The Highlights of the Himalayan Highlander's Life!

Blog Action Day 2011

2011-10-16T07:19:00.004Z

Partnership with Paradise Farm

Food is the topic this year for Blog Action Day 2011 and October 16 coincides with World Food Day. So I want to blog about Paradise Farm which was started in 1996 to promote organic agriculture in Sri Lanka. Due to its links with international institutions and its valuable experience in integrating sustainable agriculture and forestry. Paradise Farm is an ideal partner for Worldview Impact in setting ambitious goals to contribute to organic food production while addressing the reduction of climate change by massive tree planting projects with sustainable methods. We supports Paradise Farm also by promoting its organic green tea in the UK market and encouraging eco and responsible tourism. After a decade of peace negotiations, this is an excellent time to travel and sustain the stabilization and development of the country.

Winged bean, multi-purpose tropical legume

2011-10-15T08:45:00.002Z

The multi-purpose tropical bean yields tasty pods, which are rich in protein and vitamin A.

Among the tropical beans, known for their protein-rich pods and seeds, winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) is considered quite unique because of its multiple uses. A native of South Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, it was introduced in India during 1799, and is grown in Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Orissa, and other southern States, according to Dr. G. S. Sahu, Assistant Professor, Department of Agriculture at the College of Horticulture, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Bhubaneswar, Orissa.

Also known as Goa bean, four-angled bean or asparagus pea, winged bean yields protein-rich pods, and its succulent leaves, tender shoots resembling lacy asparagus, seeds, flowers and tuberous roots are also edible. This robust, climbing herbaceous perennial, which reaches up to 5 metres in height, is also grown in different parts of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The tender pods, which are the most widely eaten part of the plant, can be harvested in two to three months of planting.

The long pods, which can reach up to 50 cm in length, are rich sources of proteins, carbohydrates and vitamin A (300 to 900 International Units). The pods may be eaten raw or used in salads, soups, stews and curries. The immature pods can also be used as peas. The seeds contain 29.8 to 39 per cent protein, 15 to 18 per cent fat and 23.9 to 42 per cent carbohydrate, according to him. The tender top three sets of leaflets can be eaten raw like spinach or cooked as greens. They are rich in vitamin A (20,000 IU), and 5 to 7.6 protein and 3 to 8.5 percent carbohydrates.

The vines produce starchy underground tubers. These tubers are eaten like potatoes, and are harvested 120 to 240 days after planting. The tuber formation is quite common in Papua New Guinea. In the Philippines, however, the tubers are relatively smaller and they are not eaten. The tubers are 2 to 4 cm in diameter and 8 to 12 cm in length. They contain 12.2 to 15 per cent protein (2 to 4 times higher than that of potato and 8 times more than that of cassava), 0.5 to 1.1 per cent fat and 27.2 to 30.5 per cent carbohydrate. This legume does well in humid tropics with high rainfall. It comes up well in loamy soils endowed with adequate drainage.

The plant responds well to organic nutrition and the application of biofertilizers, especially Rhizobium. Being a short-day length-loving plant, it flowers when the day length hovers just above 12 hours. Though, the plant is endowed with an extensive root system, it cannot stand drought conditions.

Courtesy- The Hindu, 26th September '02

Blog Action Day 2010

2010-10-15T15:41:00.002Z

Earth Report IV: Drinking the Sky

In 'Drinking the Sky', Dutch filmmaker Joost de Haas travels first to the wettest place on earth, then the driest. In Cherapunjee, north-east India during the Monsoon, more than twice as much rain falls in one day than falls on Holland over an entire year. For an extreme contrast, de Haas then travelled to Chile, to the Atacama desert where not a drop of rain falls from one year's end to the next. Both places are populated - and therein lies the intrigue: how do you cope with life in the deluge and life in the driest spot on earth? In a film full of surprises de Haas looks at water management in a couple of places where it really matters.

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Nuclear Power is no solution to Climate Change

2009-10-15T14:52:00.024Z

Today is Blog Action Day 2009 and I want to argue that Nuclear Power is no solution to Climate Change. The nuclear industry is hoping that concern over climate change will result in support for nuclear power. However, even solely on the grounds of economic criteria it offers poor value for money in displacing fossil fuel plant. Further, with its high cost, long construction time, high environmental risk and problems resulting from waste management, it is clear that nuclear power does not offer a viable solution to climate change. Rather a mixture of energy efficiency and renewable energy offers a quicker, more realistic and sustainable approach to reducing CO2 emissions.

Nuclear power produces CO2

Nuclear power is not greenhouse friendly. While electricity generated from nuclear power entails no direct emissions of CO2, the nuclear fuel cycle does release CO2 during mining, fuel enrichment and plant construction. Uranium mining is one of the most CO2 intensive industrial operations and as demand for uranium grows CO2 emissions are expected to rise as core grades decline.

According to calculations by the Öko-Institute, 34 grams of CO2 are emitted per generated kWh in Germany [4]. The results from other international research studies show much higher figures - up to 60 grams of CO2 per kWh. In total, a nuclear power station of standard size (1,250MW operating at 6,500 hours/annum) indirectly emits between 376,000 million tonnes (Germany) and 1,300,000 million tonnes (other countries) of CO2 per year. In comparison to renewable energy, nuclear power releases 4-5 times more CO2 per unit of energy produced taking account of the whole fuel cycle. Also, with its long development time a nuclear power programme offers no short-term possibility for reducing CO2 emissions.

Nuclear power is unsafe

Problems of security, safety and environmental impact have been perennial issues for the nuclear industry. Many countries have decided against the development of nuclear power on these grounds, but radioactive contamination is no respector of national borders and nuclear power plants threaten the health and well-being of all surrounding nations and environments. There is also the very serious problems of nuclear proliferation and trafficking. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) view is that if nuclear power were to be used extensively to tackle climate change, "The security threat ... would be colossal"

Nuclear power is unsustainable

Nuclear power plants produce extremely long-lived toxic wastes, for which there is no safe means of disposal. The only independent scrutiny of a Government waste management safety case [NIREX in the UK] led to the cancellation of the proposed test site for nuclear waste disposal. As disposal is not scientifically credible, there is no option other than interim storage of radioactive wastes. This means that the legacy of radioactive wastes will have to be passed on to the next generation. Producing long-lived radioactive wastes, with no solution for their disposal, leaving a deadly legacy for many future generations to come is contrary to the principle of sustainability, as laid out in Agenda 21 at the Earth Summit.
In 1976 the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution warned that it is, "irresponsible and morally wrong to commit future generations to the consequences of fission power on a massive scale unless it has been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that at least one method exists for the safe isolation of these wastes for the indefinite future". Over twenty years on, still no such method has been found. Nuclear waste management policies are in disarray and there is growing public opposition to the transport and storage of nuclear waste - as has been demonstrated by the scenes at Gorleben, Germany. Under no circumstances can nuclear power be considered to be sustainable.

Uranium Mining in Meghalaya will violated International Law

Having argued that nuclear power in no solution to climate change I now want to address the hot topic of uranium mining in my homeland Meghalaya in North East India. I am very concerned by the Meghalaya government cabinet decision to allow the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to initiate "pre-project" development programmes in uranium-rich West Khasi Hills in the name development by creating jobs for the poor in my state Meghalaya and to reduce climate change - it really does not make any social, environmental and economic sense to me.

Furthermore, the large scale open cast mining of high grade uranium in West Khasi Hills, Meghalaya is only 5 kms north of international border with Bangladesh. Once the government owned UCIL starts mining on the slopes of our native land it will contaminate the air and water system from our hills that flow down into the productive rice fields that feed millions of poor people in Bangladesh.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna which is the UN's nuclear watchdog facilitates the establishment of international conventions that address environmental issues which may relate to uranium mining and production facilities such as:

1. The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context.

2. The Convention on access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and access to Justice in Environmental Matters.

3. The Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law.

If UCIL still goes ahead with uranium mining away then they will violate International Law of cross boundary water and air pollution that will impact the people of another sovereign nation south of our border. But the people of Bangladesh can use International Law to protect themselves and hold the Government of India, the Government of Meghalaya and UCIL responsible for transboundary air and water contamination.

Fast forward to World Environment Day 2050!

2009-06-14T22:45:00.003Z

Dairy Entry - June 5th 2009: The theme for World Environment Day 2009 is 'Your Planet Needs You - UNite to Combat Climate Change'. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new global green deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests. But for me a Post-Carbon future would be a time in human history when no more oil is drilled, no more coal is mined and no more gas is piped in our planet. It would also mean a time when the remaining fossil fuels in stock globally are only burned with 100% Carbon Capture and Storage technologies. In a Post-Carbon future I see a world where apart from energy, no fertilizers, no plastics, no drugs, no foodstuffs - nothing will be manufactured from using fossil fuels. Lastly, as President Obama, promised that he will create 5 million new jobs in the new green economy - I see a Post-Carbon future where other politicians and leaders from around the world have come on board following Obama's leadership and within five decades they have together created 500 million green jobs in about 100 countries with a global annual turnover of USD $50 trillion.

Dairy Entry - June 5th 2050: So here I am 75 years old, still fit and strong - celebrating World Environment Day 2050 with my 9 grandchildren and my extended family inside the Lyngdoh Sacred Forest where 395 species of plants have been protected and preserved by my clan for centuries in Mawphlang Village, India. The theme of WED 2050 is 'Indigenous People - Celebrating their Resilience to Climate Change'. I am one of those old indigenous warriors from my Khasi Tribe who like others from across the planet have fought the good fight against climate change and managed to preserve our culture, our identity, our environment and our planet for generations to come. So I am enjoying my life in this Post-Carbon world where the global human population has stabilized at 9 billion, each with an annual carbon footprint of about 1 ton. I recall the time when it all started 41 years ago while I was at the historic climate change negotiations of COP 15 in Copenhagen where world leaders put a price tag on the emissions of carbon and all green house gases. Since then the price of carbon has gone up from $10 to $500 per ton and so over the years we have learned to measure it, price it - like a tax - and this has encouraged people across the planet to produce less of these GHGs. Under international climate law we also introduced legally enforceable ‘caps’ or limits to the amounts of GHGs any one country can emit in the course of a year. This has resulted in the transfer of appropriate clean technologies from the developed to the developing world and over time we have build a global green economy with a non-carbon consuming or emitting energy infra-structure.

Indigenous Candidate for IFAD President

2009-01-24T16:51:00.003Z

I am proud to inform you that Mr. Phrang Roy from my Khasi Tribe has been nominated as one of the candidates for the next Presidency of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) based in Rome. This rank in the U.N. system is equivalent to the Secretary General. When the IFAD Board meets in Rome he will need the votes from all the members states to support him as their leader.

We need the leaders from US, the UK, the EU, members of the G77 and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to vote for him. So if any of you have access to the decision makers and politicians of these governments where you are based then please lobby them to vote for our very own Khasi Indigenous Champion for Sustainable Development.

I have know Phrang since I was in high school and I am very proud of him and what he has done to improve the lives of the millions of poor people across the planet through his work with the U.N. system. While he has lived and worked around the world (Africa, South East Asia, India, Europe, the United States etc.), he was born and brought up in our matrilineal community in remote and culturally diverse Meghalaya in North East India where we still naturally embrace gender-equality, diversity and environmentally-appropriate processes of change. With this background of local and global experiences, I am confident that he can lead the recently revamped IFAD to higher grounds.

