34. After Gays And Lesbians, Dog Lovers Are The Next To Claim Recognition As A Community. P.S.Remesh Chandran.
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.
Every house where dogs bark continuously will have at least one person who is intolerantly jealous of the tranquillity nature provides its creations, irrespective of whether he is the nation head, judge, law-maker, politician or parliamentarian. The world has seen enough of them and their follies and crimes not to be startled by. Some sleep with the other sex, some with the same sex and some with dogs. The world pays the price through horrible diseases such as dengue, rabies and chikungunya.
Social, medical and economic aspects of too many dogs being there.
An 1898 painting by Francis Barroud.
The first part of this article, ‘Where Husbands Are Dogs And Dogs Are Husbands’, discussed the social implications of the abundance of dogs and their incessant barking. This second part focuses on the medical problems originating from humans bedding with dogs and their role as animal reservoir hosts to many Arboviral infections such as Dengue fever, Nipah virus, Lyme disease, Chagas disease, Q fever, Chikungunya and the like sweeping the globe and killing millions. The third part of this article ‘Who Said It Is God’s Own Country, Kerala Is Now Dog’s Own Country’ will analyze the economic disasters caused from ‘number of dogs versus number of people’ in a nation and how a beautiful land in a corner of the world was broken down and destroyed piece by piece by dogs.
Houses from where dogs bark continuously are not worth more than the price of that dog.
Friend of man, betrayer of animals.Photo DMacauley
There are decent houses in our society and houses from where dogs bark continuously. Houses from where dogs bark continuously are not worth more than the price of that dog, which is negligible. They enjoy all the security and safety offered by human society to them, and then they place their dogs above human beings. People who do not throw a coin to a beggar can be seen going home with five kilos of chicken for their dog. It is their kind of charity, which is snobbery and ostentation in our terms. In most houses, if dogs are present, then books are absent. The delights of reading and the carnal pleasures from dogs do not go together. When the first dog Lyka reached space sitting in a Russian satellite, there was an uproar of protest in England on dogs’ lives being disrupted by men. Now when human life everywhere in the world is disrupted by the abundance of dogs, England is silent, no wonder. It is the modern European and English trend to lay the child where the dog should be and lay the dog where the child belongs to, hastily imitated by the East, resulting in the world-wide picture of unruly youth abandoning their parents in their old age and also resulting in one-fortnight marriages. The world is paying the price for their insatiable lust for dogs.
A dog’s mind is an extension of its master’s. Some come from our back and bite, some bark at our face, and some bark long after we are gone.
Burned bridges to the animal community.
In the houses of poor people, if their dog continuously barks causing disturbance to neighbours, they will come out, beat the dog and silence it. It is not to be called cruelty to animals but apt training. A dog and a child, if not beaten as part of its training, will someday receive all the beating, kicking and stoning from everyone in the society. After a few beatings, the dog learns that it is only a dog, that it is a part of human society, and should behave itself. After a few minutes’ wailing and moaning, it goes to its corner and lies there silent for the coming days. Poor people are more conscious of decent social behaviour and aware of the disturbance their acts may cause to other members of the society than rich people and people with authority. If it is a dog that is barking continuously for days from a rich man’s house, no one will come out, beat the dog or silence it. After an hour or two, a feeble female voice can be heard sometimes asking, ‘What is the problem Tony, Bobby, Jimmy, are you feeling cold? Wait, I will warm you.’ In such houses the dog continues to bark till the visitor goes out. Even if it is an unbearable disturbance for the visitor to continue talking in the midst of this bedlam, the man, the madame or the kids won’t interfere. The visitor will go, the dog will stay. The dog does not like anybody coming to that house. When visitors are seen coming to those houses, the blood pressure of neighbours would rise, for they know that during the next hour or a few or for that whole day, there would be no end to dog barking. We will wonder why these fools still drag themselves to those houses where dogs are far more important than human beings. A dog’s behaviour is an extension of its master’s. Some unexpectedly come from the back and bite; some continuously bark till we leave that house, some continue barking even after we are miles and miles away from that inhospitable house.
“What I wonder is how this many dog scratch marks appear on their lower abdomen.”
