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Family members and friends climb the wall of Vidya Niketan school in Mahnar village, 60kms from Patna, to pass on answer chits to the students appearing for SSC exams on March 18, 2015. THE HINDU I'm very late to comment on this happening which is very common across India albeit at different levels. Leaving the question of morality in wilderness I think upon the reasons forcing people to do such acts. The functioning of school system in India is visible in the photo. Why do these happen? When did this start? Who are responsible for the mess? What is the solution? Simply Exams are feared in India. Education is not for 'man making' but for 'money making'. Learning is for earning and nothing else. The system had a commonality as long as the British ruled us. Though various committees established during the British era suggested education through the mother tongue, still millions in India complete their entire schooling in a foreign language. The Sir Charles Wood, the then secretary of State enunciated the aim of education as the diffusion of the Arts, Science, Philosophy and Literature of Europe. It laid down that the study of Indian languages was to be encouraged and that the English language should be taught wherever there was demand for it, and that both English and the Indian Languages were to be regarded the media for the diffusion of European knowledge. The Despatch was considered to be the " Magna Carta of Education of in India". It was the first authoritative declaration on the part of the British Parliament about the educational policy to be followed in India. Lord Macaulay rejected the claims of Arabic and Sanskrit as against English, because he considered that English was better than either of them. Till date, the educational institutions are manufacturing machines that can recollect and reproduce the things learnt. A nation which has got 1/7th of the world population has got not a single institution of higher learning among the top 500. Leaving the occasional achievers who are fired by individual inspirations and serving elsewhere, the system remains cramped. From root to the shoot the system requires revamp. But none would do as politics is there in the soil, air and water of India. Politicians would not allow any real change to happen. They decide a curriculum which suits them and not the students. The leaders decide the percentage of candidates to be promoted and not the examiners. In some states they proudly declare that millions of candidates scored 100 % in some subjects and they claim credit for the same. Nowhere in the world it is seen that politicians claiming credit at the success of a candidate in an examination which they never wrote. From curriculum to teacher recruitment,from prescribing text books to purchase of note books, from class room interaction to question paper setting every body interferes in the school system. Setting up a private educational institution is the most lucrative business today. Alongside they become educationists and industrialists. They become a big fleet owners too. as they possess 10 - 300 buses or vans in which they transport their consumers every day to their educational factories. "The Delhi High Court on Thursday upheld the 10-year jail term for former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and four others, including his son Ajay Chautala, for their role in the teachers’ recruitment scam which, the judge observed, showed the convicts’ “flagrant disregard” towards society and system." March 6 2015: Indian Express Childhood is the best part of any human's life. But the cut throat competition and the unbridled zeal to excel in every field forces parents to goad their kids into various classes which may bring them instant fame and money. There are kids who travel 20-30 kilometers in the evenings to pursue the hobby of their parents. For instance 'Skating'. Rock climbing may be an option for a child in a hilly region. But the kids who have no access to hills or institutes that train them in their vicinity are forced to go farther places to help them climb up in their lives. I'm coming across parents who complain that their kids missed just a single mark in Biology, though he/she has scored a perfect hundred in the remaining major subjects. The need of the hour is not students who can score marks, but students who can leave a mark in History. As long as Politics rules our classrooms, no ethics can be expected from the learners. |
Sunday, March 22, 2015
PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS IN INDIA
Friday, March 6, 2015
Egypt Walks Ahead
Egypt to Save Over US $2.4 Billion Annually, Cut CO2 Emissions by 13%, Water Consumption by 40% and Create 8 Million New Jobs, Through Transition to Green Economy zo, mei 3, 2015
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| Egypt's transition to a green economy to create 8 million new jobs Cairo, 5 March 2015 - A shift to a green economy pathway could lead Egypt to achieve annual savings of over US$1.3 billion in the agriculture sector, and US$1.1 billion in the water sector, as well as a 13 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions, and a 40 per cent reduction in water consumption, according to a new report released today by the Egyptian Government, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners. Launched at the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN), the Green Economy Scoping Study for Egypt finds that economic and environmental trends such as declining water share per capita of over 30 per cent by 2025, solid waste generation increases of 36 per cent since 2000, and natural resource depletion of around 3.78 per cent annually, can be reduced and reversed through strategic policy interventions that can accelerate Egypt's sustainable development.
UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, "Challenges such as Egypt's rapidly growing population - which could reach 100 million by 2020 - coupled with an ecological footprint almost three times its available bio-capacity, according to the Arab Forum for Environment and Development, are opportunities to implement an inclusive green economy strategy that can revitalize and diversify the economy and achieve social equity while also conserving the environment, and improving health and human welfare."