Knowing Phrang I believe that he can offer IFAD with a kind of leadership that understands the traditional knowledge of the poor and appreciates the potential contributions of emerging sciences and management techniques for achieving sustainable development.

More info on http://www.phrangroy.com/

May the positive force be with our Khasi Warrior! Let us all support his candidacy to the IFAD Presidency.

Mission to Poznan

2009-01-02T00:08:00.008Z

At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Poznan Stakeholder Forum with the CSD Education Caucus held a side event. This was on the missing 5th Building Block: the need for a fifth working group on education for sustainability – otherwise know as the human dimension. The side event was chaired by Pam Puntenney one of the co-chairs of the Caucus speakers included Bremley Lyngdoh Co-chair of the Education Caucus, Felix Dodds from Stakeholder Forum and Falk Schmidt from United Nations University.

P.J. Puntenney, Environmental and Human System Management, described the development of a sustainable society as a learning processand stressed the importance of good governance, as well as the links between climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty and the financial crisis, where the amelioration in one area may worsen the situation in another. She also stressed that since the late 1990s, climate change scientists have been saying that solutions which worked in the past will not necessarily work in the future, and that the human dimension of climate change mustbe integrated into the strategic policy framework of the UNFCCC.

Felix Dodds, Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, stressed theneed to move the human dimensions’ agenda for building well-prepared societies to the center stage of the 2012 framework. He expressed concern regarding the lack of proper stakeholder involvement in the climate change process, such as in the work of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation and the Ad hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action. He proposed the creation of an informal government support groupto prepare a set of detailed recommendations for Copenhagen, to be circulated to all governments.

Bremley Lyngdoh, Worldview Impact, stressed the link between poverty and the environment and the need to test the policies proposed at the international level to see how they work for people at the local level. He also emphasized that the principle of “eco-effectiveness” should prevailover “eco-efficiency,” as the latter would not necessarily prevent pollution. He advocated the localization of environmental curricula, and stressed the crucial role of youth and the engagement of local people in attaining sustainability.

John Takang, UNU-International Human Dimension Programme, described his research, which focuses on the human dimension of global change, namely how humans influence their environment and the resultant impacts of altered environments on human life. He stressed the importance ofresearch to identify the kind of education that is necessary for realizing sustainability and the institutions that are required to cope with global change.

Participants discussed: education and awareness as a fundament building block of sustainable development; the links between poverty, security and the environment; eco-effectiveness principles; and the absence ofresearch on the linkages between climate change and public health.

Element Bremley on MTV SWITCH 2008

2008-09-27T13:51:00.002Z

Half a billion MTV viewers around the world can now meet five dynamic young innovators in the race to combat global climate change, thanks to a lively and inspiring new series of short films called Element. Produced with the support of Internews, the Element series anchors a new package of films and public service announcements (PSAs) launched on September 11, 2008 by MTV Networks International as part of its global climate change campaign, MTV Switch.

Switch is MTV Networks International's Global Climate Change Campaign. They will be looking for the best ideas and innovations that can help MTV reinvent how people on earth can live in ways that are cool for humans and the planet. The Element series will be made available to MTV’s global network of 165 local TV channels in 162 countries, with a potential audience of 560 million viewers. Five new Element films will be presented to the MTV global audience of 15-25 year olds alongside cutting-edge PSAs on global warming, fresh from a stable of top European and US creative agencies.

MTV SWITCH - ELEMENT PARTNERSHIPS -BREMLEY80
Uploaded by MTVswitch

In the five-minute pieces in the new Element series, viewers follow the stories of five young individuals who are tackling global warming head-on: Harsha, who won the Australian Young Designer of the Year award for an almost fossil fuel-free, bio-plastic molded car; Bremley, who is fighting deforestation and desertification in his native Northeast India; Courtney, an American living in Oxford, England who manages carbon offsetting projects around the world; Igor, a Brazilian whose urban food gardens are slowly spreading across Rio de Janeiro; and Sepehr, named Iran’s Best Environmental Blogger.

The films will reach global TV and Internet audiences just as the UN is convening vital international negotiations in the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009. Satinder Bindra, Director of Communications for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said, “UNEP commends the MTV SWITCH campaign for commissioning programming that so effectively combines entertainment and real world examples of youth engagement in climate change. It is fascinating to see how many of the young Element entrepreneurs already have their feet firmly in the new carbon economy that UNEP is promoting.”

The Element Climate Change Series is a co-production of the Element Partnership and TVE, made with the support of Internews, the European Commission EuropeAid Cooperation Office, Oxfam Novib and the Com + Alliance of Communicators for Sustainable Development that includes UNEP, the World Bank and the Reuters Foundation.

White Christmas in Chamonix by the French Alps

2008-01-15T09:41:00.001Z

This year I decided to spend Christmas with my younger brother Aiban in a winter wonderland called Chamonix. We flew to Geneva from London where we stayed for a few days at a friend's house and then we took the bus across the French border to Chamonix. It was Aiban's first white Christmas and he really enjoyed himself in the snow.

Chamonix is a vibrant alpine town with a wonderful architectural heritage that bears witness to a wealth of history. The Priory, alpine farms, baroque churches, art deco buildings and palaces are from the "Golden Era". The cosmopolitan atmosphere in this small town is both captivating and enchanting.

The high mountain scenery, the majestic ice falls and glaciers in the area took our breath away. We rode on one of Europe's highest cable cars to the top of the mountains and then went on the cog railways that took us on a journey through time. Chamonix is beautiful alpine town where we witnessed 250 years of mountaineering history. We saw traditional villages and hamlets scattered along the 20km long valley and above all a heart and soul, beating to the rhythm of all those that live and love Chamonix.

Visit to Paradise Farm in Sri Lanka

2008-01-14T19:25:00.001Z

Paradise Farm was started in 1998 with the aim of promoting organic agriculture and forestry. The farm is situated in a traditionally agricultural area in the Kegalle District in Central Sri Lanka. It is presently operating as a demonstration farm with nurseries and multi-cropping of agricultural and forestry plants and processing of organic green tea, fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices. During its 10 years of operation, the farm has generated valuable experience in sustainable agriculture and forestry, and is now ready to engage in larger projects.

The farm was started by Letten Fund, Norway, and Worldview International Foundation, an international NGO specializing in communication on sustainable development, and with consultative status at the United Nations. Paradise Farm is operating as an independent social responsible company registered with Board of Investment, Sri Lanka. I spent my New Year's eve at Paradise Farm listening to a group of frogs singing a chorus to us all night long under the moon lit sky.

Graduating from the London School of Economics

2007-12-20T18:55:00.001Z

On December 2007 I graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science. I was lucky to have my younger brother Aiban with me in London who was accompanied by my best friend Tamara. They both came for the ceremonies that took about an hour an half to complete.

Tamara had to rush to work after congratulating me and my brother joined me for a DESTIN cocktail reception on the 6th floor of the old building. There I met my PhD supervisor Tim Forsyth who was on his way to Thailand and Australia after returning from attending conferences in the US.

Engage, Debate and Celebrate in Paris

2007-08-15T18:14:00.001Z

In September 2007 some 600 international alumni and guests gathered in Paris to engage, debate, and celebrate with the Columbia Alumni Association.

The weekend’s centerpiece was a daylong series of discussions entitled "Who Are We?: A CAA Forum on Globalization, the Arts, and the Media," featuring academic and professional luminaries on the most pressing issues of the day.

The discussion on Globalization was chaired by Lee C. Bollinger '71LAW, President, Columbia University which included Susan Fuhrman '77TC, President, Teachers College, Columbia University, Jeffrey Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University and Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate and University Professor, Columbia University as presenters.

Lee C. Bollinger said "Forces are reshaping our world, and we as academics—as teachers and researchers—must find our way into this new world to find the issues that need our attention."

He later introduced the keynote speaker saying "There is a yearning in the world for people who can speak to the world—not just to their own countries or to a few countries but actually try to speak on behalf of citizens around the world."

The keynote address was given by Kofi Annan, Nobel laureate and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations who said "Have you ever wondered what would have happened if the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had been declared before the 30s, before the World War?"

It was wonderful to meeting Kofi Annan and his wife again this time in Paris. I was accompanied by my best friend Tamara who came for the weekend gala celebration in Paris all the way from Basel, Switzerland. We had a blast in Paris and also met my good old SIPA buddies who came flying from across the globe to join the grand Paris celebration.

Shashi Tharoor for the UN’s Top Diplomatic Job

2006-06-21T14:31:00.000Z

Knowing Kofi Annan, it is fair to say, that he is a thorn in the side of President George W. Bush, at least the liberals in the United States find satisfaction in this of course. But the Nobel Peace Prize winner, originally from Ghana, who has been the Secretary General of the United Nations since 1997, won’t be the UN’s boss forever. So who will replace him in 2007? Well the New York Times reports:

“The early scramble to see who will fill the shoes of Kofi Annan has begun, with states and regions trying to bring one of their own into the position of Secretary General of the United Nations and all the bully pulpit privileges that come with it. The latest Iranian attempt, floating the candidacy of President Khatami for the position, was seen, at Turtle Bay, as a diversion. But it also stirred the pot in the hallways, and as world leaders gathered here for a week of meetings, some wonder whether it is too early to ask: Who will be Mr. Annan’s successor? More than anything, the early maneuvering for the position, which will become vacant at the end of 2006, underlines the chaotic method of selecting someone for the high-powered position. To be successful at this stage of the race, one has to feed the rumor mill.”

At the UN, where Mr. Annan is held in high regard, many believe that, as one official put it, “he raised the bar.” And so they assume his replacement has to be someone of stature no more junior than a Foreign Minister. Others assume that Mr. Annan has set another trend: a Secretary General from the ranks of the institution itself. One such candidate whose name is whispered around the halls of the world body is the Under Secretary General for public information, Shashi Tharoor, an Indian-born, British-educated writer with a Hollywood flair whose name is being floated. With what sounded like a well-honed non-denial of his candidacy, Mr. Tharoor told the New York Times: “The Secretary General is barely halfway through his second term. We all have a great deal of work to do to fulfill what remains to be accomplished in this term, and we’re all concentrating on that. I am certainly focused on that.”

On the morning of 29th September 2000 after our daily briefing with Indian Ambassador to the UN, Kamelesh Sharma and the members of the parliamentary delegation at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, I walked across to the UN headquarters two blocks down the road on 1st Avenue and 43rd Street. It was there that I first met Mr. Tharoor as we shared an elevator going up to the UN Security Council Chamber. I was on my way to listen to my hero President Nelson Mandela, as he was due to brief the Security Council on the peacekeeping operation in Burundi and to report back to the head of my national delegation, Mr. N. D. Tiwari who is the current Chief Minister of Uttranchal. While on the elevator Mr. Tharoor noticed my official red governmental UN identification and other security clearance to enter the chamber after which he asked me what a young man was doing on India’s national delegation. I told him that the day before on 28th September 2000, I had delivered my official youth statement to the 55th Session of the UN General Assembly as India’s first youth ambassador. He then congratulated me, gave me his business card and asked me send him a copy of my statement. It was an honour to have met him at that time. Mr. Tharoor is a great supporter of young people and I have listened to him give a couple talks and once shared a panel with him as well. In addition to being a good UN official he is a fine author. While some argue that he may not be ready for the prime time, I would say that Mr. Tharoor is ready to take on the world body as its youngest Secretary General in its history. I have never seen him display the hard edge that might be needed for the job, but not all good leaders need such a hard edge.

