[Reader-list] Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project - Blueprint for an ecological disaster
we wi
dhatr1i at yahoo.com
Mon Sep 17 18:37:28 IST 2007
Dear Shuddhabrata Sengupta,
First,Dhatri is me and radhikarajen is another person. I just found radhika message interesting while googling, and just reused that for quote.
And next as per your
>>Really, Dont you think that would be a good idea? So much money could
>>be spent on real needs - on housing, food and medicine, on education, on
>>raising the standard of life for all South Asian, on excellent Sanskrit
>>univerities, on excellent Arabic and Persian and Pali academies,
>>excellent Mathematics schools, wonderful hospitals, art, culture,
>>music, basic scientific research, solar energy, wind farms, alternative fuels,
>>cheap computers, good software, gardens, fish, organic vegetables,
>>good cooking lessons for all Indian men, wine, mohua, tari, cchang,
>>tea, coffee, libraries and not on guns and missiles and spies and lies. Dont
>>you think, Dhatri ji, I mean Radhikarajen ji, we would all deserve it.
>>All of us, and you most of all. Think what peace of mind you wil have.
>>Think how well you will sleep. Think how much yoga and pranayam you
>> will be able to do.
If no governent required Who will do all the above?
Perhaps this will be my last quote for which my father used to do at the sankalp of his daily prayer. Not only he but this is the most common thing come in sankalp for any incident in the India "JAMBU DWEEPE, BHARATA VASRSHE, BHARATA KHANDE MERU ...."
Forget Afghans, Iranians, Indonesians,Maldivians, Thais, Cambodian and Vietnamese Countries. We are least concerned about them but As far as India is concerned despite of lot of headaches and problems people are adjusting with lifes and governents and living happily. So as you. I dont know where is this MERU lOCATED, you better try to find out that if you can.
The states(with Occupied terrotaries by Pakistan,China) whatever you mentioned to be freed, are part and parcel of India since unknown ages. As the 50 states in USA are inseperable and undivided by any force in the world, so as the India. No evil force can break this.
Regards,
Dhatri.
Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
Dear Radhikarajen (or is it we wi) ji,
My post on the Sethusamudram issue, does mention the Chinese nuclear
tests in the Lop Nor Plauteau in Tibet, and if you had read till the
end, I urge us all to ask the Chinese government to apologize to the
people of Central Asia (including Tibet) for these tests and the
disastrous effects they have had on the fragile ecology of Tibet, just
as I have said everyone worried about the ecology of South Asia should
ask for similar apologies from the Indian and Pakistani governments for
Pokhran I and II and the Chagai Hills Tests.
And as for Point 3, I am against the Chinese occupation of Tibet, just
as much as I am against the Indian and Pakistani occupation of Jammu and
Kashmir. I think the people of Tibet and Jammu and Kashmir (two
neighbouring territories) could theoretically leave as peaceful
neighbours if they did not have to deal with such long standing and
violent military occupations.
If that were to happen, I think life would be much better for all of us
in Asia. Maybe, we would not have such huge, ugly military forces in
India, Pakistan and China. Maybe the governements of India, Pakistan and
China could be persuaded to create a Nuclear Weapons Free Asia. Maybe
you would write as many emails as you do (I notice you have written only
4045 mails - four thousand and forty five mails on a forum on the NDTV
website - http://ndtv.com/mb/userprofile.asp?username=radhikarajen ) to
ensure that this happens.
But so far I have only seen 4,045 mails from you on the NDTV website. I
am sure you could do better than that and write at least 10,000 more
mails on the NDTV website urging the governments of India, Pakistan and
China to disarm, and to free Tibet and Jammu and Kashmir. Maybe you will
be in the Guinness book of Records by doing that, maybe you will get the
Nobel Prize for Peace as an online peace activist. Who knows, maybe,
because of your efforts we could even think of what it would be like to
even not have a military. Imagine, no more having to watch that long and
boring parage on 26th January (Republic Day), time for picnics and
football matches instead. And maybe then we wont need Sama, Dama, Danda,
Bhed either as instruments of power and control. I think it will be a
lot of fun. Dont you? There will be peace, no war, no terrorism, no
state terrorism.
