years, bringing total pledges of contributions to the Fund to approximately US$ 9.95 billion equivalent. This amount, just shy of US$ 10 billion, includes all pledges and contributions made to the Fund since its establishment.

 A total of 22 countries have pledged to the Green Climate Fund, with Canada, Spain and Norway announcing increased pledges after the Fund’s first pledging conference that was held in Berlin on 20 November 2014.

The objective of the Green Climate Fund is to be one of the main channels for funding both mitigation and adaptation measures in developing countries. This is crucial for ensuring sustainable growth and development in poor countries, which will often be most severely affected by climate change.