"Working in favour of a transition is Egypt's resilient banking sector, its abundance of labour and entrepreneurial skills, a functional public sector, and the Egypt's determination to fulfil its aspirations for long-term prosperity and human welfare."
"This report demonstrates that greening key sectors such as water, agriculture, waste and energy is an economically and environmentally astute course of action. The savings alone make a strong case for a new policy approach that can decouple environmental degradation from economic development, create jobs, reduce emissions, attract foreign investment and develop new markets," he added.
The report, which was prepared by UNEP at the request of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency and State Ministry for Environment, presents proposed interventions and investment options, as well as expected benefits and policy approaches for greening Egypt's agricultural, water, energy and solid waste sectors.
Egyptian Minister of Environment, Dr. Khaled Fahmy, said, "Transitioning into the green economy across diverse sectors offers a clear pathway to achieving durable and equitable sustainable development for Egypt. The convening of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment in Cairo this week offers an opportunity for African countries to discuss options for such a transformation to happen, not only in Egypt but across the continent. We will need to work together to create opportunities and put in place the necessary policies, mechanisms and interventions to make this happen."
Green Interventions - Agriculture
The agriculture sector currently only contributes about 14 per cent of GDP - compared to 30 per cent in the 1970s - and as a result of business-as usual practices is marred by loss of agricultural biodiversity, land erosion and loss of soil fertility.
Identified green interventions which can reverse these downward trends include investing in organic farming; changing cropping patterns; and shifting to state of the art irrigation systems. Directing investments to rural areas will also reduce rural to urban migration and the pressure this creates on the physical and social infrastructure and services in urban areas, which contributes to enhancing equity, social cohesion and improved distribution of wealth and opportunities, particularly among the poor and marginalized segments of the Egyptian population.
Green Interventions - Water
Demand for water is increasing at an alarming rate, with water share per capita set to decrease by over 65 per cent by 2050 as population growth, urbanization, and increased agricultural and industrial activities continue to increase pressure on an already scarce resource.
Identified green interventions which can help to reverse this trend include investing in non-conventional water resources development such as desalination and treated wastewater, and the upgrading and expansion of national water use-efficiency.
Green Interventions - Energy
Since 2007, a gap between energy supply and demand has existed, and is expected to continue to increase under the business as usual scenario. Public expenditure on energy subsidies has reached unprecedented levels, representing about 73 per cent of all subsidies and approximately 21 per cent of the country's budget, according to the African Development Bank.
Identified green interventions which can help reverse this trend include significant investment in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind infrastructure to increase the percentage share of renewable energy out of the total energy mix; investing in energy efficient appliances and equipment by households and economic sectors; and investing in human resource development, R&D in energy-saving technologies, practices and measures.
Green Interventions - Waste
It is estimated that annual solid waste generation has increased by more than 36 per cent since 2000, with an estimated increase of 3.4 per cent per annum, according to SWEET Net. It reached about 21 million tonnes in 2010, nine million tonnes of which is generated by greater Cairo. The current state of solid waste management is resulting in increased environmental damage and negative impacts on health.
Identified green investments which could reverse these trends include investing in waste to organic fertilizers and waste to biofuel facilities; investing in producing refuse-derived fuel for use as an energy source for cement factories and other industrial uses; and investing in human resource development, R&D and innovative recycling technologies and equipment.
