Letter from Koodankulam women #Vaw

From

 

The Women of Koodankulam

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy

Idinthakarai

Thirunelveli District

Tamil Nadu

 

 

 

 

Dear Sister,

 

We hope this letter finds you well. We are sure that you would have liked to hear the same from us. But today, we cannot say that even to fool you or fool this moment in history.Things are not fine with us anymore here in Idinthakarai, Tsunami Rehabilitation Colony, Koodankulam, Koottapuli, Perumanal, Koottapana, Manappad and so on. The situation in Thoothukudy where our friends fasted inside the Church in support became tense after we lost a dear brother. How can we say we feel good?

 

Today morning, a sister from nearby Tsunami colony was arrested as she got out of her house. We miss the unifying presence of Xavieramma, the quick and efficient Sundari and the slight Selvi who have been taken to a destination that is unknown. Our homes painstakingly built up with hard earned money and effort have been broken down, with utensils and almirahs thrown out and trampled upon. Many of us are not able to go back there and evaluate what has been lost or destroyed. Our friend Inita was hurt badly. So too, many children. The worst part is the fear that now fills the eyes of our small ones. As all this was happening, many of us were paralysed by the cries of the tiny tots whom we had to carry, drag and run in the sand.

 

We hear that 60 of our friends from Koodankulam are in jail somewhere. It seems improbable that 20 men who were undergoing treatment for injuries in hospitals have not come back home after being discharged, but that is the truth. We have no drinking water supply since 48 hours and electric supply is intermittent. We are on a 48 hour fast too. The friends from Thoothukudy are ready to bring us rice and other provisions, but they have not been able to reach us because of road blocks. Our children have not gone to school. They have not been bathed or fed properly since the 9^th evening. We feel uncomfortable and scared to go to our own homes. Have you ever had that feeling?

 

Now we are sitting and sleeping in the comfort of each other and the security of the Samara pandal which has been our second home for over an year. But for how long?

Many would say we brought it on ourselves and have no right to complain. But what other way did we have? To agree to the commissioning of the Koodankulam Power Plant? After knowing that it will spew 50 trillion Becquerels of radio nuclides every year into the air and discharge 70 tons of water at temperatures varying between 36- 45 degree centigrade? Would you have felt good to be one of the 2000 living less than 900 metres away from the Plant? After seeing the Fukushima disaster and images from Chernobyl, how could we agree to all this just close by? Many say we have been brainwashed and misled. Yes, ignorance is bliss. But not in this case. We are glad to be informed and to know with clarity about what could be in store for us. This alone has empowered us and strengthened our resolve not to allow the commissioning of the Nuclear Plant.

 

We hear that instead of immediately withdrawing the police force and initiating a decent dialogue with us, many were talking about the foreign funds and the poor illiterate people that we are supposed to be. At this stage at least when we are back to the wall, please do not refer to us so. We have built up this movement with our daily toil. We are proud of this. We are not afraid of hard, honest work as long as the sea and land is there.

 

We reiterate our earlier request and demands even now:

 

1.Please intervene and stop all police force in and around the villages. We do not intend to commit any violence. We know that violence begets violence. We value our life and peace.

 

2. Please stop the commissioning of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant immediately after engaging in a dialogue with us. We know that it is unsafe and the energy so produced is uneconomical and unnecessary.

 

3. Please engage in a national level talk on other sources of energy that are in surplus in our country.

 

4. Release all our friends and family arrested and kept in jails / withdraw all false cases against them.

 

5. Please ensure that we would be able to live in our homes without fear and that basic amenities like water and electricity will not be disrupted.

 

Do have the boldness and honesty to come here and see for yourself the beauty and simplicity of our lives. This is the time we need you. Please break the barricades and hindrances that have been created and walk in fearlessly to see us here. Please act and intervene as fast as possible. We cannot afford to lose one more life, scare one more child, break one more house anymore….

 

 

Do stand by truth, justice and womanhood

 

 

September 12, 2012

 

 

regards

Usha

Confirmed Updates: Koodankulam 11 Sep. #mustshare

Given the large number of conflicting reports that have been making the rounds, a few of us — informed by reliable local sources — have attempted to reconstruct the events leading up to the current situation based on confirmed information. Information, where unconfirmed, is indicated.

