SunCorp

It may be the cute, environmentally sensitive message “I Am Not a Plastic Bag”, that did the trick or maybee it was Hindmarch’s name. Cute, colorful, message bearing and fashion forward.

The bags came out in limited edition. They were sold on a first come, first serve basis with only three bags per customer. When the bags went on sale in Taiwan last June, they created a stampede.

In Western New York, the bags made of differing designs and materials are readily available at Tops and Wegmans as well as smaller outlets for 99 cents and up.

The single use, biodegradable-resistant plastic bags are getting a really bad name even though their use is at an all-time high. In the United States, people use 1 million of them every minute. The Washington, D.C., Worldwatch Institute has reported that Americans annually discard 100 billion plastic bags.
Measures to ban them are being considered all over the country. San Francisco already bans their use in large supermarkets and other stores. Want to know more about our range of reusable bags, please visit http://flickr.com/photos/suncorp

How can a shopper easily contribute to saving energy and reducing waste and litter? SunCorp has a simple way to make it happen.

The Plastic or ME? tote is an eco-friendly 100% cotton canvas reusable “grocery bag” that can go everywhere a shopper goes. This will help the shopper reduce waste by not having to select plastic that will most likely be used just once. 

The Plastic or ME? tote is 16” high X 18” wide with a 5” gusset and takes the place of approximately 2-3 plastic bags used at the grocery store. Research has revealed that the average individual uses thousands of plastic bags during their lifetime. There are three questions that shoppers should ask themselves when they are automatically handed a plastic bag when they are shopping:

• Do I need a plastic bag for this item that is already well packaged by the manufacturer?

• Do I need to take as many plastic bags in supermarkets?

• Could I bring my own shopping bag when making purchases? 

Plastic bags are the cause of major environmental concerns. Somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. Research shows that millions of plastic bags end up as litter. Plastic bags have been seen blowing down the street or even in trees. Once a plastic bag is in the environment, it takes months to hundreds of years for it to break down. SunCorp suggests that a Plastic or ME? tote is a common sense alternative to plastic and to paper.

A few countries and cities have already taken tangible action to reduce the number of plastic bags used. Ireland, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia heavily tax plastic bags and have banned their use entirely because they have become such an environmental problem. It has been reported that England and some U.S. cities are considering similar actions. 

Plastic bags come at a great cost to the environment. Instead of accepting plastic at the supermarket a shopper can now use the Plastic or ME? tote. Any shopper can help make a difference to the environment and to the future of babies all around the world by reducing the number of plastic bags they use.To know more about our range of bags, please http://flickr.com/photos/suncorp 

In India, the right to be loud and noisy and freedom of expression seem to have a direct relationship. Meaning, if one can shout, one is free. Be it a marriage, jagran, birthday bash or a funeral, loud is the way to be.  Whether it is while watching television or sitting across each other and chatting, we like it when decibel levels reach dizzy heights. Even the inanimates of our house have proclaimed their right to be noisy — the hairdryer, the washing machine, the vacuum cleaner, all bellow freely. Does noise comfort us?

    Most of us are honk-happy drivers. We have a constant need to honk, regardless of where we are — an empty road or a full highway, near a hospital or residential complex. It is as absurd as the bumper sticker that came out in the US immediately after the 9/11 attacks. The sticker exhorted, ‘Honk if you are a patriot’. As we become gadget friendly and technology savvy, we are also becoming socially uncivil. Our mobile phones ring in concerts, theatre performances and movie shows with shrieking caller tunes, and we actually manage conversations as we sit there with a choiceless neighbour trying to get value for that ticket. Auditory invasions in private spaces are commonplace. Yours truly has been subjected to many, the worst when a ‘music lover’ sitting next to me in a Sufi music concert decided to settle her marital tiff there. We have smoking zones, no-cellphone zones and no-horn zones. But what we actually need is a zone to access silence. What would the signage at such a zone read like? ‘Silence is golden: Experience it here for Rs 100/hr’ perhaps.

 It’s difficult to escape the sense of deja vu. The response to the latest terror outrage in Hyderabad was followed by the by-now familiar and stale drill—vows to bring the culprits to book, levelling charges, even if well-founded, against Pakistan and Bangladesh, condolences for victims and review meetings from the Prime Minister downwards.

