UNITY AMIDST DIVERSITY : DRAVIDA PERAVAI LAUDS INDONESIAN PRESIDENT : 2014

உலகப் பல்கலைக்கழங்களில் தமிழுக்கு மூடுவிழா : 2004

BOMMAYARPALAYAM FOSSILIZED HOMINID BABY...

PAEDOPHILIA IN PONDICHERRY

PAEDOPHILIA IN PONDICHERRY

The investigative journal NAKHERAN dated 8.10.1999 carried a wrapper story on the matter of child abuse in the Tourist spots of our coast. Dravida Peravai General Secretary N.Nandhivarman enclosing the translation of the media expose sent a memorandum. 

Enclosing that memorandum Union Defense Minister George Fernandes wrote to India's Home Minister L.K.Advani on 15.10.1999. The contents of that letter is as follows:

Dear Lalji Enclosed herewith in its original a letter from Mr.N.Nandhivarman General Secretary of Dravida Peravai along with enclosures attached thereto. As you can see the letter is addressed to you and has been sent to me only to be forwarded to you. The documents sent by him provide evidence of the practice of paedophilia in Pondicherry. It also appears that the law enforcement authorities in Pondicherry have turned a blind eye to what is happening. I hope you will direct the authorities in Pondicherry to take necessary action against all those involved in this crime against our children. With Kind Regards, Yours sincerely George Fernandes

On October 29, 1999 Union Home Minister L.K.Advani wrote back to Mr.George Fernandes. Dear Fernandesji I am in receipt of your letter No 99/RMR/VIP/868 dated 26 th October, 1999 enclosing a letter addressed by Shri N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai regarding alleged practice of paedophilia in Pondicherry. I am having the matter looked into. With kind Regards Yours sincerely L.K.Advani.

THIS HIGH LEVEL INTERVENTION DID NOT ACTIVATE THE POLICE IN PONDICHERRY. IN BHARATHI [TAMIL] TELEVISION CHANNEL N.NANDHIVARMAN BLASTED AGAINST THIS INACTION. THEN IN "KUMUDAM REPORTER" , a Tamil weekly 20.12.2001 A STORY APPEARED IN WHICH NANDHIVARMAN'S INTERVIEW CAME. After that POLICE ACTED BY ARRESTING ANOTHER OFFENDER AND NOT THE ONE MENTIONED TILL DATE.

TAMIL FISHERMEN SEEK JUSTICE FROM INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE LAW OF SEAS :2009 [ PAGE 1 to 7 ]

Power at people’s cost Polluting Tamilnadu coast

Tamilnadu : Power at people’s cost

Polluting its coast

 N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

 PLUNDERING EAST COAST ROAD ENVIRONMENT : 2007

The need for power should not be met at the cost of plundering our environment in East Coast Road. During the visit of Union Power Minister Shusil Kumar Shinde it was announced that 2 power plants would be set up closer to East Coast Road. Immediately Dravida Peravai sent a detailed memorandum to the Union Minister for Power. Later Dr.S.Ramdass, founder of PMK protested. Thereafter the Tamil Nadu Power Minister Arcot N.Veerasamy had gone on record that Cheyyur Thermal power plant will be dropped but Marakanam project will take off. In this background to awaken the Union Government to evolve a Power Policy keeping in mind of global initiatives in renewable energy quest, Dravida Peravai memorandum dated 10 th September 2007 is given below in verbatim.

Our objections to the 2 proposed Mega Thermal Power Projects off East Coast Road

During your recent visit you had announced that the Union Government will be sending an official team to Tamilnadu to study the possibility of setting up one more ultra mega power project, as reported in the media. Though we agree on the need to enhance our power capacity it should not be at the cost of great human sufferings uprooting people practicing traditional professions practiced beyond 2000 years. In your interview you had mentioned that Tamilnadu Power Minister Thiru.Arcot N.Veerasamy had suggested Marakanam for setting up of 4000 MW capacity ultra mega power project. The Tamilnadu Power Minister had stated that Center had already finalized Cheyyur as the site of one mega power project. We are here opposing the 2-mega power projects and our views are submitted for your perusal.

An attempt was made by National Thermal Power Corporation in 1999 to set up a power plant in Cheyyur when Thiru.Rangarajan Kumaramangalam was Union Minister of Power. The Hindu, a national daily with concern for people alerted people and rulers on Sunday March 21, 1999 issue in a front page story by Thiru.Mukund Padmanabhan under the heading: Proposed Power Plant will be in a Lagoon. “The 3000 acres to be made available to NPTC in five villages in the Cheyyur area lie in low lying area into which there is copious flow of rainwater from the surrounding uplands and a little seawater ingress. The picturesque water body which attracts a large number of birds and is used for fishing acts as storm water run off for an estimated 42 villages in Cheyyur area” wrote Thiru Mukund Padmanabhan a senior journalist in The Hindu.

