People And Their Problems

New Delhi, 18 August 2007

Global Warming

GRAVE THREAT TO INDIA

By Radhakrishna Rao

For many years now the phenomenon of global warming, caused by the rapid build up of green house gases owing to the increasing use of fossil fuels in the industrial and transport sectors, has been the topic of international environmental debate. Attracting much attention of political leaders around the world.

In fact, global warming has been blamed for the scorching dry spell in parts of Europe as well as heavy rain and flooding in Latin America. In parts of India there has been a sharp increase in the incidence of death caused by the intense heat waves.

The latest report from the Indian meteorologists is that global warming continues to exert impact on climatic patterns including rainfall and mean temperature in the country. An analysis done by Pune's Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) go to show that these changes are likely to be more pronounced in the years ahead. As things stand now, a significant warming trend has been observed along the western coast, central India, interior peninsula and in the north-east.

Significantly, the studies also suggest the rapid receding of the Himalayan glaciers. Environmental researchers hold the view that the drastic disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers could have serious consequences for the thickly-populated Gangetic plains which are watered by the Himalaya-origin rivers. This trend has also been reflected in the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

According to the Chairman of IPCC and head of TERI (The Tata Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi) R.K.Pachuri, “it is the poorest of the poor who will be impacted the most by global warming. In many regions, areas with a high density population like the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta are most vulnerable to climate change.”

Adding, “thus, every country must have the infrastructure and the early warning systems to adapt to climate changes and be less dependent on fossil fuels and more on renewable energy”. Apparently, the rapidly growing use of fossil fuels is considered a major causative factor behind the rising trend of global warming.

According to Assam-based environmental scientist Dulal Goswami, “the direct implication of the temperature rise would see an exaggerated increase in flooding and landslides in the lower reaches of the Himalayas .We are in the downstream region and will have to bear the maximum brunt in case of the glaciers melting due to global warming”.

This is corroborated by research studies carried out by the Chinese scientists. These reveal that north-east India could become vulnerable to flooding with snow-fed rivers including the Brahmaputra overflowing due to the melting of the Himalayan glaciers.

For the recently witnessed rapid melting of the Himalayan glaciers, Chinese scientists blame the shooting up of temperature in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. “Quicker melting of glaciers may also have the long term impact upon the rivers in both India and China and trigger droughts,” states Xu Xiangde, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences.

Moreover, the IITM researchers have found that the mean temperature could go up by about 5 degree Celsius in many part of the country by the end of this century. And, in turn, this drastic shift in the temperature profile could lead to more intense heat waves, more concentrated rainfall and flooding. And at the same time accentuating the droughts and dry spells.

There is also a feeling that the rising temperature levels could adversely affect the Indian economy in a variety of ways. Though at the moment it is difficult to quantify the losses. For example, a study by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi has pointed out that the water levels in the rivers of north India could come down by 20 per cent in another five decades.

Further, agricultural production too is likely to be hit by the fluctuations in the weather, thanks to global warming. As it stands, small farmers have reported a perceptible decline in the wheat and rice yield due to the abnormal shooting up of the temperature in many parts of India. Similarly, the nursery loss due to inundation and coastal erosion along the Indian coast are contributing to a declining fish landing.

Additionally, computer simulations show that an increase in temperature normally leads to a decline in the yield. Thus, it is presumed that a two degree increase in the temperature could cause around a 15 per cent yield decline in the wheat and rice crops. Sadly, the poor and marginal farmers are going to be worst affected by this increase in temperature.

In fact, over the last two decades the heat wave has been increasing in intensity in many parts of India resulting in serious consequences for the people. Not only that. It is leading to increasing incidence of epidemics such as malaria and dengue in many parts of India. Needless to say drastic changes in the weather conditions is known to be congenial to the growth of the mosquitoes.

That apart, the good side is that the per capita emission of carbon dioxide from India is among the lowest in the world. In this context, J.Srinivasan, Chairman of the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS) at Bangalore’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc) asserted, “We are already committed to a considerable warming even if we reduce our carbon dioxide emissions”.

The well known agricultural scientist Dr.K.P.Prabhakaran Nair advocates the increasing use of renewable energy sources to bring down the incidence of carbon dioxide emission. Further, he asserts, “For agriculture to grow it is high time the focus is shifted to organic farming, away from the chemical-intensive agriculture. But, India has to do it in an economically feasible manner”.

Incidentally, India is among the invitees of all G-8 summit meetings to discuss and evolve strategies to mitigate the phenomenon of global warming. What kind of steps India would initiate to minimize the emission of green house gases is to be seen.