Then it was rats, now it is dogs. From Weymouth.
In so many houses, it is interesting to note, the dog starts barking when the master of the house returns home after work in the evening. It will stop barking when he goes again to work in the morning the next day. That wretched human being, we know, pines and grieve in his heart but can do nothing for fear of divorce. Do not think that this is just author’s imagination. It actually happened in a Trivandrum house, witnessed and settled in the Family Court. It was from Ulloor or somewhere that this case was reported. Here it was the man who could not live without his female dog companion. Even if his wife of long years left him let her go; he won’t let his dog go. The tired wife finally sought divorce and secured it. Why live in a house-bed thickly saturated with dog hair and excretions? In many houses the dog wants nobody else in the house except his missus. Whether anyone believes it or not, there was a very famous doctor in Trivandrum, a social activist, who yelled at newspaper reporters: “I am the most prominent gynaecologist in Trivandrum and have brought to daylight more children than all other doctors in this district combined have. The Madames of Trivandrum need me to deliver their babies safe, but when I repeatedly say that stray dogs in the streets should essentially be killed, there is no one to listen to me. What I wonder is how this many dog scratch marks appear on their lower abdomens.” It was a horror to read about this news in newspapers in those orthodox times, but he was telling the truth, uttered alone by a philosopher social activist and doctor, committed to human welfare and sanity.
Spending millions on sterilizing dogs to please a few fat memsahibs, snobs and novoeu rich while millions beg on the streets and live in poverty!
What this doctor predicted as would happen actually happened. Trivandrum in later years fell into the grip of a series of Zoonosis diseases like dengue and chikungunya and thousands were dead and many thousands more incapacitated for life. Every poor man’s home in the state lost at least one member to these diseases for no fault of theirs. The sexual lust of a few rich women and men invariably led to the death and incapacitation of thousands. These sexual perverts did not even stop there. They took care to exclude any mention of dogs in the medical reports. And they also pulled strings to restrain authorities from reconsidering or withdrawing dog-legislations already passed. All blamed and hunted mosquitoes; no one admitted that mosquitoes are just carriers of Dengue-like fevers and dogs are the host reservoirs for these viruses from whom the mosquitoes get them. Had there been not this many dogs in the streets and in the houses, there would not have been any such diseases. The greatest caprice was from the part of the health authorities. They entirely pretended that they never even have heard about Zoonosis diseases, Arboviral infections or animal reservoir hosts in their lives and spent still more millions on pretended research. The number of appearances of these waves of killer diseases in Kerala, India, Asia and the World is directly proportional to the rise in the number of dogs in the streets and in the houses, following the enactment of modern-world, anti-human, dog-protection laws and also due to the scam that is Animal Birth Control. ABC Programme in Asia is sterilization of male dogs. Dogs removed from the streets will be taken to veterinary hospitals or anywhere, vasectomized or not and returned to the same spot they were captured from, the authorities thus escaping skillfully from the responsibility of removing dogs permanently from the streets. It is the most lucrative business for government officials now in the Asian countries, crumbs thrown down to lower officials by corrupt national administrations that go after greater chunks. Who is going to verify whether street dogs are actually vasectomized or not? Spending millions more on sterilizing dogs to please a few fat memsahibs, snobs and novoeu rich, while millions in these democracies beg on the streets and live in poverty!
Fleas are one of the chief carriers of many diseases and they are in very friendly terms with dogs.
Left to dogs by parents while in infancy.
Dogs are proven hosts to hundreds of parasites and viruses and play a prominent role in originating and spreading diseases. Dogs act as parasite reservoir for many human infections. Many parasites reside in the stomach walls of dogs. Infection through dogs is observed to be a common and world wide problem. Children in close and continuous contact with dogs are the most infected. Most human infections through dogs occur in Asian countries. If a child, mother, grown up man or an old man gets one of these diseases, before going to a doctor for immediate medical assistance, make sure that there were no dogs in that particular house, in the houses nearby or roaming the nearby roads. Majority of the dogs are flea-infested. Fleas are one of the chief carriers of many diseases and they are in very friendly terms with dogs. Diseases got from dogs thus are primarily responsible for many problems with the lymph system. Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which has a very high mortality rate of 20 to 25 percent, is one of the most severe of human infections transmitted by ticks living on dogs.