Indeed, while Asia contends that its candidate must become the next Secretary General, some groups disagree. At an inter-regional meeting recently, some members of New Europe contended that while the Burmese U Thant’s term ended as long ago as 1971, one region has never had a secretary general: Eastern Europe, which once was the Soviet bloc. Shashi Tharoor is Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information and has led the Department of Public Information (DPI) since January 2001. In this capacity, he is in charge of the Organization's communications strategy, with particular responsibility for ensuring the coherence and effectiveness of the United Nations' external message.

Prior to joining DPI, Mr. Tharoor served as Director of Communications and Special Projects in the Office of the Secretary-General and as Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General (1997-2001). As Special Assistant to the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations (1989-1996), he assisted two successive heads of United Nations peacekeeping operations in managing the challenges of unprecedented growth and evolution in peacekeeping at the end of the cold war. From 1991 to 1996, he led the team in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations responsible for the United Nations peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia. In 2003, the Secretary-General appointed him United Nations Coordinator for Multilingualism.

Mr. Tharoor's United Nations career began in 1978 on the staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. He was Head of the UNHCR office in Singapore (1981-1984) during the peak of the Vietnamese "boat people" crisis.
Mr. Tharoor is also the author of eight books, as well as numerous articles, op-eds and literary reviews in a wide range of publications. He is also the recipient of several journalism and literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
In January 1998, Mr. Tharoor was named by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as a "Global Leader of Tomorrow". Mr. Tharoor is an elected Fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities and a member of the Advisory Board of the Indo-American Arts Council.

Born in London in 1956, Mr. Tharoor was educated in India and the United States, completing a Ph.D. at 22 years of age in 1978 at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he also earned two Master's degrees. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in International Affairs by the University of Puget Sound, United States. Shashi Tharoor is the father of twin sons.

India on 15th June 2006 has nominated UN Under Secretary General Shashi Tharoor for the post of UN chief while seeking support of Asian countries to the principle of regional rotation for the key post. Under this principle, the next UN head should be from Asia when the present Secretary General Kofi Anan demits office. A final decision on the candidate for the top UN post is expected by October. Mr. Tharoor is the first Indian to be nominated for the post. The government’s decision was based on the fact that Mr. Tharoor has impeccable credentials and meets with India's desire to have the august body headed by "a person with strong commitment to UN reforms and the interests of the developing countries".

Our country has already approached other UN member countries through diplomatic channels to seek support for Mr. Tharoor's candidature. I believe that India should get the support, given Mr. Tharoor's internationally acclaimed stature and the fact that under the principle of regional rotation the next UN secretary general should be from Asia. Having had the opportunity to hear Shashi Tharoor speak on various occasions, I must say that I am thoroughly impressed by his clarity of thought. Personally I found him to be highly intelligent and scholarly, while humorous and a sensitive humanist at heart. I am really optimistic of him getting elected as the UN’s Top Diplomat. It would be a greatest honour for the world’s biggest democracy to send its own to head the world body.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

2006-05-29T13:16:00.002Z

In response to the articles that came out on the Meghalaya Guardian and Nongsainhima on May 20, 2006 and on Mawphor on May 22, 2006, I would like to clearly clarify to my dear fellow citizens that I have not violated any law or ruling of any court and therefore I cannot face Contempt of Court proceedings. With respect to our Honorable Mr. H. S. Shylla, who is neither a qualified Environmental Lawyer nor a Nuclear Scientist, I firmly disagree with his opinion that “There is no harm done should UCIL undertake the uranium mining project.” I must remind him that there is a saying that “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Secondly he must understand that he is neither my Academic Supervisor nor the Head of my Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and therefore he has no right to interfere with my independent research and findings. So for the benefit of our simple people especially those living in the villages, I would like to kindly request Mr. Hispreaching Son Shylla to please STOP preaching the wrong message to us all and leading our people astray. I really wonder who is advising him and misleading him with such incomplete and incorrect information. I have found Mr. Shylla to be very passionate about what he believes in, but I only wish that he would see that Renewable Energy is more sustainable than Nuclear Energy in the long run. If he could only channel his thoughts on renewable energy in the right direction then I strongly believe that our people would be really happy and satisfied with his leadership.

Now let me clarify what the ruling is all about. In response to the Writ Petition (C) No. 188 of 1999 filed by Dr. B. L. Wahdera against the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL), the Supreme Court order that came out on April 15, 2004 states “In view of the affidavit, filed on behalf of respondent No. 3-Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, that adequate steps have been taken to check and contain the radiation arising out of the uranium waste, we do not find any merit in the petition. It is, accordingly dismissed.” Well, any layman can see that there is no mention at all in the ruling, which guarantees that uranium mining is safe. As a matter of fact it is clear that the Apex Court has taken into consideration that there are indeed dangers arising out of the uranium waste. However, it seems that the adequate steps that have been taken by the DAE and UCIL to check and contain such radiation have satisfied the Apex Court. All the supporting documents are loaded on my website at www.bremley.blogspot.com for further reference.

I have consulted with my lawyers at the Supreme Court of India and also got feedback from my colleagues who are International Environmental Lawyers in the United States and the United Kingdom and they have all confirmed to me that it is not possible for any Court in any Land, let alone the Supreme Court of India, to rule that uranium mining is 100% safe. Going by science, it is known whether the technique used for extracting uranium is open cast or ordinary mining, exposure to radiation poses a serious threat to miners and the people living around the mines, because radioactive materials are absorbed from the dust into their bodies. Surveys at uranium mines in New Mexico have shown, as long as there is uranium in the dust, the internal exposure of the miners will progress to increasingly harmful levels. Radon, a radioactive gas, is produced from the decay of Uranium-238 or Thorium-232. The gas is released during mining, and radioactive particles attach themselves to the dust. When the dust is inhaled those particles are absorbed through the lung leading to an increased risk of lung cancer. Therefore no court can ignore these facts to say that uranium mining is safe. Our Supreme Court has recognised the 'Right to Health' as part of our Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Everyone therefore has the right to a clean and safe environment.

Again I want to stress that based on the findings of Dr. Gordon Edwards from Canada, when we extract uranium from the ground, we dig up the ore, we crush it and we leave behind this finely pulverized material of radioactive waste, called uranium tailings. As Dr. Marie Curie observed, 85 percent of the radioactivity in the ore remains behind in that crushed rock. How long will it be there? Well, it turns out that the effective half-life of this radioactivity is 80,000 years. That means in 80,000 years there will be half as much radioactivity in these tailings as there is today. And as these tailings are left on the surface of the earth, they are blown by the wind, they are washed by the rain into the water systems, and they inevitably spread. In addition, as the tailings are sitting there on the surface, they are continually generating radon gas. Radon gas is about eight times heavier than air, so it stays close to the ground. It can travel 1,000 miles in just a few days in a light breeze. So how far is Shillong from the proposed mines? And as it drifts along, it deposits on the vegetation below the radon daughters, which are the radioactive byproducts, including polonium. So that you actually get radon daughters in animals, fish and plants thousands of miles away from where the uranium mining is done. It's a mechanism for pumping radioactivity into the environment for millennia to come, and this is one of the hidden dangers of uranium mining.

As regards to the Jaduguda minefields are concerned, the facts cannot be ignored. Pushing the truth under the carpet will not serve public interest. In the first paragraph of my article “Uranium Project: To mine or not to mine” I have clearly stated that my analysis is purely based on the existing scientific data and the research done by other world famous scientists and scholars. The particular quote “Around 30,000 people live in 15 villages within 5 km of the Jadugoda complex and they are paying for India's nuclear capabilities with their lives” that Mr. H. S. Shylla has taken out from my article to accuse me of undermining the Supreme Court is in fact the direct opinion of Dr. Buddhi Kota Subbarao, a famous Nuclear Technology Scientist, who is a former Indian Navy Captain and now a Supreme Court advocate himself. So is this celebrated Supreme Court advocate in Contempt of Court? When I spoke to him about being threatened of Contempt of Court, he told me “If you have written something in the public’s interest and exposed the false claims of the Department of Atomic Energy, I do not see how it can constitute to Contempt of Court.” I have also consulted with Captain J. Rama Rao, a retired naval office in the Indian Navy who is leading the Movement Against Uranium Project (MAUP) in Andhra Pradesh and he told me that even the Chairman of the Planning Commission of India and the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna have both stated that uranium mining has health implications on the people in and around the mines. Captain Rama Rao also stated that if Mr. Shylla threatens me with Contempt of Court then he should also charge all the people who spoke about the direct links between radiation and health hazards mentioned above including himself and Dr. Subbarao. If so be the case then the BBC, NDTV, Greenpeace International, South Asians Against Nukes, Movement Against Uranium Mining, Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation among hundreds of other organisations should also be charged with Contempt of Court for speaking the truth about the health hazards of uranium mining in Jaduguda. It may be mentioned here that my mentor Late Mr. B. B. Lyngdoh the former Chief Minister of our Uranium–Rich Meghalaya, told UCIL, “KEEP OFF” as he did not want to jeopardize public health by rushing into hasty decisions. Therefore Captain Rama Rao also told his people in Andhra Pradesh and those living in Nalgonda district in particular, to tell UCIL, to “KEEP OFF” the Nagarjuna Sagar Reservoir. Like my mentor, I also want UCIL to “KEEP OFF” our land. If they want to dig our uranium by force then they can do so over my dead body. What really worries me is why our present government is cold and silent about this hot and loud uranium issue. There is a saying that “Evil thrives when the Good do nothing.” So are we all going to be silent spectators? What do our church leaders have to say on this matter?

I have seen that Mr. Shylla has been showing off his ‘Yellow Cake’ pictures from his visit to Jaduguda. If it was really so safe then I wonder why UCIL did not pack it for him with some raw uranium ore as a souvenir which he can place on his dining table. That way he will always remember his great trip to the mines when he eats his meals every day while being exposed to radiating uranium. Then if he thinks that Radon gas is safe to breath then maybe he could consider using Radon gas for cooking in his kitchen instead of LPG. Nothing may happen to him immediately, but I wonder how he would feel if one fine day he were to become a victim of radiation and a father of deformed children. Look at the picture of these little deformed Khasi boy and girl who were victims of the uranium mining and radon gas living in Phlangdiloin. They have huge heads but their feet are so small so they cannot walk until now. So would you dare to look into the eyes of the father and mother and say to them that uranium mining is safe for their kids? How would you feel if the all mothers in the villages near the proposed uranium mines also gave birth to these kinds of deformed babies?

Mr. H. S. Shylla keeps mentioning about the Indo-US nuclear deal even though he has no clue about US foreign policy and global politics. After living 5 years in the US and after having studied International Law and Politics at Ive-league Columbia University in the City of New York, I know for a fact that in America, business interests dictate foreign policy in almost all fields including the civilian nuclear technology. In India, foreign policy assiduously builds the image of Indian nuclear establishment. The latest proof of this fact is the ongoing debate before and after Indo-US joint agreement of July 18, 2005 between President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington DC, and the separation agreement on March 2, 2006 in New Delhi to separate civilian and military nuclear pursuits in India. The truth is that the US wants to make money by selling the disposable enriched uranium and weapon grade plutonium derived from the dismantling of some of their nuclear weapons, as nuclear fuel for power plants. Such is the case with Russia also. While supplying oil, the seller can at the most dictate its price and nothing more. But while supplying the nuclear fuel, the seller not only dictates its price but also can demand many more commitments from the buyers. As an environmental economist, I would say that the cost benefit analysis in Indian context does not show justification for building more nuclear power plants. They are expensive to run and build, and the decommissioning is also an expensive business. The present generation has no right to pile up for the future generations, the financial burden arising from decommissioning and the multiple dangers from the unsolved problem of nuclear waste disposal. My dear fellow citizens the opportunity cost is just too high for our unborn kids to pay. They would be cursing over our tombstone when we are dead and gone.

