Why Not a Total Ban on Plastics and Not Just Carry Bags?

Municipalities and corporations have enforced laws to ban plastic carry bags and shops have been directed not to provide such bags to customers to carry the purchased goods. Instead of plastic, jute, cloth or other biodegradable quality bags are to be used.

Now this puts lot of pressure on shops and establishments to conform but this will not reduce plastic consumption unless companies are also directed not to use plastic for packing their edible or non-edible or even consumer durables.

Biscuits, soaps, edible oils, tea, coffee powder, milk, candles, fried foods, consumer durables, even car seats are covered in plastic when it is delivered to the customer,

When companies use plastic to package their goods, it reaches more homes than when a shop keeper provides plastic bags to carry the bought goods. There has been no effort to curb the use of plastics by companies.

Or is it because they have huge backlog of designed plastic wrappers and boxes that would go waste if plastic ban is implemented or is it that extra costs will be incurred in shifting to a biodegradable quality packing?

I think policy makers, consumer activists and regulatory officials should think of a total ban on plastics and not just carry bags.

Psychopathy: How Men Use Sympathy to Lure Women

Charming or handsome looks, good voice, height, muscular body sometimes may not always go well with the fairer sex. But some men employ a killer strategy to lure women. They know very well sympathy can win over a woman quite easily. Whether a woman has given birth to a child or not or whether married or not they have a motherly instinct to protect and care. As such they become sympathetic to someone who opens up their mind to a crisis they are facing.

These men are either psychopaths or sociopaths, the former is more manipulative, cold-blooded the other one is hot headed and less manipulative.

Psychopaths/sociopaths who get introduced to women lock them in an emotional trap by sharing their family problems most probably about a separated wife, unfulfilled relationship and so on. The intention of such person could vary from having sex, getting money or manipulate the behaviour of the woman. They may have attractive traits such as good voice and also good at texting on Whatsapp or Messenger.

Once the relationship strengthens they use various manipulative tactics to destroy the mental peace of the woman. It could be ignoring messages, putting conditions for the relationship to progress such as severing relationship with other boyfriends and insisting on meeting often.  They are capable of maintaining relationship with several women at a time without any of them knowing about the other.

Such relationship can occur between a boss and subordinate, colleagues, or casual acquaintances developing into a relationship. Once the woman starts objecting to his conditions, he may threaten to quit or suggest the same to her. But since she is emotionally trapped, he very well knows it will not happen all of a sudden. Such psychopaths are suspicious of their lovers and keep track of their movements and social media activity.

Most often psychopaths/sociopaths get away from any punishment because their victims can’t expose them easily. They also belittle their wife making them feel small and lack empathy or emotion.

How to Escape from a Psychopath
Many victims ask themselves how I fell for this man. The fact is that they are helpless and feel guilty for being in such a relationship. Whenever she thinks of him, he appears as a thorn in their mind.  And it is not easy to easily forget him and there may be temptation to meet him again or text him.

But it is not entirely impossible to get out of such a relationship. First and foremost is not to feel guilty for having fallen into a relationship. If possible seek counselling or talk to friends, engage in new activities or challenges and soon the thorn in your mind will start disintegrating.

Despite the fact that psychopaths/sociopaths may be silently creating stress in the minds of hapless women victims, the society at large is not able to grapple with the phenomenon,

However, there are certain precautions that women can take in a relationship.

If the man tries to focus more on his family crisis or that of his spouse, better take guard. Normally, men don't open up to even close friends with their family problems so if they are opening up within days of getting introduced to each other, better be cautious.

For a better understanding of Psychopath and Sociopath- here is a link: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/sociopath-psychopath-difference#1

(Comments, Suggestions or queries may be posted here or mailed to sreekumsree@gmail.com)

The Truth Behind the Fuel-Toilet Debate in India

Now social media and electronic media is full of trolls ridiculing the newly appointed Union Minister Mr Alphonse Kannanthanam and his statement about petrol, diesel sales proceeds going towards constructing toilets that did not go well with the masses.

There seems to be lot of misunderstanding about how petrol diesel prices are determined in the country. Oil Minister Mr Dharmendra Pradhan has stated that we follow the most transparent system for daily price determination of petrol and diesel.  Those who follow his Twitter posts can understand very well how misguided the critics of the BJP government are when it comes to fuel prie determination in India.

Mr Pradhan has pointed out that crude oil is just one component that determines the price of petrol and diesel. There are several other components which he hasn’t explained. At current prices of $50 a barrel, per litre cost in India would be Rs 20 based on Rs 64/Dollar exchange rate. Then how come we are paying Rs 70 plus at the retail petrol station?