Key Findings
Agriculture
Water
Energy
Reduction in oil consumption by 20 per cent is estimated to cut down CO2 emissions by 18 million tonnes of CO2 annually. Key Recommendations Possible guiding principles for a Green Economy framework for Egypt include:
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Ocean in Mars
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NASA scientists have determined that a primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth's Arctic Ocean and that the Red Planet has lost 87 percent of that water to space. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC A primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth’s Arctic Ocean, according to NASA scientists who, using ground-based observatories, measured water signatures in the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Scientists have been searching for answers to why this vast water supply left the surface. Details of the observations and computations appear in Thursday’s edition of Science magazine. “Our study provides a solid estimate of how much water Mars once had, by determining how much water was lost to space,” said Geronimo Villanueva, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of the new paper. “With this work, we can better understand the history of water on Mars.” Perhaps about 4.3 billion years ago, Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 450 feet (137 meters) deep. More likely, the water would have formed an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’ northern hemisphere, in some regions reaching depths greater than a mile (1.6 kilometers). The new estimate is based on detailed observations made at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, and the W.M. Keck Observatory and NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii. With these powerful instruments, the researchers distinguished the chemical signatures of two slightly different forms of water in Mars’ atmosphere. One is the familiar H2O. The other is HDO, a naturally occurring variation in which one hydrogen is replaced by a heavier form, called deuterium. By comparing the ratio of HDO to H2O in water on Mars today and comparing it with the ratio in water trapped in a Mars meteorite dating from about 4.5 billion years ago, scientists can measure the subsequent atmospheric changes and determine how much water has escaped into space. The team mapped H2O and HDO levels several times over nearly six years, which is equal to approximately three Martian years. The resulting data produced global snapshots of each compound, as well as their ratio. These first-of-their-kind maps reveal regional variations called microclimates and seasonal changes, even though modern Mars is essentially a desert. The research team was especially interested in regions near Mars’ north and south poles, because the polar ice caps hold the planet’s largest known water reservoir. The water stored there is thought to capture the evolution of Mars’ water during the wet Noachian period, which ended about 3.7 billion years ago, to the present. From the measurements of atmospheric water in the near-polar region, the researchers determined the enrichment, or relative amounts of the two types of water, in the planet’s permanent ice caps. The enrichment of the ice caps told them how much water Mars must have lost – a volume 6.5 times larger than the volume in the polar caps now. That means the volume of Mars’ early ocean must have been at least 20 million cubic kilometers (5 million cubic miles). Based on the surface of Mars today, a likely location for this water would be in the Northern Plains, considered a good candidate because of the low-lying ground. An ancient ocean there would have covered 19 percent of the planet’s surface. By comparison, the Atlantic Ocean occupies 17 percent of Earth’s surface. “With Mars losing that much water, the planet was very likely wet for a longer period of time than was previously thought, suggesting it might have been habitable for longer,” said Michael Mumma, a senior scientist at Goddard and the second author on the paper. NASA is studying Mars with a host of spacecraft and rovers under the agency’s Mars Exploration Program, including the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, and the MAVEN orbiter, which arrived at the Red Planet in September 2014 to study the planet’s upper atmosphere. In 2016, a Mars lander mission called InSight will launch to take a first look into the deep interior of Mars. The agency also is participating in ESA’s (European Space Agency) 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, including providing telecommunication radios to ESA’s 2016 orbiter and a critical element of the astrobiology instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover. NASA’s next rover, heading to Mars in 2020, will carry instruments to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet. NASA’s Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system, including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and biological potential. In parallel, NASA is developing the human spaceflight capabilities needed for future round-trip missions to Mars in the 2030s. |
Unite the World! The e-book you should not miss!
A leader has to lead. At last we have got a leader who can think for others -his country men. If he cares it will benefit 1/7th of the world population. His predecessor gave us roads. Now it is for every one to contribute.
Let us STOP littering, quarreling and spreading negative thoughts. Let every idea that strikes our minds be for the growth of this humanity, for strengthening peace, for protecting our environment, to eradicate pain and mistrust, building bridges among cultures and continents!
/http://mkbebook.narendramodi.in/
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Swacch Bharat and the Holy Views' Paper
When this scheme - Swacch Bharat/Clean India' was launched on the October the 2nd 2014, the holy views paper made her readers' write, ' Why what would be the duty of the corporation workers?, How can all employees leave their jobs and go sweeping the public places? First of let his heart be removed of the dirt and then let him clean the garbage'.
This is the attitude of the paper when around 50% of the population (Just 650 million) has got no toilets to use and 60% of the schools have no toilets. Relieving in public is the order of the day. Thanks to the arrival of Pepsi and Coke we got plastic bottles to take water to wash off the sins on the sides of the 65000 kms of rail network. Nothing moves this views' paper.
Today I read ,"The Bombay High Court on Wednesday criticised the Maharashtra governmentfor failing to put an end to the practice of manual scavengers at Pandharpur in Solapur district despite the Chief Minister visiting the pilgrimage city every year for a function.
A division bench headed by Justice AS Oka was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Campaign Against Manual Scavenging which alleged that the inhuman practice of manually collecting human excreta continued even today as the number of toilets was very less in Pandharpur which is visited by lakhs of pilgrims during the Ekadashi festival every year.
The court has several times in the past expressed its anguish on the issue and the apathy by the state government to address the problem.
"Every year the state Chief Minister and several senior bureaucrats visit the city to perform puja on behalf of the government. And still the government could not put an end to manual scavenging," Justice Oka said.
