Some of you may remember this post from a while back: Saving the planet by going vegetarian… in which I had said: “I wish someone likes Shri Pachauri makes it part of his/her agenda…”
Seems my wish has been fulfilled! Last week, Dr Rajendra Pachauri appeared to confirm that eating less meat will help protect the environment:
People should have one meat-free day a week if they want to make a personal and effective sacrifice that would help tackle climate change, the world’s leading authority on global warming has told The Observer
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year earned a joint share of the Nobel Peace Prize, said that people should then go on to reduce their meat consumption even further.
…Pachauri, who was re-elected the panel’s chairman for a second six-year term last week, said diet change was important because of the huge greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems - including habitat destruction - associated with rearing cattle and other animals. It was relatively easy to change eating habits compared to changing means of transport, he said.
…’In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity,’ said Pachauri. ‘Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there,’ said the Indian economist, who is a vegetarian.
However, he also stressed other changes in lifestyle would help to combat climate change. ‘That’s what I want to emphasise: we really have to bring about reductions in every sector of the economy.’
…last night he (Dr Pachauri) was given unexpected support by Masterchef presenter and restaurateur John Torode, who is about to publish a new book, John Torode’s Beef. ‘I have a little bit and enjoy it,’ said Torode. ‘Too much for any person becomes gluttony. But there’s a bigger issue here: where [the meat] comes from. If we all bought British and stopped buying imported food we’d save a huge amount of carbon emissions.’ [ link ]
Food for thought, isn’t it?
Related Post: Saving the planet by going vegetarian…
Some of you will also enjoy Question Six and its answer here: Ten Questions People Ask about Hinduism…
September 17th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Enviroment Related |
16 comments
Some good links for the weekend:
Excerpts from the Pak army and the jihadi’s second coming: Read in the context of recent incidents of ceasefire violation along the LOC and the controversy surrounding Gen Kapoor’s remarks.
Excerpts from [The Islamist-Leftist] Allied Menace
and how California alone uses more gasoline than any other country in the world (including India and China!)
.
Keep Reading…
August 9th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Enviroment Related, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), Global Terrorism, Islam & Terrorism, Jammu & Kashmir related, Pakistan related |
no comments
Some of you may know that cell phone (or mobile) recycling is now a *major* business in the developed world (- playing on people’s sense of guilt of throwing things away which they know may be useful but are probably old, worn or no longer fashionable)…
I was therefore pleasantly surprised to come across this post which mentions how we (in India) are one step ahead than everyone else...
What sets these (emerging market) locations apart from cities in more ‘emerged’ markets?
Aside from the scale of what’s on sale there is a thriving market for (mobile/cell phone) device repair services ranging from swapping out components to re-soldering circuit boards to reflashing phones in a language of your choice , naturally.
Repairs are often carried out with little more than a screwdriver, a toothbrush (for cleaning contact points) the right knowledge and a flat surface to work on.
Repair manuals (which appear to be reverse engineered) are available, written in Hindi, English and Chinese and can even be subscribed to, but there is little evidence of them being actively used.
…Delhi has the distinction of also offering a wide variety of mobile phone repair courses at training institutes such as Britco and Bridco turning out a steady flow of mobile phone repair engineers.
To round off the ecosystem wholesalers’ offer all the tools required to set up and run a repair business from individual components and circuit board schematics to screwdrivers and software installers. [ link ]
The next time someone berates us for being environmentally unfriendly, remember this post!
Find of the Day:
“In Delhi, recycling has nothing to do with conscience. It is all about survival” from which this concluding excerpt: “…India has a recycling record that should be the envy of the West. Nothing is casually thrown away here. Nothing goes to waste, because the people simply can’t afford it….”
(somewhat) Related Posts:
On Nano, global warming, India and China
Saving the planet by going vegetarian…
August 6th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Enviroment Related, Miscellaneous |
no comments
…or has he relied on some half-baked research presented to him as a backgrounder?
