Go Ahead

 

The following article is reproduced from Chinmaya Udghosh magazine 

When Hanumanji was asked to cross the ocean and find Sitaji, he met three obstacles. The first obstacle as he started was, one of his uncles came in the form of a mountain and said, "You rest on this mountain". Hanumanji said, "No". rest has to be discovered in work. Those who want to discover rest outside the work get tired very fast in the work. Vedanta is relaxation, not after action, but during action. This art of relaxing during action is called Yoga. There is no entertainment required after the action. Why are we tired? We are tired because we are mental fighters. We have either not chosen the field of our interest, or even after choosing the field of interest, have an anxiety to do something very fast. or we are attached to something which we are not getting. Therefore "Why is that thing not there" - this thought is still hanging in the mind. When that thought is there, how can there be easy flow of some other thought?
Even after the best efficiency or talent, a person may be a failure becuase of his attachment. I want something to happen very fast and it is not happening. Wanting something to happen is not bad; there is no problem in wanting. But the attitude "No, no, no .... it should happen by that time", and more than that, a longing that it should happen as I want, is not a healthy attitude.
This world belongs to the Lord. Things happen at their own time, in their own way. Increase your qualifications, and desire will follow. We increase our desires, so qualification is missing. Anything will reach the deserving; this is the law. If a person deserves money, he will get money, I will add one clause 'in time'. If one deserves reverence, he will get reverence. If one deserves love, he will get love.
The first law is that we will get it; but, qualification has to be there. And how will that qualification come? Consistency, continuity and commitment to anything that we undertake - commitment at the intellectual level, consistency at the mental level and continuity at the physical level, the level of sense organs. If this is not there, I don't think any success could be very long lived. It will be a very short success. One has to pay the cost. Continue, continue, continue .... this is the first point.
Take your pick
Everybody is waiting for the future. We are totally helpless in this present situation, as if the present situation has nothing to do with our evolution and growth, and that we cannot do anything. The beauty of life is in increasing our choices, and not in increasing our compulsions. When we are not acting properly, our compulsions for the future will increase. A weak mind is surrounded by weak situations. A strong mind is surrounded by strong situations. What does that mean? Weak situation means there is compulsion, and strong situation means there are choices. The more a person evolves, the more are the opportunities. A person gets lush opportunities. Opportunities are another name of our investment; investment in the past; investment of three things - commitment, consistency and continuity, which come forth as opportunity.
Pujya Gurudev used to say, "Today alone will express itself as tomorrow". Tomorrow would not be an isolated thing from today. What would be the mood in the morning would depend on what I had done the night before. What I have pursued the whole day will decide tomorrow's programme as well. Things are connected. Whatever you want to pursue, keep your goals intact, no problem. But if we are put in some crucial situation, it has something to do, some purpose to fill. The system is intelligent. The situation must have wanted certain things; fine, let us go through it.
A person wrote to Gurudev, "Swamiji I am suffering much, but I cannot leave this work". He wrote two words, "Suffer gracefully". This is the first obstacle, that we are tired. Tired with people, tired with work, and therefore, we want to retire. Our joy is not there in the action; it is in something else. In every small bit, even if there is no joy, we have to learn to discover joy. Interesting people are those who make boring things more interesting and boring people are those who make interesting things boring.
We can make anything interesting. Don't make your compulsion your sadness. Make your compulsion an opportunity. Then, that compulsion will go after some time. We have two areas in life - where we are compelled and where we have choice. The room of compulsion is big, and choice is very small. So what to do? Construct some doors, so that the compulsion room can become an opportunity room.
All great people had very compelling situations in their life. See the life of Abraham Lincoln; he was a farmer. See the life of Einstein; he was a school dropout. It was not a very good start. Choice is not the first room of life. If anybody had too much choice, it would spoil his life. We spoiled ourselves where we had more choices. Thus Lord does not give us choices, unless we are prepared to take it. That is the beauty of the system. Let not the compulsion be a sadness, a boredom, a depression. We have to discover something to grow out of it. We have to live the life. Live with laughter, live with cheer, live with courage, live with patience, live with vitality, and go ahead. Think, today also i can have a great day.
True heroism
The second obstacle was (the demoness) Sursa. She said, "I want to eat you". Hanumanji said, "Eat" and Hanumanji became double the size of her mouth. Ultimately, when the mouth was too wide, Hanumanji became so small, entered into her stomach and came out. He said, "You have already eaten, because eating means going into the stomach". Meaning? In front of the situation, our courage and faith should be doubled, then the situation will feel smaller. The problem of the situation becomes big when our faith becomes small. There is a feeling, "I'll be crushed by it". No, you will not be crushed by it. Have this tremendous courage, "I cannot be crushed by it". Teacher is not a teacher if he is not imparting faith. Scripture is not a scripture if we are not getting faith. We have to double our faith as per the situation. At the same time, be very small - be humble. People who are very dashing become too rough as well. Be dashing in the outside world, in front of the situation, but at the same time, have also the softness of the rose petal.
The third obstacle was the presence of another demoness as Hanumanji was crossing. She used to catch and pull down anybody flying over her. Hanumanji killed her. In life, don't compete. You will find in every place that somebody is better than you. Only one person has no one better than him. Who is that? God! Everywhere you will find someone better. We spend more time in thinking of those who are ahead of us. Instead of taking inspiration from them, we take bitterness and anxiety. I have learnt that love is blind, but jealousy has many eyes. We are intolerant with someone. We want something that somebody else is having, then there is the anxiety that when he can have, why can't I? Never mind, you'll also deserve it. Give a pat to someone who is going ahead in life. Take inspiration. Everybody is unique in his own way. Everybody is not meant for everything. Everybody can go in his own direction, and excel somehwere in life, which others don't have. Everyone is meant for something very specific. This is the glory.
When the heart is full of love, it is a free mind. A bitter mind is occupied; occupied mind is inefficient, because flow of thought is not there, there is a blockage. With a blocked mind, there cannot be efficiency; there cannot be performance. Learn to encourage everyone; learn to take everyone with you. To work alone is easy, but to work with many people around is difficult. When you take others, others will give you a push. If you start pulling someone, the system is such that you will also be pulled. I have met such beautiful friends in my life who had encourage me like anything. It is very easy to increase our head, but very difficult to expand our heart. Please note, the world is lived, not with the head; it is lived with the heart only. Those who have heart are cheerful and happy. Head should not be so big that the heart and stomach are inside the head. Everything has its place, and that is the beauty. Gurudev used to say, "Beauty is symmetry".
Remember these things: relaxation during action, converting compulsion into choice and opportunity, keeping courage and faith bigger than the problem and situation, and going together in life. The field of action should become a field of love as well, to bring people together. Expand the heart; that will work more in life. The heart is the only element that never fails, even after death. That is the only instrument that works after all the failures and even after we have lost everything else.

