Scientists attribute the extreme climate patterns in the state this year to climate change. This is just the beginning, they warn. – U.Sudhakar Reddy

Even as India and other countries quibble about how to handle climate change and who should cut what percentage of carbon emissions, the damaging effects of global warming are being felt right in our own backyard.

Scientists attribute the extreme climate patterns in Andhra Pradesh this year -the worst drought in 50 years followed by catastrophic floods that can happen once in 10,000 years -to climate change.

The Krishna, Tungabhadra, Handri and Kundu rivers flooded and devastated several districts along the rivers’ courses killing hundreds of people and destroying lakhs of acres of crops, submerging famous temples and inflicting losses of more than Rs 12,000 crore.

Even now, temperatures are soaring in October when there should be a chill in the air. Weather experts say the heavy rains within just a few days in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka was due to low pressure in the Bay of Bengal.

Rising levels of vehicular and industrial emissions and eroding of green cover combine to adversely impact the climate. It results in fewer rainy days but the intensity of the rainfall increases on any given rainy day, and this in turn causes floods.

According to Mr K. Krishna Kumar of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, “Some changes are taking place in the character of the monsoon. There is substantial decline in monsoon depressions and increase in low pressure systems. All Indian Mean temperatures show an increasing trend of 0.51 degrees Centigrade per 100 years with an accelerated warming of 0.21 degrees Centigrade per 10 years after 1970.” Mr Kumar says the intensity of storms will be higher by 10 per cent.

In 2000, Hyderabad witnessed 350 mm rainfall in a day when the yearly average is 700mm. Professor B. V.
Subba Rao of the Centre for Resource Education says, “The rainfall that needs to be distributed throughout the year, comes in a day, flooding the city. The lakes have no capacity to hold this water and it results in flooding of colonies leading to loss of lives and property.”

He says there is no proper research and documentation done on the extreme weather patterns and impacts at the local level. Hyderabad is not prepared for even 10mm rainfall and the disaster preparedness and mitigation is sub-standard.

He suggests that instead of planning to increase the capacity of Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs, the government should increase the capacity of the lakes in catchment area and strengthen the bunds.

Source : Deccan Chronicle 23 Oct 2009

BYE, BYE SCHOOL? Schools Still In Badly Damaged State, Say NGOs

The recent floods may trigger huge school dropouts particularly among poorer sections as 484 schools have suffered severe damage affecting 82,000 students in Kurnool, Mahbubnagar and Krishna districts. The students have lost books, uniforms, records, certificates and everything connected to their studies, according to a survey conducted by NGOs. “Books are dearer to the children. Poor families cannot afford to buy new set of books and this could lead to students dropping out from schools particularly the girl child,” said R Venkata Reddy, national coordinator of the Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation (MVF) set up by Ramon Magsaysay awardee professor Shanta Sinha. Reddy, who led teams that surveyed the condition of schools and health of the students in the affected districts said, many of the schools were not ready to occupy even though they are scheduled to reopen on Monday.

“We observed the psychology of children and the parents in 21 schools in Kurnool district. Students and their parents feel that they are in no position to take additional burden of buying new set of books and uniforms as they are already undergoing trauma having lost everything they had.”

As of now, it appears that helping the schools and children is a non-priority issue for government too. “The distribution of a school-kit containing everything needed for a student alone can reassure the children and enable them to go back to school,” Reddy felt. But the district officials say text books are not available for distribution, even though they are hopeful of getting note books from donors. Students in Kurnool district are a confused lot. N R Chaitra, a final year B Sc student from St Joseph College lost all certificates including her records.

She was not sure of going to college immediately after the reopening as she cannot enter class with empty hands. Like Chaitra, many children are unlikely to turn up at schools next Monday. Parents are worried about the safety of the old buildings of government schools.

Some schools like Prakasam memorial school in Kurnool have not been opened even for cleaning. It will take another 10 days to make these buildings fit to run schools, said Reddy. All the 21 schools which MVF visited are not in good shape.

According to B Ramalingam, district educational officer (DEO), cleaning of schools was in full swing. “We have asked the teachers to spend money from their pockets. Later the government will reimburse the amount,” the DEO said. As for the issuing of duplicate SSC certificates, the DEO said they are planning to set up counters in every mandal to receive the complaints. After receiving the complaints, steps will be taken to issue duplicate certificates, said the DEO.

Source : Times News Network, The Times of India, Hyderabad 21 Oct 2009

Recent floods in the state have not only resulted in destruction of life and property, they have also hit the Gadwal sari industry hard. – Saswati Mukherjee

Hyderabad, Oct. 19: The severe flooding in the state which has destroyed homes, crops, livelihoods and businesses has claimed an unusual victim: the famous Gadwal sari.