Meanwhile, there are also report that global warming is also causing havoc in the mammal world, pushing many species to the brink of extinction. Also with the forest floors and timberlands growing more parched, the wildfires in Indonesia, western USA and inland Alaska have been increasing. Wildlife biologists have also expressed the concern over the possibility of the polar bears being threatened by the vanishing sea ice. ----- INFA

(Copyright India News and Feature Alliance)

People And Their Problems

New Delhi, 10 August 2007

Eradicating AIDS

INDIA COVERS GROUND

By Radhakrishna Rao

In a significant development, data made available by the UNAIDS has pointed out that India is no longer the country with the largest number of HIV/AIDS cases. In fact, it is much better off in comparison to South Africa and countries in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa in fighting the HIV/AIDS infection.

As in other parts of the world, the major cause of infection in India is “unprotected heterosexual intercourse”. Facts and figures provided by the UNAIDS reveal a sharp downward revision in the HIV/AID cases in the country from 5.7 million to 2.5 million in 2006.

However, HIV/AIDS continues to be a major health challenge with only 7 in 100 patients in the country being in a position to access proper and timely treatment for this dreaded disease. According   to the UNAIDS there is an increase in the infection rate among several risk groups such as homosexuals and those who inject drugs.

Additionally, the UNAIDS observed that while HIV prevalence levels among the commercial sex workers in the southern states has been on the decline, the overall occurrence level among this group continues to be quite high on a country-wide basis.

The various factors that hinder efforts to counter the HIV spread among the people include stigma, discrimination and prejudice towards those infected. For example, in the highly literate and  socially progressive state of Kerala, there have been cases of HIV/AIDS infected kids being expelled from schools. In other parts of India, there have been cases of HIV/AIDS patients being denied treatment in hospitals.

On its part the World Health Organisation (WHO) has noted that India’s efforts in tackling HIV/AIDS are significant and should be  scaled up along with the provision of universal access treatment for those who need it.

With a view to bring down the rate of the spread of HIV/AIDS among the population and groups considered “risky”, the third phase of India’s National AIDS Control Program scheduled to run between 2007 and 2012 strives to not only improve voluntary counselling and testing. But also antiretroviral treatment and preventive strategies through its integration with the national health services.

However, in the southern states with men visiting commercial workers increasingly taking to condoms, there has been a decrease in HIV/AIDS infection rate in this “risky group”. That apart, there is growing concern that a large proportion of the women with HIV appear to have acquired the virus from regular partners who were infected during paid sex.

A survey of HIV/AIDS carried out in Aurangabad, Maharashtra considered a high risk zone for the epidemic, has revealed a low level of awareness amongst the doctors and general population. “Maharashtra was considered one of the earliest Indian states to be affected by HIV/AIDS and has a high prevalence of the disease. In mid-2003, 21 per cent  of the country’s reported HIV cases were in Maharashtra .The disease began among groups with a high risk infection such as sex workers and their clients. But it has now spread to the general population” reported the survey.

Meanwhile, the UN Office of Drugs and Crimes has called upon India to effectively link its drug use monitoring system with other HIV surveillance measures with a view to halt the unchecked spread of the pandemic through intravenous drug use. Specially, in the hilly North- eastern region where the epidemic has assumed serious proportions. Thanks to the lawlessness brought about by the insurgency combined with smuggling of drugs from across the border of Myanmar continues to thrive.

According to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, two of the high prevalence States in India — Manipur and Nagaland in the North-east show features of what epidemiologists call a generalized epidemic with a strong IDU (injectible drug use) and HIV links. The third State in the region, Mizoram is now all set to join the ranks of the above mentioned States.

Surveys carried out by a number of voluntary organizations in these three States reveal that the targeted HIV intervention projects should be strengthened rapidly to achieve a significant risk reduction among a large portion of the injectible drug users in the region. India’s National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) too concurs with these findings. Further, with a view to check the spread of the infection in the potentially high risk areas of the country, NACO had decided to increase the number of sentinel sites by 400, focusing mainly on northern and central states.

However, a  major cause for  concern is the recently noticed trend of the infection spreading its tentacles rapidly and deeper into the rural hinterland of the country .Not surprisingly then, NACO describes  the next five years as “critical” in so far as meeting the challenges of HIV/AIDS are concerned.

As part of the move  to fight AIDS/HIV, three leading Indian institutions, the Pune’s National  AIDS Research Institute(NARI), Bangalore’s  St.John’s Medical College and  Chennai’s YRG have become active partners in an international endeavor  aimed at developing microbicides to fight the infection .While the NARI has joined hands with an American institute to carry out phase trials of an oral HIV drug named Tenofovin, St John’s Medical College and YRG Care are  spearheading trials  to assess the effectiveness of 6 per cent cellulose sulphate on vaginal HIV transmission.