 

Article Author: 

Swami Abhedananda

chinmaya mission

Get, set, go!

by Swami Abhedananda

Chinmaya Mission-Australia

Most of the time we spend on our lives thinking of what to do! We are not able to be our own inspirational center. Something else, something other than me is required to prompt me, to flog me, to exhort me. The more external factors required to bring out the contributory aspect in one’s personality for society, the more weak a person would be in time.

Geeta says, “Uddharet atma natmanam...” meaning, “Lift yourself by yourself; you are your own enemy and your own best friend”. We have to be our own “Prerana Srot” – source of inspiration. Nobody from outside can inspire us for a very long time. One person went to Gurudev and said, “Swamiji, there are hardly any realized masters in the world now”. Gurudev said, “Yes, why don’t you become one?”

On Your Mark

A goal has to be all-pervasive. Academic goal should accompany emotional goal. Emotional goal consists of two points:

1. Eradicating the lower emotions of expectation, demands and complaints;
2. At the same time increasing the emotion of love for God and Teacher in time.

A time should come when I do not expect anything; when I am not attached to anything in this world. Let me not be dependent on anyone. Our emotional goal in life should be focused on bringing down three things - Reaction, Demand and Complaint. We demand; when it is not fulfilled we react; if reaction is still not working we keep on complaining. When these things come up, we are not emotional; we are commotional! More commotion is generated than emotions! Set a time for yourself that in the next six months, I will eradicate any negative emotions I have. We have to set our own goals; we have to find the means to fulfill the goals. Get set and go, but get set first.

Secondly, we should develop those emotions that we should have, but are not having. I should have the emotions of being prompt, but I am not prompt, I need reminders. I should have the emotions of “quietness”, but I am not quiet. I should have the emotion of love for the Lord, but I don’t; I should have the emotion of happiness in seeing somebody else’s success, but I don’t have. That goal I should keep, that “this is my goal”.

Get Set

There should also be intellectual goal. Intellect means “cutter” and “penetrator”. Mind is the “identifier” and intellect discriminates. It will clear right and wrong, do’s and don’ts. The intellect should be used to see what negative tendencies are, which then should be cut again and again.

We live a life of compromises. Where compromise is there, sacrifice is not. Compromise is winning of the mind over the intellect. Sacrifice is winning of the intellect over the mind. Intellect should have a strong say over the mind. It should say, "shut up", and the mind should say “yes”. Such a strong intellect with strong determination, discrimination and dedication is required, so that the mind will fear it. The second intellectual goal is to read the scriptures, as depth should be there.

Go!

Third is the spiritual goal. We don’t have a spiritual goal at all. My faith should be so strong that even if the whole world falls on me, my faith should be there that Lord is still with me. Prahaladji had this faith. When Hiranyakashipu had him dropped from the mountain top, he was still with the conviction that Lord was embracing him from behind. Everything in this world is for providing security, whether it is hospitals, schools or insurance. We struggle to secure our future. But the more we try to secure the more insecure we become, because we cannot catch hold of anything. Faith is the answer; tremendous faith has to be there. One Mahatma told me about the faith that we have (he was saying about himself): “An evolved person does not have more than 30% faith that is required”. What to say of an ordinary person, his faith is in decimals! There is probably not even point one percent. Faith is the mother of quietness. Quietness is not possible without strong faith. What is faith? “Lord is with me; He is helping me. He will help me to attain what I want”. This faith has to be there. This is called spiritual goal.
Nurturing the emotional and intellectual goals is called “Getting set”. Spiritual goal is “Go”. Those who have not met their emotional and intellectual goals cannot have spiritual goal. The second part of spiritual goal is to have a life one day – I may not know when the day will come when I hope my whole time, my whole energy, my whole body and intellect, will be for God alone and I will realize that Truth behind this pulsating world of diversity. I will realize That.

We may have progressed with science and communication, but the globe has shrunk and so has the heart. We have become selfish an isolated selflessness is not there. Spiritual goal is required. Life has more to offer than what we are taking. Life is like a big Ganges, and we are just having a cup of water from it and saying this is what the Ganges is giving me. It is a mountain if sweetness, but we are only taking a bit of that. Instead, we are taking more bitterness from life. We are taking frustration, anxiety, bitterness and worry from life. Divinity is not there. Quietness is not there. Faith is not there. Depth is not there. Emotion is not there. Life has all his and more to offer and we have rejected all that. The problem is, we are not “Getting set” in something. Our goal is decided by the situation. Then how can we go? When the racing starts, we don’t know whether we are participating or not. On the starting line they announce, “On your mark, get, set, go!”. We are not ready and so we lose the opportunity. We are only in the setting mode. Some are there who start running even before the “Go”. These people are disqualified and have to go back. We have to run at the right time. We are not ready. We are not prepared. We are not enthusiastic. We are not inspired. We have a routine life and situations have all the sway. We cannot assert our Godliness.

Discover the Timeless

We don’t know that the human being is the only creation that can have a goal in life. He can change his nature. We have never explored the possibilities. We are whipped and tossed. Our goals are very small. Please note that the material goal can never inspire a person for a long time. The moment you attain it, you would find that the goal was too low. We all had the goal of passing Grade 5. We passed. After that? We all had the goal of graduation, marriage ... any goal you attain in the world, you will find that it was not that big a goal. We make our goals small after sometime.

Our goals have to be above the material. Material goal should be used for the emotional, intellectual and the spiritual goals. Emotional and intellectual goals should not be used for the material goal. Today we are using our intellect only for the material goal; emotions only for the material goal, and there is no spiritual goal at all. We are neither on the mark, nor is there any setting. How can we “Go” then? Those who are not on the right track will get whipped by the situations.

Assert your Godhood. Claim the best in life. Go ahead with a smile on your face. Face the world. Don’t think of success and failures. Success and failures have nothing to do for a confident person; he will use both as stepping stones and not as stumbling rocks. Use the success for higher success. When tired, smile. When exhausted, rest. When disgusted, surrender to God. When nothing strikes, strike your head at His feet. When nothing works, just look into the Eyes of the Lord, the spark of hope in His Eyes, remember the Teacher, remember Gurudev, go ahead.

Keep emotional goal much higher than the material goal. Keep the intellectual goal much higher than the material goal. Let the spiritual goal stand tall above all other goals. That should be the guiding factor of our lives. Life is waiting for the one who has given to life, taken for life. Let the time wait for us; let the people wait for anything. You go as a masterpiece; you go as a master in this flow of time and discover the Timeless. In this world discover That which is beyond the world. That is the purpose of living; that is the fulfilment of life. Go, but never come back. That is the final thing “Yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama”. This “coming and going” should stop.

