Tharoor pointed out that Thiruvananthapuram has been facing a severe solid waste management crisis since December last year owing to the non-functioning of the Vilappilsala plant. Garbage trucks are unable to transport wastes from the city to the plant following severe opposition from the local people. The High Court has ordered the reopening of the plant and even the Supreme Court has rejected the plea of the Vilappilsala panchayat for a stay on the High Court’s order.

Waste collection has come to a standstill as there is no space to landfill or even burn the garbage. The residents of Vilappilsala are vehemently opposed to the reopening of the plant. This has led to garbage accumulating in public places and also spilling on to the streets.

Tharoor made the specific point that Thiruvananthapuram is facing an epidemic-like situation and the health of the people of the city cannot be taken lightly any longer. The city receives a large number of international visitors who are also being exposed to the unhygienic conditions, Tharoor pointed out. The situation will only worsen once the monsoon sets in, he feared.

Vilappilsala itself is at risk if the garbage already dumped in the plant is not treated. It is also of critical importance that the equipment for construction of a leachate treatment unit and sanitary landfill be transported to the Vilappilsala plant. The functioning of the garbage treatment plant is imperative till the plans for decentralisation of waste management in the city takes shape, which is expected to take three to four months, Tharoor said.

Source: IBNLive

Tharoor pointed out that Thiruvananthapuram has been facing a severe solid waste management crisis since December last year due to the non-functioning of Vilappilsala garbage treatment plant. Garbage trucks are unable to transport waste to the plant due to severe opposition from local residents.

Though the high court has ordered that the plant be reopened and the Supreme Court has rejected Vilappilsala panchayat’s plea for a stay on the high court order, the law and order situation does not permit the government to take any action.

The residents of Vilappilsala are vehemently opposed to the reopening of the plant. This has led to garbage accumulation in public places as waste collection has come to a standstill. There is no space to landfill or even burn the garbage, he said.

Tharoor said that Thiruvananthapuram is facing an epidemic-like situation and the health of the city’s residents is a major issue. The city receives a large number of international visitors, who are also being exposed to these unhygienic conditions, he added.

“The situation will worsen once monsoon begins. Vilappilsala itself is at risk if the garbage already dumped in the plant is not treated. Equipment for construction of a leachate treatment unit and sanitary landfill must be transported to the Vilappilsala plant without delay. Functioning of the garbage treatment plant is imperative till the plans for decentralization of waste management in the city take shape which will, at the earliest, take three to four months,” he said.

Tharoor has been voicing his support for the re-opening of the plant ever since it had shut down its operations.

He had said that it was not right to give up the Vilappilsala treatment complex when only works amounting to Rs 2.5 crore out of the total budgeted Rs 13.58 crore for the setting up of the modern plant have been completed. He is of the opinion that “misplaced agitation should not be allowed to hold the entire city hostage on this account”.

Source: Times of India

However, Tharoor urged the Government to understand the petrol and energy requirements of the country before taking a final decision.

“On the issue of Iran India has a particular position, that we are their neighbours and we need the oil. Our country now-a-days is importing more than eighty percent of the energy needs; so we cannot make such sanctions easily but we also realize that the international community is taking a position saying that Iran’s conduct vis-?-vis nuclear energy is not appropriate,” Tharoor told the media.

“We have to co-operate with the international community. We cannot live in isolation. We also need to understand the petrol and energy requirements of our country and take a feasible decision,” he added.

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas RPN Singh on Tuesday said that India imported 17.44 million tonnes of oil in 2011/12, down 5.7 percent from the year earlier.

“Total crude oil imported from Iran by Indian companies during 2010-11 and 2011-12 is 18.50 million tonnes and 17.44 million tonnes, respectively. The target fixed for import of crude oil from Iran for 2012-13 is about 15.5 million tonnes,” Singh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Singh said the quantum of crude oil imported by Indian refineries from various sources is decided by them on the basis of technical, commercial and other considerations.