I would like to conclude by saying that I do respect the ruling of the Supreme Court of India even though the precautionary measures taken by the DAE and UCIL are debatable. But I really disrespect the misuse of power and misguidance of our people by the CEM of the KHADC by hiding under this ruling. My strong recommendation is that Mr. H. S. Shylla should complete his further studies first, before he can be qualified to judge and classify other hard working people’s research as baseless allegations which can only lead to utter confusion. Only then he will be able to have the wisdom and courage to say NO to the people who are misleading him and using him as a scapegoat while they hide themselves from the public eye. I think that maybe some people high up there with a remote control are making ‘Simple Shylla’ dance to their music for their own selfish benefits. However, I am glad that he has woken up and agreed to finance the filing of the review petition for the anti-uranium mining lobbies at the seminar organized by the Meghalaya Tribal Teachers Association (MeTTA) on May 27, 2006.

My challenge for him now is that, if he really wants to be the hero of our people who will be remembered as a legend who dug up the real truth about the dark hidden secrets of uranium mining in India, he himself should be the petitioner on behalf of the people he represents. In return I will recommend the best Supreme Court lawyers who are experts on this issue to work with him. But in order for this to happen we need an independent and unbiased body of experts representing different stakeholders to do the transparent investigation in Jaduguda and other mining sites. My next challenge for Mr. Shylla is to organise a surprise and unrestricted visit for a fresh team of experts to go to Jaduguda on a fact-finding mission. If he can accomplish both these challenges then he will certainly make history in India, the largest free and democratic country on earth!

Last but not the least, I demand that Mr. Shylla gives clarification on his unscrupulous allegations in the Shillong Times and other local papers on May 30, 2006 accusing me of working as a CIA & MI6 agent who is trying to destabilize the country. He has no clue about my contribution for my country and the world in the past 31 years of my existence. Does Mr. Shylla have his own double agents who send him classified information from the CIA & MI6? I really feel disgusted by such false and misleading information from a leader who prides himself by bringing a bad name to the institution he represents. My dear fellow citizens isn’t this an ultimate betrayal of our way of life, our people and our land?

My field trip to the wettest place on earth

2006-04-21T18:10:00.000Z

I reconnected with my good old mate and colleague from school, Peter Marbaniang when I visited his home to deliver the Hapa book sent by his cousin Karen David who is based in London. Later in the week I went for a field trip to the village near Sohra to meet the members of the Self Help Group that he has been working with for about a year. To get to the village people have to climb down 5000 steps and it takes about an hour to get to the bottom of the mountain near the river. The SHG consisting of 10 males in the village with Peter's help have been able to build a shop cum storage facility on the top of the mountain near the road side to sell the local products that they make in the village.

Peter is helping them to create market linkages for their products so as to benefit the whole village. There are about 250 people in the village and it is the most under developed one compared to others in the area. Anyway I had a great learning experience from my journey with Peter and we have decided to raise awareness about the hardship faced by the villagers and to get more support for them from the government and other concerned funders.

We also visited the office of the Khatarshnong Social Organisation (KSO) and met its dynamic founder who has made a huge impact in the development of the 46 villages in the surrounding area since he got started back in 1990. We later had lunch in the Sohra market and we were so lucky to have a beautiful clear blue sky above us with no sign of rain in the wettest place on earth. On the way back to Shillong we drove through a nature park that was inargurated by the Governor of Meghalaya recently. It was really a beautiful spot with great potential for eco tourism.

Meeting the UN's Deputy SG Mark Malloch Brown

2006-04-05T23:43:00.000Z

The Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mark Malloch Brown delivered the Third British Council lecture in London on 9 March 2006, which I was invited to attend. The lecture was on the theme: The United Nations in the 21st century 2006.

Mr. Brown said to understand the challenges that the UN faces this century, we need to go back to the end of the Cold War and to the extraordinary period of globalisation that followed it. He stated that during the 1990s we saw a dramatic integration of world economies, not just around trade, but around information flows and capital flows and even cultural flows. He said that in some ways it seemed we had reached a moment where international organisations had their epiphany: that they had found their moment in the sun and the world order they had been calling for, often as lonely voices during those cold war years, had finally come about.

Hence, he suspect for all of us, who believe in these organisations, there has been a real sense of surprise and dismay at the fact that, 15 years later, nearly all of these organisations are in a profound crisis of legitimacy, mandate and purpose. Not just the United Nations, but he thought it would be fair to say at the European Commission as well, NATO even, the IMF and the World Bank. Mr. Brown said if all of these organisations are struggling to recover lost ground with public opinion in member countries, to reconnect with those they're seeking to help, reconnect with the governments that must support them, one must seek some common roots, some common explanations for why we see this crisis in the very international organizations.

Mr. Brown mentioned three new pillars that the UN needs to focus are development, security and human rights, and that the new UN needs major management reform. He said that nothing symbolises this issue of an institution still too closely held down by its 1945 roots, than the management and institutional arrangements of today’s United Nations. He stated that the UN spends some $2 billion a year and there’s something $18 billion a year devoted to development, humanitarian and peacekeeping work around the world, all of it done in hugely difficult circumstances.

He said that for the UN Secretariat proper, with an assessed contribution funding scheme and huge intergovernmental involvement in the management, it has not changed with the times. Mr. Brown said that today in the peacekeeping operations alone the US has more than twice as many civilian staff, UN staff, as they have in the Secretariat in New York. He argues that whereas the Secretariat in New York is in some ways more often like a kind of comfortable, tenured university world with 3% vacancy rates and some people sitting in the same jobs for years and even decades at a time, out in the field it’s a very different story. He said that the people in the field are not able to have their families with them, and are disadvantaged in terms of the financial package they're offered and as a consequence the UN has 30% vacancy rates in the field and in critical functions such as procurement, 50% vacancy rates.

Mr. Brown wants to change the whole structure of the organisation, its management systems, its investment in people, the way they develop their leadership, the way they run things in terms of their global IT system – in short the way the whole operation works -- to one which reflects this new global operational reality.

After his lecture I asked him a question about the possibility of the UN having a rapid action force or a standing army of blue helmets under the direct command of the Secretary General in the future to prevent conflicts around the world. Mr. Brown answered saying that the UN depends on developing countries to provide the troops needed for peacekeeping operations that are paid by developed countries. But it would take a while for the members states to agree on contributing enough troops to serve under the UN flag and to be ready for deployment within short notice. Later I continued the discussion with him in depth. I also reminded him about the story he stayed at Columbia University on a panel with Jeffery Sachs about the development hawks in New York with sharper beaks. He remembered the event and laugh at the reminder. Before he was taken away by the people from the BBC, he gave me his business card and asked me to keep him posted on the finding from my own research work at the London School of Economics.

Meeting the World's Banker James Wolfensohn

2006-04-05T22:39:00.000Z

The former President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn delivered the Ninth Commonwealth Lecture in London on Thursday 2 March 2006, which I was invited to attend. The lecture was on the theme: The Future Role of the Commonwealth: A Bridge Between an Emerging Three-Speed World.

In his lecture, Mr. Wolfensohn outlined how sweeping changes to the global economy over the next 40 years could produce three distinct but interconnected spheres of varying levels of wealth and development, presenting the Commonwealth with new opportunities but also added challenges. According to Mr. Wolfensohn, developed high-income countries will form the first tier. They will continue to be some of the wealthiest countries on the planet but may slowly lose their economic dominance to the second group of countries, which would include Brazil, China, India and Russia. This second tier will be home to almost half of humanity and could become the new centre of economic power. The third tier will be made up of those countries held back by political, social, and institutional factors. These countries will struggle with widespread poverty but will remain an integral part of the global economy and world social order.

Mr. Wolfensohn said that the Commonwealth could bridge the gap between the different levels of development among its member countries by finding a common ground through shared values. He said the Commonwealth could address the disparities between the high, middle and low-income countries through close collaboration based on a shared heritage of history, language and values. He stated that high income Commonwealth developed countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK will continue to enjoy a major share of global economic growth, while middle income countries such as India, Malaysia, Nigeria and South Africa will enjoy healthy growth in their gross domestic product. Low income and poor countries may languish in poverty if faced with low economic growth but high population growth. Adding to this situation is the disparity in the volumes of foreign direct investment and trade among countries that fall into the three different tiers of development. Mr. Wolfensohn pointed out that these factors have a role in determining the level of equitable growth and social justice that in turn affect global stability.

Strong leadership, accountability and eradication of corruption can make a difference in a country's progress, said Mr. Wolfensohn. Apart from these, having the know-how, coupled with strategic planning and implementation of development programmes, can enhance the growth process. Educated and healthy populations are also critical factors, he added. Mr. Wolfensohn stressed that the Commonwealth has tremendous strengths that can be drawn from its association of 53 countries with close to 2 billion in total population. He commended the Commonwealth for its work that is targeted at promoting peace and democracy, human rights, the rule of law, good governance, public sector reform, gender equality, education, health and trade to advance sustainable development.

After his lecture I asked him a question about what he would do differently to address the interlinking issues of Poverty and Environment if he could go back on a time machine to 1995 when he joined the World Bank. He gave me a 5 min long answer stating the fact that he was not able to do much in that sector and wished he had got more time to deal with the nexus of Poverty and Environment, especially in the least developed countries. He did mention the mainstreaming of the Poverty and Environment linkages and that the World Bank Institute was developing new training programmes to sensitise development professionals globally how to address these two interlinking issues at the same time.

We later continued our discussion over a glass of red wine at the reception that followed with his wife Elaine who also went to Columbia University and recognised the Columbia pin on my jacket. James later gave me his business card and asked me to look him up when I crossed over the creek to New York. What impressed me was that he learnt to play the cello at 40 and is a great lover of classical music. After he left the World Bank in June 2005, he was appointed Special Envoy by the Quartet for the Gaza Disengagement, which comprises the United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice; the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavtov; the European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana and United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.

Flying to Meghalaya where the clouds come home

2006-04-04T20:44:00.002Z

I left my research tower at the London School of Economics after sending the 2nd draft of my thesis to my supervisor on the 29th of March. I took the last Piccadilly train to Heathrow international airport at mid night. I got the early 6am Air France flight out of London via Paris to Delhi the next morning and spent the night waiting for my check in time at Terminal 2. Thank God I had the wonderful company of a nice girl from Bogotá, Colombia who was determine to keep me awake while having a great conversation with me in Spanish. Well I must say it was nice way to brush up my language skills again in the early hours of the morning. It was a nice quick sail across the English Channel to Paris and then we had to say goodbye and run to catch our connecting flights heading in different directions. I was so tired on the Delhi bound flight and went straight to dreamland the moment we took off from Paris.

