What’s your favorite dog breed?

What’s your favorite dog breed? Most of the Indian dog lovers would say – Labrador, Dalmatian, German Shepard or Pug; probably some odd ones might even say “Country dog” or as “Indian stray”.

But chances are really slim that anyone would say ‘Chippiparai’, ‘Rajapalayam’, ‘Combai’ , ‘Rampur Greyhound’ or ‘Gaddi Kutta’. That’s because hardly anyone knows about these breeds that are native to India. This exactly is the primary reason for the native breeds to become the stray and getting low-numbered every year.

Yes, this is quite unfortunate that most of the Indians show interest in western dog breeds rather than Indian breeds. Foreign breeds are looked upon as exotic, and owning one is considered to be a status symbol.

Foreign Pet Food companies wanted to sell their products (start from food, medicine, toys and even their dog potty training kits) and naturally, India is the biggest market. But same as Indian bulls, Indian dogs are too very agile, they don’t need any special food, medicine or any accessory, which left the foreign companies out-of-market.

But it took only a short while for them to understood Indian’s weakness of “Western Infatuation” and promote their breeds along with their supplies.

Our dogs are survivors. They mostly survive on whatever food we give and with no extra care.  I personally feel, a “Combai” that stayed with us for years was so loyal, agile, energetic and cuddly than any other foreign breed.

I am happy that nowadays more and more people understand the business behind the foreign breeds; more and more people are opting for Indian dogs. I hope people realize that they're not doing the foreign breeds a favour by bringing them home. India's hot climate is not suitable for most of them, whereas the native ones thrive in this environment. 

Should we protest the Methane (CBM) project

Should we stop the ongoing Coal Bed Methane (CBM) projects at the Tanjore Delta of Tamilnadu? Are the allegations such as the “project may the spoil environment and take away the livelihood of farmers around”, is this true? How far it is justifiable ?

I read a bit about the whole process. Let me share what I learnt, then you can answer the above questions yourselves!.

HOW DOES CBM WORK :

Naturally formed Methane in the underground coal marcels will get released when they are de-pressurized. CBM companies drill deep wells into these coal beds and pumping out all the surrounding water, so that the coal seal gets de-pressurized and lets out the methane to flow as a gas up through the pipes. Methane is then compressed and commercialized into market. It is often also necessary to stimulate the coal seam via fracking (process of fracturing the solid ground layers with high pressure chemicals/liquids) in order to maximum extract of gas.

SO WHAT ARE THE IMPACTS:

Ground Water depletion
Continuously removaing water from coal beds depletes ground water and may eventually lower farmer’s boreholes and underground waterlevel. It can also change the flow of good fresh groundwater to into the coal seams.

Waste Water Disposal
Millions of litres of produced water have to be disposed of from each well. Over time this represents a massive volume of water and toxic material released into rivers, estuaries and the sea.

Leaking Wells & Drinking water contamination
The steel and concrete pipes plunged deep into the ground will decay slowly over time. All gas wells will leak eventually. The possibility of the water used in fracking to contaminate water in rivers and other bodies of water is pretty high.

Air & Noise Pollution & Infrastructure damage
Road damage is an inevitable consequence of methane exploration due to intensive transportation of materials and machinery.

Global Warming & Earth Quakes
CBM is not green, it is not the replacement for traditional fossil fuels, it’s just another energy extraction technique, thus we ‘re only keep expanding the hydrocarbon and emissions. We’re already witnessing the bad effects interms of global warming and frequent earth quakes.

WHAT IS MY VIEW:
I do support technology and development; but this one is not required for our country - where there's already a huge water scarcity; poor infrastructure, corrupted environment/safety regulatory bodies, and greedy business men backed by fraud politicians. Why should we risk the livelihood of our future generations for the profits of certain corporates ?