Dravida Peravai heeded to the warning signals unleashed by Thiru.Mukund Padmanabhan and wrote to the Indian Prime Minister Thiru.Atal Bihari Vajpayee on April 2 of 1999.Dravida Peravai having been admitted as associate party of Samata party and which remained a special invitee to its National Executive ever since 1997 December, had the moral support of Comrade George Fernandes. Hence our memorandum did in fact act as an eye opener. In our memorandum dated April 2 of 1999, we had urged upon the Union Government to adopt the internationally practiced precautionary principle in preventing pollution.” The term precautionary principle was raised by the German delegation at first North Sea Conference in 1984 when faced with the problem of dealing with one of the world’s most contaminated seas. Since then the approach had been adopted by a number of regulatory regimes including Oslo and Paris Commissions (1989), The UNEP Governing Council (1989), Nordic Council (1989), The Bergen Declaration (1990), The London Convention (1991), The Bamako Convention (1991) The Barcelona Convention (1991) and The UNEP Rio UNCED Declaration (1992).

On September 8, 2007-Asia-Pacific leaders agreed and adopted a "long-term aspiration goal" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region in support of the U.N global efforts, announced Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Under the Sydney Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development, the goals are to reduce energy intensity by at least 25 percent by 2030 from the 2005 level, and to increase forest cover in the region by at least 20 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020. The non-binding numerical targets indicate that APEC leaders wish to throw their political muscle behind an international push to avert the worst consequences of a warming planet. This is the first year that leaders from the 21 APEC member economies have included climate change discussions in their annual summit.

While other countries follow precautionary principle in India we neither have the intention nor the political will to arrest pollution of our seas, rivers and water bodies. While Salman Khan’s are arrested for single killings, in Cheyyur and Marakanam all the migratory birds to these water bodies have to loose their natural habitat and the offenders will go scot-free.

LET US HAVE A LOOK AT THE PROBLEMS FACED BY OTHER COUNTRIES THAT HAVE OPTED FOR THERMAL POWER PLANTS:

Quoting China Daily news [Sept 9-2007] “ China’s environmental watchdog warned in Beijing that booming thermal power plants may worsen China's acid rain pollution if their sulfur dioxide emission is not well controlled. Pan Yue, vice-director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), made the remark when reporting to the press the crackdown against the Guiyang thermal power plant in the southwestern province of Guizhou, which had put the newly built power set into use without the desulphurization equipment. "Thermal power plants discharge a large proportion of the country's total sulfur dioxide emission. If their emissions are not well controlled, the acid rain pollution will probably worsen, “Pan said. Although China's power production and generation capacity reached the second place of the world by the end of 2003, they still cannot satisfy the soaring economy's appetite for energy. Reportedly China will suffer from severe power shortage this summer. There are already 24 provinces and municipalities, which set limits on industrial and civil use of electricity. Thermal power plants, accounting for 74 percent of total power supply, spring up to fill the gap.

Exhaust gas discharged by thermal power plants, which are based on coal burning, contains abundant sulfur dioxide a chemical causing acid rain. Statistics show that China's annual sulfur dioxide emission, of which thermal power emission makes up 34.6 percent, exceeds the maximum of environmental capacity by 80 percent. The resulting acid rain costs annual loss of 110 billion Yuan (US$13.3 billion), two or three percent of the annual Gross Domestic Production. China's laws and regulations state that the desulphurization equipment must be designed, built, and put into operation simultaneously with the power sets. Unfortunately, most investors are too eager for instant profits to stick to the rule, according to Pan. SEPA updated the environmental standards for thermal power plants in March, which tightens their sulfur dioxide emission. SEPA also demands all plants install an exhaust gas monitoring system, which could be connected to SEPA's central server. To reduce the thermal power sulfur dioxide emission to 7.84 billion tons in 2020, 80 percent of thermal power plants have to set up the desulphurization equipment before 2005. Besides, SEPA will enforce economic policies including implementing an emission licensing system, add desulphurization cost to the power price and raise the sulfur dioxide emission fee.