Based on eye-witness reports by Amrithraj Stephen, interviews by Nityanand Jayaraman, Revathi and Amritharaj, and updates and articles published on internet.

 

Police violence on peaceful protesters in Koodankulam – An update

RECENT UPDATE:

Friends in the media have reported that all top police brass have gathered in Koodankulam to chalk out a strategy to wipe out the movement. According to the media sources, intelligence officials are reporting that two women police are missing and are untraceable. Villagers say that no policepersons have been taken hostage. It is feared that this rumour is being used to fuel public opinion against the protestors and to justify any repressive action by the police against villagers. In this context, to pre-empt any untoward incident, Mr. S.P. Udayakumar has announced that key leaders of the movement will surrender tonight at Koodankulam Police Station in the presence of prominent political leaders.

YESTERDAY’S GOINGS ON

Responding to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s clearance to commence nuclear fuel loading in the Koodankulam plant, the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy announced that protestors would lay siege to the plant on 9 September. Police force was deployed in huge numbers in the area. On that day, between 8000 and 10000 people, including children and women from Idinthakarai and neighbouring villages started from the Lourde Matha church in Idinthakarai. They walked down the coastal path avoiding the road route and were stopped by the police around 800 metres away from the plant. The protesters sat down on the sea shore and said they will continue their struggle from there. S.P.Udayakumar, co-ordinator of the struggle committee, announced that they want the Tamilnadu government to intervene and respond to the demands of the protesting masses. All the protesters stayed put on the sea shore braving the weather and other hardships.

On the morning of the 10th of september, the police came in with the strike force resorted to a tentative lathi charge around 10.30 am. After a scuffle that lasted a few minutes, police withdrew to a distance and uneasy calm prevailed. “The situation is back to normal,” a protestor told us at 10.30, as if anything about the situation could be considered normal. The congregation of mostly baton-wielding police forces swelled in size. A large riot-gear bedecked police force was in the frontline facing the people, and tear gas lobbers were on stand-by.

After sometime two young men on a fibre boat tried to go towards KKNP. The protesters were against this and took permission from the police and went towards the young men and spoke them back to the place they were all sitting. As the two young men came back the police according to the Tirunelveli SP Vijendra Bidari’s orders, nabbed them. This caused unrest amongst the protesters and they argued with the police, asking why they’re arresting them after they have come back. Around this time at 11.30 Tirunelveli SP Vijendra Bidari announced the protesters to disperse in ten minutes failing which police will take action.

Women formed the first line of protestors and were closest to the plant, while the children and men strung out along the beach towards the Idinthakarai village. Just before the strike began, DIG Rajesh Das instructed the strike force to move towards the centre of the congregation and enter from the centre so as to divide the women and men.

As people all over Tamilnadu and elsewhere were watching this live on television, and even as the reporter was announcing that the ten minute countdown has started we could see tear gas shells being lobbed at the protesters. According to protester who was at the site, “A small commotion over policemen pushing two volunteer youth started and a few women shouted at the police men and a crowd gathered around them. Police men ran towards there and started lathi charge. Even before we could realise, tear gas shells were lobbed at us.”

As we could see from the live telecast, many teargas shells were lobbed and police went into the crowd in force and resorted to heavy lathicharging. Caught between a tide of armed police and the ocean, women and children tried to throw handsful of sand at the policemen to escape lathi blows; children were caught in the melee. A large number of men jumped into the sea, even as members of the Rapid Action Force were caught on television pelting stones, sticks and slippers at those at sea. The police were threatening those wading in the sea with death and bodily harm upon their return to the beach. At one point, the source of this information heard a policeman pointing out to a youth holding a mobile phone and shouting that he was holding a bomb. The source intervened to point out that it was a mobile phone.

Sahaya Initha, a prominent leader of the movement and a ward councillor, was targetted by the police and badly injured.

In a television interview, S.P. Udayakumar, who had by then moved to safety, said that he had been shot at. This incident was confirmed by other by-standers who said that shots were fired at the fibre boat in which Udayakumar was attempting to leave the site.