In the end, I just can’t imagine the beautiful green surrounding of Cauvery delta region turning into a dark coal dump; pure breeze of air to go polluted with chemicals and dangerous gases; chirping sounds of sparrows to change into blasting bore well bombs and restless truck noises; and finally the poor people of these region will loose all they have got and become the refugee of their own land😢 #SaveNeduvasal #banhydrocarbonproject #savefarmer #saveagriculture

Turmeric, Neem, Tulsi, Yoga & More - "Biopiracy of India's way of Life"

Bit shocked when I saw an article saying Everybody Needs To Stop With This Turmeric Molecule. That’s not the only one, there are numerous articles making round-ups in the last few months. The irony is: these were the same journals/blogs which were advocating all goodness and medicinal use of turmeric for years. Now, suddenly what happened to them? What made them to conduct “A new study saying turmeric has 'no specific therapeutic benefits'”?

This made me to do go-through the curious case of India-US Patent War for Turmeric.

Here's the story: The turmeric war actually began in 1995, when the US Patent Office granted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center (#UMMC) a patent [#5,401,504] for "Use of Turmeric in Wound Healing.". Soon the US pharma companies started creating medicines using Turmeric (Curcuma), especially for Arthritis and cancer; and their media started trumpeting the goodness of turmeric all over the world.

Fortunately The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (#CSIR) of India submitted prior art evidences in the form of references in books from 18th century to the 20th century citing evidences that turmeric has been part of Indian life, in our food, cosmetics, medicines and tradition.

The US Patent Office had no choice than acknowledging Indian’s prior knowledge of Turmeric in Wound healing and cancelled the patent awarded to the Mississippi Medical Centre in 1997.

This Patent win completely disappointed the business plans of the US pharma sector; but they did not have any better exchange for the turmeric. Now after nearly 15 years of continuous research, they have reduced or almost stopped using Curcuma (turmeric) component ; and their media started to campaign against the turmeric.

You may find it strange to link the story of 20 years old patent win, but that’s the only logical reasons for these new studies and articles looming against the use of turmeric.

SO WHAT’S THE TAKE AWAY ?

This is not the story of just turmeric. The war against bio-piracy endures for #Neem , #Basmati Rice, #Darjeeling Tea, Indian #wheat, and even for our own #Yoga postures😦; Can you believe that we're fighting claims to about 40 products all over the world.

Enough said, the whole story gives me only resolution. If we don’t appreciate and safe-guard our tradition and traditional products, foreigners will find ways to put their name and monetize it. Then we’ll end-up paying hefty royalty to a foreign company - for the knowledge that our ancestors practiced and full-grown for years!!!

Why people support Jallikattu Protests

It’s disappointing to see some fellow Indians ask “Why are so many Tamilians shamelessly supporting Jallikattu?”. Let me say it again: It’s not just the issue of Tamilnadu, what they fight is for the whole India.

People still don’t get the fact that India is not a homogeneous nation, but a mosaic of cultures and nation of immense diversity. With a sheer diversity of languages, ethnic groups, religions and demography, India is an One Country with many nations in it. It’s everyone’s responsibility to respect each other’s tradition and culture.

After all: Not just trees, even human needs strong "roots":like culture, Tradition and Language; they are your identity, you can’t afford to loose them.  

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Ok, coming out of the emotional ground, let me explain the logical reasons for protecting our bulls.

By this time, everyone aware of what is A1 and A2 milk and their effects; I am not going to write about it again. But, still many of us are not aware of the politics behind the A2 Milk yet. Let me say it again.

There’s an A2 Milk Companywith its presence in the US, Australia, and in New Zealand. They own the patents on genetic tests to determine what form of beta-casein cows produce in milk, and hugely investing on research of artificial insemination of A2 gene bull’s semen.

Not just this one company, there are numerous other western companies spending billions of euros/dollars on the research of suppressing dominant A1 gene and makes even a western cow to produce A2 milk.

If all native breeds in India are destroyed, then we may have to survive only with A1 milk or we may have to pay a hefty royalty to A2 Milk company for using its patented technique to produce cows rich in A2 gene.