The usual annual turnover of the Gadwal sari industry is Rs 2 crore, but this year there may be a drop of at least 40 per cent in production.

The floods have washed away four of the 18 villages in Gadwal from where most of the weavers hail.

Also, with people spending less and toning down the celebrations this year, the saris are likely to find fewer takers.

The Gadwal sari industry does brisk business throughout the year. But it really picks up during the festive season.

This time, though, dealers who get a supply of close to 25 lakh sari units from different weavers are expecting a 40 per cent dip in production and are expecting no more than 10 per cent profit.

“Usually, sales go up during the festive season and see a decline off season, but the average sales remain constant,” says Mr T. Vijayulu, president of the Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society, Gadwal.

There are about 25 sari dealers in the area named Krishna Reddy Bungalow in Gadwal.

Some 60 per cent of those engaged in weaving the famous sari are women.

The weavers supply the saris to dealers or sahukars who deal directly with the customers and make the most profit.

“The labour charges have remained constant for the last so many years now. They must be revised at the earliest or else eating two square meals a day will soon be a challenge for us,” says Mr G. Srinivasulu, a weaver.

Dealers say the rates have been fixed after taking all factors into consideration. The weaver earns Rs 500-600 for every cotton sari, Rs 1,200 for a cotton-silk mix and Rs 1,500-1,800 for a silk sari.

The raw material is provided to the weavers by the dealers, but the weaver does everything else from dying it in the given colour to hand weaving the sari according to a computer generated design.

All this is covered under the above mentioned labour charge.

Some innovation is accepted. “We get to choose the colours of the sari if no particular preference is given to us. Based on different permutations and combinations, we come up with our own range of saris,” says Mr S. Sathyanarayan, a weaver who has 10 mouths to feed at home from his meagre income.

A weaver family has a maximum of six looms at home, and most of the work is done by family members. Each loom is manned by two people and usually husband and wife work together on a loom.

The average output is five saris in two months.

“Today this profession is looked down upon. Added to that is the fact that the income generated is not too great.” – A. Daulapa weaver

“Today this profession is looked down upon. Added to that is the fact that the income generated is not too great,” says Mr A. Daulappa, a weaver in his late 40s who has two sons and a daughter. One son has finished school and assists his father in weaving saris, but he has definite plans to quit once he finds a good job.

“I will continue to stay here with my parents but cannot take up weaving as a profession,” says young Krishnaiah, Mr Daulappa’s son. Today, there are easier work opportunities: driving an autorickshaw, being a waiter at a hotel, tailoring, being a watchman or going into real estate. These have caught the fancy of the youth, who prefer them to the huge physical strain involved in hand-weaving.

Also the great traditional skill is not given the respect it deserves. Local people say that no family wants to give their daugh ter in marriage to a weaver.

“Even a farmer enjoys more respect than we do in society,” says Mr Sathya narayan, a weaver.

source : Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad 20 Oct 2009

Displaced by floods, rajoli villagers fight for survival
90 % of 500-odd houses in Rajoli had collapsed,
Rajoli suffered a huge loss on account of damage to weavers’ units
Rahul
RAJOLI (Mahabubnagar dt.): Hundreds of poor families are literally on the road in this tiny village as they have pitched tents made of sarees after their houses collapsed following the floods ten days ago.

A bumpy drive to Rajoli from Shantinagar on a gravel topped road over 10 kms also saw a number of homeless

The aftermath: Villagers of Rajoli in Mahabubnagar district scrambling for relief material. – Photo P.V. SIVAKUMAR

 families moving out from the former with their belongings in bullock carts and packed auto-rickshaws and tractors. A large number of others were sitting by the roadside helplessly while children greeted every passing vehicle with outstretched hands, seeking alms.

People both at the camp where the tents have come up and elsewhere on the road are being provided food and water by voluntary agencies but they are directly exposed to sun as the sarees which they have stuck out to sticks to take cover hardly offer them any relief. The camp mostly comprises Scheduled Caste people from Rajoli and Thummanapalle villages which were submerged by the water of Tungabhadra river, less than half-a-kilometre away.
The water entered the villages after ripping open the earthen bund of Sunkesula barrage for nearly a kilometre.

There is chaos in Rajoli whenever vehicles drive into the village to drop food, clothes and water packets. There is a mad rush of people who try to snatch the packets from the hands of delivery boys. The crew of a mini-bus despatched by an organisation had a tough time in preventing the crowd from entering the vehicle on Monday. The problems of those who drove in an open-topped van with the food material shortly afterwards was worse.

