Helplessness of anti-ragging Helpline number (1800-180-5522)

Harsh Agarwal

It will be shocking to know that there are perhaps more digits (11 in total) in this national anti-ragging helpline number than the number of ragging complaints on which helpline system has achieved any success in last thirteen months. And if we talk of the colossal publicity that this helpline received and the tremendous hope it generated then there is no comparison with the little or no utility that this number has shown so far. Or this may be my illusion. But what can I do, I have read so many media stories on how this helpline would help eradicate ragging, but I am yet to come across even a single success story. And on top of it helpline people never share their internal information with us citing confidentiality as the reason. Confidentiality in helpline- Strange isn’t? If everything is going well as it was anticipated, then I don’t understand the reason to hide anything especially from a voluntary group which is pioneer in anti-ragging campaign in India and running it for almost 10 years now.

Just to make things clear, I am not opposed to the idea of running an anti-ragging helpline. Anti-ragging helpline is indeed important for students who wish to report the incident but do not know where to complain. However I am vehemently against excessive expectation from this helpline number. We are treating helpline number as if it is elixir to the problem of ragging. I wonder if social problems could be solved so easily by starting helpline numbers then India would have got rid of dowry, caste discrimination, and several other social maladies long ago simply by starting helpline numbers.

What is disappointing is that we have suddenly transferred the entire burden of the anti-ragging campaign on this helpline number. We don’t see it as merely one of the ways of lodging complaint against ragging but as a cure to ragging. Our too much optimism from this helpline would only lead us to disappointment. And I am saying this because our hope is based on a fundamentally flawed assumption that ragging victims have the courage to register complaint Here we are ignoring the immense role of fear involved in ragging and the pressure on students to anyhow survive in college as the stakes are very high- in term of getting admission and money and hard work invested on it.

If I recall my days in medical college, which I left 10 years ago because of ragging, I remember I didn’t share my torturous ragging episodes even with my parents for a month. I was afraid if my parents went and complained to the principal, what will be the consequences. And re-imagining the terror that I lived with during ragging day, I can say that 999 out of one thousand freshers in that situation would prefer to endure the torture and take injury on their body than think of lodging any complaint. The terror of ragging is so severe and the fear of consequences of complaining so threatening that the victim doesn’t want to confide the ordeal to anyone. If there is anything that can support my argument then there is nothing better than the revelation made by the government itself. This year in March, government on the floor of the parliament, admitted that helpline received 1.6 lakh calls but could register only 300 complaints. This skewed ratio might be surprising to many. However if we think little practically and understand the fear that a ragging victim has in giving sufficient information (name, name of the college, name of seniors, etc.) to lodge a complaint then we can easily understand why several thousand calls could not be registered as complaints.

The reason for my dissatisfaction is therefore simple. In May 2007 when Raghavan Committee made exhaustive recommendations to address ragging, I was extremely happy. I was full of hope because the committee had recognized all different aspects behind ragging- sociological, psychological and law and order aspect- and suggested appropriate remedies to cure them. But today we don’t know the fate of those 50 odd recommendations that were made in the report after so much deliberation? Today from media reports we hear only about the technical problems that helpline is facing and how we are busy solving them. It seems that our focus on helpline is paramount and we are fighting the entire battle against ragging with this 11 digit number.

Our focus on the real issue of ragging is lost so much so that recently even the news that 19 students died because of ragging in last one year, didn’t make national headlines; Even news of Nayan Adak who 10 months ago tried twice to commit suicide because of ragging and died in the second attempt- the most shocking suicide case I have heard of in my life- didn’t make national headlines. Are we too busy rectifying the helpline? Sigh!

I am deeply saddened. Since my ragging in 2000 till now, 10 years have passed and 2 committees formed, and today we achieved just a defunct anti-ragging helpline! I really don’t know when would we finally dial the right number to solve the menace of ragging? Is there a helpline for that?

(Harsh Agarwal is a Co-founder of Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE, Estd in 2001) and a former Consultant to Supreme Court of India –appointed Committee on Ragging)

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Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions Fall in 2009 – Past Decade Still Sees Rapid Emissions Growth

In 2009, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in China—the world’s leading emitter—grew by nearly 9 percent. At the same time, emissions in most industrial countries dropped, bringing global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use down from a high of 8.5 billion tons of carbon in 2008 to 8.4 billion tons in 2009. Yet this drop follows a decade of rapid growth: over the 10 previous years, global CO2 emissions rose by an average of 2.5 percent a year—nearly four times as fast as in the 1990s. Increasing temperatures and the resulting melting ice sheets and rising sea levels demonstrate the destructive effects of the carbon accumulating in the atmosphere.



