Emotional experience of flood victims

Floods along the India-Nepal border have not yet receded. Lakhs of acres of crops and houses have been destroyed. Though relief is being provided to millions of victims, they are groping for emotional support too as they have lost ‘everything’..

Floods on both sides of the India-Nepal border have affected millions of people. Thousands have been displaced; many have lost their houses, crops and household goods; they are hardly left with anything. For many, floods have taken away their all. Some have even lost their loved ones. The lives of the affected lie devastated. Though relief efforts are underway, it will take some time for it to reach all and sundry. Many parts are still inundated and the inundation is continuing. Even those who have been saved are finding it tough to access potable water, food and shelter.

Floods have brought in contaminated water and with sanitation deteriorating, outbreak of water-borne diseases is feared. The people are a despaired lot. The normal coping strategies of the poor affected by the floods have been stretched to the limit. Once the present crisis is over, problems like water-logging, epidemics and water-borne diseases are likely to arise. Though rescue, relief and improvement of living conditions of the people who have been displaced are high on the list of priorities right now, we may need to look beyond.

Poor families struggle to obtain enough food even at the best of times. Now, with food stocks and crops all under water, food has become scarce. Already malnutrition among children and women in the flood-affected areas is high and can only get worse. Children are most vulnerable and susceptible to water-borne diseases; their health will be at risk in the days ahead and given poor nutrition, their health can only get worse. They will be the silent victims of floods and suffering even after the floods have receded. They are also more vulnerable to abuse.

The trauma inflicted by floods will linger on. Disaster impacts all those who have been subjected to it, either directly or indirectly. In addition to physical and social damage, gloomy thoughts, agony and hopelessness inflicted by the floods will pervade. In the case of children the agony may be even more, albeit different. They interpret their personal experiences in the context of the surroundings and environment they live in. Normally, elders tend to speak out and share their emotions but in the case of children, the normal protective ambience vanishes.

Given the associated chaos and trauma, the impact may be severe, most of which they can’t even share. Their home and / or school where they learn, play, share and receive psychological and social support often represents the protective ambience and this may ebb away. They tend to experience insecurity, anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, despair and fear of recurrence of flood. Emotional experience could be difficult to deal with for the elderly pregnant women and those who are sick.

No doubt, responding to immediate needs like food, water, shelter and support (for rebuilding their lives) should be high on the list of priorities but alongside, providing psycho-social support will be critical to help them overcome the trauma inflicted by the disaster.

Food safety a concern to prevent diseases

Food safety is a major concern. With increased debate on avian influenza this area gets more focus, for which serious steps are been taken by WHO in increasing awareness and educating people, including children on safe food handling.

RECENTLY MEDIA reports state on the need for creating awareness about food safety and services. There have been reports on making Goa a "safe food town”. Food safety is a major concern with increased debate on avian influenza this area gets more focus. Not only avian influenza even diarrhoeal diseases alone kills an estimated 1.8 million children annually, and most of these illnesses are attributed to contaminated food or water.

Proper food preparation can prevent most foodborne diseases. As per World Health Organisation (WHO) food safety is a public health priority, millions of people fall ill every year and many die as a result of eating unsafe food. Serious outbreaks of foodborne disease have been documented on every continent in the past decade, and in many countries rates of illnesses are increasing significantly. With increase in trade, imported products are getting common in countries and the fear of spread of contamination due to lack of food safety is crossing borders.

WHO states that disease-causing organisms in food are transmitted far and wide by today’s interconnected global food-chains - escalating how often and where foodborne illnesses occur. Rapid urbanisation worldwide is adding a risks to it, as urban dwellers eat more food prepared outside the home that may not be handled or prepared safely - including fresh foods and fish, meat and poultry.

Key global food safety concerns include -- spread of microbiological hazards (including such bacteria as Salmonella or Escherichia coli-e. coli); chemical food contaminants, assessments of new food technologies (such as genetically modified food) and strong food safety systems in most countries to ensure a safe global food-chain.

WHO has developed a global food hygiene message with five key steps that promote health, and the five keys to safer food are

-Keep clean
-Separate raw and cooked food
-Cook thoroughly
-Keep food at safe temperatures
-Use safe water and raw materials

It also states that increasing awareness and educating people, including children on safe food handling behaviors will help in preventing food borne diseases today and in the future.