When waves of Zoonosis diseases strike the world, dog-lovers and dog law makers escape into their private sanctuaries. When waves recede they come out and bark.
Diseases from dogs begin here.
There are hundreds of other diseases spread by pet animals including dogs. Nipah Virus, Lyme disease, Chagas disease, Q fever, Brucellosis, Diphyllobothriasis, Ehrlichiosis, Pasteurellosis, Rickettsiae, Rhinosporidiosis, Ringworm Salmonellosis, Strongyloidiasis, Yersiniosis, Leptospirosis, Leishmaniasis, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis, Echinococcosis, Coenuruses cerebralis. Coccidioidomycosis and Giardiasis-theirs is a long list. The spreading of these diseases among humans could have been totally avoided, had human society broken ties with dogs. Presence of dog breeders, dog lovers and dog law makers in this world is the reason for the spreading of these diseases. It is they who are solely responsible for the death of millions of human beings from waves of Zoonosis diseases sweeping this globe each year. When these diseases occur, the world spends millions and millions of dollars, rupees and pounds in treating them and for preventing them. When these deadly and ugly diseases occur among human beings, dog lovers in the world escape into their private sanctuaries and remain silent for a few days, fearing accusation. When the waves of diseases withdraw for a time, they come out of their hiding places and bark.
Rabies resulting in death from a nervous breakdown: The most fearsome gift to man from dogs.
Rabies is the most fearsome disease caused in man and other animals by dogs. This disease in humans is almost always due to a bite from an infected dog. Other infected mammals also can cause this disease in humans but statistics shows that the number of such cases is negligible. The rabies virus causes acute infection of the Central Nervous System in man, resulting in breakage of the normalcy of the system and the man finally dying of a nervous breakdown. Rabies occurs nearly in all countries where dogs are an inseparable part of the community. Investigations have shown that letting dogs into beds can make people ill with other deadly diseases. Sometimes people will lick dogs, or the dog will lick them. Bedding with dogs is a common practice in many families. The deadly and unpleasant infection of MRSA is got from dog cuddling when people snuggle up to their dogs. Every home in which dogs co-exist and co-habitat with humans has problems of pulmonary diseases and infections in children, caused by remaining close to the exhaling respiratory stream of dogs. More and more people are now napping with their pet dogs inside closed and shut rooms.
All Arboviral infections like Dengue fever have to have an animal reservoir host like dog.
Dogs gradually become inseperable companions.
Dengue Fever is a Zoonosis, a disease occurring primarily in mammalian animals that can be transmitted to humans. The viruses responsible for this disease survive in nature as infections in animals; human infection is not necessary for their survival. Dengue Fever is an Arboviral infection, the viruses being transmitted by arthropod vectors such as ticks. House dogs and street dogs are the common Animal Reservoir Hosts to these viruses, as almost all of these animals are tick-affected. The recent outbreaks of Dengue Fever in Kerala were exclusively caused by the millions of dogs roaming the streets and in the houses. Otherwise the healthy and clean people of Kerala would not have succumbed this much easily to this disease and this much frequently too. Actually, reports from Kerala indicate that the State has been in the grip of dog-transmitted diseases for long. Hundreds of people there are daily admitted to hospitals following severe group attacks by dogs in the streets. The recent outbreaks of Dengue Fever rendered health services helpless, claimed hundreds of human lives and incapacitated tens of thousands more. Everyone talked about mosquitoes, stagnant pools, dirty canals and the like, but no one admitted the possibility these diseases being spread from dogs, lest it would be commented as trivial. With this many dogs on the loose in streets and houses, there may occur yet another outbreak of Dengue and Congo Fevers in Kerala which would be fatal. The health authorities and dog lovers know this but they fear revealing this for fear of retaliation from people.
Even W.H.O. articles on Chikungunya carefully remain vague about the role of the abundance of dogs.
