by blogadmin | Oct 2, 2020 | Blog Post, Delaware, Media Publishing's, Year 2020
As many observers have noted, the human and economic toll from the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak is unprecedented in our lifetimes. The disease spares some and ravages others and will not stop until we find a solution in the form of a vaccine and effective treatments.
One of the first symptoms health professionals look for in a potentially COVID-infected patient is fever; the abnormal warming of the body tells us something is wrong.
There is an unsettling parallel in rising earth temperature, popularly referred to as “global warming.” Scientists, experts, and activists who know and care about climate change are aware of how seriously this planet is ailing. They predict its illness will grow in just a few years to cataclysmic and irreversible levels. The rest of us are ignoring its symptoms: increasing atmospheric temperatures, superstorms, droughts, tsunamis, floods, degraded soils, rising sea levels, and more. These symptoms tell us that the earth is sick and does not have much more time.
If the disease goes unchecked, it will metastasize into global conflict and human tragedy, which will cause even more environmental damage in a devastating cycle of destruction.
President Donald Trump speaks from the South Lawn of the White House on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
I am a Sikh, and most of the world’s 28 million Sikhs live in India’s Punjab region, where I was born and raised. As in other parts of the world, water scarcity and distribution comprise an existential issue in this predominately agricultural state. Drought is a constant reality. In a sad irony, efforts to more effectively manage scarce water resources through more modern farming techniques and seed varieties have caused increased carbon emissions, which exacerbate global warming and lead to more drought in dry regions.
However, the crisis is not isolated to India. Man’s unbridled pursuit of convenience, wealth and territory, often fueled by misguided cultural and religious differences, have contributed to catastrophes around the world. Many of us have witnessed the evidence for ourselves.
Audience members watch from their cars as Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, seen on a large monitor, speaks during a CNN town hall moderated by Anderson Cooper in Moosic, Pa., Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. Carolyn Kaster, AP
My former teacher, Tilak Raj Arora, a climber, mountaineer and environmentalist from his high school days and currently working for YMCA in Halifax, Nova Scotia, told me that he remembers seeing the results of Saddam Hussein’s order to burn the Kuwaiti oil fields 30 years ago.
“I could see the soot from there on Himalayan glaciers,” he said. “It trapped the heat from the sun, causing melting.”
The scourge of natural resources exploitation and pollution is across countries and continents, including many I have visited. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is highly vulnerable. In the past three decades, it has lost half its coral cover, pollution has caused outbreaks of destructive starfish populations, and global warming has produced horrific coral bleaching.
Even in Morocco, a relatively developed African country, the effects of overgrazing and desertification are visible. South American deforestation, along with landslides and urban development, threaten Machu Picchu in Peru. Intense rainfall, heatwaves, and receding Alpine glaciers illustrate Italy’s climate woes. Because of coastal erosion, Norfolk in the U.K. is sliding into the sea, and other towns like York, Leeds, and Somerset are experiencing frequent flooding. The escalating violent and devastating weather and climate-related events in our own country are familiar to us all.
The only hope for mitigating the injuries from our environmental virus is a firm, courageous, innovative, and scientifically grounded national commitment. That starts with leadership dedicated to prioritizing solutions.
“We’ve run out of time to build new things in old ways,” Rob Jackson of Stanford University told Justin Worland of Time magazine.
We have seen the current administration’s retrograde position on just about everything, including climate change. Look no further than the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gases.
Many of us are praying for a new administration capable of healing our pandemic, economic, cultural and environmental illnesses. Some see Joe Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris for vice-president as a major step in that direction. As a presidential candidate, her climate plan put environmental justice front and center. This month, she and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the Climate Equity Act in Congress. The act would set up a new Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability within the Office of Management and Budget.
Unsurprisingly, women are in the forefront of these changes. Traditionally they are the healers, the ones we turn to when we are in pain, the ones we seek out for solutions, protection, and comfort.
As women continue to assume more positions of leadership, they may offer new points of view that can lead us back from the brink of irreparable disaster.
As my friend Arora said, women “suffer the most and worry the most about what this climate change will do to their homes and their children.”
Therefore, he asserts, “Only women can save us.”