Really, Dont you think that would be a good idea? So much money could be
spent on real needs - on housing, food and medicine, on education, on
raising the standard of life for all South Asian, on excellent Sanskrit
univerities, on excellent Arabic and Persian and Pali academies,
excellent Mathematics schools, wonderful hospitals, art, culture, music,
basic scientific research, solar energy, wind farms, alternative fuels,
cheap computers, good software, gardens, fish, organic vegetables,
good cooking lessons for all Indian men, wine, mohua, tari, cchang, tea,
coffee, libraries and not on guns and missiles and spies and lies. Dont
you think, Dhatri ji, I mean Radhikarajen ji, we would all deserve it.
All of us, and you most of all. Think what peace of mind you wil have.
Think how well you will sleep. Think how much yoga and pranayam you will
be able to do.
Think about it. But for it to happen, the people of Jammu and Kashmir,
and the people of Tibet will have to decide for themselves whom they
want to be ruled by and the people of Balochistan and Manipur and
Nagalim and who knowa where else, they will also have to decide for
themselves without the help of Indian and Pakistani and Chinese soldiers
and policemen. They will all have to be in a position where they can
freely, peacefully and openly decide who they should be ruled by, And if
they do not want to be ruled by Indians, Paksitanis and Chinese
governments. Then, I think as reasonable people, you, me, all of us,
should learn to live with them, and the Chinese and the Pakistanis as
good neighbours, we should visit them, borrow sugar from them, gossip
with them, quarrel with them, fall in love with them, get drunk with
the, go grow old with them - just like sane good neighbours do. just as
we have learnt to live with Afghans, Iranians, Indonesians, Burmese,
Bangladeshis (ok there are some problems there) , Sri Lankans (hmm some
problems there also) , Maldivians, Thais, Cambodian and Vietnamese
people. They would complain about their government, we would complain
about ours, and we would all be good friends. And I hope we can all
convince all the governments that there should be no visas. Pilgrims,
tourists, scholars, traders, retired people, students, artists,
travelling salesmen, hakims and vaids, Kabuiliwallas, anyone at all
should be free to travel all over Asia, without visas. We should have
Pakistani people as colleagues in our offices, our children should be
working in Pakistan and in a free Jammu and Kashmir, and Tibetans should
bee teaching in China and so on and so forth. You can construct any
scenario you want. I think it is very easily possible. A free Asia full
of free people who are not at war with each other, and whose
governments obey their people and do not try to dominate each other.
Won't you agree with me, Radhikarajen ji,
I am sorry I cannot answer points 2, 4 and 5 as my knowledge on those
matters is limited.
warm regards
Shuddha
we wi wrote:
> Suddha,
>
> If you are a true peace keeper, then you would have raised questions against china when they
>
> 1) conducted Nucler tests
> 2) deceived late Nehru under the Panchasheel
> 3)Occupied Tibet
> 4)Backing Pakistan to do whatever nonsense
> if not
> 5) Communists ruling West Bengal under democracy umberilla
>
>
> Since 4th B.C, India has been attacked,ransacked and deceived by Invaders. The same way Communists can rule India under democracy. We have no objection.
>
> As per your mail I understood that there should not be any government that can rule India and empower it.
>
>
> Regards,
> Dhatri.
>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> This is one of the rare occasions where I think I am in near total
> agreement with Pawan Durani. So, I thought I would break my silence.
> Thank you Pawan for the links that you have sent.
>
> I think that the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project is indeed a blueprint
> for the unfolding of a human tragedy and an ecological disaster. And I
> think it ranks along with the Narmada Dam Project as a plan that is
> deeply inimical to the interests and livelihoods of the people who will
> be affected by it most, namely local fisher folk (for whom the region is
> an age old natural fishing commons).
