Even the darkest shade of cloud has a path
of light beneath thou…
Good Morning! Have a Great Week!!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Sunday Thought - 30th September 2012
A drop of water, even a single drop of it, is important. Conserve each drop...
Happy Sunday!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Good Morning Thought - 29th September 2012
Decorticating falsehood is painful but the
outcome is wonderful, that is veracity…
Good Morning and a Great Weekend!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Good Morning Thought - 28th September 2012
People with humanely qualities are like the meek and mild medicinal plants on the road sides and in the jungles, whose values often remain unrecognized. They are sacrificed for the big and mighty to survive…
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Good Morning Thought - 26th September 2012
Its wiser to protect a wisdom tree than planting a money plant...
Ranjan Panda
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Good Morning Thought : 21st September 2012
A break from the busy material world may
either break free your creative mind or inertia…
Ranjan Panda
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Thought on Nuakhai: Festival of New Harvest!
Save Water and Eco-Agriculture to Save
NUAKHAI Culture…
Nuakhai Juhar!
Ranjan Panda
Vedanta Alumina's shut down: lesson for Odisha
The following news show how the arm twisting act of the green criminal Vedanta is yet to work. However, a few things get clear. I flag off a couple of issues here below:
1. The company had taken the government and rules of law of the country for a ride and thought it would obtain bauxite my hook or crook, by bribing people at helm of affairs. It is evident from the fact that the company invested thousands of crores without being sure of obtaining the raw materials?
2. The myth that industrialization such as this provides growth and employment has been proved wrong once again. It was first proved when Vedanta provided much less jobs than it had originally promised. And now when the company knew that despite all its dirty tricks it could not obtain bauxite, it is banking on these few employees to pressurise the government saying end of bauxite will mean end of employment. Why should the government be responsible if Vedanta's employees lose their jobs? Let the company take care of their rehabilitation. After all it claimed of employment and growth.
The lesson that people of Odisha must learn from this case is that such industries don't provide long term employment and growth. They stay here as long as they earn profit. However, our farm fields and forests provide permanent employment. We must invest in promoting farming and allied enterprises rather than going for blind mineral extraction and related industries.
==============
Odisha says it cannot supply bauxite to Vedanta Aluminium Limited immediately
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha is not in a position to immediately supply bauxite to Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), the state government said today while the company had sought permission to shut down its refinery at Lanjigarh due to scarcity of raw material.
"The state government is not ready at the moment to supply bauxite to Vedanta's refinery at Lanjigarh. VAL's case in the matter of bauxite mining is pending in the Supreme Court ... They (VAL) are trying to arrange raw material for the plant," Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told reporters after attending the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting.
Though the state has a vast reserve of the mineral, it is not able to explore it due to different reasons including forest clearance and mining plan, he said.
The state government's stand was made known after VAL formally informed the administration to allow it to shut down the refinery from December 5.
When contacted VAL Chief Operating Officer Mukesh Kumar said "We have already informed about our problem to the state government. Now our 1 mtpa refinery plant is running with only 50 per cent of its capacity due to bauxite scarcity."
Kumar said despite the state government's commitment to supply raw material to the refinery, it not given 'even one gram' of bauxite so far.
Under the situation, the company had already incurred Rs 2500 crore loss to run the Lanjigarh refinery and was not in a position to procure bauxite from other sources.
"We have run the plant for five years by bringing in bauxite from states like Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh and Gujarat ... We get some bauxite from our BALCO mines. And that source is not sufficient," he said.
The VAL COO in his letter requested the state government to help it by providing the raw material for running the refinery plant after December 5.
"If the situation improves by December 5, the company may not shut down the plant."
VAL has so far invested Rs 9,000 crore in the project which employes about 7,000 people, including direct jobs to 3,000 persons, Kumar said.
Though the company had applied for 26 bauxite reserves in the state, nothing was finalised yet due to different reasons, company sources said.
The company required 10,000 ton of bauxite everyday to feed its 1mtpa refinery plant.
- 18 SEP, 2012, 11.32PM IST, PTI
===========
Petitioner against Vedanta condemns company for 'misleading' public
Prafulla Samantara, a petitioner against Vendanta group, on Tuesday condemned the company for allegedly trying to mislead the public and influence the Supreme Court by organising “fake and engineered protests” in Odisha.
Vedanta Aluminium Limited, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange listed multi-billion dollar Vedanta Resources group, had told the Odisha government on September 6 that it wanted to temporarily shut down its alumina refinery in Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, more than 500 km southwest of Bhubaneswar, within three months due to lack of bauxite.
Following the move by the company, Vedanta staff and some local people held a rally in the district headquarter Bhabanipatna and sent a memorandum to the state government demanding arrangement of bauxite for the company.
“The pro-Vedanta rally in Kalahandi is clearly intended to influence the proceedings of the Supreme Court on Niyamgiri issue that is being fought by state owned Odisha Mining Corporation for Vedanta. This should be taken as a case of interference with the proceedings of a court,” Samantara, convenor of voluntary group Lok Shakti Abhiyan, told reporters in Bhubaneshwar, adding that the company had started a calculated media campaign before sending the shutdown notice to the state government.
Samantara asked the state government to stop playing to “Vedanta tunes”, scrap the alumina plant and declare Niyamgiri a National Biodiversity Heritage Site.
VAL has not been able to get bauxite from Niyamgiri hill — home to nearly 10,000 endangered Dangria Kond tribals — adjoining the refinery despite an MoU with the state government in 2004.
