Understanding India’s Kidney Bazaar

In 2004-05, it is estimated that over 1, 00,000 people died due to kidney failure. Renal disease remains a major, though largely unrecognized, public health issue in India. An estimated one lakh people develop End Stage Renal Disease or chronic renal failure every year. This is in addition to a pre-existing pool of about 20 lakh sufferers. A person with chronic renal failure requires renal replacement therapy in the form of either dialysis on a continuing basis or a renal transplant. Both are expensive options that require recurrent expenditure over the person’s lifetime. Further, treatment for renal disease is still largely in the private health care sector, where the costs are high.

This is where the kidney selling racket kicks in. the legislation in India, entitled, ‘Transplantation of Human Organ (THO) Act’ in 1994 guides organ donation in this country. It has been possible to undertake multi-organ transplant activity from brain dead donors. The purpose of the law was to accept brain death as also a definition of death.

2. To stop commercial dealing in organs

3. To define the first relative (father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter and wife) who could donate organs without permission from the government. In event of the donor not being a first relative an approval had to be obtained by a government appointed authorization committee in each state of the country.

The reason that such a thriving racket exists in spite of every thing is that cadaver organ donation has never really caught on in India. Neither at the donor level and neither at the level of infrastructure required in the hospitals.

There are 60,000 accident cases reported in India each year. While many of these victims are brought to the hospital in a brain dead state, organs are not efficiently harvested from their bodies for the following reasons:

Many of these victims are not even attended to in hospitals, as they are expected to be shifted to referral or government hospitals. While this happens the victims die.
Brain Death certification is to be given by an approved neurologist. There are not many of these. They must be available when the accident victim is brought in. They must have the facilities to conduct the tests to declare brain death. After this is done, an organ bank has to be coordinated with. In many places the trauma/neuro unit is not situated close to an organ bank. The effort is quite often not made and sometimes it is too late.

Most people have an inherent fear of donating organs after death.
How does one respond to the kidney racket? The typical response is the police response to enforce the law with an iron hand with a piece meal approach and arrest some medical professionals and some donors who have sold their kidney since sale of human organs is an offence. Some how I don’t think that the legal and police response is really going to work in India. There will be always poor people in the country and there will always be people who will be willing to pay a price to buy one.

I think some other ways will work better than this coercive method. In a country of a billion plus

where people are selling their daughters forRs.10.00, why would a man not sell his kidney for a significantly higher sum of money? He would and no law can stop that practice because he has his compulsions and they out weigh all other considerations. So what would work? Firstly, make the law simpler, especially for cadaver organ donations.

The present system where organs can only be harvested from brain dead cadavers and the brain death has to be certified by a neurologist is too utopian. Where on earth will we find all this man power? Also in a country where people are not exactly lining up to donate their organs and relatives are in mourning and want to complete the last rites, making the process of certification machine like will only kill whatever little initiative exists to donate kidneys as well as other organs. The law needs to be humane in other ways too. In case the donor of a kidney is a non relative, he or she has to determine that they have a special affection for the recipient that is motivating them to make this gesture. Whereas true benefactors might be hard put to demonstrate the reasons for his or her affection, this is where the racketeer has his script ready.
Secondly organ donation has to become a mass movement like blood donation has become in many parts. There was a time when organizing blood for a patient was some thing of a nightmare because there were myths and stories associated with the after effects of blood donation and what it might do to a person. But once those myths were unraveled and revealed for the old wives’s tales they were, blood donation lost is fear and today it is common in many places that occasions like Republic Day and Independence Day are observed by organizing blood donation camps. NCC cadets and NSS students do the same.

The same game needs to be played out with organ donation with reference to religious texts and teachers if need be. The teachings of the various religions need to be explained and interpreted in a manner that will put peoples’ fears and apprehensions to rest; some what akin to the way in which the services of the Maulavis is being sought to dispel fears about the polio vaccine among Muslims with at least some success. Let us remember that it is estimated that every year over 100, 000 people are diagnosed to have kidney failure in India. Due to various reasons, including the non-availability of organs, only about 2,500 kidney transplants are done. In a country of our size, that is a very, very small number indeed.

Why do we need so many secrets ?