The court also came down heavily on the devotees who visit Pandharpur during the festival. A group of devotees had earlier approached the court seeking permission to conduct puja on the river bed there.
The devotees had said that it was their fundamental right to practice their religion. The court on Wednesday, however, told the devotees that it was also their fundamental duty to keep their environment clean and non-polluted.
The court said that rivers and lakes are the wealth of the nation and not property of the devotees.
The court said that rivers and lakes are the wealth of the nation and not property of the devotees.
In October 2009, the Pandharpur Municipal Council had forwarded a proposal of Rs 21 crore to the government seeking to construct 5321 mobile toilets in the city. However, till date no decision has been taken, the court was informed. Last year, the government assured the court that about 4500 toilets would be constructed there."
Source :http://www.dnaindia.com/
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
IPCC Report
31 March 2014 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) today issued a report saying the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans. The world, in many cases, is ill-prepared for risks from a changing climate. The report also concludes that there are opportunities to respond to such risks, though the risks will be difficult to manage with high levels of warming.
The report, titled Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, from Working Group II of the IPCC, details the impacts of climate change to date, the future risks from a changing climate, and the opportunities for effective action to reduce risks. A total of 309 coordinating lead authors, lead authors, and review editors, drawn from 70 countries, were selected to produce the report. They enlisted the help of 436 contributing authors, and a total of 1,729 expert and government reviewers.
The report concludes that responding to climate change involves making choices about risks in a changing world. The nature of the risks of climate change is increasingly clear, though climate change will also continue to produce surprises. The report identifies vulnerable people, industries, and ecosystems around the world. It finds that risk from a changing climate comes from vulnerability (lack of preparedness) and exposure (people or assets in harm’s way) overlapping with hazards (triggering climate events or trends). Each of these three components can be a target for smart actions to decrease risk.
“We live in an era of man-made climate change,” said Vicente Barros, Co-Chair of Working Group II. “In many cases, we are not prepared for the climate-related risks that we already face. Investments in better preparation can pay dividends both for the present and for the future.”
Adaptation to reduce the risks from a changing climate is now starting to occur, but with a stronger focus on reacting to past events than on preparing for a changing future, according to Chris Field, Co-Chair of Working Group II.
“Climate-change adaptation is not an exotic agenda that has never been tried. Governments, firms, and communities around the world are building experience with adaptation,” Field said. “This experience forms a starting point for bolder, more ambitious adaptations that will be important as climate and society continue to change.”
Future risks from a changing climate depend strongly on the amount of future climate change. Increasing magnitudes of warming increase the likelihood of severe and pervasive impacts that may be surprising or irreversible.
“With high levels of warming that result from continued growth in greenhouse gas emissions, risks will be challenging to manage, and even serious, sustained investments in adaptation will face limits,” said Field.
Observed impacts of climate change have already affected agriculture, human health, ecosystems on land and in the oceans, water supplies, and some people’s livelihoods. The striking feature of observed impacts is that they are occurring from the tropics to the poles, from small islands to large continents, and from the wealthiest countries to the poorest.
“The report concludes that people, societies, and ecosystems are vulnerable around the world, but with different vulnerability in different places. Climate change often interacts with other stresses to increase risk,” Field said.
Adaptation can play a key role in decreasing these risks, Barros noted. “Part of the reason
adaptation is so important is that the world faces a host of risks from climate change already baked into the climate system, due to past emissions and existing infrastructure,” said Barros.
adaptation is so important is that the world faces a host of risks from climate change already baked into the climate system, due to past emissions and existing infrastructure,” said Barros.
Field added: “Understanding that climate change is a challenge in managing risk opens a wide range of opportunities for integrating adaptation with economic and social development and with initiatives to limit future warming. We definitely face challenges, but understanding those challenges and tackling them creatively can make climate-change adaptation an important way to help build a more vibrant world in the near-term and beyond.”
An Increase or Decrease of 2 Degree Temperature can Cause Havoc on this Planet
21st century ‘hottest’ on record as global warming continues – UN
Devastating weather patterns and increasing temperatures will last into the foreseeable future as global warming is expected to continue, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed today as it explained that 2014’s ranking as the “hottest year on record” is part of a larger climate trend.
“The overall warming trend is more important than the ranking of an individual year,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud clarified today in a press release. “Analysis of the datasets indicates that 2014 was nominally the warmest on record, although there is very little difference between the three hottest years.”
