Injury

More trouble for Mamta – hooch tragedy claims more than 150 dead; problems in governance that need to be tackled

Mamta Banerjee came to politics on the crest of a wave for change; this was a wave that totally removed the Left Front from power and brought her to victory with a large margin. With this change, the people of West Bengal put all their faith in the power of Mamta Banerjee to bring a change to their lives, improve them for the better. The policies of the Left Front over the past 3 decades may have made the state a Communist stronghold, but led to a huge downturn for the lives and betterment of people in the state. Economic activity reduced due to rampant trade unionism, and policies of the Government only increased this trend, to the extent that Bengal was nowhere in the list of growing states.
However, it is worth noting that Mamta Banerjee was never reputed to be a great reformer. Such was the adversity under the Left Front and the need for a change that Mamta was able to channelise herself as the only worthwhile opponent of the Communists, and hence got a lot of support from the electorate. She was actually the one who drove away the Tatas from the state, which was a major indicator of the problems in the state (also showing that efforts by the last Communist chief minister to reform the state and increase economic activity were doomed to fail).
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The bomb blast in Delhi, and the rage in people about it ..

Slowly it seems that people in India are becoming insensitive to the problems posed by terrorism. This is a rather unfortunate statement to make, given the shock repeatedly administered to various cities through terrorist activities. As a manifestation of this, consider the recent bomb blasts in Mumbai, followed by the one in Delhi. All of these killed people and injured many others, but if you look within yourself, you would not really feel affected by it. If you are of the more concerned type, then you would be angry at what has happened, but you would forget about what has happened within a couple of days, and only get worried when the next one happens. Consider what has happened to some of the previous blasts.
Most of them do not have any sort of progress in terms of investigation, or finding the culprit, or finding the local support that are required to execute such blasts; yet it does not show up in media columns, or in TV debates, or in the concerns that people exhibit in various forum.
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Another Bhopal Tragedy – Oil spill off the Bombay coast

August 7 morning saw the biggest ever oil spill in India as MCS Chitra collided with MV Khalijia 10 km off the Mumbai coast with the former tilting precariously and leaking oil into the sea. An estimated 500 tonnes of oil spilled into the sea and about 250 containers, some carrying hazardous chemicals and pesticides got hurled overboard. This accident is having a ripple effect; not only affecting the flora and fauna in and around the coast but also causing losses to local fisherman with a ban being imposed on fishes. Even the export market is taking a toll as an estimated 24,000 ships are stranded due to the oil spill.
Several aquatic species and sea birds have been found dead along the Mumbai coast, as a result of the oil spill off Mumbai. The formation of thick layer of poisonous oil in the seawaters has inflicted a distressing blow to the biological equilibrium by rendering fishes, turtles and other species immobile due to the caused high viscosity. Many sea birds whose diet comprises aquatic species have consumed oil which has adversely affected their digestive tracts. Mangroves along the coast have also been damaged and it is asserted that only few of them will be able to regenerate. “Cleaning up process in on but it would take around 45 days”, said the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
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