Eye of an Eagle: Missed call

Showing posts with label Missed call. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Rally For Rivers - Is 8000980009 BJP's number?

Let's quickly get this out of our way first - This number 8000980009 was used by BJP in 2014 for a specific campaign but no longer!

This number is being used by the 'Rally For Rivers' campaign team only - since 2017.

People go to such absurdities to malign a good cause by spreading news like this and gullible masses fall for it!

I would even say that people spreading such rumours are against restoration of rivers and are really criminals working against India itself.

Rally For Rivers endorsed by Congress party

For everyone's information, the cause of Rally For Rivers has been endorsed by the INC President, Ms Sonia Gandhi openly:

https://twitter.com/INCIndia/status/902188087886757889

Now, shouldn't people think why the Congress party would support this cause if the number is still being used by BJP?

And this endorsement came 45 days after the campaign was launched and support shown by several other celebrities / political parties. They have had plenty of time to verify all this before such a public endorsement!

Who else had used this 8000980009 number?

80009-80009 number was used earlier in:

2012 - Gutka Mukti Abhiyan
2013 - Statue of Unity
2014 - BJP

From 2015 to 2017, the 8000980009 number was with Horlicks company. Check this link: http://www.somuchthingstotell.com/2016/05/the-horlicks-immunity4growth-indiblogger-meet/

Even Coca Cola had used this number in the past!

Am I leaking my information out by missed call?

This question is as ridiculous as it could get!

Suppose I call you and you do not know me, all you have about me is the phone number. Can I trace back that number and find out who called? May be through TrueCaller app .. possibly. But imagine if 1000 people give you missed call. Would you care to do lookup all of them? May be, if I am determined hacker .. barely possibly.

Now scale it up. Already several lakhs of people have given their missed calls to this number. What about the scale when 10,000,000 people do it or even better 100,000,000 people?

Do you even think it is possible to do a reverse number lookup in that large scale? There is absolutely no way to do it! Please rest assured that such things do not happen. These are all unnecessary fears spread by vested interests working against this campaign.

Can I also get such a fancy number in India?

Sure! Anybody can have or get a fancy phone number in India. It just costs a few more rupees. A simple Google search on fancy numbers brings up this:

Now, after this campaign is over and you as an individual want to take the 8000980009 number, you could apply to the service provider and get it!

I want to take the 8000980009 number

I would say it is a bad idea to do it immediately. Typically once a phone number is used for a campaign, it will not be used by individuals or even for another campaign for a few years because many people would then call that number still inquiring about the campaign, etc.

If you still want to go ahead with it, please do!

Conclusion

People cannot and should not take their privacy easy. But at the same time they should not fall prey to such silly rumours.

In this case, odds are that it is a sheer coincidence for 8000980009 number used in an earlier campaign by BJP to be used for the 'Rally For Rivers' campaign now.

If it was used by a Congress party campaign earlier, the anti-campaign elements would simply have been in a different way. Such detractors have no other jobs than coming up non-existent ghosts like this ..

If you are still not convinced, you need this!

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Monday, September 4, 2017

Rally For Rivers - Issues Raised - 2

I have answered some of the basic questions regarding the publicity surrounding Rally For Rivers in my earlier post (http://kazhugupaarvai.blogspot.in/2017/09/rally-for-rivers-issues-raised-1.html). This is the 2nd part of that series. Let me try to address some more issues raised against this rally.

(Concern #2) Plantation of trees as suggested by the RFR posters is not correct.

First of all, let's remind ourselves again that the Rally For Rivers will culminate with submitting a bunch of draft recommendations to the Central & State Governments. The Government will then need to come up with a policy to implement the recommendations.

The various steps will usually go like this for creating any government policy:

- Government receives draft recommendations
- Govt creates an agency to push this policy first
- A law has to be passed to establish the policy
- Draft will be open to people for commenting and providing feedback
- Once the feedback window is closed, final regulation will be drafted
- Policies/Procedures/Rules/Forms, etc. will be finalized

So, there is ample opportunity for everyone to provide their feedback when required.

The environment ministry is supporting the overall cause. They have promised to move all through the policy-creation steps quickly.

Academics versus ... Academics!

I have not in my entire life of over 3 decades, seen any two academics agreeing with each other on what is the 'right' solution! 😀

I too had my own doubts initially about the afforestation recommendations leading to water body rejuvenation. But after doing further research, it was found to be valid. I have already given some of my inputs in an earlier blog article (http://kazhugupaarvai.blogspot.in/2017/08/what-is-rally-for-rivers.html).

Some explanations of how it works in simple terms here ...

Is planting trees the only solution? Definitely not, but it is proven to be one of the most effective solutions, not just in increasing ground water levels but also to reduce flooding. So, it is a multi-faceted solution.