Here is the break-up?

The oil marketing companies need to incur refining costs, transportation costs and most importantly taxes. Excise duty, state value added tax (VAT) and cess apart from profit margin by oil companies, dealers also have to be factored in.

We must be paying close to Rs 40 by way of taxes which neither the state governments nor the central governments can afford to forego considering the huge revenue they get from it. Minister Pradhan has also indicated in his tweets that petrol and diesel prices are trailing behind international crude oil prices in the past few months. According to him crude oil prices rose 13% in the past three months but petrol prices in India rose only 4%, global petrol prices rose 18% while domestic prices rose only 4% in the past three months.

The Toilet Debate

The statement from Mr Kannanthanam gives the impression that revenue from fuel sales would be utilised for the construction of toilets. What the government has been discussing is how far the tax revenue on account of fuel sales can be used for social welfare purposes including drinking water and sanitation. Now with international crude prices declining, there is opportunity for the government as current account deficit will narrow.

When all taxes go into the consolidated account of the government, how can oil excise duty and taxes be demarcated and used for social welfare activities is still a mystery.

However, no one can doubt the intention of the government which claims to have added 4.837 crore new toilets since 2014. Presently, about 68.21% of the population is under sanitation coverage compared to 38.70% when the government came to power three years ago.

Encourage Public Transport

The government has also stated that the fuel pricing policy provides a disincentive for more use of petrol and diesel for passenger vehicles with the goal of promoting public transport. It will curb traffic, prevent pollution and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

The shift from administered pricing mechanism (APM) to prices based on international crude oil was expected to reduce the retail prices of fuel but consumers feel is not happening. The fluctuations in exchange rate and costs of fuel intermediates may have a bearing on the daily price movements of petrol and diesel.

Tailpiece

Politicians, social commentators, analysts and even a civil servant turned minister seem to be lacking knowledge of India’s fuel pricing and therein lies the issue. Secondly, government is now considering bringing fuel prices under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST) which will bring uniform pricing across the country.

Your Home May Be More Polluting Than You Imagine

How often we talk about pollution on the streets and roads whether it is smoke, dust, noxious fumes from vehicles, pungent smell from garbage deposited on the wayside. The other day when some visitors were coming to our house, we re-arranged and cleaned up the home. There was enormous amount of dust on the leaves of fans, behind dressing tables, cupboards that our servant overlooked. Not to speak of dust settled in open book shelves. 

Vacuum cleaners are now very common in households but to clean up inaccessible areas you first need to move the furniture or equipment to clear the dust and other harmful materials.

Dust inside the house can cause lung infections, bronchial asthma, throat infections and several other health issues.

Dust is not the only pollutant that is harmful to us inside our home. These days, mosquito menace forces us to use mosquito coils, liquid mosquito repellants contain harmful chemical allethrin whose exposure for longer hours can cause harm even as it may drive away musquitoes for sometime.

Now air freshners are used in both A/C and Non A/c Rooms to give a fresh odor but they contain harmful substances such as Dichlorobenzene, a known carcinogen. It can as be found on toilet deodorizers, moth balls. It creates an illusion of freshness by destroying our sense of smell, says analysts.

Conventional floor cleaners may contain phenyl and other such chemicals that can cause respiratory problems, skin irritations, dizziness, asthmatic attacks. Insect repellants are chemical intensive and likely to cause harm to the occupants.

Deodorants could also cause damage to skin and respiratory system. They contain carcinogens such as aluminium compounds, triclosan, parabens, propylene glycol among others.

Compared to outdoors, indoors can be more polluting as there is nothing to absorb the release of such substances. Trees, plants and grass can act as natural traps for dust, heat and pollutants outdoors.

How to ensure pollution free interiors

Chemical intensive nature of substances used for cleaning and purification of rooms have a negative impact on our health.

Here are some ways to reduce chemical use and pollution at home.

1)Have the rooms and walls dusted using a vaccum cleaner regularly

2)Fans, Lamps and interior decoration articles should be periodically cleaned to clear dust accumulated
3) Use mild, less chemical intensive floor cleaners and herbal alternatives to insect repellants.

4) Use mild deodorants, perfumes, air freshners that are not carcinogenic in nature.

5) Ensure walls are repainted every 3-5 years.

6)Keep windows, doors open for some time during the day to enable fresh air inside even if it is an airconditioned room.

7) Use quality paint for doors, windows and walls.  Powder coated materials last longer and hence easy to maintain.