Who is scrapping what?

Does anyone have any idea?

Rajender Prasad, who was exposed to Cobalt 60 at a scrap dealer shop in Mayapuri in west Delhi and admitted to AIIMS on April 8, died around 9.30 pm on Monday after multiple organ failure.

According to doctors, another radiation victim Ram Kalap is critical and his blood counts have reduced significantly. He has been put on prophylactic antibiotic and anti-fungal agents

It is shocking to read such news and even more shocking to note that we may never know what has been scrapped so far. The exposed person can also contract cancer and I wonder if this one reason why the incidence of cancer is increasing over the years.

Main uses for Cobalt 60:
• As a tracer for cobalt in chemical reactions,
• Sterilization of medical equipment,
• Radiation source for medical radiotherapy,
• Radiation source for industrial radiography,
• Radioactive source for leveling devices and thickness gauges,
• As a radioactive source for food irradiation and blood irradiation, and
• As a radioactive source for laboratory use.

While US has Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) which regulates the use of Cobalt-60 and other such hazardous elements, I searched for similar such agencies in India and couldn’t find any.

Or is one happy regulating only nuclear plants?

What can I do to protect myself and my family from cobalt-60?


You are unlikely to encounter cobalt-60 unless you undergo certain medical treatments. Thorough discussions with your doctor about the amount of exposure and potential alternatives allow you to make informed decisions about the relative risks.


Although it is very unlikely, you may accidentally encounter a sealed radiation source containing cobalt-60 that has escaped proper control ("orphaned sources").

Is the “very unlikely” situation common in India?

If so, do we have anyone to at least (!) blame?

Source:

Economic Times
Wikipedia
EPA
Atomic Energy Commission

Traffic woes

Kuwait is situated at the western head of the Persian (or Arabian) Gulf. Its area is estimated at about 17,820 sq km (6,880 sq mi). Comparatively, the area occupied by Kuwait is slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey. Kuwait extends 205 km (127 mi) SE – NW and 176 km (109 mi) NE – SW .

Getting around Kuwait as you see is easy since there is not much to go about! Yet the traffic woes are a galore! A trip which in normal traffic takes barely 15 minutes can go to more than an hour during the peak hours. Compared to say Emirates, most roads in Kuwait are beautiful, wider and smoother. Driving on it can be a pleasure for anyone who loves to do so. To make it even more pleasurable, every luxury vehicle has made it’s presence and loans are readily for the Kuwaitees to indulge in their favourite past time. Every Kuwaitee in an house could be driving a vehicle too! Moreover, traffic rules don’t seem to bother majority of the Kuwaitees. Hence, should one blame them if they now want the whole road to themselves :) And as they say, only Kuwait can get away with it too.

Yesterday the local newspapers carried an interesting news.

KUWAIT: Kuwait is mulling limiting the validity of foreigners' driving licenses to two years and making drivers take a driving test every time they apply for a renewal. Under the new regulations, an expatriate's driving license will be renewed alongside the residence permit, valid for two years. However, the license will be renewed only if the foreigner submits evidence of a high salary and a university degree and successfully passes a new driving test, informed sources told Kuwait Times.

Getting a driving license here in Kuwait is not easy since it is common knowledge that the authorities have been appointed only to fail the expatriates. We have heard of “tough” ones trying this system but failing miserably several times. Hence the easy way for most is it to bribe. So, there is truth if one says that most (?) of the licence that was issued was not through “proper’ ways. It is not as though all the applicants are not good drivers, but the system is such. Now one can imagine why the above news is giving nightmares to the expatriates.

Hopefully this rule will not come to pass but if it does then the only hope for the expatriate would be the following:

Source: Kuwait Times

We are waiting gleefully..

Modi has been fired up like a rocket and soon we shall see the sparks.

Lalit Modi has promised to disclose the ownership details of all teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL), as a nasty and escalating row opens with a bang between him and minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor over the Kochi franchise puts the spotlight on confidential contracts and snowballs into a major political controversy. Such a disclosure has the potential to open a can of worms as it has been widely speculated that several political bigwigs and cricket board functionaries are silent investors in IPL franchises.

Of course we have Tharoor and his latest paramour on the sides for the media circus but if all go well then the nation shall get to know the rich owners of the various IPL teams.

We shall finally feast our eyes on not just our rich Ambani / the liquor baron /the bollywood stars, but the khadi wearing, people loving, people serving lot.

