cover story dig well when it rains june17 for online.pdf · water aplenty... what a pity potable...

June 2017 / Pallikkutam [01]

Vol. 5 | Issue 1 | June 2017

SO MANY BIG THINGS IN SUCH A SMALL HEAD!C. Radhakrishnan

ANTI-POOR BIAS UNDERLIES AND UNDERMINES ENTRANCE TESTSDr. Valson Thampu

WATER APLENTY...WHAT A PITY POTABLE WATER IS SCARCE!K. L. Mohana Varma

DIG WELL WHEN IT RAINS

COVER STORY


COVER STORY

Make Water Management

a Way of Life

Good quality fresh water has become the most important resource limitation of the century in the

country, especially a few states including Kerala. Drought which becomes more severe year by year exemplifies the fact that Kerala has slipped into the firm grip of climate change. It is sure that we will have to face even more severe droughts in future. Kerala State government has declared the state as drought prone. Since Kerala is very close to the equator there are all chances of our temperature rising year

after year, as it receives a high level of sunshine. Drastic increase of temperature has a direct influence on reducing water security.

The phrase “water security” is unfamiliar to most people of the state because in the past we had abundance of freshwater. But the situation has changed significantly. We can evaluate this in terms of our physiography. Kerala’s water budget shows that between January and June there is a deficit of 7600 million cubic meters, whereas from June to December there is a surplus of 9000 million

Dr. Sunny George

c u b i c metres. This

difference is the main challenge of water security in the State. The denuded, soil eroded and rock exposed Western Ghats which receives heavy sunshine for almost ten hours a day is in turn radiating this heat into the downstream of our rivers and to the valleys. Kerala’s midlands once had typical homestead farming with several layers of vegetation paving the way for monoculture which has led to severe reduction in atmospheric humidity and change of local climate. The coastal part of Kerala

[22] Pallikkutam / June 2017

is facing the even increasing threat of fast intrusion of salinity into far inland areas of this land.

Water security could be achieved through simple and relatively less expensive efforts. But here the need to know where we have to make necessary corrections. Every village in our country through the last thousands of years had developed its own water security initiatives involving the local community in general.

During the last several decades Kerala has faced certain drought situations. In history one could find such droughts at

water for every household, but when pipe water came the traditional household open wells began to be ignored. This is exactly the case of village ponds which once were most dependable water management systems. They were abandoned when canal irrigation arrived. But now the masses realize the fact that neither pipe water supply for drinking purposes nor irrigation canal water for irrigation purposes can be completely relied upon.

It is evident now that domestic open wells and ponds were crucial in harvesting the monsoon rains and holding it for long, thus reducing

Incidentally, we have to appreciate the fact that all these wells were dug by the local public without any support from the government. This makes it obvious how much money the public have spent on drinking water security at the household level. Since well is not a large construction activity and as it is done by local labour using their traditional knowledge we do not think much about its collective worth. What we need is to start a mission to identify and document all the open wells and ponds of the State and map them on a geographical information system (GIS) platform. We need to re-introduce the science and best practices performed for understanding how the well aquifer can be nurtured, its diversity appreciated and maintained with reverence, etc. Such vanishing methodology needs to be documented and made available to future generations.

Most of these open wells can be fed with rainwater from the roof top by collecting the water using gutters and bringing the water through pipes into the well. Quite often the roof top of houses and other buildings in Kerala are tiled or terraced. This makes collection of rainwater easier. The initial rain harvested water will have dust or some impurities from the rooftop, hence it is not recommended to be used for recharging of wells. Allow for a flush of debris by bypassing first rain fall of the monsoon season using a valve arrangement in the plumbing line near the entry into the well. Following rainfall is generally suitable for recharge of your aquifer using freshwater collected from the rooftop.

The basic principle of roof top rainwater is to collect the water from rooftop surface area. If there was no building in that location,

periodic intervals. Our society had developed excellent water resources protection, conservation, distribution practices for centuries. This system was one of the main tools for resisting the drastic occasional changes in rainfall and the agricultural loss.

However, we started ignoring our water management systems when the centralized piped water supply scheme arrived. We had open domestic wells which provided

water scarcity. In view of the ever-increasing water scarcity the very first step the State needs to do is to conserve open wells and ponds in Kerala. As per the 2011 census there are approximately 47,00,000 open wells present in the State. This translates to roughly 200 open wells per square kilometre in the State, which is a world record (Dr. E. J. James 1998- “Water Scenario of Kerala”- Science, Technology & Environment Committee, Govt of Kerala).

COVER STORY

Restoring Open Ponds


some of the water falling in that area would have naturally fallen on the ground and reached the aquifer over time. A rooftop of 100 square metre can collect 300 cubic meter or 3,00000 litres of water per year into the well. Collection and injection of roof top rainwater continuously every year will eventually make a large freshwater zone around the open well which will in turn convert a seasonal well into a perennial one.

There is another method of rooftop rainwater harvesting into the artificial tanks. However injecting rooftop rainwater into open wells can not only help in rejuvenating the open wells aquifer; but to revitalize the entire land ecosystem, where water will be available for nearby vegetation. It helps in maintaining the water table of the area. Moreover constant injection of roof top rain water into the well will not only enhance water quantity but improve well water quality. (See the photograph showing change of visual water quality before and after the roof top rain water injection into the well- from a case study.)

If you calculate the investment made by individuals and families over time to make the open wells

and ponds, it may amount to very large sums of money and resources. Now the question is how we are going to manage these decentralized sources in our modern times. We know that we can only manage what we can measure and quantify. Therefore, identifying our wells and ponds is necessary to develop plans to rejuvenate them. While we boast about Kerala’s wealth of rain, the fact is that we only receive rain on an average of about 100 hours a year. This precious resource that is life itself is what we have to manage for our use for the entire year. For this we need to harvest the rain we get as much as possible whenever and wherever we receive it. This is where collecting rain and injecting it into the well and storing and nurturing the well aquifer become critically important. Kerala is uniquely able to solve most of its water scarcity issues because of

this existing infrastructure of open wells and ponds.

According to 2011 India Census data 72% of Kerala population depend on open well for their drinking water. Highest dependency is in the district of Kannur (89%) followed by Malappuram (87%), Kozhikode (83%), Kollam (82%) Pathanamthitta (81%), and the lower levels of dependency on open wells in Alappuzha (59%), Ernakulam (50%), Idukki (43%).

Along with this, people need to urgently develop a code of conduct for using water. We are a group of people who always had water in abundance. Our mindset needs to be changed. One aspect which we must remember from our forefathers is how they viewed water even when it was plentiful. This is very obvious if we look at the traditional vessel called Kindi ( a traditional vessel with a spout) which is designed in such a way that not even a drop of this vital resource will be wasted. It exemplifies the perception of our forefathers and how meticulously they handled this precious resource. We need to learn from the rustic ways of life of yore.

(The writer is Director, SCMS Water Institute, Kochi )

Open well before recharge Open well after recharge

Kindi


The 24th Rajagiri Round Table held at 4.30 p.m. on 10th May 2017 took up for deliberations a subject that all sections of the society are eager about

-- rain water harvesting. As usual, the participants met over a cup of tea and snacks with self introduction in tow. Prof. N. K. Vijayan moderated the session.

The moderator introduced the topic: “Dig Well When It Rains.” The introductory remarks sparked a lively debate. He portrayed the dismal scenario of nationwide

drought with quotes and data and made an ardent

plea to the powers that be for tackling the sad situation with the active participation of policy makers, employees, environmentalists, social activists, etc. Mere lip service will not take us anywhere. The situation is grim across the country with images of parched lands and dried up water bodies filling the space in the media. In Telengana water is reportedly distributed as Prasad (temple offering). Water harvesting is possible for anyone who has the will. Small pits can be dug across the plot wherever available. Rooftop harvesting can be resorted to if a container can be set up. The water can be used for washing and garden watering. Potable water is pitifully saleable commodity now. What are the methods by which we can harness flowing rain water for later use? In Tamil Nadu they have a number of tanks which hold much of the rain water. Let us think about the remedies. I invite Mr. K. S. Babu, former Superintending Engineer with Kerala Water Authority to break the ice.

K. S. Babu: Rain water harvesting is an effective step in fighting drought. The concept of harvesting rain water dates back to pre-Harappan civilisation. Much of the rain water runs off to sea. Unless we take urgent steps, the drought situation will grow worse. Already drinking water scarcity is acute in different parts of the country. In Kerala, we have 44 rivers, many lakes, rivulets, etc. Water conservation is a topic of discussion only when our wells and taps turn dry. Kerala gets 3000 mm of rainfall as against the national average of 1000 mm a year. Ground water level goes down by a metre a year. Roof top harvesting in flats and large buildings is now made mandatory. 24-30 sq

Moderate Use of Water and More Serious Attention Warranted

24th Rajagiri Round Table

COVER STORY



that they have constructed concrete canals from the Mullaperiyar dam to carry water to the locality. They know the real value of water. Now we see mango groves and orchards flourishing in the area.

Dr. Sanju George: In the case of water both individual and social sense of responsibility count. In European countries they talk about climate change. Here we are in a hurry for outcome. We should have sensible policy makers. We have politicians who do not think ahead of their times. They create controversies, not long sighted policies and programmes.

Venu Variath: In my grama panchayat on the banks of the Periyar, water bottle filling units thrive. The quality of the water is understandably not enviable. We have cases of twelve pumps drawing water

from a single well, thanks to rain water harvesting methods widely adopted. We cannot bank on the local self governments much. We waste a great deal of precious water with our wayward styles of bathing, brushing teeth, using closets, washing cars, etc.

Arun Varghese: When we adorn our courtyards with tiles, we are letting the rain water run off the surface. We have to practice what we preach. Collecting rain water falling down from roof tops alone will take us far ahead in times of scarcity.

Sujith S. For our convenience and comfort we started living in concentrated pockets in towns cities. This entailed an extra responsibility on us, i.e. catering for large quantities of water needed by this concentrated population; but we failed.

Our greed for land blinded us to our basic need for water.

We went on a spree to fill land, all ponds and low lying areas. They are in fact valuable sources to replenish the underground water reservoirs known as aquifers. We need to correct this folly of ours.

