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Image created for Design Walk 2022, a biannual festival dedicated to graphic design in Athens Greece, by the brilliant Athens based design studio This Is Amateur, founded by Thodoris Dimitropoulos, Stathis Mitropoulos & Spiros Pliatsikas.
One thought on "the future of consumerism"
I like what you guys are up too. Such smart work and reporting! Keep up the superb works guys I've incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my website :). "Blessed is he who has found his work let him ask no other blessedness." by Thomas Carlyle.


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An Osgoode Blog
Sara Ross
Recent Posts
- Law.Arts.Culture event: Perilous Light: On the Visual Economy of Western Humanitarianism
- Upcoming Osgoode lecture: From Timbuktu to the Hague: The War Crime of Intentional Destruction of Cultural Property
- Call for Applicants: Artist in Residence for Osgoode Hall
- Law.Arts.Culture Event: Documentary Film and International Criminal Law, January 29, 2018
- Conference Call for Papers – Imagining Justice: Law and Speculative Fictions
- Queen's Faculty of Law Calls for Submissions from Indigenous Artists
- Survey for the City of Toronto's Economic Development and Culture Divisional Strategy (2018-2022)
- Call for Papers: Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities
- "Testify: Indigenous Laws + the Arts" on Osgoode Campus
- Call for Papers: Law and Society Association and the Canadian Law and Society Association Joint Meeting
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Tag Archives: racismKate Sutherland
ifls screening series presents Rex v Singh
January 17, 2013 – 9:16 pm
Legal History: Shelley Gavigan Launches Hunger, Horses, and Government Men
November 27, 2012 – 10:49 am
Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the launch of my colleague Shelley Gavigan's new book Hunger, Horses, and Government Men: Criminal Law on the Aboriginal Plains, 1870-1905.
Here's an excerpt from the publisher's description:
Gavigan uses records of ordinary cases from the lower courts and insights from critical criminology and traditional legal history to interrogate state formation and criminal law in the Saskatchewan region of the North-West Territories between 1870 and 1905. By focusing on Aboriginal people's participation in the courts rather than on narrow legal categories such as "the state" and "the accused," Gavigan allows Aboriginal defendants, witnesses, and informants to emerge in vivid detail and tell the story in their own terms. Their experiences — captured in court files, police and penitentiary records, and newspaper accounts — reveal that the criminal law and the Indian Act operated in complex and contradictory ways.
At the launch, Justice James MacPherson introduced the book as one about the prairies, history and law by a woman who loves the prairies, history and law. He pronounced it a beautiful, literary, readable book, and praised Shelley as a master storyteller who had succeeded in bringing the men and women whose stories she'd uncovered in the archives vividly to life. Shelley spoke about connections between the past and the present, highlighting how the people and the issues she had encountered in her legal aid work as young lawyer in Saskatchewan in the 1970s had ultimately led her to this exploration of the relationship between Aboriginal people and criminal law on the Plains a century earlier.
I had the opportunity to hear Shelley speak about her research on a number of occasions during the writing of the book, and I credit her accounts of the pleasures and frustrations of archival research as a good part of the impetus behind the historical turn that my own research has recently taken. So you can imagine the eagerness with which I snapped up a copy of Hunger, Horses, and Government Men last night, and how keen I am to begin to read it.
For more information on the book, click here.
Weekly Roundup of News & Reviews, April 11-17, 2011
April 18, 2011 – 2:45 pm
Below are links to some of the news stories and book reviews related to law and the arts that caught my attention last week, with a smattering of extras from the two weeks prior for which alas, due to the usual end of term madness, I didn't manage to put together roundups.
In the midst of what has been described in the New Yorker as China's "most intense crackdown on free expression in years," well-known artist and outspoken human rights advocate Ai Weiwei was two weeks ago detained by Chinese police as he attempted to board a flight at Beijing airport (Guardian). Government officials claim that Ai's detention "has nothing to do with human rights or freedom of expression," that he is, rather, "under investigation on suspicion of economic crimes" (AFP). Few outside of China appear to be convinced. In the Guardian, Jonathan Jones opines: "Ai Weiwei has spoken out eloquently for the universality of human rights and the worldwide hunger for freedom. Even if all the charges China are apparently raising were true, it would not alter anything⎯and given his brutal detention it is reasonable to assume they are false." Yesterday, an international protest organized by artists and curators was staged demanding Ai's release. The New York Times reported beforehand that the form of the "planned protest⎯in which participants will bring chairs and sit down outside Chinese government buildings around the world⎯draws on an installation titled 'Fairytale: 1001 Qing Dynasty Wooden Chairs,' which Mr. Ai did at Documenta in Kassel, Germany, in 2007."
The distressing news that the artifacts looted from Egypt's museums and archeological sites during the recent uprising numbered around one thousand was leavened slightly last week by the odd story of the recovery of some of them. It was reported that four priceless treasures, including a gilded wooden statue of King Tutankhamun, had been returned to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo after being found by an employee of the Ministry of Antiquities in an unattended black bag that he happened upon in a subway station one morning on his way to work. A clip of the government news conference announcing the find can be viewed here courtesy of the Telegraph.
The Loving Story, a documentary film about the famous case of Loving v. Virginia in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute as unconstitutional, has garnered a few mentions on legal blogs in anticipation of its showing later this month at the Tribeca Film Festival. Read about the film at Feminist Law Professors, and a bit about the case, its aftermath, and a forthcoming book about it at Concurring Opinions.
The New York Times reports that new guidelines from China's censors "all but ban TV dramas featuring time travel" on the basis that they "lack positive thoughts and meaning" and may "casually make up myths, have monstrous and weird plots, use absurd tactics, and even promote feudalism, superstition, fatalism and reincarnation."
James Joyce's estate, in the person of his grandson Stephen, is notoriously protective of copyright and has often proven hostile to requests for permission to use his work. Indeed, as reported in Discover Magazine, it recently sent a cease and desist letter to two scientists who had inscribed a line from Joyce's work into the genome of a synthetic microbe. Against this backdrop, many found cause for celebration when singer Kate Bush revealed that "she has been given permission to use Molly Bloom's famous soliloquy from Ulysses, in a song to be released next month," twenty-two years after an initial refusal. But, in the New Yorker, D. T. Max cautions against reading too much into this development. "After all," he notes, Stephen Joyce "permitted the same passage to be used by Amber in the 2001 dance hit 'Yes.'"
Warner Brothers has lost the latest round in the ongoing litigation over rights and profits between it and the heirs of the creators of Superman. A judge has denied its bid "to pry open secret documents that purportedly show an agreement between the estates of Superman co-creators Joel Shuster and Jerry Siegel not to make further copyright deals with the studio." Warner Brothers "argued that the agreement itself was a violation of the Copyright Act and couldn't be insulated from discovery" while the Shuster and Siegel estates maintained that "those documents were protected by attorney-client privilege." (THR Esq.)
Controversy has surrounded the release of Joseph Lelyveld's new biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Great Soul. It was first banned in Gujarat, a western state of India, on the basis of advance reviews in British papers which suggested revelations of a homosexual relationship, and proposals of bans in other states quickly followed (Globe & Mail). Some U.S. book groups then got in on the act, canceling appearances by the author (Boston Globe). Lelyveld asserted that the controversial passages have been taken out of context, telling the Times of India that he never alleged that Gandhi had a homosexual relationship and that "the word 'bisexual' nowhere appears in the book" (L.A. Times). The The Daily Beast reports that "three prominent descendants of Gandhi in India have publicly spoken out against [a] proposed [national] ban."
According to Eric A. Posner, in A Thousand Times More Fair, Kenji Yoshino "argues that Shakespeare's plays contribute to modern debates about law and justice, and he draws crisp lessons from twelve of those plays." Posner concludes that "the quality of Yoshino's readings varies considerably." He praises the author's capacity to "teas[e] out the meanings of complex passages," but faults him for too often using Shakespeare's work as "a bag of anecdotes to illustrate moral platitudes." (New Republic) Gary Wills' review is similarly mixed. Though he concedes that "the class on which this book is based is probably great fun," he criticizes the limitations of Yoshino's strategy of pairing plays with current events: "The plays are cut to such trite lessons to keep up the game of headline rummaging." (NYT) Benjamin Ivry is more enthusiastic, finding Yoshino to be "a refreshingly engaging advocate for Shakespeare." (Star-Ledger)
Crime, the fiction debut of German defense lawyer Ferdinand von Schirach, is described by reviewer Boyd Tonkin as a "bizarre and unsettling collection of 11 stories about crimes and their consequences." He expands: "Each tale whips along, a shock at every turn, like some beast with eyes of red-hot coal panting down a forest track at night. For, courtroom procedure aside, the spirit of the German-language Märchen really drives this book: eerie tales of the uncanny, as practised by Hoffmann, Kleist, the Grimms and even Kafka." (Independent)
Jane Jakeman praises An Uncertain Place, the latest Commisssaire Adamsberg mystery by Fred Vargas, as a "wonderfully intricate and Gothic work" that "add[s] to Vargas's usual parade of satisfyingly weird characters." In it, Jakeman tells us, the author "lets herself go in a riot of vampiric complexities: her delights in plot and language are dolphin-like, leaping with pleasure at obscure Cyrillic messages, tracing Danubian family history and sanguinary lore." (Independent)
Margaret Cannon pronounces Michael Connelly's The Fifth Witness, which features the return of Mickey Haller from The Lincoln Lawyer, "a superb novel" that "is even better than its predecessor." (Globe & Mail)
In the latest Invisible Ink column, Christopher Fowler reminds us of the charms of Sarah Caudwell's clever and witty mystery series that features a professor of medieval law as sleuth aided by four barristers who serve "as a kind of ironic, adult Enid Blyton gang to help solve crimes." He tells us that Caudwell, who was herself a barrister, "used her knowledge of tax and inheritance laws to add realism to the cases," but that "apart from that they're quite potty, with members of the team tromping around exotic locations dropping barbed bons mots to their mentor." People have been recommending these book to me for years, and this might just be the prod I need to finally pick one up. (Independent)
Weekly Roundup of News & Reviews, March 14-20, 2011
March 22, 2011 – 3:28 pm
It's too late to be a weekend roundup. But I figure better late than never! Below are links to some of the news stories and book reviews related to law and the arts that caught my attention last week.