Although I may never watch an IPL game, let me offer my thanks to IPL Cochin team.

Yes we shall wait gleefully and would love to know why Sonia is distancing from Tharoor and why the BJP is demanding his resignation.

Source: Economic Times

PG comes to the resue...

With the Maoists on their prowl and when it seems that even the "only saviour of the poor and downtrodden" Arundhati Roy is not able to offer a solution :) , it is time for a break...

When our PM has yet again gone to praise Obama and hopes to get nothing in return, it is time to take a break....

It is when I remembered that I had a good collection of PG Wodehouse to be enjoyed. Just finished "A Damsel in Distress" and I am now enjoying "Love among Chickens". 

PG rocks any day!

My blog is carbon neutral

Just when I was about to delete yet another random email from my inbox, my curiosity got the better of me. The subject line read “Make your blog carbon neutral - 1 Blog, 1 Tree”.

The email was from a German based company called kaufDA. kaufDA is a leading German site for local search and local promotion search. The company enables users to look for the best local sales online, search brochures of local retailers and find stores near them. They claim that this reduces the printed sales brochures that normally flood the letter box or are distributed in other ways. Now, I am not sure how they are taking care of their carbon footprints. Since their site has an Alexa rating of 13,371 they sure must be generating a lot of footprints. Hope they themselves are planting trees!

They do have an impressive website to explain the whole business of blogs and carbon foot prints.

Anyway I wrote to them to find out if they really intend to plant trees or if it was just another sales gimmick to garner more traffic to their site. I did receive a quick and convincing response. KaufDe has teamed up with Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit conservation and education organization based in US. The trees will be planted in Plumas National Forest in Northern California. Arbor Day Foundation’s aim is to reforest Plumas National Forest which was destroyed by recent forest fires. If one is a US citizen and joins Arbor Day Foundation, they give you 10 trees for free! Their website claims that last year members planted 8 million trees.

According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems

While I am sure I don't create much traffic to my blog to add significant amount to the carbon footprint, I would love to have a tree planted in lieu of my blog!

As they say, reduction of carbon emissions by planting trees has the same effect, regardless of where in the world the trees are planted. It involves all of us to give something back to our environment.

And those of you who do generate a lot of carbon can either plant a tree or join this cause for a carbon free blogging!

Headley shall also be "cherished"

One of the major news that we read in the Indian newspapers yesterday was that Headley will be now pleading “guilty” instead of his earlier plea of “not guilty”.

In the American criminal justice system, defendants in federal court can be convicted one of two ways -- by pleading guilty or after a trial.

Those who choose to admit their guilt are often "rewarded" with lesser sentences.

The concept of the plea is one of the major differences between criminal procedure under common law and procedure under the civil law system. Under common law, a plea of guilty by the defendant waives trial of the charged offences and the defendant may be sentenced immediately. This produces a system under American law known as plea bargaining.
A plea bargain is an agreement between a prosecutor and defendant whereby the prosecutor provides incentive for the defendant to plead guilty in order to avoid going to trial. Plea bargains can benefit defendants by guaranteeing particular outcomes. The two most common types of plea bargains are charge and sentence bargaining, where the first type reduces the charge(s), and the latter, the sentence(s). Fact bargaining is a less common type of plea bargain.

As we know now, Headley used this same plea to escape from his earlier offense of smuggling heroine into the US soil. He was not only “awarded” but he got a perfect opportunity to tie up with the elements in Pakistan.

Mr Headley came to the attention of the US security services in 1997 when he was arrested for heroin smuggling in New York. He earned a reduced sentence by working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) by infiltrating Pakistan-linked narcotics gangs.

In fact, there are people who wonder if he was working as a double agent for US. If not, one wonders why Headley has not been given access to Indian authorities even after the Pune blast. During Headley’s “high profile visits” (he rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty of Bollywood) which happened even after the Mumbai blasts, he did visit Pune too. Recently Cochin was at high alert since the “Karachi Project” is still being manned by those who continue to run scot free.

Today the news reads thus...

Also his being proven guilty and convicted in the US courts makes him inaccessible to Indian investigative agencies.

I guess now Headley shall escape capital punishment and will now be “rewarded” with a lighter sentence.

But will his admitting to certain offense aid in getting Kazab punished or shall we have one more deadly criminal to “cherish”.


Source:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06086/677199-85.stm
http://www.answers.com/topic/plea-bargain
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7026599.ece
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3716625