Prof. N. K. Vijayan summarised the deliberations and there was a unanimous assertion that we are heading for a downfall if the rainfall is not properly harvested and if wiser counsel fails to prevail. The participants parted from one another vowing to take on the challenge posed by the dwindling liquid.

m rain water system can be set up with an estimated cost of Rs.12000. Such large quantities are sufficient to meet the requirements of the occupants during drought. An effective water management system is yet to be in place. Runoff water can be conserved easily if pits, wells, etc. are used to collect water. Contouring the ground also lets water permeate the surface. Economic methods are advisable when it comes to water conservation. Site-specific systems suitable for the terrain are the best. In order to purify stored water river sand, charcoal or rubble can be used. Stored water can very well be used for industrial purposes. Soil erosion needs to be checked. It is estimated that 40 LPCD (Litre Per Capita Per Day) is sufficient for the rural population for domestic purpose. In terms of quality, we have to be vigilant and check for purity initially and occasionally. It is gratifying that many organisations and institutions have adopted water conservation measures earnestly.

Das Mammen: Israel has a lovely water management system. Here water conservation campaign started long back with fanfare. However this slowly lost steam in the same way the bio-gas popularisation campaign petered out years back. Educational institutions should not only inculcate water conservation lessons but also practise them.

Prof. P. R. Poduval: Rain harvesting is the responsibility of individuals and families. The local self government too. In Tamil Nadu they have numerous tanks. Rain water is thus effectively and abundantly harvested there. Water

treatment is essential. Distribution of resources is always a problem. In my opinion studies on climate change should be taken up first. You know when rain fall is scarce, how can we discuss rain harvesting? Hills make localisation of rainfall possible. If water table sinks, what is the use of wells? In water parks what do they do to dispose of the water? It is polluted water after some time. People have to be vigilant when it comes to the use and misuse of water.

K. L. Mohana Varma: In Theni in Tamil Nadu, when we went there years back, water was a scarce commodity with arid and parched lands sprawled far and wide. But when we passed through the very same area recently we were baffled by the greenery dotting the landscape. We realised


The gravest issue impending over the globe is the lack of a five letter word ‘WATER’, a matter that would not have crossed the minds of the

most accurate among clairvoyants or would have been laughed at, if suggested. According to the United Nations, “Water is critical for sustainable development, including environmental integrity and the alleviation of poverty and hunger, and is indispensable for human health and well-being.” If predictions are to be believed, the twenty first century might witness war among countries, even internal strife, for power over water.

It is no new knowledge that water bore life from

the beginning. Every religion considered water sacred and has one or the other myth to glorify the

power of water in the form of

deluge or as

a divine god. In the course of time, as human advanced in taming the liquid force, water was taken for granted. It gradually led to the shrinkage of water resources which in itself is an irony when we know that the major part of the earth is covered with water and our home Earth is known as a blue planet. Of the water on the earth only one per cent is fresh, liquid and usable, two per cent frozen and the rest salt water. The curious fact is that our own body is seventy per cent water.

It was around water bodies that man built his home and multiplied. Water has become essential for all activities of human beings. Farms, factories, households, eateries, ice plants, etc. require water to function. So it becomes essential to conserve water for future as water is our future. British poet Auden says, “Thousands have lived without love, but not one without water”. No more is it sufficient for us to rely on the phenomena of evaporation, precipitation and the complex process of water recycling to recharge water resource. Dire measures need to be taken to collect water and a wide network of awareness on conservation necessity and alternate methods has to be transmitted to all sections of the society.

COVER STORY

Dr. Anitha R.

The Elixir of Life


Jacques Cousteau, French explorer, water conservationist and film maker warns, “We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one”. Water has to be conserved not because of non-availability, but due to the fact that the body available is not usable, thanks to pollution. Sources of water like streams, lakes and rivers become unusable as they are contaminated by factory wastes, trash dumped along water bodies, leakage of oil and draining of chemicals fertilizers, pesticides and toxic wastes. These are carried through running water and drained into the water outlets.

Over the last decade, people have become aware of the dangerous tipping of the scales of water balance in favour of scarcity and uselessness. Scientists who studied the warning signs have related its effects to climatic changes. Governments of the world have condoned the mismanagement and have made the water issue a policy matter. They have encouraged water conservation by passing laws and Acts, like Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water, through media, and by insisting on setting up alternatives like rain water harvesting while giving license to factories and buildings.

There are changes that are initiated from the grassroots level. In India, it is the South-West Monsoon that drenches the nation at one go and replenishes the dried up waterholes of the land. The common man of the nation is duty bound to conserve the blessed showers of heaven for the next dry season. The measures or alternative steps for rain water harvesting are the easiest and the most convenient.

One way is to arrest the flow of water or slow the current of water and let it seep deep into the land on the spot it falls. Constructing

rain pits of 1m of length, breadth and height which can hold 1000 litres of water is also an ideal method to capture rainwater and refill underground storage of water. Water scarcity can be overcome by redirecting water pathways that fall on rooftops and terraces and channelize them into wells through a network of pipes. This is a clever way of recharging wells. Households and bigger institutions can make use of ferro cement rainwater tanks for storing rainwater in areas where there are no wells.

As the Earth ages, Nature urges us to act on her behalf, to protect and preserve her resources so that we may survive along with her. Human intelligence can devise means and ways for the sublime goal. It is well worth to remember that “All the water that ever will be is, right now” (National Geographic). It will not be far off when people pay through their nose for a pitcher of water.

(The writer is Associate Professor of English, Devaswom Board College, Thalayolaparambu, Kerala)

Rainwater harvesting pit


History teaches a lot of lessons which we choose to overlook, to our peril. Percy Bysshe Shelley, the romantic

poet, readily captured the inner meaning and the outer meaning of power and glory through his small poem Ozymandias.

Passage of time is part of human progress. If time stands still, there won’t be any progress. Today’s

COVER STORY

Water Fuels Disputes

N. K. Vijayan

humans continue to be greedy, wily and wicked as ever. The greed to plunder and prosper by any means is seamless and Mother Nature too comes under the scythe of rapacity wielded by humans.

Nature bleeds and weeps. Only a few pay attention to the wails of Nature. Hills have been denuded and levelled. All ponds, lakes and water bodies are partially or fully reclaimed for real estate business which is a pseudonym for construction of high rise structures on such ecologically sensitive lands. Government officials connive at encroachments for a consideration. Even court orders are secured through manipulations and misrepresentations.

Water sources are fast depleting while demand for the same is soaring worldwide. Wherever might is right, possibilities of a conflict over drinking water sources will crop up. In the Middle East, it is said that in the coming decade and a half, wars over water, rather than oil, will break out, if the present trend persists.

A spurt in the demand for water resulted in ground water being tapped excessively, as a result of which land sinks. The catastrophe worsens the situation with the space for habitation shrinking. When life is at a crossroads, humans have tended to deviate from moral tenets or principles and embraced pragmatism. Free availability of ground water or

kings and queens are tomorrow’s portraits and statues. Ozymandias was once a power-drunk monarch. But the buffets of time felled him to the sands. His statue is discovered from under a heap of sand decades later. When Fate summons even monarchs must obey, as Dryden said. He failed to understand the meaninglessness of conquests and power. What we all need is in fact just six feet of the earth, as Tagore says. Nonetheless,


In a third world country like India, the water woes of the populace add to the harshness of routine lives of the

wretched millions in the urban as well as rural regions. Images of rural women walking miles for fetching water from drying up well and ponds proclaim the essential nature of drinking water. Scarcity of water imperils their existence, health and hygiene. The sad scenario speaks volumes about the neglect of the countryside by the rulers. Water supply in the cities and towns is not good either. So, it is a pervasive problem.

In my opinion, water harvesting is the best option for the common people. When rain water falls from roof tops why can’t we store them for future use? Digging pits of variable sizes can be done by even

Let Us Do Our Bit to Save Waterordinary people in the surrounding of the residence. Free flowing water should be arrested and water should percolate down to the bottom. That way our ground water storage will be replenished. Such steps are easier. The participation of the people matters in such endeavours. School and college students can hold rain water harvesting competition even. When small groups of students plant saplings and dig pits nearby to harvest rainwater, the curiosity and interest of the rest of the students will be kindled. Soon it may become a movement of sorts.

The large scale development activities consume a lot of water. In fact large quantities of water can be harvested on the spot if receptacles are kept at the sites during rainy season. Development causing destruction of Nature is maldevelopment. A new culture of development taking care of humans and the environment will sustain us for long. That is sustainable development. The right one for humanity.

Many of our problems are self-made. So we have to find or suggest remedies. As a student I feel that the green protocol suggested for marriages is a right step. Similarly, water consumption on such occasions should be curtailed. Even our daily chores waste a lot of water. As we do in the case of money, we need to practise austerity in the use of water. It is a matter of shame that we buy drinking water in bottles. Is it progress? Never. We need to have sufficiency of water first. Droughts can be beaten if water ponds are constructed, where running off water can be harvested. Cultivation of vegetables will be a viable alternative in such a situation.

As an educated and empowered young woman, I do advocate rain water harvesting. Women need a lot of water for kitchen purposes. Let them find water themselves. It is an example of self support. I vow my support to the attempts made by NGOs in this regard.

other sources of potable water is a prerequisite for human habitation to thrive. Naturally, subjugation of the people and the land with copious supply of water is ensured through warfare, which is of course far from fair. In the past, right over the sea was for strategically significant purposes, both sea route and marine wealth, including fish.

In India, the Narmada, the Cauvery, the Brahmaputra, the Krishna, the Godavari, etc. are some of the major rivers serving the populace in different states. Their disputes are adjudicated by

Tribunals. The riparian states wage a war of words before moving the court or Tribunals. Bandhs are observed in each affected state as the verdict comes. In the case of the Mullaperiyar in Kerala, Tamil

Nadu went aggressive and fought for the right to raise the water level to 152 ft while Kerala government wanted it to be pegged at 136 ft.

Looking at the global scene, the Middle East, South Asia, the Caribbean, northern China, sub-Saharan Africa, the western United States, etc. are regions over which the Damocles’ sword of war over water possibly hangs. No clairvoyant can foresee the conflicts clearly when the apple of discord involved is water, potable water for certain. The spectacle of dried up terrain and dams, ponds, rivers and lakes across the globe gladdens no one.

Ruksana Sanam T. I.

(The writer is an M.A. student at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kerala)

Mullaperiyar Dam


Google Maps has come up with a small design update that could navigate you in unfamiliar locations. When displaying a set of directions, Maps Android app

will now show Street View images of every lane you may need to turn to. As soon as you tap the image, Street View will open up to that location, showing an arrow in the direction you are to turn. Unfortunately, the images appear as tiny thumbnails until you tap to open them up. You’ll definitely have to tap to open every turn that you want to see in detail. The feature appears to be only on Android for now. But Google’s iOS app usually has the same look and features, so it is likely it will follow suit shortly.