A group comprised of more than 130 artists, curators, writers, and others are calling for a boycott of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi following reports by Human Rights Watch that document exploitation of foreign migrant workers in the UAE. The group is "demanding that the Guggenheim Foundation and its Abu Dhabi partner take immediate and meaningful steps to safeguard the rights of the workers constructing the new branch museum on Saadiyat Island." Walid Raad, an organizer of the boycott, said: "Artists should not be asked to exhibit their work in buildings built on the backs of exploited workers. Those working with bricks and mortar deserve the same kind of respect as those working with cameras and brushes." For more information, click here. (Clancco, NYT) [UPDATE: The Guggenheim Foundation responds.]
Last Monday, the UK government released a draft bill that would introduce dramatic reforms to the libel law of England and Wales, including a new public interest defense, a requirement that claimants demonstrate substantial harm, measures to combat libel tourism, and removal of the presumption in favour of jury trials (Guardian). The bill was welcomed as a step in the right direction by the Publishers Association and the Society of Authors, among others (The Bookseller). But many commentators, including spokespersons for the Libel Reform Campaign that has been so instrumental in the push for reform, say that the bill does not go far enough (Press Gazette). For informative and thought-provoking analysis and criticism of the proposed bill, see the New Statesman, Inforrm's Blog, Lex Ferenda, cearta.ie, the Free Speech Blog, and The Trial Warrior Blog.
The student author of a sexually explicit short story, and the editor of the university newspaper that published it, were acquitted last week by a Maltese court of offending public morals. The Times of Malta reports that the presiding Magistrate found that the story was neither obscene nor pornographic "and that the police had failed to explain how public morality, which changed over time, had been breached." The trial sparked "heated public debate about the limits of expression and the boundaries between literature and pornography." According to Index on Censorship: "The court's decision is a boost for all writers and artists in Malta, many of whom are part of the "Front against Censorship" (FaC) — a protest movement campaigning to liberalise Malta's censorship laws." (Times of Malta, Index on Censorship)
Recent weeks brought a flurry of legal challenges to library closures in the UK. But now the government has announced a review of the multitude of statutory obligations with which local authorities are required to comply with a view to doing away with "burdensome" ones. And among those under review is the sole legal grounding for the aforementioned challenges, the duty of local authorities to provide "a comprehensive and efficient library service under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act." Library campaigners are understandably concerned by this development. (Guardian).
A little over a week ago, it was reported that the legal battle between Rick Norsigian and the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust over negatives alleged to be lost Adams' work had escalated; now comes the news that the dispute has been settled. The precise terms of the settlement are confidential, but the parties indicated in a statement that Norsigian cannot use Ansel Adams name when selling prints from the negatives and that such sales can only continue "subject to a disclaimer approved by the Trust." The Los Angeles Times reports that Norsigian's asking price for prints has declined accordingly. (NYT, The Art Law Blog, LA Times)
Scott McLemee has interviewed Susie Linfield about her book The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence, a finalist in criticism for the National Book Critics Circle awards, in which, he says, it is apparent that she "holds fast to Twain's optimism about the power of images of suffering to create enormous moral and political effects." (Inside Higher Ed)
Brian True-May, producer of British crime drama Midsomer Murders, was suspended from his job last week pending an inquiry after he stated in an interview: "We just don't have ethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn't be the English village with them…. We're the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way." Critics of True-May's comments have pointed out that his vision of an all-white rural England is very much at odds with contemporary reality. The series is already on the cusp of great change with the retirement of John Nettles, who played Inspector Tom Barnaby for 16 years, and the introduction of a new star, Neil Dudgeon, playing Tom's cousin John Barnaby, also conveniently a police detective. It remains to be seen whether True-May's comments and the ensuing outcry will provoke greater changes still. (Guardian, BBC, Racialicious)
In The Anatomy of a Moment, novelist Javier Cercas turns to non-fiction to explore the 1982 siege of the Spanish parliament. Anthony Cummins writes of the book, translated from Spanish to English by Anne McLean, that "its rigour and intensity are taxing" but that it is "a brilliant study of political conduct, which is well worth the effort required." (Telegraph)
Alison Flood describes The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris, the first installment in a new mystery series featuring "Douglas Brodie, a policeman turned soldier turned reporter," as "deft, disturbing and as thoroughly grimy as its 1946 Glasgow setting." (The Observer)
In a review of Kate Atkinson's fourth Jackson Brodie novel, Started Early, Took My Dog, Laura Miller writes of the series: "Each one of these books, including this latest, is a delight: an intricate construction that assembles itself before the reader's eyes, populated by idiosyncratic, multidimensional characters and written with shrewd, mordant grace." (Salon)
The English translation of Henning Mankell's latest, and he says his last, Inspector Wallander novel, The Troubled Man, is due out later this month. According to James Urquhart, it provides a worthy conclusion to "the hugely absorbing Wallander casefile." (Independent)
Poetry & Law: M. NourbeSe Philip's Zong!
March 19, 2011 – 4:12 pm
Poetry and law may seem to some as incommensurable as dancing and architecture. Not so, according to M. NourbeSe Philip: "Law and poetry both share an inexorable concern with language⎯the "right" use of the "right" words, phrases, or even marks of punctuation; precision of expression is the goal shared by both." But language may be used to very different ends in each realm: "The law uses language as a tool for ordering; in the instant case, however, I want poetry to disassemble the ordered, to create disorder and mayhem so as to release the story that cannot be told, but which, through not-telling, will tell itself."
The story that cannot be told, the subject of Philip's most recent collection of poems, is that of the Zong massacre. In September 1781, the slave ship Zong set sail from the east coast of Africa bound for Jamaica under the stewardship of Captain Luke Collingwood. The "cargo" consisted of 470 Africans. The voyage should have taken six to nine weeks but, due to navigational errors, stretched into four months. By the end of November, sixty Africans had died "for want of water for sustenance," and forty more had thrown themselves into the sea "through thirst and frenzy thereby occasioned." A further 150 Africans were then flung into the sea to their deaths on the orders of the Captain who believed that if they died on board by "natural causes," the owners would have to bear the loss, whereas if they died by drowning, the loss would be covered by the owners' insurance policy as attributable to "the perils of the sea."
Back home in England, a famous case resulted: Gregson v. Gilbert. It was not a murder trial, since the Africans who had been killed were regarded as chattels not as human beings, but rather a legal dispute that turned on the finer points of insurance law. The insurers refused to pay the owners' claim, and the owners challenged that refusal in court. The owners won in the initial trial, but the jury's decision was overturned on appeal by the Court of King's Bench.
Philip describes that King's Bench decision, the only part of the litigation to make its way into the law reports, as "the tombstone, the one public marker of the murder of those Africans on board the Zong," and she opts to limit herself to that text, using it as "a word store" for the composition of her book-length sequence of poems. She literally deconstructs the decision, pulling apart the words with which it is composed, then rearranging them to construct her own text. Through the alchemy of poetry, she also thereby reconstructs the African passengers, so present aboard the ship, yet peculiarly absent from the legal decision. "In Zong!," Philip writes, "the African, transformed into a thing by the law, is re-transformed, miraculously, back into human."
These are poems in which the placement of the words on the page is as important as the meaning that those words convey. In the early poems, the words are spread thinly across the page, the spaces making visible the absence of African bodies and voices. But as the sequence continues, the poems become denser and denser, the words tumbling over one another, sometimes scoring one another out. The effect is disorienting, disturbing, and, ultimately, extremely powerful.
I recommend reading the book at least twice, the first time approaching the poems fresh, taking them on their own terms. Then again after having read the material appended at the end (Philip's essay on the writing of the book, from which I've quoted above, and a copy of the Gregson v. Gilbert decision) to more fully appreciate how Philip has illuminated injustice by making poetry out of law.
Tags books, history, law & literature, M. NourbeSe Philip, poetry, race, racism, trials | Permalink | Comments (4)
A Foray into Italian Crime Fiction: Gianrico Carofiglio's Involuntary Witness
March 5, 2011 – 4:14 pm
A couple of months ago, when I tweeted a link to an article in the Observer that heralded "a new wave of Italian crime writers," I quickly received a flurry of replies insisting that, of the writers mentioned therein, Gianrico Carofiglio was the one whose work I must sample without delay. One of my correspondents went so far as to dub Guido Guerrieri, the character at the centre of Carofiglio's series of legal thrillers, "an Italian Philip Marlowe."
Intrigued as I was by this description, it initially struck me as unlikely, given how thoroughly a product of 1930s and 40s Los Angeles Raymond Chandler's Marlowe seems to me to be. But even if Marlowe is rooted in his time and place, noir certainly travels. The success of Akashic Books' marvelous noir anthologies which serve up hardboiled crime stories from every corner of the globe amply demonstrates that point. It was undoubtedly the noir quality of Carofiglio's books which my correspondent was lauding and, having now read Involuntary Witness, the first book featuring world-weary criminal defense lawyer Guido Guerrieri, I can echo the recommendation of him as a most intriguing noir antihero.
At the beginning of the book, Guerrieri's wife leaves him and, despite the fact that he hadn't seemed particularly invested in his marriage, this provokes something of a breakdown. It's an existential crisis. Guerrieri hasn't lost his life's purpose so much as the illusion that he had a purpose in life. Work provides no counter-balance to his unraveling personal life for, there too, he realizes he has long been deluding himself. He had not become a lawyer out of a passion for justice as he had sometimes tried to convince himself. Rather, he "had become a lawyer by sheer chance, because [he] had found nothing better to do or wasn't up to looking for it." He had just been marking time in practice, "waiting for [his] ideas to clarify." His wife's departure brings a now unwelcome clarity: "Then the lid blew off and from the pan emerged a lot of things I had never imagined and didn't want to see. That no one would want to see."