When you look at the number of colonial era laws that still continue to govern India, one could wonder as to why India bothered to get its independence from the British. Supposedly the British were getting it all wrong, and the new independent India was supposed to be a different story all together. One of those laws is the World War II era Official Secrets Act primarily enacted to prevent Allied war plans being leaked to the enemy – basically the Japanese. A conviction under the Draconian law carries a minimum sentence of 7 years imprisonment. Sixty years after independence, the laws merrily continue on the statute books with the law providing a good fig leaf to protect the government’s embarrassments from the public eye.
It is under that law that Maj. Gen. V.K.Singh, the Joint Director India’s external intelligence agency – the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was recently arrested for allegedly disclosing classified information in his book which was published over three months ago. Singh’s book –India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of RAW was published in June and has been widely available till now and extracts and reviews have been published in numerous Indian and foreign media. Considering that Singh did not publish the book in a hush hush way overseas but had it published by an Indian publisher based in Delhi, it is amazing that the intelligence machinery did not know of his intentions before hand and did not restrain the book from being published in the first place, even assuming that there was a case for it in the first place.
The manner of the arrest and then also the subsequent raids on his publisher is of course the best possible illustration of trying to bolt the stable doors after the horse has bolted no one knows as to ho many copies of the book have been already sold and assuming that any state secrets have been compromised, the damage control is already too late. In effect the manner, in which the stat agencies have conducted themselves in this rather slipshod fashion, seems to pretty well vindicate the author’s thesis that there are unsavory secrets in the intelligence community which are well shielded behind the immunity from Parliamentary scrutiny and the British drafted Official Secrets Act.

Occasions like this provide an opportunity to debate the question as to what constitutes an Official Secret. If there is inefficiency in the system, bickering, politicking and general sloth in an organization or even corruption as the author of the book alleges, can an out dated law be a cover to shield these things from the public eye? Most countries like the UK itself from where the colonial era Act has been adopted have moved from a state secret paradigm to a freedom of information paradigm where transparency is the norm and opacity is the exception.
Although India has made what may be considered a very modest beginning in this direction with the Right to Information Act, big chunks of information that pertain to National Security still remain out f bounds. So while under the RTI, one can ask for and obtain information bout drains and sewers and the number of hospital beds, it is not possible to ask questions regarding the functioning of the intelligence agencies and how they spend their annual budget the quantity of which is undisclosed and never audited, how they go about spending the money and whether any thing ever comes out of it.

Considering that it is the tax payer’s money that is spent and possibly wasted, there has to be some mechanism about ferreting out the information. Perhaps a beginning could be made by presenting these to parliament, if not to the general public. And may be if the government is so paranoid, parliament could meet in camera for this kind of scrutiny. But arresting a senior officer three months after he published his book in full public glare and charging him of disclosing official secrets when all that he has done is expose embarrassing gaffes from the past brings the Indian government no credit whatsoever.

AMRITA SUPERSTAR GLOBAL- Winners are already selected..

As we know months to go for the Final – 14 contestants are fighting inch by inch to grab the “Musical Chair” and millions worth prize money, sleety Mercedes Benz.



But it is believed and confirmed from some reliable source that the two contestants already selected for the Grand Finale. They are none other than Charu Hariharan and Sooraj. S.



If the news is wrong, let the Amrita guys challenge…………..

Sure ………….they are not in a comfortable position to challenge this news.



The previous eliminations are also based on some intentional Partiality. So friends STOP SMS……. Because Winners are already selected.





Name Charu Hariharan

DOB 26-06-1989

Age 18 Yrs.

Gender Female

Father T.S.Hariharan

Mother Dr.B. Arundhathi

Occupation (Father) Asst. Manager (Union Bank of India)

Qualification Doing Graduation in BA Pschology

Musical background Studying Vocal classical for 5 Yrs,
Studying Mridangam under CCRT scholarship For 6 Yrs. Sang title song for Ananthapuri FM,Bharath TV along with Balabhaskar and Jassie Gift.

Dancing Skills Enjoy Dance

Address Srinivas, Plot No.12, TC 73/1852, Subash Nagar, Tvm.
Awards and Achievements Studying Mridangam for 6yrs under CCRT scholarship, Sing title song for Ananthapuri F.M., Bharath TV.
Hobbies Music, Mridangam, Keyboard, Ganjira.

Sun Sign Cancer

Character Amicable, Friendly, Self-confidence




Name Sooraj S.

DOB 20-04-1988

Age 19 Yrs.

Gender Male

Father S.Santhosh Kumar

Mother M.Jayakumari

Occupation (Father) Govt. Servant

Qualification Doing Graduation in Commerce 3rd Year

Musical background Learnt Carnatic Music for 8 Years.

