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Economic Highlights
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Euro 9.5 m EC Relief for Flood Victims,31 August 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 31 August 2007
Euro
9.5 m EC Relief for Flood Victims
New Delhi, September 1 (INFA): The European
Commission has allocated Euro 9.5
million in humanitarian aid for flood victims in India,
Bangladesh and Nepal.
Emergency experts from the Commission's
Humanitarian Aid department, ECHO, have visited the flood-affected areas and
liaised with relief agencies on operations to be funded.
The emergency relief focuses on food rations and drinking
water, emergency shelter and healthcare, in particular to prevent outbreaks of
water-borne diseases. The next step would be to assist the recovery of
livelihoods, damaged housing and water-sanitation facilities.
The emergency funds channeled through ECHO are under the
responsibility of its European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian
Aid, Louis Michel. "Many Europeans have experienced flooding in recent
years and we know how important it is to get rapid assistance in such a
terrible situation. Our thoughts are with those who have lost homes, livestock
and livelihoods or, even worse, relatives or friends? But not just our
thoughts: The European Commission has taken strenuous action to provide
humanitarian assistance to the victims. We have immediately dispatched our
emergency experts to assess the most urgent basic needs and to liaise with
other international relief agencies. On the basis of their assessment, we have
decided to allocate Euro 9.5 million in emergency aid," says Michel.
By early August, over five million households were affected
by the floods in India and
more than a million families in Bangladesh.
In Nepal,
over 3,50,000 people have been displaced from their homes. The damage in the
three countries includes loss of standing crops, serious erosion of farmland
and property, destruction of livestock, foods and tools, and contamination of
surface water supplies, wells and latrines.
ECHO, which has a regional support office in New Delhi
closely follows developments in humanitarian situation, plays an active role in
the local coordination of relief efforts and monitors the use of Commission's
relief funds.--- INFA
* * * *
Beijing Tests Less Cars-Cleaner Air
Formula
NEW DELHI, September 1 (INFA): For
four days about 1.3 million automobiles had been kept off the roads in the
Chinese Capital this month to test effects on environment quality.
From August 17-20, the city had cars with odd-numbered
licence plates and those with even-numbered ones hit the roads on alternate
days, according to the Environment Protection Bureau. And, the city plans to
put this into practice to ensure clean air during the 2008 Olympics here.
Taxis, buses, police cars and ambulances, however, are
exempt from this ban, explains a Bureau official, while adding that “traffic
control will enable us to take about 1.3 million vehicles off the roads every
day.” Once that is done, environmentalists will collect data to assess its
impact as vehicular exhaust is a major source of pollution in Beijing.
The exercise has been undertaken after the success of a
similar one during the Sino-African summit. This time around, the municipal
transportation commission will increase public transport to ensure that
commuters are not inconvenienced. ---
INFA
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VIDEO GAME ON DISASTER REDUCTION,12 June 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 12 June 2007
VIDEO GAME ON
DISASTER REDUCTION
NEW DELHI, June 13 (INFA): Children can now
learn how to respond to and mitigate disasters through a new internet video
game, launched recently by the United Nations.
The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) has
started a project, “Stop Disaster Game” as part of its campaign on education
called “Disaster Risk Reduction”. The projects starts at Schools and teaches
how to build safer villages and cities against disasters.
Children will learn how the location and construction
materials can make a difference when disaster strikes and how early warning
systems evacuation plans and education can save lives and livelihoods.
The UN experts believe that had such systems and plans
existed at the time of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami scores of thousands of the
more than 200,000 lives lost could have been saved.
Produced by Playerthree, an English company, and
downloadable in less than three
minutes, the game gives players different types of missions
to accomplish within a specific budget and time limit before a simulated
hurricane, earthquake, flood, tsunami or wildfire strikes.
They have to choose between five scenarios with three levels
of difficulty and the winners will be the ones who save more people and
livelihoods.
At present the game is available only on the internet and in
English but a multi-language version will be released on International Disaster
Reduction Day on 10 October.
“We are aware that not all children have easy access to Internet and we are already preparing a DVD
format to reach more youngsters in remote areas in Africa, Asia and Pacific or
Latin America and Caribbean,” says ISDR
Director, Briceno.
“We are also thinking of adding new scenarios such as
drought which is a devastating disaster in many parts of the world,” he added.
The ISDR
previously produced a board game called Riskland, aimed at children aged 6 to
10. The game has been a very successful
educational tool and has been translated into many local languages.
The ISDR is not the only UN body turning to internet games
to raise the awareness of
youngsters. In 2005, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) launched ‘Food Force’
(www.food-force.com), an internet video game with a virtual world of planes
launching food airdrops over crisis zones and emergency trucks struggling up
treacherous roads under rebel threat with emergency supplies to teach children
the arduous but vital task of feeding the world’s hungry. Millions of
youngsters around the world have since downloaded the game.
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RURAL INDIA IN CRISIS ON FARM FRONT,11 June 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 11 June 2007
RURAL INDIA IN CRISIS
ON FARM FRONT
NEW DELHI, June 12 (INFA): The agrarian
crisis in the rural India
has its routs in the collapse of rural economy, according to Dr. M.S.
Swaminathan, the distinguished agricultural scientist.
Unemployment leading to out-migration of the assetless
is growing. The minimum support price mechanism is not operating for most
commodities. At every level of the livelihood security system, there is a
tendency to make profit out of poverty. Something is terribly wrong in the
countryside, says Swaminathan.
Today, finding themselves helpless
in the face of adversities of various kinds, the peasantry in parts of the
country is resorting to extreme measures.