The debris of houses that collapsed stare visitors to Rajoli where destruction to property is the highest in the district. Every other house was found falling here. The District Superintending Engineer of Housing Suresh told The Hindu that ninety per cent of the 500-odd houses in the village had collapsed. Only pucca houses stood up to the flooding while all the houses with mud and mortar were razed to ground. The village which is popular for handloom weaving also suffered a huge loss on account of damage to weavers’ units.

A stream ahead of the village is the source of water for people living in pucca houses to wash their clothes and utensils.
Source : The Hindu, 14 Oct 2009

Village is renowned for its handloom products
S.Venugopal
RAJOLI (Mahabubnagar district): The unprecedented flood has taken the sheen out of this village located on the banks of Tungabhadra river.

A rich village with about 40,000 population, Rajoli is acclaimed for its handloom products which are in good demand. The flood that ravaged the village on October 1 has, however, shattered the lives of the weavers who lost their looms as well as houses.

In ruins: A completely damaged weaving workshop at Rajoli village in Mahabubnagar district due to the recent floods

Only 10 per cent of the 4,000 odd dwellings withstood the destruction unleashed by Tungabhadra, which was on spate. With the houses and looms that brought them repute within the country and abroad shattered by the river’s fury, the village now appears a dumpyard of dead bodies of cattle, pigs and dogs with slush left by the receding water still continuing to obstruct free walk of the streets.

Thukaram, one of the three MPTC members from the village and a proud owner of 70 looms, lost all his equipment as well as stock worth Rs. 70 lakh. And, the story of dozens of others is no different. “With all the property and belongings lost, there is no scope for us to survive,” said Rumala Rukmini, a handloom weaver who lost her eight looms and house.

Even as the reality is yet to dawn on many, residents are leaving to take shelter in their relatives’ houses in other towns and villages.

“We have lost our house as well as property. How can we live here in such circumstances?” lamented Netha Venkatesh (40).

Vaddepally ZPTC member Srinivasulu wanted the authorities concerned to keep the disaster in view and ensure that the entire village was relocated to a higher altitude where the residents were not affected in the event of such calamities.
source: The Hindu, 7 Oct 2009

Preeti Singh / CNN-IBN

Mehboobnagar: The weavers of Rajouli village in Mehboobnagar, known for the beautiful Gadwal saris, have been hit hard by the floods in Andhra Pradesh.

The saris, raw material and the looms all have been washed away in the floods and they have been left with no belongings. For 40 years, Manikyam’s life revolved around his loom. Each Gadwal sari he wove sold for Rs 7,000. But at the age of 65, he is on the streets with his loom broken and his priceless saris ruined by flood waters. He says he is too old to start afresh. “I have been working for 40 years. But at this age where do I go and start all over again,” says Manikyam.

Another weaver Kapsiamma’s house was one of the few to withstand the deluge but her two looms have been destroyed. She took a loan to buy books and clothes for her two school going children. But now she is left with just the clothes on her back. She is leaving the village as everyone has already gone but she does not know where to find refuge. “There is nothing left at home. Everything destroyed. All our food is washed away. There is nothing to eat,” she says. Rajoli sourced raw material from all parts of Andhra Pradesh. But all the threads and zari borders now unusable. With looms destroyed and nowhere to stay the weavers are moving to the neighbouring town. But that means setting up mills again, for which there is no money.

Popularly known as the weavers’ town the irony is that now the villagers of Rajoli have no clothes or food left to fend for themselves. In fact with hundreds of looms being washed away in flood waters, old weavers like Manikyam have to come out on the streets with whatever is left of their belongings and are praying that the state government come to their rescue to help them keep their tradition of weaving alive.

Source :  CNN – IBN, 6 Oct 2009

Uma Sudhir

After a severe drought, what led to the massive scale of floods in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh? Blame it on the rain, you could say. Irrigation officials say these are possibly the worst floods in this area in 10,000 years. But what caused this disaster? Could it have been better managed?

Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, Krishna and Guntur are the worst affected districts. Overall, at least 18 lakh people in nearly 400 villages of Andhra Pradesh have been affected by the floods. 180 villages in Kurnool, 89 in Mahbubnagar, 100 in Guntur and 22 in Nalgonda are in bad shape due to the flood waters.

Five hundred fifty five army men, 6 choppers, 1000 swimmers and 254 boats are involved in the relief work.

Unprecedented rains in North Karnataka on Thursday flooded several districts, cutting off areas like Bijapur, Bagalkot and Bellary. Karwar for instance got 50 cm of rain in a single day, locals called it the heaviest downpour in 50 years.

