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NEWS

DELHI

THE HINDU

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2012

Oil rms strike at defaulting Air India

Fuel supply stopped from Thursday in 5 cities
Vinay Kumar
NEW DELHI: Cash-strapped Air

India has a vital stake in evolving climate change response: Manmohan

Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI: As a developing country in the frontlines of climate vulnerability, India has a vital stake in the evolution of a successful, rulebased, equitable and multilateral response to climate change, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the inauguration of the 12th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) 2012 organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) here on Thursday. Over the past decade, the DSDS has evolved as a major global event addressing the key challenges of sustainable development and exploring the means by which this can be attained. In its 12th edition, DSDS will focus on the theme Protecting the Global Commons: 20 Years Post-Rio. DSDS-2012 will be the rst important meeting of global leaders preceding the June 2012, Rio+20 Summit. The Prime Minister congratulated TERI on organising the global forum which once again brought together eminent dignitaries, Nobel Laureates, CEOs and leaders from across the globe. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the landmark Rio Earth Summit of 1992, which sets out the concept of sustainability and its importance as a critical parameter of human development. The idea of sustainability began as a developmental ideal. Over time, it has become an important focus of policy, especially in developing countries as we struggle to reconcile our effort to develop with the compelling need to protect our environment. Air pollution, industrial pollution, increasing quantum of waste and

AI has failed to honour payments even after 90-day credit period: rms Carrier well within credit limit, says AI
Mr. Zaidi said AI would soon release yet another instalment of Rs. 40 crore to the oil rms. Senior ofcials of the airline said it owed the companies Rs. 260 crore for the credit period and maintained that the carrier was well within the credit limit. But an oil company ofcial said: The government had last year asked us to give Air India a 90-day credit period, which we diligently did. As per that, payments for ATF sold in mid-October [last] were due on January 22 but it did not make any payment. Earlier also the oil companies resorted to putting AI on hard options of cash and carry but relented after the government intervened and assured them payments.

India again found itself in trouble as state-owned companies on Thursday refused it supplies of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) for reportedly failing to honour payments even after the 90-day credit period. However, the ailing national carrier said it had already paid Rs. 180 crore and would pay another instalment of Rs. 40 crore by Friday. I have spoken to the Petroleum Secretary [asking him] not to disrupt jet fuel supplies, Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi said here. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum jointly stopped ATF supplies to the airline in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi from 4 p.m.

No disruption in Hyderabad
Hyderabad Special Correspondent reports: In Hyderabad, there was no cancellation of AI ights departing from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Thursday as the oil companies maintained ATF supply, according to the carriers spokesperson. As many as 17 ights, some of them international routes, were on schedule. One ight to Mumbai was delayed by 90 minutes.

pollution of our rivers are problems we all face, said Dr. Singh. Present at the TERI DSDS 2012 inaugural ceremony were several dignitaries from across the world including Finland President Tarja Halonen, founding chair, R20 Regions of Climate Change and the former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah and Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan. Meanwhile, Ms. Halonen was awarded the TERIs Sustainable Development Leadership Award for 2012 for her leadership in confronting climate change and leading her government to take the issue as a primary focus.

India-Finland collaboration
Receiving the honour, she said: It is a great honour for me to receive this award on behalf of my country. India and Finland have always collaborated for sustainable development. Sustainable development is an opportunity to counter the climate change and human resource plays a very important role in the effort. TERI Director-General R.K. Pachauri said: The issue of the global commons has been part of global consciousness for half a century now. The global commons can be protected only if there is a commitment on the part of nation states to realise the tragedy inherent for all of us if we do not carry out proper protection of these. We hope this Summit and the ofcial Rio+20 event in June of this year will mark a watershed in perceptions and priorities by

A case of police apathy?

Staff Reporter
MUMBAI: The recent acid at-

tack on a 22-year-old woman at a crowded railway station by a man who had allegedly attacked her twice before has raised questions as much about police apathy in dealing with cases of harassment as that of safety. This is the third time that she has been attacked, earlier she was attacked on the face with a small knife. After the rst attack we moved from Malwani to Nallasopara to feel safer, Seema Thakur, mother of the victim, said. On Wednesday, the regional railway police arrested a 25-yearold man, the victims former landlord, for throwing acid on her face. The victim, presently at Singhvi hospital, has been provided police protection. However, her earlier attempts to book a complaint went in vain. I dont know why the police did not register a case when we approached them earlier...her doctors are condent that she will recover but the family will always be scared, Mrs. Thakur said. Incidents such as an acid attack do not emerge suddenly; negative feelings repressed over a long time nally result in something so hurtful. So why do the police and society