—————
This column was published online by the https://www.delawareonline.com/ on September 18, 2020.
by blogadmin | Oct 2, 2020 | Blog Post, Delaware, Media Publishing's, Year 2020
As many observers have noted, the human and economic toll from the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak is unprecedented in our lifetimes. The disease spares some and ravages others and will not stop until we find a solution in the form of a vaccine and effective treatments.
One of the first symptoms health professionals look for in a potentially COVID-infected patient is fever; the body’s abnormal warming tells something is wrong.
There is an unsettling parallel in rising earth temperature, popularly referred to as “global warming.” Scientists, experts, and activists who know and care about climate change are aware of how seriously it is infected. They predict our planet’s infection to grow in just a few years to cataclysmic and irreversible levels. The rest of us are ignoring its symptoms: increasing atmospheric temperatures, superstorms, droughts, tsunamis, floods, degraded soils, rising sea levels, and more. They tell us that it is sick and does not have much more time.
If the disease goes unchecked, it will metastasize into global conflict and human tragedy, which will cause even more environmental damage in a devastating cycle of destruction.
Like many other parts of the world, plunging groundwater levels in Pakistan alongside unpredictable monsoon is an existential issue in the predominately agricultural state. Drought is a constant reality. In a sad irony, efforts to more effectively manage scarce water resources through more modern farming techniques and seed varieties have caused increased carbon emissions, which exacerbate global warming and lead to more drought in dry regions.
However, Pakistan alone is not facing this crisis. Man’s unbridled pursuit of convenience, wealth and territory, often fueled by misguided cultural and religious differences, have contributed to catastrophes around the world. Many of us have witnessed the evidence for ourselves.
My former high school teacher, Tilak Raj Arora, a climber, mountaineer and environmentalist from his high school days and currently working for YMCA in Halifax, Canada, told me that he remembers seeing the results of Saddam Hussein’s order to burn the Kuwaiti oil fields thirty years ago.
“I could see the soot from there on Himalayan glaciers,” he told me. “It trapped the heat from the sun, causing melting.”
The scourge of natural resources exploitation and pollution is across countries and continents, including many I have visited. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is highly vulnerable. In the past three decades, it has lost half its coral cover, pollution has caused outbreaks of destructive starfish populations, and global warming has produced horrific coral bleaching.
Even in Morocco, a relatively developed African country, the effects of overgrazing and desertification are visible. South American deforestation, along with landslides and urban development, threaten Machu Picchu in Peru. Intense rainfall, heatwaves, and receding Alpine glaciers illustrate Italy’s climate woes. Because of coastal erosion, Norfolk in the U.K. is sliding into the sea, and other towns like York, Leeds, and Somerset are experiencing frequent flooding. The escalating violent and devastating weather and climate-related events here in America are well known.
The only hope for mitigating the injuries from our environmental virus is a firm, courageous, innovative, and scientifically grounded national commitment. That starts with leadership dedicated to prioritizing solutions.
“We have run out of time to build new things in old ways,” Rob Jackson of Stanford University told Justin Worland of Time magazine.
We have seen Trump’s retrograde position on just about everything, including climate change. Look no further than his withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gases.
Many of us are praying for a new administration capable of healing our pandemic, economic, cultural, and environmental illnesses. Some see Joe Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris for vice-president as a historic step in that direction. As a presidential candidate, her climate plan put the environmental justice front and center. This month, she and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the Climate Equity Act in Congress. The act would set up a new Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability within the Office of Management and Budget.
Unsurprisingly, women are in the forefront of these changes. Traditionally they are the healers, the ones we turn to when we are in pain, the ones we seek out for solutions, protection, and comfort.
As women continue to assume more positions of leadership, they may offer new points of view that can lead us back from the brink of irreparable disaster.
As Mr. Arora said, women “suffer the most and worry the most about what this climate change will do to their homes and children.”
Therefore, he asserts, “Only women can save us.”
—————
This column was published online by the https://nayadaur.tv/ on September 02, 2020.
by blogadmin | Jul 12, 2020 | Blog Post, Delaware, Media Publishing's, Year 2020
I am a Sikh born and raised in India. Twenty-one years ago, when I came to the US, I knew nothing about racism in this country. Even now, I struggle with the question, ‘What is your race?’ asked on a form or an application.