I was alerted today to this excellent analysis of ”Rama Setu in Padma PurANa” by Sh Sarvesh Tiwari. I sincerely hope that Sh Nariman reads this…although I am not very hopeful.
Regardless, the lie about BhagwAn Shri RAm “destroying” the Rama Setu needs to be nailed…(remember, a lie told often enough will become the truth etc…?)
But do you think any of the mainstream media (or the TV anchors) are going to take notice of this? I bet not.
*** Excerpts Begin (emphasis mine) ***
Representing the Union of India in the Supreme Court, Senior Attorney Fali Nariman was reported to have stated the following: “the Padma Purana states Lord Rama broke the bridge after rescuing Sita. And according to the Hindu faith, something that is broken cannot be worshipped” and “This is why nobody has till date declared it a monument.”
This statement prompted us to look into the original sources and examine the claim made by the Union of India. The below note summarizes our findings.
1. padma purANa is one of the eighteen main purANas, a mahApurANa of vaiShNava category, and is listed as second in that list. It is also counted among the six of this list that are considered to be of predominantly sAttvika content (the other five being viShNu, nArada, bhAgavat, garuDa and vArAha). This purANa comprises of fifty-five-thousand shloka-s and is therefore one of the lengthiest. There are four main recensions of this purANa available. The most commonly found is the northern one in devanAgarI, and is widely printed and circulated by several publishers like Geeta Press Gorakhpur etc. The other major recension is from the southern sources…Finally, another primary recension with quite a lot of differences and of fair antiquity is the eastern recension available in Bengali script….
…
6. The story of rAma finds an important coverage in the padma purANa, and occurs in two different books: the sR^iShTi-khaNDa as well as pAtAla-khaNDa. rAma-setu finds narration in both of these books as well. The story is generally the same as in vAlmIki’s rAmAyaNa but differs dramatically in the details. pAtAla khaNDa provides a very unique story about how the vAnara senA crossed the sea and reached the coast of laMkA. In some recensions of the sR^iShTi-khaNDa, rAma is described to be trifurcating the setu on request from vibhIShaNa. The text is generally the same in the referred recensions and editions, ignoring some scribal mistakes, and in one particular devanAgarI recension this mention is missing altogether.
…
8. Earlier in the sR^iShTi-khaNDa, is this another unique mention of rAma setu in the fortieth chapter known as vAmanapratiShThA (in some recension thirty-fifth chapter, and in some missing altogether). The background of the mention is that after winning the war at laMkA and fulfilling his objectives there, rAma is readying to return back to ayodhyA along with his entourage by using the puShpaka vimAna offered by vibhIShaNa. Before departing, rAma has entrusted the rAkShasa kingdom to vibhIShaNa …
In this context is the following dialog recorded between vibhIShaNa and rAma in the vAmanapratiShThA chaper of the sR^iShTi-khaNDa the first book of the padma-purANa:
{(130) Hearing this from rAghava, vibhIShaNa responded to him. ‘All that you have ordered shall be obediently executed, O rAghava. (131) (However,) O Lord, this sacred setu of yours could be used by all the people of the world to approach (into laMkA) and therefore should be obstructed. (132) What control do I have in this matter O deva, but this is a need of mine.’ Hearing these words uttered by the best rAkShasa, The Scion of Raghu (133) took in his hands the missile kArmukaM, and breached the setu in the middle at two places over a length of ten yojana, (134) therefore dividing it into three parts with a one-yojana gap on the either side. Then approaching the shore-forest, he worshipped mahAdeva the Lord of umA. (135) There he established The Three- Eyed mahAdeva by the name of rAmeshwara. rAma, the Great Prince then prohibited the God sAgara, (136) that the Southern Sea should neither thunder there, nor flow across. Issuing his prohibitions this way, rAma then sent off the God sAgara. From the sky then emitted the following AkAshavANI. (137) Spoke rudra: O rAghava, you have auspiciously established me here. O Brave One, so far as the worlds remain, so far as the earth is intact, (138- till then I shall reside