Chikungunya is a viral disease closely similar to Dengue fever that recently swept through Africa, Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Europe andAmerica. As the African name denotes, it causes a contorted and stooped appearance and may take years and decades for the patient to get a slight relief. Full recovery is never. There is no treatment or vaccine available for this disease. Victims are incapacitated and cannot work or earn a living for many years. The destructing power of this virus is such that it is considered as an ideal agent for future biological weapons and warfare. Chikungunya is an Arboviral infection which need an animal reservoir host for the virus to survive and thrive in nature. It will need an animal reservoir host or a primate other than men to reside in and multiply for a time. Usually they are monkeys and dogs. Outbreaks of this disease happened very recently and very frequently too. Nothing especially happened in the environmental conditions of the world which was why world health authorities could not predict the coming of this disease. What they could not see clearly and take into account was the number of dogs increasing inconceivably everywhere. Or even if they knew, they were forced to remain silent about it, knowing well the iron hand of dog-lovers, many of whom the dignitaries who design and govern the modern world. Assuming all things in the environment remained the same, and also given that the number of some available animal host increased in the world considerably lately so as to cause repeated massive outbreaks of this disease, we are forced to believe that it was only the number of dogs in the world that increased lately, due to nations one after another blindly passing laws banning the killing of dogs. Even W.H.O. articles on Chikungunya carefully remain vague about the role of the abundance of dogs in bringing about this disease which is sweeping through almost all continents. Some get a few minutes’ pleasure from dogs and the world pays too high a price for the pleasure to be justified.
The orthodox Hindu Brahmins of India never allow dogs anywhere near their homes, temples and compound for fear of breach of sanctity and cleanliness.
Man spends millions from national revenue to keep children away from horrible communicable diseases which go useless due to his habit of keeping dogs inside his house. Perhaps it will amount to enough money to feed all hungry human beings in the world the year round. Grown up people with stronger bodies and more resistant defense systems can perhaps withstand the threat from diseases from house-dogs but young children and old people with weaker defense systems are sure to get these diseases. When they invariably get infected, the parents take them to hospitals resulting in a waste of the limited resources of the society, causing overcrowding in hospitals and making even more people vulnerable to diseases. The orthodox Hindu Brahmins of India never allow dogs anywhere near their home, temple or compound. They consider dogs entering those places a profane act and breach of sanctity and cleanliness. Where does all the drop-out hair of a house-dog go except to the digestive and respiratory systems of the occupants of the house?
Dog lovers eat cow, goat, oxen, pigs and chicken to their stomachs’ fill, ascend to their roofs and bark loudly that dogs shall not be killed.
Promoted to the post of partner.
Not all dog lovers are animal lovers. They eat cow, goat, oxen, pigs and chicken to their stomachs’ fill, ascend to their roofs and proclaim loudly that dogs shall not be killed. They parade through city streets demanding legislation on the killing of stray dogs roaming the streets. They move governments to ban killing of dogs. They sit in assemblies and sanction laws for dogs. When cows, buffaloes and sheep are slaughtered in millions, they speak nothing but eat them. We know that in whichever countries killing of dogs is prohibited, killing of cows, buffaloes, sheep, camels, horses and other useful animals are not prohibited. We all know that what behind this philosophy of theirs is their sexual desire for dogs. The other animals cannot be safely used for sexual purposes; dogs can be and are. It is not a new thing or news to the world, at least since the time of the notoriety of the Egyptian and Roman queens. That is why dogs barking incessantly from houses, causing noise and disturbance to neighbours, are not beaten and silenced. A dog which is once beaten can never again be used safely for sexual activities. So, even if the whole society turns against them, they will not beat and silence their dog. Dog lovers in this world are a very powerful lobby. Many laws which were long demanded by people are seldom introduced in parliaments of the world’s nations. But if somebody decides to introduce yet another law for dogs, it is introduced then and there and unanimously passed within days. The richer, more influential and more highly positioned a person is the more neglected him usually is by his children and society and left with only dogs for companionship in his loneliness. Many politicians, bureaucrats and law-makers, after night-long decision-making and partying, reach their homes just as vegetables. Many reach only up to their car sheds, not up to bed rooms. Dogs certainly are needed in those houses. If they ever return home after making anti-dog legislation or after taking any kind of action against dogs for sound pollution or public nuisance from constant barking they are out! After gays and lesbians, dog-lovers are the next to claim recognition as a community.