CHINA FACES A PROBLEM AND IT HAS ACTED TO CONTAIN POLLUTION DO WE IN INDIA, OR DO OUR COMMUNIST COMRADES DO NECESSARY HOMEWORK TO OPPOSE THERMAL POWER PLANTS? After all China shows the way and it is not America, hence they need not feel embarrassed to oppose thermal power plants and the pollution unleashed by such plants. In 1997 the E.U.-15 member states set themselves the task of doubling Europe’s renewable energy sources from 6 percent to 12 percent by 2010. A decade later, even though the contribution from renewable sources had increased in absolute terms by 55 percent, the E.U.’s new Renewable Energy Roadmap admitted that not only was 12 percent unfeasible, but a figure well below 10 percent was more realistic. By January 2007, the original E.U.-15 member states (the E.U. had expanded to 27 states by then) had actually achieved a figure of only 6.4 percent from renewable sources. So when the E.U. summit in March 2007 upped the renewable energy sources target to 20 percent by 2020, its acknowledgment that the target would prove “challenging” was viewed by most energy insiders as something of a gross understatement. The Roadmap stated that Europe’s renewable share was growing too slowly. To speed things up, a plan was devised for the main sectors: electricity bio-fuels for transport, and heating and cooling. The Roadmap sees electricity as the key sector for producing genuine progress. It argues that if all of the 27 E.U. member states made their national quotas on renewable for 2010 in this sector, the proportion of electricity consumption from renewable would be 21 percent. But only nine E.U. member states – Denmark, Germany, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands – are in fact on track. The reality is that unless the present trends change, the E.U. will achieve a target approaching at best 19 percent. IN INDIA: “In Jharkhand about 9,000 tones of fly ash is being generated everyday from the coal based thermal power plants with present generation of about 1500 MW. Fortunately, the state is utilizing over fifty present of the fly ash through environmentally sound techniques such as abandoned mine reclamation, Cement Manufacturing, Brick manufacturing etc. Damodar valley Corporation is reclaiming Central Coalfield Limited (CCL) abandoned mine using its pond ash, Tata Power at Jhamshedpur is feeding all its fly ash to Lafarge Cement, ACC and other cement plants. Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board has taken a lead in the utilization of fly ash in the Sate with the co-operation of Thermal Power Plants, Mining Industries, Cement Industries, Brick manufacture etc” If in 1500 MW Thermal power plant 9000 tones of fly ash is generated in Jharkand as per Jharkand Pollution Control Board’s statistics, In Cheyyur 4000 MW mega power plant will generate 36,000 tones of fly ash polluting the entire ECR road, about which Deepa H.Ramakrishnan of The Hindu wrote as The Road Beckons [Metro plus Sept 8 of 2007]. The Road Stinks may be her article if she travels next year in same ECR Road. The Swedish Energy System: Role Model for India Electricity production in Sweden is basically fossil-free. Approximately half of the electricity production comes from hydropower and the remainder is provided by nuclear power. Swedish scientists were among the first to discover the effects of acid rain; this was a focal point in the first UN Environmental Conference in Stockholm in 1972, twenty years before the following conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Swedish industry was also among early world pioneers in demonstrating the first technological solutions for flue gas desulphurization. We live in a world which is known now as global village. If we fail to follow the footsteps of pioneers and opt for outdated un-clean technologies, it is a national shame to the genius of India. Our Planning Commission will have hundreds of committee reports arguing all good things on earth but all remain in paper and only lip service is rendered. Sweden shows the way and our planners will have all blueprints for future ready in their shelves but our Ministers opt for unclean technologies, may be because of other considerations

DROP CHEYYUR –MARAKANAM

THERMAL POWER PROJECTS

Dravida Peravai urges the Government of India to have a rethink on starting many more thermal power plants, and we oppose the proposed Cheyyur and Marakanam power projects on the following grounds.· The formal classification in the land registry-adangal records declare that the 2888.06 acres meant for the project is an area comprising salt puramboke and grazing land. In reality it is a waterbody.Survey number 352 at Mudaliarkuppam [274.12 acres] and Survey number 359[ 103.32 acres] under Panaiyur villages where National Thermal Power Corporation plans to have the fly ash disposal plant and main site are in fact are water bodies. We are aware of how fly ash is disposed in Ennore Thermal Power Plant and how Pulicut Lake has become dead lake with pollution and waste dumping. Similar fate will befall Kaluveli Tank.· National Thermal Power Corporation in 1999 short listed 4 sites Kovalam near Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Cheyyur and a site beyond Cuddalore. Two days ago a private company which was planning to set up a Power Project near Cuddalore had to face the people’s anger when the District Collector of Cuddalore convened a consultative meeting. Police lathi charged and arrested many villagers of Thiagavalli near Cuddalore in September 2007.TamilNadu electricity Minister Arcot Veerasamy is uprooting people when their traditional dwellings in order to fill his personal overflowing coffers, people have started to gossip about the fortunes made.Kovalam is a Beach, Mahabalipuram a tourist spot of historical antiquity.Cheyyur where NPTC took the first step, they were halted by our agitations. Now Cheyyur has become once again the target of evil eyes which want to spoil the natural beauty of our coast. Marakanam, an ancient Port known then as Eyilpattinam is the centre of salt pans providing livelihood for thousands for centuries.