Water: plenty amidst scarcity at an Andhra village

The Hindu, M.J. PRABU, Aug 21, 2008

The monsoon came late over the semi-arid regions of central India this year. While several farming villages suffered from drought, Kothapally village in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh had water in its wells for drinking and irrigation. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, and a consortium of partners including international, national, governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) empowered the people of Kothapally to cope with drought for more than nine years through community watersheds.

Plenty of water
“Thanks to ICRISAT, water shortage in our village is a thing of the past,” says Mohammed Azam, farmer in Kothapally. “We have enough water, but the villages that did not pick up the innovations continue to suffer.” “The productivity in Kothapally has increased immensely due to the water saving systems and also because of ICRISAT’s improved crop varieties, integrated pest management, and the judicious application of fertilizers.”

“I was one of the first farmers to adopt these ideas and today I can send my five grandchildren to good schools in town,” says Azam.Big benefits - Mr. T. Janaiah, another Kothapally farmer, emphasizes: “I have benefited incredibly. Ten years ago our groundwater level was about 300 feet deep and today it is at about 60 feet thanks to the water saving facilities that we built together with our partners from ICRISAT. Even with a late monsoon we have sufficient drinking and irrigation water.”The community watershed at Kothapally has become a model replicated in many other countries such as China, Thailand, and Vietnam, and now in East and Central Africa.Improve production. According to Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, the use of community watersheds as an entry point for agricultural and rural development, has resulted in many interventions to improve agricultural productivity and livelihoods of poor farmers. Dr. S.P. Wani, principal scientist on watersheds, says, “Once we found solutions for immediate problems, the farmers became our ambassadors for implementing these interventions.”Check dams

The people of Kothapally have embraced many new technologies. The construction of check dams were based on the community needs and executed by the villagers themselves.
The introduction of improved varieties and hybrid crops, integrated pest management, the restoration of wastelands together with a continuously growing groundwater level, resulted in significantly higher yields and greater income for the poor. Women farmers play a key role in utilizing new technologies. Several women’s self-help groups were trained in vermicomposting.
They in turn trained others in neighbouring villages. Mrs. B Lakshmi, a woman farmer, received the Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy fellowship for Rural Prosperity in 2007 for training peers in vermicomposting.

Replication
According to Dr. Wani, the consortium’s success in Kothapally led to its replication in other Indian states. The state government took the lead in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, while in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, the Sir Dorabjee Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust funded the spread of the program. In select watersheds in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, the Confederation of Indian Industry supported the projects. The idea also spread to other parts of Asia .
Potential solution

The Asian Development Bank supported watershed projects in these countries. A team of researchers from East and Central Africa (ECA) visited Kothapally and identified the watershed experience as a potential solution to many of the challenges their region faced. For further information and visit to Kothapally village readers can contact Dr. Suhas P. Wani, Principal Scientist and Regional Theme Co-ordinator, ICRISAT, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh-502-324, email: s.wani@cgiar.org, phone: 040-3071-3466 and 3071-3071(extn) 2466.

Bullet Santi - Motorcycle Driven Multi Purpose Farm Machine

Bullet-loving farmers set up biker club
Times of India, Vijaysinh Parmar, 13 Aug 2008,

AHMEDABAD: When Mansukh Jagani, farmer from Amreli district invented 'Bullet Santi' in early '90s, he didn't know he was sparking a revolution of sorts. Bullet Santi is basically a motorcycle-driven multipurpose farm machine. His innovation inspired many others to follow suit and has led to formation of a club in Gujarat called Technology Commons. The club will comprise innovator and those who improvize the technology. They will critically analyze and improve on each other's models. Such an initiative is being taken for the first time in the country and the institution behind it is National Innovation Foundation. "In May, we organized a meeting of innovators in Rajkot and the idea of setting up this club emerged," said Anil Gupta, executive vice-chairman of NIF and faculty member of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A ). There would be no restrictions on club members learning from each other, but if a company wants to use their technology , it would have to get a licence, he added. Licensing would require consent from the lead innovator and all those who made improvements. Jagani fabricated an attachment so that a farm machine could be powered by an Enfield Bullet motorcycle. The innovation was patented by Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN) in US as well as India. "The idea was to have the flexibility of using a motorcycle for farming. Several fabricators in Saurashtra and Kutch found this a very attractive idea,'' says Riya Sinha, who has done a case study on motorcycle-based ploughing machines. She is president of SRISTI Innovations and senior advisor of newsletter 'Honey Bee' that documents grassroots innovations. There are at least 50 motorcycle-driven farm machine fabricators in Saurashtra alone, and more than 8,000 farmers using such machines.