When and if the world desires so, dogs and their lovers will have to go outside the world.
The dog-lovers and dog activists in the world comprise only a fraction of not more than one percent of the human population. But their lust for dog has resulted in society loosing millions of precious human lives through diseases. It is people who have nothing to do with dogs who are dying of diseases originating from dogs. And the dogs’ incessant barking has become the new universal inescapable background noise of the world. If some one wishes to keep dogs, let them go first buy and install infra red dog-barking arresters. The world has the right to remain free from ugly diseases and unwanted sounds.
If this article is taken to a minister of state for governmental action against the dog problem he will not take action. If it is taken to some editor of a newspaper or a television channel, he will not publish it. If it is taken to a parliamentarian or a politician, he will not legislate. No one likes to antagonize his wives.
Dear Reader, You may have dissenting opinions on the views expressed here by the author but you are requested to kindly read the first and third articles of this trio here:
‘Houses Where Husbands Are Dogs And Dogs Are Husbands’.
‘Who said It is God’s Own Country? Kerala Is Now Dogs’ Own Country’.
To read about more similar present day follies of Kerala people,
click Kerala Commentary.
_________________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.
_________________________________
Dear Reader,
You are invited to kindly visit the Author’s Web Site of P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum at:
https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/wiki-nut-articles
Translations of this article in French, German, Spanish and Italian published in Knol.com can be read by clicking here.
http://knol.google.com/k/psremesh-chandran/-/2vin4sjqlcnot/0#collections
Tags
Articles, Chikungunya, Crimes Against Mankind, Dangers From Bedding With Dogs, Dengue Fever, Diseases Spread From Dogs, Dog Lovers Claiming Community Status, Dogs A Threat To Society, Dogs As Culprits In Zoonosis Diseases, English Literature, Essays, Houses Where Dogs Are Husbands, Houses Where Husbands Are Dogs, Meat Eaters Against Slaying Dogs, Medical Aspects Of Dog Problem, P S Remesh Chandran, Philosophy, Public Nuisance Of Dog Barking, Q Fever, Rabies, Reason Behind Dog Law Making, Sahyadri Books Bloom Books Trivandrum, Sexual Abuse Of Dogs, Social Criticism, The Snobbery That Is Dog Love
Meet the author
PSRemeshChandra
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan : The Intelligent Picture Book.
Share this page
Delicious Digg Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter
Comments
Sahyadri Books Online Trivandrum 
What Computerization Without Electricity In Kerala? Essay By P.S.Remesh Chandran, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum.
13 Sep 2012 Leave a comment
by P.S.Remesh Chandran in Computerization, Famous English Essays, Human Rights Violations, Social Criticism Tags: Administrative Paralysis From Computerization, Commissions From Computerization, Computerization In Kerala, Computerization Without Electricity In Kerala, Computerizing Treasuries, conservation of electricity, Electricity, Electricity In Kerala, Foolish Burning Of Electricity, Governments Going Online, Kerala Commentary, P S Remesh Chandran, Recent Follies Of Kerala, Restoring Storage Capacity Of Dams, Sahyadri Books Bloom Books Trivandrum, Salary Payment Through Atms, science, Silting Of Dams And Reservoirs
043.
What Computerization Without Electricity In Kerala? Essay By P.S.Remesh Chandran,
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.
By PSRemeshChandra, 25th Oct 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/ceu3pzgc/
Posted in Wikinut>Writing>Essays
When we hear that computerization without electricity has been undertaken in some part of the world, we will normally think some innovation has been made possible there. Really it is one of the many recent follies of Kerala people. Even though many well educated and talented Keralites have migrated to many countries and are engaged there in prestigious firms in the computer hardware and software industry, their local rulers and political leaders are clay heads, still in the bullock cart age.
Plenty of mountains, rivers, dams and rains, but begging for electricity all over India.