 

 

"Moksha is not 'Freedom from Action' But, 'Freedom in Action'."

Religion teaches to accept the truth and be disciplined: CM

BY PRAKASH CHETTRI

Namchi: One more religious cum pilgrimage centre was dedicated to the people of Sikkim Wednesday by the Chief Minister Dr. Pawan Chamling. Beautifully constructed two storied Sikkim’s first Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir and Pilgrimage Centre was inaugurated on the day by the Chief Minister at Assangthang, Namchi, South Sikkim. The Mandir construction is organized by the Sri Sridhi Sai Baba Sewa Trust.

The inaugural programme included ceremonious puja and cultural presentations. On the occasion Chief Minister was felicitated by the organizing committee and also by the people of Assangthang ‘or his selfless dedication in the creation of better Sikkim of tomorrow’.

Chief Minister attended the inaugural ceremony which lasted till late afternoon. The priest of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir performed the puja and the statue of baba was unveiled. Chief Minister along with his wife Tika Maya Chamling, cabinet ministers, chairpersons and government officials attended the ceremony. Chief Minister took active part in the puja.

Later addressing the gathering, Chief Minister said that some section of the society criticized the construction of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir at Assangthang and Chaar Dhaam at Solophok. He said that the opposition parties have filed a case at Supreme Court on construction of Chaar Dhaam at Solophok. However, he noted, the Apex Court decision was in favour of SDF government. Since then, he mentioned, “they (opposition) are now asking for CBI intervention in it”. He further said “the people of Sikkim should know the mentality of such people and should support the government and its developmental projects”.

After its inauguration, he declared, “it (mandir) has become people’s property”. It is a pilgrimage centre for the devotees of Sri Shridi Sai Baba while for others it has become another tourist destination in South Sikkim, he added. This will now attract a large number of tourists to Assangthang which will be ultimately beneficial for the local people of Assangthang and Namchi, he noted.

Chief Minister once again urged the youth and the local people to take tourism as their profession. He said the upcoming tourist destination has increased the importance of Assangthang and its surroundings. “Religion should be for the benefit and the well being of the people”, he observed, “but the narrow mentalities of section of believers were defaming religion in our country today”. He further said, “Religion means to accept the truth and to be disciplined; India is a secular country and Sikkim has proved it in the entire country where every religion has been treated equally and has been provided equal security”.

Chief Minister mentioned a number of similar developments underway in Sikkim like Sidhi Vinayak Mandir in Sikkim, Srijunga Study center in West Sikkim, Thakurbari in Gangtok, Shakti Sthal in Melli, Buddha Park in Ravangla and others. Every individual involved in the construction of this Sri Shridi Sai Baba Mandir at Assangthang was felicitated appreciating their respective works.

[FROM SIKKIM REPORTER

The festival is more of a social occasion than a religious event. Muslim girls light lamps to wish Happy Deepavali in Ahmedabad. Photo: PTI

PM Greets Nation on Diwali

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has greeted the people on the joyous occasion of Deepawali.

In a message, Dr. Singh said that Deepawali, the festival of lights is a harbinger of joy and happiness. It is a celebration of the triumph of light over darkness and of hope over despair. That the festival is celebrated by people from diverse faiths is a significant affirmation of the great secular traditions of our country.

May this year’s Deepawali bring peace and prosperity to all our countrymen, the Prime Minister added.

Deepavali signifies the renewal of life, victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DEEPAVALI!!!

President of India’s Diwali Greetings

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, has sent her greetings to fellow countrymen on the occasion of Diwali.

In her message, the President has said, “On the auspicious occasion of Diwali, I extend my warm greetings to my fellow citizens.

Diwali, the festival of lights is a celebration of the victory of good over evil. May the festival bring happiness and prosperity to all our people and illuminate their lives with lights of hope for a better tomorrow”.

Sikkim Chamber team Greets everyviewer of this blog with a Happy Dewali-The Festival of Lights.

source; The Hindu

WELCOME INDIA: A Malaysian artiste performs at a cultural programme during the launch of 'Little India', a shopping complex, by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Malaysian counterpart Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak in Kuala Lumpur. 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gestures as she speaks during a joint press conference at the Malaysian Foreign Ministry in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Source: The Hindu

Bar Code- KNOW

Product Bar Coding

The first 3 digits of the barcode is the country code wherein the product was made.


00 ~ 13 USA & CANADA
30 ~ 37 FRANCE
40 ~ 44 GERMANY
49 ~ JAPAN
50 ~ UK
57 ~ Denmark
64 ~ Finland
76 ~ Switzerland and Lienchtenstein
471 ~ Taiwan
628 ~ Saudi-Arabien
629 ~ United Arab Emirates
690 TO 695 ~ China
740 ~ 745 - Central America
All 480 Codes are Made in the Philippines.

Assam tops domestic tourists in NE

Agencies

More domestic tourists visited Assam among the North-Eastern states between the period 2007-2009 but Sikkim was the favourite among the eight states for foreign visitors.

Altogether 3850521 domestic and 14942 foreign tourists visited Assam during the period, according to a Ministry of Tourism report.

Arunachal Pradesh recorded 195147 domestic and 3945 foreign tourists during the three years, while 591398 domestic and 4522 foreign tourists visited Meghalaya.

Sikkim recorded 547810 domestic and 17730 foreign tourists while Mizoram saw 56651 domestic and 513 foreign tourists.

Despite being one of the most disturbed states in the country, Manipur saw 124229 domestic and 337 foreign tourists during the period, while Nagaland witnessed 20953 domestic and 1423 foreign visitors.

Tripura recorded 317541 domestic and 4246 foreign tourists during the period.

THE IRON MAN OF INDIA

Owls Highly Endangered Species in Country

Owls Highly Endangered Species in Country

Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment and Forests appealed for massive public awareness campaign to protect and save birds. Releasing a TRAFFIC India’s report entitled “Imperilled Custodians of the Night”, a Study on Illegal Trade, Trapping and Use of Owl in India here today, said that owl is highly endangered species now. He told that maximum killings of owls take place during Diwali in the name of black magic and sorcery driven by superstition, totems and taboos. India is natural habitat for about 30 species. There is a great threat to many bird species. Large number of communities in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh are involved in illegal trade of owls which is used for Tantric practices. This report will sensitize masses on an important issue. The ministry will closely examine the recommendations to take strict actions under Wildlife Protection Act.