The waters inundated the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers and the Karnataka government released upto 8 lakh cusecs of water from the Almatti and Narayanpur dams, in a single day.

From the last week of September, Andhra Pradesh was experiencing heavy rains, some areas got over 30 cm in a single day. This brought heavy inflows into major projects in Krishna Basin like Jurala, Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar, Prakasam Barrage and Sunkesula.

Early on Friday, reports started coming in of water levels rising dangerously in the border town of Mantralayam in Andhra Pradesh.

By evening, the water level had crossed the danger mark in Srisailam dam… in a single day on Friday, the reservoir had received over 25 lakh cusecs of water in 12 hours, whereas it is designed to get no more than 13.6 lakh cusecs.

On Saturday, the maximum water limit was crossed in Srisailam, Jurala and Sunkesula projects causing inundation in many villages in the backwaters. Kurnool town and several villages in Kurnool, Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts were flooded.

From the Srisailam dam, the waters were flowing into Nagarjunasagar dam… and on Sunday morning, 10.85 lakh cusecs were released to keep the masonry dam safe.

The waters that reached Prakasam Barrage in the coastal Krishna district on Monday have submerged hundreds of villages. Prakasam Barrage has never received such huge amounts of water in the last 100 years.

Critics point out that the Andhra Pradesh government could have better anticipated and prepared for systematic release of waters from the Sukeshu, Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams before matters got really out of hand.

The Andhra Pradesh government however points out that it is the first time in history that the scale of floods has been so massive.

“This is known as PMF or possible maximum flood, which happens once in 10,000 years,” said Geetha Reddy, AP Information Minister.

The Met department has said there is likely to be a letup in rains and Karnataka has said they will release minimum waters. So, the waters in the major dams may be safely regulated.

Source : NDTV.com 5 Oct 2009, Hyderabad

a tribe with diwali diya by M.Subhash Chandra for CARPED

May your home

glow with peace and prosperity

always

Happy diwali

Spare a thought for those who are affected by the noise & smoke in the air

If you are planning to burst crackers on Diwali, spare a thought for animals and birds who can be affected by the noise. The sensitive hearing ability of the animals turns to their disadvantage during the festival of lights. Dogs can hear the faintest of sounds in the frequency range of 45 hz to 67 khz, which is unbearable to the human ear.

According to veterinary doctors and NGOs working for animal rights, during the festival of lights, altered behaviour, irritability and changed eating patterns are common features among animals, both pet and stray.  “Birds can have heart-attacks due to the loud noise in the nights,” says Mr Gautam Gambhir of the NGO, Animal Saviour.

“Our advice to pet owners is to be near their pets, comfort and reassure them. They can also lock the pet in a secure room and if possible a family member can be with it so that they do not turn aggressive,” suggests Ms Geeta Sehsamani from Friendicos, an NGO for stray animals.   Mr Gambhir adds, that TV or music can be played loudly so that pets remain distracted.

“For birds, it is best to feed them early and cover their cages with a dark cloth by afternoon so that they fall asleep before the crackers start bursting in the evening. It is better to keep them in some silent place,” he adds. Both Ms Seshmani and Mr Gambhir feel that sedating the animal is not a good idea as it might become hyper.

“On Diwali, pets should always be fed early before they become anxious. However, it’s not just noise that affects the animals,” they said. The smoke in the air due to crackers also takes a toll on the animals as it can choke their respiratory tracts, and cause skin rash and cause eye allergies.

We should feel very blessed and do what we can for others that aren’t as blessed as we are.
With all that goes on in this world, we all forget how fortunate we are in this two worlds in every country.
 
Have a close look at both the photographs & read the messages below them.   its our moral duty to be concerned…towards humanity; take care…

Kevin Carter's "Pulitzer Prize" winning photo taken in 1994 during Sudan famine

Kevin Carter

The picture depicts a famine stricken child crawling towards an United Nations food camp, located a kilometer away.

The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat it. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken.

Three months later, he committed suicide due to depression.

This was found in his diary.

Dear God, I promise I will never waste my food no matter how bad it can taste and how full I may be. I pray that He will protect this little boy, guide and deliver him away from his misery. I pray that we will be more sensitive towards the world around us and not be blinded by our own selfish nature and interests.
I hope this picture will always serve as a reminder to us that how fortunate we are and that we must never ever take things for granted.

in contrast to this, there is another world, where more die of too much food than of too little, how good it will be, if they also think of empty stomachs.

friends, on this good day.. Let’s make a prayer for the suffering in anywhere any place around the globe and send this friendly reminder to others Think & look at this…when you complain about your food and the food we wasted daily.