“To reduce its dependence on any particular region of the world, India has been consciously trying to diversify its sources of crude oil imports to strengthen the country’s energy security,” he added. (ANI)

Source: News Track India

Mr. Chairman, as we reflect on the 60th anniversary of this august House and this Parliament, it is time to think a little bit about the democracy that this body enshrines. The whole emanation of the idea of India, to borrow Rabindranath Tagore’s famous phrase, the idea of a plural civilization, a civilization that has been created by generations of people of various backgrounds coming to contribute to our history. Nehruji spoke about a palimpsest written over by new, succeeding waves of people coming to this country, making the India we know today and yet not erasing what has gone before.

In the last sixty years of this Parliament, Mr. Chairman, India has grown from 370 million people in 1952 to 1.2 billion people today. We have reorganized our State structures. We have defended our country from internal and external dangers, and we have managed to do this while remaining democratic.

Our Parliament is the result of that magical exchange of hopes and promises, exchanges of compromises and aspirations, that constitute the people’s mandate, for every one of the MPs sitting in this House today. It is with this that we represent the people, whose hopes they have entrusted to us to fulfil through our work in this House. Democracy, that we in this House and this institution embodies, has given the poor, the oppressed an opportunity to break free of their lot. This is reflected too in the changing composition of this Parliament, the degree to which the broadening social and class base of this Parliament has been reflected in the history of the last 60 years. The way in which no one today is excluded and we have a Parliament that truly looks like India.

Our Parliament reflects our great diversity. Even today’s debate is a proof of that – the various languages we have heard spoken, the different ethnicities that have risen to contribute to today’s reflection and discussion, the different religions and castes represented amongst the Members of Parliament today. This Parliament embodies the idea that India is a country where we can transcend differences of caste, of creed, of colour, of culture, of cuisine, of conviction, of consonant, of costume and of custom, and still rally around a consensus. That consensus is on the simple idea that in a large and diverse democracy like ours, we do not really need to agree all the time; so long as you will agree on the ground rules of how you will disagree. This is what this Parliament embodies – how we can disagree in a way that strengthens our nation, strengthens our democracy and strengthens the future of India.

This is the idea of India; it is an idea of a diverse land where all of us belong, where you can be many things and one thing. You can be a good Christian or a good Muslim, a good Keralite, a good Indian – all at once, because all of these identities are secured in the identity of Indianness that this Parliament today embodies.
I know that in other countries, they speak of the minor differences that divide people. In our country, this Parliament celebrates the commonality of major differences. We celebrate all the varieties of our nation. In fact, when I used to live in the United States, I would tell American audiences that your country calls itself a melting pot. We are not a melting pot; we have many differences in our country; we are, instead, a thali, because we are a collection of different dishes, each of which has a different taste, does not necessarily mix with the next, but they belong together on the same plate, and they contribute to give you a satisfying repast. That is our India – the India of the thali.

This Parliament’s Founding Fathers wrote a Constitution for their dreams. Today we have given passports to their ideals. We must live up to those ideals; let us ask ourselves in this Parliament – and I say this with all the humility of a new Member, let us ask ourselves whether we are always worthy of those ideals of our founding fathers. Let us ask ourselves, if the way in which this Parliament was conducted 60 years ago, is still the way in which we behave today – whether the slogan shouting, the disruption that we have seen, that has deprived us of so many days of work in this House, is the true reflection of the high aspirations that we are praising, and honouring, and commemorating today.

Let us also say to ourselves that this is the time when many outside this Parliament, the self-appointed representatives of civil society has challenged this Parliament’s right to represent the people, have claimed that there is a disconnection from the popular will of this country. Let us show, not only that we have the popular mandate through the votes that we have won, let us also show that we believe in fulfilling the needs of the people, and that we will use this Parliament to work for the people, and not to disrupt our work.