People cannot be accused of being cynical if they dismiss these declarations as hollow and seem resigned for the next jehadi strike. For a country that for more than two decades now has been bled by relentless terror attacks, India has offered knee-jerk and sporadic attack-specific responses. In
fact, it has been in a state of denial, first by claiming that no Indian was messed up with Al Qaida, and when that proved to be wrong, describing this vicious campaign of violence as the handiwork of a “handful of misguided youth’’.
    The response has to change if the bleeding is to stop. The first corrective will come by recognising the huge problem. The right diagnosis is a pre-requisite for cure, and it ranges from acknowledging that the scourge is no fabrication by agencies to creating synergies among agencies, strengthening policing and creating the necessary political will. 

 Just raising elite teams isn’t enough nor is holding out threats to Pakistan sufficient. The key to the success of an honest counterterrorism initiative lies in a painstaking and sustained campaign to strengthen the criminal justice system and law enforcement machinery.
    For all our aspiration to be a superpower, the harsh fact is that a lethal blend of corruption, inefficiency and political meddling has enfeebled our criminal justice administration and sapped the police of will and strength to take on those killing the innocent.
    The investigation into the Hyderabad carnage is still on, but there are already pointers to suggest the loss of life on Saturday could have been averted if the police had been allowed to pick up some of the jehadi footsoldiers who have found a sanctuary in pockets of the Walled City.

Deaths Abound, Trails Go Cold India’s track record in cracking terror cases is pathetic.

Aug 25, 2007 | Hyderabad | 42 dead, 54 injured Suspects: HuJI, LeT| Status: 1 arrest | Mastermind absconding

May 18, 2007 | Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad 14 dead, 100 injured | Suspect: HuJI | Status: Case with CBI, 1 arrest at Bangladesh border, two sketches of suspects issued | Mastermind absconding

Feb 19, 2007 | Samjhauta Exp, Panipat | 68 dead, 125 injured Suspect: LeT | Status: No case | Arrests: 2, released later | Mastermind absconding

Jul 11, 2006 | Train Blasts, Mumbai | 187 dead, 700 injured Suspects: LeT, SIMI | Status: 13 arrests, no trial | Mastermind absconding

Oct 29, 2005 | New Delhi | 61 dead, 92 injured | Suspect: LeT Status: 3 arrested, trial on, 1 suspect killed in encounter in J&K | Mastermind absconding

July 29, 2005 | Shramjeevi Exp, Varanasi | 12 dead, 52 injured Suspects: LeT, HuJI | Status: 9 arrests, case on | Mastermind absconding

Aug 25, 2003 | Gateway & Zaveri Bazar, Mumbai | 53 dead, 161 hurt Suspect: LeT | Status: 5 arrests, no convictions, case on | Mastermind absconding

Sept 24, 2002 | Akshardham, Gandhinagar | 34 dead, 81 injured Status: 6 LeT terrorists arrested, 3 sentenced to death | Mastermind absconding Dec 13, 2001 | Parliament, New Delhi | 12 killed | Suspect: JeM | Arrests: 4 Convicted: 4 (1 death sentence, 1 RI, 2 acquitted) | Mastermind absconding

Feb 14, 1998 | Bomb blasts, Coimbatore 58 dead, 200 injured | Status: 158 convicted, 72 of Al Umma group, sentencing scheduled for Sept | Mastermind absconding

Mar 12, 1993 | Serial blasts, Mumbai | 257 dead 1,400 injured | Status: 129 accused, 100 found guilty

Main accused Dawood and Tiger Memon absconding 47,371

People died in terrorist violence (non-Naxalite) during 1994-2005 4,666

People died in Maoist violence during 2002-2006 Strengthen judicial system, bring extremists to book 