Dravida Peravai does not see any valid argument for shifting the focus from tourism promotion exploiting the nature’s bounty of our beaches to thermal power generation and converting water bodies as dumping grounds of waste and polluting the air apart from driving salt pan workers out of jobs. · The argument advanced by Tamilnadu Electricity Minister to bring coal from Orissa by ships, Marakanam harbour will be of use, is just wishful thinking. Apart from 12 major ports which are governed by Major Port Trusts Act, none of the 138 minor or intermediary ports under the control of various governments are functioning ports. Neither they are economical, viable, profitable for public utility. All minor ports with the exception of minor ports under Gujarat Maritime Board remain monuments of wasteful expenditure. On the way to Chennai in ECR Road we can see Cyclone Shelters in depilated conditions, which are another monument of wasteful expenditure. There had been no plan on how to use these shelters apart from cyclone times; hence they remain without maintenance and use. To develop Marakanam as Port just to bring coal will also meet the same fate. All moneys pumped into development of minor ports by various state governments have led to criminal and wasteful expenditure. This is because the Union Government has no national policy to reduce the traffic congestion in our surface transport.

 We have the longest coast in east and west of our peninsula. If only the Union Government had heeded to various memorandums/press statements/port trust minutes, wherein Dravida Peravai had mentioned and argued the need to create a National Seaway Authority and frame policies for cargo/passenger ferries interconnecting these minor ports, travel in roads would be eased in congestion. Only on the event of shifting focus from lorry and rail cargo carrying to carrying cargo by ships and only when inducing people to travel by ships with well connected chain between all minor ports of the country, then ventures like developing Marakanam Port will become profitable. Focus on utilizing our ports for people’s usage is missing but focus is on wasting money on port development. Can Government of India order a study on the investments made by various State Governments in the name of developing minor ports and the yields from such investments? If such a probe is made you can find all moneys have created assets which yield nothing draining the public exchequer.· We understand that there prevails a policy wherein the power generating project need not be situated in states where power is consumed but states can set up power projects near coal mines and the power can be routed through the national grid to reach the beneficiary state.Puducherry Government on August 15 th media release had announced about a coal block allotted in Orissa.We presume Puducherry Government will put up the project in Orissa as per this new policy of the Center. Our question is while Puducherry can set precedent why should not Tamilnadu follow that instead of ferrying coal from Orissa to Marakanam and setting up power projects off ECR road which was meant to promote tourism and not pollution?

Dravida Peravai has reservations about Puducherry Government not selecting big industrial houses in India or going for cleaner technologies in alliance with multinationals but opting for Dr.Jagathratchagan’s enterprise which has no expertise in power sector as its partner in the Rs7500 crore mega power projects, and we will come out in detail soon on this. Throwing dalits and fishermen out of their traditional homes and professions in Marakanam_Cheyyur belt by mega projects which have become outmoded in western countries, is a crime against fellow human beings, the citizens of India, who are the real masters as per the lexicon of democracy.

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

TENTH DEGREE- TAMIZHAN CANAL

Environmentalists are not anti developmental people. Dravida Peravai had mooted many developmental plans, discussed it with Planning Commission Member Dr.S.B.Gupta and met the Union Minister for State of External Affairs Digvijay Singh to urge for the TENTH DEGREE CANAL PROJECT. This was published in center page of Dinamani in al edition coverage with New Delhi dateline.

 TENTH DEGREE- TAMIZHAN CANAL

 August 15 th 2003, from Pondicherry Dravida Peravai wrote a letter to the Lt.Governor of Andaman and Nicibar Mr.N.N.Jha on the need to dig a canal in Thailand connecting Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Siam. It also urged that such Indo-Thailand joint venture be named as Thamizhan Calvaay. (Daily Thanthi 15.08.2003). Then Dinamani dated 28.08.2003 stated that a memorandum for construction of a " New Canal for benefiting Chennai and Tuticorin Harbor’s” had been handed over to the Union Minister of State for External Affairs Mr.Digvijay Singh. Mr.Singh lauded this project which will reduce 1500 nautical miles to reach South China Seas. Then Dravida Peravai sent Memorandums to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Thailand Prime Minister Thakashin Shinawatra on 3.11.2003. The contents of that memorandum are given here.

 Dear Respected Prime Ministers

You may be aware that the Suez Canal (1869) and Panama Canal (1915), Sethusamudram Canal (1860) and the Tenth degree canal have been mooted to create short navigational routes to bring prosperity to respective regions and countries. The French initiative to build Siene-Norde Canal is an example for the keen interest evinced by developed countries to promote trade and overall development. Since the recent visit of The Indian Prime Minister had given tremendous boos to the cooperation between India and Thailand, Dravida Peravai is bringing to your knowledge certain historical facts with the humble request to you both to take an active interest for the construction of the Tenth Degree Canal, which can bring prosperity to Andaman and Nicobar islands of India and Thailand apart from boosting bilateral trade.

You must go back to the pages of history to know that Thailand then known as Siam is an enemy country of the British and an ally of the Japan during the World War II. On the conclusion of the Second World War one of the last secretive acts performed by the colonial Government of India was the signing of a Peace Treaty with Siam [Thailand]. A Peace Treaty between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of India on one hand and the Kingdom of Siam on the other on January 1, 1946 at the Government House Singapore. The signatories were for the Britain Mr. Moberly Dening, political adviser of Lord Louis Mount batten for the Government of India M, S.Aney AND for Siam Prince Viwat Anajai Jaiyant, Lt.General Phya Abhai Songramm and Nai Serm Vinichayakul. This treaty contains 24 articles. Out of this Article 7 assumes great importance in context of this letter.

