You ate my food

Who the FxxK is George W Bush ? ( Sorry for my unparliamentary language ) but that was the question I asked as I read this news about the this idiot saying that the current food shortage in the world is because of Indians over eating. We all know American politicians are a bunch of arrogant jokers when it comes to foreign policy matters. But now it seems that they have crossed the limit. They are now intefering in our private personal lives and taking objections on what we eat and drink.

Points to ponder :

per capita food consumption - As per World Health Organisation ,Economic development is normally accompanied by improvements in a country’s food supply and the gradual elimination of dietary deficiencies, thus improving the overall nutritional status of the country’s population. This will mean that the total food consumption by the Indian population will increase and we need to ensure that the demand is met by adequeate supplies either from domestic or by imports. But calling this change as Indians are eating our food is abusrd.

Even absurd is the claim because some of us are eating and filling up US company's coffers ( Macdonald , Pizza Hut , Pepsi et al)

Food wastage - USA leads the wastage of of food in the world ,a study, from the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson, indicates that a shocking forty to fifty per cent of all food ready for harvest never gets  eaten.  

A quick read on the following remarks clearly show US has no right to preach.

" Official surveys indicate that every year more than 350 billion pounds (160 billion kg) of edible food is available for human consumption in the United States. Of that total, nearly 100 billion pounds (45 billion kg) -- including fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, and grain products -- are lost to waste by retailers, restaurants, and consumers.

By contrast, the amount of food required to meet the needs of the hungry is only four billion pounds, according to Food Not Bombs, an advocacy group, which estimates that every year more than 30 million people in the United States are going hungry on regular basis.

''The American government has billions of dollars in surplus money, which could go towards poverty elimination nationally or globally,'' Samana Siddiqui of the Sound Vision Foundation, a Chicago-based non-profit group, told Tierramérica.

But Joyce Glenn, a novelist who lives next to the grocery store, where Catherine looks for food in the trash bags, has a different take on the wastage of food and over-consumption in her country.

''Americans consume as much as they are able in order to lull themselves into a sense of complacency as long as the need for food, as well as even luxurious food, gives them a sense of well being,'' says Glenn, who is in her 60s, and often invites homeless people she sees in the street into her home.

Noting that food production in the United States and the world has increased more than the population, food rights groups say they believe more people are likely to suffer from lack of food as long the agri-business firms continue to be driven primarily by profits. "

Using Food grain to fill up US Cars - George W Bush is known to be a Ethanol person ( He loves being called that way ) High subsidies for bio-fuel production in the US have resulted in the diversion of foodgrain-producing land to bio-fuel production. In 2007-08, an estimated 30% of maize/corn produced in the US was used for ethanol production. At the WTO, developing countries have been pressuring the US and European Union to bring down its trade barriers.

Again an FAO-sponsored meet on the ongoing food crisis to be held in June is likely to see demands for reduction in subsidies for bio-fuel, and for allowing trade in bio fuels. By blaming India, which is the second most populous country in the world, Mr Bush merely tried to deflect attention from the more fundamental issues impacting global food prices.

 Clearly Bush has more fingers pointed at him than his one on India.

HOWEVER THE MESSAGE TO BE TAKEN FROM THIS IS WE NEED TO BE MORE SELF SUFFICIENT IN AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PRODUCTION AND SHOULD NOT DEPEND ON ANY BODY. GOVERNMENT SHOULD THINK HOW ORANIZED SECTOR CAN TAKE UP FARMING IN A BIG WAY AND INCREASE THE YIELD PER HECTOR OF CROP LAND? An individual farmer may not be able to cope with this new trend with his meagre means. Surely Govt of India has a task on hand ....

Eat what is needed and dont waste food ---

PSLV scores again

Can ISRO turn India into a major hub for Satellite Out sourcing industry ? ISRO has all the right ingredients to secure more market share in the Global satellite launch industry. With the successful launch of 10 satellites together , it can really make a difference in the space programs for many space aspirant nations. I think instead of putting money on the lunar program , ISRO should invest more on the next generation launch vehicles.

- sachin

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is proving to be hugely versatile. On April 28, the launcher successfully carried no fewer than 10 satellites and ejected them with precision into their designated orbits. Since its first successful launch in 1994, the rocket has gone from strength to strength. In the course of 12 flights, the PSLV has carried 10 Indian remote sensing satellites, 14 small satellites for foreign customers (including eight launched on Monday), an amateur radio satellite, a meteorological satellite, and the country’s first recoverable space capsule. There have also been two dedicated launches carrying foreign satellites. Later this year, the highly dependable rocket will take Chandrayaan-1, India’s first lunar probe, on the first leg of its voyage to the Moon. The PSLV was conceived as a launcher to take India’s remote sensing satellites to a polar orbit. In its first successful flight, it carried a satellite weighing about 800 kg. Since then, scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have steadily developed the launcher’s capabilities and today the rocket can carry a payload that is twice as heavy.

The availability of this launcher has been a crucial factor in ISRO being able to set up a large constellation of earth-observation satellites. These satellites produce data that serve myriad practical purposes, from better crop acreage estimation to providing inputs for disaster relief. Monday’s launch saw the PSLV put into orbit two more remote sensing satellites, Cartosat-2A and the Indian Mini Satellite-1. ISRO has ambitious plans to expand the number and range of its earth-viewing satellites in space — and those satellites too will no doubt go up on the PSLV. Although the rocket has earned an enviable reputation as a rugged workhorse, India is still a relatively small player in a commercial market dominated by launch vehicles like Europe’s Ariane 5 that can carry heavy communication satellites. This is not a market segment that can be served either by the PSLV or the current generation of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). India can begin to think of competing in this area only when the next generation GSLV Mark-III becomes operational. Its first flight could take place in a year or two from now, according to the latest annual report of the Department of Space. The PSLV has proved to be a terrific asset, but Indian launch vehicles have quite some distance to travel and bigger payloads to transport before they can take on the best in the world.

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : PSLV scores again

DIY

Off late , I have been looking at a lots of DIY ( Do It yourself ) content for my son's holidays. I came across many sites and magazines which offer excellent DIY ideas , projects . Make Magazine was one of them . However there is very little Indian DIY things to do. I only see a chain of shops Hobbys Ideas in Mumbai selling DIY projects of very basic concepts . Is this due to the culture we are brought in ? We Indians are always used get things done by others. How many times you call plumber , electrician , carpenter for small things which could have been done by you with a hand ful of tools. How many of us even have a proper tool set in our house? I think this attitude is the reason why we dont get to see many DIY projects.

With all due credit to Dilip Chabria ( DC ) , we dont see many MODs coming from India.

LETS US MAKE A BEGINNING AND AT LEAST DO ONE DIY PROJECT THIS SUMMER ....

Cheers..

History of Video Games

 

This is a super cool collection of the History of Video games which will take you to the memory by lanes and remind you of all the hours spent on your ATARI , PC XT . I still love to play some of these using emulators on my Dual Core VISTA machine.