 One of the biggest hurdles India faces in fighting terrorism is the dangerous combo of corruption and inefficiency. It’s worth recalling that the deadly consignment of RDX used for killing 257 civilians in Mumbai in March 1993 could come in only because corrupt customs and police personnel thought they were letting in only the normal contraband.
    The fight is going to be a long haul and with no ‘supercop’ tags for those battling the hidden enemy. It will involve strengthening the legal architecture as well as the force on the ground. It’s illuminating that against a UN-mandated norm of 200 policemen for a population of 1,000, India has an average of 100 for 1,000, and in certain states it’s as low as 58:1000.
    Special laws are opposed in India. But the option for one which is least vulnerable to misuse should also not be ruled out because terror is no ordinary crime and because existing laws can easily be exploited by terrorists and their lawyers.
    Seemingly mundane steps—like strengthening the old-fashioned beat policing— are crucial. ‘Techint’, or technological intelligence, is vital for preempting the Internet-savvy terrorist, but it is no substitute, as Americans have realised at heavy cost, to ‘humint’ or human intelligence. Same for stemming the flow of funds to terrorists.
    The battle against the ruthless, elusive terrorist cannot succeed without partnering civil society. Citizens have to be sensitised to the risk and cost—from the inconvenience of navigating through police barriers after a long day to the risk of equipping agencies with powers fraught with the erosion of privacy. Even the US has had to do this to deal with this frightening foe.
    Terrorism in India is not a natural outgrowth. It has been organised and sustained by Pakistan which has never been able to mask its intent to use jehadi terror as a state instrument to extract concessions in J&K and harry India elsewhere. As in the case of other terrorist atrocities, the trail of the Hyderabad killers leads to Pakistan.
    This may not necessitate the cutting off of links with the neighbour. But it should certainly disabuse the decision-makers in Delhi of the notion that the enemy will change its stripes. A realist view, unblinkered by romantic notions, should be the first step towards scripting a plan to make Pakistan pay for its diabolical tactics.
    The state-civil society partnership is crucial because of the religious dimension of terrorism. Community/faith profiling is not just unfair, it can be counter-productive too by enhancing the appeal of jehadi propaganda.
    That said, nobody gains by ignoring that the jehadi tanzeems—with fanatical zeal to enforce their literal and rigid interpretations of centuries-old scriptures—have increasingly been successful in getting many to sign on their anti-India agenda. The onus of taking on these driven bands rests primarily with members of the community, for the simple reason that they come without the ‘outsider’ tag.
    The response so far has been far from satisfactory, but things can improve if political parties encourage those who are ready to introspect and stop interfering with the work of the police by using alibis of human rights violations or communal bias.
    Experience the world over shows that the battle against terrorism is a tough grind. There is no silver bullet available to us. That we are a democracy located in a neighbourhood which has long been the favourite hunting ground of religious terrorists renders the job even more difficult.
    India’s unenviable reputation as a ‘soft state’ is an invitation to terrorists who have included this country among their prime targets, along with the West and Israel. India’s growing relationship with the US, the prime jehadi target, makes it even more vulnerable.
    But the battle is not an impossible task. India is more than capable of winning, if only it joins it.

The Harvest Festival, is the most popular festival of Kerala. A festival that celebrates a happy blend of myth and reality, Onam is part of the cultural repertoire of every Malayalee. Year after year, for centuries, the people of Kerala, irrespective of caste, creed or colour, join together to celebrate Onam. The ten-day Onam festival falls in August-September, coinciding with the beginning of the harvest season. According to local belief, in a war that took place between the gods and the demons, the demons won. 

Deeply hurt by the defeat of the gods, Aditi, their mother prayed to Lord Vishnu to destroy Mahabali, the Demon King. Consequently, Lord Vishnu, in the guise of a Brahmin boy, Vamanan, went to Mahabali and asked him to grant him three steps of land. The wish was granted and Vamanan covered the whole land with his two steps and then he came back to the King asking him where can he place the third step. The King to honour his word, offered his head as the third step. Vamanan pushed Mahabali deep down into the earth. Pleased by his honesty and generosity, the lord in turn granted him a wish that he could visit his kingdom and people on a particular day once a year. Preparation of a floral carpet called "Athappookkalam" in front of houses, from the first day of 'Atham' to the tenth day of 'Thiruvonam' is part of the festivities, which is a symbolic gesture to welcome King Mahabali. The state government conducts Tourism Week celebrations in connection with Onam, showcasing the gems of Kerala's culture. Onam resonates with Carnivals, Boat Races, Dance, Music and Feast. A sumptious meal on plantain leaf and the traditional sweet dish of Kerala 'Payasam' etc are served in every house. We at SunCorp wish all Malayalees a very Happy Onam

