FOUND: BACTERIA THAT CAN CONVERT CARBON INTO FOOD

(Times of India, Saturday, September 3, 2011)

It is a matter of pride and joy that Scientists have identified some mysterious organism in the dark depth of the ocean which they believe are converting Carbon Dioxide into a form useful for life. The bugs, which the Scientists call ”twilight” microbes, could be the missing link of global carbon cycle as they are found turning inorganic carbon into useable food some 2625 feet below the ocean surface, Live Science reported.The job of capturing carbon – crucial to sustaining life on earth – is usually carried out by plants that use sunlight as energy. But light does not penetrate below 656 feet of ocean, so plants can’t do this job. To survive, living cells must convert carbon dioxide into molecules that can form cellular structures are to be used in metabolic processes, the scientists said.

Simple, single-celled organisms called archaea that often live in extreme conditions were thought to be responsible for much of the dark ocean’s carbon fixation. But there was evidence that archaea could not account for the total amount of carbon fixation going on there.“Our study discovered specific types of bacteria and their likely energy sources that may be responsible for this component of the dark ocean carbon cycle” said study author Ramunas Stepanauska.

When the conditions are fast changing on the surface of this planet and the life-giving and life-sustaining factors and resources are depleting fast, there is no other way visible or foreseeable in the distant or instant future except to discover soon the alternatives to water, air, fuel, fire, food and fibre. This carbon-fixing bacteria is one such invention man-kind can boast of for the present. Kudos to the untiring effors of scientists!!

DEATH PENALTY NEEDED OR NOT?

Of late, there is a heated debate going on in the country as to whether our society should still insist on capital punishment as the highest penalty for the accused person convicted of heinous crimes. In terror deaths, some of the accused persons have been sentenced with death penalty by trial court and upheld by Apex Court viz., Supreme Court of India. In some of the cases even the President of India rejected the mercy petition of the accused persons awaiting execution. It is a fact that the said penalty has been removed from the statute in many countries at the moment and maximum penalty they have contemplated under the law is life imprisonment.While the affected parties at the receiving end are forcibly arguing for the execution of accused persons without any further delay, on the other hand a few intellectuals, NGOs and the elite of the society are not in favour of executing people under any circumstances. The News paper reports (Times of India, Sunday, September 4, 2011) contain the following headline.

“ Apex Court again dwells on Capital Punishment as Deterrent “

Admitting the U.P.Government appeal, a bench of Justices Markandey Katju and C.K.Prasad said: “we are prima facie of the opinion that this falls in the category of rarest of the rare cases in which death sentence should have been given.Here in this case one Alok Varma known for gambling, drinking and kidnapping brutally killed his wife and four children aged between 2 and 10 years. It was also alleged that the man had a lurking doubt about her fidelity. Similarly, in another case, the supreme court had admitted a petition seeking imposition of death penalty on 7 persons who brutally killed a young couple – Manoj and Babli inJune, 2007 for marrying in defiance of the khap panchayat in Haryana’s Karora village.While it is true that 'eye for eye' is not a modern concept on the subject of legal prudence, deterrance alone can bring sense to the perpetrators of heinous crimes brutally committed even in the midst of uncotrollable rage. I for one would therefore advocate the existence of such capital punishment to those convicts after their confirmation by the apex court on solid and sound grounds proved beyond an iota of doubt. Mercy application before the Governor and the President needs to be disposed of within a period of two months and the execution carried out within a month thereafter with a view to avoiding complication and pressure in future from various quarters on ground or other.

NAGAR SURAAJ CAMPAIGN

Dr.Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh State initially introduced and implemented an annual campaign in the name of “Grama Suraaj” for the last several years. Looking to the declining sympathy and support to his political party viz., BJP in the urban areas, he has announced a new scheme in July 2011 in the name of 'Nagar Suraaj' campaign. He intends to start this campaign from December 18, 2011, on the day of Guru Ghasidas Jayanthi. It will go upto December 24, 2011. He is planning to visit personally several municipal wards in urban areas and listen to the problems of town dwellers and solve them. His plan is to introduce Saraswathi Cycle Distribution scheme to the girl students studying 9th & 10th classes from the BPL families including those from SC & ST communities. Dr.Raman Singh will address civic problems like power supply, drinking water, sanitation, school, Anganwadi, fair price shops social security, old age pension, National Health Insurance Scheme, Building construction, Registration of births & deaths and other general basic needs of the urban dwellers. Information will also be gathered on the maintenance of water tank, roads, drainage along with education, health and mutation of land records, Licenses and No Objection Certificates. He also intends to make plans and formulate programmes for implementation of civic amenities in these areas. It may be noted that there are 168 Towns with 3084 Wards for whom the selected Government employees will be deployed in this campaign.

Apart from stock-taking on different aspects and tasks of civic administration, the head of the government and his government machinery are expected to get enlightened on future course of action. Let us wish them all the best. Such campaigns will bear no fruit unless the machinery is dedicated to the task at hand.

Delay in filling the Vacant Posts in Government

Employer:

1) Government of Tamil Nadu - Department of Fisheries Development -

vacancy 476 posts

Mr K.A. Jeyapal, the minister in charge of the Department assured the House while passing the demand for grant to his ministry on Monday 12, 2011

2) Government of Tamil Nadu - Department of Animal Husbandry -

Vacancy 2864 posts

Mr N.R.Sivapati, the minister-in-charge of the Department assured the House while passing the demand for his ministry 0n Monday 12, 2011

3) Demand of the students pursuing the certificate courses in Industrial Training Institutes of Tamil Nadu ( 65 in the government sector and about 600 in the private sector) is to fill up the posts of the Training Instructors lying vacant for the last 11 years in government ITIs. The situation in the private ITIs is still worse for want of basic infrastructure needed for training.

We don't know what prevented the DMK government in filling up such posts for the last several years. How sincere or insincere the governments are in their functioning is clear from such statements.

NIC and its Utility

The National Integration Council of India met in Delhi on Saturday, September 10, 2011 presided over by the Prime Minister and attended by the central ministers, the chief ministers and others. The prominent absentees were the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat. Was there any design and planning behind this decision? It is obvious that economic and political considerations were uppermost in the minds of these popular and real achievers in the field of governance in their respective states.

It however reflects on the working style of the union governemnt and utility of such a national forum for the state governments. Only the time will reveal and media will make a study and give an analysis of such a development at this juncture in India.