Posted on

Indian Elephants Electrocuted

Dudhwa national park

Three elephants were tragically electrocuted at a wildlife sanctuary in northern India, after they uprooted a utility pole and became entangled in its wires. The wild elephant population of India is estimated at about 26,000.

Dudhwa national parkThe charred remains of the elephants caught in the wires were discovered on Friday at the Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh state. The elephants seemed to be part of a herd moving through the park in the Himalayan foothills. Relatives of the elephants did not give any statement. Local veterinarians will be conducting autopsies on the elephants before they are buried in the park.

The park is about 155 miles (250 kilometers) southeast of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. While the threat to elephants in India is not as dramatic as that facing tigers, the decline of their population worries wildlife activists.

Posted on

Victory for Those Opposed to Capital Punishment

A pharmaceutical company in India recently announced it would no longer supply a crucial drug to death-penalty states in America.

The decision was an important victory for opponents of the death penalty in the U.S., who lobbied the company and Indian authorities, and leaves capital-punishment states and the federal government with no immediate supplier of the anaesthetic, sodium thiopental.

The Indian firm, Kayem, already sold thiopental to South Dakota and Nebraska, and was approached by 13 other states to buy it..

Earlier this week, the company said on its website it would no longer be selling the drug for lethal-injection purposes.

In view of the sensitivity involved with sale of our Thiopental Sodium to various Jails/Prisons in USA and as alleged to be used for the purpose of Lethal Injection, we voluntary declare that we as Indian Pharma Dealer who cherish the Ethos of Hinduism ( A believer even in non-livings as the creation of God) refrain ourselves in selling this drug where the purpose is purely for Lethal Injection and its misuse.

Without a sufficient supply of thiopental, states are forced to turn to an alternative drug: pentobarbital. It may be used as an anesthetic or as a single death-inducing drug instead of the tripartite cocktail.

Posted on

NDM-1 the SuperBug

A new report showed that a gene which causes bacteria to become impervious to antibiotics has been found in the water supply in New Delhi. The implications for the rest of the world are huge and formidable, already being observed in Europe, where the gene, New Delhi or NDM-1 superbug, has been found among patients. Health experts in Europe are saying the battle with antibiotic-resistant infections has reached a critical point, and even the strongest and newest drugs are no longer able to fight them.

Superbug NDM1 LancastriaAccording to the BBC over 25,000 people die every year in the EU alone from bacterial infections that even the newest antibiotics will not treat.

The Guardian reports more on the findings in India:

“the gene, known as NDM-1, is widespread in the water used for cooking, washing and drinking in Delhi. It will inevitably be brought into hospitals in the gut flora of patients. The potential for movement around the world is high.”

NDM-1 causes myriad variations of bacteria – including E coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae – to become immune to antibiotics known as carbapenems, that are used when other antibiotics fail to work. The team also found the gene had spread to bacteria that cause dysentery and cholera.

However, the widespread panic over germs and the sanitizer craze, disinfectants, etc., at least in the U.S., continues, in light of being a major part of the problem.

The Guardian quotes Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO regional director for Europe:

“There are now superbugs that do not respond to any drug. Given the growth of travel and trade in Europe and across the world, people should be aware that until all countries tackle this, no country alone can be safe.”

Posted on

The Maharishi Says

Ayurveda is “the complete knowledge for long life.” Ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional India medicine which has found a vogue in other parts of the world concerned with alternative medicine.

In Sanskrit, the word ‘ayurveda’ consists of the words ‘?yus’, which means “longevity”, and veda, which means “related to knowledge” or “science”

The Maharishi Ayurveda advocates internal cleansing for every change of season.
To the Maharishi Ayurveda, detoxification and purification is a foundation for vivacity, as well as a crucial component of Ayurveda.

Detox, according to the Maharishi, is especially beneficial in the spring; as this is the time when nature rejuvenates itself.

In Maharishi Ayurveda, the rule is balance first. This principle is stressed by Charaka, one of the great ancient Ayurvedic healers. The belief is not complicated: The “solutions” shouldn’t create new imbalance in order to repair imbalance.

Here are some tips

Keep a detoxifying diet:
Eat light, warm, cooked foods like soup.

Eat easy-to-digest fruits, vegetables and grains like cooked prunes, apples, figs, pears, pineapples and papayas. And cooked vegetables such as leafy greens, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. As for grains, choose fresh flatbreads like chapati, barley, quinoa, amaranth, rice and kanji.

Season your food with detoxifying spices like cumin, turmeric, coriander, fennel, black pepper and fresh ginger.
Avoid canned, frozen, packaged or processed foods..

Stay away from heavy foods like red meat, fried foods, oily foods, yeasted breads, sugary desserts, crackers and dairy products like cheese and yogurt.

Drink eight cups of pure, filtered water, daily.