refuse to act when it can be stopped, before it ruins a womans identity? asked Shirin Juwaley, who survived an acid attack by her husband in 1998. We are socially conditioned to accept that men can eve-tease or harass women and the only time we address the issue is when something shocking happens. The police also do not feel the need to address the issue unless a woman is traumatised enough to make the headlines, said Juwaley who currently runs an NGO, Palash, to help women in similar situations and helps victims of disgurement. Soniya Gill, secretary, Maharashtra All India Democratic Womens Association (AIDWA), said, Why did the police wait to act until the woman was attacked with acid? How could the earlier attacks with blades not be registered?...The police must be asked why they did not do anything when the girl approached them on two previous occasions. While ofcials at the Malwani police station refused to speak on the issue, the railway police very proudly claimed that adequate measures were in place to ensure the safety of women passengers. There are extra consta-

bles in each local train compartment from 8.30 p.m. till 6 a.m., helpline numbers are written everywhere so that in case of a problem there is a quick response, said Ankush Shinde, DCP, Western Railways. However, the city police cut a sorry gure in providing data for cases of attacks on women. There are very few cases of such attacks that are actually reported because in most cases the attacker is a known person, the police spokesperson said. The victims, however, recalled their experience vividly. I was burned and completely disgured, but when I asked the police to le a case against my husband and his brother, I was asked to forgive, forget and reconcile, said Sneha Jawale. Ms. Jawale was harassed for dowry and in 1997 she was doused with kerosene oil and burned. How much security can you have if you are attacked in your house by your husband and the police refuse to register a case? What can security do then? It was not until our divorce proceedings that the incident was recorded. Before that, the police simply refused to acknowledge it. Today, Ms. Jawale is a successful astrologer and writes dialogues for Marathi lms and TV serials.

JOINING THE FIGHT: Hollywood icon and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, at the 12th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit on Thursday. PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
which we work collectively towards a more environmentally and ecologically secure future for coming generations. gation of green house gases emissions carry with it a vast range of co-benets including higher energy security, health benets due to lower levels of air pollution, higher agriculGHG emissions tural yields and many others. India faces some major We need to consider these cochallenges as well as expand- benets in devising a new deing opportunities. The miti- velopment strategy which would be relevant for the 21st century. One of our biggest challenges in the future would be to ensure security of energy supply. This can only be achieved through improvements in energy efciency as well as a move to sustainable sources of energy supply, he added.

Taslimas book sold out a day after controversial release

The author, however, said she did not want her books to KOLKATA: A day after Bangla- sell because of a controversy. deshi author Taslima NasreMy books have been on ens book Nirbasan (Exile) bestseller lists since the was released amid a major 1980s. I do not want my books controversy at the 36th Kolka- to be sold because of a controta International Book Fair, versy regarding their launch the book was sold out by or a ban. I do not want this Thursday evening. and neither do I expect this, We had printed 1,000 co- Ms. Nasreen told The Hindu pies of the book, but it is al- from New Delhi. Emphasising her demand ready sold out. We have ordered a reprint and it shall for freedom of expression, be available to readers by Sat- Ms. Nasreen said that she did urday, said Shibani Mukher- not want the undermining of jee of the Peoples Book her right to write to become Society, publishers of the the reason for her books to be sold out. book. Ananya Dutta I want my books to be sold as any other writers would, but my freedom of expression should be given due regard, she added. The book was supposed to be formally released at a function at the auditorium of the book fair on Wednesday, but was cancelled at the last minute. Later, it was released at the stall of the publisher and within an hour 100 copies were sold. On receiving a call protesting the release of the book, the organisers of the fair, Publishers and Booksellers Guild, told the publishers that the auditorium would not be available for the function. Police ofcials said they also received a complaint from the Milli Ittehad Parishad, a minority outt, but a decision on whether or not the event should be held was left to the organisers. During the day, there was signicant police presence in the vicinity of the book stall, but there were no protests or disruptions at the book fair. As visitors ambled along the stall in the afternoon, one could hardly imagine that it had been the site of a major commotion with sloganeering friends and supporters of Ms. Nasreen trying to outshout the Muslim clerics, who had come to register their protest on Wednesday evening. Taking up a whole shelf inside the bookstore, Nirbasan, the seventh volume of an autobiographical series by Ms. Nasreen, was the central attraction of the stall. The book is Ms. Nasreens account of the events that led to her ouster from the city in 2007. Her controversial book Dwikhandito (Split in two) is the third book in the same series.

