Green Earth Movement
An E-Newsletter for the cause of Environment, Peace, Harmony and Justice
Remember - “you and I can decide the future”
· Miracle Man: Young IAS officerbuilds people's road
· GEM Inspirational Series
· Readers’ Letters
· Sewer water enters Powai Lake through 17 points
· High court for mangroves welfare officer
· In a first, Thane school holds senate polls online
· From July, failure to segregate waste could land you in jail
· WALK THE TALK - Sandeep Deshpande, MNS corporator, Dadar (Ward No 185)· Next month, Mumbaikars will sing to save Powai lake
· Toddlers recall brands, fail to recognise birds: Survey
/· Govt to auction 17 coal blocks falling in forests
· GM cows without horns?
· Now, Gujarat to cover Narmada canals with solar panels!
· Tell centre to scrap Sethu Samudram, TN urges SC· Read this beautiful Information about Japan
· When schools get lessons from politicians
· Harmony personified - 44 couples wed at multi-faith marriage ceremony· Empowering Children through Children’s Parliament
· Eric Correa's Souharda Nagar II becomes home to 31 families
· Do charity for any reason, but do it anyways: Salman
· Rector killing: meeting prays for speedy probe
· Church is not NGO, warns Pope
· Francis’ secret weapon: a sense of humour· Judge not
· GEM PLUS – Appeal for help, vacancies etc
· GEM LAUGH TIME
Thought for the week
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
William Blake
Miracle Man: Young IAS officerbuilds people's road
Apr 22 (Agencies): Where there is a will there is a way, goes the famous adage. This young officer has literally proved it using modern technology. When many scorned or ridiculed him, he did not lose his heart. He pursued his goal with devotion and commitment and the results are there to see. He is a harbinger of change and has brought joy to the people of Tousem, a Manipur sub-division,
considered one of India’s most backward, by giving them what they needed most-- a motorable road that connects them to the outside world. The opening of the 100-km “People’s Road” a couple of months ago has earned him the sobriquet “The Miracle Man”.
The 28-year-old IAS officer Armstrong Pame used Facebook to raise funds for building a 100-km public road. Armstrong Pame, the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Tousem, which lies in Tamenglong, his home district, and the first IAS officer from the Zeme tribe of Nagaland, is the man who was instrumental in single-handedly taking on the ambitious project of building the road without any state government aid. The road connects Tousem with the rest of Manipur, as also with Assam and Nagaland.
The 2009-batch Indian Administrative Service officer was moved by the plight of the people when he saw how they had to trudge for five hours by first crossing a river and then a stretch that can by no stretch of imagination be called a road to reach Tamenglong, just 50 km away. “After writing my IAS exam, I came to Tamenglong in 2007. Since I had seen hardship in my childhood, I decided to visit 31 villages of Manipur on foot to see how the people live,” recalled Pame. Pame, who stays in his corrugated-iron house in Tamenglong nestled in the hills, recounted the incident that led him to launch the 100-km road, which has been christened the “People's Road”. “In 2012, I became the SDM of Tousem.
I travelled to many villages and saw how people were carrying sacks of rice on their backs, walking for hours and patients being taken on makeshift bamboo stretchers due to the non-availability of motorable roads. When I asked villagers what they wanted me to do for them, their only wish was for a road,” he said. According to Pame, he asked the state government for funds to build the road but his proposal was turned down due to paucity of resources. The residents of Tousem volunteered to build the road and saved labour costs. “But I was really moved by the plight of people; so I decided to raise the funds on my own in August 2012 through Facebook,” he added.
“Charity must begin from home; so I put in Rs 5 lakh and my brother, who teaches in Delhi University, donated Rs 1 lakh. Even my mother paid my dad’s one month’s pension of Rs 5,000,” he pointed out. “One night I got a call from a person in the US who wanted to donate 2,500 US dollars for the road. The next day a Sikh gentleman living in New York said he would give 3,000 US Dollars. And after the media reported about this effort, we never looked back,” Pame stressed. In a short span of time, Rs 40 lakh was raised for the road.