It is great to be back home in India where it is much warmer compared to cold and wet England. The journey home from Delhi to Meghalaya was beautiful flying parallel to the mighty Himalayas on my left. I will be resuming the 2nd stage of my fieldwork in West Khasi hills district and collecting household survey data from 5 more villages in the Riangdo cluster. I hope to collect at least 100 interviews and since each one takes about 3 hours, I guess I got 300 solid hours of work ahead of me. I plan to be back to base in London my the 27th of June, just in time for my PhD seminar due at 2pm GMT. Below are some pictures of my homeland Meghalaya. More updates later!

While I was home I also had a great interview with the legendary Lou Majaw our home grown rock 'n' roll star!

The day I met an exotic Khasi girl in London!

2006-03-21T10:20:00.001Z

My good old schoolmate from St. Edmund’s Gerald Pde who currently works in New York is the Internet researcher who tracked down this amazingly beautiful and super talented Khasi star that Shillong has ever produced. Her name is Karen David and she is only 27, but I must say that she has achieved a lot for her age. Gerald’s wife Habari Warjri who is also a good friend of mine, then got in touch with me in London and connected me to Karen who wanted to meet Khasi people there.

Karen was born in the music-loving city of Shillong, but moved to Toronto with her parents when she was one year old. The last time she returned home was when she was 8 years old. So when I met her, I told her that she must revisit her homeland and rediscover her roots and heritage. She then told me she wrote a song called “Shillong Shillong” and I was happy to know that still she strongly identifies herself as a Khasi girl even she was raised far away in Canada. We both agreed that we needed to put our hometown Shillong on the international radar screen and that we wanted to work with children in the poor villages of our state Meghalaya.

Before I went to her show at the Jazz Café in London, I did a little research on her and I was really impressed by what she has been able to achieve so far. I found out that the stylish singer, songwriter and actress may be this year’s hottest new thing, and it seems that Karen is no stranger to the world of showbiz. She was handpicked by Bill Cosby to star alongside him in a TV commercial for Jell-O at the age of six, and the multi-talented girl has spent her whole life doing what she does best putting on dazzling performances to win admirers wherever she goes. Born in Shillong and raised in Toronto, by a Khasi mother and a father from Chennai, I guess the ever-alluring Karen was never one to be confined by the expected boundaries.

One evening after spending the whole day studying and working on my paper at the London School of Economics library, I decide to take a break and go to one of her shows at the Jazz Cafe in the North of London to hear her music and relax my mind. When I got there her fans cheered as she walked on stage with a light grey top with shining silver V shaped neck, black pants and smooth leather boots up to the knee. She saw this Khasi boy in the club packed with her screaming fans and just smiled at me as I wave my hand. After that all the other girls and boys in the club then looked at me and asked me how I knew the cool singer on stage. I replied to them saying that it was my first Karen David show.

I wanted Karen to sing “Shillong Shillong” which is about our homeland, but she sang four of her other great songs. She opened with “I Need You”, and who could resist such an offer? The exotic star has everything her fans have been looking for: talent, beauty, charm and a star quality that shines through everything she puts her passion to. That night she was performing with the Inklein Quartet – so they were playing a couple of their own pieces as well - she hit the stage at 8.30pm sharp and I tell you, it’s not easy to sing pop songs with a Quartet. There were seven people playing three violins, a cello, a tabla, a keyboard and a background singer. Karen did the opening for the great Susheela Raman and her music was simply amazing!

After her show Karen introduced me to her manager and lawyer Colin Long who later gave me her CD. She got me a drink and some pudding and thanked me for coming to support her. She is so talented and famous, but yet she is so humble and warm. I think that is the perfect ingredients that make a star. I am really proud of her and all the Khasi people will be very proud of her too. I picked up one of her fliers and she signed her autograph on it for me. Before we parted that night, I said rock on Khasi Star and she said "Khublie Shibun and Thiah Suk". What can I say, but she turned that cold and rainy night in London into one that her fans including myself will cherish for a while.

Karen was in a film with Steven Seagal in, "Enemy of the Unseen" in Romania. The picture above is a shot of Karen as Lieutenant Landers in the US Air Force from the film set. Well we will have to wait until the film comes out of Hollywood to see Karen in action. The other picture is during the Lord of the Rings premier in Canada with A. R. Rahman. If you are interested in her work then you can listen to her music and see her videos on www.karendavid.com. May the force be with her to keep our Khasi star safe and strong always!

My fieldwork in the villages of West Khasi Hills

2006-02-07T19:27:00.000Z

I flew to Meghalaya, India to start my fieldwork in late September 2005 and stayed there until late January 2006. During these 4 months I had a great learning experience revisiting my own home this time looking through the lenses of a research scholar. It was exciting, but nevertheless challenging. My research question was to find out if the Supreme Court logging ban in 1996 had any implication on the rural household strategies of the people, and if so how are these forest dependant communities coping with such an institutional arrangement. My goal was to find the data from the villages I had selected in the West Khasi Hills district of the state which will help me, answer my key research question.

During my journey through the district I visited and stayed in 6 villages, interviewing the people there and listening to their stories. According to what I have gathered so far, the logging ban had a direct effect on the lost of livelihoods in the communities I studied and it failed to protect the remaining trees and bushes from being converted to charcoal.

I was studying three types of villages and they are the ones that have had intervention from a multilateral agency, in this case through International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the ones that have had intervention from a governmental agency, in this case though the Joint Forest Management (JFM), and the ones that have had no intervention whatsoever since the ban was enforced.

IFAD has been working in some selected villages in West Khasi Hills since 1999 and the Forest Department of Meghalaya had just introduced the JFM in August 2005 in a few selected villages. It was interesting to see how the wealth-ranking index of the IFAD villages was rising since they got some support. The JFM villages have also got some support in the form of nurseries, fishponds and livestock. However, the villages that have been left out from any sort of assistance are going from bad to worst.

One such village that I visited called Lawsiej had 75 households and it took me about 2 hours to walk there from the closest metal road. When I reached the village I was shocked to see only 3 men who came to the meeting, which the headman had organised for me. I later found out that since there was no more livelihood opportunities in the villages, all the men had left their homes to work in coal mines 250 kms away near the Bangladesh border. They would only return home after 6 months with all sorts of respiratory diseases and later die from lack of medicines and treatment. It was very sad to see this trend of male workforce migration as a coping strategy for these poor communities in order to survive. However, before I left this village the headman gave me a rooster to take back with me as a special gift from the entire village. I was so touched by his generosity and I had to accept his gift or else I would be insulting his whole community if I had declined. Wherever I went I was treated in good faith and I realized that these people had no material belongings with them, but yet they were so happy.

While I was driving to another village called Nongkrem, which had got some IFAD help, I stopped on the way to give a lift to 7 women who had just returned from the market with all their supplies. Their journey home from the market was 3 hours walk and it was already getting dark that evening. Anyway they all got into my jeep and I continued to drive in this jungle mud road where only timber carrying trucks ply on. It was therefore very difficult to navigate between the deep tracks created by the tyres of these heavy trucks. Since the ground clearance of my jeep was no high enough, I had to drive in between these deep mud tracks, which also had stones and boulders along the way. As we drove down a steep descend heavy fog suddenly appeared and both my headlights failed to dim, so I was driving blind.

In the process I managed to hit a rock on the road, which then broke the joints that held the spring of the left back tyre. The bang was loud, but I continued to drive slowly up the hill and finally after a few minutes the spring came off with the shock absorber and the left back tyre hit the mudguard of the jeep and we were stuck on the hill. Anyway to cut the story short, I had to ask all the women to disembark and walk home from there. I was lucky that there was enough space for the trucks to pass from the side of my broken jeep. After locking the jeep, I too continued on my journey on foot and reached the village in an hour just in time for my meeting.

The next morning I took a ride on one of the timber trucks to meet the people in another village called Nonglang with also got some IFAD support. In the mean time some village boys from Nongkrem walked to the market bought the spare parts for my jeep, returned to repair it and then drove the jeep back to me to Nonglang where I was still busy with my interviews. It was simply amazing as I though I would be stuck there for days. So much for jungle driving!

Buffalo Hospital in Dong-ki-ing-ding Village

2006-02-06T13:04:00.000Z

On the evening of the 12th of January 2006, as part of my Ph.D. research work for the London School of Economics, I visited the village of Umniangriang located 49 km away from Mairang in the West Khasi Hills district in the state of Meghalaya. I was respectfully received by Mr. Boxstar Nongrang, the 31-year-old intelligent and dynamic Sordar (elected chief) of the village who had been waiting for me with his team of village committee leaders. We got along very well as we were about the same age and had a similar outlook to life. However, he had a long beard and was already married with four kids. The Sordar did not waste any of my time and wanted to show me the dysfunctional infrastructures in his community right away. So we drove for 2 kms down the road to meet the Sordar of the next village of Dong-ki-ing-ding, which happened to be the closest market centre for the all eight villages in the surrounding area.

We were taken to see the hospital that was built by the government about 10 years ago in front of the Christian secondary school. On arriving at the site I was shocked by what I saw. The gates of the hospital were locked forcing us to duck under the broken barbwire fencing to enter the compound. When we got inside I found that the hospital too was locked and had no one occupying it - no doctors, no nurses, no equipment, no medicines, absolutely nothing. To my astonishment I saw two buffaloes sitting in front of the hospital enjoying the grass in the compound. The condition of the hospital was appalling, it was already rotting to pieces as the termites had eaten up all its doors and many windows were broken. So here was the most important infrastructure built to serve the public health needs of all the eight villages in the area, but tragically it never opened for business. Surely it is shameful and unacceptable that after so much has been already spent from public funds to build such a hospital, nothing has been done in a decade to make it functional.

Only bitterness and hurt can be felt when one is faced with wasteful and uncaring behavior from the government making me wonder when the political leaders responsible will wake up and feel concern enough to open the hospital. According to the Sordar the landowners donated the land, which the hospital was built on, on the condition that the members of their family would get some sort of employment from it. That agreement was broken because the hospital was never opened, and now after 10 years of waiting in vain the landowners want to take the government to court. I was also told that many sick people have died in the surrounding villages over the years because they could not get access to medicines in time and they could not afford to go all the way to Mairang for getting hospital treatment for their illnesses. These innocent lives could have been saved if the hospital in the Dong-ki-ing-ding village was fully operational. I spent a night in the village of Umniangriang and visited the thatch house of a single mother who lost her little 1-year-old girl because she had no money and no medicines to save her from her illness. So I question the concerned authorities and their responsibility for the plight of our poor villagers dying from easily preventable diseases. Are they going to continue to shut their eyes and turn a deaf ear while the poor villagers suffer? On my 3-month journey across West Khasi Hills, I found many other villages in the same pathetic state of affairs. So where has all the money for the support and development of these villages gone?

The people whom I met from the different villages asked me to help them out, but being only a research scholar I cannot do much. However I can use the power of my pen to put pressure, to raise public awareness and debate at the local, national and international level about the unfair treatment and injustices that is being meted out to the poor people in my state. After seeing the reality of how our people life in the villages with my own eyes, I am leaving home feeling very sad and angry to finish my academic work in England. But I call upon all the concerned citizens and stakeholders, NGOs and especially the young people who are the current and future leaders of our state to shake up and put massive pressure upon some of the elected sleeping leaders, so that they wake up before its too late.