SETTING STANDARDS Technology Commons will bring in standardization in grassroots innovations which is the best thing that could happen, saysProfessor Gupta. "It will make innovations competitive and cost-effective . And, offer affordable solutions to the expanding market. It raises the interesting possibility of combining customization (so necessary for farm machinery) with standardization," he added. NIF encourages people to imitate and build on each other's designs. The only precondition is that each innovator making derivative changes will put the improvements in the Technology Commons database.

Eco Friendly Hybrid Bikes

Times of India, Ahmedabad, Aug 22, 2008
Anand man creates eco-friendly hybrid bikes
In this age of skyrocketing fuel costs and pollution, an eco-friendly, multi-fuel bike sounds like the dream vehicle. That's what Paresh Budh of Anand has come up with. The 40-year-old, who used to work for a multinational, has now devoted himself full-time to develop hybrid bikes. Budh is an invitee to 'Inventors of India' workshop being organized by IIM-A. His bike can run on petrol, diesel, gas or bio-gas. It will neither create air nor noise pollution and will be air-conditioned! This is, amazingly, because it will be covered. Budh has been working in the field of fuel efficiency for 20 years. A diploma holder in automobile engineering, he is presently burning the midnight oil fine-tuning 'Motoscoot'. "My idea was to develop a bike that's multi-fuel and cost-effective. My bike prototype ranges from 180cc to 250cc and can accelerate to 60 kmph in 7.2 seconds. It has an aerodynamic shape in front, four-speed manual gear (and gearless variant for women) and three safety belts," an excited Budh adds. In 1998, he made a fuel-efficiency kit which gave him 110-km average for petrol in a 110cc bike. Currently, he's experimenting on a kit that can give 1,000 km average for Rs 200 of fuel. Budh has applied for a patent in India, but is frustrated that no one has supported him so far. "People have not recognized my work. In fact, they joke about it. That's why I'm particularly happy that my innovation has been selected for this prestigious workshop which Dr Abdul Kalam is expected to attend. I will show him my work and he will understand it better, being a scientist," he says.

Media should move beyond cricket

It's not often that Indian sports persons except cricketers get featured on the front page of newspapers. It is time for the media to create an equal space for all sports to encourage the masses towards other games beyond cricket..


SUSHIL KUMAR, Vijender Kumar and Abhinav Bindra are names, which have done India proud at Beijing Olympics. Hardly anyone knew them a few days back, may be the sports journalists had known them but now these three have become a part of history forever. Media is all over them for a small interview, a picture, for a minute of their life. Their families are being interviewed on television channels, media has reached their homes. And all the credit goes to the three stars who proved their mettle at Beijing. Else, when does the media in India get time to cover any other sports except cricket, which is their first love.

Even if Dhoni buys a new car, or gets a new dog it is ’breaking news’! Or Yuvraj attends a party with a girl, it’s news! Before the world cup, anything you do, make a cake in shape of bat, sing a song to wish the Indian team, it was news and the media covered it. But the same passion is never there for any other sport. These do get some coverage but that prime time attention is missing, especially in electronic media. In fact, when Abhinav was competing in the shooting event, half the Indian media at Beijing was missing, they only rushed to get his shots when he won.

Media attention also brings in money, sponsors and no doubt, Indian Cricket Board is the richest cricket board in the world.

Sports other then cricket also have a story. It is not that Sushil, Abhinav and Vijender have never played for India earlier. In 2006 Doha Asian Games, Sushil got a bronze. Vijender is the Asian Games bronze medallist and the King’s Cup silver medalist. Similarly, Abhinav had got a gold in 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and is the first Indian shooter to win a world championship gold. It was covered by media, may be as one news item or limited to sports page. Unlike this time when Bindra made to Page One as India’s golden boy. Possibly, these victories in wrestling, boxing and shooting may do some good to these sports and divert attention to them. And a country like India with over a billion people should be aiming high in the next Olympics.

We celebrated India’s 1984 World Cup victory in cricket, but we never celebrated or even remembered Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav’s victory, he was India’s first individual (Olympic Games) wrestler to win us a bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Today when Sushil Kumar repeated history they talked about him. Hope his work gets some recognition at least after 56 years.