Hunting of and trade in all Indian owl species is banned under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 of India. While the exact number of owls traded each year countrywide is unknown, it certainly runs into thousands of individuals and there are anecdotal reports of owls becoming rare throughout India due to loss of suitable habitat especially old growth forests Owls play beneficial and vital role in the ecosystem, particularly to farmers through their predation of rodents and other crop pests.

Shaman or black magic practitioners frequently referred to as tantriks in India, prescribe the use of owls and their body parts such as skull, feathers, ear tuffs, claws, heart, liver, kidney, blood, eyes, fat, beak, tears, eggshells, meat and bones for ceremonial pujas and rituals.

Of the 30 owl species recorded from India, 15 have been recorded by this study in the domestic live bird trade. Owl species most highly sought after by traders are large species, especially those with false “ear-tufts” which are thought to bestow greater magical properties on the birds.

The TRAFFIC investigation also finds that besides black magic, owls are trapped and traded for use in street performances; killed for taxidermy and for their meat; their parts are used in folk medicines; even their claws and feathers are sometimes used in headgear. Live owls are also used as decoys to catch other bird species.

TRAFFIC’s investigations recorded 15 owl species in trade including Spotted Owlet, Barn Owl, Rock-Eagle Owl, Jungle Owlet, Collared Scops-owl, Brown Fish-owl, Dusky Eagle-owl, Mottled Wood-owl, Asian Barred Owlet, Collared Owlet, Brown Wood-owl, Oriental Scops-owl, Spot-bellied Eagle-owl, Tawny Fish-owl and the Eastern Grass-owl.

The investigations into the owl trade were conducted during nationwide studies of the bird trade undertaken between1992-2000 with additional information gathered between 2001 and2008. The prime investigator and author of the report is ornithologist Mr Abrar Ahmed. TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network is a joint programme of WWF, the global conservation organization and IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

KP
(Release ID :66738)

Origins of plant life

Hindu Editorial

  

Evidence collected from western Argentina samples shows that land plants (Embryophytes), which played a critical role in changing the global climate and in the evolution of multicellular life, had established themselves on the dry parts of the globe about 8-12 million years earlier than previously thought. A paper in the New Phytologist journal (“Early Middle Ordovician evidence for land plants in Argentina, eastern Gondwana” by C.V. Rubinstein et al) reports that spores representing five genera were found in samples recovered from western Argentina. The spores belong to liverworts (cryptospores), the basal group of land plants that still exist and are 473-471 million years old. Similar evidence from 463-461-million-year-old land plants came from liverwort spores recovered from Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic. The latest evidence from Argentina indicates that terrestrial plants had already diversified as early as 473-471 million years ago. Thus the most remarkable chapter in the earth's history: the invasion of the land by plants had probably taken place during the Cambrian period, millions of years earlier than what the fossil record currently reveals. The study reaffirms the assumption that land plants had evolved in the eastern parts of the supercontinent Gondwana before the continents split millions of years ago and moved to their present positions.

The possibility of plant terrestrialisation at multiple locations at almost the same geological time appears quite unlikely. But the possibility of long-range dispersal of spores from western Argentina to Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic in a span of 8-12 million years cannot be completely ruled out. In fact, present day western Argentina and Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic were located in the same latitude (35° S) 470 million years ago. The spores, in turn, were also equipped for long-range dispersal, both in aerial and aquatic environments. After all, the outer cell wall of liverwort spores is covered by sporpollenin, the most resistant polymer known to man. The coating protects the spores from abrasion, ultraviolet light, desiccation and micro-organism attack. That scientists could extract the spores from samples by dissolving the rocks in acid indicates the spores' ability to withstand chemical action. After all, such protection was necessary to survive in the harsh aerial conditions that prevailed at that time. Early land plants lacked lignified tissues that enable plant fossilisation. This makes clear that spores and pollens hold the key to the search for the earliest origins of plant life rather than plant megafossils which are much harder to recover.

Sikkim Mountain Climb Fees Goes Up

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Mt Tinchenkhang in West Sikkim

Gangtok, Nov. 1: The Sikkim government has hiked rates for expeditions to five peaks open for mountaineering and has reduced fees for high and low altitude trekking.

The government has also made the tourism department the nodal authority to grant permissions for the climbs and the treks.

Five peaks in Sikkim were declared open for climbs by the state government in 2006 and only local tour operators registered with the tourism department were allowed to conduct the expeditions.

Of the five mountains, three are in West Sikkim — Frey’s Peak (5,830 metre), Mt Tinchenkhang (6,010 metre) and Mt Joponu (5,932 metre). The other two are Lama Wangden (5,868 metre) and Brumkhangse (5,935 metre) in North Sikkim.

Previous fees to climb the five peaks for foreigners were $350 for a four-member team and $500 for a group of eight persons. Each additional member was charged $100. According to a notification issued by the government, the rates have now been hiked to $500 for a four-member team and to $700 for an eight-member group. However, the rate of $100 for every additional member will remain unchanged.

The government has also increased the fees for expedition by Indians living outside Sikkim. The increased amount will be Rs 15,000 for an eight-member team. There will be no change in the rate for additional climber and it will remain Rs 1,500. For an eight-member Sikkim team, the fees have been hiked to Rs 5,000 from Rs 3,000.

Tour agencies conducting the climbs would be given 20 per cent of the fees.

However, there is good news for nature lovers. Trekking along authorised trails above 12,000ft will now cost only $200 for a 10-member foreign group, compared to the earlier charge of $300. For a 10-member Indian team, the reduced fee is Rs 3,000. The rates for low altitude treks will be 50 per cent of the amount charged for the trails along the higher areas.

Earlier, an adventurist had to approach the departments of forest, tourism and home for clearances for the expeditions to the five peaks and the trekking. But from now on, the tourism department will be the nodal agency to permit and regulate all adventure sports, including mountaineering and trekking.

Tourism secretary S.B.S. Bhaduaria hoped that a lot of people would be attracted to the adventure sports in the state with the introduction of the single window system. “This is a landmark decision of the government to encourage people to take up adventure sports. For any kind of clearance for adventure sports, people can approach the tourism department, which will act as the single window system,” he said.

The travel industry of Sikkim has welcomed the decision to appoint the tourism department as the nodal authority for adventure tourism.

“It is a welcome initiative from the government. It will be easy to approach the single window clearance system of the tourism department. The adventure tourism activities in Sikkim will be now more streamlined under the department,” said Travel Agents’ Association of Sikkim president Lukendra Rasaily.

The government has also made it mandatory for the tour agents organising the mountaineering and the trekking to submit a bank guarantee of Rs 1 lakh for search and rescue operations in the event of any mishap during the expeditions. This is in addition to the existing condition that the agents should provide insurance coverage to expedition members, camp crew and pack animals.