Dancing Skills Enjoy Dance

Address "Deepthi", JPN-158, DPI Jn, Thycaud P.O, Thiruvananthapuram.
Awards and Achievements A.I.R. Light music competition National level second, Second prize for light music in Kerala university youth festival, First prize in classical music State youth festival.
Hobbies Listening Music

Sun Sign Virgo

Character

Courtesy: www.Stumbleupon.com

We are at war, again

People are dead. People are injured, some decapitated - worse than death, that. Families are shattered, a whole generation is mourning. There’s talk, there’s analysis, there’s blame. But there’s not enough action - first to prevent it and then to counter it. I don’t care if anyone does think they’re trying their best. If this is the ‘best’ we can do in the event of a terrorist attack, then hey, we’ve screwed up somewhere.
And while people are blaming each other, some are defending them. Um, are we missing something here? Pardon me, for this is a point done-to-death, but it’s quite salient, so I’ll make it again.
There is a fundamental difference when bombs go off in India and America. We don’t retaliate.
And that sucks. It pains me to think that we should look at the Americans for inspiration on anything of national interest, but here I am.
If there were twin blasts in New York, Uncle Sam - who might have his brains where other orbs ought to be - would have ensured that he nukes the rears of a thousand ‘terrorists’ (who could just be innocent Muslims, but hey - you think Bush can tell the difference?). Eerily, it seems there is an anti-Muslim propaganda taking birth from these events. Maybe someday the leaders will wake up and realise that there’s a political agenda, and nothing else. If indeed, these are Muslim outfits, then they are horribly far from their religion, and they ought to be exterminated anyway.

But we, on the other hand, do very, very little to lose them. When have you heard of R&AW’s counter-intelligence officials assasinating ISI agents? When have you heard of a planned military offensive on targets in Pakistan and Kashmir to counter terrorism?
We can’t have this. We just can’t have cowardly eunuchs scare us, and then kill us. My heart goes out to the people of Hyderabad, many of whom are scared to walk out in the open. I genuinely hope the Army and Intelligence work together to realise their fundamental objective - National Security. I hope they find out exactly who was behind all this. I hope they hunt down every one of manhood-deficient rogues in those sleeper cells. I hope they put everything else aside, and focus entirely on eradicating terrorism from the city. Not being able to walk free is the shittiest feeling one can ever encounter, and that’s what many in Hyderabad would be thinking about now. It’s mass murder. It’s bloody genocide.
I also hope that we will counter-attack - both strategically and tactically. And fast. We ought to kill them, not before feeding their intimate parts to the strays.
And Gandhism you better sit this one out. Because folks, we are at war. Again.
The only differences in this war - the victims are civilians, the enemy is an illegitimate coward who isn’t even blessed between his legs with the courage to stand up and fight like a man for his baseless cause, and the battlefield is the city.
It could be your home next. Or mine.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan : A Forgotten Giant

