It is a grim reality that millions of Indians queue up every day at public taps for one of life’s most precious commodities – Water.
Severe water shortages have already led to a growing number of conflicts across the country. Sewage and wastewater from rapidly growing cities and effluents from industries have turned many rivers, including major ones, into fetid sewers. Estimates reveal that by 2020, India’s demand for water will exceed all sources of supply. Not withstanding the catastrophic consequences of indiscriminate pumping of groundwater, government actions, including the provision of free power, have exacerbated rather than addressed the problem. Right here in Bangalore, with water scarcity hitting new levels each summer in the city, adopting sustainable methods of water management becomes crucial for future growth of the city.
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“Lakshmi already had a daughter, so when she gave birth to a second girl, she killed her. For the three days of her second child’s short life, Lakshmi admits, she refused to nurse her. To silence the infant’s famished cries, the impoverished village woman squeezed the milky sap from an oleander shrub, mixed it with castor oil, and forced the poisonous potion down the newborn’s throat. The baby bled from the nose, then died soon afterward. Female neighbours buried her in a small hole near Lakshmi’s square thatched hut of sun-baked mud. They sympathized with Lakshmi, and in the same circumstances, some would probably have done what she did.”
Sex Sells! Or so the Axe Effect advertisements have proved. Drawing their ‘target group’ of 18 to 24 year olds in with advertisements filled with sexual innuendos, these advertisements assure seduction. Axe has become the top selling male deodorant body spray probably because the advertisements stimulate the desired response. The response merely being the purchasing power of the consumer. But at what cost? Rather, at whose cost?