In a bid to goad more websites to take to encryption, Google is expanding its use of “not secure” warnings in Chrome. Google has promoted sites with secure connections, or HTTPS, in its search results since

2014.Since January, the company started displaying “not secure” labels next to certain websites in Chrome that use an unencrypted HTTP server. Starting October, Chrome will show the warning in two more situations: when users enter any type of data on an HTTP page; and on all HTTP pages people visit in Incognito mode.

Since adding “not secure” notices in Chrome 56, Google has seen a 23% reduction in navigations to HTTP pages with password or credit card forms on desktop, says Emily Schechter from the Chrome Security Team. Google plans to start showing the “not secure” warning for all HTTP pages in Chrome, Schechter added.

Facebook which has undertaken the mission to connect the world has adopted a new tool capable of transforming how its 1.3 billion daily users use the social network,

making it easier for them to share content with their friends and family.

Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence Research team (FAIR) has completed a yearlong project aimed at boosting language translation efficiency. The new method, relying on what are known as convolutional neural networks, or CNNs, has successfully “achieved state-of-the-art accuracy at nine times the speed of” current systems, Facebook’s blog post says. Language translation has largely been the domain of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), which has a high degree of accuracy, Facebook blog post adds.

CNNs, on the other hand, tackle all the words at the same time, and are more efficient. It does a better job than RNNs of capturing data’s complex relationships, it is claimed.

Google Starts Showing “not Secure” Sites

Artificial Intelligence Gives Facelift to Facebook in Translation

INFOTECH

New feature on Google Maps for Specific Location


Though many phones and tablets feature wireless charging, iPhones and iPads didn’t toe the line till recently.

The US patent bagged by Apple recently suggests that its engineers are at it. The patent would allow power using signals in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, among others. Those frequencies are the same ones used by Wi-Fi routers. It means Apple’s invention could facilitate charging your phone wherever there’s a potent Wi-Fi signal. Once your phone gets

charged adequately, it could also provide power to other devices around it using the same frequencies.

Apple appears to be preparing for the long-term future, because it notes in the patent filing that the power signals could also come from millimetre wave antennas, which make extremely high-frequency transmissions.

The U.S. based technology major Apple has started selling iPhones at select shops across the country as part of its trial run. “Apple is selling iPhones in India at select stores. These

phones were assembled in India on a trial basis in limited quantities,” an Industry source revealed. “The high-end India-made iPhones (iPhone SE) have already hit the Indian market”. They have been on sale since May 2, as revealed by the source. The details displayed on the box are as follows: Storage capacity 32 GB, “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in India”, Price Rs.27,200, inclusive of all taxes. The units are assembled by Apple’s Taiwanese manufacturing partner Wistron Corp.

Apple Applies Long-range Charging

Surface Laptop Surfaces

Apples Assembledin India Arrive at Indian Stores

Microsoft has introduced a new Surface Laptop, targeting students.It starts at USD 999, the same as the MacBook Air, but much more than what iPads and Chromebooks offer. Microsoft

claims up to 14.5 hours of battery life for the new laptop, compared with 12 hours for the MacBook Air. It will be available by June middle.

The Surface Laptop is the first Surface device without a detachable keyboard. The laptop features Windows 10 S, a streamlined version of the familiar operating system. It weighs 2.76 pounds and is under 14.5 millimetres. Surface Laptop comes with a 7th Generation Intel Core processor. You can open the Surface with just one finger. It has 13.5 inch Pixel Sense Display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3.It comes in Platinum, Graphite Gold, Cobalt Blue colours

Apple is eager to bring its component manufacturers to India to make parts and export finished phones and is seeking tax concessions on import of key components. But most of the demands made by the U.S. company have drawn a blank with the Centre.


THIRD EYE

Anti-poor Bias Underlies and Undermines Entrance Tests

Formerly, tests were the basis for promotion. Now we have tests for admission. Admission is, that is to say, the foremost

promotion in our times.

We have created, cruelly, deliberately and dishonestly, a booming industry that makes our education system at all levels almost worthless. If schools do their work competently and relevantly, coaching centres will be rendered superfluous, no doubt.

There are other factors that perpetuate this epidemic of entrance tests:

The wilfully criminal mismatch between demand and supply is one. Our entrance tests, if honestly named, should be called entrance-denial tests. The purpose is not to find meritorious candidates. It is to knock out those who should not be accommodated. Our entire system of education, at all levels,

Dr. Valson Thampu



is a “filtering out mechanism”. Education is the most exclusive and excluding instrument in existence today. There are reasons for this:

(a) Our culture, for thousands of years, has institutionalized discrimination in respect of access to knowledge. To this we owe the caste-class bias that dominates the education scenario. Even before Europe, through Francis Bacon, found out that “knowledge is power”, our religio-socio-economic elite were aware of it. A vast majority of our people were excluded from empowerment through education. The story of Dronacharya and Eklavya is a case in point. (Such is our caste bias that we have named our sports awards after Dronacharya, the man who denied Eklavya not only the right to learn but even the opportunity to use the skills he mastered all by himself. Any wonder why our sports are in a state of disarray?)

It is not for want of resources that our educational facilities are so woefully inadequate. People say we lack the will to educate. That is not the case. We have a silent and brooding will not to educate. In a society where demand and supply match, entrance tests will be hardly necessary. Even if they are in practice, they will not have the weight of destiny that they have at present.

(b) Substandard schooling systems that lack even minimal standardization are far from satisfactory. Look at the gross, appalling disparities between (i) streams of schooling and (ii) individual schools within the same stream. As the Principal of St. Stephen’s, I have had to interview thousands of candidates each year.

It is shocking how students coming from different boards differ from each other in their learning skills. The greatest difference pertains to the capacity to think. Students who think they can excel via learning by rote will never grow intellectually. They are data processing machines, not learners. Sadly, entrance tests, like all other exams, test mostly skills of this kind. (There are exceptions, though).

Because schooling on a pan-India scale lacks standardization,

Dronacharya, the man who denied Eklavya not only the right to learn but even the

opportunity to use the skills he mastered all by

himself.


entrance tests become necessary in any national level selection process. In many cases selection for admission is done wholly based on entrance test scores, which is unfortunate.

Today how good a school is, is decided by the public almost wholly based on how many get through the insane hurdle and makes it to this course or that from a given school, even though it is difficult to say, given the intense coaching that goes on, to what extent the school in question may take the credit for such outcomes.

(c) Corruption in admissions is blatant. Education, traditionally held to be a domain of the sacred, is today reeking with corruption. Where missionaries once served, mercenaries now rule the roost. There are, thank God, exceptions; but they are few and far between. The educational scenario is perceived not through these exceptions but in light of glaring perversions. They alone get noticed and talked about. It is significant that there have been several landmark legal fights on capitation fees, but none on standard of education.

NEET, for example, stands on the sole alibi of widespread corruption. The Supreme Court is convinced, and for good reasons, that this needs to be bridled. But what is not, perhaps, taken into consideration that there are no saints in this field. The Medical Council of India does not have a creditable track-record of probity.It is not free from the malodour of venality.

There is no guarantee that the agency conducting the national eligibility test will be honest or the system will be tamper-proof. Remember the Vyapam scam, and

anti-poor bias. They have the most lamentable effect of excluding those who need education and empowerment most.

The discrimination embedded in education is incremental. It begins from kindergarten. Perhaps, even earlier. An infant growing up in a home enriched with facilities and an ambience of cultural richness has a huge advantage over one who begins his education only after joining a school.

This discrimination is then aggravated by the kind of schools they join. It is taken to greater heights by the coaching centres they can afford. The ultimate discrimination comes in terms of your ability to buy entrance test question papers from the market! So, it is money all the way. Money is, de facto, the merit. Money is the door.

(e) Centralization of educational control. The centralization of entrance tests, as in the case of NEET, hides a serious problem. It denotes an unprecedented extent of centralization, even as we are promised decentralization in all aspects of life. How can all candidates, in a country as vast and diverse as India is, be subjected to the same entrance test? How fair is it? Reservations, you might say, will take care of it. But such tests will advantage the most privileged among the reserved categories, especially those living in urban India. Merit serves as an alibi for excluding the victims of our social systems that have been riddled for millennia with discrimination.

(f) Education and social justice. The one value that should be at the centre of all thinking and practices on education in this country is social justice. Yet this is the most

Francis Bacon

the 47 murders that followed it. Are we to believe that that those conducting NEET will be saints, deaf and blind to the allurement of easy, ill-gotten wealth? Corruption will continue, but the beneficiaries will change.

Also, who wants a totally transparent admission system?

THIRD EYE

I had to pay with my life (well, nearly) for making admissions wholly transparent and tamper-proof in St. Stephen’s. I was seen as a hindrance by the powerful who believe that they have a right to gatecrash into any institution and every privilege. Given the national realities, I find it difficult to trust the veracity of entrance tests insofar as they are conducted by people of dubious ethical substance.

(d) Such tests perpetuate discrimination. Think of what coaching costs these days! Can even a lower middle class family afford it? Entrance tests are vitiated, albeit in a hidden fashion, by an


The writer is former Principal of St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi

despised ideal. Entrance tests are no exception.

My greatest unhappiness with entrance tests is that they militate against true education. From a very early stage young minds are made to get fixated on clearing these tests. They know everything depends on this. As a result, they fail to get duly and deeply involved with the learning process at the given period in their life. Their educational horizon is dominated by the giant called entrance exam. They are not free to see anything else. This is not education!

But I have good news for my readers. You don’t have to swallow the superstition that coaching centres are the only key to success in entrance exams.

I kept the eyes of my children away from coaching. Instead they were enabled to develop a deep and abiding interest in learning: learning all kinds of things. My priority in guiding their education was not marks but growth. The proof of growth is a deepening interest in diverse subjects and in the world beyond the syllabi. They did well. And did so, without the torture that usually goes with

‘making it to’ this course or that. I used to tell them, “Intuition is more important than tuition.” I ardently believe so.

Ask yourself, “Why should admission to any institution look like a lottery?”

Shouldn’t every child have the right to develop his / her gifts and talents to the best of her potential without having to get crushed under the juggernaut of entrance tests?

Is it not the duty of the State to provide adequate, high quality educational facilities to the children of India? What is happening to the educational cess we are paying?

It is laughable that the government thinks that its only duty is to regulate what others are doing! Why not invest more in education and mitigate the heat that burns our children in the form of entrance tests? The day the State sets up enough educational institutions of reasonable quality, corruption will stop.