High sea temperatures, the UN agency has said, have contributed to exceptionally heavy rainfall and floods in many countries and extreme drought in others. Twelve major Atlantic storms battered the United Kingdom in early months of 2014, while floods devastated much of the Balkans throughout May. The monthly precipitation over the Pacific side of western Japan for August 2014, meanwhile, was 301 per cent above normal – the highest since area-averaged statistics began in 1946.
At the same time, crippling droughts have struck large swathes of the continental United States while Northeast China and parts of the Yellow River basin did not reach half of the summer average, causing severe drought.
The diverse climate impact which afflicted nations around the planet throughout 2014 were, in fact, consistent with the expectation of a changing climate, Mr. Jarraud continued.
In addition, he warned that 14 of the 15 hottest years recorded have all been in the 21st century, adding the UN agency’s expectation that global warming would continue “given that rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the increasing heat content of the oceans are committing us to a warmer future.”
Around 93 per cent of the excess energy trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and other human activities ends up in the oceans, the WMO press release noted, as it pointed out that global sea-surface temperatures had reached “record levels” in 2014, even in the absence of a “fully developed El Niño” weather pattern. High temperatures in 1998 – the hottest year before the 21st century – occurred during a strong El Niño year.
The WMO has released its latest findings regarding its global temperature analysis in advance of climate change negotiations scheduled to be held in Geneva from 8 to 13 February. These talks are expected to help pave the way towards the December 2015 conference scheduled in Paris, France, where a new universal UN-backed treaty on climate change will be adopted.
via UN News Centre
Climate Change 2015
As Kyoto Protocol turns 10, UN says ‘first critical step’ must trigger new 2015 emissions-curbing deal
As momentum builds towards negotiations in Paris next year on a universal climate agreement, the United Nations announced today that early analysis shows that countries with targets under the landmark Kyoto Protocol – the world’s first emission reduction treaty – have collectively exceeded their original ambition.
According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), those countries who took on targets under the treaty have reduced their emissions by over 20 per cent – well in excess of the 5 per cent target they aimed to meet.
The achievement, which comes as the world today marks the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, underlines what can be achieved via international cooperative action.
The news also comes as countries meeting in Geneva last week produced negotiating text for a successor climate change agreement that is excepted to be approved later this year in Paris – the next key chapter in humanity’s quest to chart a defining path to keep the world and its people under a 2 degree C temperature rise.
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC said: “The Kyoto Protocol was a remarkable achievement in many ways. It not only underscored the scientific reality that greenhouse gas emissions need to fall. But it also put in place pioneering concepts, flexible options, practical solutions and procedures for accountability that we often take for granted today”.
Continuing, Ms. Figueres said she is convinced that without the treaty and its various mechanisms “we would not be as far forward as we are today in respect to, for example, the growing penetration of renewable energies.” The Kyoto Protocol’s vision also helped spawn new and innovative initiatives like supporting developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, she added.
“The Kyoto Protocol was the first critical step – today we must take further and more far reaching action towards a truly sustainable future for seven billion, rising to over nine billion, people. Despite our best efforts, greenhouse gases continue to rise, threatening sustainable development and putting millions if not billions of people at risk over the coming decades, “said Ms. Figueres.
As such, the Paris agreement of December 2015 would bring all nations into common cause in support of men, women and children everywhere.
“It needs to be a long term, paradigm shift that reflects today’s scientific reality – one that speaks to the urgency of swiftly peaking global greenhouse gas emissions, triggering a deep de-carbonization of the global economy and achieving climate neutrality in the second half of the century,” she added.
The Protocol, an international agreement under the UNFCCC, was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.
During its first commitment period, from 2008 to 2012, 37 industrialized countries and the European Community committed to take a leading role in climate action by reducing their emissions to an average of just over five percent against 1990 levels.
The UNFCCC secretariat is expected to complete final accounting for the first phase later this year or early next year.
“Paris will not solve climate change at a pen stroke. But similarly it must trigger a world-wide over-achievement and a clear sense of direction that can restore the natural balance of emissions on planet Earth,” said Ms. Figueres.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
The Largest Mammals on Land
African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their larger ears that look somewhat like the continent of Africa. (Asian elephants have smaller, rounded ears.)
Elephant ears radiate heat to help keep these large animals cool, but sometimes the African heat is too much. Elephants are fond of water and enjoy showering by sucking water into their trunks and spraying it all over themselves. Afterwards, they often spray their skin with a protective coating of dust.
An elephant's trunk is actually a long nose used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for grabbing things—especially a potential meal. The trunk alone contains about 100,000 different muscles. African elephants have two fingerlike features on the end of their trunk that they can use to grab small items. (Asian elephants have one.)