But in the end, it is his work as a lawyer that brings him back to himself and into the world, when he is engaged to defend Abdou Thiam, a 31-year-old Senegalese pedlar who has been charged with the murder of a 9-year-old Italian boy. Thiam had been seen speaking to the boy on the beach on a number of occasions, and has been found to have a photo of him as well as some children's books among his possessions. A bar owner has said that he witnessed Thiam walking towards the boy's grandparents' home on the day in question, and one of his fellow pedlars has said that he saw Thiam washing his car the day after. This tissue of circumstantial evidence, through the lens of the racism of witnesses, police, lawyers, and judges, is thought to add up to an airtight case. Guerrieri has no faith in his capacity to counter it, and initially advises Thiam to opt for "the shortened procedure" which would rule out an acquittal but perhaps lead to something less than a life sentence. But Thiam protests his innocence and wants to fight for an acquittal. Guerrieri's growing belief in and sense of responsibility to his client, and the challenge of the trial gradually bring him back to life.
This is not a mystery novel. No attempt is made to get to the bottom of the question of who committed the murder. All of the suspense relates to the outcome of the trial. Following the process from beginning to end offers some fascinating glimpses into the Italian legal system. (The author served for many years as an anti-mafia prosecutor in Bari, the same southern Italian city in which the novel is set, so I'm confident that the depiction of the operation of Italian criminal law is an accurate one.) One facet of the novel that I particularly appreciated that Carofiglio has in common with some of my favourite Scandanavian crime writers is that he eschews the Hollywood version in favour of what seems a more realistic portrayal of the progress of a case through the justice system, adeptly conveying its plodding pace and bureaucratic nature without thereby producing a plodding read.
I was quickly caught up in Guerrieri's life, and in Thiam's fate, and found Involuntary Witness overall to be an always interesting, sometimes riveting, and ultimately very satisfying read. Carofiglio has written four novels featuring Guerrieri as the central character, three of which have so far been published in English translation, with the final one due out later this year. I am very much looking forward to continuing on to read the rest.
Tags books, crime fiction, Italy, law & literature, lawyers, noir, race, racism, trials | Permalink | Comments (2)

subset: commoncrawl


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SureFire Ag Welcomes Summer Interns!
Each year SureFire Ag Systems opens their doors to summer interns, usually two to three college or high school students. This year we had the pleasure of working with three exceptional interns. They are Ryan Wolters (19 yrs. old) and Marvin Sanchez (19 yrs. old) of Atwood, KS, and Jace Shirley (21 yrs. old) of Oakley, KS. Cedric Green, facilitator of interns, has some kinds words to say about the three collectively. "All of our interns caught on quickly and we were able to accomplish many tasks this summer. It took less explaining from the engineers for them to be productive. This group of interns have a great work ethic and enjoy the "work hard, play hard" culture of SureFire Ag Systems."
SureFire Ag's Fall 2019 Farm Show Schedule
Every Fall, SureFire Ag hits the road to showcase its new products. SureFire will be at several farm shows over the next four weeks. Things start off this week with Farm Progress in Decatur, IL. Farm Progress is the nation's largest outdoor farm show. More than 600 exhibitors will be showing off their newest designs to producers from the US and around the globe.
In addition to farm shows, SureFire is also spending time in the field with producers at grower meetings across the country.
SureFire is highlighting several products which include:
- Sentinel ISO Liquid Row Monitor
- NEW Sentinel ISO showing live individual row data uploaded via the Fieldview platform
- NEW Sentinel NH3 Anhydrous Row Monitor
- NEW QuickDraw 3000 & QuickDraw Lite
- ChemBlade, ChemBlade ES & Caddy spray tendering products
The Faces of SureFire Ag: Greg Green
Greg Green, Territory Manager of Western US (MT, WY, NV, UT, NM, OK, AK, HI) and Inside Sales Manager of Kansas, Missouri (West of I-49) and Eastern Nebraska (East of Highway 83), is a staple on the sales team at SureFire Ag. He's been with the team for many years and has won the trust of the team and his customers alike.
We've asked Greg a few questions to help you get to know him. Here's what he had to say:
What is your background? Vo-Tech; Electronics Technology
What is your favorite part of your job? Working with great teammates that are all willing to help you when you need it.
Favorite Food? That is a tossup between ribs and chicken wings.
What is the best advice you were ever given? Don't ever give up.
What does service mean to you? When someone comes to you for help, that you are able to solve their problem. I'm proud when I am able to help them, but then discouraged when I can't and that makes me want to learn more about the situation, so I can help someone the next time.
What are you most passionate about? My family come first. I always want to be there for them in whatever they are going through or doing, and support them.
Who is your favorite sports team? Football is my favorite sport, so it's either Broncos or K-State.
What gets you out of bed in the morning? The first thing I do when I get out of bed, is to thank God for giving me another day on Earth. Then it's off to whatever I'm wanting/trying to accomplish for that day.
We're incredibly proud of the fact we're all committed to creating innovative and valuable solutions for ag producers across the world and supporting our customers and friends throughout the entire process; Greg is no different. He is committed to his customers and the greater SureFire mission. Stay tuned for more SureFire Spotlights on our blog and please don't hesitate to contact us for any sales or service needs.
SureFire Systems for John Deere Rate Controller 2000 Training
John Deere has made significant upgrades in their application control systems with the new JD Rate Controller 2000 and subsequent updates to their system. This new JDRC 2000 allows for control of up to 5 liquid, anhydrous, and dry products, as well as seed rate control for air drills. In total, the JDRC 2000 can control up to 4 products to be documented, and a fifth product for independent control. Other advantages to the JDRC 2000 are the ability to control more implement sections, an easy conversion from Deere's previous single product rate controller, and an improved user experience.
SureFire Ag application and control systems are fully compatible with the John Deere® Rate control system. We have designed and field tested all of our application systems (liquid fertilizer, anhydrous ammonia, herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides) in order to ensure compatibility with the new JDRC 2000.
Come spend the day with SureFire Ag, the experts in complete fertilizer systems for JDRC 2000. In the first year, we have deployed more than 400 systems using this new control platform.
Join us to learn more about how this dual system can increase your or your customers' efficiency and accuracy. This one-day training, offered on two dates, will include:
- Overview of the JDRC 2000 including SureFire's own harnessing for this controller.
- System basics and overview.
- Advanced troubleshooting capabilities that make the JDRC 2000 one of the easiest control platforms to work with in the field.
- SureFire ISOBUS Sentinel for individual row flow monitoring directly on your John Deere display.
- SureFire's many systems compatible with the JDRC 2000 for liquid and NH3 application.
Tuesday, December 12th, 2017
9 AM to 4 PM
SureFire Ag – 4 miles North of Atwood, KS on Hwy 25. Click Here for a location. Register by contacting Dora at 785-626-3670 or email@example.com.
Tap into the FULL Potential of your PRO 700 with the help of SureFire Ag!
The Raven Rate Control Module (RCM) is an excellent rate control platform paired with the Pro700. The Raven RCM can control up to 5 products and connects to the Pro 700 over the ISOBUS system. SureFire systems are fully compatible with the RCM and SureFire supplies everything (including the RCM) for a complete system in one shipment.
Over the past ten plus years we have established ourselves as the leaders in precision application systems. Our business strategy is to develop strategic relationships with you the dealer and become an extension of your business. There is no one size fits all solution to fertilizer application. We lead you in asking the specific questions necessary to develop a complete solution to fit your customers exact needs. From simple single product applications to more complex multiple product or variable rate systems, our goal is to delight you and your customers. When there is so much at stake it only makes sense to partner with the experts.
SureFire Ag has added a one-day training to educate dealers and customers alike on this perfect match. This training will include:
- Introduction to the Raven RCM including SureFire's own harnessing for this controller
- RCM compatibility with Ag Leader and Trimble displays your customers may use
- SureFire systems for application of liquids, including PumpRight hydraulically driven diaphragm pumps, Tower electric pump systems, Spartan Injection pumps and more.
- SureFire ISOBUS Sentinel for row flow monitoring directly on the Pro 700
- LiquiShift System for High Speed Planters, Prescription Applications or any other application requiring wide rate ranges
Upcoming Dealer Training Date:
Thursday, December 14th, 2017
9 AM to 4 PM
SureFire Ag – 4 miles North of Atwood, KS on Hwy 25. Click Here for a location link.
Register by contacting Dora at 785-626-3670 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
SureFire Ag Systems will help you or your customer's needs in fertilizer application. SureFire's customer support is second to none; call in and talk to a real person quickly when you need help.
Can't make this training date? No problem! Contact us, we'll find a time that we can connect to help you or you customers better understand the unmatched power of the RCM combined with SureFire systems.
SureFire Spotlight: Meet Levi Felzien!
Help us welcome Levi Felzien! He is the newest member of the SureFire Ag sales team and has recently been named the Inside Sales Manager of Texas. Levi's background is in telecommunications, an industry where he worked the better part of 15 years; his electronics background will serve him well in his role at SureFire Ag.
We asked Levi a few questions and even though he's a man of few words, here's what he had to say:
What is your favorite part of your job?
The people I get to work with, both co-workers and customers.
Do you have any hidden talents or something no one knows about you?
I am a troubleshooter extraordinaire; I pride myself on approaching problems and issues with applied logic, it's a specialty of mine.
What's your favorite food?
All of the above please.
What is the best advice you were ever given?
There are always at least 2 different ways to view a situation. Never jump to conclusions.
What does service mean to you?
Prompt, fair solutions in a timely manner.
Who is your favorite sports team?
NFL – Raiders
MLB – Yankees
NCAAFB – CU Buffaloes
NCAABB – KU Jayhawks
We are excited to have Levi on the team and we are excited for the energy he will bring to the Texas region. The entire SureFire Ag team is committed to creating innovative and valuable solutions for ag producers across the world and supporting our customers and friends throughout the entire process, Levi is no different. Stay tuned for more SureFire Spotlights on our blog and please don't hesitate to contact us for any sales or service needs.