After a five-hour surgery, veterinary doctors removed 30 kgs of plastic from a cow’s stomach on Wednesday.
    A week ago, animal lovers from IIT Powai called the Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to tell them about a cow who was unable to walk due to a wound on her tail. A team of doctors visited the area and saw that the problem was much worse. They suggested she be brought to Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital in Parel for observation.
    They found that her stomach was bloated and the food she ate would come out of her nose. She also had a deep wound in her pelvic region and showed loss of appetite. These were all indications that she had eaten too much plastic.
    “First we cured the tail wound,” says Dr Ashish Sutar, manager of hospital, “then we planned the surgery with the help of Bombay Veterinary college.” The doctors were surprised to see the quantity of plastic that came out of the cow’s stomach during a rumenotomy. During the first hour, they could remove only shreds of plastic.
    It took four more hours to remove all of it. “Out of curiosity,” says one doctor, “we measured the plastic and it weighed 30 kgs. This is the first time so much has been found in a cow’s stomach.”
    “Most cow-owners leave their animals out to graze after milking them,” explains Dr J C Khanna, chief functionary of the hospital, “These cows eat out of garbage bins — as they are rarely fed by their owners — where food stuff is often wrapped in plastic.”
    “It’s sad that owners look after their animals only as long as they are capable of giving milk,” says Khanna, “Then they are abandoned.” Sutar says,“The cow is now out of danger and in post-operative care.” This plastic menace has to end, and as they charity begins at home, we have to take the initiative to stop using plastic bags once and for all.

The city has breathed a lot easier since the last time a section of its traffic changed over to a greener, cleaner fuel.
    All 55,000 of Mumbai’s taxis have switched over to CNG since 2000. That has meant they emit 55 tonnes less of carbon monoxide every year.
    Besides, the significant drop in carbon monoxide levels, particulate matter in taxi emissions has come down by 99 per cent from pre-CNG levels (a decrease of 29 tonnes).

“We can say air quality has improved in proportion to the improvement in fuel quality as most vehicles are compliant with Euro-II and Euro-III standards,’’ Rakesh Kumar of the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Mumbai, said. The improvement would be similar in auto-rickshaw emissions as well, he said. An overwhelming of Mumbai’s auto-rickshaws now run on CNG.
    Comparison of sulphur dioxide levels reinforce the theory. There used to be 46 micrograms per cubic metre of sulphur dioxide in Kalbadevi in 1990. The figure came down to 13 in 2000 when the switch from to CNG happened. The 2005 figure was 9.
    But BEST buses have been comparatively slower in the switch-over; less than 20 per cent of the fleet runs on CNG. The improvement in air quality could also be short-term. Kumar said an uncontrolled growth of vehicular population could deteriorate air quality again: “Average speeds may come down to 8 kph from the present 20 kmph-25 kmph in the city, meaning more burning of fuel and more emissions.’’

Spurious toys that are made in China have made inroads into the Indian markets due to government negligence, say indigenous toy-makers; Mumbai worst-hit according to a study

 When a non-government organisation – Toxic Link – tested over a hundred samples of toys across India last year, their lab results threw up some shocking levels of lead, cadmium and mercury.
    The lead content in toy samples from Delhi clocked 27.80 parts per million (ppm). Chennai toys had the lowest levels at 20.67 ppm. But toys from Mumbai topped the toxic charts by registering unbelievable levels of the toxic metals.

MUMBAI WORST AFFECTED!
Lead found in toy samples collected from the commercial capital was simply off the scale – a shocking 278.73 ppm, or ten times worse than toys from the other two metros.
    When contacted, an official at Toxic Link confirmed the results and revealed that toys, especially from in and around Crawford Market, are not even sold in the city itself.
    “At the time of collecting the samples itself, I was told by the toy traders that Mumbaikars are smart enough to avoid these cheap, imported toys. So they are mostly channelled through the unorganised route to smaller towns like Satara and Sangli,” said Dr Kishore Wankhade, a regional co-ordinator at Toxic Link.
    According to him, the recent Mattel controversy has come to light only because the toy giant has the capacity to detect and avoid any drop in standards.
    “A vast majority of Chinese toys in India are not even checked by anyone. Why would a Chinese manufacturer come here to get a BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) certificate?” he asked.
‘GOVT IS STILL SLEEPING’
Now, after major consignments of Chinese-made toys have been pulled off the shelves by Mattel because of safety concerns, the Indian toy industry is getting its act together to highlight pending regulatory issues.
    But, according to them, the Indian government is still sleeping on the problem as if nothing has happened, while spurious imported toys continue to play dangerous games with millions of the nation’s children.
    “Over 90 per cent of all Chinese toys in India do not have names of manufacturers, their addresses and even the dates of manufacturing and import on the packages. Though all these are mandatorily required. In fact, rules are being blatantly flouted and the government is just watching from the sidelines,” Toy Association of India (TAI) president Paresh Chawla told Mumbai Mirror.
    Notably, most Chinese toys sold in the country are unbranded and do not even indicate the maximum retail price which is required under import rules.
    “Never buy any toy which does not have the required specifications on the pack. Parents should avoid buying these as such unbranded stuff could be a health hazard,” Chawla claimed.
‘ONUS ON PARENTS FOR NOW’
The Indian toy industry is pressing home its old demand to put checks in place to not only help the domestic toy sector but to also avoid repeats of such health scares in the future.
    “We would again take up the issue with the government and ask for some scheme under which testing can be made affordable for industry players,” Chawla said, terming the present testing procedures as a costly affair.
    Talking to this newspaper, Hanung Toys’ CMD A K Bansal said that these irregularities occur all the time because the Indian government has not set up any standards for the toy industry.
    “It’s high time the government wakes up and puts a regulatory mechanism in place to save children from dangerous toys and even the domestic toy sector from the Chinese attack,” he said.
    Interestingly, there is no authority to monitor the quality of toys entering the Indian market. Toys do not come under the preview of the Bureau of Indian Standards.
    “Until minimal safety standards are enforced by the government, the responsibility will lie with parents,”