Media People Injured

Several media persons were injured, and at least one cameraman from Times Now was intentionally targetted. With most of the action centred around the seashore, a separate posse of policemen went about systematically breaking the vehicles used by protestors to come to the protest site. Only one cameraman, from Times Now, was present videographing the actions. The police attacked him causing serious injuries. He required at least four stitches above his eyebrow. His camera was destroyed and thrown into the sea, and the videotape reportedly removed.

Unconfirmed reports state that the motorcycles belonging to three media persons were also damaged in the police action.

A Dinakaran reporter was roughed up, and the Makkal TV reporter was pushed into the thorns.

Police Vandalism

Following in the heels of the departing people, the police also systematically destroyed the expensive outboard engines on the boats parked on the beach. One constable was working to set fire to the pandal, but stopped when he saw a photographer (the source of this information) poised to capture his act on camera. The photographer then alerted the Puthiya Thalaimurai reporter Mr. Ramanujam. The constable tried one more time before giving up, and angrily told the photographer that the latter was disrupting his work. The pandal on the seashore was pulled down. The lights and speakers were broken. Sand was thrown in the food that was prepared for lunch by the protestors.

Entering Idinthakarai

During the course of the melee at the seaside, a separate force of about 400 police persons entered the Idinthakarai village. The media was busy covering the riot-like situation on the coast and did not accompany the police force that went to Idinthakarai village. The police went door-to-door searching for men. When they reached the seaside, they saw about 150 to 200 youth gathered there. The youth dived into the sea to take refuge, while the police opened fire and taunted them from the shore threatening them with dire consequences when they return to shore.

Church Desecrated

It was during this time that the police desecrated the Lourdu Matha shrine. Idols were broken. Policemen spat and urinated inside the church. The pandal (tent) erected to provide shelter to the protestors was pulled down, and the lights vandalized. The water cans were broken. The Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board’s public water supply point in Koodankulam village too was reportedly broken.

Women who were watching the goings-on from hidden vantage points also reported that unknown men in white dhotis and shirts were seen stoning police vehicles with the police photographing the same.

News reports stated that the Panchayat office and the local TASMAC (Government-owned wine shop) in Koodankulam were set on fire by the villagers. However, the villagers in Koodankulam insist that no such incident happened. They admit that the awning (asbestos shelter) protruding from the wine shop was damaged. But neither the Panchayat office nor the TASMAC shop were set on fire or damaged.

Later in the evening around sixty five people were arrested from the Koodankulam village. Between 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm the police carried out a house to house search.

Last evening, the police entered the Tsunami Colony in Idinthakarai and conducted a door-to-door search. They also reported damaged a few of the houses.

Current Situation

An uneasy calm prevails. Essential supplies to Idinthakarai village have been blocked. All of yesterday, there was no water, especially since the water reserve was emptied by the police forces. As of 9.30 a.m. on 11 September, no supplies have been allowed to reach the village from beyond Thomas Mandapam, the location of the police barricade. One tractor-load of water was brought in at around 9.30 a.m. from a local source.

At the end of 10.09.2012, we got news that electricity connection to 5 villages has been cut off. Reports say that phone lines many of the villagers are being tapped in order to locate UdayaKumar and the struggle commitee leaders.

Within hours of the police crackdown, protests across the fishing villages across Southern Tamilnadu spread like wildfire. One fisherman, Anthony Samy (40 years) was shot dead in Manappad village, Thoothukudi district. More than 10,000 protestors staged a rail roko at Thoothukudi station delaying the Mysore Express by more than 2 hours.

Injuries, Arrests and Hospitalisations

Many people were arrested at the seashore. Following are the names of some of the people who were arrested:

Sundari; Xavier Amma; Selvi; Bedlin (Kootapuli); Lourdusamy; Rose

A journalist source reported to Dianuke.org that the DIG Rajesh Das had told him that 25 people were arrested yesterday.

One child from Koodankulam was reportedly hit on the head by a tear gas shell, and is said to be in a critical stage in the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. At the time of writing (September 11. 10 a.m.), no confirmation could be obtained about this incident.