Direct Funding to the Village Councils

2006-02-06T13:01:00.000Z

A special call was made to the Government of Meghalaya by the Dorbar Shnongs (Village Councils) to recognize their traditional system of grassroots governance and to give them the full responsibility of implementing the "Direct Funding" for the development of their villages. The Dorbar Shnongs wanted the government to start with an allocation of Rs. 2 lakhs for small villages and Rs. 5 lakhs for big villages in the entire state of Meghalaya, which will be audited by government authorities. They understood that if such a funding came straight to the villages, it would really speed up their growth and development process. It would also lighten the responsibility of the concerned MLAs & MDCs with regard to building footpaths and other small infrastructure related work that the villages themselves can take action upon.

On 21st August 2004, the Government of India published in many national newspapers the words of Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India who said "the system of governance that is planned from the top-down does no reflect the true realities of the people on the ground and must be stopped…if we want strong and meaningful governance we need everyone to be included in the decision making processes from the bottom-up right from the village level." The newspapers also published the words of Dr. Monmohan Singh, the current Prime Minister of India who said, "the most important responsibility of this government is how to shape the traditional institutions of self-government, so they are included in big projects for their own development and growth."

In his letter to the political leaders on 6th March 1989 and to the Governor on 24th February 1989, Bah B. B. Lyngdoh, our former Chief Minister stated that he had spoken in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly saying that the Government of Meghalaya has decided to preserve and strengthen the traditional governance system of the Syiems, the Dolois and the Nokmas. He also stated that the government will open different ways to lift the honour and rank of these traditional leaders. The Governor also stated that the Government of Meghalaya, through the government notification of 22nd February 1989 has appointed a "High Powered Committee" consisting of – Chairman – B. B. Lyngdoh, Members – O. L. Nongtdu, P. R. Kyndiah, P. A. Sangma, and Member Secretary J. M. Phira, IAS. But nothing is known what became of this High Powered Committee, which just ended only in publicity and promises that were made from time to time by the political leaders.

Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India spoke in Parliament on 18th May 1989 and said, "The Panchayati Raj Act was (released) for Meghalaya because they already have the Dorbar Shnongs as existing traditional institutions of self-government which we must preserved and strengthen." But what is really surprising is that since 1992 the Gram Panchayat (Shnong) in other states in India got direct funding from their respective state governments. However, in our own state of Meghalaya where the approval was already granted because of the existence of the Dorbar Shnongs, no support of any kind has come through from the government so far. I really wonder what is holding them back. I have observed in my travels across India that while other states in our country are moving forward and developing rapidly, we in Meghalaya are shamefully moving backwards.

In 2004 about 3100 Gram Panchayat (Shnong) in the state of Karnataka got direct funding from their government for projects amounting to about 60 lakhs per village, supporting an array of developmental initiatives that benefited them. I spent a night in the village of Umniangriang, which is about 49 kms from Mairang, as part of my own Ph.D. fieldwork meeting with their Natural Resource Management Group and 4 Women Self Help Groups. After a long conversation with Mr. Boxstar Nongnang, the young and dynamic Sordar of the village, I was told that he and Mr. John F. Kharshiing, Chairman of Ka Dorbar Ki Nongsynshar ka Ri Hynniewtrep have been working very hard to push for this direct funding mechanism to work in our state. I want to salute their tireless efforts to help our poor villages and I call upon all other concerned stakeholders to join forces with them in this noble cause.

The Sordar also told me that the Government of Meghalaya has rejected the central government’s approval for direct funding to the Dorbar Shnongs because our political leaders will not have control of the money that will flow directly to the villages. I would argue that if this great system can work and benefit the villages in many other states in our country, what is the real problem of making it work in our own state. I think our leaders really lack the political will to make it work. I really believe that if there is a strong will to make it work, there will always be a way. It is now up to you the people of the state to put tremendous pressure on our political machinery to jump start the direct funding engine in Meghalaya before the villages run out of gas.

My Journey to the Himalayan Foothills

2006-02-05T20:48:00.001Z

It was on the 27th January morning at 7am that I started on my solitary journey to the Himalayan foothills. After being in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and listening to his teachings, I was ready for my journey. But I have never felt so lonely as on that 20 kms hike that morning. I started walking alone up a slippery trail from the town of Mcleod Ganj, but I was later joined by 3 stray dogs, two black and one brown that accompanied me all the way to the top on the mountains.

About 2 hours later as I was approaching the top, I was then escorted by a huge eagle soaring above my head. I realized that I was not alone anymore and that God had sent me some friends to accompany me on my journey. When I got to the base camp on top, I found a shopkeeper there who told me the trail ahead was covered with snow and too dangerous to proceed. But I decided to walk on after taking some pictures and I climbed higher into the mountains in front of me.

After walking for another hour I got to the top of a big rock and was breathless and covered in sweat. I decided to stop and then took off all my clothes, boots, backpack and shouted at the top of my voice "Let me heal my broken wings and fly free as a bird." It was an amazing experience where I felt one with the snow covered mountains and I was not even feeling cold at all. I felt that I had to let go of all my baggage and just meditate with nature in the snow. I closed my eyes said a prayer and did some breathing exercises and felt some powerful, burning and fresh energy rise from within me. I felt love and compassion. I remembered my good friends around the world and sent blessings for them in the cold wind from 3000 metres above the sea!

My Mission to Tsunami stuck Tamil Nadu

2005-12-03T15:59:00.000Z

Following the recommendations and contributions that came out of a meeting that I attended in Bristol in July 2005 that was set within the context of Aubrey Meyer's "Contraction and Convergence" Schumacher briefing, the next step was to explore ways to establish a mutually beneficial set of co-operative relationships and projects between the community in Chew Magna, West England, UK in the "developed" world and two communities in Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu, India in the "developing" world. The goal was to use and build upon ongoing, long term activities between these villages to illustrate how contraction and convergence principles can be implemented, practiced proven and adapted on a local scale illustrating global possibilities. The purpose of my mission was to identify some on going activities of an NGO working in the area called Social Change and development (SCAD) and also to propose other possible tangible projects that could be implemented following the principles of contraction and convergence. A challenge paper was prepared to identify the hurdles, capacity, resources, skills and strengths that are needed to bridge these communities across the miles. This paper will later develop into a "Plan of Action" with a set timeline and budget once the priorities, goals, target groups, needs, networks, partners and core groups on each side have been identified. The goal is to develop some social, economic, environmental and cultural links between these participating communities both in the UK and India. To begin it is important to know and understand what kind of support the people from Tirunelveli would need from the people of Chew Magna. Therefore we need to identify what role each community would play in this partnership and find out what kind of exchange of ideas and initiatives would generate win-win outcomes on both sides.

During my one week visit I stayed at the SCAD guesthouse located at the SCAD 200 acres beautiful campus. I was taken for a tour of the campus in Chernmahadevi where I visited a special school for physically disabled, mentally challenged and gypsy children. A mentally challenged girl welcomed me with flowers and I spent some time with the children there. There were only 7 teachers for 50 kids. They need more. I then visited the SCAD ITI where student are trained in automobile repair, drilling and fitting. Then I saw the SCAD Polytechnic College where student are taught printing technology and computer desktop publishing. Later that say I attended a core group meeting at the SCAD office in Tirunelveli where I met all the dynamic field officers who are the backbone of the organization. It was their quarterly meeting and they came to report about the on going activities and projects inn all the 380 villages that they operate in.

On the next day I was taken for a field visit to five tsunami hit villages in two districts. I was traveling with Catherine Slater from Salt of the Earth and two other SCAD field officers. We drove to the Fishermen Colony and visited the temporary shelters build by the government, which were made of tin. It was like living in an oven in the summer heat and after the monsoon the area was flooded and the drinking water contaminated. We then when to see the boat-repairing project on beach which SCAD was supporting to benefit the 250 Hindu fishing families. We went to Punnakayal, which had 10,000 people to visit the tailoring training centre and fish preservation unit.

SCAD provided the tailoring machines for the 60 women in the village. Anna Nagar was next and we visited the children care centre and children park where 75 families benefited from SCAD. We then went to Pattinam a village of 6000 people to see their seashells crushing projects. Lastly we visited Amalinagar to see the Women Self Help Group making balm, washing power and candles. In the evening we had a core group meeting at SCAD tsunami rehabilitation centre Tiruchendur to evaluate the on going activities in the coastal villages.

I visited also the SCAD College of Engineering and Technology and the SCAD Community College where we later celebrated International Elders Day on 19th October. The Superintendent of Police of Tiruneveli was the Chief Guest and he distributed presents to all the 100 plus elders that came to the event that evening. The following day I drove 40 km to see the largest wild farm in Asia with Cletus and his wife Amelia. I have never seen so many windmills in my life but it was a spectacular to see all these white towers with blades spinning in the wind with the Western Ghats in the background. Later I was taken to see the SCAD school of leprosy and gypsy children. I also visited the gypsy colony and later when to see some leprosy infected people in the leprosy colony where SCAD had build homes for them. There were 96 households in the gypsy colony and 52 households in the leprosy colony. SCAD also build permanent homes for the nomadic gypsy people.

On my way back I stopped in Chennai and I met the Executive Director of the world famous MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and invited him to collaborate and provide technical support for SCAD. I visited their mangroves greenhouse where they grew different species of the plant. In coastal areas where mangroves still exist, the destruction from the tsunami was very less and they acted as a natural barrier from the big waves.

My role is to be the go in between and facilitate the link between the two communities. As a the Youth Employment Summit Campaign advisor I will also continue to catalyze the development of programs & policies in India to ensure that the rural youth have access to the training programs, skills development, credit and other resources which they need to build sustainable livelihoods. After my field trips to the different villages followed by discussions with Cletus and his amazing team at SCAD, we have come to the conclusion that there are so many ways in which we can create a community link between the people of Chew Manga through the Converging World Group and the people of Tirunelveli through SCAD.

Researching at the London School of Economics

2005-08-27T19:46:00.000Z

I joined the PhD programme at the Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) of the London School of Economics and Political Science on the 10th of October 2004, after I crossed over the Atlantic from Boston where I was working with the Youth Employment Summit Campaign. There are 9 of us in my batch and all my fellow research students are really cool and committed people coming from around the world. We have build a strong community here where we can support each other. I am also really honoured to have the best and the most supportive supervisors in my department who have both been an inspiration to me. I have had a great time here in the past 10 months reflecting on what I have done in my life so far and figuring out where I am heading next. I have been learning about how the academic world operates and finding out where I fit in the whole equation. So now after completing all my core academic requirements, I am all set to take off to do my field work in my home state Meghalaya, the "Land where the clouds come home" in North East India.

My research is focused on the implications of the Supreme Court logging ban on the rural livelihood strategies of the forest dependant communities in my state. I will be gone for about 4 months starting from September 2005 through January 2006 to collect my data from the field. I will be studying how the poor people are coping to sustain their livelihoods after the logging ban through agricultural intensification, diversification and migration in two sample villages located in different districts using both qualitative and quantitative methods to answer my research question. I will then return to the LSE in London to analyse my data before writing the finding on my 100,000 words thesis. This whole process should take me about 3 years to complete and hopefully I will walk out of the great academic institution with a doctorate degree in 2007. I have got miles and miles to go, so wish me luck!

Addressing the World Bank on Youth & the MDGs

2005-08-24T20:32:00.000Z

In collaboration with the United Nations Association, the UN body mandated to organize the annual celebrations on October 24 of United Nations Day, the World Bank Y2Y Community organized a full-day event at the World Bank on Youth and the Millennium Development Goals – linking the local with the global on Friday, October 22, 2004. The week leading up to UN Day 2004 in the National Capital Area focused on the process and achievements made towards reaching the MDGs. Given the increasing attention both within UN agencies and affiliates, including the World Bank, and outside on the important role of youth in development, the UNA and the Y2Y Community decided to dedicate a full day during the UN Week 2004 celebrations in DC to youth and the MDGs.