In India, I was aware of the mobs of one religion killing people of another faith, and, people of one caste discriminating against others. No such primitive and uncivilised stuff, I was told, happens in America — the world’s wealthiest and most advanced nation.
I was told that equality and liberty of everyone are guaranteed by the law, by the constitution here — it was securely lodged in the scripture of this great country. Upon arrival here, however, I learned that the same laws and the same constitution, when first written, had allowed one man to own another. Black was the property of white, legally. The owner could deed his or her possession to another like the title of a car. Those who owned black people, stolen and kidnapped from Africa, included 12 American Presidents, even the one who declared, ‘All men are created equal.’
In becoming a citizen of the US, I was shocked to learn all this, but pushed it aside, thinking it is a painful past not relevant in today’s America. I learned differently on a Thursday in the May of 2011, when two white men and a girlfriend of one of them called me and two of my friends ‘niggers’ — for no reason — while we were enjoying a drink at a local establishment. When my friends went out to smoke, these three attacked them. Cops came and took us to the hospital because my friends needed stitches. The white judge gave the most violent of the trio only a six-month suspended sentence, despite a long history of violence.
But I finally realised the ugly truth after watching again and again George Floyd’s murder video. Derek Chauvin’s regally planted knee on Floyd’s neck, with his hand in the pocket, was a declaration of superiority and impunity. He knew he had allies across America.
And just when I think things are changing — the dismantling of offensive statues across America, the removal of Confederate flags, the Black Lives Matter movement, the banning of choke-holds and knee-holds — the President of the United States posts a video of one his supporters chanting ‘white power’.
For someone who worked hard to escape a culture where discrimination is woven into the fabric of life, I realise now that I expected too much, too soon from my new country. But I remain hopeful. Despite their faults, and we all have them, its founding fathers built into the system a mechanism for change — voting.
If we can keep that process free from interference, both external and domestic, we still can keep moving toward a nation of ‘liberty and justice for all’. It is true of India, too.
—————
This column was published online by the https://www.tribuneindia.com/ on July 10, 2020.
by blogadmin | Jun 17, 2020 | Blog Post, Delaware, Year 2020
Sometimes, claims of “greatness” can skew into unintended directions with unfortunate and ironic consequences. The current administration in Washington loves to boast that the U.S. is number one in most all things. Sadly, this is true in one regard: America tops the world coronavirus infection list.
According to fivethirtyeight.com’s latest polling numbers, 43 percent of Americans still approve of Trump’s presidency. If the Covid-19 numbers are an indication, he has certainly delivered on his promise to“Make America Great Again!”
I live in Delaware, the country’s second smallest state, which has stayed true to its low visibility reputation. Although it is called the First State because it was the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution, it may be the last state anyone thinks of, even in this country.
How unknown is Delaware? During a trip to Patiala when I was frequently visiting India, an acquaintance in Model Town asked me,“Gill Sahib was saying your family is in Amrika?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“Really? If so, why do you live here then?” he asked, as if he had caught me lying.
“I, too, live there,” I said with a smile.
He seemed baffled and started looking at my friend, Ajay Singla, who was standing next to me.
“Okay, if you insist…then tell me where in Amrika, California or New York?”
“Delaware,” I replied.
“No, no, hear me properly, I am not asking about your software business in Bangalore.”
Delaware is truly nice and quiet, relatively speaking, even though it has not been spared the effects of the pandemic. Many of us miss the traditional gatherings and events that we cherish. For example, this year I missed hosting the annual interfaith iftar dinner during Ramadan on behalf of Delaware Sikh Awareness Coalition. It was always a pleasure to behold 400-500 men, women, and children of various faiths and ethnicities intermingling in the joyous spirit of sarbat da bhala.
Well, as one of my teachers in P.P.S. Nabha used to often say, “When you genuinely wish something, Waheguru will always show the way.” So, on the day of Eid, I prepared a number of gift bags. In addition to the boxes of sweets and dates, I included a handmade Eid Mubarak card prepared by my daughter’s college friend, who comes from Islamabad and has stayed with us since the evacuation from their university campus because of the Covid crisis.
In the message on the card, I showed off my recently learned Urdu and drove around dropping off bags outside my Muslim friends’ houses. My Eid satisfaction was made even sweeter when one of the recipients, Khalid Motorvala, dropped off a bowl of seviyan outside my door that same evening.