Kerala produces enough electricity to light her homes, run her industries and render other basic services but not enough to light the millions and millions of display boards, dazzling shop displays and opulent building and street illuminations. What electricity Kerala produces in its many hydro-electric projects is just enough to meet the basic essentials. This means, the normal domestic, social and industrial life can be continued without depending on electricity purchased from outside. If someone says that Kerala has a shortage of electricity, anyone who has seen the plentiness of rivers and water bodies in Kerala and the number of dams that have been built across them through the years will wonder how this shortage can happen and who is to be held responsible for this foolish situation. The fact is, neither the government nor the Kerala State Electricity Board which does the production and distribution of electricity throughout the state, have done anything sensible to ensure conservation of electricity, without which Kerala will plunge into total darkness and stillness of industries for the next 20 years.
Selling imported electricity and pocketing the profits is far more lucrative a state business than producing from water.
Anchuruli Tunnel Idukki By Jayesh J.
After allowing the foolish spending electricity for unnecessary illuminations by the state establishments, private citizens and other organizations, and after ensuring that power is short and people are shouting, electricity is bought and brought from as far regions as Himachal Pradesh and from private sector, paying exorbitant price as a result of which electricity charges in the state soars. The ordinary citizens have no role in bringing about this havoc because the electricity needed for their houses, shops and industries is already produced from their rivers. And they consume much less electricity. They light only one or two lights in their homes and cannot afford air-conditioning. The burden of the higher cost of electricity purchased from the outside should have been shouldered by those who squander electricity by lighting a hundred lights in their homes and operating multi air-conditioners day and night and those who allowed it without imposing restrictions. You walk along the main city streets of Trivandrum, Trichur, Cochin and Calicut at night and you can see who are spending electricity opulently. It is they to whom the cost of imported electricity should have been charged solely. An ordinary shop needs five or six bulbs to run it but not thousands and thousands as we see on these thoroughfare sides. An electricity-short Kerala cannot afford it. If they want that much electricity for their special needs, they can import it at their cost but shall not eat into Kerala’s reserves. Just watch the State Ministers’ buildings and the mansions of top level bureaucrats, elected people’s representatives and senior politicians in Trivandrum at night and you will see who squanders electricity as they please at people’s expense. The power they burn are not paid for by them but by the government and the burden finally falls on the shoulders of the poor people.
Adamantly insisting on computerization after visiting foreign countries where electricity never fails.
Before imported electricity arrived in Kerala, there was sufficient strength and voltage to the current but now due to loss during transmission, power is lost considerably. Fans won’t move, fridges won’t work and computers won’t function. The people of Kerala loose millions and millions of rupees due to the burning out of such instruments. There are countries in this world where electricity never fails and voltage never fluctuates. Such countries have turned to computerization of government departments. Some government minister who went to some such countries for treatment of some unspeakable disease saw this and wondered, and when he returned to Kerala adamantly began insisting that the government here also should be completely computerized. Learned Administrative Service Officers and Power Engineers of the state may have tried to teach him the effects of a possible administrative paralysis that would result from his act as the state had already begun to show proof of moving fast towards load shedding, power cuts, brown outs and total black outs, but within the hierarchical power structure in administration they might not have been bold enough and successful to raise them as objections. But that fool won’t listen. What those officers did not know about then was the millions that were coming the way of that politician as commissions from the computer industry.
Never thought about removing silt from reservoirs during the past 40 years; now complaining dams have no capacity.
Kerala is a region of hills and mountains and rivers. All rivers reach the sea before they run even a hundred miles. Due to the proximity to mountains the dams constructed across these rivers are filled with soil, silt, sand and debris in a very short time. With the rain of two or three days the dams are filled and overflowing but two or three weeks later the authorities tell people that there is not enough water in the dams to make electricity. During the past twenty five years there has not been a single instance of silt removal from a single dam in Kerala. Deepening the catchment areas of dams ensuring maximum catchment of water, making bare minimum electricity for the day to day needs or producing maximum electricity to be sold and bought back in needy times: that is what sensible governments and bureaucracies would do. But the Kerala State Electricity Board sat on its ass for a quarter of a century, and waking up now, tells that Kerala is short of electricity. The chairmen and the technical committee members of the board were being paid millions as salaries for foreseeing things and situations in advance and taking precautionary steps. Their failure in fulfilling their duties warrants immediate dismissal but being part of a state wide commission racket they are allowed to continue and bring more money to their godfathers. When generators in power stations blow away due to poor maintenance, they sit on the thing for years without resolving to repair them and start new files to buy electricity from the outside.