Article 7: Siam undertakes to construct NO CANAL linking the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Siam [i.e. across the Kra of Isthmus] without British consent. [Keesing’s Contemporary Archives 1946-47 Vol VI p 7695]. This article had done great havoc to Indian shipping costing our nation billions of extra money by way of fuel imports, in view of shelving of the Tenth Degree Canal by imposing a condition in the Peace Treaty. It has also blocked the economic prosperity of Thailand and held up the development process by half a century and more.

Hence Dravida Peravai urges the Government of India and Government of Thailand to look into the unfavorable condition imposed by a colonial rule that too at the threshold of a defeat in World War II. It is in the interests of India and Thailand that a Canal be cut across the Isthmus of Kra where Isthmus narrows to just 75 miles and to develop this canal vigorously so that a detour of 1500 nautical miles down the Malayan coast via Straits of Malacca and up the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea is avoided.

The proposed tenth degree canal will be an extension of the tenth degree channel of Andaman Nicobar islands. The opening of Tenth Degree canal will save millions of tons of fuel for world shipping. Tenth Degree Canal will reduce the importance of Panama and Suez Canals. Tenth Degree Canal would develop Andaman and Nicobar islands and bring prosperity to its economy. The opening of this canal will also benefit Indian Ports like Haldia, Paradip, Vizag, Chennai and Tuticorin.

There are more than 138 minor and intermediary ports under the control of various state governments in India. If Indian Government creates a National Seaway Authority and permits private sector vessels to transport cargo and passengers connecting all Indian ports, these 138 minor and intermediary ports which are inoperable will be busting with activity.................So continues the memorandum.

It must be noted that Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke about "Sagarmala" scheme which is nothing but National Seaway mooted by Dravida Peravai before Planning Commission and other forums.

The future will evaluate all and we have submitted about our activities for future to decide. Tamils must understand that Anna the visionary had left a legacy and it will always remain looking forward for the human upward march towards rational progress.
  N.Nandhivarman General Secretary 

ACCOSTING THE SEA COAST

The New Indian Express of 4.06.2005. 

We reproduce it here because it shows in past decade we continue to focus on Green Issues.

ACCOSTING THE SEA COAST 

n.nandhivarman

Nowadays seas frighten the fisher folk. For centuries fisher folk had established unassailable bond of love with seas, but in post tsunami phase every change in the sea causes nightmare. The sea recedes and people become panicky. Waves enter villages lashing out the beaches. People run hither thither for safety. Kanyakumari to Cuddalore almost for a week people of the coast spent sleepless nights and anxious days. This scenario had wakened up the social thinkers and scientists to look for solutions to coastal erosion. Changes due to continental drift are inevitable. Here too if we look at the projections made by scientists, the future world map of 100 million years and 250 million years show changes in India’s position but India always remain attached to the Asian continent. This should be viewed with consolation, because in past India was an island nation separated from Asia.

 “Our planet is a tri-axial ellipsoid, moving around the Sun in an elliptical orbit at 30 kilometers per second and rotating around its axis at 1,666 kilometers per hour which is faster than speed of sound. Such high speed rotation has resulted in polar areas being compressed towards the center and equatorial areas being bulged out” says Professor Vishal Sharma. Apart from these changes the coast of Tamil Nadu had undergone variations in the past but the present causes more concern. As per a study by the School of Earth Sciences of Bharathidasan University “Before 1.5 million years ago Sea extended up to Madurai. Around 90,000 years before Chennai, Pondicherry and Vedranyam were encircled by seas. Since sea level subsided 65,000 years ago India and Ceylon got connected. When sea level rose by 27,000 years ago both parted and when it fell by 17,000 years before joined again to part again". And amidst panic reaction to such studies, if we look at the map of coastal changes in Tamil Nadu, one could know that the coast instead of moving inwards had extended seawards. This is enough to give us fresh hope for survival braving the fury of Nature.

 VARYING TAMIL NADU COAST

The sea erosion of coast is not an India specific problem. "More than 80 percent of the world shorelines are eroding at the rates varying from centimeters to meters per year." says Orrin.H.Pelkey, Professor of Geology and Director of the Program for the study of Developed Shorelines in the Duke University, North Carolina, USA. He had authored two books and one of its titles has a message to all of us. “Living by the Rules of the Sea" is his book and it is high time we learn to live by the rules of the seas. 