As for Delaware, its relative obscurity may be coming to an end because it could be that the nation’s next president will come from our little state, which really would be a first for the First State.
by blogadmin | Jan 26, 2020 | Blog Post, Delaware, Media Publishing's, Sikhism, Year 2020
I am a Sikh.
A turban is an article of faith for the Sikhs. It signals honesty, service and compassion to those in need. But the opposite has been perceived in our country, especially after 2001.
Many of my fellow Americans continue to mistake Sikhs for those they aren’t, simply because of their appearance.
From bullying in schools to discrimination in the workplace to becoming victims of violence, Sikhs continue to suffer because fellow citizens connect their appearance to terrorism.
As a result, more and more Sikhs are practicing their faith without its most visible article — the turban and the unshorn hair under it.
The first American killed by a fellow citizen in vengeance after 9/11 was a turbaned Sikh in Mesa, Arizona on Sept. 15, 2001.
Last September, in Texas, a routine traffic stop cost turbaned deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal his life. Another turbaned Sikh in Tracy, California, Paramjit Singh, was stabbed to death during a routine walk in the park last August. The list of such brutalities against turbaned Sikhs goes on.
Even America’s largest employer, the military, for decades did not allow Sikhs to serve with their articles of faith despite their rich and proud warrior history and inspiring record of service in the armed forces of various countries. More than 80,000 Sikh soldiers laid down their lives serving alongside Allied forces during World Wars I and II.
In 2017, after years of lawsuits and pressure, the U.S. Army changed its policy to allow observant Sikhs and members of other religions to wear beards and head coverings provided permission is applied for in advance. The NYPD now allows Sikh officers to wear turbans, joining a few other local law enforcement agencies with similar policies.
Yet, while some Sikhs have fought long and hard for the right to wear the turban, others have voluntarily abandoned this tradition, perhaps because of its possible impact on their personal or professional lives.
For example, here in Delaware, there are several prominent Sikh doctors but not one who wears a turban — despite their towering presence on the trustee and management boards of the state’s two gurdwaras, which are Sikh temples.
For Sikh women, life is easier on this count because a turban is optional for them. However, even without a turban, belonging to the Sikh faith or having brown skin can impede or even disqualify their participation in mainstream activities.
This is something Nikki Haley (nee Nimrata Nikki Randhawa), former governor of South Carolina and U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, reportedly learned in her hometown of Bamberg, South Carolina, when she was 5.
Nikki’s parents had attempted to enter her in the “Miss Bamberg” contest but her application was rejected because she did not qualify for either crown: black or white. Eventually, a few years before entering politics, she changed her religion from Sikhism to Christianity.
It is ironic that in some parts of the world, the turban is viewed as a sign of security, not a threat. In India, the Sikh homeland, a single woman, or anyone who feels insecure, is more likely to hire a turbaned Sikh driver because of their well-known dedication to serving the needy and protecting the weak and vulnerable.
So in 2020 and beyond, how can Sikhs and other religious groups correct the misconceptions that appearances generate in those who are ignorant, hateful and impulsive?
Only through education and participation in schools, workplaces, houses of worship and communities — and a strong media presence — can observant Sikhs encourage and expect understanding.
Let’s hope that someday all Sikhs can base their decision to wear or not wear a turban purely on personal choice and not on external influences or threats.
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This column was published online by the www.delawareonline.com on January 24, 2020.
by blogadmin | Oct 20, 2019 | Blog Post, Delaware, Media Publishing's, Year 2019
Everyone knows that education is important, but in some parts of the world it is difficult, if not impossible, to come by.
Not many know of two Dover-Camden area Delawareans — Sanjay Kumar and Mahendra Kumar — whose life mission is to change that through a non-profit they started in 2005 aptly named Be Educated!
Like me, the two men (who are not related) were born and educated in India and are in the software industry. I met them nearly 20 years ago when we all lived in Dover’s Woodmill Apartments. I contacted them recently to find out the origin of their educational mission.
Libraries in remote villages
“I was visiting my hometown Lucknow in 2004 where I met Raj Kumar,” recalled Sanjay. “He came along with the vehicle I had hired for my holidays as its driver. He ranted during every single ride about how miserably middle and high school students in rural India do in exams.”
Why? One day, Sanjay finally asked him.
