Aided and abetted by unscrupulous medical practitioners, female foeticide has increased alarmingly over the years. And the backyards of prominent urban centres are transforming into a veritable haven for such activities. The retrieval of hundreds of packets of dumped infant body parts from the small town of Nayagarh, has brought to the fore how brazenly the practice of female foeticide flourishes in the state of Orissa. It now appears that Nayagarh was the hub of illegal abortion in the area with people using the dubious facilities offered for termination of unwanted female foetuses.

Drift through any prominent do’s of the city and pose a few CFL questions to the elite and environment conscious. Watch the proud smile spreading across their faces claiming they use only compact fluorescent lights as it can save the world from greenhouse gas emissions. The link no doubt is well established and the rich and famous have found a new expensive toy to show off how aware and concerned they are about the future of the earth. But with a rising inequality in incomes, poor India can barely afford a light bulb let alone a CFL. Starting at about Rs. 100 for standard illumination requirement, for almost all branded CFL, it is way beyond the Rs 10 that a two-square-meal-earning citizen dish out for an edisonian bulb. If we are so sure that the energy efficient CFL will translate into substantial energy savings and bring down emissions levels then we should address its pricing regiment so that every Indian is able to afford a CFL without debt pangs.

Without a national programme to make CFL disposal easy for the average consumer, millions of CFLs reaching the end of their life will silently release mercury–a deadly toxin, into India’s waste stream.

Wild Shrimp Seed Collection in Hoogly Estuary, West Bengal.

Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) is being projected as the panacea of all lighting needs of the nation which will control if not bring down the whopping demand for energy, which in India is mostly met from greenhouse gas-producing thermal power plants. But there is a poisonous side to this harbinger of good tidings that is being swept under the proverbial carpet, durries perhaps, in the Indian context.