Posted on

India to Build New Powerplant with Assistance from France

Last Sunday, the proposed 9,900-megawatt Jaitapur nuclear power plant in India received the go-ahead from the country’s Environment Ministry, provided that the project adheres to 35 conditions and safeguards. Initial planning was stalled by environmental controversy and financial considerations.

Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, said he considered a multitudinous matters like economic growth, diversification of fuel mix for power generation and environment protection.

The proposed project to be put up on the Konkan coast and jointly developed by state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) and French giant Areva, has faced much opposition from locals and green groups.

The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry already suggested a conditional environmental clearance involving setting up of six units of 1,650 mw each.
An agreement between Areva and the NPC is expected to be signed during French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s visit next month.

The project will help energy deficient states like Maharashtra, that face obligatory power cuts and the NPC foresees the first unit of the project being commissioned by 2017-18.

The project’s opposition expressed worry about the radiological safety of the nuclear plant and its environmental impact.

Posted on

Rising-Sea Levels Wants All of the Land It Can Swallow

When age-old border disputes become resolved, peacefully, there is cause for celebration. At the very least, you can count on some sense of relief. But the end of the wrangle between India and Bangladesh over a tiny island located in the Bay of Bengal actually spells cause for concern on a global scale.

Disappearing Island of dispute
Neither side was victorious because there is no island left to fight over. Instead it was claimed by a third contender: rising sea levels.

The small and uninhabited island, New Moore by India and South Talpatti by Bangladesh, has all-together dropped out of sight in the Bay of Bengal.

Scientists are ascribing the disappearance to climate change and erosion. For many years, the roughly two-square mile island was claimed by both India and Bangladesh, but perhaps more ironically than tragically, climate change has erased the dispute.

The submerged island is not the first to be swallowed by rising sea levels in the region, nor will it be the last. Another, larger island, Lohachara, disappeared from the Bay of Bengal around 1996, forcing thousands of residents to flee from their homes as “climate refugees”.

As concern accumulates for these and other islands and low-lying coastal regions around the globe, it is important that responses to climate change address not only future plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but also practical approaches to immediate threats.

To find out what you can do to help, click here.

Posted on

Copenhagen Cop-Out

UPDATE

The EU environment spokesman Andreas Carlgren says informal talks at Copenhagen resolved the impasse. The European Union says poor countries have stopped their boycott of climate change negotiations at Copenhagen and have found a solution to their dispute with rich nations.

=============================================================================================
China, India and other developing nations boycotted U.N. climate talks on Monday, actually bringing the negotiations to a halt. Their demand was that wealthy countries discuss much deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions.

AFRICA supportUntil the issue gets resolved, 135 nations are refusing to participate at the 192-nation summit. The African-led movement is a large setback for the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference proceedings – and the discussions were already beginning to limp on faulty relations between rich and poor nations.

Poor countries, supported by China, had raised suspicion that the conference was likely to kill the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which limited carbon emissions by wealthy countries and imposed penalties for failing to meet those targets.

The poorer nations want to extend that treaty because it commits rich nations to emissions cuts and imposes penalties if they fall short. The United States withdrew from Kyoto over concerns that it would harm the U.S. economy and that China, India and other major greenhouse gas emitters were not required to step in line.

An African delegate said developing countries decided to block the negotiations at another meeting, hours before the conference was to resume. He was speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was held behind closed doors. He said applause broke out every time China, India or another country supported the proposal to stall the talks.

Posted on

An Indian Story of Water Renewal

rajendra singhHis name is Rajendra Singh, and he is the River Maker of Rajasthan. This is a district in India, one of the largest and one of the driest, getting only 1 percent of India’s water resources.

The drought had forced he and his wife to separate, she raising the kids, and he moving to a different district to try to make a living and feed the rest of his family. Since he’s a farmer, he couldn’t do that in his town anymore. There was not enough water.

Taking matters into his own hands, he founded an organization, Tarun Bharat Sangh, and they brought back the ancient Indian practice of building dams called Johads. The Johad is made of earth and stone, and it captures rain water, directing it to the aquifer and eventually replenishing wells and rivers.

Singh had to get the community involved, since he could not build this type of infrastructure on his own. And that is what he did. He successfully completed 10,000 Johads over 25 years. Now, there are water buffalo, peacocks, water snakes, the area is full of life again. Singh claims his organization has brought seven rivers back to life.
And of course, he has reunited with his family since.

Posted on

Try all 18 flavours

Organic India is offering 18 different blends of organic Tulsi Tea. 18 different flavours to try and savor!

They have Sweet Rose Tulsi Tea, and Lemon Ginger Tulsi Tea. They have Chai Masala Tulsi Tea, and Vanilla Creme Tulsi Tea…. I could go on and on! I simply love tea.

Tulsi Tea Flavors