Equally, I had the privilege of calling on the Speaker, to offer the suggestion that we could take the Parliament to the people by having a five-day Session, somewhere other than Delhi. I suggested Bengaluru, not only because it is a State ruled by a Party other than mine, but because it has the facilities to host both the Houses of Parliament. Let us go to another part of the country, show the nation that they too have a claim; they do not have to come to Delhi to see parliamentarians at work, but it is available to them, everywhere in the country.

I would respectfully suggest that what we need to do is to remain faithful to the founding values of our nation’s Parliament, to the founding values of our democracy and our Constitution; and in that process, we need to revive it, we need to come out with new creative, positive ideas to make Parliament more relevant and more connected to the people and this nation.

If we are true to these founding values of the 20th century, I know that this Parliament can go on to transform the future of India in the 21st century. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Dr. Shashi Tharoor is a diplomat, author and journalist. He was the former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations. He is now the chairman of Dubai-based Afras Ventures.

What does spirituality mean to you?
It is the acknowledgment of forces larger than myself. They are not immediately graspable by the daily concerns of one’s consciousness. But they reflect yearnings for things beyond oneself as well as the reality that transcends the mundane, daily life. The awareness of those forces is not something rational. It is an act of conviction, an instinctive feeling I have almost always had in my life.

Do you believe you are guided and protected by a superior force?
I have felt many times in irrational ways the presence of a guiding hand, especially and more strongly after the passing away of my father. Could it simply be explained by the psychology of bereavement, or the sense that I was no longer accountable only to myself, but also to his spirit? I am not sure, especially as this feeling has slightly faded away over the years — this happened fifteen years ago. The shock of losing him so young (he was only 63) and as I was so close to him may have something to do with it. It basically caused the deepest pain and deepest soul searching of my life. I had a sense of regret since I could never talk to him again. And the most consoling thing I realized was: when you are physically far away from someone you love, you know you can be in touch through the occasional phone, letter, or travel. Yet, when they have left this world, they are always with you. In some ways, I took that in very deeply. I was very conscious of my father’s good wishes when he was alive, but they became a permanent feature of myself for many years after his passing away, I was very conscious of his presence.

I also believe that the world poses more questions than science and rationality could ever answer. There are too many examples of paranormal phenomena for instance. But I do have a lot of scepticism when it comes to psychics, astrologers and other types of people professing an understanding of it all. When I was running for the Secretary General of the U.N. post for instance, I cannot tell you how many astrologers told me victory was assured. And of course it was not.

On the overall, the concept of the divine very much talks to me. It does so in the Upanishad sense of the word, as something ultimately unknowable by human beings. And with the idea that all worship, all prayers are means for human beings through their own imperfection to reach out to that they cannot touch. This is why it makes perfect sense to me that there may be 333,000 different manifestations of gods and goddesses. None is more accurate than the other since nobody has actually seen the face of God. We can only imagine It. So there is no harm in imagining God as a woman with five arms or a man on a cross. These are crotches for human’s imagination because they have difficulty fathoming the abstract, and praying to it.

Do you believe you have a special mission or purpose in this life?
I feel so very strongly. I have argued consistently that the only purpose of life is to leave this planet in a bit of a better state. If life was only about eating bread, why would that be — to survive? But then survive to do what? To eat more bread? It would make no sense. So to me, it is about enriching life and in turn, being enriched by it. That is why beyond finding material comfort, the arts, culture, the world of ideas are so important to me. And whatever I venture into, I really try to do my best. Even if it does not succeed, striving for it is what matters. Not trying would be the unforgivable thing.

As a child, one goes through different phases and desires. Before I was even ten years old, my grand-father told me I should become an IAS officer. He was living in a village in Kerala and those officers had an impact on the lives of millions. Then I thought I should have an impact on world affairs, so I wanted to be an IFS officer. But when it was time to sit for those exams, the government declared emergency. So I refused to go ahead with the exams, as I could not see myself serve a government capable of such a move.

