Ambimama - India

I read daily many things on Paper and the Net. Now a days I feel News readily available to all and not worthy of reporting. I have the liberty to post anything – not the News. But the News has sometimes interesting things to write about. Reading books and getting lost into it also makes my writing come to a total halt. I cannot write about the topics I read as it will be interesting to read and I cannot write about the book or the topics the book has it.

But I must write to my readers and I will do it.

UK has suffered as spectacular satellite image showed the entire British mainland covered in snow and ice during January and February. Scotland, has spent much of the last two months under a blanket of snow, is suffering its coldest winter since records began, according to the Met Office. The news is likely to be jumped upon by those who question the science behind the scientific ‘consensus’ that global warming is a reality.

The average temperatures in January and December were the coldest in Scotland since 1914 - the year that data was first logged.

The Met Office revealed that Northern Ireland experienced its coldest December and January since the early 1960s and it has not been colder in England and Wales since the winter of 1981/2. Scotland has borne the brunt of the freezing weather since the cold snap began in mid-December. The average minimum overnight temperature north of the border in January is zero - but last month it regularly dipped below -5C.

The Highland village of Altnaharra experienced the coldest temperature of the period, when the mercury dropped to -22.3C in January. The same village endured the UK’s record low in December 1995, when the temperature fell to -27.3C. The news is likely to be jumped on by those who disagree with the theory of global warming. The science of climate change has come under fire since the Copenhagen summit after the ‘Climategate’ scandal broke and scientists at the University of East Anglia were accused of manipulating data on global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has also had to apologise for claims that the Himalayan glaciers could disappear within 25 years.

However, most scientists still maintain that climate change is happening and that mankind is to blame.

Taking serious note of absenteeism among dental college professors, the Dental Council of India has decided to introduce biometric attendance system for the teachers by the end of February. This could well be a trendsetter for medical colleges which also face the problem of teachers not spending enough time in colleges.

We found that some professors are making flying visits to their college; some are on the rolls of four colleges. Some are so busy with private practice that they don’t even visit the college. With a number of dental colleges mushrooming, it has become necessary for us to monitor the quality of education, said DCI president Dr Anil Kohli. The council received complaints that due to staff shortage, dental colleges were making compromises on the mandatory conditions, including number of staff and teaching hours.

The database from the biometric system will help the authorities verify attendance apart from documentary proof. So far, the council had not taken action against erring doctors for want of proof. These machines will provide documentary evidence. They will be installed by us and maintained by the college, he said. At the diamond jubilee celebrations of the council inaugurated on Saturday by deputy chief minister M K Stalin, Kohli said the council along with the planning commission, WHO and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will undertake a study to assess the dental healthcare situation in the country, including statistics on number of private and government colleges, clinics, doctors and students. We will have the results by December 2010. We will make policy decisions based on it, he said. The commission will make it mandatory for dentists to attend at least 20 hours of continuous dental education programme.

Stalin said the state was making arrangements to ensure oral hygiene in rural areas by allotting funds to set up dental wards in taluk hospitals and primary health centres. At least 80% of kids and 60% of adults have some dental issues . Besides these, at least 30% of cancers are oral cancers.

Most dental students studying in self-financing colleges pay huge sums of money as tuition fees and cannot be forced to work in rural areas, said DCI president Dr Anil Kohli. They pay in lakhs and we cannot force them to work in rural areas where they may not be able to earn that kind of money. Rural health care, should be the responsibility of the government, he said. With only one government dental college in the state, there are just 100 dentists produced annually, compared to 1,250 who pass out of the private colleges. We have decided there would be no more self-financing colleges, he said.

World Comics India (WCI), a non-profit organization founded by political cartoonist Sharad Sharma nearly a decade ago, has conducted close to 400 comic workshops across India.
Today, WCI is represented by a motley group of people from urban as well as remote corners of the country, who are part of a movement to bring about change at the grassroots. All of them focus on issues that concern their daily lives. Says Sharma, We have mainly worked with small and medium NGOs in remote and conflict areas. We believe this tool can help people living there raise their voices and open a debate in society.

It doesnt take much to make these comics. As Sharma says, its not necessary to know drawing, just a willingness to do so and tell stories. Drawn on photostat paper and in black and white, its the message that ultimately matters. Many NGOs take the help of comic activists to spread awareness about AIDS, infanticide, pollution, etc. Some of the strips have been syndicated and used in local and regional newspapers . One single strip produced by a sarpanch in Rajasthan on water scarcity appeared in 50 newspapers in three states, says Sharma who would now like to make this service available in other states too.

A village in North India where uranium mines are found a change has taken place. Harmful uranium dust from the mines is no longer dumped into the fields. The villagers were not even aware how radiation from this dust was harming their lives. Thanks to Surendra Mohan Murmu who started an aggressive awareness campaign through wall poster comics, they were able to put an end to this dangerous practice.

Through development comics, activists talk about local issues and how to tackle them. Most are trained in the art of comic making. Ofcourse, these comics are nothing like conventional Archie or Tintin comics.

Tawna , a young activist from Mizoram, talks about deforestation and how its killing the fauna and flora of the area, thereby affecting their lives. He tells them about the importance of voting. Murmu too is quite active and his most recent campaign has been against Bt Brinjal in Orissa. For the activists, cartoons are a great medium to voice their concerns without resorting to protests and dharnas . Rajeshwari Saha, a trainer with WCI, wanted to be heard. She did it through comics. A native of Kolkata, Saha expressed her concern about the phasing out of trams in her comics. Another time, she questioned whether all the development centered around the Commonwealth Games would benefit anybody.

Also, he wants the comics to go mainstream. A comics anthology Whose Development is the first in a series that he is launching soon. It is a collection of work by 15 activists from across the country, each talking about an issue close to his heart. Sharma, who prefers to call himself a comic journalist, says, Comics anthologies are very popular in Europe and the US but we don’t have a parallel here. I hope this anthology will engage those who are interested in telling stories through drawings.

England coach will not allow social networking sites or newpsper columns for his players. England’s Fabio Capello will not allow England fans with glimpses into life at the World Cup, official or otherwise, this summer. The squad will not be allowed to use Twitter or Facebook or write magazine or newspaper columns during the tournament.

Australian cricketer Philip Hughes also gaffed during the Ashes when he tweeted that he had been dropped, before Australia had announced their team.

The England manager wants his players attentions devoted solely to the matter of winning in South Africa and is reportedly thrashing out strict instructions for how he expects the squad to behave. The Irish Independent reports that the rules will include a ban on all social networking sites. Capello does not want team selection news or tactical information to be unwittingly leaked through Tweets or Facebook updates.
The move could have the unintended effect of media attention on the players’ wives and girfriends during the tournament. The likes of Victoria Beckham and Cheryl Cole are already adept at stealing the headlines. And their exploits in the beauty parlours and shopping malls of South Africa are likely to be as closely observed as their other halves’ performances on the pitch.

Capello’s mistrust of sites like Twitter is not isolated. Last week it emerged that Manchester City and Manchester United had both banned their players from using social networking sites in order to avoid controversy, leaks and the chances of being caught out by hoaxes.