Both male and female African elephants have tusks they use to dig for food and water and strip bark from trees. Males use the tusks to battle one another, but the ivory has also attracted violence of a far more dangerous sort.
Because ivory is so valuable to some humans, many elephants have been killed for their tusks. This trade is illegal today, but it has not been completely eliminated, and some African elephant populations remain endangered.
Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, and they eat a lot of these things. An adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food in a single day.
These hungry animals do not sleep much, and they roam over great distances while foraging for the large quantities of food that they require to sustain their massive bodies.
Female elephants (cows) live in family herds with their young, but adult males (bulls) tend to roam on their own.
Having a baby elephant is a serious commitment. Elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal—almost 22 months. Cows usually give birth to one calf every two to four years. At birth, elephants already weigh some 200 pounds (91 kilograms) and stand about 3 feet (1 meter) tall.
African elephants, unlike their Asian relatives, are not easily domesticated. They range throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the rain forests of central and West Africa. The continent’s northernmost elephants are found in Mali’s Sahel desert. The small, nomadic herd of Mali elephants migrates in a circular route through the desert in search of water.
Source: National Geographic
Influenza
Swine influenza in humans
Most swine influenza viruses (SIVs) do not cause disease in humans. However, some countries have reported cases of human infection with SIVs. Most of these human infections have been mild and the viruses have not spread further to other people. The H1N1 virus that caused the influenza pandemic in 2009-2010, thought to have originated in swine, is an example of an SIV that was able to spread easily among people and also cause disease.
Because pigs can become infected with influenza viruses from a variety of different hosts (such as birds and humans), they can act as a "mixing vessel," facilitating the reassortment of influenza genes from different viruses and creating a "new" influenza virus. The concern is that such "new" reassortant viruses may be more easily spread from person to person, or may cause more severe disease in humans than the original viruses. WHO and animal health sector partners are working at the human-animal interface to identify and reduce animal health and public health risks within national contexts.
Trash or Treasure
From a problem of scarcity, it is the problem of plenty today. Every city in the world is producing a hill nearby it- made up of plastic, e-waste, glass, toxic chemicals and of course the food and vegetable waste. The market economy forces, entices people to go for more and more and more. In the earlier days people used to have just two or three pairs of dresses. In the traditional India, we used to go to rivers or ponds or wells and would be washing the previous day clothes and wear the ones washed and dried up the previous day. The dirt collected in the pond would be settling down as sediments and the farmers would be using them as reinforcements for their farm lands. Every year this routine would be there. And the water bodies get cleaned.
Today each one of us has got a minimum of 20-100 pairs of dresses and the women folk store even 500- 1000 sarees or other dress items. Somebody has invented the term 'shopping' and people proudly use the term even as they return from a shop after purchasing a pocket of table salt. I think 'purchasing' is different from 'shopping' in Indian context. The people who use the earlier ones have got a need for the things they have purchased. But the shoppingwalahs are for fun and mirth.
Every trip a trash
People reenter them homes after every time they go outside with a big shopping bag. This has to be avoided. It is not their affordability and the products' availability but the earth's capability to bear this stress that matters.
Some tips yet again to save our planet from trash
- Don't open your wallet and swipe your cards unless it is absolutely essential.
- Don't buy or keep more than 10 sets of dresses in your wardrobe
- Gift the habit of gifting for the sake of this planet as every one is in possession of everything in plenty. If you want gift 'LOVE'.
- Plan your food habits in such a way that reduces your time in the kitchen
- Go for boiled or fresh foods and simply you take food once in a day that has n't seen the gas stove/oven
- Step out with a jute or cloth bag and say no to the offer of poly packs.
- Do not get attracted by the packaging and buy products
- Do not believe in the success of stories of billionaires who are handful and learn from the success stories of ordinary men and women who lead a contented life
- Be contented with what you have and not to crave to climb on the so called 'success ladder'.
- Success has to be measured in wealth means the greatest men of modern times Mahatma, Lincoln, Teresa, Abdul Kalam and others would be considered a failure
- Possess thirst for knowledge and not money and materials
- Prefer containers for liquid items and say a big NO to sachets
- Buy products like TV Refriegerator and ensure that the company takes back the packaging materials back.
People who do matter
Do not create an impression in the minds of the rural folk that every one is in heaven whoever resides in a city
Telecast the sufferings of the poor, homeless and the jobless in a city and ways to live happily in a village
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