This will not happen in a long while; for the simple and obvious reason that if a level playing field is created for all, the socio-economic elite will lose out in the open competition. My experience as the Principal of St. Stephen’s, having examined this question in the light of empirical data, leaves in no doubt at all that the elite cannot complete with the middle class and lower middle class on merit, unaided by incremental discrimination in their favour.

Mass-based entrance tests stifle the soul of unique institutions. The autonomy of educational institutions needs to be protected and enhanced at all costs, and not undermined through overt and covert strategies.

Is it not the duty of the State to provide

adequate, high quality educational facilities to the children of India?


I repeat--what is this excellence? And what social transformation has it brought in? But what is this excellence that came up in the execution

of these three projects? These can be summarised in four categories.

First and foremost is integrity. Second is punctuality, third is professional competence and fourth is social commitment. These things I want to explain to you a little more as these are very important for the citizens and students of our country.

RUMINATIONS

When I mention integrity it is not just honesty alone; it is something much more than that. If you take the Oxford dictionary and check the meaning of integrity it means “having good moral values”. I can tell you that in life if you want to achieve any goal you must have high integrity. Prof. K.V. Thomas (M.P.) mentioned that he has brought me here specifically to give you some sort of motivation. I would like to tell you that my first mention is integrity .Why should I take up these projects even after my retirement? Why I took up these huge projects involving

No Compromise on Integrity,Punctuality and Character

Padma Vibhushan E. Sreedharan aka “The Metro Man of India” is a rare combination of grit, integrity, industry, meticulousness, devotion, etc. This is the second and final part of his speech delivered in Kochi recently.


thousands and thousands of crores? There is no hold on me at all. How did the government decide to entrust me with these projects? It is only because of integrity. Integrity is a trait that one should practise right from a young age. As you grow, your reputation for integrity should be widespread. The biggest part in the Commonwealth Games was that of the Delhi Metro .There was not even a single allegation against the Delhi Metro, in spite of the deluge of allegations around its conduct. It shows Delhi Metro has an inbuilt integrity. The Corporation gets reputation from integrity and we are getting even now the reputation from integrity. In case of a mistake or error, you only need to say it’s a mistake. Don’t hide it.

I’m very happy to say that today’s function went exactly punctually. What is meant by punctuality? Punctuality is nothing but a courtesy you show for others’ time, the respect which you show to the time of other persons. That is punctuality. I would like to mention punctuality as very important in your career and life as well.

We wanted to complete the Konkan Railway in seven months time and in exactly seven months time we were able to complete

it. The essence of punctuality observed by everyone involved in the project counted. Please understand that you can’t expect the trains to be punctual unless all the employees are punctual too.

As for the Delhi Metro, all the trains are not completely on computers; but everything is totally on computers, so nobody can punch figures. In December 2011, the punctuality of metro trains was 99.97%. This is the role of punctuality. I think there should be a reverse clock in every office to show the number of days for

Excellence means “excel in everything” and

excelling is surpassing in accomplishment.

Whatever is possible to be accomplished,

surpass it, do it better .

E. Sreedharan


the completion of a work. Even today if you come to the office of Delhi Metro you will see a clock that shows the number of days left for completion of the project. Each day, people look at this clock and this becomes a constant reminder to everyone that only so many days are left for the completion of the project. All these go into the essence of punctuality.

As regards professional competency, of course these three projects which I mentioned to you were highly technical, like building of world class metro. The technology for it was not available at that time and we had to bring in technology. And no technology was found within the country itself. This is possibly an enormous subject.

Dear children, knowledge is very superior; I would say knowledge is strength. ‘Gyanameva balam,’ I would say. Our spiritual texts say ‘Gyaniyasadrishyam, pavitram’. I’ll translate it to you .It means there is nothing more sacred than knowledge. All of you sitting here are very lucky to have the opportunity to enter a college with such a high reputation. Education comes very well as you work with excellent teachers, the College which is one of the very best in Kerala today. Of course this College will only give you the basic things for your knowledge. But the most important thing is learning good habits, good character; that is more is important. I would say that is also knowledge.

I will now come to social responsibility. All of us are individuals, but we are part of a society. The society is a part of the nation. If the nation has to be transformed, society is to be transformed, and every one of

us has to undergo change. This is where excellence is called for. In all these important things I mentioned, I told you the first social responsibility is completely focused on qualities of time. But one thing that you can see is the way in which we saved much money on a particular project. I think that about 20 crores would be saved by completing it on time.

The Kochi Metro is one of the best today. However on an average, the saving was almost 19 crores. We did a flyover at Rodo Bridge at Kannimala in Kozhikode recently with that amount. This is what saving those 19 crores did to Kerala. This is social responsibility. Excellence is where excellence is called for. And I mentioned to you what excellence is. Excellence means “excel in everything” and excelling is surpassing in accomplishment. Whatever is possible to be accomplished, surpass it, do it better .This is excellence. The role of excellence in social transformation, role of excellence in national transformation is also important.

Apart from the four qualities that I mentioned before, there are some more qualities I want to place before you. One is building a good character. If you want to accomplish anything, you must be really devoted to your work. You can’t always go around and depend upon others. If you want to really excel in your work and if you don’t want to be a source of burden to your parents, then it’s one thing I want to convey to the students present here. If you are really healthy, there is such excellence in whatever you do .Your confidence level is increased. You don’t have to depend on somebody else and don’t become a source of worry to any one of your parents. Today you

RUMINATIONS

Kochi Metro


have TV and cell phone; people spend all the time in front of TV and cell phone. Some people spend three hours some people spend six hours, etc. But it is important to keep your memory fresh. If you want to remember things and achieve things, I would say, don’t burn the midnight oil. Even at this age--I’m nearing 85, I get up early. But I go to bed early, at about 9 or 9:15 p. m. Early to bed, early to get up! So much time is allowed for you. This practice must continue if you want to get ample time for all your work.

The third thing is, you must have proper exercise. Walking daily to college alone is not good exercise; you must have advanced exercise practices. You must get energy, you must get stamina. That means exercise is required whether walking or jogging or skipping, any sort of exercise is required.

The fourth thing is a pure mind. Purity of mind is very important for good health. If you work hard with all these negative thoughts, like cursing your work, cursing your classes, you cannot achieve what is known as Manaprasadham or Bhavasamshudhi . If you want purity of thought, purify your mind. If you have entered a college you are to give good service to others all the time. This is very important.

Lastly I come to very important topic, character. It is a very important topic.

Dear children, the crown and glory of life is character. If good character is partially inherited; if you have inherited it from your parents, from your family, it is good. But in public places in a college like this, in the society, in the market place you need good character. What is wrong in having

( As captured by Elza Maria Baby and Rachel Berkumon, Sacred Heart College, Kochi)

a good character? Today what is happening in some of the places is worrying people like me very much. Most students can only think of burning a chair of their principal. How students in a college can burn the chair of the principal, which happened in a Kerala college? This is all because of the decline in good character. Children have to

be well groomed. Good character and good conduct do matter .You will become a successful person anywhere with a good character.

Dear children, neither your position, nor your salary, nor the bank balance that is important. What is important is the way that you behave in the society. You can come and help this institution when you reach a good position. Whatever things you are able to do, do for this institution. Don’t forget this institution. Behaviour modesty is very important. Character, excellence and intellectual elegance-- these three things are very important in your life, if you want to be a good citizen of the country. Ladies and gentlemen I’m speaking from my own heart. It is an impromptu speech you know. Take home the good things I have told you about.

Neither your position, nor your salary, nor

the bank balance that is important. What is important is the way that you behave in

the society.

E. Sreedharan receiving Padma Vibhushan Award


The success of a nation no more depends on its military success or even its political success, the success of a nation today

entirely depends on the success of its business.

Business will succeed only if it is well managed and it’s very important that the talent of management grows and finds excellence in many areas that we need to manage in this country. Each individual thinks he is a genius, but nobody can manage that. So bringing management as a culture in the nation is very important. That everybody should understand, it’s not just about managing an industry or business, you must learn to manage your street, your home, above all yourself and your mind.

Essentially management means, in some way, you have to manage Man and Material. If you have to manage people, you have to manage in some way all their minds. If you have to

SERENE MOMENTS

Success of the Nation Redefined

Excerpts from the speech of Padma Vibushan Jaggi Vasudev at the inaugural session of the 36th Annual National Management Convention (2017) at Kochi


manage thousand people, you have to manage thousand minds.

So the first and foremost qualification for all managers is to know how to manage your mind. If you do not know how to manage your mind, how are you going to manage thousand people’s minds? So right now, those who are not able to manage themselves, their own problems and emotions they cannot manage, they are trying to manage thousand people and they are going crazy.

A lot of managers are cracking up in the process of doing their management slowly because, our institutes of management and more fundamental levels of education have not brought in this dimension of managing oneself. If our mind is not managed well, our mind cannot manage anything well and if you don’t manage something well, your mind will break up in the process of doing that. The young people and the student community have to realise it is time you stepped out into actual management; you must make sure that you are well managed in every aspect of your life.

Our Nation, India, has many components: we could look at Indian three basic components, viz. its territory, its resources and most importantly its people.

If you go in this order, we were repeatedly reminded of the seventies. When we got our independence, we did not understand the significance of the territory. What kind of territory?

Geographically where are we laid up, how are we connected with the rest of the world? It is a very important thought of territory.

We did not know how to manage territory, not knowing what we are doing, broke it into three pieces, we have not recovered from that yet.

“On a certain day a pirate walked into an Irish bar. His left leg beneath the knee was worn and was wearing a wooden stump. His right hand was gone; he was having a

steel hook. He had eye pads in one of his eyes. The bar tender said, he last time you were here, you were fine, what happened to your leg. He said well, her majesty service does not where to shoot the cannon balls, they shot into the wrong direction and it took my leg off. But no problem, I have my carpenter fix it up for me, it is doing quite good. Then the bar tender looked at him and said, what happened to your hand? He said, I was involved in a sword fight with another pirate, that fool is not a classic pirate like me, the sword fighting is between two swords, but he did my hand and I lost my hand, but no problem, my blacksmith fix it up this hook for me and it is pretty good. Then after he had one drink, the bar tender asked, but what happened to your eye. He said, in the night I was looking at the stars to navigate, and one of these night birds, the bird poo came and hit my eye. But a bird poo will not take off your eye, ya I know, it was just two days after I put on this hook”.

Our Nation, India, has many components:

we could look at Indian three basic

components, viz. its territory, its resources and most importantly

its people.