Homemaker

Dhaka book fair releases Taslimas Nirbasan

Marcus Dam
KOLKATA: A day after the organisers of the 36th Kolkata International Book Fair refused to release the seventh volume of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreens autobiographical series Nirbasan (Exile), the book was launched at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair in Dhaka without a hitch. It is very good news that my book was released at the fair in Dhaka without any controversy. But it is strange too, given that I had been forced to leave Bangladesh for my writings 18 years ago and have not been able to return there since, Ms. Nasreen told The Hindu over telephone from New Delhi. The Amar Ekushey Book Fair, organised by the Bangla Academy an organisation of the Bangladesh government is one the biggest book fairs in that country, said an ofcial of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata. What Kolkata could not, Dhaka [did], even though I

Dhaka did what Kolkata could not, though, in my opinion, West Bengal is more progressive: Taslima The Amar Ekushey Book Fair is among Bangladeshs biggest fairs
think that West Bengal is more progressive than Bangladesh in most respects, Ms. Nasreen said. Neither the Bangladesh government nor the fundamentalists in that country who have been after me because of my secular beliefs and my struggle for peoples liberties could stop the release of the book. This is indeed very encouraging, she observed. For Ms. Nasreen the irony is that in India, with its secular and democratic government, my book could not be released at the scheduled venue, in a city which is considered progressive, while its launch was smooth in a country I have not been able to return to for 18 years. The sad thought is that the launch of my book at arguably the biggest book fair organised in Bangladesh does not mean that the countrys doors have been opened to me, however. Meanwhile, Ms. Nasreen has received no word for the past three months from the directors who had earlier signed contracts to make three lms one of these, a comedy around the fate of her cat after Ms. Nasreen was bundled out of Kolkata in 2007, and the other two based on two of her novels. What is strange that all the three directors have suddenly become silent regarding the projects even though they had signed contracts with me for the making of the lms. Does one perceive a pattern somewhere: the controversy that had been raised over the release of my book at the Kolkata Book Fair and the silence on the part of these lmmakers?

MIGRANTS WELCOME HERE: This painted stork, one of over 30,000 winged visitors to Vedanthangal, 80 km from Chennai, is busy building its nest at the sanctuary in this season of migration.
PHOTO: N. SRIDHARAN

Malaria deaths in 2010 were more than estimated by WMR, says study
R. Prasad published on February 3 in The Lancet. CHENNAI: The number of maMore deaths have been relaria deaths worldwide in ported across all age groups 2010 was 1.24 million, nearly and regions than the WMR. double the number previously For instance, the study reestimated by the 2011 World ports 1.3 times higher mortalMalaria Report (WMR). This ity for children younger than is despite a 31-per-cent reduc- ve years in Africa; 8.1 times tion in such deaths globally in higher for those aged 5 or olthe last ve years. der in Africa; and 1.8 times This was stated in a study higher for individuals of all ages outside of Africa.

Deaths across agegroups

The mortality data for this study was collected from all available sources from 1980 to 2010. Contrary to the general assumption that most deaths occurred in children aged less than ve years, the study found that older children and

Mortality data was collected from 1980 to 2010 Malaria emerging as greater threat to adults
adults accounted for 42 per cent of the deaths. For instance, deaths in 2010 of people aged 15 to 49, 50 to 69 years, and 70 years or older accounted for 20 per cent, 9 per cent, and 6 per cent respectively. Surprisingly, with the exception of subSaharan countries, the percentage of deaths in adults in every country studied was

more than 40 per cent.

The bright side

brighter side is that the numbers in this group have also decreased in the same period. Outside Africa, the number In the case of south and of deaths in children younger southeast Asia, mortality in than ve years had steadily individuals aged ve or older decreased from 1980 to 2010. account for a large proporBut there are more malaria tion of global malaria deaths deaths in those aged ve and in this age group in 2010, the older than there are in report states. [younger] children, the auIn the case of India, the thors of the study noted. The largest contributor to deaths

outside of Africa, the estimates are much higher than WHOs. What comes out from the study is that apart from the disease causing more deaths in children, it is becoming a greater long-term threat to adult health than previously imagined, an editorial in the same issue of The Lancet warns.
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