Academia — as I had just completed my PhD, journalism — as I had been writing since I was a child — or international affairs were then the three options left. I ended up at the U.N. in Geneva, thinking I would spend there a year only. And of course, it lasted twenty-nine instead. I went from dealing with refugees — the Boat People crisis — to Peacekeeping Operations in Yugoslavia and then undersecretary general at the New York headquarters. The U.N. basically became the platform I was given as an Indian without resources, to have some sort of impact, to make a difference.

And when my candidacy to the post of Secretary General did not succeed in 2007, it was a huge, dramatic change in my life. I have learnt to accept it as what was meant to be. But I had embarked on that race with the goal of winning of course. And it was a real shock. I have tried since then to embrace the Hindu view about it — when you embark on a journey with a certain purpose and have an accident, it turns out the accident itself was the purpose. What is intended up there sometimes does not match the desire we have down here.
So as all that unfolded, I had no idea what I would do next. It was like rebooting a computer. A vast number of opportunities came to me and I entertained almost all of them since I was so unclear about what to do and be next.

Then I found this arrangement, an involvement in the private sector — something I had never done before — which would give me the necessary infrastructure (an assistant, an office…) and the freedom to pursue a wide range of interests. So even though I am no longer part of a large organization such as the U.N., I can still serve a number of purposes. I sit on the board of 33 institutions (maybe a bit too much!), in the fields of human rights, humanitarian action, culture, and education. And I find it all quite constructive and fulfilling. It is way too early to say what will come out of it all. All setbacks look pretty back when they happen and I lack the perspective to say what it was meant for. In the meantime, I must say it is a quite liberating experience, since it has freed me to pursue a number of things that otherwise I would have never done.

What is spirituality for you in your day to day life?
I am very conscious of the higher powers in my daily life. When I can, I pray. When I do not manage to pray in a formal way, I silently think of a superior power. I do so using a picture my parents used to have in their puja room, Ram and Sita surrounded by the main gods. Years later, I had found it in a book published by the former Greek ambassador in Delhi. And I always have it in my home-made altar, so I can imagine my worship through an illustration I have seen since I was a baby.

Source: Indian Express

In his Special Mention Dr. Shashi Tharoor pointed out that Thiruvananthapuram has been facing a severe solid waste management crisis since December last year due to the non-functioning of Vilappilsala garbage treatment plant. Garbage trucks are unable to transport waste to the plant due to severe opposition from the locals. The High Court has ordered the reopening of the plant and even the Supreme Court has rejected the plea of the Vilappilsala Panchayat for a stay on the High Court’s order. The residents of Vilappilsala are vehemently opposed to the reopening of the plant. This has led to garbage accumulating in public places and also spilling on to the streets. Waste collection has come to a standstill as there is no space to landfill or even burn the garbage.

Dr. Tharoor made the specific point that Thiruvananthapuram is facing an epidemic like situation and the health of the people of the city cannot be taken lightly any longer. The city receives a large number of international visitors who are also being exposed to the unhygienic conditions. The situation will only worsen once the monsoon sets in. Vilappilsala itself is at risk if the garbage already dumped in the plant is not treated. It is also of critical importance that the equipment for construction of a leachate treatment unit and sanitary landfill be transported to the Vilappilsala plant. The functioning of the garbage treatment plant is imperative till the plans for decentralisation of waste management in the city take shape which will at the earliest take 3 to 4 months.

He requested to announce a decision in this regard during the proposed function, being organised in Parliament on May 13 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of the first Lok Sabha. In the letter, Tharoor proposed to hold five days of sitting of Parliament during the next monsoon session at a suitable location other than New Delhi.

He has also suggested that Bengaluru would be the ideal place to hold such a sitting.

“One of the apparent reason for the propagation of misconceptions about Parliament and its members is that they suffer from a ‘disconnect’ with the people who elected them to Parliament, he said.