So we were new to nation, making of a nation, not knowing what we were doing, we broke the nation into three pieces. In many ways the economic resurgence that should have happened in the fifties, got postponed mainly because of this breaking up. It does not take any genius to understand, because for thousands of years we have been trading with Arabia, with Europe from these roots and to South East Asian countries from this side. The most important trade rules we had exploited for thousands of years, we surrendered those trade rules and made a nation. Because we did not understand that the economics of the nation is what makes the nation. But what to do, that’s been done. So maintaining the territorial integrity of the nation, the most important, those days are gone where you can push the boundaries, not any more, at least we must keep what we have as a nation. Otherwise the nation cannot prosper, the nation cannot flourish. The last time we broke it, the amount of suffering we caused to human beings from all sides, half million people died, even till today both the nations are bleeding, and the amount of money we are spending on our military expenditure is phenomenal, when still half the population is not eaten properly. The kind of equipment and the kind of money we are spending on this equipment is just a crime. But you can’t help it. So, one important aspect of making up a nation is territory. One must understand any kind of compromise in territory means, nation will not remain. Sovereignty of the nation cannot be managed without managing clear cut borders. You cannot manage your nation, you cannot protect your

people, and you cannot bring your nation to the highest level of living and function.

So the next is Resources. When we do not understand the significance of territory, we also do not understand the significance of the resource. In many ways we did not exploit the resource of the well being of the people in this country for a long time. Now we are trying to fix it. We are the nation, agitators became administrators. Mahatma Gandhi was the only man who had the sense to understand that he is not an administrator, he was a master agitator. When he realised, when the freedom came, he stepped back and said I am not made for this job, somebody. But not everybody has the same vision and when the agitators

became administrators, they had the resources which handled not in the way it should be handled for the well being of the people; otherwise this is a rich nation.

We have been the richest nation in the past accounting for nearly 30% of the world’s GDP. A couple of centuries ago, but very systematically we were decimated and no point blaming somebody else, I am saying we could have handled a few things in the beginning. I think we came to some sort of senses only in the late seventies or early eighties, we started realising making a nation is not simply going to happen, because somebody left us and went away. Because British left, the nation does not happen; we go to make it happen. So I would say, a concerted planned effort is only approximately thirty five years or forty years at the most. For forty years we have done, but we have not done well enough for everybody in this country to live well. Almost all of us have no problem with this at least. But they are too many people even food is not taken care of. That is a crime against humanity if you ask me. If a human being cannot fulfil the fundamental needs of his existence, then that’s a real crime. So when it comes to people as a nation we have committed the serious crime. We can say okay in next twenty five years it is like this, that is fine, but one generation will be gone. For a man who is hungry today, it doesn’t matter what a glorious nation you are going to have twenty five years later.

(Captured by Das Mammen)

SERENE MOMENTS

(To be concluded)


CREATIVE LIVING

STRATEGIES OF GENIUS

On examining the biographies of master minds belonging to different walks of life and thoughts,

including philosophers, poets, artists, musicians, singers, sculptors, writers, gurus, politicians, one may come across their unique personal creative ecosystems which kept them creative through and through. Robert Dilts, in his famous book Strategies of Genius, discloses such unique ecosystems surrounding creative minds like Leonardo da Vinci, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sigmund Freud, Aristotle, and so on. This

Design Your Personal Creative Ecosystem

Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran



three-volume study is founded on a special psychotherapeutic method called Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) developed in the 1970s.

NLP gathers insights from careful analyses of the biographies of geniuses to arrive at special and suitable ecosystems that steered their creative endeavours. According to the principles of NLP, an individual could bring about a shift of his own responses to the external stimuli, the so called paradigms, replacing them with much more successful paradigms found elsewhere. This is what is called a paradigm shift, which is all the more possible as per NLP.

This alternatively implies that creative skills and attitudes can be trained and cultivated in an individual, as through a paradigm shift. NLP considers human mind as a programmable system, which could yield pre-determined responses to a specified impulse. Consequently, an ecosystem that generates creative responses could be constructed ad hoc in a person.

As an example, we could consider how NLP elaborates the scheme of creativity of Walter Elias (Walt) Disney, the American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor and film producer:

The typical creative strategy employed by Walt Disney and coworkers in bringing their unique and timeless films to the movie screen possessed three unique phases. The first phase is The Dreamer phase, wherein Walt Disney and his team endeavoured to dream big, without boundaries and limits. They did not care to count the cost of production, did not estimate the resources at

hand in this phase. It was a magical phase of pure dreaming!

They looked at what truly excited them, with least consideration for any practical aspects of the project. The second phase of the project was The Realist phase, wherein the big ideas of the Dreamer phase will be translated into something realistic and workable.

This phase is characterized by a step-by-step approach based on logic, reason and pragmatism. The questions related to resources, skills, technology and cost are earnestly asked at this stage. The realistic questions like the viability of the project will be thoroughly investigated. Even an alternate plan, the so called Plan B, would

Walt Disney and his team would get into

the shoes of the movie-goers, investors and the

general public. They would critically analyze

the pros and cons of the different aspects of

the project.

Walter Disney


also be chalked out to substitute the Plan A, in case it does not take off. The third phase of the project is The Critic phase, wherein the critical questions regarding the suitability, gaps and alternative options will be thoroughly investigated.

In this phase, Walt Disney and his team would get into the shoes of the movie-goers, investors and the general public. They would critically analyze the pros and cons of the different aspects of the project, from as diverse perspectives as possible. The fingerprint of such a scheme is identified in all Disney projects and is considered unique to the creative ecosystem of Walt Disney.

PROGRAM YOUR OWN PARADIGMSThe concepts of NLP were first introduced by the U.S. psychologists, Richard Bandler and John Grinder. It was initially introduced as a method of psychotherapy and drew heavily on the ideas and techniques of people like Milton Erickson, Noam Chomsky and Carlos Castaneda. Bandler and Grinder believed that our neurological processes (Neuro), language (Linguistic) and our behavior patterns learned through experience (Programming) are well-connected. We are in a position to radically control and change our neurological, linguistic and behavioral patterns with a view to targeting our life towards a specific goal. In other words, we could program a paradigm shift for ourselves. A total change in personality could be engineered via NLP.

around us. Response of a person towards the world will again be controlled by his/her individual map of the world.

Humans continually develop associations between what they see, hear and feel and their emotional states, the stimuli which can be described as anchors. The relation between an emotional state and a stimulus could be matched in such a way that once a unique stimulus occurs again, the emotional state will be correspondingly triggered. The effort of NLP therapy is thus to develop suitable anchors, which could be triggered to generate pre-determined desirable responses.

A critical evaluation of the NLP method often reveals its hidden weaknesses. Is it that simple to program human responses? Is it easy to sideline the element of human freedom? Even if it is easy, one is completely open to such programming of oneself; will it always and automatically work? In fact, many psychologists have identified flaws in the basic

assumptions, the cornerstones, of the NLP developed by Bandler and Grinder. They assume that

the paradigm shifts in an individual’s response pattern

could be easily programmed and reprogrammed. However,

such an assumption lacks experimental

support. Paradigm shifts did happen in the history of human thoughts. However, none of them could be said

to be intentionally programmed by somebody. Rather, they were

sporadic and revolutionary shifts triggered by explicit or implicit

mismatch of a new concept within an existing paradigm. They were never purely pre-determined. Similarly,

The basic presuppositions of NLP concluded that humans share the same basic neurology. This neurological system is directly related to one’s linguistic and behavioral patterns. Since language and behavior are learned through personal experiences, one could even program one’s success by introducing the right paradigm shift in life accomplished through optimal modeling.

An individual develops a map of the world based on his/her perception of the world. Our mind-body and our language interact together to develop our perceptions or maps of the world

CREATIVE LIVING

Sigmund Freud


a paradigm shift in individual looks seldom programmable!

In spite of this weakness of the NLP strategy, it is all the more desirable to be aware of the individual ecosystem that generates a particular response, giving sufficient room for human freedom. The strategies adopted by NLP to develop suitable anchors, therefore deserve positive consideration, also in the development of suitable creativity techniques tailored to individual dispositions.

INDIVIDUAL ANCHORS FOR CREATIVE RESPONSESIf we follow the logic of NLP, an instance of creative explosion could be anchored in an individual just like any other attitudes and maps of mind. In other words, we could create a context where an individual is more creative and innovative.

That may be a particular time of the day, say early morning or late night. There are early birds, who wake up at Brahma muhurta, to be able to be more creative. The literal meaning of Brahma muhurta is The Creator’s Hour and it is the last phase of the night, which is considered to be an auspicious time for creative

thinkers. (Brahma muhurta is 96 minutes before normal sunrise and depending on the actual time of sunrise, it would vary. If we consider the sunrise to take place at 6:00, the Brahma muhurta begins at 4:24)

The anchor for creative response could be a place, may be a serene place. It could be an open space with lot of light or that with lot of brilliant colours. They all could be different for different people and hence it is interesting to identify the personal anchors of creative responses and to foster it.

Some are creative when they are alone, whereas others are creative when they are with their best friends. One context is not better or worse than the other. They are just unique and individual. People shall be encouraged to identify the anchors that elicit creative responses from themselves.

It is a matter of individual design of an atmosphere, an ecosystem, tailor-made to individual needs, requirements and peculiarities. The supreme goal of remaking of the ecosystem is its efficacy in evoking unique creative responses from an individual person.

Leonardo Da Vinci Mozart


Deaf and blind persons can hereafter ‘watch’ television, thanks to Pervasive SUB which compiles all the

subtitles of television channels and sends them to a central server. It forwards them to smart phones or tablets. Then they are sent to the Braille line of the deaf-blind person by the Go All app which integrates the software, is compatible with different Braille lines and makes it possible to control the speed of the subtitles that are captured directly from the TV broadcast in perfect synchronization. Pervasive SUB, financed by Telefónica,

was developed by the research group at the UC3M Pedro Juan de Lastanosa Institute of Technological Development and Promotion of Innovation.

The presentation at the UC3M Madrid-Puerta de Toledo campus, was attended by Ángel García Crespo, a UC3M professor and director of the project, Arancha Díaz-Lladó, the director of Telefónica’s Sustainable Innovation, and Francisco José Trigueros Molina, the president of FASOCIDE. A gathering of deaf-blind persons gave a demonstration of how this technology works.

Robots have made their entry in car plants irreversible. They are deployed largely in the weld shop, the paint shop and the press shop, where automobile car bodies are shaped. The three are fully automated. Manual work

is now done mostly in car assembly.

India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki is now buying C-series robots, which are smaller in size, take up less space and are 15% faster than their predecessors.

More than 2,000 robots work seamlessly at the weld shop in Maruti’s Manesar facility. On one particular car at a particular time, at least 12 robots could be at work. There are around 160 robots in the body paint shop and 65 in the bumper paint shop. In all there are around 5000 robots in Manesar and Gurgaon plants of Maruti Suzuki.