Tour operators have also been made responsible for search and rescue operations under the overall control and directions of the tourism

Gangtok: Bengal Mumbai Football Club (BMFC) reached final of 32nd All India Governor’s Gold Cup tournament defeating Lajong Football Club (LFC), Shillong, by 1-0 goal in the last semi final on Monday at Paljor Stadium,Gangtok,Sikkim,India.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" - Winston Churchill

An excerpt from
The Best Way Out is Always Through
by BJ Gallagher

Mary Kay Ash banged her head on the corporate glass ceiling one too many times. Working for several direct sales companies from the 1930's until the early 1960's, she achieved considerable success. She climbed the corporate ladder to become the sole woman on the board of directors of the World Gift Company - quite an accomplishment for a woman in the 1950's.

But life wasn't rosy at the top. Even though Mary Kay had the title and the track record, she was not taken seriously by her male peers. In board meetings, her opinions and suggestions were ignored, dismissed, or even ridiculed. Male board members minced no words in their judgment - pronouncing her guilty of "thinking like a woman."

Since the sales force was almost entirely female, Mary Kay thought that thinking like a woman was an asset. But her fellow board members disagreed. Finally, in frustration, she retired in 1963, intending to write a book to assist women in the male-dominated business.

Sitting at her kitchen table, she made two lists: one list was all the good things she had seen in the companies where she'd worked, and the other list was all the things she thought could be improved. As she re-read her lists, she realized that what she had in front of her was a marketing plan for her ideal company. In just four weeks, her "book" had become a business plan, and her retirement was over.

Both her accountant and her attorney did their best to discourage her, warning that she would be throwing her money away on this venture. But Mary Kay had heard enough male nay-saying in her corporate years - she ignored her advisors.

Her husband, unlike her accountant and attorney, was very supportive. With his help, Mary Kay developed the cosmetic products, designed packaging, wrote promotional materials and recruited and trained her female sales force.

Then the unthinkable happened; her husband of twenty-one years died of a heart attack. Another woman might have dropped her plans, or at least delayed them, but Mary Kay was a strong Texas woman. She stayed on track with the help of her twenty-year-old son, Richard Rogers and rolled out her new business in September of 1963.

Beginning with a storefront in Dallas and an investment of $5,000, Mary Kay Cosmetics earned close to $200,000 in its first year - quadrupling that amount in its second year. When Mary Kay took her company public in 1968, sales had climbed to more than $10 million.

Mary Kay's unusual corporate motto, "God first, family second, career third," was unconventional, to say the least. But she understood the need for women to have balance in their lives, and she was committed to providing unlimited opportunity for women's financial AND personal success.

Mary Kay authored three books, all of which became best-sellers. Her business model is taught at the Harvard Business School. She received many honors, including the Horatio Alger Award. Fortune magazine has named Mary Kay Cosmetics as one of the Ten Best Companies for Women, as well as one of The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America.

At the time of her death in 2001, Mary Kay Cosmetics had 800,000 independent beauty consultants in 37 countries, with total annual sales of over two billion dollars. Never underestimate the power of a woman with a mission!

The growth of the global economy is still expected to be on shaky ground in the medium term. Not surprisingly, emerging economies are growing way faster than their developed peers. However, despite GDP growing in 2010, most nations are likely to see slowdown in growth in 2011. But that may not be the case with India. As today's chart of the day shows, India is expected to maintain GDP growth in both 2010 and 2011 at 8.4% plus. Even China, which despite growing faster than India in 2010 would see its growth moderate in 2011 at par with India's.


Data Source: The Economist
By J Mulraj

At 211 degrees...water is hot. At 212 degrees...it boils.

The 212° concept is one of the most powerful communication ideas that I have experienced in my 30 years as an entrepreneur.

If you're not familiar, here's the idea:

At 211 degrees...water is hot.
At 212 degrees...it boils.
And with boiling water, comes steam.
And steam can power a locomotive.
And, it's that one extra degree that...
Makes all the difference.

So many times, in business and in life, it's that one extra degree of effort that separates the good from the great.

What I love about the 212° idea is that you can use it to fit your own needs. It may be 212° service that you'd like to reinforce, or 212° attitude, leadership, or quality. Or maybe, you'll choose to build your entire culture around the 212° concept...to differentiate you from your competition.

The real beauty of 212° is the simplicity of the idea.

Live Life with Passion,

Mac Anderson
Founder, Simple Truths

Unveiling the Magnificent Shri Sirdi Sai Baba Temple

source: Voice of Sikkim 

Sanjay Agarwal and Sri ad

Magnificent Shri Sirdi Sai Baba Temple , Assangthang in Namchi South Sikkim

02 Nov,Namchi: On 3rd November Sikkim will bestow a Magnificent Shri Sirdi Sai Baba Temple newly built at Assangthang, Namchi in South Sikkim. The holy temple would be inaugurated through the gracious hands of Chief Minister Dr Pawan Chamling and his wife Smt Tika Maya Chamling. A day long inaugural programme will be initiated with ‘Dip Prajwalan’ event  by the Chief Guest and Special Guest told to this correspondent. In the very occasion statue of Shri Sirdi Sai Baba will also be unveiled and made for public worship after chanting a holy mantras followed by a documentary film presentation on Namchi ‘Namchi ko Parichay’ and ‘ Shri Sirdi Sai Baba, the Pilgrimage’. Bhakti programmes will also be carried by Bal Bikas Satya Sai Sanghathan Sikkim during the programme.
An effort and support from the Chief Minister Dr Pawan Chamling behind the whole mind architecture has made a dream turn into a reality finally for entire people of Sikkim. During the inaugural session, the Chief Minister will be felicitated by Shri Sirdi Sai Baba Sewa trust of Sikkim. Felicitation, special mementos will be awarded by the gracious hands of Chief Guest and Special Guest to the team members who have worked day and night on the project.

Renowned architecture Mr Kiran Rasaily guided as an engineer In charge for entire designing, blending the architectural layouts of the glory of engineering marvel behind construction of magnificent Shri Sirdi Sai Baba Shrine, which indeed is a historical achievement in Sikkim’s chapter. Behind the project are Mr Shankar Agarwal who headed as a project manager, Mr Ashok Agarwal Asst Project Manager , Mr Mahavir Prasad Agarwal, Mr Gagan Rai, Mr Tashi Sherpa, Mr TB Rai, Mr B Rajalim are the trustees.

Tibet to invest in border trade with India through Nathu La

Ananth Krishnan

  

Cross-border trade between Tibet and India has risen by more than 10 times since the opening of the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim in 2006, a Chinese official said this week.

