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Author Archives: Pankaj Adhikari

  • 24
    Aug 25
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Stop killing journalists, Mr Netanyahu

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Israel’s constant targeting of journalists and Gaza offensive to silence truth continued as it bombed the main hospital in southern Gaza on August 25 again killing at least 20 people, including five journalists.

Earlier this month, the Israeli airstrike on a tent used by media near Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City had killed five Al-Jazeera staff and two freelancers which had been the single deadliest attack since the Israel-Gaza war began in 1992.

The “targeted assassination” was “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”, said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Meanwhile, UN Human Rights Office OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territory) says it has verified the killing of 227 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since October 7, 2023. The UN office also says Israeli attacks had killed 18 journalists in May 2025 alone. International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has described this as ‘journacide’.

Israel has long been accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof.  “Israel is murdering the messengers,” said CPJ regional director Sara Qudah. “They’ve wiped out an entire news crew. That’s murder.”

Anas al-Sharif, who was among those killed on August 10, had been one of Al Jazeera’s best-known reporters in Gaza since October 2023, and was the “only voice” for the world to know what was happening in the Gaza Strip. He was one of several journalists whom Israel had previously alleged were members of Hamas, without providing any evidence.

There is growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli army on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that they Hamas terrorists.

Directing attacks against protected persons such as journalists is a violation of international law and also constitutes a war crime. The apparent targeting of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, combined with Israel’s denial of access of foreign journalists to Gaza for over 18 months, except a few visits controlled by IDF, indicates a deliberate attempt by Israel to limit the flow of information to and from Gaza and prevent reporting on the impact of its attacks and denial of humanitarian assistance.

Cartoon by Suparno Chaudhuri

Remember Mr Netanyahu, you may unleash lethal force and keep killing journalists, but you won’t be able to destroy fearless journalism. Journalists will keep enduring deadly risks of reporting and truth will prevail.

Irish writer Oscar Wilde had said: “In America, the president reigns for four years, but journalism governs forever and ever.”

Meanwhile, Yuval Noah Harari, author of the best-selling book Sapiens, and the eminent Israeli historian and now a high-profile political activist in his home country, has opposed Netanyahu’s right-wing populist coalition. He also attacked the indifference of some American and European progressives to Hamas atrocities, and accused them of ‘extreme moral insensitivity’ and betraying left wing politics. He expressed dismay with “elements within the global left…until now our political partners” who had, on occasions, “justified Hamas’ actions”.

Harari has said he believes “the idea that Israel should just destroy Gaza is unacceptable….the only solution will come when not only is Hamas disarmed, but the Palestinian people have some kind of alternative future.”

Famous journalists who were brutally murdered:

Daniel Pearl (1963-2002), an American journalist who worked for The Wall Street Journal, was beheaded by jihadists in Pakistan in 2002.

James Foley (1973-2014), an American journalist and a freelance war correspondent, was abducted in Syria and decapitated by ISIS in 2014.

Steven Sotloff  (1983-2014), an American-Israeli journalist, was kidnapped in Aleppo, Syria and beheaded by ISIS in 2014.

 

 

 

  • 31
    Jul 25
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The Good Samaritan

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Navigating traffic in torrid summer and torrential rain in south Kolkata, he ekes out his living. He ferries passengers to their destination always with a smile. He endures his hardship and battles poverty without a whimper. He is expansive and humane. His conscience, compassion and magnanimity are hard to find in this age of greed and selfishness.

Meet Kanai Sarkar.

Come rain or shine, you may come across this 45-year-old auto driver on NSC Bose Road between Garia and Anwar Shah Road. His day begins at 6am as he drops school children to their destinations. On Kolkata’s pitiable roads, he has to cope with series of problems — from pot-holes to hostile traffic sergeants to rude and ill-mannered passengers. But, he neither uses foul language nor frowns at them.

His daily grind includes negotiating pot-holed roads which make things worse in the rainy season and traumatic traffic. While his fellow auto-drivers don’t bother about rulebooks, he never flouts them. If any passenger urges him to drive faster, he never resorts to rash driving. In the process, he often faces impolite and unruly backlashes. But, he bears them with equanimity. What sets him apart from other auto-drivers is his large-heartedness, benevolence and generosity. Ever alert about his elderly passengers, he always drives with extra caution while negotiating the pock-marked city roads. He even extends his helping hand, literally, to get them off the vehicles to the safety of footpath.

A school student the other day forgot to bring his wallet and discovered it only when he reached his destination. “Kaku, I forgot to bring my purse,” the boy pleaded helplessly. “No problem,” replied Kanai. “Baba, take this Rs 15. You’ll need it while returning home,” he added.