The following is a list of people currently hospitalised at the Lourdu Matha Hospital in Idinthakarai:

1. Gnanaprakasam, Male, 80

2. David, M. 49. Idinthakarai
3. Gloudin, M, 35, Idinthakarai
4. Jeniker, M, 26, Idinthakarai
5. Selvan, M, age not known, Idinthakarai
6. Joseph, M, 47, village not known
7. Michael, M, 28, Koothenkuli
8. Valan, M, 23, Koothenkuli
9. Thangasamy, M, age not known, Koodankulam
10. Jeniker, M, 24, Idinthakarai
11. Kennedy, M, 50, Idinthakarai
12. Mahiban, M, 3, Idinthakarai
13. Initha, F, age not known, Idinthakarai
14. Chennammal, F, Idinthakarai
15. Jesu Ammal, F, Idinthakarai

Three people hospitalised in Lourdu Matha Hospital, Idinthakarai, were subsequently transferred by the police to a different location. But their current whereabouts are not known. The three people are:

1. Selson, M, Idinthakarai

2. Siluvai John, M, Koothenkuli

3. Jesu, M, Idinthakarai

 

Sahaya Initha

 

Anti- nuke activists arrested: 3 anti- nuke activists Suseendaran, Vivekanandan and Thirumurugan were arrested by the DC Saidapet when they went to extend solidarity for the protesting students of Nandanam Arts and Science College. They were released at around 7:30 p.m.

Tamil Nadu has a long tradition of using excessive force to quell protests particularly by marginalised communities. In 1999, 17 dalit tea estate workers were chased into the River Thamiraparani in Tirunelveli district by a baton-charging police force which had descended to quell a strike demanding better working conditions. Exactly a year ago, in Paramakudi, the police violently broke up a dalit gathering to honour their leader Immanuel Sekaran’s, gave hot chase to fleeing people, and shot and killed six dalits and injured more than 30.

Solidarity Protests:

Chennai:

• Students from Nandanam Arts and Science College staged a lock-in at their campus .
• Human Rights Protection Council staged a dharna at the Madras High Court.
• Ma Kaa Ee ka, staged a protest at Panagal Malligai and news report say that 30 people were arrrested.
• Manitha Neya Makkal Katchi staged a protest in Parry’s Corner and news reports state that 300 were arrested.
• Amidst heavy police presence, a dozen protestors submitted RTI applications at the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd’s office in Egmore, Chennai, demanding information within 2 days because the matter concerns the lives and liberties of local residents.

Tiruchi:

• Advocates protested at the TIruchi District Court campus.
• Ma Kaa Ee Kaa staged a protest at Tiruchi Bus Station along with support groups.

Coimbatore:

• Law college students staged a protest and were lathi charged and dispersed.

Kumbakonam:

• Members of Naam Thamizhar blocked a road.

Thoothukudi:

• Nearly 10,000 people, including a large number of fisherfolk, are reported to have staged a protest in front of the Lady of Snows Church in Thoothukudi. All nationalised banks pulled down their shutters in solidarity.
• Protestors also staged a rail roko and blocked the Mysore express train.

Kanyakumari

• Fishing boats observed a no-fishing day. The harbour is closed even today (11 September, 2012)

Manappad, Thoothukudi district

• Fisherfolk rallied against police atrocities. One man shot dead.

Periyathazhai and Uvari, Thoothukudi district

• Spontaneous protests by fisherfolk against police action

Tirunelveli

• Naam Thamizhar and other supporters blockaded the main road near the Tirunelveli junction. About 40 protestors were detained and released in the evening.

New Delhi:

• Koodankulam solidarity protest took place in front of the TamilNadu Bhavan, New Delhi.

Pune

• Lokayat organised a protest.

 

You shouldn’t always believe the headlines on abortion #womenrights

 

Kate Smurthwaite

Thursday, 6 September 2012

Guardian, UK

 

Perhaps one of the reasons why reporting on abortion figures is wide of the mark is the influence of anti-choice campaigners

You may have read the headlines this week: “;Abortion ‘raises risk of premature birth next time'” and “;Women who have abortions more likely to have premature births in later pregnancies”. The stories cover the results of a paper published on the BMJ open website examining reproductive outcomes following an induced abortion. Unfortunately, regular BMJ readers might be forgiven for thinking newspapers were engaged in a bad science writing competition, where prizes would be conferred for presenting the headline most likely to misinform and frighten women.