“‘Because the poor and underprivileged in villages can’t afford ‘guides’ (test prep and study materials),” Raj said.
Mahendra’s inspiration was rooted in unfair favoritism and politics. He witnessed blatant and pervasive corruption in the schools. For example, he said, a politician’s son unable to spell his own name was acclaimed over and above other students for academic excellence.
To counter this malaise, Sanjay and Mahendra evolved a simple and economical solution. They opened libraries stocked with study guides in the homes of unpaid, impassioned volunteers in the neediest villages. Each of these $800 libraries was allocated $500 for books and $300 for such necessities as a signboards, cupboards and administration.
The first one was opened in April 2005 in Raj Kumar’s home in Gurubhasganj. The founders were also its sponsors.
By 2007, Be Educated! had opened five libraries in India. Word quickly spread.
Someone in Nepal was very eager to start one there, Raj Kumar reported. That became the sixth library and the first outside India. That same year, another opened in Pakistan.
Today, the nonprofit has more than 80 operational libraries in the three countries. Five libraries each are named after Martin Luther King Jr. and Malala Yousafzai
“How did you choose which villager’s house to open the library in?” I asked.
“We chose those host volunteers who were poor but passionate over the affluent who wanted it as a status symbol,” Mahendra said.
Added Sanjay: “We do ‘Power of One’ fundraisers in Dover. We solicit $1,000 sponsors (the cost has gone up) to open a library in whatever name the sponsor wants. However, the sponsor can’t choose the location. This way we have libraries in Muslim Pakistan sponsored by Hindu Indians and vice-versa. Regardless of how little and humble our endeavor is, we will stay at it to turn the arch rivals into good neighbors.”
Homes for Angels
The program’s success fueled its expansion.
“We started two more projects over the last couple of years,” Mahendra said. “In 2016, we started Home for Angels in Mumbai.”
“Straight from the villages to Mumbai?” I wondered aloud.
Mahendra explained that Kashyap Sanghvi, who lives in Newark, had come from Mumbai. He told them of a couple there who were providing food, shelter, education and everything else to 18 orphans living with them in their two-bedroom apartment — even though they had two children of their own.
“What?” was my reaction
Sanjay picked up the story.
“Exactly! Many of these orphans were children of parents who had died from HIV; some were born HIV positive. This couple, Father Thomas Reji and his wife, took them in because no one else wanted them. They lay discarded on the streets. For help with their education, Kashyap approached us.”
In response the two Delaware men organized a Home for Angels fundraiser in Dover.
“We were clear: only a library isn’t the answer in this case,” Sanjay said. “These kids need space, tutors, desktops, tables and chairs, and, of course, stationery.”
To increase space, the program rented another apartment in the neighborhood and installed video cameras in it. First, only one tutor was hired. A second was added as the number of children gradually grew. They are 32 now, divided into three groups according to age.
“The tutors help two groups with afterschool work every day,” Mahendra said. “The oldest group gets coaching outside, around the corner.”
He acknowledges that raising money for this work is challenging. However, “you are blown away by the magnanimity of the individuals and families. Our tax-exempt status helps,” Sanjay said. “The first fundraiser of $10,000 helped us with renting, decorating and initial ‘goodies.”
“We have angels in Delaware as well,” Mahendra said. He recounted how a Dover couple, after learning that there were no beds for the children, immediately wrote a check to cover the entire cost of 16 bunk beds for the 32 orphans.
Future Girlz
These two men’s latest endeavor is directed at helping Indian girls with their educations.
“Future Girlz is our third project, started in 2017,” Mahendra said. “In this, we open libraries in towns and cities exclusively for girls. Also, in these libraries, learning is measured because we employ tutors to teach and test.”
Why tutor-led libraries with a focus on girls?
“One, they are the neediest,” Sanjay explained. “Two, they love to learn. Third, an educated girl means an educated family, a better world.”
He said the first girls’ library opened in Rajkot in the western state of Gujarat inside an existing women’s center. As with all of their projects, growth has come quickly. There are now six libraries for “Girlz,” including two in Nepal.
If you would like to learn more about any of these programs, contact Mahendra Kumar 302-883-1456, or visit their website: www.beeducated.org.
– – – – – – –
This column was published online by the www.delawareonline.com on October 18, 2019.
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