The event showcased the work and activities of United Nations agencies and affiliates, NGOs, including the World Bank, on youth and the MDGs, making an explicit link between both local and global experience. The event provided an opportunity for participants to learn about the MDGs, share lessons learned, stimulate discussion, provoke thought and discuss related work both locally and globally. The conference stated with a basic course on the MDGs in order to provide participants with a foundation. The second activity was a panel discussion where I was invited to address the Bank’s young staff members and other participants on “The Relevance/Role of youth in achieving the MDGs“. The participants also benefited from an overview on this topic and different perspectives ranging from multilateral, to regional, to an NGO. Once equipped with an this understanding, they moved onto roundtable discussions where they will be presented with more detailed information on various case studies of “youth inclusion” in achieving the MDGs.

The event brought attention to the crucial role of youth in achieving the MDGs, as well as the important work which the UN agencies and the World Bank is doing, both locally and globally, to integrate youth and better address their respective needs and concerns. The event also brought greater awareness locally of both the work and role of the World Bank and of the UN, and of collaboration between these organizations as well as other organizations.

Graduating from Columbia University in New York

2005-08-24T20:07:00.000Z

It was the 22nd of May 2002, my big day graduating from Columbia University's School of international and Public Affairs (SIPA). I was so happy to have my papa beside me on that special day who flew 15,000 miles all the way from India to watch his first son do the ceremonial walk and get his degree for the Master of International Affairs. The night before on the 21st of May, my school SIPA had its own little graduation ceremony for its 700 graduate students who walked down the isle of St. John's the Divine, the largest cathedral in North America. As I was appointed as the Lead Marshal of my graduating class by the Deans of SIPA, I had to lead my fellow students as the pipe organs played in the background that night. It was such a romantic experience as the sound echoed in my ears. The cathedral was so huge that it could fit all the 7000 friends and family members of the graduating students. Our graduation speaker for SIPA was New York City Major Michael Bloomberg. He reminded us of what happened in 911 one semester before our graduation, and that we must be strong and defend our freedom. Huge screens were hung from the top of the cathedral projecting the walk, so that the people at the back of this massive cathedral could see their loved ones get their degrees. It was a grand event that night and I could still remember everything just like yesterday.

The next morning the full graduation ceremony took place outdoors on the university campus for all the 15 schools of Columbia University where about 10,000 students and 50,000 cheering family members took part. Our out going Columbia President Dr. George Rupp gave his farewell and blessings to his graduating students before saying goodbye to his own colleagues at the university. My colleagues and I from SIPA did not realize that we were on the front page of the New York times the next day, probably we attracted too much attention waving the different mini flags representing the countries that our graduates came from. It was truly a very colourful and spectacular event.

The following are excerpts from President Rupp's speech:

"Our destiny cannot be divorced from the fate of the rest of the world, including those furthest from us in geography, ideology, and socioeconomic status. The United States may be the world's lone superpower. But we cannot simply impose our will, even on those who seem relatively powerless.”

"One challenge we face together is, then, to make globalization work for the impoverished as well as the wealthy. To meet this challenge will certainly require more generous programs of foreign assistance than the post-Cold War world has so far produced. But it will also entail designing incentives and, when necessary, enforcement mechanism to assure that all the players follow the rules of the game.”

"So today we are challenged to rethink and re-order the ways we live together. First, globalization requires a reorientation of our stance in the international arena'a reorientation that recognizes how intimately we are interconnected with even those most distant from us. And second, along with our embrace of markets, we must affirm the legitimate role of public institutions in requiring adherence to rules of conduct and standards of quality to which all participants are held accountable.”

The day I met my hero President Nelson Mandela

2005-08-24T17:03:00.000Z

On the morning of 29th September 2000 after the daily briefing with the members of my parliamentary delegation at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, I ran across to the UN building two blocks down the road on 1st Avenue and 43rd Street. The day before on 28th September, I had delivered my official youth statement to the 55th Session of the UN General Assembly. Now I wanted to listen to my hero President Nelson Mandela, as he was due to brief the UN Security Council on the peacekeeping operation in Burundi.

I made sure I had all my UN security clearance tags to enter the Security Council chamber, as it was a closed meeting only for government delegates. I thought I was running late, but as I was about to open the chamber’s door, I heard a deep voice behind me and as I turned back, there was my man wearing a colourful shirt different from the rest who were all in their dark suits. So I held the door for him and his bodyguards and as he was about to enter the chamber, he stopped looked at me and greeted me "good morning young man". It is the happiest moment in my life to have the honour of shaking his hand and to wish him good luck on his briefing. I then entered the chamber and walked behind this tall man and sat close enough where I could film his briefing.

The Council President Moctar Ouane of Mali opened the show and introduced Nelson Mandela to the chamber packed with top UN officials and diplomats from many countries. Then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan thanked President Mandela for travelling all the way to New York to brief the Council on the current phase of his peace efforts in Burundi. After that great introduction, Mandela started his briefing with a deep and slow voice “Mr. President” he said, addressing the Security Council President and I got it all on tape. It was just great. Thanks to his work, the peace process has moved forward significantly. The signing of the Arusha Agreement on 28 August, followed by the agreement on 20 September in Nairobi on the participation of the remaining three parties, is surely a very important milestone in Burundi's long and painful road to peace.

In his briefing President Mandela stressed that there could be no justification for the violent attacks on Burundian civilians when a comprehensive political agreement had been reached, opening the way for all sides to bring their concerns to the political table. He called on the rebel groups to demonstrate the quality of their leadership, announce a ceasefire and halt the slaughter of innocent people. He also told the Security Council that if the armed groups were not included in the peace process, there was no guarantee that the issues agreed to recently in Arusha by the 19 political parties would be followed by the rebels.

Secretary General Kofi Annan, who also addressed the Council, called the Arusha agreement a "comprehensive blueprint" for the reform of Burundian society. "It addresses the root causes of the conflict, such as exclusion and genocide, as well as the tragic consequences of the war, including the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people," the Secretary-General said. He also said that the United Nations was ready and willing to make its contribution to the success of these efforts -- for the sake of the people of Burundi, but also for the stability and prosperity of a troubled region, which could find a source of inspiration in a successful peace process in Burundi, for the negotiated settlement of its wider conflicts.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly

2005-08-24T15:29:00.001Z

Participation in decision-making is one of the key priority areas of the UN's agenda on youth. This, of course, should also be applied to its own work. Therefore, for some years, the most direct form of youth participation at the UN has been the inclusion of youth representatives in some of the the official delegation to the General Assembly of the UN in New York.

For the 55th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, eight countries included youth in their delegations. I was appointed by the Indian Prime Minister to be included on India's national delegation to the historic Millennium Summit and Assembly that brought together 189 heads of states and governments, who later launched the Millennium Development Goals. My fellow representatives from other countries and myself were at the General Assembly for at least two weeks to raise attention to youth related problems. We were in New York from the mid-September until the first half of November 2000. The role of a youth representative varies between member state delegations. Most of us were responsible for delivering a statement to "the Third Committee." The Third Committee is the part of the UN General Assembly that deals exclusively with economic and social affairs.

Six of us addressed the Third Committee under item 103 of the General Assembly's agenda on social development. I delivered my official youth statement of 28th September 2000 on Youth and Sustainable Livelihoods. All of us also attended a number of meetings within the UN, and assisted our delegations in their consideration of agenda items relating to youth. During several weeks in New York, most of us had time to fulfill a mixture of roles, being both trainees, politicians, diplomats and lobbyists. Together we also published our own bulletin and organized a well-attended Youth Symposium at the UN followed by a press conference.

All these activities were aimed at raising awareness about the importance of having youth representatives and encouraged other States to include Youth Representatives in their delegations, as well as about the importance of youth participation in general. Several meetings between the Youth Unit and the Youth Representatives took place. The Youth Delegates bring the knowledge home to tell youth in schools and youth-organizations on how UN deals with youth issues.

Follow these 10 steps to be appointed as the official Youth Representative of your country to the UN General Assembly:

1. Join your National Youth Council or any other youth platform that represents the youth voice of your country. You can connect to existing National Youth Councils through the World Assembly of Youth.
2. Take a leadership role within your National Youth Council or youth NGO.
3. Promote the United Nations Charter and what it stands for in your country through your national organization or network.
4. Organize campaigns and briefing sections to inform other youth members about the importance of youth participation in decision making.
5. Highlight the importance of active and meaningful participation of youth people at all levels of decision making processes.
6. Have the National Youth Council or youth organization nominate you as a candidate for the official delegation to the UNGA.
7. Have the National Youth Council or youth organization to send your name to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in your capital.
8. Follow up with government officials, who will forward your name to the Prime Minister's or President's office for approval.
9. If the Head of State approves your candidacy as youth representative to the UNGA you can start a media campaign in your country.
10. Organize a formal debriefing session for all interested youth organizations and press before you leave for the UN HQ and inform them what you hope to achieve through your participation in our country's official delegation.

For more information please visit the following web site of the United Nations Youth Unit: http://www.un.org/youth

My 2000 Walk for Nuclear Disarmament

2005-08-23T20:22:00.001Z

After participating at The Hague Appeal for Peace Conference in May 1999, I joined the "2000 Walk for Nuclear Disarmament." Around 1000 of us walked 300 kms in 10 days from the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, to NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, to bring NATO the message of the World Court. In July 8, 1996, the World Court said, "The threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international humanitarian law..." In a situation where a country is breaking international law then the Nuremberg Principles take effect. It basically states that if a country is not following UN laws it is every citizen's responsibility to stop its government from breaking these laws. NATO still has thousands of nuclear missiles within its control that it should be dismantling.

We had walkers of all ages from the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Germany, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain, Cameroon, Korea, Japan, Iran, India, Pakistan, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and the United Stated of America. As Walkers, there were Catholics, Protestants, Quakers, Hindus, Hara Krishna's, Buddhists, Muslims, Agnostic, Atheists and Non-denominationals. It was a family walk for me as I inspired my younger sister Iba and younger bother Aiban to walk with me. It was great to get their support!

The walk was organized by For Mother Earth, an organization that is run by direct democracy. All of the decisions are made by a form of consensus where everyone has an equal amount of power. When a proposal is brought before the organizational meeting called 'the circle' people either agree, disagree or block. If most people agree and no one blocks that then the proposal is passed. If most people disagree than the proposal doesn't go through, or if most people agree and one-person blocks then it still doesn't pass. This is how most decisions on the walk were made. This form of decision-making puts the responsibility on everyone, for everyone has the ability to make a change or try to improve any situation. Direct democracy is not always the easiest thing. Sometimes difficulties arise from translation problems, people not articulating their thoughts and participants of the Walk not participating in the circle because they are not used to responsibility. On a normal walking day wake up call would be at 6:30 in the morning and we would get up, put away our things and take down our tent. By 8am we would be packed and have our stuff on the luggage bus in time for breakfast. Normally we had muesli (raw oats with grain and dried fruit) with milk, soymilk or yogurt and good, European bread with jam, chocolate spread or peanut butter. Around 9:00 we had morning circle where we learned our route for the day, how far we were supposed to walk and what would happen in the evening. Then we would start walking.

