The Hindu : Kerala News : District Notes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 15, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

District Notes

A group of 125 students from five Vocational Higher Secondary schools in Kannur and Kasaragod districts are now in the midst of a novel initiative of sharing with the people of Edakkad panchayat their knowledge on natural resources, technologies and social issues, among other things.

For these volunteers of the National Service Scheme (NSS) from the schools at Kayyoor, Kodakkad, Thottada, Kathirur and Kadavathur, the interaction with the people of Wards 3, 4, 16 and 17 in the panchayat is a new experience. Participating in the initiative as part of a 10-day `Swashraya camp' of the NSS which began at Thottada on April 8, they have created awareness among the people on subjects ranging from power consumption, electronics, drinking water, public hygiene to economic issues.

The computer-savvy among them have made Kudumbasree members in the four wards computer literate, taught over 200 women how to repair electronic equipment and collected basic data on the panchayat such as power consumption, use of water resources, sanitation, waste disposal, telephone density and even newspaper readership. They have told the people how to conserve electricity and water resources and protect the environment.

The initiative of the NSS volunteers has turned the camp into a memorable event, according to the panchayat president, T. Krishnan. He, along with other ward members, joins the volunteers in the camp everyday.

Campaign jathas, cultural evenings and programmes to unravel superstitions are other activities of the participants. They have also been distributing energy calendar in the households in the four wards.

***

Bio-diesel is the buzzword in a society that is increasingly becoming environment conscious. No wonder, the people in Kochi were all ears to a multinational company's spokesperson who waxed eloquently about the various plus points of using bio-diesel recently.

According to the spokesperson, a Mercedes-Benz is a sight that sets people's pulse racing, but one need not have any guilty qualms if one knows that it is being run on bio-diesel. The fuel is created from the extracts of the Jatropha plant and the car is claimed to be environment-friendly, which emits minimal pollutants and does not deplete the natural reserves of fossil fuel.

Daimler-Chrysler has partnered the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the University of Hohenheim, Germany, to roll out the first bio-diesel engine-fitted car on the Kerala road, according to Suhas Kadlaskar of the company.

Efforts are welcome even from multinational companies if the idea is to develop and promote alternative and environment-friendly fuels, said a noted environmentalist. It is also laudable that sustainable mode of mobility is being encouraged by big companies.

The bio-diesel project is a big success and the car is taken around the country touching all metros. The question now is whether the Indian automakers would follow suit.

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A seminar on road safety organised by the Thrissur Medical College Hospital in association with some city-based hospitals in Thrissur city recently was a refreshing experience.

The very objective of the seminar, to project road accidents as a public health issue according to the guidelines of the World Health Organisation, was a unique one. Road accidents are going to be a major cause of death and physical and psychological injuries in the next 20 years if the present rate of casualties continues unabated. Though traffic accidents have very serious dimensions on the health front, the attempts so far have been to address it mainly as a law and order problem.

The neuro-surgeon and former national president of the Indian Medical Association, Marthanda Pllai, and several others pointed out that since 95 per cent of the accidents are linked to driving habits, there must be concerted efforts to improve the quality of driving. Apart from making the process of issuing driving licence more rigorous, there must be programmes to evaluate the performance of those who have been granted licence already. Negative incentives like cancellation of licences of drivers who get involved in more number of accidents and hiking the insurance premium of their vehicles were suggested. There were also suggestions to involve local bodies, educational and other institutions in traffic regulation. The DIG, Y. Anil Kumar, made an important remark that ``road accidents cannot be controlled unless all of us, including the officials, shed the attitude that the traffic laws are for all others and not for me.''

He also pleaded that helmets and speed-breakers should not be avoided just because it would help the companies manufacturing them. Yet another proposal was to make society think whether it needs so much of private vehicles and introduce systems like share taxi to reduce the proliferation of vehicles.

The former UNICEF adviser, P.C. Alexander, drew the attention of the audience to the poor condition of roads which also contributes to the spate of accidents.

All these proposals would sound sensible to anyone, but the key question will be whether the people in power will take note of them.

(Contributed by Mohamed Nazeer in Kannur,

K. Venkiteswaran in Kochi and T. Ramavarman in Thrissur)

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