Carbon Emissions Falling in Wealthier Countries

Emissions in many wealthier countries fell in 2008 and 2009 as the global recession took hold. In the United States, CO2 emissions shrank by nearly 10 percent from 2007 to 2009, from a high of 1.58 billion tons of carbon to 1.43 billion tons, the lowest level since 1995. Emissions from oil, which is largely used for transportation, declined by nearly 11 percent, while those from coal, which is mainly burned to generate electricity, fell by over 13 percent. The United Kingdom’s CO2 emissions fell by over 10 percent from 2007 to 2009. German emissions dropped by 8 percent, and French emissions dropped by 5 percent. Japan saw its emissions decline nearly 12 percent over the two-year period. (See data.) At the same time, CO2 emissions in the world’s most populous countries, China and India, continued to grow rapidly. China’s emissions rose to 1.86 billion tons of carbon in 2009, representing nearly a quarter of global emissions from fossil fuel burning. With average annual emissions growth of 8 percent over the past decade, China overtook the United States in 2007 as the world’s leading CO2 emitter. India’s emissions grew by close to 5 percent a year over the past decade; the country passed Russia in 2007 to become the world’s third largest emitter.




Causes of Carbon Dioxide Emissions

While fossil fuel use is responsible for the majority of carbon dioxide emissions, changes in land use, such as clearing forests for cropland, also emit a substantial amount of CO2. In 2008, the most recent year for which data are available, global emissions from land use change were estimated at 1.2 billion tons of carbon. The vast majority of these emissions were from deforestation in the tropics; Indonesia and Brazil alone represent over 60 percent of land use change emissions.



Slash and burn deforestation in the Amazon

More than half of the carbon dioxide emitted annually is absorbed by oceans, soils, and trees. The rapid rate at which carbon dioxide is pouring into the atmosphere is overwhelming these natural systems, posing a particular threat to ocean ecosystems. The large amounts of dissolved CO2 alter ocean chemistry, making seawater more acidic, which makes it more difficult for organisms such as reef-building corals or shellfish to form their skeletons or shells. The world’s oceans are now more acidic than they have been at any time in the past 20 million years. Experts have estimated that if CO2 emissions continue to rise on their long-term trajectory, coral reefs around the world may be dying off by 2050.
Recent research has also indicated that the oceans’ capacity to absorb carbon dioxide may be unable to keep up with the rising level of emissions. The CO2-absorption ability of both the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica, and the North Atlantic Ocean has decreased in recent decades.

Carbon Emissions and Climate Change

The carbon dioxide that is not absorbed by these natural sinks remains in the atmosphere, where it traps heat. The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which stood between 260 and 285 parts per million (ppm) from the beginning of agriculture until the Industrial Revolution, has risen rapidly in the last two-and-a-half centuries, to over 387 ppm today. The last time carbon dioxide levels were this high was roughly 15 million years ago, when sea level was 25-40 meters (80-130 feet) higher and global temperatures were 3-6 degrees Celsius (5-11 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer.
The increase in atmospheric CO2 has driven a rapid rise in global temperature: each decade over the past half-century has been hotter than the last. Responses to these rising temperatures have already been documented in melting glaciers and ice sheets, shifting weather patterns, and changes in the timing of seasonal events.
While much of the global emissions drop in 2009 was due to declining fossil fuel use associated with the recession, the past year also saw strong growth in the use of renewable energy. Installed wind capacity alone grew by over 30 percent worldwide. In the United States, where coal use dropped by more than 13 percent from 2007 to 2009, over 200 new wind farms came online during the same period, adding more than 18,000 megawatts of capacity. With hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus funds allocated for clean energy and energy efficiency projects worldwide, this growth will continue in the years ahead.
However, evidence is mounting that faster, more substantial action is needed. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international body of over 2,500 scientists, has modeled a number of scenarios for possible emissions growth in the coming decades. The likely rise in temperature projected in these scenarios ranges from 1.1 to 6.4 degrees Celsius (2-11 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century. Even with the recent drop, carbon dioxide emissions continue to track some of the worst-case IPCC scenarios. Increasing numbers of scientists agree that atmospheric CO2 must be stabilized at 350 ppm or less; in order to achieve this goal, a fundamental shift in course is needed—and quickly.
The question going forward, then, is whether the international community can move carbon dioxide emissions onto a rapid downward trend by decoupling economic growth from fossil fuel emissions. Otherwise, it is likely that emissions will rise again as the global economy recovers, further destabilizing the earth’s natural systems. Only by shifting to a new energy economy, one that relies on carbon-free sources of energy such as wind, solar, and geothermal instead of climate-threatening fossil fuels, can we avoid the worst effects of climate change.

http://blog.sustainablog.org/causes-of-climate-change-carbon-dioxide-emissions/

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Have an Eco Get-Together: Throw a Local Food Potluck!