A Good Samaritan like him is extremely rare today. While we’re unscrupulously chasing money every moment, this auto-driver faces challenges without any complaint and remains happy, helping others even amid adversity.

Salute to you, Kanaida.

 

Kanai Sarkar: A good soul

 

 

 

  • 26
    Jan 25
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Trump’s second innings: Beginning of a devastating impact on planet and people

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Donald Trump’s return to White House marks a watershed in the history of humankind. The triumph of the loony and convicted felon in the November 2024 US presidential election has sent dire warnings for humanity.

With fossil fuel emissions continuing to heat the atmosphere, Trump, a staunch advocate of fossil fuel, has vowed to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, the world’s most significant effort to tackle rising temperatures.

He also made it clear that the US will embark on a new age of oil and gas exploration.

In 2017, President Trump during his first term had said he had been elected “to represent the people of Pittsburgh and not Paris”. The US will now join Iran, Yemen and Libya as the only countries to currently stand outside the Paris Agreement, which was signed 10 years ago in the French capital.

Although the Paris Agreement is not a legally binding treaty, it is the document that drives co-operation among the nations to combat global warming.

On January 20, Trump had announced a “national energy emergency” to reverse many of the Biden era environmental regulations. He had termed the Paris Agreement a” ripoff” during his inaugural speech following his swearing-in and said: “We’ll drill, baby, drill”.

The planet has moved a major step closer to warming more than 1.5C for the first time in 2024, new data shows despite the promise of world leaders to avert this disaster a decade ago.

The European Copernicus planet service, one of the main global data providers, has said 2024 was the first calendar to pass the symbolic threshold as well as the world’s hottest on record.

Last week UN chief Antonio Guterres described the recent run of temperature records as “climate breakdown”. “We must exit this road to ruin…and we’ve no time to lose,” he had said in his New Year message.

Last year’s searing heat is predominantly due to humanity’s emissions of planet warming gases, such as carbon dioxide, which are still at record highs.

The risks from climate change, such as intense heat waves, rising sea-levels and loss of wildlife, would be much higher at 2C than at 1.5C, according a landmark UN report from 2018.

Yet, the world is moving closer and closer to breaching the 1.5C barrier. It’s hard to predict though when we will cross the long-term 1.5C threshold, ‘but we’re obviously very close now,” says Myles Allen, an author of the UN report.

The 1.5C has become a powerful symbol in the international climate negotiations ever since it was signed in Paris in 2015, with many of the most vulnerable countries considering it a matter of survival.

In 2024 the world saw blistering temperatures in West Africa, prolonged droughts in parts of South America, intense rainfall in central Europe, and some particularly strong tropical storms hitting North America and South Asia.

These events were just some of those made more intense by the climate change over the last year, according to World Weather Attribution Group. Even this month’s wildfires in Los Angeles were fueled by high winds and a lack of rain. Experts say conditions conducive to fires in California are becoming more likely in a warming world.

Strangely enough, Trump still denies the existence of the climate change and its disastrous consequence. His dogged determination to explore oil and natural gas will surely be death knell for the planet when the crisis is becoming worse every year.

I am reminded of what activist Jane Fonda had said: “There has never been a ticking time tomb hanging over our heads. There’s a looming catastrophe that will affect all of humanity. That’s never happened before in the history of humankind…”

Sadly, this madcap doesn’t realize that ‘drilling’ Alaska for oil is like digging his own grave.

Cartoon: Suparno Chaudhuri

  • 21
    Nov 24
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Pfizer, fraud and Covid

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The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes against Humanity, which was published last month on October 15, has stated in no uncertain terms that the US pharma behemoth’s Covid vaccine clinical trial was deeply flawed. This is a book, author Dr Naomi Wolf says, the US, the UK and Australian governments had all tried to suppress.

The story of the book and how it was completed is extraordinary. As many as 3250 highly credentialed doctors and scientists under the leadership of Amy Kelly worked for two years on the 450,000 internal Pfizer documents released under the court order by a successful lawsuit by Attorney Aaron Siri.

These volunteers have confirmed the greatest crimes against humanity of all time.

Covid-19 became a global public health emergency in 2020. Today, after four years, it really doesn’t matter whether the virus was released carelessly or deliberately into the environment from Wuhan (China) or Fort Detrick (US).

Public demand, support of the scientific-medical fraternity, WHO and national public health officials, together led national governments across the world to begin and fast-track the manufacture of anti-Covid vaccines.