The mayor of Brussels said he wanted the Walk to stop at the Brussels City limit. He also made it very hard to find a place to stay. On our last night outside of Brussels a helicopter flew high over head, then dropped and passed us about 20 feet (7 meters) off the ground. We were preparing ourselves for a police blockade in Brussels, but then the mayor said we could walk to the "Atomium," a relic left over from the 1958 World Fair. The mayor also said that we could not walk to NATO headquarters because Brussels, the city that prides itself as the capital of Europe with NATO Headquarters and European Parliament, has a ban on all political demonstrations. This ban was instated after the start of the bombing of Kosovo.

The morning we left for Brussels a very nice catholic school said we could sleep at their campus. When we got inside the city limits many police escorted us to the Atomium, a large building looking like (guess what?) an atom. The police had eight mini-vans, one of which had riot gear. That night the mayor gave his approval for us to walk to NATO Headquarters on the next morning. The next day we set out for NATO headquarters, and once again we had the police escort. The police helicopter also flew over us all day. When we got to NATO, I was very surprised by the reception. There is a four lane, divided road running in front of NATO. The two lanes on NATO's side were blocked off by portable razor-wire fence. The fence posts were in an "x" pattern; so on the top there was a "v." There was at least 500 uniformed officers (later I heard they were Belgian State Police) with many Big Black Trucks. Many of the officers had riot gear, with shields, helmets and plastic swords or rubber batons.

We walked down our two lanes until they were also blocked off by razor wire fence that was going from NATO to the building on our side of the road. Then we told them we wanted any information they might have relating to illegal nuclear weapons. They said they would let five people in to negotiate. As one of five negotiators we didn't get the information we wanted. So we went to plan "B," which was a "citizens inspection." This is a way of taking the law into our own hands and following the Nuremberg Principals. Taken after the example of inspections for illegal weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, citizens would try to enter NATO headquarters and look for evidence about the existence of, or placement of, nuclear weapons within NATO states. I decided to leave after that to attend to my sick brother at the camp. The rest of the demonstrators were arrested (including some who were not planning on it and had not made it through the first line of riot police) and were freed with in 12 hours. When they were freed from the police custody, the police always said "See you tomorrow!" Indeed, many went back for a second round. All in all we had 272 arrests. This made global television, including CNN (edited out of the American version). Hopefully these events raised awareness that the continued threat of nuclear weapons is illegal!

While on the walk I wrote this song and sang it to my fellow peace walkers in front of NATO HQ in Brussels. So here goes flying on my mighty wings!

I started out caring for my world since I was a boy
She gave me her love and I gave her my heart and my soul
Some folks say that I'll never make it
But I guess that they must have been wrong
Cause she's still got control of my life and I'm still going strong

Don't wanna have a human extinction, don't wanna have a nuclear war
You know I'm gonna work for world peace, you might say I'm a crazy man
But I've made a commitment, I'm standing by my mission
And I'm not giving up, cause I'm flying on my mighty wings

Can't say that it's always be easy, well that's ok
Well activism cost, but I've always been willing to pay
Sometimes it been a bit of a burden, but she's helped me to carry my load
And I'm still working night and day for mother earth

Don't wanna have climatic disasters, don't wanna have the oceans to rise
You know I'm gonna work to save earth, you might say I'm a crazy man
But I've made a commitment, I'm standing by my mission
And I'm not giving up, cause I'm flying on my mighty wings

I've flown a lot of miles already, but still there's some more to come
But when I reach the end, the world will be a better one

Don't wanna have children as soldiers, don't wanna have babies to die
You know I'm gonna work to stop this, you might say I'm a crazy man
But I've made a commitment, I'm standing by my mission
And I'm not giving up, cause I'm flying on my mighty wings

And I'm not giving up, cause I'm flying on my mighty wings
Flying on my mighty wings, flying on my mighty wings.................

Pedalling for the Planet across the United States

2005-08-22T18:49:00.000Z

In the summer of 1998 I had the honour of pedalling for the planet with 100 others bikers in a programme called Bike Aid, travelling 3,700 miles by bicycle from San Francisco to Washington DC, raising a dollar a mile to support grassroots development and environmental projects and programs globally. I was at the United Nations HQ in New York attending the Commission on Sustainable Development and got a call from my colleagues in Bike Aid HQ in San Francisco that there was room for an international partner rider from Asia. The Seattle group has an African rider and the Portland group had a South American rider. So I took my trans continental flight to SFO, took off my suit, put on my biking gear and then next morning rode 60 miles starting from the Golden Gate Park to the East Bay area. It was a painful day, as unlike the others, I did not get the chance to warm up my muscles two weeks earlier and prepare for the long ride.

As the team leader it was my responsibility to make sure that my group of 35 bikers get from point A to point B safely every day. My strength increased after riding across the Sierra Nevada Mountains and beautiful Lake Tahoe. By the time I got to the Rockies in Colorado I was ready for the 15,000 feet climb through Rabbit Ears pass. There was a lot of snow on top even in mid July and most riders got hypothermia, but thankfully my mountain blood protected me on the cold descend.

When I got to the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia, I felt like I was home from the similarity of the scenery. I remembered going downhill this 10% grade descend full speed at 35 miles a hour and singing John Denver’s song “Country road take me home” and it was drizzling softly as I lost my concentration. Suddenly I saw a flash on my rear view mirror and then I saw another vehicle coming up from the bottom of the mountain and I was in the middle of the road. My reflex action took over and I pressed my breaks and then in a split second I remembered flying over my handle bars like superboy only to crash land on the road side with deep cuts on my right elbow and left leg. Both the pick-up trucks saw me fall and slowed down thankfully. The drivers stopped and gave be first aid and asked me if I needed a lift. I stood up and found out that no bones were broken and after checking that my bike was still in good shape, I rode again. Oh well at least I have scars to remember to show to my grand kids some day if I last that long.

Well my team met up with the other two groups from Seattle and Portland and in Leesburg, Virginia and then we rode together to Washington DC as one big united group. When I reached the end of my 9-week journey, I parked my bike and addressed the press conference on the steps of the US Capitol before going inside to meet different US Senators and to lobby them for more international aid to support developing countries. It was an amazing grand finale in DC when we actually got to vote which projects and which country the $500,000 that we had collective raised as a group would go to. Long live Bike Aid and our sweat, tears and gears!

Meeting the Secretary General of the U.N.

2005-08-21T14:30:00.000Z

I met Secretary General Kofi Annan in April 1997 at the United Nations HQ in New York during the 5 years review process of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Many youth delegates from across the globe gathered in New York to reaffirm their commitment to Agenda 21. Together as young concerned global citizens, we observed that planet earth took off 5 years before from Rio and now it has landed in New York to be serviced. So we the youth were going to check what has been recorded in its Black Box.

To our disappointment the promises that were made by our governments have not be kept. So as the heads of state and government gathered in the chamber of UN General Assembly for the Earth Summit+5 we made black boxes for each of them with our own demands inside. Of course we had a big black box for Kofi Annan and we all went up to his office on the 37th floor of the UN Secretariat to deliver our demands to him after our press conference with the global media. That was the time when I created an electronic group now call the WSSD Youth Caucus list which has been active since 1997 to connect the young people around the world working in line with the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. To join the group go to http://groups.takingitglobal.org/WSSD-YouthCaucus ok.

Meeting the President of India

2005-08-20T15:14:00.000Z

I met President R. Venkataraman in October 1995 at the United Nations country office in New Delhi. He was accompanied by India’s former Ambassador to the United States Dr. Karan Singh and the Director of United Nations Information Centre. It was a special day to observe the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations on 24th October with the President. A special function to remember the work of the UN was held for all senior diplomats and UN officials on that day. I was there to speak on the role of Indian youth in the context of thinking globally and acting locally!

The current President of India Dr. A.P.J. Adul Kalam is also a great supported of children and youth. Dr. Kalam is one of the most distinguished scientists of India with the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from 30 universities and institutions. He was the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999. During this period he led to the weaponisation of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in collaboration with Department of Atomic Energy, which made India a nuclear weapon State. Dr. Kalam became the 11th President of India on 25th July 2002. His focus is on transforming India into a developed nation by 2020.

My good old days in the Indian Air Force

2005-08-19T14:27:00.000Z

It was in the summer of 1993 when I decide to join the Indian Air Force National Cadet Corps (NCC). I was 18 then, but I have always had the passion to fly and conquer the skies as a boy. Since I moved 2000 miles to the Capital, New Delhi from my hometown Shillong to start my university there, I joined the Delhi No.1 Air Squadron. Since then the Air Force was like family to me and I had the best 3 years of my life packed with thrills and adventures. I did all the flight and military training required and also all the other adventure sports which included sky diving, scuba diving, river rafting, horse back riding, sailing, mountaineering, etc offered by the NCC. I started flying gliders, then micro-lights and then moved on to the Cessna.

I was later selected as the best Air Force Cadet representing my Air Squadron and then I competed in the prestigious annual Republic Day Parade in 1996 with the best of the best in the country’s Army, Navy and Air Force. It was just an amazing experience for me to be in the same camp with all these amazing young talents from all the states across the nation. We also had foreign cadets from Singapore, Scotland, England, Canada, and Nepal in our camp. The completion was so tense both physically and mentally and I was in the top 5 of the nation.

Later on I cleared the Staff Selection Board exams at the Northern Air Command to be commissioned as a fighter pilot, but I was required to stay with the force for the next 15 years of my life as a bond according to government regulations. Anyway after graduating from university with my first degree, I decided to leave the Air Force and move on with my graduate study in Environmental Communication as I won the WWF Prince Bernard Scholarship for Environmental Leadership. It was a good move for me, but I will always cherish the best days of my life that I spent with my colleagues in the Indian Air Force.

Hollywood Swing, Boston Tango, New York Salsa

2005-08-17T10:47:00.000Z

Swing with the Stars

While I was working in Los Angeles, my Japanese buddy from Hiroshima and I used to go to the Derby to Swing in the weekends. well it was back in 1926, when the first restaurant opened its doors on Wilshire Blvd in Hollywood. Back in the days they say that on any given night, one could find such stars as Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, or John Barrymore on the dance floor. So if you are lucky you may be dancing we the stars from Hollywood who love to Swing. I highly recommend swing dancing, its so cool and you feel like you are flying.
Check out http://dancingla.homestead.com/DERBY.html ok

Tango by Moonlight

While I was working in Boston, I used to Tango on Wednesday nights by the Harvard University pedestrian bridge. Argentine Tango is an amazing, but difficult dance. They guys have to lead the girls, so they must know every step they take. See the movie "Scent of a woman" if you know what I mean. But people of all ages come to dance or just to watch and listen to the music outdoors by the light of the full moon shimmering over the rippling waters of the Charles River. It is indeed in a romantic and atmospheric setting and I highly recommend giving it a shot, if you happen to pass by Cambridge. Check out http://www.bostontango.com/special-events/moonlight/ ok.

Salsa in the Big Apple

While I was working in New York, my colleagues and I used to go to the famous Copacabana to Salsa. I love Latin dancing and the Capacabana is an amazing place to learn and dance to the different styles and music of Salsa from countries like Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, etc. The moves are different from Tango and Swing of course, but it is always worth a try. So if you are ever happen to be in the city that never sleeps, go burn the Salsa dance floor. You will feel like sailing in the wind. The girls can also take the lead in this dance guys. Check out http://www.copacabanany.com/ ok..