Eating food in groups is a vital social experience. To share in the joys of a good meal, cooked with care and skill, and garnished with loving attention brings people together. It’s a great excuse to get your friends and family together, too. What social event is really complete without a hearty meal? Well, here’s a suggestion to spruce up your next get-together, with an eco twist. Throw a local foods potluck!
Perhaps you’ve never had the fortune to attend a potluck before. Basically, it’s an event where each person brings a dish to contribute to the whole group. It’s usually unplanned, so you never know what the full meal will entail. It’s a great way to get people involved in contributing to an event. But instead of just any old potluck, why not make it interesting?

Think Local for Your Next Potluck Meal

Challenge your friends and families to a local food potluck. Encourage that all guests bring a dish that features local, seasonal foods, with as few imported ingredients as possible. Inspire your friends to be creative: suggest that guests peruse farmers markets for fresh organic ingredients. What would a menu look like that only featured local, seasonal produce, cheeses, meats, and beverages? More importantly, how would it taste?
When guests present their food at the potluck, ask them what the ingredients are and where they are from. How many food miles have guests’ dishes traveled? It’s a great way to get people excited about supporting and eating local foods if they can participate in an event where they can be creative about cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Try it out! Next time you want to get together with your friends, suggest a local foods potluck challenge!

http://blog.sustainablog.org/local-food-potluck/

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Telecom sector provides easy connectivity but impacts human and environmental health. Please give your opinion.

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Ragging: the hidden human rights violation

July is the time when lakhs of students take their first steps out of school and into college life. For some, the first few days in college leave a permanent scar on their psyche.

How to deal with ragging

For some, it can be a harrowing experience to be ragged in college. The severity of ragging varies from frivolous play to verbal harassment, sexual abuse and physical torture. It is hard to understand how students, who are otherwise academically-bright and appear to be normal, can be insensitive towards their peers who have gained admission in their college as their fellow-students. Ragging is deemed essential to break ice between ‘seniors’ and ‘freshers’. What is needed is that more friendly ways of interaction be devised by the college authorities themselves, so that the very reason why ragging happens, is rooted out.

Punitive steps can also be a deterrent. As far as the law is concerned, the Supreme Court of India has appointed a committee to recommend how ragging can be curbed. The points made by the Committee, if implemented in full spirit, can go a long way towards preventing the scarring of thousands of young and sensitive people, who suffer at the hands of their peers.

What is the Raghavan Committee?

A six member committee headed by Dr R.K. Raghavan, Former Director, CBI, was constituted by the Supreme Court of India in November 2006. The committee members travelled to different cities across the country and held discussions with students, college faculties, civil society organisations, psychological experts, officials from various educational councils, etc. and submitted its detailed report in Supreme Court on May 16th, 2007. Some of the key findings of the Raghavan Committee were:

• Primary responsibility for curbing ragging rests with academic institutions themselves.
• Ragging adversely impacts the standards of higher education.
• Incentives should be available to institutions for curbing the menace and there should be disincentives for failure to do so.
• Enrolment in academic pursuits or a campus life should not immunize any adult citizen from penal provisions of the laws of the land.
• Ragging needs to be perceived as failure to inculcate human values from the schooling stage.
• Behavioural patterns among students, particularly potential 'raggers', need to be identified
• Measures against ragging must deter its recurrence. Concerted action is required at the level of the school, higher educational institution, district administration, university, State and Central Governments to make any curb effective.

Ragging: How to curb it

College authorities must make effort to sensitise both seniors and freshers on ragging. They must undertake various activities such as games, dramas, short excursions to facilitate interaction between senior and junior students.

• College authorities must conduct anonymous survey of freshers to know if ragging is going on in their institute.
• Worst form of ragging takes place in the college hostels during the night therefore college authorities must conduct surprise checks in their hostels during the night.
• In case of any incident of ragging victim must try to take the teacher into confidence and apprise him/her of the incident.
• Parents of fresher/senior students must form a small group and remain in touch with each other on phone or email.
• This would help them share information on the situation of ragging in college and the involvement of their wards in it.
• Education Ministry at the Central and the State level must conduct various awareness programmes to make ragging a social evil.

Don’ts

• During the initial days in the college, freshers must try to be in groups and avoid places like canteens or hostels of the senior students.
• College must take each ragging complaint seriously and should not ignore or avoid cases even of mild ragging.
• It is commonly seen that college authorities try to save the reputation of the college and deny cases of ragging. In case of any serious incident of ragging, college shouldn’t hesitate in registering complaint with the police.
• Seniors should not do anything, which could make their juniors uncomfortable.

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