He said that the idea of holding Parliament sittings outside Capital was discussed in the past, but for various reasons it was not implemented. The reasons are not valid in an era of advanced technology and strong infrastructure, he said.

Source: IBN Live

In a letter to Ms. Kumar, the former UN diplomat turned parliamentarian said a decision in this regard might be announced during a function organised to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of the First Lok Sabha on May 13, a press note issued by his constituency office said on Saturday.
‘Symbolic’ move

He said it would be a symbolic gesture, which would give the people a fresh look at the vital role played by the Parliament of the country.

Mr. Tharoor, who represents Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala in the Lok Sabha, expressed concern over frequent disruptions in Parliament and criticism heaped on parliamentarians by certain quarters. Mr. Tharoor said holding a session outside Delhi would give an opportunity to people to have a look at the functioning of the Parliament.
‘To the people’

“It would be a symbolic gesture to take the Parliament itself to the people in order to enable them to have a fresh look at the functioning of the Houses and the vital work they do in the governance of this vast nation of 1.2 billion people, constituting one-fifth of humanity,” he said.

He said Bangalore was typical of the dynamic face of new India, and the younger generation of the city represented a cross-section of the flower of the nation in whom the future responsibilities of nation-building rests.

He said the idea of holding sittings of the full Parliament outside New Delhi had been discussed in the past, but that for various reasons — mostly, financial, logistical and infrastructural — could not be implemented.

Such reasons, however, were not valid in this era of advanced technology, computers, communication facilities and strong infrastructure.

Source: The Hindu

In a letter to Kumar, the former UN diplomat turned parliamentarian said a decision in this regard might be announced during a function organised to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of the First Lok Sabha on May 13, a press note issued by his constituency office today said.

He said it would be a symbolic gesture which would give the people a fresh look at the vital role played by parliament in the country.

Tharoor, who represents Kerala capital in the Lok Sabha, proposed that Parliament may hold a 5-day sitting during the next Monsoon Session in a suitable location outside the national capital, ideally in Bengaluru.

Expressing concern over frequent disruption of parliament functioning and criticism heaped on parliamentarians by certain quarters, Tharoor said holding a session outside Delhi would give an opportunity to people to have look at the functioning of parliament.

“It would be a symbolic gesture to take the Parliament itself to the people in order to enable them to have a fresh look at the actual functioning of the Houses and the vital work they do in the governance of this vast nation of 1.2 billion people, constituting one-fifth of humanity,” he said.

He said the Karnataka capital was typical of the dynamic face of new India and the younger generation of the city represented a cross-section of the flower of the nation in whom the future responsibilities of nation-building rests.

He said the idea of holding sittings of the full Parliament outside New Delhi had been discussed in the past but that, however, for various reasons — mostly, financial, logistical and infrastructural ? could not be implemented.

Such reasons, however, were not valid in this era of advanced technology, computers, communication facilities and strong infrastructure.

Source: Zee News

The ushering in, with the 2009 elections, of a democratic government led by the Awami League opened up a window of opportunity for both sides to address issues of genuine mutual concern in a purposeful and focused manner. It may be a cliché to speak of the historical and traditional bonds of friendship the two countries share, but there is no doubt that the cliché is a cliché because it is true. It helps that Bangladesh, once again since 2009 under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina Wajed, daughter of Bangladesh’s pro-Indian founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, seems to understand that its own prospects for prosperity are closely tied to India’s.

Soon after coming to power, the government of Sheikh Hasina arrested and handed over a pair of wanted terrorists who had previously enjoyed sanctuary on Bangladeshi soil. The hostility of Bangladesh’s few, but vociferous, anti-Indian Islamist politicians has been curbed by firm governmental action. India’s decision to permit duty-free access to the exports of the Least Developed Countries has benefited Bangladeshi trade with India, which has burgeoned dramatically, with Bangladesh’s exports to India recently crossing the $1 billion mark in a 12-month period. Issues of road and rail connectivity are on the table, trade is being given a new impetus and both nations are cooperating on combating terrorism.