A walk in the beach and breathing its salubrious breeze is world wide habit. But how many of those who visit beaches is aware on how beaches are formed? People are worried about erosion. But it is a fact that without erosion beaches could not be formed. "Without the process of erosion, we would not have beaches, dumes, barrier beaches and the highly productive bays and estuaries that owe their existence to the presence of barrier beaches" opines Jim O'Connell, the Coastal Processes Specialist of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Well erosion might have helped beach formation, but it is sending alarm bells from Kanyakumari to Chennai and beyond. Let us look for some scholarly opinion in this regard. After a close study at the Pitchavaram forests near Chidambaram, M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation reveals that "in between 1930 and 1970, the seashore had eroded by 550 meters. Between 1970 and 1992 the rate of erosion was about 12 meters." The writing on the wall is clear. In past Sirkazhi was a coastal town, which now is interior by kms. The Harbour of Choza Empire, Poompuhar is now beneath the seas. At present warning from Pitchavaram must awaken us. 

Apart from facing Nature's onslaughts with preventive measures, human errors too needs to be corrected. Sand is the food for beaches, and it is needless to say that our rivers are not supplying that food to the beaches. Human exploitation and drying of rivers depletes sand supply to beaches. Interlinking of rivers as often advised by our President A.P.J.Abdul Kalama will not only solve water crisis but will save dying beaches. 

Sea level rise is primarily due to the thermal expansion of the sea water and melting of the glaciers and ice caps. Artic Climate Impact assessment by 250 scientists says that “global warming is heating the Artic almost twice as fast as rest of the planet” United Nations sponsored Inter Governmental panel on climate change will be bringing out its fourth assessment by 2007. Changing Winds and currents in the Indian Ocean in 1990’s contributed to the global warming says a NASA study in the Geophysical Research Letters. The recent lashing of waves of Tamil Nadu coast was triggered by a storm near Australia, scientists say.

The National Hurricane Center of USA reports that “hurricanes release heat energy at the rate of 50 trillion to 200 trillion watts. This is equivalent to 10 mega ton nuclear bomb exploding about every 20 minutes.” But we in India are in one way lucky. Our coast will not be hit by hurricanes. Our cyclones are less intense. Storms that hit continental America have almost the full width of Atlantic Ocean to gain strength, since our cyclones emanate from Bay of Bengal there is neither room nor time for them to grow, and this natural phenomenon helps us in one way.

 Global warming also causes rise in sea level inundating coastal areas. We must know that most of the ice sheet rests on land that's below sea level. At a point called the "grounding line" it starts floating, thus displacing its own weight in water. And as it turns out, the line may not move much because the flow of the ice streams seems to be restrained by friction against rocks at the bottom and sides rather than the ice shelf. So if the ice shelf melts, the flow of the streams should not change appreciably. And since the volume added to the ocean depends on how much ice moves from land to water -- as determined by the grounding line -- the upshot seems to be relative stability. "The ice streams do not appear to be susceptible to the kind of unstable retreat once envisaged," says Bentley. "Their flow is largely insensitive to the presence of the ice shelf so the grounding line would remain the same."  Instead of possibly collapsing in 100 years, as was considered possible 10 years ago, Bentley says the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is more likely to collapse -- if at all -- in perhaps 5,000 years at the soonest. By this scientific prediction it becomes evident that sea level rise by global warming too will not cause more harm in near future, if we are well prepared for it with preventive measures. If governments have plans for beach nourishment with vegetation, which is the cheapest preventive measure, it will go a long way in arresting coastal erosion. Our survival instincts will save us in planet Earth, but let us strive to survive with forethought.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express-week end 4.06.2005

TEMPLE TREASURES AND FORTIFICATION

உலகக் கவிஞர் சுத்தானந்த பாரதியார்

HIDDEN HISTORY OF NETHAJI

MOSTLY ABSENTEE RAJYA SABHA M.P from PUDUCHERRY

DR.EVA WILDEN

VA.VE.SU.AIYAR and VANJINATHAN : PONDICHERRY CONNECTION

GANDHI _PERIYAR_ CHEDDILAL IN PONDICHERRY

SELECTIVE AMNESIA OF NAVIN CHAWLA

N.Nandhivarman

Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, who started his career as Delhi Metropolitan Council official had served in Pondicherry as Secretary of Culture and Ports, and also had been Secretary in of Town and Country Planning. After climbing to reach great heights to become Chief Election Commissioner of this great democracy, suddenly his views appeared in The Hindu dated 16^th August of 2012 Open-Editorial page while we thought he has forgotten Pondicherry in his retirement.

A heritage, all at Sea is his article. Let me remind him of our heritage. I wrote in New Indian Express on June 4^th of 2005 under the title Saving the Coast, hence I was happy about Navin Chawla’s concern for the Pondicherry Coast. “As per the study by the School of Earth Sciences of Bharathidasan University before 1.5 million years ago sea extended up to Madurai. Around 90,000 years ago Chennai, Pondicherry and Vedaranyam were encircled by seas. Since sea level subsided 65,000 years ago India and Ceylon got connected. When sea level rose by 27,000 years ago both parted and when sea level fell by 17,000 years ago joined again to part again”. I have quoted from the report in my article. So we are thinking of our heritage not limiting our vision to the colonial period but to those past which is emerging from darkness.