Surveys have also shown that women suffering from HIV were more stigmatised and placed disadvantageously when separated from their near and dear ones. One more disturbing aspect of the HIV/AIDS spread in the country is that “a  small section of high society females through their behavior and lifestyle highlighted by free sex, involving multiple sex partners, get infected without  being aware f it.. Most of them have sex either because they are dead drunk or in a warped state of mind that they are not even aware of who they slept with” says a Bangalore based medical practitioner.

Happily, India’s corporate sector, as part of its social responsibility, has started responding to the pleas to join the war against HIV/AIDS. For this epidemic has a serious implication for the business, industry and economy of the country as a whole.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

New Delhi, 28 July 2007

Educational Reforms

MUST FOR INDIA SHINING

By Suraj Saraf

To become a world economic power, should talent building be the new mantra for India? Yes, but present systems need to change. Reform in the educational system is a must. Be it is schools, colleges or technical institutions.    

According to top corporate bodies and experts, India is woefully short of workforce in spite of us being a nation of over a billion people. Though the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimates a booming economy with about nine per cent GDP growth annually, it suggests that the country will require a two-fold increase in the present skilled workforce. A recent study reveals that of the existing 8.5 million work force, about 30 per cent will retire in the next five years.

It is feared that inequity in the demand-supply of manpower will present itself in diverse industry verticals such as IT, retail banking, manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure and management due to lack of quality workforce, absence of vocational training and job hopping.

The mismatch between demand and supply of the manpower in industry is due to shortage of employable graduates, say statistics. As the Indian GDP is estimated to double to $ 3.6 trillion from present 8 billion current capacity, the capacity building to create talented workforce and meet the targets is a challenge faced by all stakeholders, especially in industry, academia, government and civil society.

“Talent creation and management have become the most critical business process for India,” is the CIIs forecast. This is dittoed by a NASSCOM/Mc Kinsey estimate, which states that in the next decade, shortage of skilled workers will be staring the Indian industry in the face.  

Its report on talent supply said that India would need a 2.5 million strong IT and BPO workforce by 2010 to maintain its current market share. It projected a potential shortfall of nearly 9.5 million qualified employees, nearly 70 per cent of which would be concentrated in the BPO industry.

Most telling views in this regard have been aired by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who had inter alia warned that this shortage could prove a “major bottleneck” in achieving higher growth targets in the coming years. “We have done exceptionally badly in the area of developing skills in the past and this will prove to be a constraint towards achieving growth rate of 9 per cent”, he confessed at an Employment Summit.    

“Current skill development is inadequate and we need employment-linked degrees. We will scale up the programme to upgrade and modernise the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to improve both their quality and quantity of training. Private sector has a major role to play in delivering job-related training because private colleges are more flexible in curriculum development than government institutions.”

Indeed, for long there has been a clamour for transforming the present ‘static’ education system into a dynamic and creative regime. Different perceptions have been advanced touching different aspects of development of students in this regard.

Looking at the problem from an economic angle, Paul recommends: Reforms in education must recognize the reality of globalization. India must respond to the needs of the economy and the demands of the students for modern and relevant educational programmes that will equip them for employment and the challenges of New India and a globalised world economy.

Besides, there is need for access to higher education for more students and teaching of new subjects. Indian Universities, according to him must emulate the U.K. experience, take courage to develop new subjects and challenge traditional ideas. 

So far so good, viz the economic development of India. But there is another basic angle to education reforms. It concerns the environment in which the talent and personality of students can be best developed to cope with the future challenges in any sphere of work.  

Recent media reports point out that the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) is preparing a revolutionary concept viz “dynamic time schemes.” It aims at using the school time more creatively.

Time table in schools across the country is set to change beyond recognition. Students will no longer have to sit through a succession of 35-minute periods mugging lessons from the blackboard. The NCERT is said to be set to replace the “time table” system with concept of “time packaging”--- a flexible schedule involving students’ activities, time for self-study and even trips beyond the school bounds.

NCERT had already begun collecting feedback from schools on the time management system and hopes to introduce it from 2008-2009. “The rigidity in the education system is best portrayed in the school time table. Our aim is to make time management an essential aspect of academic planning and bring flexibility and variation in practices.”

The dynamic time scheme will allow kids to choose the subject they would like to study on a particular day. If they wanted to learn about water the topic would be included in discussions on subjects like math, science, social science, health and hygiene. The system plans to use school time more creatively. So, instead of students just sitting in class and listening to instructors, time could be set aside for them to clean, sing together, listen to a guest talk, put up display boards in classrooms or enjoy the weather outside the school premises. Let’s start at the very beginning. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

People And Their Problems

New Delhi, 20 July 2007

Destination Mountains

NEED TO PRESERVE LEGACY & SERENITY

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

Mountains, as the famous poet John Keats realised during his walking tour of Wordworthian Lake District, can make people feel big and big people small. The sublime can terrorise, chastise or humiliate but it can also elevate, aggrandize or transfigure. The call of the mountains is indeed fascinating. All round the year, barring a month or two, the mountains become a place of tourist attraction because of their favourable climate and the pollution-free atmosphere. Factors such as the panoramic scenic beauty of the valleys and ecology of these regions have always attracted people, both Indian and foreign, to visit the mountains.