“Since Rs 40 lakh was not a huge amount for building a road, I convinced local contractors to give us earth movers and roadrollers for free,” he added. Enthused by the way Pame had been able to put together the resources, the residents of Tousem volunteered to build the road--thus saving labour costs. “Sometimes, I still can't believe that we have done it. It’s a miracle. I don’t know whether I can do it again,” he said. When asked whether he faced opposition from the state government, Pame said: “I was called crazy, but I was determined.” “There is so much to do for the people of Tousem, which lies in sheer neglect. I want to improve their lives in some way because I belong here,” he added.
Pame now plans to extend the road by another 10 km. His selfless work in a short span of time has earned him popularity and people now call him “The Miracle Man.” Zingkeulak, a farmer, said: “our oranges would rot as there were no roads but after the People’s Road, we are able to make some money.” “He is one selfless officer. And I believe I will never come
across an IAS officer like him,” said Iram, a resident of Tousem, which is devoid of even basic amenities of life. “After giving road to people of this region, he is working on several
issues. He is the answer to our prayers,” Iram added.
Asked what was next on his agenda, Pame said: “There are many things to be done. One of them is to extend the road by another 10 km.” “But my mother says stop building roads and build your house first,” he offered with a smile. In his blog, Pame said his parents Heithung Pame and Ningwangle Pame have always been supportive. He was staying at Impa village, 50 km from Tamenglong, since 1989 and it was unconnected with the outside world. It will take two days to reach his village on foot from the main highway. To make matters worse, there is no electricity in the area.
My father has retired as a primary schoolteacher and my mother is a homemaker. He has eight siblings – five sisters and three brothers. “My family has faced overwhelming challenges but we never gave up, “he has said.
GEM INSPIRATIONAL SERIES
VATICAN : Corruption is worse than sin because heart hardens to God, pope says By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service, VATICAN CITY (CNS via CNUA)
Corruption is worse than any sin because it hardens the heart against feeling shame or guilt and hearing God's call for conversion, Pope Francis said. "Situations of sin and the state of corruption are two distinct realities, even if they are intimately linked to one another," he said when he was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The future pope's comments come from a small booklet that was originally published in 2005. Titled "Corruption and Sin: Reflections on the Theme of Corruption," the booklet was based on an article he wrote in 1991 in the wake of a scandal in which local authorities in Argentina tried to whitewash the death of a teenage girl because the murderers' fathers were linked to local politicians and the governor.
In the booklet's introduction, the future pope said he wanted to republish the article because the problem of corruption had become so widespread a decade later that people began to almost expect it as a normal part of life. While many sins can lead to corruption, sinners recognize their own weakness and are aware of the possibility of forgiveness, he said. "From there, the power of God can come in." People who are corrupt, on the other hand, have become blind to the transcendent, replacing God with their own powers and abilities, he said. "A sinner expects forgiveness. The corrupt, on the contrary, don't because they don't feel they have sinned. They have prevailed," he said.
One who is corrupt is "so holed up in the satisfaction of his own self-sufficiency" that his bloated self-esteem refuses to face the reality of his fraudulent and opportunistic behavior, he said. "He has the face of someone trying to say, 'It wasn't me!' or as my grandmother would say, 'The face of a darling little angel," he said.
The ability of the corrupt to disguise their true self should qualify them for an honorary degree in "social cosmetology," he said. They hide their thirst for power by making their ambitions seem frivolous and socially acceptable. With "shameless priggishness," they adhere to "severe rules of a Victorian tint," he wrote. "It's a cult of good manners that cover up bad habits," he said.
The future pope referred to many biblical passages to offer concrete examples. Most notably, the corrupt, like the scribes and the Pharisees who criticized Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, launch "a reign of terror" to discredit, attack or eliminate anyone who tries to criticize, question or contradict them.
"They're afraid of the light because their souls have taken on the attributes of an earthworm: in the shadows and underground." Corruption, however, can never remain hidden forever; evidence of it eventually oozes or bursts forth like all things that are forced to stay closed in or wrapped up too tightly within themselves, he said. But the
corrupt don't notice the stench; "It's like bad breath. Rarely the person with bad breath realizes it. It's others who notice it and they have to point it out for him." But "the amount of built-up resistance is enormous."