>
> I see no reason why ancient fishing practices and the delicate natural
> ecology of the region should have to be disrupted just so that
> Capitalism (in the form of ships carrying containers) and the Indian
> Navy's ships can gain a few hours while crossing from the west to the
> east coast of India. If for all these centures, ships have had to round
> the southern tip of Sri Lanka to move from the Arabian sea to the Bay of
> Bengal, and traverse the waters of the Indian Ocean region, I do not see
> why then the livelihoods of the inhabitants of the region have to be
> suddenly sacrified for them to be able to move faster.I see absolutely
> nothing wrong in insisting that the ships take the same time that they
> have always taken?
>
> However, I have also watched worthies from the Bharatiya Janata Party,
> especially, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi, present their 'alternative'
> project for the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project over the last few days
> on television - which is to cut a canal through the southern tip of the
> Deccan peninsula. And I think that proposal is just as much of a
> potential human and ecological disaster as the disruption of the
> Sethusamudram region. So the new found 'greening' of the BJP, needs to
> be understood for what it is. Yet another recipe for the displacement of
> people and the violent disruption of the landscape, on the same scale as
> Sardar Sarovar project and the proposed scheme to link rivers that was
> the pet project of the esteeemed erstwhile president of the Indian republic.
>
> I would like to point readers on the list to consider the tragic
> histories of Panama (a state, now a narco-republic, carved out in order
> to dig a canal) and the Suez canal (over which at least one major
> military conflict - the Suez crisis of 1956 erupted. I have no doubt
> that The BJP's recently found enthusiasm for cutting a canal through
> Southern India will no doubt create 'swadeshi' versions of
> narco-republicanism, and aggressive military posturing a la Panama and Suez.
>
> Also, on a parting note, let us not forget the decision by successive
> governments, controlled by the Congress or led by the BJP, that did not
> have any qualms about violating the delicate ecology of the Thar desert
> with Nuclear explostions, or completely destroying the equally delicate
> Himalayan glacial environment of Siachen in the part of Jammu and
> Kashmir occupied by India, by stationing troops, heavy artillery and
> continuing what must be one of the most tragic, bizarre, violent and
> wasteful military engagements with landscape in the history of the
> modern world.
>
> So, yes let us all demand that the Sethusamudram region be left alone,
> let us demand that no more nuclear explosions or tests ever take place
> in the Thar desert or anywhere in the landmass of all of South Asia, or
> in the Lop Nor plateau in Tibet, and let us demand also a unilateral
> ceasefire and troop withdrawal from Siachen, and let us demand immediate
> cessation of the Sardar Saroval Project on the river Narmada and that
> the river linking project be abandoned. I would be absolutely willing to
> assent to all these demands, and while doing so, I would also demand
> that those who took the decisions to conduct Nuclear Tests in Pokhran in
> India (in 1974 and in 1998) and in the Chagai Hills in Pakistan (in
> 1998) or on the Lop Nor plateau in Tiber offer uconditional apologies to
> the people of India, Pakistan and Tibet (and to all peoples in Asia) for
> the serious damage that these tests caused to the ecology of South and
> Central Asia.
>
> I sincerely hope that all of you will agree with me.
>
> regards
>
> Shuddha
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Pawan Durani wrote:
>
>
>>http://tamilinfoservice.com/manitham/environment/sscp/article/4.htm
>>
>>http://www.tamilnation.org/diaspora/tamilnadu/050404sethu.htm
>>
>>http://www.greensl.net/campaigns003.php
>>
>>http://hitxp.wordpress.com/2007/07/01/a-blunder-called-sethusamudram/
>>
>>
>>Where are all those who had been talking about ecological disaster during
>>Narmada Dam project ? Why are they silent ? Where are the activists and
>>the film makers ?
>>
>>I do understand their problems and the "compulsions".
>>
>>God Bless !
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