000-tobecategorised

While embracing technological advancements, it is imperative not to compromise offline systems that have traditionally served as a lifeline for those with limited digital access.

https://thewire.in/government/navigating-pm-kisan-a-deep-dive-into-digital-challenges-faced-by-farmers 

 We discuss the obstacles encountered by those using the scheme within its digital framework. We trace changes in two specific aspects of the digital framework: access to information, and changing compliances. The changes in both aspects since 2019 impact not just ‘entitlement holders’ experience of the scheme, but also potentially hamper the seamless flow of benefits. Using case studies gathered in Andhra Pradesh (AP), Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana, we illustrate the struggles of farmers and local officials in navigating PMKISAN’s digital landscape. This journey underscores the necessity for streamlined and accessible information systems to ensure any welfare programme’s success.

by Chakradhar Buddha and B.D.S. Kishore

30/11/2023

No rethink at the end of the tunnel November 22, 2023 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/no-rethink-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel/ , It is in this decade that the Himalayas have been tunnelled, blasted, cut, gouged, turned to rubble and concretised as never before in the range’s 50 million years of existence. Hydel projects, rail tracks at heights of 1,000 mtrs in narrow valleys, and road construction, all require tunnels. Rampant construction of hotels and torrents of unregulated tourism require tunnels for car parks. The railway tunnel from Karnaprayag to Rishikesh is 110 mtrs long. The total might exceed 400 km by the time all the dhams are connected. https://i.redd.it/no-rethink-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-v0-nslc0pppxt1c1.png?s=890ba7828baf3cde6812070f4b8f8681d1b566bc

Response: by a Chandrasekar Punekar Typical selective outcry from activists lobby . Equipped with modern technologies , the world is accomplishing hitherto unsurmounatble tasks of creating great engineering marvel in construction. Be it tunnel under the sea , or reclaiming sea to build a city or making rail bridges and laying rail lines at high altitudes , modern engineering has accomplished daunting tasks. The Guanjiao tunnel in Tibet has been done much earlier without any accompanying disasters in Tibetans mountains , Eisenover tunnel in rocky mountains too was completed quite long ago . The problem with this world is that there are one too many Medha patkar kind to decry all projects concerned with development and progress to mankind .

Decolonize to Decarbonize: Our Call to Action for Climate Justice at COP28  https://www.climatejusticehub.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/D2D-Campaign-Briefer-for-COP28.pdf   imperialist countries in the global North and their corporations are using the climate crisis to co-opt peoples’ demands to transition away from fossil fuels to further colonise global South frontiers for resource grabbing and exploitation.... Apart from being unscientific or too resource-intensive to deploy at the scale and pace required, these ‘solutions’ are mere ploys to continue burning fossil fuels and profit off of the climate crisis. Worse, these result in what some would refer to as “green grabbing” or “green colonialism” since they historically led to restrictions on people's access to rights, services, and natural resources, including labour rights, healthcare, education, and the Indigenous Peoples' rights to free, prior, and informed consent.

https://www.climatejusticehub.org/2023/11/21/decolonize-to-decarbonize-our-call-to-action-for-climate-justice-at-cop28/ What are our demands at COP28?

Phase out all forms of fossil fuels

No to false ‘solutions’ to climate change. Market-based mechanisms cannot be presented as solutions

Uphold a people-led energy transition: it should be publicly-owned, wherein the people are allowed to exercise democratic control over the overhauling of existing energy systems

Global North countries must fulfil their financial obligations.Funding mechanisms and facilities must channel finance in the form of grants as compensatory funding and not as loans or for-profit investments

Polluters out  People in. deconstructing the existing power structures that favour global North countries and corporations. In practical terms, this amounts to institutionalising measures that will withhold the ability of corporations to access and influence climate policymaking and governance.