Pfizer stepped in to take advantage of the crisis and mint money.

The story began when lawyer Aaron Siri successfully sued the FDA, to compel them to release “The Pfizer Documents”. These are Pfizer’s internal documents that detail the clinical trials Pfizer had conducted in relation to its Covid mRNA injection. These trials were undertaken to secure the ultimate prize for a pharmaceutical company, the Emergency Use Authorization” (EUA) from the FDA. The FDA had awarded EUA for ages 16+to Pfizer in December 2020. The ‘pandemic’ became the pretext for the “urgency” that led the FDA to bestow EUA on Pfizer’s (and Moderna’s) drug. The EUA essentially allowed Pfizer to race right to market with a not-fully-tested product.

Many people who took the vaccine as it was launched in 2020-2021-2022 and to the present, did not realize that normal testing for safety of a new vaccine–testing that typically takes 10 to 12 years–had simply been bypassed via the mechanism of a “state of emergency” and the FDA’s “Emergency Use Authorization”.

The FDA asked the judge in the Aaron Siri lawsuit to withhold the release of the Pfizer documents for 75 years. But, why would a government agency wish to conceal certain material until the present generation, those affected by what is in these documents, is dead and gone? There can be no good answer to this question!

Fortunately for history and for millions of people whose lives were saved by this decision, the judge had refused the FDA’s request and compelled the release of the documents.

Pfizer knew by April 2021that the vaccines had damaged the hearts of young people. The company knew — just 90 days after the public rollout of their vaccines — that its injection was linked to a myriad of adverse events. Far from being “chills”, “fever’, “fatigue”, as the Center for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) and other authorities had claimed, the actual side-effects were catastrophically serious. These side-effects included: death (which Pfizer does list as a “serious adverse event”). Indeed, there were over 1233 deaths in the first three months of the drug being publicly available.

Among the side-effects were liver injury, neurological adverse events, facial paralysis, kidney injury, autoimmune diseases, respiratory failure, damaged lung structure, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. These appear in the Pfizer documents as side-effects of the vaccine.

By the time, Pfizer’s vaccines were rolled out to the public, the company knew that they would be killing babies and significantly harming women and men’s reproduction. The materials in the documents make it clear that damaging human ability to reproduce and causing spontaneous abortions of babies is “not a bug, it is a failure.”

“Unearthing this criminal evidence is painful indeed,” says the author. “Seeing this material is like being among the Allied soldiers who first opened the gates of Auschwitz.”

Unfortunately, no one who committed this unpardonable crime is in jail, or even facing civil or criminal charges. There are now at least three lawsuits against Pfizer. The litigation drags on.

When will those responsible be brought to book and exemplary punishment meted out to them?

Only time will tell.

 

  • 26
    Jul 24
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What’s Indian railways’ priority after the CRS report: Vande Bharat or rail safety?

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Last week, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) had slammed Indian Railways for Kanchanjunga Express-goods train collision on June 17 in which 10 people had died and 30 others injured. The goods train rammed into Kanchenjunga Express from behind near Rangapani station , close to New Jalpaiguri in North Bengal.

The loco pilot of the goods train was given incorrect authority document, the report had said. The initial probe, however, had blamed the goods train crew for the accident.

“It was an accident-in-waiting,” said the CRS report, adding that there were errors in multiple levels of the administration and station staff.

According to CRS, a wrong paper authority to pass (T/A 912) was issued to the crew of the goods train by the authorities. Loco pilot of the goods train was not given any speed guidelines while crossing the signal which made matters worse, the report said.

The accident in Darjeeling district had been classified under the “Error in train working” section. Due to improper authority and that too without adequate information, such an incident was an “accident-in-waiting”, the CRS report had said.

“It is really a matter of concern that if the teachers themselves (traffic inspector and chief loco inspector), are not aware of the subject, what knowledge will they impart to students (loco pilot and SS/SM)?” the report had said.
Citing the failure of automatic signaling, the report said: “There have been 275 failures in the auto section of the Katihar Division since the commissioning in January 2023 till 20th June 2024…the large number of signaling failures in the automatic section is defeating the very purpose of mobility enhancement and causing safety concerns,” the report said.

Last week, the Railway Board, had announced that the rail ministry had standardized the operating procedure for train crew in case of such failures. “To increase the reliability of signaling equipment, an action plan is being prepared with the zone, under the chairmanship of RDSO (Research designs and standards organization)” the Board had said.

The CRS report also mentioned that the implementation of the Kavach anti-collision system needs to be shown on ground to avoid collisions,

As a rail enthusiast, I’d like to raise a few points to the rail ministry.