The regional government now plans to boost investment to spur overland trade with India and Nepal, as a way to bring development to parts of western China that have been left out of the country's growth story.

Cross-border trade in Tibet was up 88 per cent year on year as of August, though driven more by trade with Nepal which accounted for 95 per cent of total trade. Trade with Sikkim made up the rest. Overall, Tibet reported $254 million of border trade in the first eight months of this year.

Su Yuanming, an official at the regional commerce department of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) government, told the official Xinhua news agency the government would invest more in boosting cross-border trade. “Such cross-border cooperation [with India and Nepal] is conducive to Tibet’s economic development and the overall growth of China’s underdeveloped western regions,” he said.

Mr. Su said more businesspeople had invested in Tibet following increased economic cooperation with India and Nepal.

Trade across the Sikkim border reached 16.3 million yuan ($2.44 million) in 2009,

more than a ten-fold increase from 2006. The reopening of the Nathu La Pass between Sikkim and Yadong county in Xigaze (Shigatse in Tibetan) was the reason behind the growth, he said.

China’s western regions, including Tibet, Xinjiang and southwestern Yunnan, have lagged behind the

more prosperous east in development.

Since 2000, the government has invested in a “Go West” drive to boost infrastructure.

Building highways and border roads has been a focus of this investment, with the added strategic benefits. In Xinjiang, China has begun work on expanding the Karakoram Highway which runs to Pakistan,

and has recently announced plans to establish an Economic Development Zone in Kashgar to boost cross-border trade and make the city a hub for Central Asia.

In Tibet, the government recently announced it would spend 50 billion yuan ($7.5 billion) in the next five-year plan on highway construction, increasing the length of highways from 58,000 km to 70,000 km by 2015.

source; the hindu

10 EXTRAORDINARILY TALENTED PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!!!

10 Extraordinary Talented People in the World? 1. Kim Ung-Yong: Attended University at age 4, Ph.D at age 15; World's highest IQ This Korean super-genius was born in 1962 and might just be the smartest guy alive today (he's recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as having the highest IQ of anyone on the planet). By the age of four he was already able to read in Japanese, Korean, German, and English. At his fifth birthday, he solved complicated differential and integral calculus problems. Later, on Japanese television, he demonstrated his proficiency in Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, German, English, Japanese, and Korean. Kim was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under Highest IQ; the book estimated the boy's score at over 210. Kim was a guest student of physics at Hanyang University from the age of 3 until he was 6. At the age of 7 he was invited to America by NASA. He finished his university studies, eventually getting a Ph.D. in physics at Colorado State University before he was 15. In 1974, during his university studies, he began his research work at NASA and continued this work until his return to Korea in 1978 where he decided to switch from physics to civil engineering and eventually received a doctorate in that field. Kim was offered the chance to study at the most prestigious universities in Korea, but instead chose to attend a provincial university. As of 2007 he also serves as adjunct faculty at Chungbuk National University. 2. Gregory Smith: Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize at age 12 Born in 1990, Gregory Smith could read at age two and had enrolled in university at 10. But genius is only one half of the Greg Smith story. When not voraciously learning, this young man travels the globe as a peace and children rights activist. He is the founder of International Youth Advocates, an organization that promotes principles of peace and understanding among young people throughout the world. He has met with Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev and spoke in front of the UN. For these and other humanitarian and advocacy efforts, Smith has been nominated four times for a Nobel Peace Prize. His latest achievement? He just got his driver license. 3. Akrit Jaswal: The Seven Year-Old Surgeon Akrit Jaswal is a young Indian who has been called?the world's smartest boy and it's easy to see why. His IQ is 146 and is considered the smartest person his age in India?a country of more than a billion people. Akrit came to public attention when in 2000 he performed his first medical procedure at his family home. He was seven. His patient?? a local girl who could not afford a doctor?? was eight. Her hand had been burnt in a fire, causing her fingers to close into a tight fist that wouldn't open. Akrit had no formal medical training and no experience of surgery, yet he managed to free her fingers and she was able to use her hand again. He focused his phenomenal intelligence on medicine and at the age of twelve he claimed to be on the verge of discovering a cure for cancer. He is now studying for a science degree at Chandigarh College and is the youngest student ever accepted by an Indian University. 4. Cleopatra Stratan: A 3 year old singer who earns GBP 1,000 per song Clepotra was born October 6, 2002 in Chisinau, Moldova and is the daughter of Moldovan-Romanian singer, Pavel Stratan. She is the youngest person ever to score commercial success as a singer, with her 2006 album La vârsta de trei ani (?At the age of 3?). She holds the record for being the youngest artist that performed live for two hours in front of a large audience, the highest paid young artist, the youngest artist to receive an MTV award and the youngest artist to score a #1 hit in a country (Ghita in Romanian Singles Chart). 5. Aelita Andre: The 2-year-old artist who showed her paintings in a famous gallery The abstract paintings of emerging artist Aelita Andre have people in Australia's art world talking. Aelita is two (the works were painted when she was even younger). Aelita got an opportunity to show her paintings when Mark Jamieson, the director of Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne's Fitzroy, was asked by a photographer whose work he represented to consider the work of another artist. Jamieson liked what he saw and agreed to include it in a group show. Jamieson then started to promote the show, printing glossy invitations and placing ads in the magazines Art Almanac and Art Collector, featuring the abstract work. Only then did he discover a crucial fact about the new artist: Aelita Andre is Kalashnikova's daughter, and was just 22 months old. Jamieson was shocked and embarrassed but decided to proceed with the exhibition anyways. 6. Saul Aaron Kripke: Invited to apply for a teaching post at Harvard while still in high school A rabbi's son, Saul Aaron Kripke was born in New York and grew up in Omaha in 1940. By all accounts he was a true prodigy. In the fourth grade he discovered algebra, and by the end of grammar school he had mastered geometry and calculus and taken up philosophy. While still a teenager he wrote a series of papers that eventually transformed the study of modal logic. One of them earned a letter from the math department at Harvard, which hoped he would apply for a job until he wrote back and declined, explaining,??My mother said that I should finish high school and go to college first. After finishing high school, the college he eventually chose was Harvard. Kripke was awarded the Schock Prize, philosophy's equivalent of the Nobel. Nowadays, he is thought to be the world's greatest living philosopher. 7. Michael Kevin Kearney: Earned his first degree at age 10 and became a reality show Millionaire 24 year-old Michael Kearney became known as the world's youngest college graduate at the age of 10. In 2008, Kearney earned $1,000,000 on the television game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Kearny was born in 1984 and is was known for setting several world records and teaching college at the age of 17. He spoke his first words at four months. At the age of six months, he said to his pediatrician??I have a left ear infection and learned to read at the age of ten months. When Michael was four, he was given diagnostic tests for the Johns Hopkins precocious math program and achieved a perfect score. He finished high school at age 6, enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College graduating at 10 with an Associate of Science in Geology. He is listed in the Guinness Book as the world's youngest university graduate at the age of 10, receiving a bachelor's degree in anthropology. For a while, he also held the record for the world's youngest postgraduate. But in 2006, he became worldwide famous after reaching the finals on the Mark Burnett/AOL quiz/puzzle game Gold Rush, and became the first $1 million winner in the online reality game. 8. Fabiano Luigi Caruana: a chess prodigy who became the youngest Grandmaster at age 14 Fabulous Fabiano is a 16-year-old chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy with dual citizenship of Italy and the United States. On 2007 Caruana became a Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 20 days?? the youngest Grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United States. In the April 2009 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2649, making him the world's highest ranked player under the age of 18. 9. Willie Mosconi: Played professional Billiards at age 6 William Joseph Mosconi, nicknamed??Mr. Pocket Billiards was a American professional pocket billiards (pool) player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Willie's father owned a pool hall where he wasn't allowed to play, but Willie improvised by practicing with small potatoes from his mother's kitchen and an old broomstick. His father soon realized that his son was a child prodigy began advertising challenge matches, and though Willie had to stand on a box in order to reach the table, he beat experienced players many years his senior. In 1919, an exhibition match was arranged between six-year old Willie and the reigning World Champion, Ralph Greenleaf. The hall was packed, and though Greenleaf won that match, Willie played very well launching his career in professional billiards. In 1924, at the tender age of eleven, Willie was the juvenile straight pool champion and was regularly holding trick shot exhibitions. Between the years of 1941 and 1957, he won the BCA World Championship of pool an unmatched fifteen times. Mosconi pioneered and employed numerous trick shots, set many records, and helped to popularize the game of billiards. He still holds the officially recognized straight pool high run record of 526 consecutive balls. 10. Eliana Smith: Youngest Agony Aunt at age 7 Her local radio station gave her the job after she rang and offered advice to a woman caller who had been dumped. Elaina's tip? go bowling with pals and drink a mug of milk? was so good she got a weekly slot and now advises thousands of adult listeners. The littler adviser tackles problems ranging from how to dump boyfriends and how to cope with relationship breakdown to dealing with smelly brothers. When one listener wrote to Elaina asking how to get a man, she replied:?Shake your booty on the dance floor and listen to High School Musical. Another caller asked how to get her man back, Elaina told her:?He's not worth the heartache. Life's too short to be upset with a boy.