SureFire Ag's Fall 2017 Farm Show Schedule
This fall, SureFire Ag will be at three farm shows in the next four weeks. Things start off this week with Farm Progress in Decatur, IL. Farm Progress is the nation's largest outdoor farm show. More than 600 exhibitors will be showing off their newest designs to producers from the US and around the globe. In addition to farm shows, SureFire is also spending time in the field with several producers at grower meetings across the country.
SureFire is highlighting several products which include:
- Sentinel ISO Liquid Row Monitor
- Marksman Precision Irrigation Injection
- QuickDraw Max & QuickDraw Lite
- John Deere Rate Controller 2000 – controlling 3 products
- Case IH Pro 700 with a Raven Rate Controller and Case IH ISO rate controller
- Spartan Direct Injection
- Torpedo Precision NH3
Our farm show schedule is as follows:
|Booth Location
|August 29-31, 2017
|Farm Progress
|Lot 310
|September 12 – 14, 2017
|Husker Harvest Days
|Lot 1032
|September 12 – 14, 2017
|Big Iron Farm Show
|Lot W18- W20
|September 19 – 21, 2017
|Ohio Farm Science
|Lot 361
Join us for one (or more!) of these exciting farm shows to meet our SureFire team and see the latest in revolutionary agriculture, electronic, and fertilizer technology systems.
Can't make it to one of these shows? No problem, contact us today to learn more about our products, request a custom quote or to line up a live demonstration with one of our Territory Managers.
Behind the Scenes: SureFire Ag's 2017 Sales Retreat
Every year, the entire SureFire Ag sales team takes a break from our busy schedules to spend time together – team building, planning, and reflecting in order to be the best we can be for our partners, customers, and community. This year, the SureFire Ag sales team spent a few days in the panhandle of Nebraska at the historic Fort Robinson. The goal of this retreat is to discuss what went well over the last year, as well as what we can all do to make the coming year even better.
On the first day, everyone traveled to the location at Fort Robinson and a shrimp boil was prepared by Rick Heard from Dothan, AL; something we all enjoyed! After dinner, we began the meeting by studying territory reports from each Territory Manager, detailing how the year went and places for improvement. Each Territory Manager also broke down their key accounts and what the SureFire team can do to support them in the upcoming year.
The following morning, the group finished up territory discussions and began a healthy discussion of our different product lines and what they offer. The team was updated on product updates and significant time was spent discussing the new systems and plans coming straight from the engineering team. Everyone is thrilled with what's coming down the pipeline and we can't wait to share it with our loyal customers.
That afternoon, we took a break from business for a bit of fun. Most of the group went tubing down the mighty White River. After tubing, the team was served peppercorn roasted beef tenderloin sandwiches by Mark Griffith, Man were they good!
SureFire Ag Celebrates 10 Years in the Ag Technology Business
In August 2017, the SureFire Ag team celebrates 10 years in business. What started as a small dream by Blaine and Erin Ginther, Josh and Lisa Wolters, and Matt Wolters has turned into a reality we're all immensely proud of. We wouldn't be where we are today without the loyal support of our customers, dealers, and industry partners – we thank you!
SureFire Ag began specializing in providing solutions for the control and application of liquid and dry fertilizer, seed, and chemical the SureFire way. With the support from our amazing customers, our products and services have reached customers across the United States and internationally.
We've expanded our offerings to include SureFire Electronics LLC, a subsidiary of SureFire Ag, to design and manufacture wiring harnesses for SureFire Ag Systems. Together, SureFire Ag and SureFire Electronics employs 36 full-time and 7 part-time employees. Blaine Ginther, Co-Founder and National Sales Manager explains why SureFire is proud to be an employee-owned company in a recent blog– which we believe is a huge benefit to our team and customers alike.
From the beginning, our core tenant has always been to find ways to help our customers farm smarter, not harder. From simple, standard, single-product liquid fertilizer application systems, to complex, custom-designed systems, SureFire Ag is committed to helping you farm the way you want. Josh Wolters, SureFire Co-Founder and General Manager, had this to say about the past 10 years:
Here at SureFire, our busy days don't give us much time to sit back and reflect on the past 10 years. As I take a chance to look back this afternoon, there are a lot of different directions my mind can veer off in. There are great successes. I've met great people as co-workers, customers, vendors and other partners. There have been failures large and small along the way. Failure is never fun, but we have learned important lessons from our failures.
SureFire Improves the Marksman Fertigation System with You in Mind
SureFire Ag released the Marksman, a custom fertigation and chemigation system, in 2016 with a couple of goals in mind.
First, we wanted to increase accuracy by allowing you to see how much was being applied. With the Marksman, you no longer have to draw a line on your tank, and come back in an hour to see if your tank level dropped the right amount, hoping you have applied the correct rate. Most fertigation pumps rely on a theoretical flow based on a pump stroke setting. The Marksman however is a systems approach with the same reliability SureFire is known for in the mobile application world. With the Marksman, you set it and forget it. Read more…


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2018 proved to be a constitutional litmus test for the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (the "Code"), with ten writ petitions and one special leave petition assailing the constitutional validity of the Code. Various matters were brought into question and on January 25, 2019, a judgment was pronounced by the Supreme Court (the "SC") on this batch of petitions in Swiss Ribbons Private Limited & Anr. v. Union of India1.
The key sub-text in Swiss Ribbons is set out in the Epilogue in the last three pages of the judgment:
"The Insolvency Code is a legislation which deals with economic matters and, in the larger sense, deals with the economy of the country as a whole. Earlier experiments, as we have seen, in terms of legislations having failed, 'trial' having led to repeated errors, ultimately led to the enactment of the Code. The experiment contained in the Code, judged by the generality of its provisions and not by so-called crudities and inequities that have been pointed out by the petitioners, passes constitutional muster."
This conclusion is a future interpretative tool for all stakeholders and more so, for participants in the corporate insolvency resolution process (the "CIRP"). The SC has tacitly admitted to the game theory element inherent in CIRPs, and the SC will not be readily swayed in allowing traditional common law safe harbour principles of equity, reasonableness and fairness prevailing over purposive economic legislation and policy.
In reaching its judgment, the SC acknowledged that such arguments have, over the last 7 decades, stymied India's insolvency regime. Ultimately, the SC found enough grist for the mill (drawing from its own precedents and comparative international jurisprudence) to stave off the challenges to constitutional validity of the Code.
Perhaps the only question of significance left unanswered in the judgment is the challenge to the RBI's circular dated February 12, 20192 directing lenders with distressed loans in the power sector to invoke the Code.
For now, we are not dealing with the entire gamut of issues arising in the context of the Code, for example the legitimacy of appointment of members of the National Company Law Tribunal (the "NCLT") and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (the "NCLAT"), the direction to expedite formation of NCLAT circuit benches, the shifting of administrative support being provided to the Ministry of Law and Justice (from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs as it currently stands). We have instead focussed on the more substantive constitutional challenges to:
- The differential treatment of 'financial creditors' and 'operational creditors' running through the genetic make-up of various sections;
- Section 29A disqualifiers, which was primarily intended to prevent defaulting promoters from misusing the Code and gaming the system; and
- Section 12A, which appears to have a seemingly contrarian standpoint to the above, in that it permits the self-same errant promoters (sought to be disqualified by Section 29A) to buy back their enterprises.
3.1 Role of the judiciary in economic legislation
This is the overarching theme permeating through all the other substantive issues considered in the Swiss Ribbons judgment. The SC provides a welcome insight into the approach required in dealing with the Code as economic legislation. Predicated on the statement of objects, the preamble and the copious jurisprudential background leading to the formulation of the Code, the SC draws from both foreign and its own precedents to assert a hands-off approach in relation to economic legislation.
As a prologue to the judgment, the SC sets the tenor, emphasizing that:
- "There may be crudities and inequities in complicated experimental economic legislation but on that account alone it cannot be struck down as invalid";
- "The Court must therefore adjudge the constitutionality of such legislation by the generality of its provisions and not by its crudities or inequities or by the possibilities of abuse of any of its provisions";
- "The Court must defer to legislative judgment in matters relating to social and economic policies and must not interfere, unless the exercise of legislative judgment appears to be palpably arbitrary"; and
- "The system of checks and balances has to be utilized in a balanced manner with the primary objective of accelerating economic growth rather than suspending its growth by doubting its constitutional efficacy at the threshold itself".
This is then bookended in the Epilogue with telling observations:
- "To stay experimentation in things economic is a grave responsibility, and denial of the right to experiment is fraught with serious consequences to the nation";
- "We are happy to note that in the working of the Code, the flow of financial resource to the commercial sector in India has increased exponentially as a result of financial debts being repaid"; and
- "Ultimately, the total flow of resources to the commercial sector in India, both bank and non-bank, and domestic and foreign (relatable to the non-food sector) has gone up from a total of INR 14530.47 crores in 2016-2017, to INR 18469.25 crores in 2017-2018, and to INR 18798.20 crores in the first six months of 2018-2019. These figures show that the experiment conducted in enacting the Code is proving to be largely successful".
Each challenge to the constitutional validity of the Code was tested on these touchstones and found wanting.
3.2 Differential treatment between 'financial creditors' and 'operational creditors'
The principal argument of the petitioners was that there is no intelligible differentia having relation to the objects sought to be achieved by the Code between financial and operational creditors; indeed, nowhere in the world has this distinction been made; and therefore, it was alleged to be discriminatory in effect.
The SC however concluded that the distinction is "neither discriminatory, nor arbitrary, nor violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India". It reached this conclusion after an elaborate 52-page analysis, replete with a dissection of various sections of the Code, the minutiae contained in regulations (and even certain forms and notices), commentaries from the Bankruptcy Law Reform Committee Report (the "BLRC Report"), the Insolvency Law Committee Report and the Joint Parliamentary Committee Report, which even included a counterpoint extracted from the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law.
The essence of the decision lay in the fact that financial creditors have a better understanding of the business and viability of the corporate debtor owing to techno-evaluative studies conducted by them prior to lending, and a long-term interest based on the large amount of loans that are involved. This issue now appears to have been bedded down with finality, with nearly every provision and procedure of the Code posited upon this distinction being stress-tested robustly in the judgment.