A study from the Ohio State University has revealed that cancerous brain tumours called gliomas are less common among those with high

blood sugar and diabetes. The discovery is a follow up on previous Ohio State research showing that high blood sugar reduces a person’s risk of a noncancerous brain tumour called meningioma. Both studies were led by Judith Schwartzbaum, an associate professor of epidemiology and a researcher in Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre. The study appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

“Diabetes and elevated blood sugar increase the risk of cancer at several sites including the colon, breast and bladder. But in this case, these rare malignant brain tumours are more common among people who have normal levels of blood glucose than those with high blood sugar or diabetes,” Schwartzbaum said.

Glioma is typically diagnosed in middle age. Currently there is no treatment that ensures long-term survival.

Robots Dominate in Car Production Centres

Cancer Spares Diabetic Persons

Deaf and Blind Can Also Watch Television

INNOVATIONS


Taking Vitamin D supplements during pregnancy can positively modify the immune system of the newborn baby. It could help to guard against asthma and respiratory infections. The study is published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The team of researchers from King’s College London studied the effect that taking a supplement of 4,400 IU vitamin D3 per day during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy versus the recommended daily intake of 400 IU/day, had on the immune system of the newborn.

“The majority of all asthma cases are diagnosed in early childhood implying that the origin of the disease stems in foetal and early life,” said lead researcher, Professor Catherine Hawrylowicz from King’s College London.”For the first time, we have shown that higher Vitamin D levels in pregnancy can effectively alter the immune response of the newborn baby, which could help to protect the child from developing asthma,” she added.

Stroke brings about acquired disability, especially among adults .Around seven lakh people are afflicted with the disease every year in the U.S. alone. Some cheering news about

recovery from stroke is here—“ A brain-computer interface using the uninjured hemisphere can achieve meaningful recovery in chronic stroke patients,” said Eric Leuthardt, M.D., the study’s co-senior author. The study is published in the journal Stroke.

About a decade ago, Leuthardt and Bundy who is now a postdoctoral researcher at University of Kansas Medical Centre, discovered that a small area of the brain played a role in planning movement on the same side of the body. The device Ipsihand comprises a cap that contains electrodes to detect electrical signals in the brain, a computer that amplifies the signals, and a movable brace that fits over the paralyzed hand. It detects the wearer’s intention to open or close the paralyzed hand, and moves the hand in a pincer-like grip, with the second and third fingers bending to meet the thumb.

Stroke Cannot Strike down the Victim for Long

Statistical Mechanics Arrives to Solve Difficult Computational Problems

Vitamin D Supplements Ward off Asthma in Newborns

Researchers from the University of Central Florida and Boston University have developed a novel approach to solve difficult computational problems faster. As reported in Nature

Communications, they’ve discovered a way of applying statistical mechanics, a branch of physics, to create more efficient algorithms that can run on traditional computers or a new type of quantum computational machine, says Professor Eduardo Mucciolo of the Department of Physics at the UCF’s College of Sciences.

Statistical mechanics helps to study solids, gasses and liquids at macroscopic scales, but is now used to describe a variety of complex states of matter, from magnetism to superconductivity. Methods derived from statistical mechanics are also used to understand traffic patterns, the behaviour of networks of neurons, sand avalanches and stock market fluctuations.


Water Aplenty...What a Pity Potable Water Is Scarce!

GUEST COLUMN

“Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”

- Coleridge.

No, no. It is not correct. Drinking water is available and in plenty. Dozens of different bottling units offer

hundreds of brands of drinking water in attractive disposable containers at competitive rates. Of

K. L. Mohana Varma


course at prices a bit higher than that of milk. But cheaper than Cola or Pepsi or other soft drinks.

I was wondering. What about the poor illiterate Indian village leader I met in a small tehsil place in the present Chattisgarh state a few decades back. He wanted drinking water instead of contraceptives as the first priority in the government- initiated five year development programs for his families.

Did he get drinking water?

It was a gathering of village elders organized by the government. There were about 100 of them, all representing villages with population of around 300-700. None of their villages had schools or primary health centres or roads connecting motorable highways. Real India where one gets married at the age of 14, becomes a father or mother at 17 and becomes an old man/woman at the ripe old age of 24. He is quite happy if he gets three maize chapattis, a pinch of

salt, a green chilli, one large onion and a bowl of drinking water. He is ready to work for 12 hours a day for the two meals.

In the meeting I was attending the village elders were treated with tea and samosas and lots of speeches. The only speech they

He wanted drinking water instead of

contraceptives as the first priority in the

government- initiated five year development

programs for his families.

understood was that of a young Punjabi officer who hit their minds directly with a question beautifully presented in the local dialect. Why should anybody have more than two children when Lord Rama and Sitaji had only two offspring, Lava and Kusha? They agreed.

Very reasonable.

The collector of the district was the main speaker. A young and energetic idealist, he spoke at length about everything under the sun and exhorted them to join him in his efforts at bettering their lot. They kept mum. He then asked them: “Are you having any problem? Has anybody any complaint?”

They did not open their mouth. The collector surveyed the assembly and decided to propose a vote of thanks and finish off the program. Then suddenly somebody stirred. A squeaking murmur. He was an old man with a turban and moustache.


“What do you want, my dear fellow?” the collector asked.

The old man said, “Water.”

There was no water in his village. The nearest source was a stream one kilometre away. It had dried up three years back. Now the nearest one is four kilometres away. The water is not good, but what else to do? Now even that stream is drying up. The young officer was silent for a few moments. He knew he was helpless. He promised to look into the matter. Suddenly the entire assembly woke up. Everybody started chanting their own woes. Very few villages had a well of their own. The young officer’s eyes were wet with tears, perhaps the only pure water in the vicinity!

The water problems still continue. My journalist friends told me. But the matter is not newsworthy at national level. The area is Maoist- infested and stories about occasional clashes with the para-military forces are more attractive to the urban middle class, obsessed with the bottled water culture.

Kerala, blessed with four times the national average rainfall, 44 rivers, hundreds of canals, lagoons and lakes, thousands of tanks and lakhs of wells, all perennial, is now starving for water. The water sources are drying up and the little we are getting is contaminated, experts say.

Very alarming. But look at what really happens.

Unless there are enough consumer patients, what will happen to our scores of clinics, nursing homes, special and super specialty hospitals coming up in every nook and corner of Kerala? And the medical colleges turning out thousands of doctors? And the medical equipment business? And the pharmaceutical giants? All of them will be down if there is no regular supply of patients. Thank God (we have variety of gods – in the instant case, it is the plan priority fixers), Kerala with totally contaminated water and

The author is a Kochi-based novelist, short story writer and columnist.

absence of any type of positive sewage system will ensure that all in the medical business will have a prosperous future here.

Gandhiji’s famous dictum still vibrates in my mind.

He wrote: “In India, 90% of our illness starts with fever or dysentery and both are caused by the impurities in the drinking water and contaminated surroundings. We don’t require super special costly hospitals for our general health care. The nature has given us in abundance simple medical equipment. It is a nine-inch long twig. Just make a six-inch deep hole on the earth before you sit for the morning toiletry and fill it with the displaced earth after you finish. You will stop contamination of the flowing water and create a richer soil.”

The concrete jungle of emerging Kerala has no soil or twigs. But we can find alternatives. A superspecialty drinking water project and multi-tier sewage disposal system. It would be our nine-inch twig. I am not against hospitals and super specialties. I am of course apprehensive of the potentially dangerous social phenomena of religion, healthcare and education coming together under the control of non-government, non-accountable bodies and tuning our minds.

GUEST COLUMN


Dr. K. N. Raghavan

France Ushers in the Youngest President

EXPERT COUNSEL

French Presidential elections that concluded in the first week of May 2017 attracted

considerable global attention. The world waited with bated breath to know whether the French voter would follow the path chosen by his counterparts in England and the U.S.A. and demonstrate his anger against the prevailing political system and vote for isolationism.

After many days of suspense and tension, France decided not to swerve away from the path of liberalism that has been characteristic of their republic and elected Emmanuel Macron as their youngest President on May 7.

The issues that were discussed and debated during these elections were similar to those of other countries that had gone to polls in the recent past--economic stagnation and rise of international terrorism. The developed world has not



During the first round, a scandal involving the Republican Party candidate Francois Fillon affected his chances adversely and he was relegated to the third place with 20.1% of the total votes polled. Jean-Luc Melenchon of the far left La France Insoumise put up a strong performance polling 19.58% of the votes, coming fourth. Benoit Hamon finished fifth getting only 6.58%, justifying the current low standing of Socialist Party. The top position was taken by Emmanuel Macron with 24.01% of the votes, while Marine Le Pen came second with 21.30%, thus qualifying for the second round.

The face-off between Macron and Le Pen in the second round provided a study of striking contrasts. Le Pen was clear in her views that France should exit Euro zone, be aggressively nationalistic and sought to bring in border controls and change the prevailing policies with regard to immigration. She also succeeded in garnering the support of the blue collar workers and small tradesmen whose livelihood was hit by forces of globalisation and economic downturn. Her calls for closing down “extremist mosques”, expulsion of “hate preachers” and “de-Islamisation” of French society gave her the image of being a rabid anti-Islamist. Though she attempted to tone down some of the more extreme stands taken by her party in the past, especially with regard to war crimes, same sex relationship and demand for death penalty, in public perception she remained a politician with positions towards the extreme right and a fiercely protectionist outlook.

fully emerged out of the aftermath of the economic downturn that hit the international economy in 2008.

Unemployment levels are at their highest in recent decades and there exists a huge anger against the prevailing economic policy that encourages outsourcing of manufacturing and business services to the cheaper labour available in Asia and elsewhere. Similarly the consequences of rapidly growing Islamic fundamentalism, through organizations, such as IS, have been felt world over. Its impact has been particularly bad in France which had to face three ghastly instances of mass killings planned and executed by proponents of such ideologies. This had led to an understandably huge public uproar against the prevailing government policies and demand for stronger action against such forces.

More than the issues in hand, what added to the significance of the French elections was the persona of the candidates involved. For the first time since the establishment of the current political system in 1958, a sitting President chose not to stand for re-election, despite being eligible for doing so.

Francois Hollande was so certain about his extreme unpopularity amongst voters that he chose not to contest again. This should, in normal course, have helped the Republican Party, the traditional opponent of the Socialists, to clinch power; but such was the popular resentment against the established political parties that they could not capitalise on this.