Well, the government may go ahead with bullet trains or high-speed trains. But, equal emphasis, if not more, must be given on improving infrastructure of suburban rail network on which millions of common people depend every day. Since I grew up in a suburb named Naihati, near Kolkata and lived close to the rail station, I am familiar with the rail infrastructure over the years. I used to travel everyday from Naihati to Sealdah rail station during late 70’s and early 80’s and had seen and personally experienced daily commuters’ ordeal and woes. I had seen how common folks travel in coaches packed like sardines!

Isn’t the top brass of the Sealdah section aware of the pain and pathos of the daily passengers? Doesn’t he know the deplorable state of affairs?

Even now, while the government has been working zealously to modernise railways and build high-speed trains befitting Asia’s third largest economy, daily passengers’ agony continues: local trains perennially run late, lack of adequate trains, most of the coaches are old and decrepit. Rundown and shabby interior will stare at you as you step into the compartment. Windows are mostly non-functional. About the cleanliness, hygiene and floor of the compartment, the less said the better.

However, recently the authorities have introduced some new coaches. I wonder how long these new coaches will shine in the absence of public discipline and poor maintenance.

What needs to be done urgently is to improve basic infrastructure (including tracks upgrade with high strength rails) and ensure commuters’ safety. The Kanchanjunga Express accident has made it amply clear that the authorities had been lackadaisical and adequate action was not taken following the Balasore train accident.

Will the rail authorities wake up and take urgent action following the CRS report keeping in mind the passengers’ safety which should be top priority?

Vande Bharat is good, but running trains on time, tracks upgrade, keeping coaches clean and making rail journey safer is better!

Is the rail minister listening?

  • 17
    Jul 24
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Searing heat wave in US: global cooperation needed to combat climate change

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A Washington Post news report last week on extreme heat in the US which has “killed at least 28 in the past week” has prompted me to write this story. Last August, I had written in my blog (following the wild fires in Canada and the US) that we’re living in a time of serious environmental catastrophe. Unfortunately, world leaders are blissfully unaware of its impacts on the environment, and its implications for society, economy and policy.

According to a BBC report, Canada’s boreal zone— a mixture of forest and wetland—makes up more than half of its land area. Wildfires burned a record185,000 sq km of the country in 2023, an area the size of Syria. In western Canada, 163 of these fires went underground and smoldered until this spring.

The Post report should be a wake-up call for urgent action on climate change.

Most of the heat-related deaths, the Post report says, have been reported in California, Oregon and Arizona, but high temperatures have caused deaths as far east as Maryland, the report has added.

Searing heat in recent years is nothing new in the US. Due to global warming, heat wave has been sweeping through much of the country. “We’ve forest fires in the West, Hurricane Beryl has wreaked havoc in Texas this month. We’ve tornadoes almost every week,” says Alokananda Bagchi, who had taught at Michigan State University. “We’re seeing the ravages of climate change much earlier than had been anticipated, and it feels as though our planet is headed for destruction at breakneck speed,” Bagchi, who has been living in the US since 1991, rues.

The Post report had also said that as of last Wednesday (July 10), “more than 135 million people across the Lower 48 were under heat alerts…” Federal data shows that deaths from heat have increased in the US steadily, in recent years climbing to over 2300 in 2023. About 1600 heat-related fatalities occurred in 2021 and there were approximately 1700 in 2022.

The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies had published a report in the journal Climate Change last year stating that by the year 2050 the western US will experience not only more wildfires, but they will start earlier in the year, some of which can travel hundreds of miles away from the fire and potentially cause lung problems for anyone who breathes in these tiny particulate of soot and ash.

Much of Canada, like the rest of North America, has experienced record heat recently as climate change continues to warm the planet. Prof Lord Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank, in his book “The Global Deal: Climate Change and the creation of a new era of progress and prosperity,” has said: …”the process of climate change starts with the actions of the people and ends with the impacts on people….” A leading authority on what we can do in the face of such threat, Prof Stern has said action on climate change requires the greatest possible international collaboration, led by the US and China, who are by far the greatest emitters of greenhouse gases.

The Biden administration had announced a plan to make the US carbon neutral by 2050. “This will never happen in a million years,” said American columnist Bradley Blankenship.

It’s a matter of great concern that private jets in the US make up approximately 67% of all private jets worldwide. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s private jets are registered in the US, according to data from Airbus Corporate Jets. According to the US Census Bureau, 91.7% of the US households own at least one car, up from 91.3% in 2018, and 22.1% of the household had three or more vehicles in 2022, a 5.2% increase from 2018.