Agroforestry techniques are now being used in many countries to increase food production, check soil erosion and reduce flooding. Computational models show that if reforesting is done in 20-35% of the river’s catchment, a 10-15% reduction is seen in flood peak heights over time with forest growth.

It also helps bring some life-style changes and farming changes. Just take a look at how much water our commercial crops require versus horticultural farming.

And what one needs to remember clearly is that trees does not necessarily mean big trees. It includes a health mix of herbs, shrubs and trees as can be found in a typical tropical forest!

Watch this video to understand the role of trees / plants in the water cycle (from a different NGO):

The Tamilnadu Agricultural University has signed a Memorandum Of Understanding to come up with plantation planning for this Rally. They are experts in providing recommendations considering the native species of the land before going ahead with the plantation. TNAU seems to be just one of the expert entities involved in this project. Several environmentalists have already shown solidarity to the cause as well as the basic idea suggested.

Nowhere in the RFR page is it said that only tree plantation is the solution. So, all those cribbing about it can rest for now!

How do we even know this works?

This is not the first time someone is proposing such a solution. On a smaller scale, it has been implemented successfully in multiple states in the USA. Look up online regarding the River Revitalization Foundation and their work. You will be wondering why it is not being adapted all over the world!

Such recommendations have been successfully implemented in Russia as well.

Our own State of Kerala has begun implementing this in a small scale, since 2014 itself to rejuvenate its rivers.

The municipal authorities of Pickering in North Yorkshire have used tree planting to reduce flooding. This is in stark contrast to other areas where heavy rainfall caused devastating flooding. Their initiative is called “Slowing the Flow”.

In fact, the twelfth five year plan by Indian Government has a lot of emphasis on Watershed development.

The idea has already been successfully implemented to help rejuvenate a struggling village into a model one in Maharashtra!

http://indiatogether.org/pawar-society

Do check out the other case studies mentioned in the references section!

References:

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Sunday, September 3, 2017

Rally For Rivers - Issues Raised - 1

When people cannot fight the cause, they start Ad-Hominem attacks on the person initiating it. That is exactly what seems to be happening with 'Rally For Rivers' initiated by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev from Isha Foundation.

I thought as an outsider and someone who takes pride in researching topics in-depth, why not attempt to address the issues one by one? So, here we are ..

(Concern #1) Why are movie stars required to endorse 'Rally For Rivers'?

First of all the premise is incorrect that only Film stars were roped in to endorse 'Rally For Rivers'. Many celebrities from all walks of life had been invited, most of the time personally by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. A few had not responded but majority did!

Am only listing a few here from many walks of life..

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw - MD of Biocon and One of the most successful women entrepreneurs of all time in India - has about 1.25 Million followers on Twitter

Kajol, one of the most charming Bollywood actresses - has about 1.1 Million followers on Twitter

Rana Daggubati - A popular Tollywood actor has over 3.5 Million followers on Twitter

Virender Sehwag - Former Indian Cricket Team captain with over 12 Million followers on Twitter

Anand Mahindra - Executive Chariman of Mahindra Group and one of India's foremost entrepreneurs is one of the primary sponsors of the Rally - has a little over 5 Million followers on Twitter

Sonia Gandhi - Supported the cause of this Rally through their INC handle on Twitter with around 2.4 Million followers

Yogi Adiyanath - Chief Minister of UP, with around 1 Million followers

Now that the premise of the question is removed, the basic question still remains about why so many celebrities are required. The answer lies in the numbers I just quoted above.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has in multiple TV interviews with popular channels has reiterated that the 'Rally For Rivers' is not a mere rally for publicity. And that it is to bring about a permanent policy binding both Central and State Governments to take concrete actions for rejuvenation of India's dying rivers.

Any such government action would yield results over a period of at least 5 to 10 years only since active afforestation & management thereof takes that much time! Trees don't grow to our whims and fancies unfortunately.

If a Government has to take some step with such a long-term commitment, they would need massive public support in numbers behind them. That, my dear friends, is the key!

Rally For Rivers requests for public support through a missed call to this number - 8000980009.

When such popular public figures endorse this cause openly on Twitter, there is a hope that at least 10% their followers might follow suit. Even that can happen only when the celebrities repeatedly post about it. So, this is about gathering as much public support as possible to force governments that refuse to take action towards our dying rivers.

Isn't that a good thing!? I mean, come to think about when national parties like Congress and BJP have openly endorsed any single cause and joined hands to work towards the nation's well-being!?

As of the time of writing this blog, this is no more a campaign from Isha Foundation. Common Public has taken it up in their own hands and are standing by this in a big way.