Section 53 was analysed separately. This section lays down the hierarchy of claims and the priority in distribution of assets (or the so-called waterfall) in liquidation. The Code accords primacy to secured claims (invariably the preserve of financial creditors). Unsecured claims (usually the situation operational creditors find themselves in) are given the lowest priority.
This pecking order of claims in the past, it may be recalled, was seriously distorted, especially with governmental claims of various hues ranking alongside and often ahead of financial creditors.
In summary, the SC found sufficient intelligible differentia justifying the differential treatment accorded to financial and operational creditors and concluded: "it can be seen that unsecured debts are of various kinds, and so long as there is some legitimate interest sought to be protected, having relation to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question, Article 14 does not get infracted. For these reasons, the challenge to Section 53 of the Code must also fail".
3.3 Constitutional validity of Section 29A
Section 29A basically sets out ineligibility criteria for resolution applicants under the Code. It was enacted evidently as an afterthought, first by way of an ordinance and thereafter by an amendment on November 23, 2017. Arun Jaitley, the then finance minister of India went on record to state:
"Effectively, this clause will mean that those, who are in management and on account of whom this insolvent or the non-performing asset has arisen, will now try and say, I do not discharge any of the outstanding debts in terms of making the accounts operational, and yet I would like to apply and get the same enterprise back at a discounted value, for this is not the object of this particular Act itself. So clause [5] has been brought in with that purpose in mind."
This apprehension is expressly stated in the Statement of Objects and Reasons for the amendment:
"Concerns have been raised that persons who, with their misconduct contributed to defaults of companies or are otherwise undesirable, may misuse this situation due to lack of prohibition or restrictions to participate in the resolution or liquidation process, and gain or regain control of the corporate debtor".
A clear and present danger was perceived at that time - that errant promoters were gaming the system. It was deemed necessary not only to swiftly amend the Code but to also go a step further in applying the amendment with retrospective effect. This was ostensibly done to prevent a back-door entry by such errant promoters.
A multi-pronged Constitutional challenge was launched against Section 29A in Swiss Ribbons, on the following grounds:
- Vested rights of erstwhile promoters to participate in the recovery process of a corporate debtor have been impaired by retrospective application of Section 29A;
- A blanket ban on participation of all promoters, without differentiating between unscrupulous and sincere promoters is manifestly arbitrary and "treats unequals as equals". "A good erstwhile manager cannot be lumped with a bad erstwhile manager";
- Maximization of the value of assets is an important goal to be achieved in the resolution process. Section 29A is contrary to such goal as an erstwhile promoter, who may outbid all other applicants and may have the best resolution plan, would be kept out at the threshold;
- A person's account may be classified as a non-performing asset (an "NPA") in accordance with RBI guidelines despite him not being a wilful defaulter. Further the period of one year is arbitrary; (the disqualifier being where a person's account has been an NPA for a year); and
- Persons who may be related parties in the sense that they may be relatives of the erstwhile promoters are also debarred, even though they may have no business connection with the erstwhile promoters who have been rendered ineligible by Section 29A.
Between August 2018 and October 2018, the SC had the opportunity to dwell extensively on the issue of vested rights of erstwhile promoters, in the cases of Chitra Sharma3 and in ArcelorMittal4. The SC had already concluded that promoters had no vested rights to be considered as resolution applicants. Since the fundamental assumption (that there is a vested right) had already been negated (particularly in ArcelorMittal), the assertion that this right is abrogated by retrospective application found no traction with the SC.
The SC found no merit in the argument that the ineligibility conditions in Section 29A treats unequals as equals. Section 29A disqualifiers bring within its ambit a variety of persons and it is not based on any requirement to evidence malfeasance (or for that matter, any other fault-based liability).
For example, an undischarged insolvent is disqualified not on account of any fault, but because he is simply unfit or considered undesirable to acquire or manage an enterprise. So, painting a defaulting but otherwise diligent promoter and an unscrupulous promoter with the same brush is not arbitrary – both have failed equally on account of the default. On the other hand, it is more a fit and proper person test enacted in the larger public interest and to facilitate effective corporate governance.
The argument in (d) above was countered with rigorous reference to the RBI's guidelines on income recognition and classification and the mechanics involved in the determination of NPAs and their treatment. The SC concluded that this is legislative policy, the SC will not interfere and in any case, the RBI's guidelines provide enough justification. A person who is unable to service his own debt beyond the grace period of one year and three months (at which stage it is classified as a doubtful asset), is unfit and cannot be an eligible resolution applicant. Neither can this policy be found fault with, nor can the period of one year be questioned, as this is a policy matter decided by the RBI.
The argument in (e) above was articulated essentially as an act of legislative overreach – the mere fact that somebody happens to be a relative of an ineligible person cannot be good in law to oust such person from becoming a resolution applicant, if he is otherwise qualified. The SC however found that in the scheme of the Code, the definitions of "related party", "relative" and the explanation of "connected person", when read together harmoniously in reference to each other, dispel any notion of any arbitrary imposition of disbarment.
The SC therefore held that: "persons who act jointly or in concert with others are connected with the business activity of the resolution applicant...In the absence of showing that such person is "connected" with the business of the activity of the resolution applicant, such person cannot possibly be disqualified under Section 29A(j)."
Conspicuously, the SC appears to have left the argument in (c) above unanswered. This pertains to the argument that disentitling promoters (who could potentially outbid other resolution applicants) goes against the tenet of value maximisation. A plausible surmise for this omission is perhaps that the Code answers this with the introduction of a new section 12A.
3.4 Section 12A passing constitutional muster
Prior to the insertion of section 12A, once a corporate debtor is admitted to insolvency, the only two options available under the Code were the continuation of, or sale of all or part of the existing business, as a going concern; or the winding up and liquidation of the company with the distribution of its assets to creditors and other stakeholders.
In Lokhandwala Kataria5 and Uttara Foods6, the SC's inherent jurisdiction was invoked to manufacture a third option, which was to allow promoters the opportunity to arrive at a settlement and seek withdrawal of the CIRP. In exercise of its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the SC passed orders allowing the withdrawal of applications even after creditors' applications had been admitted by the NCLT or the NCLAT. Thereafter, on the recommendation of the Insolvency Law Committee, the new section 12A was introduced in June 2018.
Section 12A essentially permits the withdrawal of the CIRP application by the applicant post admission, provided the Committee of Creditors (the "CoC") approves such withdrawal by a voting share of ninety per cent. The section itself is open and silent on the circumstances when this provision could be brought into play. No doubt though that it is really premised on the promoter offering a settlement or presenting a settlement plan.
It was argued in Swiss Ribbons that the: "unbridled and uncanalized power was given to the committee of creditors to reject legitimate settlements entered into between creditors and the corporate debtors". This argument did not sway the SC, which held that once admitted, the CIRP becomes in rem and is no longer an individual proceeding but a collective proceeding. All stakeholders in the corporate debtor have an interest in the matter. In certain instances, settlements were allowed by the NCLT, NCLAT and the SC, but this was amongst the corporate debtor and all its creditors (not just between the corporate debtor and the applicant creditor).
In this context, the BLRC Report had observed that the design of the Code was based on ensuring that: "all key stakeholders will participate to collectively assess viability. The law must ensure that all creditors who have the capability and the willingness to restructure their liabilities must be part of the negotiation process. The liabilities of all creditors who are not part of the negotiation process must also be met in any negotiated solution."
Where matters of all the stakeholders are to be decided, it is already established that financial creditors are best placed to take the call. Ninety percent is a sufficiently high threshold, and if met, should be taken seriously. The SC observed that "the figure of ninety per cent, in the absence of anything further to show that it is arbitrary, must pertain to the domain of legislative policy".
Controversially, the SC further commented in paragraph 53 of the judgment that under Section 60 of the Code, the CoC is not the ultimate decision maker on the subject: "Also, it is clear, that under Section 60 of the Code, the committee of creditors do not have the last word on the subject. If the committee of creditors arbitrarily rejects a just settlement and/or withdrawal claim, the NCLT, and thereafter, the NCLAT can always set aside such decision under Section 60 of the Code."
This observation strikes a discordant note, in an otherwise dispassionate hands-off approach endorsed in the rest of the judgment, especially if it permits the future judicial policing of otherwise commercial decisions. Did the SC unintentionally trip the symmetry of its own judgment by over-clarifying and introducing checks and balances that should not exist? Or is this merely a red-herring?
Section 60, and more particularly section 60(5) is a sweeper. It confers residuary jurisdiction on the NCLT and NCLAT for matters and causes of action not already provided for elsewhere in the Code. Therefore, the clarificatory observation above would suggest that a rebuffed promoter (who could not garner the 90 per cent support of the CoC, or where the CoC simply refuses to put it up for voting) is free to approach the NCLT and claim that his just settlement plan was arbitrarily rejected.
Primarily for these reasons, the SC took the view that Section 12A also passed constitutional muster, though the clarificatory observation discussed above was perhaps unnecessary and potentially dissonant with the rest of the judgment, going against the grain of the Code. We will revisit this question in the next section.
We should perhaps firstly note that the Insolvency Bankruptcy Board of India has reported positively on matters admitted for the CIRP.7 The Swiss Ribbons judgment recognizes that the Code has resulted in an exponential increase in credit flow into the commercial sector owing to the repayment of financial debts.
Out-of-court settlements seem to have played a large role in this. Clearly, the judiciary will endorse the cause of economic experimentation and will not intrude into the legislative domain; and this will afford room to best attain the objectives of the Code. The SC has set out its approach on the method of interpreting and treating challenges under the Code, essentially prioritising purpose over literal interpretation.
In its treatment of the Code as economic legislation, it will not hesitate to quash arguments premised merely on notions of fairness or reasonableness or mere legal technicality, which do not account for practical and commercial consideration. Aptly, the judgment closes with the following words: "The defaulter's paradise is lost. In its place, the economy's rightful position has been regained. The result is that all the petitions will now be disposed of in terms of this judgment."