Over 2 lakh years old fossilized skull found

PTI Mar 31, 2003, 12.29am IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A well-fossilized human skull, dating back to over two lakh years, has been found from within ferricrete at a site near Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu, in a geo-archaeological exploration conducted at the site.

Besides being one of the oldest hominid fossils to be found in India, the study of the find could challenge the widely held theory that a fossil would not remain intact for long in ferricrete without sediment intrusion, Dr P Rajendran, UGC professor-scientist and archaeologist at the Department of History, Kerala University, who conducted the exploration said.

It is known fact the human race emanated from East Africa 1.60 million years ago, and if so when there is a discovery of a fossilized baby dating back to almost same age, is it not our heritage, and should we Pondicherrians not proclaim that ancient homo-sapiens had their home in our soil.

In and around Pondicherry 535 stone inscriptions have been found, out of which 4 are in Sanskrit, 2 in Kannada, 1 in Latin ,2 in French and 1 in Armenian. Should we not preserve these heritages and should we only preserve few colonial style buildings.

The rest in 535 stone inscriptions 16 Chola Emperors, 8 Pandyan Emperors, 2 Later Pallava Emperors, and 13 Vijayanagara Emperors have inscribed their legacy in Tamil. Is it wrong to call these history as our past, and should we only think of 1800 colonial style houses declared by Indian National Trust for Arts and Heritage Pondicherry chapter in 1995 as our heritage relics. Navin Chawla laments that half of these houses have undergone changes invoking the fundamental right of the legally rightful owners of these houses to construct or alter or re-construct their houses or dwellings in whichever architectural style of their choice. Nowadays with increasing thefts, burglary, house breaking and anti-socials on the prowl, is it prudent to keep houses with thinnai , and without compound or fencing inviting anyone to sleep in the frontal areas of these houses with French architectural style.

We are not having pyramids in Pondicherry that calls for preservation. We have not built Kallanai dam like Karikal Cholan or Tanjavor Temple like Raja Raja Cholan. Nor is it that we have unearthed within the four boulevards, a site like in Indus Valley, hence to call the area within four boulevards of Pondicherry as if it is Jerusalem is not logical that needs preservation. The book written by Jean Deloche titled Origins of Urban Development of Pondicherry according to 17 th Century Dutch plans about which I wrote in New Indian Express on 13 th November 2004, reveals that “the Dutch plans of Pondicherry preserved at the National Archives in the Hague show that the orthogonal street pattern of the town is a creation of the Dutch. The plans of 1693 show that in Francoise Martin’s times the streets or lanes followed an irregular pattern without any shape or symmetry whereas the plans drafted in 1694  during the Dutch occupation one finds the design of a large new town with a regular geometric lay out rectangular blocks of houses separated by straight streets, intersecting at right angles.”

My humble query is should not the Dutch legacy be hailed, and why Town and Country Planning Department of Pondicherry over which Navin Chawla’s rule too existed for some years, failed to follow the Dutch design when the sub urban areas beyond 4 boulevards of Pondicherry developed rapidly, and with real estate boom everywhere in agricultural lands lay outs propped up and concrete jungles mushroomed, and are we to demolish those townships to bring back the symmetrical pattern of the areas within four boulevard to cover entire town that has grown beyond control and without foresight Town and Country Planning of Pondicherry went into slumber for decades, almost half a century.

Multi storey buildings and flat system were absent in French rule. But when Pondicherry integrated with Indian Union, the architectural style of rest of India made its head way here, and with increase in population even within the so called white town, where in 1995 INTACH identified 300 buildings as heritage buildings, multi storey flats have come up. Our women used to wear saree and blouses, now chudidars and pyjamas have caught up and even jeans t-shirts have replaced pavadai and thavani ? Are we going to say to preserve our heritage our girls and women should wear only those old fashioned dresses and not wear modern dress? A Temple or a Fort or a Pyramid or An Archeologically declared site like Arikamedu can be rightfully called our heritage. Colonial architecture which is out of fashion in modern India looses its relevance. We are part of India and are bound to be influenced by construction designs that prevail in rest of India.

 In the first scientific excavations conducted in 1945 and published in the book Rome beyond the Imperial Frontiers [1954] Mortimer Wheeler left “ an impression of a sleepy village suddenly awakened by enterprising Romans who built stone buildings and a Port, then fell back to sleep when Roman’s left” opines Francis Peter Junior.