Most strikingly, a seemingly intractable territorial irritant — the existence of small enclaves of each country within the other’s borders — was settled in principle during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka in September 2011 on terms that even Bangladeshis found generous on India’s part. It is a pity that parliamentary ratification of the land transfer (which requires a two-thirds majority in both Houses that the UPA government does not have) has not yet happened. It will require an effort to persuade the Opposition parties to co-operate, but the effort is well worth making; otherwise the perception that “India does not deliver on its promises” will gain ground.

Of even greater long-term significance is a $10-billion project to provide transit through Bangladesh to India’s north-eastern states, the so-called Seven Sisters, long the stepchildren of Indian development because of their geographical remoteness from India’s booming economy. In 1947, the Northeast had a higher per capita income than most of the rest of India, but it has languished since Independence because Partition cut it off from the Indian heartland. Greater integration with India will be a huge asset to Bangladesh as well, helping develop roads, railways and trade and lifting the country’s economic growth by an estimated two per cent additionally. While transit through Bangladesh would also have security benefits for India (it would simplify the military’s task of bringing supplies and reinforcements to combat insurgencies in the Northeast and to shore up our border defences against China), the economic benefits have clearly been uppermost in both countries’ minds.

The two countries’ closer engagement has embraced areas as diverse as joint water resources management, land boundary demarcation, trade, power, connectivity, infrastructure development, cultural and educational exchange and poverty alleviation. While it may have been true that, for some years, Bangladesh was reluctant to sell natural gas to India for fear of being seen domestically as submitting to Indian “exploitation”, public opinion has shifted significantly. Polls conducted by both Bangladeshi and foreign researchers have confirmed that hostility towards India is now expressed only by a tiny minority and that regard for India, as well as support for its rise as a significant power, is a widespread sentiment. This is a welcome change, and augurs well for the future.

This is not to suggest that all is sweetness and light between the two countries. Bangladesh has, in the not-so-distant past, served as a haven for Islamist fanatic groups and even terrorists, and has provided a sanctuary for Indian insurgents in the Northeast. It has also been a source of illegal migration into India — some 20 million Bangladeshis are reliably estimated to have slipped into the country over the last two decades and disappeared into the Indian woodwork.

There are also lingering issues of border management and transit-related questions, as well as the controversy over water-sharing which erupted when the chief minister of Paschimbanga, Mamata Banerjee, vetoed a proposed agreement in 2011 on the river Teesta, claiming it would deprive her farmers of adequate water. This was widely seen as a setback for a relationship that was once again beginning to blossom after a long freeze. It is clear that co-operation on sharing the Teesta waters is indispensable for Sheikh Hasina to be able to claim that Bangladesh has gained from her friendship with India; and we must all help persuade the Paschimbanga leadership that these waters are not “ours” to “give,” but a shared natural resource (as we accepted in the case of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan) which we should use responsibly and equitably.

One project that could unite us — in the sort of shared endeavour that could yet define a better future for the subcontinent — is a sub-regional joint water resources management project involving Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India, intended primarily for flood control but going beyond it. The project, which has now begun to take off from the proverbial drawing-board, envisages achieving both the mitigation and the augmentation of the dry season flows of the rivers that flow through the four countries. An added objective will be to harness the same rivers to generate hydroelectricity in a region where power shortages are perhaps the biggest obstacle to economic growth. If it happens, such a mutually beneficial project could offer a template for the rest of South Asia, helping change a narrative of hostility and stagnation into one of cooperation and dynamism.

We have a helpful and friendly government in Bangladesh. If because of our own sins of omission, we weaken it politically before the next election there in 2013, the alternatives will not be pleasant for us, and we will have only ourselves to blame.

Source: Deccan Chronicle