BAE Systems set to win $650 million M777 howitzer deal with India

Mon, Nov 1, 2010 13:46 CET
source:defense.net

BAE Land Systems 155mm/39cal M777 ultra-light howitzers is undergoing what is dubbed in the Indian media as “confirmatory trials”, which means that if the howitzer passes the test, the Indian MOD will place the order for 145 howitzers on the U.S. made system without going through the tendering process.


The M777 howitzer will be sold under the U.S. foreign military sales (FMS) route through a possible government-to-government deal.

The confirmatory trials are said to be taking place in the northern state of Sikkim, which borders China. The deal for the 155mm/59cal howitzers is worth an estimated $650 million and two of the guns have been sent to Sikkim for trials.

Speculation is rife that the M777 howitzer deal with be signed, or at least confirmed to be signed at a later date, during the visit of U.S. President Barak Obama who is scheduled to visit India in the second week of November 2010.

India had earlier announced a tender for the light howitzer deal but the only other bidder, Singapore Technologies was blacklisted from doing business with the MOD on grounds that it was involved in a bribery base. Singapore Technologies Kinetics had fielded its Pegasus howitzer and had brought it for possible trials in India. However, even before the howitzer could be tested, Singapore Technologies found itself fired from India

Chart shows the count of BSE-500 stocks that have been trading at P/E multiples of greater than 30 times at different time periods. The highest count was in, as expected, the heydays of 2007 end, just before the bubble was about to burst. As we stand now, the count is again on the rise. Is this a warning bell of an impending correction? It seems to suggest so!

Retail investors and domestic institutions are cashing out of the market. As a result stocks are facing a foreign invasion. FIIs now control 1/3rd of the free float (shares not held by promoters) of the top 500 stocks on the NSE. In the 2007 rally, FIIs reduced their holdings as the markets trended upwards. This left retail and domestic investors in the soup when the imminent crash came. In this rally, FIIs are the only ones moving the markets. As of June 2010, FIIs held 31.8% of the free float while retail investors held 18.4%. Three months later, FIIs hold 34%, while retail investors hold 17.8%. Indian investors seem to be following the 'once bitten, twice shy' philosophy. Anyway, at these overall stretched valuations, the downside risks are high.

By J Mulraj

An experiment with nail art

A. RAMALINGA SASTRY  

Bible embossed by Sistla Ramakrishna Rao on a pice of paper card

 

Sistla Ramakrishna Rao, who became a septuagenarian on April 12 last year, unawares found an expression of his talent in the art of embossing a picture on a piece of paper card when he was hardly eight. Pleasantly surprised with the outcome, he repeated the exercise on a few more occasions, only to get overjoyed in discovering the fact that sans the feeling of necessity for any tool other than his own fingernails, that too, only of his left thumb and middle finger, he was able to accomplish the process with natural ease.

He went on to emboss hundreds of caricatures on his friends, associates, their habits, routine, and so on. Portraits of eminent personalities adorned with global recognition and adorned all over by all, also soon venerably got transliterated into the vocabulary of his art. It internationally stood recognised and hailed as Sistla Ramakrishna Rao's fingernail art that was created inventively developed and totally evolved as an arena of novelty in the world of art.

Soon Ramakrishna Rao was conferred with titles like ‘Nakhachitra Kalabrahma', ‘Kala Tapaswi', ‘Kala Papoorna', ‘Kala Saarvabhowma', ‘Silpi', ‘Kala Samrat' and, perhaps most befittingly, the title ‘Nakhachitra Valmiki'.

As if by divine grace, he got soulfully diverted to transliterate epics like Ramayana, Anjaneya Charitra and The Bible besides a few episodes like Gajendra Moksham from the Bhagavatham. These carvings themselves accounted for more than two thousands (Ramayana-800, Anjaneya Charitra-200 and so on). He was felicitated by personalities like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and so on, and by renowned organisations like Telugu Association of North America, World Teacher Trust and Delhi Telugu Academy.