 

What most have failed to make clear is firstly that the risks in all cases remain minimal and secondly that “induced abortion” means surgical abortion – the least common type of abortion, and the type most likely to take place for serious medical reasons in late pregnancy. There was no mention of the alternative to abortion either, which is for women to complete their pregnancy against their will. The likelihood of this affecting women’s physical and mental health is very high. Interestingly, another widely reported piece of research, which hit the papers just a week earlier, claims that one termination has no tangible impact, but that three or more can increase the risk of premature birth. The two reports contradict each other, yet each is reported as scientific fact.

I’ve been the media spokeswoman for the pro-choice campaign group Abortion Rights for several years. I’m very used to skewed reporting on abortion. Whenever annual statistics come out, headline writers comb through for the “shock” data. We read about “more teen abortions” while repeat abortions fall, and “more repeat abortions” when teenagers are actually seeking fewer terminations.

 

The reality is that abortion rates are remarkably stable in the UK. Unsurprising, since unwanted pregnancy is a fact of life in a society where women don’t all live in nunneries, and that the decision to terminate a pregnancy is one taken seriously, not on the basis of fleeting fads and trends. The truth is boring and under-reported.

 

As such, perhaps it’s not surprising that journalists are drawn towards the opportunity for a shocking, attention-grabbing headline. But there is more at stake than that. A small minority of people in the UK oppose abortion. Most of them express that through the tried and tested method of not having one, and leaving the rest of us alone. A small minority within that group are also committed to a political campaign to criminalise women who make that choice, and doctors who facilitate that choice. Of course however much we might disagree with them, they must have the right to express that opinion and campaign on it.

 

Sadly, there is yet another minority within that minority for whom any and all tactics are acceptable in the crusade to control women’s bodies. This group appears to be on the rise, and use tactics suspiciously similar to anti-choice groups in the US. None of these publish their funding information, but it is widely assumed they are funded by church groups; it is likely that individuals donating in church collection trays are not always aware where the money will end up (a recent mass prayer meeting held outside a clinic in Bloomsbury in central London was led by the auxiliary Catholic bishop of Westminster).

 

These groups hold “vigils” outside abortion clinics, harassing and intimidating women going in for medical appointments. They have lobbied for and won access to private medical data that could lead to the public identification of women seeking late-term abortions for serious medical reasons. They run fake crisis pregnancy counselling centres, which are in fact fronts to distribute false information in the hope of deterring women from abortion. The group Care was found to be funding an estimated 20 interns in the House of Commons. They hit the news when it emerged that alongside their anti-choice campaigning, they also oppose gay rights and believe homosexuality can and should be “cured”.

 

So does it come as any surprise to discover these groups also comb through any and all research and data on abortion and repackage it as “shocking news” before sending it out in press releases to publications across the country? Of course not.

 

For me this is a matter not only of good journalism, but of human rights. You see I’m not pro-abortion, I’m pro-choice. I think every woman should be able to make the choices about what happens to her own body for herself. But in order to make these choices, she needs good, reliable information. The research at the back of these stories is important, and should continue and be available to women and to medical professionals. The sensationalised headlines however are misleading. Journalists should get wise to the anti-choice tactics at play, and endeavour to present an accurate and truly scientific picture of the issue.

The Liars of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant. #mustread

– Sadanand Patwardhan
Agitation against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) has intensified just as the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) began the work for loading nuclear fuel into reactors. Those who criticise the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which is spearheading the agitation, have based their arguments either without understanding the concerns of people of the region or to simply vilify the movement and discredit it. National media had to take note now because of the never say die spirit of the peaceful agitators. Yesterday, 11 September, on CNN-IBN debate, Dr. Subramaniam Swamy, said: Maoists and LTTE are leading the agitation, it is foreign funded, KNPP is founded on a solid rock above sea level unlike Fukushima and faces therefore no threat from tsunami, the violent agitators must be *firmly dealt with and calm restored* before their fears and misapprehensions could be addressed, and A P J Abdul Kalam has endorsed that KNPP is safe -QED. In a nutshell he has summarised all that the detractors of the movement have had to say.