This is what is bothering the youth and all educated, socially-aware people. When our breeds are perfectly capable of producing A2 milk, why must we force ourselves to be a slave to some other MNC company holding a patent for this.

This is why everyone supports Jallikattu, they are not shameless nor illiterate. They are responsible citizens. These protests are not just about the tradition, this is a show of everyone's fears about globalization/corporate mafias, about loss of identity, living, and culture - and against the authorities who don't care.

If you're not able to understand the depth of issue, you don't need to support. But, don't talk abuse at least. #savejallikattu #saveimdiaslivestock #AmendPCA

Save the River - Thamirabarani

What I am writing here is not JUST about the river Thamirabarani, it’s the concern for most of the rivers/lakes/water sources all over India - which are being vandalized and moving towards the edge of extinction. So please don’t overlook because you haven't even heard of this name “Thamirabarani”, a perennial river flowing in the corner of Tamilnadu.

The Thamirabarani river originates from the #pothigai hills and flows through #tirunelveli and #tuticorin districts of the Tamil Nadu. It serves as the primary source for drinking water and irrigation, for ~120 square kms of agricultural lands. But, eversince the government (SIPCOT) allowed the Coco-Cola company to tape-out water from the riverbed (1 Million litres everyday), the people of these districts started facing water scarcity, and agriculture started moving in downside.

In this situation, the other giant Pepsi Co was also given a license to suck another 1.5 Million litres from the river for 99 years! That’s were only a small set of sensitive people& farmers woke-up and started protesting for their water.

The protests weren’t widespread; were in really low-lights (thanks to our paid media who doesn't have time to think about farmers), but the issue in-itself is intense, and it is a fortunate that the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court understood the danger of river extinction and ordered a stay - restraining Pepsi and Coca-Coca to use the water of the Thamirabharani river.

But what is now shocking is: A recent RTI filed by a local resident & activist Ramiah Ariya is revealing that it’s not just the Coco-Cola and Pepsi, there 27 more industries are sucking millions of litres water everyday even now!.

Some companies are drawing out far more water than Pepsi or Coca Cola, and many of them more than their allotted limits. Please look at the amount of water slurped every day by these industries below. 

WHAT I URGE YOU TO THINK:

While I am not clear on the nature of contracts between these companies and SIPCOT, and have no solution for the loss of these companies when they are banned, still drawing more water than the allotted limits is necessarily a violation of the contracts. 

Why no one ask about this violation?, why all the activism and legal action focused only on Coca Cola and Pepsi? Why not other companies are included in the trail? Why there’s no media coverage on this issue? 

The stay order against Pepsi, albeit a temporary, we all know the money power of giant companies, it is just a matter of dragging the case to different levels for them, but for the people, it’s the lifeline.

Sucking the scarce water for business and profit, while diminishing the residents and farmers, particularly in this time of drought - is irrational and dangerous for the future of our country. Can we drink Pepsi everyday instead of water?? We can’t and we should not. 

#GoBackPepsi #Thamirabarani #TamilNadu #savetheriver

How A1/A2 Milk Conspiracy relates to Jallikattu

Here you come, the reason of bringing-up the Jallikattu bulls are not just for the sport, but mainly for servicing the cows.

During Jallikattu, all the healthy and strong bulls are brought and exhibited. Small farmers who cannot afford bulls, take a note of the top agile bulls and seek them for servicing their cows.

The intricate connect between these events and Tamilnadu farming process can be seen from the chronological timeline of these events; Jallikattu happen first (where they exhibit the bulls), then the shandies’ (markets where they trade/seek the bulls) and then the main farming season starts.

Unlike the western bull, one bull which was raised for Jallikattu can service up to 40 cows., which were a big problem for the western semen selling companies. If they are to sell semen the Bulls should die or become redundant.