In July 1988, one sunny evening I went over to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi during visiting hours to visit a friend’s father who was admitted there. It was visiting hours and normally there was no security; but on this particular occasion, there were some police men on duty guiding the crowd and trying to bring a disorderly and noisy crowd under control. A VIP was admitted to the institute, people were saying in whispers but no one seemed to know who. As there was no restriction on movement, I went across the wards exploring and finally outside a private ward with its door ajar I stopped. A lone police man was on duty but as I peeped it, I could make out the person inside, a gaunt, tall bearded old man who was inside it. The VIP patient admitted to the institute was Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. He died some months later, far removed from AIIMS in a British built prison hospital in Peshawar.
In today’s day and age of religious and ethnic stereo typing, it is worth recalling the memory of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, giant of a man of a stature larger than his name who belied all stereotypes. A deeply pious Muslim but tolerant and liberal the Frontier Gandhi was a staunch Congressman and a Gandhian all his life and unequivocally opposed to the partition. Born and bred in an area where guns and violence are more than a way of life, Badshah Khan, as he was also known, became a hero in a society dominated by violence; notwithstanding his liberal views, his unswerving faith and obvious bravery led to immense respect. Throughout his life, he never lost faith in his non-violent methods or in the compatibility of Islam and nonviolence.
Many people think that Gandhiji was a great man but perhaps his disciple the Frontier Gandhi was a bigger man. Many believe that Gandhiji betrayed Hindus by appeasing Muslims, but if there was one man who Gandhi did betray but who still harbored no bitterness, it was Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, his disciple and the man who looked up to Gandhiji as his mentor.
The Frontier Gandhi remained a Congressman as long as it was possible to be one , opposed partition unflinchingly as long as there was scope to do so and when partition came, he was the only Congressman of any stature left in what is now Pakistan. Badshah Khan’s last words to Gandhi and his erstwhile allies in the Congress party were: “You have thrown us to the wolves.” Distrusted in Pakistan because of his Congress past and opposition to partition, abandoned by the Congress, post independence, the Frontier Gandhi spent over thirty years in prison – British prisons before independence and Pakistani prisons post independence. Gandhiji received many credits because of his work, the Frontier Gandhi, practically none. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s 33 years in prison amount to even more than Nelson Mandela, who spent 28.5 years in prison.
When the Frontier Gandhi died on 20 January 1988 at the age of ninety-eight, the then raging Afghan civil war ceased for a day so that mourners could pay their respects to a man whom they loved and respected but whose ideology of non violence they had long abandoned. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s unique interpretation of Islam is much more valuable because it was lived out through a life that did not bring terror and misery in the lives of others. He too fought imperialists and colonialists as today’s jihadists say they do , but his methods were different. At a time when the people Badshah Khan served all his life have become victims of another geo-political game, his absence is conspicuous. By being rooted to his culture, yet personifying universal values of tolerance and ahimsa, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan had blown apart accepted wisdom about the violent Pakthun warrior that have once again gained currency in these disturbed days. He had attacked repressive political structures, be it colonial or national. And he had radically altered the treatise and practice on resistance in the northwest of South Asia. All this, without lifting a gun. He is the first Pashtun in known history to pacify one of the most war-liking people in the world.

Swedish hacker hacks into key Indian defence websites and emails

TIMES Now is terribly excited to report that the Swedish hacker, Dan Egarstam has hacked into several Indian embassy websites and some emails of National Defence Academy (NDA) & DRDO officials. They go on to declare proudly that they were able to access several of these email ids and is now is possession of some purchase records of NDA.
First of all it is only apt that the hacker calls his website ‘Deranged Security’ which seems to be the case looking at the appalling online security awareness from officials of a nation which prides itself as an IT hub. Secondly, we have to wait and see if it is within the law for TIMES Now to use a hackers website to access India’s highly confidential documents pertaining to national security and then brag about it in public. Well at least, it will be a wake up call for some of these officials.

Justice on the roads

Justice delayed is justice denied, accepted, but is prompt justice outside the boundaries of law and order, justice? Or is it just pent up emotions bursting out with rage combined with absolutely no respect for the law of the land?

In a 1956 film called the Ox Bow Incident, a group of people hang three men whom they suspected of having murdered someone. The suspects had denied having murdered anyone and one of them had requested for one last chance to write a letter to his wife. In his letter he wrote,
A man just naturally can’t take the law into his own hands and hang people without hurtin’ everybody in the world, ’cause then he’s just not breakin’ one law, but all laws. Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It’s everything people ever have found out about justice and what’s right and wrong. It’s the very conscience of humanity. There can’t be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience? And what is anybody’s conscience except a little piece of the conscience of all men that ever lived?

This one single paragraph defines today’s clockwork of our society, for is it really justice that makes a man swoop so low as to break the law to provide it? We have court of laws because we are a civilized race. Justice is justice because it operates without bias and offers a chance to every individual. It is this quality that makes law breakers criminals in front of them.

A recent article in timesonline says

Fatal traffic accidents often trigger riots in India because bystanders prefer to mete out justice on the spot rather than relying on the notoriously corrupt and inefficient police force and judiciary. It was not clear what happened to the lorry driver in yesterday’s accident but errant drivers are sometimes beaten to death.

The contents of the article are debatable and whether traffic accidents often trigger riots in India can be argued, but can we honestly turn a blind eye to the many such incidents that we see everyday around us and on television? Group of members of a housing society tying a thief to gate and beating him, people beating the life out of a taxi driver who hit someone, are some incidents that come to the mind immediately. May be a thief and a negligent driver are criminals but the stand byers like us are not a judges or juries to decide on it and adjudicate a beating/death sentence.Our blatant disrespect to the procedure is a comparable crime and as punishable as someone convicted of a manslaughter. If we go on like this, we are saying that we are ready to jeopardize our books of laws and going back to the jungle law where almost any act of yours, intended or unintended may lead to your instant death or cleansing.