EXPERT COUNSEL

This paved the way for Marine LePenn, leader of the National Front, who professed views on the extreme right of the political spectrum, to emerge as a serious contender. The victory of Donald Trump, who advocates views similar to those held by Le Pen, and the Brexit vote in England lent an extra wind to her campaign. The field was completed by Emmanuel Macron, who resigned from the Cabinet as Minister for Economy and formed the En Marche! Party just over a year ago.

France is the nation that coined the

magical slogan of “liberty, equality and

fraternity”, which electrified

the masses the world over.

France follows a unique system of Presidential elections involving two rounds. In case no one candidate secures at least 50% of the votes polled during the first round, a second round of balloting is held where the two persons who polled the highest number of votes in the first are pitted against each other. This is to ensure that the candidate who becomes President definitely enjoys the support of the majority of the French population.


Macron, on the other hand, projected himself as a ”centrist” alternative, making himself popular with voters normally inclined towards the left and right of centre alternatives, who formed a majority. His clean image, youthfulness and his decision to resign from the cabinet of a hugely unpopular government made him an instant hit with the masses, who were looking for an alternative outside the established parties but were too unimpressed with Le Pen and her policies.

The emergence of Le Pen in the second round had a sobering effect on the Socialists and Republicans who advised their supporters to vote for Macron. The only discordant note was struck by Melenchon of the far left who asked his followers to abstain from voting in the second round. With such wide and all round support, his victory was never in serious doubt and it did not surprise many when he romped home polling 66% of the total votes in the final round.

However, Macron would find guiding the fortunes of France to be much more trying than winning the elections. In the first place, he has to revive the economy which is the only way the issues relating to unrest caused by layoffs and outsourcing could be solved. He would have to carry with him all sections of the population in creating a consensus over contentious issues, such as immigration, border controls and approach towards religious fundamentalism. This is easier said than done, given the fact that the far left and the extreme right together garnered almost 50% of the popular vote in the two

rounds put together. He would also have to redefine the relations with Euro zone and take the lead in guiding the fortunes of European community in the context of Britain leaving that body. Further, he would also have to guide his new party in Parliamentary elections where a majority would be required for ensuring smooth legislative support for his plans and programmes. His relative inexperience in politics, which was a boon while fighting the elections at a time when politicians were reviled, might become a handicap when actual governance, that involves hardnosed politicking, commences. All this would prove a severe test for the new President.

France is the nation that coined the magical slogan of “liberty, equality and fraternity”, which electrified the masses the world over. Despite its small land mass

The writer is the CEO of NORKA ROOTS, India

and none too inspiring history in military conquests, the voice of France has always been heard with respect in the chambers of the high and mighty as well as in the intellectual circles on account of the ability to think ahead of times. At a time when strife is increasing all over and even the many open societies wedded to liberalism are looking inwards, it is only appropriate that France has taken the lead to buck the prevailing trend. It is too early to say whether the rest of the world will follow this example; but it cannot be denied that the average French voter has categorically demonstrated a better understanding and clearer perspective about the happenings around the world than his counterparts in England and the U.S.A.


A field study in Malawi (East Africa) shows that girls were remarkably more likely to attend class if they were intrinsically excited about school and learning, even in the face of deprivations and penury. The findings are published

in Psychological Science.”We are prone to think that giving girls a reward for going to school will increase their motivation. Instead, our results indicate that stimulating their intrinsic joy of learning is a stronger predictor of their actual school going behaviour, even under conditions of severe poverty,” says researcher Marieke van Egmond of the University of Hagen in Germany, lead author of the study.

Attending school provides lifelong health and economic advantages to women and girls, including higher incomes, better health care, and better education for ensuing generations. Nonetheless, as per the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, there are 33 million fewer girls than boys in primary schools worldwide.

According to new research published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, at least 160,000 more people each year are likely to have palliative care needs, including pain management of chronic

illnesses and end-of-life care at hospitals, hospices, and at home by 2040.In such an eventuality, a significant increase in training and resources for both specialist and non-specialist care providers is needed immediately.

Dr. Simon Noah Etkind, lead author from the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London, said: “Current population and mortality trends in England and Wales suggest that 25% more people will die each year by 2040. If current trends continue, the estimated number of people who will require palliative care will grow by much more than this, due to a sharp increase in the number of people dying from chronic illnesses, particularly cancer and dementia. This, combined with an aging population, means that there will be 42% more people with palliative care needs by 2040.”

A team of researchers at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) Institute of Biomedical Engineering is developing multifunctional scales which can monitor your health and

inform about potentially dangerous life conditions, such as arteriosclerosis or cardiac arrhythmia. “Hospitals are fully equipped with advanced technologies for diagnosing illnesses and critical conditions, but it is too expensive to use this equipment for everyday health monitoring. But, people do not have many devices for personal health monitoring at home, and these devices could be very practical”, says Vaidotas Marozas, the Director of the KTU Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Future generations will rely on personal health monitoring technologies more. Bathroom scales, a common accessory of every household, can become a useful tool for health monitoring.

A team of KTU researchers has already developed a prototype of multifunctional body composition scales, and improving the model by adding new functions and parameters is on.

Palliative Care Requirements Set to Quadruple in U.K. and Wales

Bathroom Scales Perform Health Monitoring

INSIGHTS

Deprivations and Poverty Do Not Deter Girls from Schooling


It is widely believed that earning likes on social media lifts the user’s mental state. But the findings of a preliminary study presented at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference in Brighton recently by Dr. Martin Graff

from University of South Wales rebut this.

The respondents to the personality questionnaire disclosed that they had a lower self esteem when they earned likes through soliciting or paying. The same was true of those who admitted to deleting posts or making an image their profile picture on account of the number of likes it received.

Dr. Graff said: “The proliferation of social media use has led to general concerns about the effects on our mental health. Although this is just a relatively small scale study the results indicate that the ways we interact with social media can affect how we feel and not always positively.”

A vast majority of physician mothers reported discrimination of some sort in a recent survey. The situation can be improved with longer paid maternity leave, backup child care, lactation

support, parity in salary with male counterparts, schedule flexibility, etc. Family-friendly policies will hopefully retain them. The study is published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

“Physician mothers treat patients, raise children, teach students and care for sick relatives and friends. But who looks after them?,” said corresponding author Eleni Linos, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at University of California San Francisco

“We need to make sure these women get fair and unbiased treatment at the workplace. The role of physician mothers is essential and we can’t afford to lose them to burn out,” said Linos, a UCSF Health physician in the Department of Dermatology.

Earning ‘Likes’ Brings No Cheer

Woes of Physician Mothers Awful

Excessive Touch Screen Tapping Harmful for Kids

A report in Frontiers in Psychology opens our eyes to the best use touch screens can be put.

“Just because touch screens allow for physical interaction, it doesn’t mean that it’s always beneficial,” says Dr. Colleen Russo-Johnson ,lead author of the study and who completed this work as a graduate student at Vanderbilt University.

“Children interact with touch screens and the embedded media content in vastly different ways and this impacts their ability to learn from the content,” says Russo-Johnson. “Our experiment focused on how children interacted with touch screen devices--on a more basic level--by stripping away fancy design features that vary from app to app and that are not always beneficial.”

The researchers demonstrated that excessive tapping by younger children went hand-in-hand with lower scores of a trait called self-regulation. Self-regulation is commonly measured by watching how long children can keep themselves from eating a cracker placed in front of them--after they’ve been told to wait until they are signalled to eat it.


The competitive pressure to innovate and challenge traditional markets is too powerful for firms and the people who lead them to neglect.

Academics are increasingly using the term ‘disruption’ to refer to a range of forces which modern companies are dealing with. As an advertisement for Babson College’s management program noted back in 2011, more than 40% of Fortune 500 companies in 2000 no longer existed by 2010. Corporate graveyards are rife with specimens of firms that failed to disrupt, Blockbuster, Blackberry, and Kodak, to name a few.

TRENDING

Manu Melwin Joy

Why Disruptive Leadership Works

WHAT DEFINES A DISRUPTIVE LEADER?

Disruptive leader is someone in a leadership position who is always looking for better solutions and ways to enhance processes. He always prefers to see the big picture and isn’t afraid to shake things up to get the required results.

Disruptive leaders don’t change for the sake of change. It’s about incorporating change into the modus operandi of the organization -- which, of course, is easier said than done. The ideal disruptive leader doesn’t need to talk about disruption



Steve Jobs is a famous disruptor, and his

leadership style and innovative vision was mainly responsible for

Apple’s remarkable success. He was well

known for being brutally honest in his criticism -- a practice he defended with the

results of his team.

because it’s basically how they get things done. Disruptive leaders ensure that their team along with them stay hungry and it is the quickest and most effective way to jump start ideas and behaviours that give the much needed competitive advantage.

Pope Francis is leading change by being a disrupter and challenging the status quo. It is very much evident from his writings on climate change, his opinions on immigration and his work to stabilize relationships between the U.S. and Cuba.

Before he became Pope, he preferred staying close to home. After being selected Pope, he realized that his role changed dramatically, along with the expectations that others have of him. At 78, he’s disrupted himself and become a globe trotter, even though the travel may be physically demanding. Founder and CEO of Virgin, Richard Branson is a perfect example of a disruptive leader. He disrupts every market he enters. Simultaneously, he works towards building trust with customers and employees. He inspires inventive and unconventional action and his excitement is contagious.

PROS AND CONS OF DISRUPTIVE LEADERSHIP

Disruptive leadership has many benefits. It helps keep individuals on their toes, and always reaching toward their best performance. However, disruptive leaders don’t use interruption just for the sake of challenging things up: they use it to get things done. Steve Jobs is a famous disruptor, and his leadership style and innovative vision was mainly responsible for Apple’s remarkable success. He was well known for being brutally honest in his criticism -- a practice

he defended with the results of his team. Jobs, for instance, wasn’t about to accept usualtargets for success. He expected excellence in everything the team did, and that meant disrupting the status quo on a consistent basis.

Disruptive leadership can also stop normal operations all of a sudden. This happens when they get so outdated that it becomes tough to keep up with all the changes at once, or if the firm does not have the resources to manage the disruption.

An example of this is the executive order from the Trump administration banning travel from citizens of seven nations. The order was issued without much review and vague limitations. This was political disruption that had never been seen before. The move was ‘unprecedented’ in the history of the United States, and has challenged both members of homeland security, citizens, and of course, detainees.