Repeated crop failures due to unpredictable climatic
variations, inability to meet the rising cost of cultivation, and the
increasing debt burden are among the factors leading to frustrations.
In such a scenario, meeting the challenges of rural
reconstruction becomes a formidable and priority task.
Agriculture being the mainstay of our economy, it is
imperative that we have a comprehensive and time-bound programme to extricate
the sector from stagnation, if not deceleration.
Larger irrigation facilities, better seeds and agri-inputs
and fertilizers at reasonable costs will have to be provided to farmers, along
with finance, infrastructural and marketing facilities.
Agriculture must become an income generating activity and
farmers should not be left to the vicissitudes
of weather, financial resources and markets.
To increase productivity and employment generation in the
sector, there is a need to bring about structural changes, primarily based on
land reforms, as support prices and provision of cheap credit do not help
beyond a point. Experience has shown that providing the poor with access to land is not anti-growth. ---INFA
NEW DEGREE COURSES
IN ANDHRA
HYDERABAD, June 12 (INFA): The Potti
Sreeramulu Telugu University located in the heart of Hyderabad city will be offering a five-year
integrated degree course in literature, BA Music in distance mode and a
multi-media courses from the ensuring academic year.
It will also offer courses in Telugu Panguade for school-going
foreign students and people living outside Andhra Pradesh. ---INFA
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INDIA-EU COOPERATION IN SCIENCE RESEARCH, 9 June 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 9 June 2007
INDIA-EU
COOPERATION IN SCIENCE RESEARCH
NEW DELHI, June 10 (INFA): India-European
Union (EU) cooperation in science research has reached a new high, following
the recent agreement here between the two.
The details of the agreement were worked out between India’s
Minister for Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal and the German Federal
Minister for Education and Research, Annette Sebavan.
The Science Ministerial was attended by ministers or their
designated high-level representatives from the 27 EU Member States, many of
which have also signed bilateral agreements with India.
The participants discussed
ways to further strengthen the scope and quality of scientific cooperation with
India
and ended with the ‘New Delhi Communique’.
Nobel laureates and eminent scientists from Germany and India
have already interacted with some 1,000 Indian science students from all over India at this
function.
In October last year, the EU-India Summit had highlighted
the importance of the field of science in the EU-India relationship. It also
saw a ‘window of opportunity’ for EU-India cooperation in science and
technology.
The Joint Statement of the Heads of Government gave a strong
and clear impetus for strengthening the cooperation in this field.
India has also joined the EU in major
projects such as the 1.2 billion euro FAIR (Facility for Anti-Proton and Ion
Research) and the 4-57 billion euro IETR (the International Experimental
Thermonuclera Reactor).
India has a 3 per cent and 10 per cent
share, respectively. Indian participation in the Galileo satellite project is
in the process of agreement.
A recent bibliometric analysis conducted by Research Centre
Julich, Helmholtz Association, which
lists all Indian co-publications of research papers with international partners
in all major areas of natural sciences, shows that in all but two categories
Indo-EU co-publications are more substantial in extent.---INFA
CLOSURE ORDER TO
POLLUTING UNITS
HYDERABAD, June 10 (INFA): The Andhra Pradesh
Pollution Control Board recently issued
closure orders to nine industrial units located on the outskirts of Hyderabad city.
This decision was taken by the task force committee. The
industrial units are said to have causing air pollution and operating without
the consent of the Board, as required by statutory rules and
regulations.---INFA
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MELTING GLACIERS THREATEN HYDRO PROJECTS,2 June 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 2 June 2007
MELTING GLACIERS
THREATEN HYDRO PROJECTS
NEW DELHI, June 3 (INFA): The rapidly melting
Himalayan glaciers are likely to spell disaster for the hydroelectric projects
set up on the rivers fed by the melting ice. The danger is in addition to the
water sources.
The melting of the Himalayan glacier is taking place at a
fast and threatening pace, according to the finding of an extensive study by
the scientists of the Space Administration Centre at the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad.
The scientists remote sensing satellites which revealed the
melting was taking place at a fast pace. The study was conducted on as many as
466 glaciers in Chenab, Parbati and Baspa
river basins.
The study has shown reduction in glacier area from 2077 sq.
km. in 1962 to 1628 sq. km at present.
The Himalayas are the largest source of fresh water for Northern India. The glacial melt will initially increase
the volume of water in rivers, causing widespread flooding, and in the long
run, cause significant decline in fresh water supplies.
According to the paper, ‘Glacial Retreat in Himalayas using
Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Data’ published in Current Science, hydro power
projects operating on the Chenab parbati and
Baspa river basins are especially threatened.
At present, there is one hydro-electric power plant
operating on the Baspa and another one is under construction. Besides, the
National Hydro-Electric Power Corporation Ltd is building large project on the
Parbati, where a number of similar smaller projects are already functional.
According to scientists at the ISRO, the Government needs to
take shrinking glaciers into account before planning more power projects.
The Himachal Pradesh State Council for Science and
Technology is preparing an inventory of snowfields and glaciers for various
river basins to help generate data for taking up remedial measures. ---INFA
ECO SUMMER CAMPS IN
ANDHRA
HYDERABAD, June 3 (INFA): The Andhra Pradesh
National Green Corps is conducting eco-summer camps in association
with the Hyderabad-based Jawahar Bal Bhawan in 150 locations all over Andhra
Pradesh
The 45-day-long summer camps end on June 5, World
Environment Day.
About 15,000 school children are expected to take part in
the camps, which will instill in them environmental awareness. ---INFA
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