Lie #1: Detractors impute to PMANE an ulterior motive of sabotaging the KNPP when it is about go on-stream. They say, why did not PMANE raise the issue earlier?, Why now? and Isn’t this anti-national behaviour when so much money has already been sunk? The fact is that people of the region including S P Udaykumar, leader of PMANE have been opposing the project right from the day it was signed in 1988. Ever since independence, the sovereign Indian State, acting on behalf of *we the people of India*, has behaved as if it knows what is best for the people, and has arrogated the right to acquire any land and natural resources, displace people, destroy their traditional livelihoods, and do all this in the name of growth and development for *greater good*. Almost without exception the people who paid the price for this *growth & development* were the most destitute and marginalized sections of the society like Adivasis, marginal farmers, landless agriculture labourers, small fishermen, and in general poor villagers. Forget participation in the *pie of development*, even the meagre compensation promised to these project affected persons (PAP) did not reach them in time or in full or at all, in case after case. While victims of development have always protested the injustice meted out to them, in the early decades of our nationhood it was seen as necessary sacrifice (by someone else) to be made for the greater good of the country. Over the years however it started becoming clear that while benefits are reaped by one section of the society, the others were made to sacrifice. The inherent dichotomy of this development paradigm has snowballed into a consciousness that has sprouted today many grass-roots level people’s movements across the country.

One of the reasons why the *invisible protest* of 1988 against KNPP has now become so visible and spread wide now.

Lie #2: Evidence cited for LTTE participation in the KNPP protests is the support given to the agitation by some smaller parties from Tamilnadu, who have also supported LTTE in the past. On the other hand, what is ignored is that both mother in law and husband of current Congress President and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, had funded, trained, and supported Tamil armed resistance groups like TELO, EPRLF, PLOT, EROS and LTTE; and so had Jayalalitha -current Chief Minister of Tamilnadu and Karunanidhi. Since Man Mohan Singh and Jayalalitha are ardent supporters of KNPP and are in power at centre and state, doesn’t now it transpire that LTTE has an hand in KNPP? As far as the other outfit is concerned, not even attempt was made to justify Maoist link, because in the current political discourse it is not needed. Suffice it is to brand anybody Maoist. The onus of proving that one is innocent of Maoists rests with the accused. Less said the better about such *evidence*.

Lie #3: On the issue of foreign funding of the PMANE and others participating in the agitation, even Man Mohan Singh had put his reputation, now in tatters, at stake by picking up the accusation. The whole might of the State at his command, such as Intelligence Bureau- Research & Analysis Wing- Directorate of Enforcement, was made to weigh in on the issue since early this year. But, so far the government has failed to find even a shred of evidence to back its accusation. Yet the fact that a notice was issued under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) is taken in itself as evidence of some vague wrongdoing, though subsequent investigations by the concerned agencies has yielded nothing to prove the trumpeted charges. There are other dark insinuations too of *foreignness* based on religion. The people in this region are Christians. Some priests in the region too have joined the struggle concerned as they are for the welfare of the people among whom they serve. The opposition to the project is not on religious grounds. It is for the colossal risks it entails and is being driven from a secular platform. The religion of the protesters is incidental. Does their religion make them any less Indian? If yes, then let the Indian state give up its hypocrisy and say so openly. If not, then stop these dark hints. (See the face of *foreign funded* KNPP protesters):

mor lies below read on

http://searchlight-is-on.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-liars-of-koodankulam-nuclear-power.html

374 hysterectomy in 3 Kishanganj blocks

Bhuvaneshwar Prasad, TNN

KISHANGANJ: Uteruses of 374 BPL ( below poverty line) Smartcard holder women have been removed during the last two years in three blocks of Kishanganj district.

According to official sources, 116 women were operated upon for hysterectomy in Bahadurganj block alone. Likewise, 85 and 77 women underwent hysterectomy in Kochadhaman and Kishanganj block, respectively, during the same period. Two private nursing homes have been authorized for the purpose. One nursing home conducted more

KISHANGANJ: Uteruses of 374 BPL ( below poverty line) Smartcard holder women have been removed during the last two years in three blocks of Kishanganj district.

According to official sources, 116 women were operated upon for hysterectomy in Bahadurganj block alone. Likewise, 85 and 77 women underwent hysterectomy in Kochadhaman and Kishanganj block, respectively, during the same period. Two private nursing homes have been authorized for the purpose. One nursing home conducted more than 200 such operations while 45 persons were operated upon in another one. than 200 such operations while 45 persons were operated upon in another one.