Corruption isn't an instance of one singular act but represents a state of being, a culture that an individual or whole society can get caught up in and accustomed to without realizing it. Priests and religious are not immune to corruption, he said; in fact, "Corruptio optimi, pessima" ("The corruption of the best is the worst of all.") The path to corruption for them may begin with a painful situation, which "always demoralizes."
"Experiencing defeat leads the human heart to get used to it," he said. People get used to the status quo and feel they shouldn't be surprised or continue to suffer in the face of further defeat. "The heart doesn't want any problems," and religious men and women might become afraid that God is going to "send us off on a voyage that we can't control." The subtle process of corruption in a religious man or woman produces a spirituality that becomes either mediocre or lukewarm.
A corrupted consecrated life may be used as a vehicle to find satisfaction in "the products offered by the supermarket of religious consumerism," such as satisfaction in professional skills, in the outcome of their projects or in the esteem associated with their position. Others may try to fill the emptiness in their lives with "an intense social life: They love going out, vacationing with 'friends,' huge meals and celebrations," and make sure they get invited to every occasion. Women and men who have become corrupt in their religious life are afflicted with "spiritual worldliness," he said, which is "like paganism in ecclesiastical clothing."
In confession, they ask forgiveness for other sins and never "show the Lord the state of their soul's discouragement. It's a slow, but definitive sclerosis of the heart." However, "God never tires of calling us: 'Be not afraid,'" the future pope said, "Do not fear hope and the hope that does not disappoint." He said the booklet was meant to help people understand the "the danger of personal and social collapse that nests inside corruption," which doesn't happen overnight, but is a long slippery slide that takes a long time to take root. He called for "our constant vigilance because a condition of daily complicity with sin can lead us to corruption." - http://www.catholicnews.com
READERS’ LETTERS
From,
When wetalk or even pontificate about the evil arising from human greed, perhaps you may wish to considerwriting something appropriate aboutthe Zionist's ceaselessGREED for more land by forcefully dispossessing thePalestinians, while clamoring for PEACE.This Greed forland has been an objectivefordecades. In fact, way backfrom the latethirties thedesire for peace, first on the grounds that GOD (centuries earlier, presumably coming down from heaven in the garb of a surveyor - a question on veracity or logicraised by our great Mahatma) had given them the land. And Prof. Martin Buber, seeking moral support from Mahatma,questioned "Mahatma-ji, what's wrong withus getting a piece of free land"?
Thomas A. Pereira
Sewer water enters Powai Lake through 17 points
Yogesh Sadhwani, Mumbai MirrorLocal residents have found that several housing societies have started dumping sewage into Powai lake, which has seen a deterioration in quality of water. After several complaints, the BMC also conducted a detailed survey and found 17 points from where sewage enters the lake. The BMC is yet to narrow down on the culprits. In 1995, the Ministry and Environment and Forest had carried out a detailed survey under the National Lake Conservation Plan to clean Powai Lake. Through the project, all the culverts dumping sewage water into the lake were shut and only storm water drains with floodgates were allowed to lead into the lake to ensure that during monsoons, storm water drains would only bring rainwater into the lake.
The project was completed in a couple of years and / for the next three years there was strict monitoring of the water quality. However, years later, things have gone back to how they were over a decade ago. By BMC’s own admission, the floodgates installed around the lake are opened late in the night to let in sewage water in to the lake. “It is observed that some anti-social elements open the floodgates and let drain water into the lake. This has increased the growth of the water hyacinth, thereby affecting the eco-system of the lake,” states a BMC report.”
The report has been sent out to the BMC’s vigilance department and several other concerned agencies, but in vain. “It is sad that despite being after government agencies to protect the lake, all we get in return are letters and reports confirming what we already know,” said SK Saksena, who has been working on the betterment of the lake for the past two decades.
When Mumbai Mirror contacted Rajeev Jalota, BMC’s additional municipal commissioner, he said the BMC had identified the points where sewage was being let into the storm water drains. “We have identified 17 points where sewage has leaked into the storm water drains and then flows into the lake,” he said. The BMC will soon begin work to redirect the sewage into sewage lines and plug the leaks which threatens the lake’s survival. Jalota added that action would be taken against those who have polluted the lakes.
High court for mangroves welfare officer