AFVOA Newletters of Year 2005

Page 63 of 75 ARMED FORCES VETERAN OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION CHENNAI (Established 1994) (Registered Under Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. 1975) Registration Certificate No. 3/2004 Patron Lt Gen C Sundara Rao, PVSM Tele: 24461085 President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Maj Gen C Govindaswamy Tele:22345106 Maj Gen R Karthikeyan Tele:22491704 Brig SP Balachandran Tele:52184916 Brig NB Subramanian Tele:24903934 No 5 of 2005 Newsletter #05/2005 07 Oct 2005 (For circulation amongst members only) “As long as millions live in ignorance and hunger, I hold every man a traitor who having been educated at their expense pays not the least heed to them.” ~ Swami Vivekanand From the President’s Desk Dear Veterans, 1. Time moves on; After the hot parched days of summer we keenly await the monsoons. The weather office predicts a normal rainfall (it is the safest forecast!!) . The soothsayers talk of a bountiful rainfall this season. Others warn of global warming causing changes in weather patterns which could lead to a deluge of the “Katrina” or the “Rita” variety. The Chennaite hopes that while the city would be spared of disasters, there should be enough water to feed its populace. The term “Roti, Kapda, aur Makan” should add “Pani” as the fourth requisite since it would be more appropriate now. Perhaps when the former phrase was coined, water was taken for granted as an item of free use. 2. Who are the real villains for this state of affairs? It is the fashion to blame Mother Nature. But there are other stronger reasons, most of which stem from the unbridled exploitation of all the water resources by various agencies, notably by those haloed heroes of the Green revolution, ably assisted by the fragmentation of land holdings and mega projects which sucked the water from the bowels of this land. MNCs especially the bottling plants of popular beverages have joined the fray in the past few years taking out our water free of charge and selling it back to us at exorbitant prices. 3. For producing one kg of sugar and one kg of high yielding variety of rice we use up 1600 litres and 5000 to 6000 litres of water respectively. We kept on increasing the acerage under cane cultivation hoping to export sugar. The smart nations did import our sugar at throw- away prices conserving their water and using ours. Added to this were huge projects like