But let us now revisit the potentially discordant observation planted in paragraph 53 of the Swiss Ribbons judgment discussed above: If the committee of creditors arbitrarily rejects a just settlement and/or withdrawal claim, the NCLT, and thereafter, the NCLAT can always set aside such decision under Section 60 of the Code.
The continuing insolvency resolution process relating to Essar Steel India Limited ("ESIL") provides us with an opportunity to test the above proposition in real time, as it unfolds during the course of this month.
On January 29, 2019, three days after the Swiss Ribbons judgment, the NCLT rejected an ostensible settlement plan for ESIL put forward by its promoter, Essar Steel Asia Holdings Ltd ("ESAH"). The rejection however was not based on the proposition in Swiss Ribbon, inasmuch that the NCLT could assume jurisdiction under Section 60. The NCLT was required to make this decision based on the SC's diktat in ArcelorMittal.
In the ArcelorMittal judgment of October 4, 2018, the SC was called upon to decide on the validity of resolution plans submitted by ArcelorMittal and Numetal, both of whom had fallen foul of Section 29A. In a one-off dispensation under Article 142 of the Constitution, the SC thought it proper to provide a grace period of two weeks to both applicants to pay-off their NPAs, and thereby cure their disqualifications and resubmit their resolution plans, along with Vedanta.
Thereafter, the CoC would have an eight-week period to accept, by the requisite majority, the best amongst the re-submitted resolution plans. The SC rightly made it clear that if no plan was found worthy of acceptance, ESIL would go into liquidation.
By the October 19th deadline, ArcelorMittal had cleared NPAs worth INR 7,469 crores linked to Uttam Galva and KSS Petron, and the CoC approved its resolution plan offer of INR 42,000 crores with a vote of ninety two percent. This resolution plan was then placed before the NCLT for approval. On October 25, 2019, ESAH made an offer by way of a settlement plan for an amount of Rs. 54,839 crores, in a last-ditch effort to regain ESIL, invoking Section 60(5) of the Code, arguing that its settlement plan must be considered on a similar footing as the principle established by section 12A of the Code.
On January 29, 2019, the NCLT not only had to consider the Swiss Ribbons judgment (pronounced three days earlier), but to also harmonise with the October 4, 2018 judgment in ArcelorMittal. The NCLT rejected ESAH's application for the following principal grounds (among others).
Firstly, in the backdrop of the ArcelorMittal judgment, NCLT's brief was restricted. The jurisdiction of the NCLT under Section 60(5) was already abrogated. The SC's dispensation was really a one-off special order under Article 142 of the Constitution, with the order stating that if no plan was found worthy of acceptance, ESIL would go into liquidation. There required to be either an acceptance of one of the three resolution plans, or a liquidation, with no room for a third option. The potentially discordant observation in Swiss Ribbons could not be tested in these circumstances.
Secondly, the NCLT now quoted Swiss Ribbons (specifically paragraphs 49 to 51, which were reproduced verbatim in the NCLT's order) and clarified that Section 12A of the Code requires the affirmative voting of ninety per cent of the members of the CoC for allowing withdrawal. Furthermore, it emphasised that the application must be moved by the applicant creditor and not the promoter shareholder. Essentially, ESAH did not have the right to have its rescue bid considered or accepted.
As discussed above, contrasting the NCLT's decision in ArcelorMittal with the discordant lines of paragraph 53 of the SC's judgment in Swiss Ribbons, we see an uncomfortable conflict over whether the CoC's decision to reject a settlement plan under Section 12A is justiciable.
Might ESAH be entitled to seek judicial intervention on a claim that the CoC has arbitrarily rejected or failed to consider its just settlement offer? On the face of it, when comparing the offered settlement of INR 42,000 crores by ArcelorMittal with INR 54,839 crores offered by ESAH, any reasonable CoC might be expected to certainly pick the latter? And if the CoC did reject the promoter's rescue bid, shouldn't there be good reasons to forego the additional Rs 12,000 crores?
This is certainly much more than a billion-dollar question. Given the tenor of the Swiss Ribbons judgment, if a purposive interpretation is to be favoured for experimental economic legislation, then the SC should certainly be asked to revisit the four pillars holding up the objects of the Code, namely:
- Insolvency resolution in a time bound manner;
- Maximisation of value of the assets;
- The promotion of entrepreneurship and the availability of credit; and
- The balance the interest of all stakeholders.
If ESAH can provide proof of funds (and that could be a big if too), the recovery of INR 54,839 crores in about 450 days could possibly be the biggest NPA recovery event ever, and that too in record time, in the Indian context. There is also the collateral benefit, in that INR 7,469 crores have already been recovered from ArcelorMittal for NPAs of Uttam Galva and KSS Petron.
To go a step further, it is worth revisiting the Epilogue in Swiss Ribbons. The SC states with approval: "Ultimately, the total flow of resources to the commercial sector in India, both bank and non-bank, and domestic and foreign (relatable to the non-food sector) has gone up from a total of INR 14,530.47 crores in 2016-2017, to INR 18,469.25 crores in 2017-2018, and to INR 18,798.20 crores in the first six months of 2018-2019. These figures show that the experiment conducted in enacting the Code is proving to be largely successful." These figures would look almost paltry if ESAH's settlement plan is accepted (and the INR 7,469 crores paid by ArcelorMittal towards Uttam Galva and KSS Petron would only add to what would be a remarkable year for recoveries).
Admittedly, ESAH's settlement plan has no prima facie right of acceptance under Regulation 30A of the CIRP Regulations, which requires the applicant (in this case, the financial creditor) to initiate the withdrawal of proceedings and with a positive vote of 90 percent of the CoC. The shareholders certainly cannot initiate withdrawal, which is entirely in the hands of the applicant creditor who initiated CIRP.
But again, we come back to the question of whether the discordant lines in paragraph 53 of Swiss Ribbons give ESAH the right to argue that the CoC arbitrarily rejected what on the face of it appears to be a just settlement and that the CoC does not have the last word on the subject?
Alternatively, can ESAH's rescue plan be blocked on the ground that it will cause (or has already caused) inordinate delay? Can it be blocked on the ground that it is too late (certainly not too little though)?
In this regard, it is helpful to emphasise that Regulation 30A of the CIRP Regulations8 stipulates that a withdrawal under Section 12A cannot be permitted after an invitation for expression of interest is issued to the public for prospective resolution applicants.
However, ESAH might find some comfort again from the SC, which in the case of Brilliant Alloys9, dated December 14, 2018 stated that Regulation 30A must be read in context of the main provision of Section 12A. Section 12A itself contains no such deadline.
Accordingly, this deadline can only be construed as directory depending on the facts of each case. Interestingly, Swiss Ribbons reaffirms this by quoting that: "Regulation 30A(1) is not mandatory but is directory for the simple reason that on the facts of a given case, an application for withdrawal may be allowed in exceptional cases even after issue of invitation for expression of interest under Regulation 36A".
If this proposition were to be accepted, where would this leave ArcelorMittal? We already know that the resolution applicant is not really a stakeholder with inherent rights. So, if the above scenario plays out, ArcelorMittal might suddenly find itself disgorged of Rs. 7,469 crores with nothing to show for it?
The scheme of the Code, the extensive jurisprudential narrative in the BLRC Report and the ILC Report, and even the SC's otherwise purposive interpretation in Swiss Ribbons, have all placed much emphasis on ruling out equity, fairness or reasonableness in determining the insolvency resolution process. Must we now go back and read them into what should otherwise be a commercial decision, the purpose of which is given primacy through the Code? Surely, it cannot be the case that the NCLT, the NCLAT or for that matter, even the SC should have any locus standii to double guess the commercial wisdom of the CoC?
On February 5, 2019 (eleven days after Swiss Ribbons and eight days after the ESAH's NCLT order), a different bench of the SC was perhaps able to restore some equilibrium and bring about some course correction. In K.Sashidhar v Indian Overseas Bank10, the SC was seized with a similar question. The central issue was where dissenting creditors had rejected a resolution plan, could the NCLT and NCLAT reverse the decision and function as a court of equity?
The argument was that voting by the dissenting financial creditors suffers from the vice of being unreasonable, irrational, unintelligible and an abuse of exercise of power. It was argued that the power bestowed on financial creditors to cast their vote is coupled with a duty to exercise that power with utmost care, caution and reason, keeping in mind the legislative intent and the spirit of the Code. The fullest attempt to revive the corporate debtor rather than permit liquidation, with its broader implications for the public, stakeholders and associated workers.
The SC was lucid in its pronouncements in K.Sashidhar. In the context of the Code, the above argument really does not and should not hold, regardless of the red herring in Swiss Ribbon. The operative parts of the judgment are reproduced below:
"The argument, though attractive at the first blush, but if accepted, would require us to re-write the provisions of the I&B Code. It would also result in doing violence to the legislative intent of having consciously not stipulated that as a ground - to challenge the commercial wisdom of the minority (dissenting) financial creditors.
The NCLT cannot make any other inquiry nor is competent to issue any direction in relation to the exercise of commercial wisdom of the financial creditors be it for approving, rejecting or abstaining, as the case may be.
Indubitably, the legislature has consciously not provided for a ground to challenge the justness of the "commercial decision" expressed by the financial creditors – be it to approve or reject the resolution plan. The opinion so expressed by voting is non-justiciable.
If the opposition to the proposed resolution plan is purely a commercial or business decision, the same, being nonjusticiable, is not open to challenge before the Adjudicating Authority (NCLT) or for that matter the Appellate Authority (NCLAT). If so, nonrecording of any reason for taking such commercial decision will be of no avail.
In such a case, nonrecording of reasons would not per se vitiate the collective decision of the financial creditors. The legislature has not envisaged challenge to the "commercial/business decision" of the financial creditors taken collectively or for that matter their individual opinion, as the case may be, on this count.
We are afraid, it is not possible for us to exercise powers under Article 142 of the Constitution which will result in issuing directions in the teeth of the provisions.
We conclude by emphasising that the CIRP does indeed have a strong inherent game theory element, and the SC has tacitly admitted to this. We are of the view that this is the correct view and should also apply with equal vigour to settlement plans for they are pari materia with resolution plans.