First they tried to make the bulls “redundant”, like the introduction of tractors. I am not against mechanization. But the machines should only make the work of men and animals (in this case) easier. Not make them redundant. The tractors made half the bulls unemployed. Even men don’t find a place in their house if they are unemployed. So there was no place for bulls too :)

But, still some people were caring for their long tradition of having stud bulls So the western milk & semen companies decided to kill all the native breed bulls!!!! , using the animal activist groups for campaigning and passed the “Cow slaughter law”.

Have you ever read the rules of Cow Slaughter Law. Read the judgement here.  In summary,

• Any Bull that is incapable of reproducing and any cow that is incapable of producing milk can be killed.
• Any bull that is not verified by the authorities or in other terms “The Organisation permits this Bull to reproduce on whatever grounds” should not be allowed to reproduce. Else the Organisation has the right to cut off the Bull’s balls.

Basically the law says “If they are not useful to human, kill them”; satisfying the lobbying of western milk & semen companies. Don’t you see Coca-Cola has already started selling “Milk” in India!

Now Jallikattu is the only reason which makes a common farmer who is not well-educated, who’s not aware of A1/A2 milk, who is still unaware of the business politics behind the so called “milk revolution” – to keep his bull alive!!

So please don’t scribble against Jallikattu, without understanding any history or reasoning behind it. If you really care for animals, please protect the native breeds which are in the edge of extinction!. I support #savejallikattu

#banjallikattu #milkrevolution #peta  #lobby  #tamilnadu

I support Jallikattu

It’s really sad to see a lot of outcry on “Jallikattu Ban” all over media. Especially now since the Central government has lifted the ban officially, the so called animal rights activists makes a lot of wrong propaganda all over the media.

As a person who’s seen and experienced the traditions and reasons behind #jallikattu, I feel I should clear-out some misconceptions and wrong advertising.

First of all, believe me: I am a vegetarian, not because of any religious reasons, but of moral reasoning. I do love animals and I too fight against the animal cruelty; But I support Jallikattu and am against banning it. Let me explain why!   

The actual name of the sport is: Eru Thazhuvuthal meaning ‘Embracing / Hugging the Bull’, not bull baiting. Jallikattu is an ancient tradition. The seals of the Indus Valley civilization proofs that this sport was in trend 5,000 years ago. Many ancient Indian (not just Tamil) literatures of 2nd BC have detailed references to Eru Thazhuvuthal.

If you are comparing Jallikattu with the Spain bull fight, then you’re completely wrong. Spain bulls are trained to be dumb and vigor, whereas our bulls are trained to be intelligent and sharp. Jallikattu is like a game of tag between the bull and the players. And the bulls are intelligent enough to evade the players. Each bull takes only 20 - 30 seconds to complete their turn in the arena, and I think not even Superman can do the so called " torture" to the bulls during that short interval:)

And very importantly @separatists, please be aware: All classes of people and all castes take part in Jallikattu. There is an egalitarian standpoint where it’s people and their cattle, nothing more nothing less. Please go and check it yourselves.

Now, coming to the main reason...Why I support and Why PETA is so keen in banning Jallikattu – NATIVE BREEDS & A2 MILK

Many of us do not know the difference between an Indian cow and a western cow. The cows you see on the streets now are hybrid-western cows., they produce unhealthy A1 milk what we all drink nowadays. The native cow breeds of our country has a hump on it's back and it gives nutritious, safe A2 milk.

To explain further: There are two types of cow's milk: A1 & A2. The main difference between the A1 & A2 milk is their protein components – A1 & A2 Beta Caseins.

The A1 beta casein is a toxic component while the A2 is harmless and safe. It has micronutrients like cytokines and minerals which enhances your immune system. But the western cow's milk gets digested differently and is not suitable for human consumption!

Are you still wondering how does the A1/A2 milk issue relates to Jallikattu? Please read my next post "How A1/A2 Milk Conspiracy relates to Jallikattu"

Bottom line is: Your mother's milk is A2 and so is the Indian cow's. To know more facts, read this article The A2 milk case: a critical review published in one of the highly regarded international journal.