Building small dams called Sediment Retention Structures many miles upriver is the method adopted the world over for retaining the water storage capacity of reservoirs.
Small silt trap dams can be built on the streams feeding a large reservoir, to settle out silt and thus reduce the rate at which the main reservoir silts up. The dam and electricity authorities in Kerala during the past decades totally neglected this task of cleaning the reservoirs and now there is only a small amount of water contained in the dams. Now no reservoir in Kerala serves the practical purposes. Constructing small dams called Sediment Retention Structures many miles upriver is the common and wise method adopted the world over for retaining the water storage capacity of reservoirs. Every electricity production engineer and organization in the world knows this. It is common knowledge. Dam bed coating consists of mud and sand mainly. Also there would be remains of whatever got into the river flow, including plastic bottles and even vehicles. Measuring the depth of water after siltation is something to be done on a regular basis. Neither measuring water depth after siltation, building of sediment retention structures nor removal of mud and sand from reservoir bottoms has been done in Kerala for the past fifty years. Mining river sand for construction works is recently banned and restricted in Kerala, resulting in stillness in home building. Workers engaged in this field are now jobless. Removal of river sand from dams would have not only eased this explodable situation but would also have recovered the storage capacity of dams. Senior administrators in the state are in constant fear of when people will begin to ask the most dreaded question of why they are not cleaning the dams. Not one person in Kerala administration is interested in this matter. They are only interested in purchasing electricity from outside and selling it at far higher rates, pocketing huge amounts as commissions in the process. Every sensible person in the state knows that the future of electricity is dark in Kerala for the next twenty five years. Tapping solar power for electricity will need thousands and thousands of acres of land which Kerala cannot afford. Building nuclear reactors, the people of this small state will not permit. Restoring the storage capacity of dams the fools in the administration won’t do. That is why it is here alleged that total computerization of government departments in Kerala is a farce and folly, aimed just at securing commissions from purchases.
‘Our computers are down, there is no electricity; we do not know which year they will be up again.’
There are countries in this world where electricity never fails, voltage never fluctuates and even if electricity fails it would be for two or three seconds. Even if voltage fluctuates there, it would be by a maximum of two or three volts. Some great political figure head that went to those countries for treatment of some unspeakable disease saw the computerization there, wondered, and on return insisted that every government department should be fully computerized in Kerala and everything go online. No ruler was sensible enough to point out to him that in such electricity-short states like Kerala it would lead to administrative paralysis and eventually make people’s life miserable. Now when people go to some government office for a birth certificate they are told that the system is down and that they don’t know when the certificates could be issued. The good and reliable old manual system was deemlessly dismantled and the staff deployed elsewhere or dismissed; therefore the certificates cannot be handwritten and issued as before.
We will think there is someone there to attend. Actually there is no one there. E-governance is a farce.
Factual evidence for the fallacy of a government going online can be examined here by an example. Citizens can submit their complaints and grievances to the government of Kerala by online. As a test case, a complaint on specific easement violations, i.e. destruction of ancient homes in Kerala through rogue bulldozer activity by gangsters, was submitted online on 12th November 2011 to the following online addresses advertised by the government in their website.
1. The Joint Secretary, Chief Minister’s Grievance Redressal Cell, Government Secretariate, Trivandrum-1. cm-grccell@kerala.gov.in 2.Minister forPanchayats. minister-panchayat@kerala.gov.in 3. Minister for Revenue. minister-revenue@kerala.gov.in 4. TheDistrictCollector,Trivandrum.dctvm@kerala.nic.in.