(ఆన్‌లైన్‌, నంగునూరు) పాత చీరలతో బొంతలు కుడుతూ బతుకు వెళ్లదీస్తున్న ఆ బాలిక ఉన్నత చదువులకు పేదరికం శాపంగా మారింది. ఇన్నాళ్లూ కష్టాలను, కన్నీళ్లను దిగమింగుతు పేదరికంతొ పోరాటం చేస్తూ చదువును వదలకుండా కృషి చేసింది. ఓ వైపు బొంతలు కుడుతేనే పూట గడిచే కుటుంబం వారిది. దర్జీ పను ద్వారా వచ్చిన డబ్బులతోనే ఆ కుటుంబాన్ని సాకుతోంది. వృద్ధ్యాప్యంలో ఉన్న తల్లిదండ్రులను ఆ బాలికే పోషిస్తుండగా, ఆమె అన్న కుటుంబ పోషణ కోసం వలసవెళ్లాడు. సమస్యలతో సహజీవనం చేస్తూ కవిత చదువునూ వ దలలేదు. ఎన్ని అడ్డంకులు ఎదురైనా వాటిని అధిగమిస్తూ పదవ తరగతిలో ఉత్తమ మార్కులు సంపాదించింది. నంగునూరు మండలం బద్దిపడగ గ్రామానికి చెందిన నిరుపేదఅయిన కవిత ట్రిపుల్‌ ఐటీకి ఎంపికైంది.

ఇపుడు ఆ చదువులు చదవాలంటే ఆ కోర్సు పూర్తయేసరికి రూ.50 వేల పై చిలుకు కావాల్సి ఉంది. ఇటు కుటుంబ భారం మోయలేక, అటు ఉన్నత చదువులకు డబ్బులు లేక ఆ చదువుల తల్లి కన్నీళ్లు కారుస్తోంది. మానవతా వాదులు, దాతలు ముందుకువస్తే వారి అండతో ఉన్నత చదువులు చదువుతానంటోంది. వివరాల్లోకి వెళ్తే… బద్దిపడగకు చెందిన గూడూరు నర్సవ్వ రాంచెంద్రంల మూడవ కూతురు కవిత. తల్లిదండ్రులు వృద్ధులు కావడం, ఉన్న సోదరుడు పనికోసం వలస వెళ్లడం, ఇద్దరక్కల వివాహాలు కావడంతో కుటుంబ పోషణ ఆమె మీదే పడింది. తల్లి నర్సవ్వ గ్రామాలు తిరుగుతూ పాతచీరెలు తీసుకువస్తే వాటిని బొంతలుగా కుడుతూ వాటితో వచ్చే చాలి చాలని డబ్బుతో కుటుంబాన్ని సాకుతోంది. కొన్నాళ్లు కుటుంబ భారంతో మ««ధ్యలో బడి మానేసింది.

దీంతో కవిత చదువులో ముందుండటంవల్ల ఆమె పరిస్థితిని తెలుసుకొని పాఠశాల ప్రధానోపాధ్యాయుడు వల్లపురెడ్డి గురువారెడ్డి విద్యార్థి కవితకు చదువులో ప్రోత్సాహం అందించాడు. దీంతో ఉపాధ్యాయుల ప్రోత్సాహంతో సమస్యలు ఎదురైనా చదువును కొనసాగించి ఇటీవల జరిగిన పదవ తరగతి పరీక్షలో 494 మార్కులు సాధించి ట్రిపుల్‌ ఐటీకి ఎంపికైంది. ఈ కోర్సు పూర్తి కావాలంటే రెండు సంవత్సరాలకు రూ.6 వేల చొప్పున 12 వేల రూపాయలు, నాలుగు సంవత్సరాలకు రూ.40 వేలు చెల్లిస్తేనే ట్రిపుల్‌ ఐటీ పూర్తవుతుంది. కాగా పనిచేయనిదే పూట గడవని కవిత పరిస్థితి దయనీయంగా మారింది. ఉన్నత చదువులు చదువాలంటే సరస్వతీ కటాక్షంతో పాటు ముఖ్యంగా లక్ష్మి కటాక్షం ఉండాలి. కానీ కడు నిరుపేదఅయిన కవిత ఉన్నత చదువులకు దయనీయులు, మానవతా వాదులు స్పందిస్తే ఉన్నత చదువులను పూర్తి చేసే పరిస్థితి నెలకొంది.

source : aandhrajyothy, medak edition 2 july 2008