Since starting operations in 2007, the refinery was sourcing bauxite from Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Gujarat. “We ran the plant at less than 60% of capacity. Initially, the loss was around Rs. 2 crore per day, but now it has risen to Rs. 4 crore a day, taking the accumulated loss so far to Rs. 3,000 crore,” Mukesh Kumar, president and chief operating officer of VAL, had said after sending the shutdown letter to the state government.
- HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Bhubaneshwar, September 18, 2012
==========
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Thought on Ganesh Puja - 19th September 2012
As against the current form of buying
degrees of convenience, real learning could be an incommodious process that
brings out the best in you; the human being.
In reality, we need to learn to de-learn to be able to stop the high
rise of imperious characters and rapacious behaviours…
Happy Ganesh Chadurthi!
Ranjan Panda
Monday, September 17, 2012
Good Morning Thought - 18th September 2012
Shot cut to fame is a cut short game, which
is most of the times unethical; hence short lived and undignified…
Ranjan Panda
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Good Morning Thought - 17th September 2012
A single display of abusive anger or vulgar
expression in communication can nullify your hundred words of wisdom…
Good Morning! Have a Great Week!
Ranjan Panda
Saturday, September 15, 2012
C +++ = New Blood Group discovered in India !!
Democracy in India has become a conspiracy to keep the
corrupt in power. In this the Ruling
Party rules the country, its Alliances keep blackmailing it for their shares,
and the opposition utilizes each wrong decision of the rulers to show its
presence and then sleep again.
None of them want an election. Reason, it costs crores to hold one. It’s a different matter that the so called ‘consistency’
costs the country hundreds of elections in just 5 years.
Why can’t we afford 5 elections in 5 years and save huge
money from being siphoned off by the ‘consistent corrupts’?
By the way why 2G, Commonwealth, Coalgate and how FDI in
Retail, nothing wakes us up? Are we all
corrupt?? Has our blood group changed to
C+++ ???
Friday, September 14, 2012
Weekend Thought - 15th September 2012
Confession is a state of mind when you almost
zero in on truthfulness. Humans, taking
advantage of the mind, have succeeded in using it as an instrument to lie and
play hypocritical games. This is
devastating…
Good Morning and a Great Weekend!
Ranjan Panda
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Good Morning Thought - 14th September 2012
At each step, we have to make a choice
between ‘right’ and ‘easy’. When more
people opt for the first choice, the society becomes an easy place to live…
Ranjan Panda
State level round table on Fly Ash Menace in Odisha
Dear Friends/Co-sailors,
The fly ash menace in the state has called for an urgent intervention from the concerned people. We are organising a state level dialogue on the issue at Angul. People who feel who can substantially contribute to the debate, please email me at ranjanpanda@gmail.com
Thanks!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Good Morning Thought - 12th September 2012
There is nothing worthier than the worth of
trust, that is most sought after. With
trust comes its coterie of love, care and affection; and thus begins a
trustworthy relationship…
Ranjan Panda
Monday, September 10, 2012
Good Morning Thought - 11th September 2012
Both honest and munificent people are the
most vulnerable ones in the present day society. They are like the ‘trees’ being rampantly cut
to make ways for the so called ‘growth’ of a greedy human race…
Ranjan Panda
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Good Evening thought - 8th September 2012 !
Sunset in a relationship is not necessarily
the end of it and does not signify hopelessness. It may be the dawn chorus signifying the beginning
of a whole new phase in the relationship…
Good Evening!
Ranjan Panda
Friday, September 7, 2012
Climate threat to world's poor is underestimated: Oxfam
Climate threat to world's poor is underestimated: Oxfam
Date: 05-Sep-12
Country: UK
Author: Nigel Hunt
Climate change may pose a much more serious threat to the
world's poor than existing research has suggested because of spikes in food
prices as extreme weather becomes more common, Oxfam said on Wednesday.
More frequent extreme weather events will create shortages,
destabilize markets and precipitate price spikes on top of projected structural
price rises of about 100 percent for staples such as maize over the next 20
years, the charity said in a report.
Droughts in the U.S. Midwest and Russia this year have
helped to propel prices for maize and soybeans to record highs and United
Nations food agencies this week said that world leaders must take swift action
to ensure that food-price shocks do not turn into a catastrophe that could hurt
tens of millions of people.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated
that the 2007/08 price spike contributed to an 8 percent rise in the number of
undernourished people in Africa.
"For vulnerable people, sudden and extreme price hikes
can be more devastating than gradual long-term rises to which they may have
more chance of adjusting," Oxfam said in a report.
"Though the price spike and coping strategies may be
short-term, the impacts are often felt across generations. An increase in
malnutrition can cause stunting and reduce developmental potential in young
children."
Oxfam added that existing research, which considers the
gradual effects of climate change but not extreme weather, significantly
underestimates the implications of changing weather patterns.
The charity insisted there is an "urgent need for a
full stress test of our fragile and dysfunctional food system" and called
for a reversal of decades of underinvestment in small-scale sustainable and resilient
agriculture, as well as urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Climate change could lead to a permanent increase in
yield variability and excessive food price volatility, however, which could
leave many poor countries with potentially insuperable food security
challenges," Oxfam said.
(Editing by David Goodman)
Source: http://planetark.org/wen/66432
Weekend Thought - 8th September 2012
Time spends us and we spend time. Time’s expense is destined, yet we think we have a say in it. So we endeavor to be an achiever. Fact is, we struggle to justify our existence; and the more humanly moments we spend the more justified we are…
Good morning and a great weekend!
Ranjan Panda
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Good Morning Thought - 6th September 2012
Geography is not merely a jurisdiction, but
an ecological configuration. Protect it
to exist, destroy it to extinct. Choice
is all yours, thinking animal…
Ranjan Panda
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