One rupee is not a rupee – one boy is not a boy

“One rupee is not a rupee, one boy is not a boy,” said a housewife from Shivpuri district of MP. Sex ratio in MP has declined at an alarming rate. It's the desire among people to have more than one son that is responsible for declining sex ratio



THIS IS the story from a village in India, which falls in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh. It is a story of how a girl child is still unwanted. Even if one visits the district today it is the son the families want

"One rupee is not a rupee – one boy is not a boy," said Radha, a housewife in Sirsod, a village in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh, while she was visiting primary health centre of her village for her son’s vaccination. It was the first Tuesday of October and was the ‘Vaccination Day’ in the district. She was there to get her son – (her fourth alive child) Kapsingh vaccinated. It could have been her fifth child if she had not lost her girl child few years back. In a possibility of exploring answers why they have so many kids (like a typical social worker), I slowly went ahead and had a conversation with her, other women, and the Anganwadi workers. Is it the pressure of having son or just ignorance regarding use of family planning method or something else? Well Radha’s eldest child was a son and rest were all daughters. She told us it is mainly due to son that they have so many children but it is not one son that they want. They want at least two sonsIt is that pressure within community and belief that ‘one son is not a son’ just like ‘one rupee is not a rupee’. But why two? Mangal Singh, a community member pointed out that people out here feel if you have only one son he may be left alone if there is a fight or when it comes to defending one’s family, one son is not enough. If something happens to one son, then who will take the name of the family forward? In earlier times, Shivpuri also had dacoits. If you have two sons then you are secure and have the so-called ‘power to defend’.



Another woman standing next to Radha at the Anganwadi with her seven-month-old son on her lap echoed this fact. She was more educated than Radha, and had studied till class tenth and her husband was a teacher. But even for her it was the fifth child, which was a son, after four girls. She added that in our case we do not differentiate between son and daughter, but we need a son – he runs generation ahead.



Your surname ie your family name dwindles if you have a daughter because when she gets married she will adopt another family’s name. If you want your family name, your generation to grow - you need a son. Families just want to have two sons. Nobody wants a daughter. It is this strong bias and with growing reach of ultrasonography and sex-determination technology that the female sex ratio in this part of the state is dwindling. It is not only Shivpuri, but even districts like Morena and Bhind have a sex ratio below 850 girls per 1000 boys. This is an issue, which needs urgent intervention. Though we have laws but these have not been implemented properly. There is a strong need to bring a change in the attitude of the people towards a girl child..

Life beyond AIDS

In order to fight HIV, all one needs is a strong will power to fight the disease. A positive frame of mind goes a long way to ease the dread of death. Remember, there is a life beyond HIV..

Anil Gulati

SPIRITUAL GURUS say and even I believe that our thoughts, moods, state of being and feelings are powerful influences on our health and immune system. I had attended a workshop on Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), which was held in Bhopal, wherein, I had a chance to hear from Sanjeev (name changed) who lives in one of the districts of Madhya Pradesh, on his experience in fighting with HIV, which he and his wife had been living with for the last six years. I too was a resource person in the same workshop. One got moved not only because the way he narrated his story, but by the way he has been fighting the dreaded virus. More than anything, the most powerful message one could get from his talk was that there is a life beyond HIV. One needs the will to fight the infection, which he had in him in plenty.

I presume that the moment you have that positive will, you would do whatever is needed and advised to fight HIV. I feel Sanjeev is a fighter, a fighter with the weapon of will. He not only motivates you and tells you that it is the will, which could be more potent than any other vaccine. He may or may not succeed but more important is his present, which he is living with full confidence. To me it proves a point that thoughts, one emotion and various body systems don't work in isolation. They work together as a whole system.

After hearing from him, I did some search, which was more to add to his belief and mine too. One which I found close to this was by UCLA AIDS Institute research, which showed that stress enables HIV to spread more quickly in HIV-positive persons and impairs antiretroviral drugs from restoring the immune system.

Depression and negative attitudes have also been linked to lowering the immune system, which means that opposite could do better, probably a theory, of which Sanjeev is a living example.Many of us get emotional on issue which affects us, but when you see him and hear about him, his wife and the suffering and stigma they got in return from the society in this 21st century era of technology and openness. How his daughter could not get admission in any school in the state capital?

One feels our issues are nothing as compared to his woes. He inspired me with the message that it is positive will power, which has helped him to fight. He is a real life role model, not only for a person living with HIV but also for me and may be for most of us. He encourages us to encounter our problems bravely.