Do you still want to buy cheap from China, always remember quality always comes at a price, the cheap is attractive but not long term for health or profits.

You got a fast car,
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we can make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere.

  Tracy Chapman’s lyrics came unnervingly to mind while reading about the tragic way in which Adnan Patrawala’s life ended—on a Saturday night in a fast car flanked by young boys claiming to be his friends but who strangled him for money.
    The murder of Adnan, too young to drive and much too young to die, at the hand of killers his age and from a similarly affluent background, has thrown up a number of searching questions about the lifestyle of youngsters in big cities—on speed with no limits for those who have the money to go the distance. Despite police efforts, Mumbai’s promenades are like race tracks for teenagers who tear past in cars pulsing with music after a night of shooting vodka at an expensive club.
    Adnan’s killing adds a more macabre dimension to the incidents involving youngsters on the loose, from Alistair Pareira crashing his Toyota on Carter Road to Abhishek Kasliwal being charged with rape.
    On the same spectrum, albeit at the lower end, were the gruesome Borivili murders by a gang of teenagers from broken homes, who wanted money to go buy dope and visit dance bars. Adnan’s killers too were young, rich and looking for money.

    Hopefully this is a rare aberration but psychologists and educationists caution that unbridled consumerism and lack of parental control are fuelling a dangerous trend that’s here and growing. Teens are ready to blow up Rs 250 on a tequila shot
    Parents are caught in a cleft between being parents and being ‘friends’ to their kids, between teaching values and sparing them what sociologists describe as ‘status anxiety’. “Often both parents are working round the clock at multinationals and drawing hefty salaries. They get little time with their kids and so give in to their demands for money,’’ says KC College principal Manju Nichani.
    Nichani describes the case of a student who came to college by car, but would park a little away from the gate as he was too embarrassed to be seen in just a Maruti. Lubricated as they are by confused parents, who often don’t know how much to allow and how much to deny, the disco becomes their stomping ground.
    Mumbai’s nightclubs are spilling over with students between 16 and 19 years.
    Many are regulars at up-end joints like Ra, Hard Rock Cafe, and even Prive at Colaba, which charges an incredible entry fee of Rs 10,000.
    Naturally, there’s easy access to alcohol. “At a fresher’ party for degree college students many girls got dead drunk at the disco and landed up necking random guys,’’ said an 18-year-old collegian. Teenagers think nothing of knocking back half-adozen tequila shots at Rs 250 a throw. Many spend over Rs 2,000 a month only on cigarettes. As for cell phones, a Nokia E-90, one of the most expensive models in the market, is more popular amongst collegians than it is with their parents.
    It’s not just the business class that suffers from affluenza, say teachers. Many parents from middle-class families invest in good schools, where their children meet the children of wealthy industrialists and businessmen and are influenced by the lifestyle that their peers lead.
    “Students are very conscious of their designer clothes, and know a Tommy Hilfiger from a Gucci,’’ says Navaz Batlivala, a teacher at JB Petit High School, Fort.
    In addition to blowing their parents’ cash, many youngsters also make money on the side by working for event management companies. “When an event management company hosts a party at a club or disco, they pay their agents (usually young college-goers) in excess of Rs 30 for each guest they can bring to the party,’’ said a student.

Whats happening is a taste of things to come in the future, if this trend does not stop at a point, it is going to get dangeruous and beyond control !!!!!