Thursday 29 March 2018

Aftermath of Nuclear Disaster in Belarus and Ukraine

Thirty years after the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl in the regions of Belarus and Ukraine are still reeling under the effects of severe radioactivity. 

The numbers of deer and wolves and other wild animals are increasing in the region but the human population is still absent the entire region.

A nuclear disaster occurred in a nuclear reactor in Ukraine on 26th April 1986, and the radioactivity engulfed a larger region of Europe. 

The area under radioactivity was equal to that of Luxemburg. About 100,000 people abandoned their homes and domestic animals to seek refuge in safer places. 

Belorussia too was the part of the affected region and the villages and the houses still emit the signals of radioactivity. 


Abandoned School at Ghost Town of Pripyat at
Northern Ukraine, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
            Wikimedia Commons by Adam Jones
Only the wild animals are found wandering freely in the forest regions of the area spreading in about 26,000 sq. Km.  

The man could not return to the region even if he does so after 24,000 years.

The effect of radioactivity on wild animals is a matter of research.
A special permit is needed to visit the area and that only for few days. A road leads to the place from Belarus.   

Secession of Indian Tribes- The Patthargarhi Movement

During the last one year several tribal areas in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh have declared their independence from India. This is locally known as Patthargarhi movement.
Army in the jungles of chattisarh
Wikimedia Commons by Janubforwiki

Patthatgarhi movement is inspired by some fake document and the wrong interpretation of the constitution of India. 

According to this misconception, it is believed that the tribal people are the real owners of the place where they are in majority.

In Jharkhand, this mutiny has taken the form of armed rebellion. In Madhya Pradesh and Orissa where this separatist crusade is still groping for strong footholds has taken the form of non-cooperative movement.  
It is not certain in which direction this agitation will go in the coming years. But in order to achieve the objective of Independence, the tribal people resist all efforts of suppression and are ready to do and die.

In these areas, the tribal are resorting to a large scale election boycott. They do not welcome the elected representatives in their areas and look disdainfully at the Government officials.

Patthargarhi and separatist movement are spreading among the tribal masses like a forest conflagration.

What is the Parrhargarhi Movement?

In Patthargarhi movement a special stone is placed at the outskirts of the village to declare the autonomy of the area. In this way, hundreds or probably thousands of villages have become autonomous zones. Some people call it a tribal corridor or Tribal Land, while the others term it Advasisthan. The placement of stones is a symbolic declaration that the Indian law is not applicable in the land.  

Self- Styled Local Autonomy
The local police and non-tribal are not allowed to enter the village. The newly formed tribal village committees are taking the Executive, Judicial and Legislative powers in their hands.
The matters from petty thefts to murder are being taken up and decided by the tribal village committees. These committees even run their own schools where the aims and objective of the movement are taught. These schools comprise of those children who are admitted who are forcibly taken out of the Government schools.   
Reasons behind the Movement

According to the tribal people no government has paid heed to their plight. They feel completely alienated from the mainstream. The politicians have forsaken them for the benefits of Industrialists. They say that they have become homeless and landless after industrialization and the construction of big hydroelectric dams. They were not provided adequate alternative sites to live and were not adequately compensated. The industries have swallowed their fertile agricultural lands, while the industries could have been established on the wastelands. They mourn that they are not getting anything from these flourishing industries. Due to these and several other reasons they find themselves abandoned and detached from the society, hence the movement.

Failure of Administration
The administration is at a fix that how this problem should be tackled.  The local police claim that this agitation and non-cooperation of the tribal people is a conspiracy of drug mafia so that they could motivate the tribal to cultivate poppy to extract opium and poppy seeds. The poppy crop will come in April and thereafter the situation would normalize.

But this claim of the police loses its appeal and authenticity, as there is no poppy cultivation in the districts in Sundergarh region of Orissa and the districts in Dindauri region of Madhya Pradesh.

But this problem needs long-term policies for the economic amelioration of the tribal people. Besides, the sincere efforts on the part of local and Union government are needed to build the confidence of the people in India and Indian Constitution.  

Saturday 24 March 2018

High Taxed Petrol and Diesel Prices in India

The price of crude oil in the international market is $ 65 per barrel. This comes out to be Rs. 4154 per barrel. 
Petrol Pump
Wikimedia Commons by Abhijeet

A barrel contains 159 liters of oil. So the price of crude oil becomes Rs.26 per liter. 

After refinery charges, transportation expenses and entry taxes the price of petrol becomes Rs.33 and that of diesel becomes Rs 35. 

Then the Indian government increases the prices of petrol and diesel by imposing Rs. 19 and Rs. 15 as a production tax respectively. Now the price of petrol becomes Rs. 52 and that of diesel shoots up to Rs. 50. 

Adding the commission of the proprietor of petrol/diesel sales outlet the petrol and diesel price becomes Rs. 56 and Rs. 52 respectively. 

Then again the vat tax @ 27% and 16.75 % is added to petrol and diesel. Thereafter the prices of petrol and diesel start skyrocketing at Rs. 72 and Rs. 60 respectively. 

The addition of this tax concludes the process of fixing the final price of petrol and diesel in India. This comes out to be more than double the actual price.  

Monday 19 March 2018

World Water Day

The General Assembly of United Nations decided to celebrate the World Water Day 22nd March 1996. This initiative to celebrate this day was taken at the meeting of UN Conference at Rio De Janeiro during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNCED.
A Fresh Water Rivulet

The first World Water Day was celebrated on 22nd March 1993 with an objective to spread awareness on “Water Conservation and Preservation”.

This is the day to take a resolution to save the water in order to become aware of the importance of water and to get warned about the conservation of water.

As per records, more than 1.5 billion (ARAB) people are not getting the clean drinking water throughout the world. Nature provides the life-giving water to the mankind in the form of the water cycle. The man is also a vital constituent of this cycle and it is the responsibility of every person to keep this cycle moving. Life will come to a grinding halt if this cycle stops.

As we cannot produce water, we have to return to the natural cycle the same amounts of water which we receive from it. So the water should not be wasted. The natural water resources should not be polluted.

So everyone should resolve not to waste water in any form on the World Water Day on 22nd March.
  
Water is life, as no life could be imagined without the presence of water. Everyone knows the importance of water, but we forget this fact and start wasting a lot of water while washing our face. We waste several liters of water to wash our car or ourselves by taking bath for longer durations.

Very few of us practice what we preach. And this is the reason that water scarcity has appeared before the entire world.

Earth has three fourth of the water on its surface, but 1% of it is the pure drinking water. This limited resource of drinking water has been overexploited. We have already polluted the rivers, rivulets, springs and underwater with chemicals, while the remaining pure water is being recklessly used. The people do not care to save the water.

We have to go for rain harvesting, where the houses should be built in such a way to store the rainwater, as it is one of the purest forms of water.