Even after months they were never acknowledged which even a poorly maintained, single man website will do. The addresses are here. They are government and public anyway and anyone can try. This is exactly what happens in the thousands and thousands of complaints submitted online to government each day. We will think that there is some one there to attend. Actually there is no one there. E-governance is a farce. The only aim of government computerization is pocketing the huge profits from computerization. Every electronics firm gives commissions when products and services are sold, irrespective of whether it is a government firm or non-government firm at the receiving end, and even senior union cabinet ministers in India are undergoing prison terms for accepting commissions. Therefore there is no use denying the ultimate aim of obtaining commissions.
‘Your ATM money went down the drain due to some computer glitch, it often happens when voltage drips; we cannot do anything.’
The governments had a very efficient treasury system which the private banks and the nationalized banks envied. Because treasuries do not have share owners but banks do, government’s money payment was de-linked from treasuries and shifted to banks, ordered by greedy politicians who themselves or whose dependents had shares and interests in those banks. One political party while in administration demanded that when this scheme is implemented, one particular bank shall write-off their loan of 100 Crore rupees they availed for starting a television channel. Banks would get millions of new accounts anyway without paying commissions and huge amounts will remain with them as unwithdrawn balances. Then why shan’t they pay and please political parties for taking the decision for payment of salaries through banks? But then what are treasuries for? Then treasuries and banks began to get computerized and payments to people began to be made through A.T.M. Counters. Now payment of salaries also is going online. There is no electricity and therefore no ATMs working. Voltage fluctuations also still the ATMs. One day when you go to draw money from the ATM or the bank it will be informed that ‘your money went down the drain due to a computer glitch; it sometimes happens when voltage drips, we cannot do anything’. We will think that bureaucrats and politicians in the administration were not brain-sharp enough to see these things in advance. They did see everything in advance but simply could not resist the temptation for securing commissions from the purchase of thousands and thousands of computers for every government office, making every office going online, and the future income from maintaining, servicing and replacing these systems. One needn’t think there was any intension of improving the efficacy of the administration in the state behind this decision and motivation for computerizing everything governmental. The horrible news of bribery and corruption printed everyday in newspapers in India reveals the real motivation. They will sell even their mothers if the right commission is got.
The last typewriter factory in the world, owned by Godrej India, was closed in 2011. So purchase available typewriters in advance at whatever price they come by.
This article which was first written on the 24th of October 2011 was auto saved by computer six times before it was even five paragraphs long. It was at a place one kilometer from Trivandrum District Administration and three kilometers from Kerala Government Secretariate. They still boast a fully computerized government! Just as the good old manual typewriters were thrown away when computers came along and shamelessly called back into service when electricity began to frequently fail, the good old scribes and their quill pens would again be needed soon. But remember, in the wake of the computer wave, not being able to sell one single typewriter manufactured by them, the last typewriter factory in the world owned by Messers. Godrej India Private Limited was closed in the year 2011. So take the advice and purchase available typewriters in advance at whatever prices they come by.
___________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
___________________________
Dear Reader,
If you cannot access all pages of P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum, kindly access them via this link provided here:
https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/wiki-nut-articles
Translations of this article in French, German, Spanish and Italian published in Knol.com can be read by clicking BLOOM BOOKS TRANSLATIONS here.
To read about the life and people and their follies of the author’s native land Kerala, read Kerala Commentary here.
To read more our articles already published in Wikinut visit Sahyadri Books or Bloom Books Trivandrum here.
Tags
Administrative Paralysis From Computerization, Commissions From Computerization, Computerization In Kerala, Computerization Without Electricity In Kerala, Computerizing Treasuries, Electricity, Electricity In Kerala, Foolish Burning Of Electricity, Governments Going Online, Kerala Commentary, P S Remesh Chandran, Recent Follies Of Kerala, Restoring Storage Capacity Of Dams, Sahyadri Books Bloom Books Trivandrum, Salary Payment Through Atms, Silting Of Dams And Reservoirs
Meet the author
PSRemeshChandra
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of ‘Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book’. Unmarried and single. Born and brought up in Nanniyode, a little village in the Sahya Mountain Valley.
Share this page
Delicious Digg Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter
Comments
rama devi nina
4th Feb 2012 (#)
A very informatie and interesting page, PSRC-ji. Bravo on your star page.