Steve Jobs


WAYS TO EMBRACE DISRUPTION

There are five ways in which the most dynamic leaders embrace disruption and radiate it through their entire firm. They are:

•Relentless pursuit of truth: Disruptive leaders are always trying to make sure their firm’s strategies are still relevant and say so when they aren’t. The more quickly changes take place, the more critical they become for leaders to take all their employees with them on the journey. The truth occasionally hurts, but it’s often the shock of that truth that urges individuals into taking actions and making decisions they might not have considered otherwise.

•Guide others through the chaos: Leaders need to accept the reality that in the face of change, the future is often blurred. Also, they expect their team members to be equally comfortable with that. Disruptive leaders empathize with their teams and make them a part of the decision making process. Chaos with an

end point is somehow a little less chaotic, even if you can’t predict in advance every move that will take you there.

•They are decisive: Decisiveness is the guiding principle of a disruptive leader. Leading by consensus has its place in the corporate world. Even if some decisions involve the most fundamental of “gut feels,” disruptive leaders need to tell their teams exactly what they want, when, and why. Waiting too long to weigh countervailing thoughts can be detrimental.

•They break the rules and write new ones: The word “normal” doesn’t exist in the dictionary of a disruptive leader. He is well aware of the fact that once something has become normal, it’s probably outdated. The market is continuously changing, and the objective is always to be at its forefront rather than struggling in its wake. At times, that means breaking the rules. Without a doubt, disruptive leaders cultivate a healthy scepticism of best practices.

•They thrive on uncertainty: You have to get accustomed to unbelievable levels of uncertainty for leading disruptive innovation. It is impossible to predict how something will work until you try it. Altering your assumptions and adjusting your plans depending on your results is the normal practice of the most effective disruptive leaders. Disruptive leaders realize that the key to success lies in employing the insights from testing in order to chart a new direction.

Even if some decisions involve the most

fundamental of “gut feels,” disruptive leaders need to tell their teams exactly what they want,

when, and why.

(The writer is an Asst. Professor at SCMS School of Technology and Management, Kochi)

TRENDING

Richard Branson

Pope Francis


A pair of substantial mammary glands has the advantage over the two hemispheres of the most learned professor’s brain,

in the art of compounding a nutritious fluid for infants” --Oliver Wendell Holmes. The quote amply sums up the importance and value of breast milk and breastfeeding.

WHY ONLY BREAST MILK?

This is the most natural milk for the child who is passes through the most dynamic phase of life. It is the most amazing piece of engineering which could not be replicated till now!!!!

WHAT DOES RELIGION SAY ABOUT BREAST MILK?

“May earth provide us with all the things we require, like a mother who breastfeeds her child” (12.1.10) Bhumisuktha.

The Best Deed Is Breastfeeding

Dr. Maj. Gen. (Retd) M.N.G. Nair


“Earth in which Ashvins measured out and Vishnu strode, may she pour milk for me, a mother to son” (12.1 .10)

“Drink in the middle of flood, O Agni, this breast full of sap. Welcome this fountain redolent of sweetness” (Yajurveda)

“Like newborn babies you should crave-thirst for, earnestly desire- the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto (completed) salvation; Since you have (already) tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord“ ( Peter 2:2-3)

Lady who came up to Jesus (Luke 11:27) and said, “Blessed is the womb that bear thee, and the paps which thou has sucked.”

“The mothers shall give suck to their offspring for two whole years, if the father desires to complete the term” (Surah 2. Verse 233 )

WHAT DO OUR GREAT TEACHERS SAY ABOUT BREAST MILK?

“Charak Sanhita” tells us about the importance of breast feeding.

“Susruta Sanhita” speaks on the Importance of breast feeding and advantages.

“Kashyap Sanhita” gives the qualities of breast milk.

Species specific, baby specific

Different for each baby

Different for premature and mature babies

Different at different times of day

Different in the same feed!!! Foremilk (Essential nutrients - even small feeders get all nutrients)

Hind milk (Mainly fat results in satiety)

ADVANTAGES TO THE CHILD

lThe child gets nutrients that are easily digestible and in right proportions.

lPhysical development of the child is facilitated.

lMental development is spurred.(It means brain development. It is the largest organ -- proportionate to body.

lThe child gets protection against illness.

lBreast milk is hygienic.

l It maintains correct temperature.

lBreastfeeding brings about bonding.

ADVANTAGES TO THE MOTHER

lContraception

l Involution of uterus

lPrevention of PPH

HEALTH MONITOR


lBonding

lNo wastage

lMinimum effort

MOST ECONOMICAL

Colostrums – “Witch’s Milk” most potent source of immunity, very important for the newborn

Breast milk is not a privilege. It is the birth right of every child.

WHEN TO START?

Suckling as early as possible

Even the thought, sight, sound and touch of your baby can initiate lactation

Frequent suckling by a baby can initiate lactation in a nulli-parous woman

HOW FREQUENTLY AND HOW LONG TO FEED?

On demand, 15-20 minutes

TILL WHEN?

Till 6 months only breast milk and not even water (Exclusive breast feeds)

FEEDING TECHNIQUE

Do not feed lying down. Burp after each feed.

HOW TO INCREASE BREAST MILK?

Early suckling – more milkMore suckling – more milkIncreased demand – more milkSound body, sound mind – more milkNo role for drugs

PREPARATION FOR BREAST FEEDING

Undergo antenatal counseling. Take care of breasts. Balanced diet matters. Proper breast support is needed.

Breast feeding is not a choice - It is a responsibility

If a new, cheap, safe, orally administrated vaccine requiring no cold-chain became available that could prevent one million or more child deaths a year, it would become an immediate public health imperative.

Breast milk can do all these.

(The writer is Medical Director, Rajagiri Hospital, Aluva, Kerala)


Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was a commander in the Red Army during World War II. At that time he was

a non-compromising communist. Like his fellow comrades he did not believe in God. In February 1945 he happened to criticize the Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin in a letter for which he was sent to a labour camp as punishment.

In 1950 he was transferred to a special camp for political prisoners in Ekibastuz in Kazakhstan where he was stricken with cancer. In 1954 he was cured of cancer. His harrowing experiences with cancer are depicted in his novel, The Cancer Ward. Life in the labour camps under the Communist regime made Solzhenitsyn a believer in God. His journey to faith is well described in his novel, The Gulag Archipelago.

Solzhenitsyn published his first novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1962. This novel which veraciously illustrates the miseries of the Soviet labour camps was published with the knowledge of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. However, when Khrushchev was ousted from power this novel was banned. Moreover, by

Have We ForgottenGod?

Jose Panthaplamthottiyil

REFLECTIONS



1965 the Soviet secret service agency KGB confiscated all his manuscripts and other documents.

In 1970 Solzhenitsyn was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature “for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature,”as mentioned in the citation for the award. In 1974 he was expelled from the Soviet Union on charges of treason and he spent the next twenty years of his life in the United States of America. During that time he examined the history of the Soviet Union extensively and impartially.

While examining the history of the October Revolution (1917) in which he was also actively involved he remembered the heart-breaking observations of some respected elders of that time who said, “Unimaginable damage has been done to Russia. All this happened because people have totally forgotten God.” Remembering the tragedy of what happened to Russia, Solzhenitsyn wrote, “If someone asks what is wrong with the 20th century it is enough to repeat what our elders said about the October Revolution, namely, people have forgotten God.”

Have we forgotten God as hypothesized by Solzhenitsyn? The unprecedented growth in science and technology as well as the secularization of the culture has clearly made a dent in the faith of the people. It appears that in some parts of the western world religion is losing ground. However, according to available statistics, all the organized religions are still going strong and most people in the world still believe in God.

Hence we cannot concur with the hypothesis of Solzhenitsyn.

However, there is some truth in what Solzhenitsyn postulates. Even though most people have not stopped believing in God, many people live as if there were no God. Even when they remain as part of organized religion they have no qualms about breaking the commandments of God. In fact, some of them even use the name of God and religion for their own selfish gains.

While it is easy for us to criticize others it would be better for us to examine how our own faith in God affects our life. Do we love God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul and with all our strength? If our answer is affirmative, it means we have put God first in our lives. But how many of us can say honestly that we always put God first in our lives?

Many of us remember God only when we face a calamity or a tragedy in our life. There are others among us who remember God only when they are in need of something. Well, there is nothing wrong in remembering God and praying to Him when we face a tragedy or when we are in need of something. But that should not be the norm in our life.

If we believe in God we must always put Him first in our lives. That means even above ourselves. It also means that we have to abide by what He teaches us. If we put God first in our life it will guarantee that we will never forget Him in our life. And this constant awareness of God in our life will help us to walk in the right path always.

If someone asks what is wrong with the 20th century it is enough to repeat what our

elders said about the October Revolution, namely, people have

forgotten God.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn


Who Is the Apple of Your Eye?

Printed and Published by Fr.Varghese Panthalookaran CMI on behalf of Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley P.O, Kakkanad, Kochi-39.Ph: 0484-2973979. Printed at St. Francis Press, Kochi. Managing Editor: Fr.Varghese Panthalookaran CMI

RAINBOW

Food idioms nourish the language in

a big way. Some of them are food for

thought as well. Such idioms are at

once charming and colourful. Here are a

few more delicious idioms to be digested.

Butter someone up : be extra nice to

someone, usually for selfish reasons.

e.g. Kids usually butter their parents up to

get something done for them.

Cheesy: silly

e.g. The playwright admonished the

dialogist not to use cheesy liners in the

drama.

Cool as a cucumber: very relaxed

e.g. M.S. Dhoni never loses his nerve in

the game. As a captain he is as cool as a

cucumber.

To cry over spilt milk: get upset over

something that has happened and cannot

be changed.

e.g, There is no point in crying over spilt

milk. One needs to plan things in advance.

Cream of the crop: the best

e.g. Entrance tests like IITJEE and CAT are

cracked only by the cream of the crop

students.

Apple of one’s eye: a person that is

adored by someone.

e.g. I am the apple of my mother’s eye.

Bad egg: a person who is often in trouble.

e.g. Recklessness only brings Aakash the

label of a bad egg.

Big cheese: informally and humorously

used for a very important person.

e.g. The front rows of the auditorium are

usually reserved for the big cheeses.

Bread and butter: necessities, the

main thing.

e.g. The TATA group is into diversified

business; but steel is their bread and butter.

Use your noodle: use your brain

e.g. . Logical reasoning is all about solving a

problem by using your noodle.

Tas Jawaharlal Nehru


Rajagiri Pallikkutam Date of Publication: 01-06-2017 Pages: 68 Price `40 ‘REGISTERED’ No. KL/EKM/737/2016-18RNI. No. KERBIL/213/51895

cover story dig well when it rains june17 for online.pdf · water aplenty... what a pity potable...

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