From the arretine pottery table wares used by the Romans found there Mortimer Wheeler came to the conclusion that Roman trade flourished between 14 th B.C to 25 B.C. Jean Mari Casal conducted his excavations between 1947 and 1950 opined that much before Romans advent Arikamedu was a prosperous Port dating back to 250 B.C. People of that place were civilized from Iron Age claims Jean Mari Casal who found gold jewels in the burial sites of Suthukeni and was stunned by the prosperity of the people. Whatever may be the dating, the Port of Arikamedu is centuries ahead of colonial entry into Pondicherry soil. Are we to uphold our Indian legacy and heritage or are we going to attach importance to preserve an old prison building in main market area of Nehru Street, instead of allowing its demolition to build a parking area for the crowded market zone?

The proposed plans of how beach road would look like after INTACH mooted modifications are carried out as shown in the website of Pondicherry chapter of INTACH shows the Mahatma Gandhi statue missing? Are these men inside an Indian National Trust contemplating to throw Mahatma Gandhi into Bay of Bengal to reclaim the beach in their way of colonial legacy preservation? May be even Jawaharlal Nehru statue installed on the pedestal of Dupleix statue would be an eyesore to these saviors of colonial heritage. They may even bring down Jawaharlal Nehru statue and install Dupleix once again in his original place occupied during colonial era.

You would have seen protests in Indian cities, which is an every day affair. Have you heard that the weavers of London protested in the streets of London in 1700 demanding ban on import of Indian textiles. Indian textiles were far superior to British products and weavers of British Isles forced their government to ban Indian textiles. The excavations in Red Sea ports and Dutch maritime records reveal that once upon a time India was the couturier of the world. Ms.Rosemary Crill of the V& A Museum of London along with co-authors Ruth Barnes and Steven Cohen published a book Trade, Temple and Court Indian Textiles from Tapi Collections, wherein she states “The East India Company was founded in 1600 to sell British woolen cloth to India, their ships arrived in India in Surat [of Gujarat] in 1608 with vast quantities of broadcloth but the trade soon faltered and died out. What changed their fortune was the discovery of cotton, which was completely unknown in Europe.” Till 18th century from 10 th century, Indian weavers were unbeatable in world markets. In fact most of them were Tamil weavers.

 Recently speaking at the Historical Society of Puducherry, Professor Orse M.Gobalakichenane who published the Veera Naicker’s diary 1778-1792 admitted that even in France, French weavers protested against import of textiles from French India namely Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe, Yenam and Chandranagore. Quoting Veera Naicker’s diary Professor Orse.M.Gobalakichenane narrated on how the kaikolars, the Tamil community of weavers were taken on three year contract to French colonies to teach local weavers, weaving techniques. I intervened and asked, why France took weavers from Puducherry, whereas they could have brought from their France. Economics apart, it became evident by the Professor’s reply that French weavers protested Puducherry textiles leading to the logical conclusion that our weavers were far superior in their skills which made them wanted species every where.

Is it not the duty of Indian National Trust for Heritage to preserve this heritage by reviving the weaving techniques that were the envy of even western countries.

Pondicherry is an intermediary port, and when Thiru. P. Shanmugam was Chief Minister; I suggested that this Port be handed over to Singapore Government owned Singapore Port Trust so that it can be used as transshipment harbor. Since there is nothing much to export from or import to industries around Pondicherry, if this had been made a transshipment harbor it would have eased congestion in Singapore Port and brought revenue to Puducherry Government. Unfortunately my plea went unheeded. Successive Chief Ministers developed it as fishing harbor.  If it should be fishing harbor, fish cold storage facilities should exist there. Fish or prawn packing preserving and export processing industry must have been set up within the harbor. Nothing happened. The rulers forgot that during French regime had built a tunnel beneath the backwaters 100 meters away from coast near Port’s mouth which starts from Vambakeerapalayam and reaches Veerampattinam. This underwater tunnel was used by fishermen in that colonial era. This tunnel, a heritage tunnel obstructs flow of water from sea or sand from river into the seas. There is a dredger, often given on contracts to powerful media or politicians and never to Dredging Corporation of India, a Government of India enterprise.

So vessels entering harbor is next to impossible dream. Fishing vessels get struck as dredging is not done by professionals and adding to the complexity of the problem is the hidden under water tunnel, which Government is neither ready to break nor ready to study on how to keep the mouth of the river hindrance free for shipping boats to reach the fishing harbor.

So Navin Chawla’s single point agenda in supporting INTACH, Pondicherry chapter which wants to get rid off the Gandhiji’s statue in Beach, as pictures by their proposed modernization of beach picture shown in their website has no justification even in the name of upholding colonial legacy, when many buildings which are newly built or remodeled within white town or even in Beach does not resemble the buildings that existed in French India. The proposed picture of Nehru Street, the main market area of Pondicherry, which perhaps INTACH wants to rename as Dupliex Street, shows trees in the pavements and street appears to be converted into a park. Are our business people aware of the INTACH plan to make Nehru Street only usable by pedestrians and cars and two-wheelers to be barred from entering?

Indians won freedom from colonialism but some vested interests are for clinging to colonial past, and that too in architecture only. Let Navin Chawla get rid of his selective amnesia.