This year, in early August, the management committee of the India Book of Records accorded recognition as a record holder at the national level for his embossed paintings especially of Ramayana using finger nails. A similar recognition at the international level was his finding entry into the Global World Records as a creator of a unique ‘nail art' in which medium he portrayed many great personalities – 800 drawings of the epic Ramayana and so on, as has been quoted in the certificate of Global World Records.

The recognition accorded by the India Book of Records and Global World Records soulfully stood hailed by all his well wishers and connoisseurs of his art as a real bonanza at the function where he was felicitated.

'Chunari Manorath' being celebrated at Yamuna river during the holy month of 'Kartik' in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. More than 200 sarees were used to cover the holy river. Photo: PTI

November 1, 2010

The great subcontinental green game

Suhasini Haidar   

AP File photo shows mangrove trees submerged in the river water in the Sunderbans. An India-Bangladesh joint initiative to save the Sunderbans can serve as a role model for trans-border cooperation as the subcontinent comes to grips with global warming.

Climate change management and environmental protection are the way forward in India's outreach plans for the subcontinent and beyond.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna shows his wry sense of humour every once in a while. Asked about seeming differences between him and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on dealing with China recently, he answered “Well, environment knows no boundaries and our Environment Ministry similarly transcends boundaries.”

Mr. Krishna may have meant the comment in a lighter vein, but what he said has serious, even exciting, possibilities for India, and must be looked at more closely by his own Ministry as it makes its moves in the subcontinental ‘great game'.

Last week, British consultancy Maplecroft listed India as second in the group of countries most at risk from climate change. Bangladesh came first, facing the loss of a large part of its coastal landmass to rising waters. Also prominent, apart from the African nations, were Nepal, Afghanistan and Myanmar, and a little further down the line, Pakistan. Maldives, though not studied for the list, is of course, at the top of the list of islands likely to disappear under water. In short, it is South Asia that will bear the brunt of climate change in the coming decades. While every study these days is received with a certain scepticism, the focus is really not on whether or not this is true but on whether India can turn its plans for climate management into a game-changer for subcontinental relations. To paraphrase Mr. Krishna, can environmental diplomacy transcend political boundaries and help India forge closer ties in the region?

At the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Thimphu, Bhutan, this year, South Asia nations agreed on a 16-point action plan, including measures like planting 10 million trees in the next five years and setting up inter-governmental marine, mountain and monsoon initiatives. Unfortunately, given the SAARC's track record of allowing subcontinental rivalries (primarily India-Pakistan) to overshadow their implementation of decisions, those initiatives are unlikely to see quick action. However, the urgency of the situation, particularly the prospect of thousands of ‘climate refugees' being forced out of their homes, requires India to lead the way as the subcontinent comes to grips with global warming.

Two recent projects may serve as role models — the first is an initiative to save the Sunderbans. Earlier this year, India and Bangladesh decided to set up the Sundarbans Eco-System Forum to protect the 10,000 sq.km of mangroves that span both countries. According to a study at Jadavpur University, global warming is causing the sea to rise 3.14 mm a year — far higher than the global average. The study, undertaken by oceanographers in 2009, estimated that about 10,000 inhabitants have already been forced out of their villages and 70,000 more would have their homes inundated in the next 30 years — not to mention the impact on the fast-disappearing Bengal tiger. While India and Bangladesh have spent much of this year ironing out their differences over terror groups, trade barriers and border fencing, they can and must take quicker strides on an issue like joint management of the mangroves before 75 per cent of them disappear, as is predicted by the university survey.

A similar concern led India to join hands with China and Nepal this year to agree on a framework, the Kailash Sacred Landscape initiative, to conserve the ecosystem of Mount Kailash. “India must see climate change management as a strategic investment,” says Mr. Jairam Ramesh, proposing a series of such engagements with other countries on our land and sea borders.

India has much to learn as well as impart to the SAARC region, whether it is about coastal zone management from Maldives or forestry management from Bhutan, a country whose Constitution mandates 60 per cent forest cover, and it actually manages about 70 per cent. On the other hand, Afghanistan could benefit from the Indian experience of managing the degradation caused by the plunder of its mining and mineral resources that is bound to follow any degree of peace and stability in that country, and Sri Lanka from Indian technologies on harnessing its wind energy of an estimated 20,000 MW.

The melting Siachen glacier is another border-transcending issue. After the devastating floods in Pakistan this year, there is much that India and Pakistan can share on managing river systems. In fact, in a year when dialogue on all other bilateral issues floundered, the discussions of the Indus Water Commission in the Pakistani Parliament this month shone by comparison. Water Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf acknowledged that India had addressed all Pakistan's concerns like the Nimmo Bazgo and Chutak hydel projects on the Indus and Uri-II on the Jhelum, even as the third dispute, over the Kishanganga project was headed for international arbitration. The message is clear. While talks break down frequently on terror and strategic issues, dialogue on environment can ‘flow' more naturally to a resolution. To that end, South Block must look at ways of collaborating on research, encourage scientist exchanges and build capacity for decades to come, opening new avenues of engagement with each of India's neighbours.

Climate change studies, though, are only part of the race against nature's anger at industrialisation — the future will quite clearly belong to countries and regions that are able to harness renewable energies best. It's disappointing that India, which practically pioneered solar technology, has lagged behind in that race. In the 1980s everyone who had access to Doordarshan heard of indigenous solar cookers and waterheaters. Today it is China that leads the world in manufacturing capacity of solar, wind and biogas energy, investing close to $35-billion in renewable energies last year, a figure that put it ahead of the U.S.

Interestingly, India does fairly well on the renewables index: according to the latest Ernst and Young survey, it ranked fourth behind China, the U.S. and Germany, though none of its South Asian neighbours figures anywhere in the top 25. In the past year while India has looked to spend more than $1 billion on infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar, it may well consider substantial investments in renewable energies in each of these countries.

Finally, environmental negotiations give India and China another opportunity to work on their otherwise tricky relationship. With every indication that this year's climate change conference in Mexico will again see an equally tough fight between the developed world and the developing world, India and China are once again working together on their strategy for 2010 — carrying the spirit of Copenhagen to Cancun, as it were. This despite all the bad blood over China's aggression on visa issues, and Indian ire over the border.

The changing environment offers India new avenues to forge ties within the neighbourhood and beyond, as it claims its position both as a subcontinental leader and Asian power. Perhaps the big push will come with the Environment and External Affairs Ministries working in tandem: because climate change, like terror, cyber warfare and other 21st Century threats to the world, knows no boundaries.

(Suhasini Haidar is the Deputy Foreign Editor, CNN-IBN.)

source; the hindu