1. Available at https://ibbi.gov.in/webadmin/pdf/order/2019/Jan/25th%20Jan%202019%20in%20the%20matter%20of%20Swiss%20Ribbons%20Pvt.%20Ltd.%20&%20Anr.%20Writ%20Petition%20(Civil)%20No.%2037,99,100,115,459,598,775,822,849%20&%201221-2018%20In%20Special%20Leave%20Petition%20(Civil)%20No.%2028623%20of%202018_2019-01-25%2013:07:58.pdf
2. Available at https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_CircularIndexDisplay.aspx?Id=11218
3. Chitra Sharma v. Union of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 744 of 2017 [decided on 09.08.2018]; available at https://ibbi.gov.in/webadmin/pdf/order/2018/Aug/25878_2017_Judgement_09-Aug-2018_2018-08-09%2013:01:40.pdf
4. ArcelorMittal India Private Limited v. Satish Kumar Gupta and Ors., Civil Appeal Nos. 9402-9405/2018 [decided on 04.10.2018]; available at https://ibbi.gov.in/webadmin/pdf/order/2018/Oct/33945_2018_Judgement_04-Oct-2018_2018-10-04%2015:36:20.pdf
5. Lokhandwala Kataria Construction Private Limited v. Nisus Finance and Investment Manager LLP (Civil Appeal No. 9279 of 2017), available at: https://ibbi.gov.in/LokhandwalaKatariaConstruction9279of2017.pdf
6. Uttara Foods and Feeds Private Limited v. Mona Pharmachem Civil Appeal No. 18520 OF 2017 (Arising out of SLP(C) No. 26824 of 2017), available at: https://www.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2017/31542/31542_2017_Order_13-Nov-2017.pdf
7. Quarterly Newsletter of IBBI for October to December 2018 is available at: https://ibbi.gov.in/QUARTERLY_NEWSLETTER_FOR_OCT_DEC_2019.pdf
8. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016
9. Brilliant Alloys Private Limited v. Mr. S. Rajagopal & Ors., Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s). 31557/2018 (Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 01-11-2018 in MA No. 536/2018 passed by the National Company Law Tribunal, Divisional Bench, Chennai); available at https://ibbi.gov.in/webadmin/pdf/order/2019/Jan/1st%20Nov%202018%20in%20the%20matter%20of%20Brilliant%20Alloys%20Private%20Limited%20Vs.%20S.%20Rajagopal%20&%20Ors.%20Appeal%20(C)%20No(s).%2031557-2018_2019-01-04%2012:19:51.pdf
10. Available at https://ibbi.gov.in/webadmin/pdf/order/2019/Feb/K%20Sashidhar%20Vs%20Indian%20Overseas%20Bank%20&%20Ors%20Civil%20Appeal%20No.%2010673-2018%20with%20CA%20No.%2010719%20-2018%20CA%20No.%2010971%20-2018%20and%20SLP%20(C)%20No.%2029181_2019-02-06%2010:31:11.pdf
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.


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Here you can see a detailed look at the forecast for the next 48 hours. Note that the base for this is our Meteogram product, which shows a good average forecast for Landolfsweiler (Biberach, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany).
However, you can also look at our compact prediction based on any other model that forecasts for your chosen location.
The following models are available for Landolfsweiler:
Swiss Super HD (2-3 days), COSMO-D2 (1-2 days), ECMWF 6z/18z (3 days), ECMWF IFS HRES (5 days), ICON-EU (5 days), Swiss HD (3 days), EURO-4 (2 days), GFS (5 days), GEM (5 days), ACCESS-G (5 days), ICON (5 days), NORWAY (5 days), SwissHD MOS (3 days), DWD MOSMIX (5 days), Serbian MOS (5 days)
This plot displays the 14 day temperature forecast for your selected location, Landolfsweiler.
The red numbers show the expected high temperature for a given day, while the blue numbers show the expected low temperature. Because forecast uncertainty increases with time, we also display the range of possible high/low temperature outcomes, shown as the shaded red/blue regions. The actual high/low temp could fall anywhere in that shaded region, and the larger the shaded regions are, the higher the forecast uncertainty is.
Current weather - Here we've put together a glance at all the most important information about the current weather in Landolfsweiler (Biberach, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany). You can see with the radar HD if precipitation is falling at the moment, or headed towards Landolfsweiler soon. You can also see where there are thunderstorms currently ongoing, as well as where thunderstorms have occurred in recent weeks and months with our lightning analysis tool. Our HD satellite images of Landolfsweiler will show you whether there's sunshine currently in the area, or if clouds are making for a more gloomy day. Finally, current observations will tell you what current temperatures look like around Landolfsweiler at the moment, as well as if it's humid and/or windy.
Forecast for the next few days - The weather forecast for Landolfsweiler is available in several different versions, all clearly and simply displayed here on the Weather Landolfsweiler page. For the short term, we have data based on a single weather model that is known to deliver the best forecast for Landolfsweiler. For the longer term, we have forecasts for the next two weeks based on an analysis of many different possible forecast outcomes that will give you a sense of not just what's most likely, but how the forecast could change in future updates as we get closer to any given date. If the range of possible outcomes is narrow, you can have high confidence in the forecast. If the range is wide, you know there's more uncertainty, and to not give too much credence to any one possible forecast outcome. We also have other products such as Meteograms and Forecast XL elsewhere on our site to give you additional options for figuring out the forecast for Landolfsweiler.
Neighboring places around Landolfsweiler
- Wirrenweiler, Mühlberg, Hirschbronn, Dietenberg, Löhlis, Emishalden, Pfaffenried, Konradsweiler, Ellwangen, Schöllhorn
Cities, towns, villages
- Achstetten, Aderzhofen, Alleshausen, Allmannsweiler, Allmethofen, Altheim, Appendorf, Arlach, Attenweiler, Aßmannshardt, Bad Buchau, Bad Schussenried, Badhaus, Baltringen, Bebenhaus, Bechingen, Bechtenrot, Berkheim, Betzenweiler, Biberach an der Riss, Biberach an der Riß, Bischmannshausen, Boflitz, Bronnen, Buchay, Burgrieden, Busenberg, Bühl, Dettenberg, Dettingen an der Iller, Dietenberg, Dietershausen, Dieterskirch, Dürmentingen, Dürnau, Dürrenwaldstetten, Eberhardzell, Edenbachen, Eichelsteig, Eichen, Ellmannsweiler, Emerfeld, Erisdorf, Erlenmoos, Erolzheim, Ertingen, Figels, Freyberg, Friedingen, Galmutshöfen, Gensenweiler, Goppertshofen, Grodt, Grüningen, Gutenzell-Hürbel, Habsegg, Haldau, Haslach, Hattenburg, Hervetsweiler, Hirschbronn, Hochdorf, Huggenlaubach, Häusern, Hürbel, Ingoldingen, Ittenhausen, Kanzach, Kemnat, Kirchberg an der Iller, Kirchdorf, Kirchdorf an der Iller, Kleinkellmünz, Kleinschafhausen, Kreuzberg, Krimmel, Langenenslingen, Langenschemmern, Lauhaus, Laupheim, Linden, Lufthütte, Maselheim, Mietingen, Minderreuti, Mittelbiberach, Moosburg, Muttensweiler, Mönchhöfe, Möselsberg, Mühlberg, Mühlhausen, Neufra, Oberholzheim, Oberhornstolz, Obersulmetingen, Oberwachingen, Ochsenhausen, Oggelsbeuren, Oggelshausen, Ottobeurerhof, Reute, Riedlingen, Risshöfen, Ritzenweiler, Roppertsweiler, Rot an der Rot, Rot bei Laupheim, Sauggart, Schachen, Schammach, Schemmerhofen, Schweinhausen, Schwendi, Schöntal, Seekirch, Simmisweiler, Steinhausen, Steinhausen an der Rottum, Sulmingen, Tannheim, Teuses, Tiefenbach, Tristolz, Uigendorf, Ummendorf, Unlingen, Untermittelried, Unterschnaitbach, Uttenweiler, Wagenhalden, Wain, Warmtal, Warthausen, Weihungszell, Weitenbühl, Wilflingen, Winkel, Winterstettenstadt, Ziegelstadel, Zuben, Zum Stein
Mountains and hills
- Andelfinger Berg, Burgberg, Bussen, Eichelberg, Emerberg, Jordanberg, Reifersberg, Österberg


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Friday, December 11, 2009
Joseph Stetar, Professor in the Department of Education Leadership, Management and Policy has been appointed to a 3 year term to the International Advisory Board (IAB) of the University of The Free State (UFS) in South Africa. The Board will advise the university on its efforts to enhance its international profile. Also on the IAB are faculty and administrators from: Cornell University, Ghent University (Belgium), United Nations University (Tokyo) as well as the Chairperson of Impala Platinum Holdings Limited and a Director of Evalnet (Pty) Ltd. The Board held its initial meetings in South Africa in November. Enrolling more than 28,000 students the University of the Free State is one of South Africa's comprehensive national research universities. In addition to serving on the IAB, Prof. Stetar received a honorary doctorate from the UFS in 2002 where he also serves as a Professor Honorarius.


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Duesseldorf, Germany – September 4, 2017 – The secret of beautiful hair lies at its roots – with a healthy scalp. A dry, dehydrated scalp, which can feel uncomfortable, tight and itchy, is a common problem, affecting people of all ages. Harsh weather, pollution, and aggressive hair products can exacerbate the issue. Consumers around the world are looking for products that will help protect their scalp against dehydration, while improving hair structure and shine. In response, BASF has reassessed its highly effective hydra-protect technology for skin moisturization, PatcH2O®, and found it to be suitable for hair care applications such as anti-aging scalp care.
Clinically proven efficacy in hair care applications
A double-blind placebo-controlled clinical study showed a significant, immediate and sustained improvement in scalp moisturization. The study was performed on female volunteers with different skin and hair types: Caucasian, African, Hispanic and Asian. They tested a 2 percent PatcH2O-containing leave-on hair serum against placebo in two groups. Scalp hydration was evaluated by dielectric conductivity at baseline, four hours, 21 days, and three days' post treatment. Increased scalp hydration up to 52 percent against baseline could be demonstrated. Volunteers indicated that their scalp felt more comfortable and that PatcH2O led to a noticeable improvement in hair quality and shine.