According to a report by a local expatriate, as of the end of June 2023, it is estimated that there are 420 million vehicles (including trucks) in China. Until 2020, the US has held the top position in terms of the number of vehicles, but China now has surpassed it, the report says.

America has produced around 400 billion tons of CO2 since 1751, enough to account for 25% of all anthropogenic emissions globally—and doubles China’s share. This fact alone, coupled with the fact that China with a far larger population and industrial base, produces half as much CO2 per capita, demonstrate that the US bears a unique responsibility toward poorer countries.

Poor countries — the least responsible for the climate change- will be hit earliest and hardest.  Prof Stern has rightly pointed out that we cannot afford the risks of ignoring the costs and consequences of global climate change. Instead of engaging in a blame game, it is high time world leaders closed ranks and got together for the greatest possible international collaboration to save the planet.

Are the US and the Chinese governments listening?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • 10
    Jul 24
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OpenAI’s “Sky”: artistes worried over voice cloning

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A news report (in Times of India) earlier this week headlined “AI is our enemy, say voiceover artistes battling voice cloning” came to me as no surprise. I had pointed out in my blog posted last year in May the dangers of the commercialization of artificial intelligence.

San Francisco-based OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which was launched on 30 November, 2022, became the fastest growing app in history when it had hit 100 million users in only two months. The technology’s lucrative potential had spurred companies into action.

However, leading AI experts have urged companies to take cautious approach and warned about the risks and dangers posed by the ground-breaking technology.

Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson recently alleged that the OpenAI had impersonated her voice. The Hollywood star said she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief” that the updated version of ChatGTP, which can listen to spoken prompts and respond verbally, had a voice  “eerily similar” to hers.

Johansson expressed concern about the Sky, a voice mode feature for ChatGPT which OpenAI had released. People have found striking similarity between the Sky and the Hollywood actress’ voice in the film “Her” which was released in 2013.

OpenAI vehemently denied replicating Johansson’s voice, claiming they had hired a separate voice actress and the similarity was just coincidental. Johansson, however, reportedly secured legal representation and demanded more information from OpenAI. Johansson suspected that OpenAI was profiting by leveraging her voice similar to hers.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has temporarily suspended the “Sky” voice. The Johansson-OpenAI case will serve a cautionary tale and has prompted discussions on ethical considerations and the importance of clear boundaries in the realm of AI development.

Indian voiceover artiste Sanket Mhatre, dubbing for Hollywood superheroes, faces threat similar to Johansson.

Mauricio Bustos, a Chilean artiste, used his Youtube channel for years to try and break into the music industry. Then he discovered AI. Overnight, he made it big using others’ voice. He could rap like Bad Bunny and sing like Justin Bieber. He went viral. Now, he is at the forefront of a global debate: Is AI art really art?

The former CEO of Twitter and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, lamented that he had committed mistakes in forming the company that became OpenAI, the originator of game-changing ChatGPT artificial intelligence company.

He had regretted about the ChatGPT, saying he’s a ‘huge idiot’ for letting go of OpenAI.

Musk thinks the world is woefully unprepared for the impact of AI. The technology will hit people “like an asteroid”, he had said.

Even though Bill Gates had said he was “scared” about the technology falling into the wrong hands, he had dismissed Musk-backed plan to pause the AI research.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had said last year the technology had the potential to be used to manipulate voters and target disinformation especially in an election year in the US.

The AI tools, which have been developed by several firms, met with backlash from their critics for the potential to disrupt millions of jobs, spread misinformation and perpetuate biases.

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “godfather of artificial intelligence” is particularly concerned that these tools could be trained to sway elections and even to wage war.

He had quit a high-profile job at Google especially to share his concerns that unchecked AI development could pose a danger to humanity.

Hinton said AI chatbots, for instance, could be the future version of election misinformation spread via Facebook and other social media platforms.

He also added: “Don’t think for a moment that Putin wouldn’t make hyper-intelligent robots with the goal of killing Ukranians.” He has suggested a global agreement similar to the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention might be a good first step toward establishing international rules against weaponized AI.

His concerns have been shared by the Center for AI safety, an organization dedicated to reducing the societal-scale risks from the artificial intelligence.

“Humans are more important than money,” says Yoshua Bengio, one of the pioneers of AI technology. He says he feels “lost” because of the direction that the AI is headed in.

The dangers of artificial intelligence remind me of Oppenheimer’s famous words: “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

 

 

 

 

 

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