The views expressed here are my personal views, and not affiliated to my work place.
"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell."-Siddhartha
I am an Embedded Linux Programmer and my area of interests include optimization techniques, memory allocators, debug tools and utilities, network programming, and system programming among various other things.
Apart from programming, I do backpacking, photography, support FOSS, a nature lover, learn Indian art and history. I also love to engage myself in thought provoking conversations.
I also have a keen interest in politics and society at large. I dream of becoming a farmer on oneday.
I am from Palnadu region in Andhra Pradesh and was born in the year 1980. Did Masters in Embedded Systems. Married to Dr Sai Nagini, who is a dentist by profession. Currently I live in Bangalore.
The handloom sector is an important cottage industry in India. It employs more than 10 million workers and is second only to agriculture in providing employment. A failure in handloom sector will have un-imaginable consequences in the lives of as many as 10 million indians.
Number of suicide deaths of the Andhra Pradesh weaver's reported so far in various news papers, and articles.
| District | Period | Death toll |
| Prakasam | 2004 - 06 | 43 |
| KarimNagar | 2004 - 06 | 55 |
| Sirsilla (KarimNagar) | 2001 | 59 |
| Dubbaka (Medak) | 2001 | 20 |
| Nalgonda | Aug 2002 | 9 |
According to weaver's coperative socities 300-400 suicides happend in 2001-02.
The daily earnings of a weaver vary between Rs 20 and Rs 150. Most households survive on around Rs 50. That's a monthly income of Rs 1,500 -- about the same as the World Bank's extreme poverty line of US $ 1 a day. Weavers work long hours, often as many as 14 hours a day.
Suicide note left by a weaver family in chirala : Seventy-year-old A. Subba Rao and his wife Srilakshmi drank pesticide together in the evening after what went by the name of a frugal supper. Before that, they jointly wrote letters to state finance minister K. Rosaiah, MP Purandareswari, the district collector and leaders of the handloom weaver's association, pleading that they ensure a similar fate does not befall other weavers. "Please ensure that our fate does not descend on other weavers. Just slogans do not help. What the weavers need is your support to live on their own. Not sops or doles."
Blaming the elected representatives for not fulfilling poll promises of providing work and remunerative prices for the produce of handloom weavers, the couple pointed fingers at the huge and wasteful spending for election campaigns. "Even if 25 per cent of the funds wasted were given as doles to weaker sections like us, we could have survived for some more days," they said.
Even at 70, Subba Rao used to personally ferry his products to shops. He cooked for himself and his ailing wife, carried water and cleaned their two-room house, whose broken tiled roof and dilapidated walls told the story of their poverty. "Both lived on less than Rs 500 a month without electricity and sufficient water," said the neighbour.
Action: Try to buy some of your dress material directly from them or made by them, and support their struggle to live. Infact handloom Khadi shirts, dhotis, bed linen are great in style and comfort when compared to powerloom versions. I started purchasing such material for myself and our house hold from Apco's shops in AP or from places like Khadi Bhandar. If you are visiting Khadi Bhadar shops, then do insist on cloths made by Handloom. It is very common that, salesman would show you cloths made by Powerloom. Yes, even at Khadi Bhandar they sell cloth material made at powerlooms, usually from Mumbai. Please visit APCO website
The University of Michigan has suspended its business relationship with the Coca-Cola company because of the company's egregious human rights and environmental practices in India and Colombia. From now on coca cola products will not be served in the campus.
Please read this article on Criticism of Coca Cola
. Pay special attention to India section. Know more about the Plachimada plant in Kerala state.
Ref: Indiaresource.org for
further details on Coke's activities in India
Send a free fax letter to Coke's CEO protesting against
Coke's inhuman activities in India.
Action: Coke as a drink is not healthy and as a company not ethical in its business practise. (dealing with environment and worker unions). We can not be ignorant of such actions and keep buying Coke at the cost of our own health and those affected by its actions at Plachimada or Coloumbia. Personally, it took some time to stop consuming coke. Yup its possible, try it.
Quick facts on Plastic Pollution
Action:
I carry my own bag for purchasing vegetables or groceries. I request the sales person not to put small items like
soaps, packaged items in a plastic carry bag. At Office, I use ceramic mug for T.
I think I am making a big differece for my surroundings. "Join the Revolution, Be Part of the Solution".
Success story
When humans see the damage caused by plastics to their family and establishments unlike what they hear on damage to environment, they do change. Kurnool a town in Andhra Pradesh, was affected with flash floods and I guess it made them think hard on using plastic bags. See the news article here.
One of the most controversial topic regarding the India's society and culture is its stringent caste system. The word "caste" is taken from the Portuguese word casta. It can be defined as a rigid social system in which a social hierarchy is maintained generation after generation and allows little mobility out of the position to which a person is born.
This system dates almost 3000 years back and was formed based on the need to form a social order in ancient India. It is still very prevalent as part of India's society. Today, it occurs more in the rural villages than in big urban cities; and more in the social matters of kinship and marriages than in impersonal day-to-day interaction, such as taking the bus. Having been around for centuries, it is highly doubtful that the caste system will die out completely. Its presence will still be felt in the near future.
Some 250 million people around the world were born untouchable. They live throughout South Asia, as well as in Japan and parts of West Africa. Over 160 million of them are in India, where they make up more than one-sixth of the population, and where over 580 million more people belong to other oppressed castes and tribes.
While the Vedas mention only four main varnas or castes, contemporary India has numerous sub-castes or jatis within each Varna. Caste-based politics have strong roots in many Indian states, as most politicians have an inability or unwillingness to discuss economic and social issues in any rational manner. This system is working against the people of India.Often politicians use this as a primary weapon to win the elections by dividing the people. Reservation and quota system was provided on the basis of ones cast, while it should be on financial ability of the family.
Action: This cast system associated to Hinduism should be erased without any trace left. There shoud be no records of cast or any data related to ones cast. Reservations and quota sysem should be on the basis of financial ability ratehr than cast. It will lead to a better united india and will change the lives of 300 million indians who are below the poverty line. Remove the cast tag in our full name?.
On 11 May, 2000 India is projected to have 1 billion3 (100 crore) people, i.e. 16 percent of the world's population on 2.4 percent of the globe's land area. If current trends continue, India may overtake China in 2045, to become the most populous country in the world. While global population has increased threefold during this century, from 2 billion to 6 billion, the population of India has increased nearly five times from 238 million (23 crores) to 1 billion in the same period. India's current annual increase in population of 15.5 million is large enough to neutralize efforts to conserve the resource endowment and environment.
India's population in 1991 and projections to 2016 are as follows:
Table 1: Population Projections for India (million)3
| March 1991 | March 2001 | March 2011 | March 2016 |
| 846.3 | 1012.4 | 1178.9 | 1263.5 |
Action: Create the awareness by spreading the message.
Runtime utility to get library coverage details of a process: git
Runtime utility to detect memory leaks in C/C++ programs: Memleak
Runtime utility to detect heap corruption in C/C++ programs: Safeheap
Talk on Library Covergae tool at ELC-2011, San Francisco: Slides _ _ Video
Talk on Memleak and Safeheap tools at ELC-Europe-2010, Cambridge: Slides _ _ Video
Please do send comments, corrections, or suggestions to ravisankar period g at gmail period com.