Whitesnake is back with a new album!

My all time favorite Whitesnake is back in an electrifying style with a their 12th album called Purple.

An official announcement from the hard rock band's site says "The Purple Album will be released in North America on May 19th... is a re-imagination of classic songs from David Coverdale’s time as the lead singer for Deep Purple’s Mark 3 and Mark 4 studio albums." And their cover of Deep Purple classic Stormbringer is gaining traction on YouTube. Obvioulsy, the cover song is more scorching and thrashy than Deep Purple's original.

The fundamental issue of water

A new UN report titled Water in the World We Want urges that "...national governments must make sustainable advancements in water, wastewater, and sanitation management, reduce corruption, and hold energy and agricultural sectors responsible for waster use efficiencies. The 94-page report is a comprehensive one for experts working on managing water and water resources.

Let me quote a few gems from the repot:

• The global water crisis is not that there isn’t enough water on Earth to meet all needs; it is a crisis of there not being enough water where we want it, when we want it, of sufficient quality to meet these needs.
• As long as there are governments, corporations, and individuals out to protect only their own interests, wealth will continue to be ill-distributed, financial resources will remain inadequate, and vulnerable populations will continue to bear inequitable costs and consequences.
• Lack of basic services actually increases expenditure in other sectors and categories; for example it usually costs more to get water from informal private providers, health costs increase because waterborne disease is more prevalent, and the potential for human productivity is compromised.

Daily Editorial Track - Feb 14, 2015

While the BJP's debacle at New Delhi cannot linked to lack of reforms, Indian Express feels that reforms should be accelerated in collaboration with the opposition and the states. I can't agree more with "Liberalism can’t be taken as a licence to indulge in vulgarity" as said by the Express about the ever-increasing fall in the standards of language in popular entertainment. And it is nobody's case that India stands a chance in the cricket world cup down under.

The Hindu writes that dealing with black money requires internal and external steps, and in the second edit questions the recent tie-up of Facebook and Reliance. The Telegraph cannot agree with a bit of decency on TV, followed by Hindustan Times who echoes the same liberal pro-western values.

Deccan Herald blasts the Bihar Governor's impropriety in giving time to Manjhi, and in another editorial supports South Africa to win the cricket world cup. Deccan Chronicle also finds problems with the Bihar Governor.

The problem with official enviromentalism

The environment ministry's existence requires an overhaul. It has so far functioned as another project clearance agency, a remnant of the old licence-permit raj dispensation. The principal activity of this department must be to safeguard the environment of India, and not the single-handed purpose of clearing projects. Instead, it has degenerated known for its controversial decisions, yes or no to high-profile projects, and lies created by a section of pro-free-market journalists

First of all, the ministry must have an environmental philosophy that outlines what exactly it will achieve in the next few decades. The environment ministry's objectives should never be for the next five years or the period when the existing government is in power. The philosophy must be to safeguard the environment without landing in controversies involving delayed project clearances that subverts its primary mission and functional role.

It requires a cadre of officials, professionals, political parties, and NGOs who can work together to charter a new development agenda that looks forward and relies on scientific data to arrive at crucial ethical and technically sound decisions. The environment ministry's activism must be not to be an adversary to the government or any other sector, but accomplish its objectives through collaboration, persuasion, and legal remedies on a case by case basis. Environmental management must be within a project, and not outside of the project. The ministry must also consider the cultural diversity of India and requires a different level of skills and expertise unmatched when compared to other ministries.

For this, the ministry must have data that debunks the false EIA reports, canards in the media, and counterclaims unleashed by its opponents. It must create a national database of environmental studies published by peer-reviewed journals, universities, professionals and NGOs. In such a setup, no EIA mafia or corporate entity can misguide the government with false data and land it in a soup. Of course, the person leading the ship must have the required knowledge to take decisions. In an open and transparent environment, the people will not be pitted against the governments they themselves elected. Whether you hate it or not, it is time for "green lobbying" to ensure that the environmnetal concerns are taken into account, and no laws, environmental or human, are violated.

This is a ministry that requires extensive collaboration with India's research institutes and personnel who can separate the wheat from the chaff. It also requires extensive inputs from international agencies who can supply updated scientific data.

The environment ministry must never become just a project clearance ministry: it has a crucial role in defining the future of India's social and ecological environment. This ministry may have nothing to do with India's economic growth, unless the environmental damages and benefits of development are not accounted in the accounting books. Yes, it's time to account in dollars or Indian rupees the ecological damage or the ecological benefits accrued by development and growth in India. Otherwise, the future generations will curse the present generation for doing nothing for them, when the West is taking serious note of environmental concerns.

My 2015 bookshelf