PatcH2O®: a 3D molecular mesh
The patch technology is a result of BASF's dual expertise in natural macromolecules and the controlled release of active ingredients. Acting on two levels, PatcH2O offers optimum hydration: on the scalp's surface, the unique combination of natural biopolymers, hyaluronic acid, alginate, and a natural glucan known as pullulan forms a 3D molecular mesh that reduces water evaporation like a protective film. This micro-network is loaded with a moisturizing complex containing glycerin, L-serine, trehalose and urea, which is gradually released into the heart of the stratum corneum to rebalance the skin's moisture level.
About the Care Chemicals division at BASF
The BASF division Care Chemicals offers a broad range of ingredients for personal care, hygiene, home care, industrial & institutional cleaning, and technical applications. We are the global leading supplier for the cosmetics industry as well as the detergents and cleaners industry and support our customers with innovative and sustainable products, solutions and concepts. The division's high-performance product portfolio includes surfactants, emulsifiers, polymers, emollients, chelating agents, cosmetic active ingredients and UV filters. Superabsorbent polymers developed for the full spectrum of hygiene applications complete the range. We have production and development sites in all regions and are expanding our presence in emerging markets. Further information is available on the Internet at www.care-chemicals.basf.com.
About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 114,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of about €58 billion in 2016. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS). Further information at www.basf.com.
BASF invests to produce Uvinul® A Plus in AsiaAug 18, 2020


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The Vivace Chorus returns to the Royal Albert Hall, after the sell-out success of its Mahler 8 performance in 2011, with a grand-scale performance of Verdi's Requiem.
Once again, we are working with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and our massed choir of 400 voices includes the Wimbledon Choral Society, the Twickenham Choral Society and the London Philharmonic Choir. With these talented forces and excellent soloists under the baton of conductor Jeremy Backhouse, this Verdi Requiem will be a thrilling live musical experience.
"The sound the chorus made was electrifying and the whole symphony unforgettable." Audience member, Mahler 8, May 2011.


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Mumbai: Travel by car to Gorai from Borivli in just 5 minutes
If everything falls into place as per the plans chalked out by MMRDA, then motorists will actually be able to travel directly from Borivli to Gorai in about five minutes
If everything falls into place as per the plans chalked out by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Auth-ority (MMRDA), then motorists will be able to travel directly from Borivli to Gorai in about five minutes.
MMRDA officials claimed once both the bridges are built, it will offer locals proper access to Mumbai. And also to tourists visiting the weekend destinations such as EsselWorld, Global Pagoda and Manori
It has been learnt that the MMRDA has renewed its interest to construct a bridge (1.2 km long) over Gorai Creek to connect Borivli and EsselWorld — a major tourist attraction — helping motorists cover the distance in just a few minutes rather than taking the existing 45-minute-long detour via Mira Road and Bhayander. Besides, plans are also being made to construct a similar bridge (1.1-km-long) between Marve and Manori.
Speaking to mid-day, MMRDA Commissioner UPS Madan said, "The local representatives have shown keen interest in the development of the bridges and so we will build them. We would soon be appointing a consultant for preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for both the bridges and their construction will be completed in the next three years."
Connectivity issues
Currently, commuters and tourists travelling to EsselWorld and Manori either rely on ferries or take the road, which is a longer route. Even the locals rue improper access to Mumbai, particularly in times of medical emergencies. Moreover, inadequate connectivity has adversely impacted the quality and quantity of civic services offered by the BMC and the MBMC in the region, especially solid waste management.
"Once the bridges are built, it will offer locals proper access to Mumbai. Also, tourists visiting these weekend destinations [EsselWorld, Manori and Global Pagoda] will save on fuel and time," said an MMRDA official. "Since the Manori-Bhayander route is the only entry and exit point, it is a cause of concern. Traffic congestion is witnessed when motorists passes through tiny village settlements."
Stating that the bridges were the need of the hour, another MMRDA official claimed the existing jetties were underdeveloped and acted as mere access points.
"Ferries operating here are low-end, making commuting an unpleasant experience. But considering the population growth and tourist influx in the coming decade, it is necessary to connect both the areas to Mumbai," the official added.
Local opposition
Protests were held in 2009 and 2012 after MMRDA invited expressions of interest for designing and constructing the bridges. In 2009, former petroleum minister Ram Naik had led a delegation of angry locals, opposing any infrastructure projects in the region, to the MMRDA office. Later, during the 2012 protest, residents claimed that a bridge over the Marve-Manori Creek would adversely impact mangrove forests and fishing activity in the region.
In the past, locals had also opposed formation of a Special Economic Zone and a solid waste recycling plant in the area, following which the recycling plant was relocated to Ghodbunder Road near Versova.
Also, acquisition of land to increase the width of the road leading up to the bridges and rehabilitation of Project Affected People (PAPs) are a few of the challenges the state-led development body will have to overcome to execute the projects.
45mins Current time taken to travel to EsselWorld from Borivli via road
5mins Time needed once the new bridge is constructed
90mins Time taken by commuters to travel from Marve to Manori via road at present
5mins Time required upon completion of the bridge
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Your home is an important space. Many homeowners often forget about the backyard, but it's actually one of the best places in your home. Here are some of the reasons why it's important to have a nice backyard:
A Great Place to Experience the Outdoors – When you go out into your backyard, you are experiencing the outdoors on your terms. This is your space to have trees, plants, and other greenery to help you feel at peace with the world.
Entertain Outdoors – Whether it's the summer and you want to enjoy the warmth of the sun or you are just someone who loves to grill, having a nice backyard is perfect for people who love to entertain. You can play games out in the grass or you can sit on the deck and watch the sunset.
Grow a Garden – If you are interested in staying healthy and eating right, having your own garden is great inspiration. There is nothing more satisfying than growing your own fruits and vegetables, then using them to cook a nice, wholesome meal for yourself and your family.
You can take your backyard to the next level with a new deck. It doesn't matter if you are building it yourself or having a professional do the installation, you can save money and make your deck look perfect with new balusters from Union Metal Works.


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This is my 600 word essay I submitted to the New York Times Essay Contest on why eating meat is moral.
ld argue that getting eaten by humans is the greatest thing that has ever happened to the species we consume. There are 19 billion chickens, 1.5 billion cows, and over a billion pigs and goats in the world. The fact that we farm and eat these animals has made their species and ours the five most successful vertebrate species ever to walk on land.
But to do so would miss the point of why eating meat is ethical, or better put-it is not unethical. Any decision about ethics needs to be wrapped in a framework of an ethical theory that makes rational sense. Unfortunately, none do. As philosopher Richard Joyce has effectively argued, morality is a myth. Evolutionary psychology reigns.
If a great white shark has a twin, he will eat his brother in the womb. Is this shark unethical for doing so? In a gene-centered view of evolution, this kind of cannibalism is in the shark's genetic interests. Not as self-sufficient as our gill-bearing distant cousins, our biology dictates that we are better served to survive and pass on our genes with help of others. Our innate moral preferences are really just the encoded set of behaviors and emotions that helped our ancestors survive and replicate in the millions of years humanoids roamed the earth in a hunter-gatherer existence. We do not eat our brothers when we are young because we need them to help hunt woolly mammoths when we grow up.
This is not to say that humans can't have subjective wishes for their own life. Like to be happy and healthy. Or make rational choices to increase our well being with other's we share society with. But it does mean that there is no objective binding force that requires us to live our lives in such a way. And subsequently, there is no binding force that would require humans to devote their efforts to the emotions of non-human animals who can't reciprocate in the social contract.
Visit any extant hunter-gatherer society in Africa or the Amazon and you will find the happiest, healthiest, and psychologically well-adjusted people on earth. You will also see they have absolutely no qualms about killing animals. They innately know that humans in their group are to be loved and respected and other animals are food. Pygmy children will start hunting small game around the camp as early as age three.
The vast majority of people living in modern society today have never killed a creature larger than an insect. This discord between modern society and the environment of our evolutionary adaptation has led to a situation where we have become overly sensitized to the cycle of life. While our ancestors shot wildlife with arrows, the majority of our interactions with animals today comes in form of having pets. In vegetarians, the mechanisms in the human brain designed to feel empathy for fellow tribesman has become misplaced and spilled over to mammals once relegated to things we eat.
From the perspective of raising our own subjective well-being, it is hard to see how this misplaced empathy is anything but a psychological defect. The meat eater feels plenty of joy while eating a nice cut of steak. The vegetarian, ostensibly feels disgust at this same action. Perhaps one day vegetarianism will be placed alongside heart disease, cancer and the other diseases of civilization. As Nietzsche famously put it over a century ago, the moralists say little about objective ethics, but revealed much of their own psychology.


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Amphetamines are a class of legal prescription drugs used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), sleep disorders like narcolepsy, and other conditions. When used as prescribed it can be effective in reducing the symptoms being targeted. However, due to their stimulant effects which include euphoria and a sense of power, amphetamines are often misused. They are among the most widely abused prescriptions drugs in Canada.
Why should I seek amphetamine addiction treatment?
Non-medical use of amphetamines can have devastating physical, mental and behavioural effects. The user feels a sense of confidence, power and superiority. He or she may put other people down, mentally abuse them, and in some circumstances, become physically violent. Amphetamine psychosis, in which the individual experiences hallucinations and paranoia, is a very real and frightening phenomenon that some users experience.
Misuse of this class of drugs is often accompanied by poor and reckless lifestyle choices. Users may become aggressive. In many cases, they engage in dangerous activity, like unprotected sex or the sharing of needles. For this reason, they are at a higher risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases than most people. It is easy to accidentally overdose on amphetamines, and overdoses are often fatal.
Amphetamine addiction treatment can be a life-changing – often life-saving – experience that enables people to turn their lives around and look forward to positive futures.