In India, hill stations are popular tourist destinations. Whether it is the beautiful lakes of Srinagar or of Nainital, the royal elegance and idyllic retreat of Shimla, the imposing Kanchenjunga of Darjeeling or the high snow-clad mountains overlooking Manali – all present a distinct manifestation of grace and leisure as its hallmarks. Mention may also be made of Mussourie, Shillong, Mt. Abu, Ooty and, of course, Kedarnath-Badrinath. Their beauty and charm, the layers of time, the histories within history and the cohabitation of the banal and the sublime, the people and the peaks are indeed significant.

These places no doubt compare with the best tourist attractions anywhere in the world. A fact reiterated even by foreign tourists and travelers, who are increasingly coming to discover the hidden beauty of nature this country has to offer. Also the unity among diversity of the mountains in Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Uttaranchal or West Bengal as is evident from their distinct folk cultures could be an example for others to emulate.

In recent times, the hills have assumed great importance not because of tourism alone but for varied reasons. Environment has become a subject of great concern the world over and experts are involved in extensive research in its preservation. There is need to protect the hills along with forests, lakes and rivers in the mountainous terrains to maintain ecological balance. This aspect has caught the attention of respective State governments but more positive action needs to be taken.

Delving into history, the 18^th century India saw the growth of a new urban concept – the ‘hill station’. Initially built by the British rulers, these towns grew to become retreats from the heat and dust of the plains. But it was Shimla, the most significant of all hill stations which was made the ‘summer capital’ of British India in 1864, a status it retained up to Independence.

In 1822, the first European house called ‘Kennedy House’ was built in Shimla to become the residence of Charles Pratt Kennedy, newly-appointed Political Officer of the Hill States. In 1827, the station was visited by Lord Ahmerst, British Governor General of India. Realising the importance of the hills, the British took keen interest to develop these places. Shimla received focal attention and witnessed the fastest development of buildings. Even today some of the finest structures of the British colonial genre still stand over its seven hills.

Though the British chose Shimla as their summer capital, Darjeeling was a favourite tourist destination for them. They developed tea plantations on a large scale and built the necessary infrastructure. The British legacy, specially the tea plantations, is very much evident today in this district of West Bengal. Referred to as the “queen of hills”, Darjeeling offers tourists a view of the Kanchenjunga, highest peak visible from India.

Besides, Darjeeling tea is extremely popular in the West as a pure drink with medicinal properties and recent initiatives to promote tea tourism have gained momentum. Some tea gardens have been identified where tourists would be allowed to stay in the colonial bungalows of the tea garden managers.

Srinagar, considered the Switzerland of India, where till the 80s most Indian films were shot, is undoubtedly a place of great attraction. Gulmarg, Sonemarg and, of course, Pahalgam are again gradually becoming favoured tourist destinations thanks to the reduction in terrorist activities as a sequel to better Indo-Pak relations.

However, even as there is an all-out effort to promote eco-tourism, the increasing flow of tourists to these hills has started causing problems. Congestion, water shortage, power breakdowns and water pollution are common issues other than the serenity and peace of the area getting disturbed. There is a need now to popularize new hill stations and the State governments must start acting. Tamang or Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh, Munnar in Tamil Nadu or Palampur or Keylong in Himachal Pradesh, to name only a few, need to be put on the tourist map. 

There is no denying the fact that the call of the mountains is irresistible. From the challenge of scaling a peak to a wish to climb even a modest spur, or for some to see a mountain is to climb it is there. Treks ranging from a day to a week are popular from some of the tourist destinations. Mention may be made of the famous Amarrnath yatra which goes via Pahalgam or regular treks undertaken from Darjeeling.

River rafting, ice skating and skiing are some of the popular sporting events which have further added an attraction to some hill stations. White water rafting facilities are available near Kullu, Rohtang Pass and Solang Nullah offer a variety of slopes for skiers, other than Gulmarg and Auli.   

In the coming years, ecotourism, adventure tourism, hill tourism, spiritual and religious tourism, all of which lie embedded in the hills and mountains is bound to become more popular in the country. However, efforts should be made so that these places are projected historically and aesthetically through a definite plan and programme.

The State governments need to formulate a policy for maintaining the sanctity and serenity of the hills to tackle tourist rush in peak season. Other than this, attempts should be made to revive folk culture, encourage and popularise folk artists to display their art through organizing festivals. Hill stations should have both tourism and preservation going hand in hand.--- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)