myself at the Setu, O Scion of Raghu! Hearing these nectar-like words uttered by mahAdeva himself, rAghava the Hero then spoke in these intelligent and sweetest words. (rAma humbly salutes devadeva and sings a hymn in his praise which spans over shloka-s 139 to 147. shloka 148 is a comment by sage pulatsya in praise to this hymn. In shloka-s 149-151, rudra speaks again, praising the deeds of rAma.) (152) O raghunandana, to this place created by you whichever man comes and even (merely) glances at it in the sea, (153) (even if) he be an extreme sin-fallen, all their sins would get destroyed, O rAma. The wicked crimes as heinous as brAhmaNa-slaying etc., even these (154) would be released here by mere darshana, no doubt.}
9. In conclusion, we can only say that the statement made by the Attorney in the Hon’ble Supreme Court that according to padma purANa: a) rAma “destroyed” the setu; and b) setu can no more be an object of worship; – are both absolutely inaccurate if not downright false. Very unambiguously, the referred recensions of the padma purANa state that rAma trifurcated the setu for the sake of protecting laMkA, and at the same time he and lord mahAdeva invested spiritual powers into setu as a place of worship forever. Till this word remains, and till the earth is intact – “yAvajjagadidaM, yAvaddharAsthitA” are this purANa-s own exact words. As to “therefore, nobody has declared it a monument”, since the Attorney is referring to padma purANa, in which lord mahAdeva himself has declared it a unique sacred place of worship, releaser of the sin and crime, and abode of his own - this remains and would remain a sacred monument for Hindus; and Union of India can do little about it.
*** Excerpts End ***
Pl. do read the article in full with images of the scanned pages of the relevant text and complete references included. My heartfelt thanks to Sh. Tiwari-ji for this painstaking and excellent analysis.
Related Posts:
“Who is this Ram?” - Will Thiru Karunanidhi look at this evidence?
A Search for the Historical “Krishna”
The search for a historical “Rama”
Voices of caution on SethuSamudram
Comrades-in-arms: UPA & Pakistani “militants”
Find of the Day: “If only we had forgiven Iraq for 9/11“. Do read.
August 1st, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
A Hindu Identity, Ancient Indian History, Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentation about Hinduism, Enviroment Related, Hindu Dharma, Indian Media, Miscellaneous, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement |
4 comments
Continuing from Part I of this guest post by Ashutosh on India, Pakistan and geo-strategic issues…
A few days later (after the Tehelka Summit), I attended the book launch of the second edition of Natural Gas in Asia - The Challenges of Growth in China, India, Japan and Korea by Oxford Institute of Energy Studies…
I took with me experiences of the previous week and also the knowledge that at the launch of the previous edition in 2004 (which I had attended too), the popular viewwas summed up in a single sentence India and Pakistan can play cricket with each other but energy co-operation, no Sir, that is not yet on the cards
Cut to July 2008 - Launch of the second edition, the same old projects: Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline- the roller coaster that is the Iran-India LNG deal- and this time the view about energy co-operation - a possibility- even call it distinct possibility. Just the previous week, at the Tehelka conference a few participants- Imran Khan, Asad Durrani and a few others had mentioned Iran-Pakistan-India collaboration but the same people said a lot more about a lot of otherissues too..and one cant ignore or forget what was said.
The view in this very knowledgeable energy crowd, albeit dominated by western oil and gas company executives was: “India-Pakistan energy collaboration, really?”
Had I not attended the Tehalka conference, I would have just about given these much bandied about projects,agrudging chance- may be, just may be. But then again I ask why now? And why with Pakistan in between? Whats wrong with an energy cooperation with other states in the Middle East like Qatar, or a nuclear energy pact with US?
Dont we have some of the best engineers and technical manpower to provide a solution to the big global crew change in oil and gas? How are we leveraging that strength as a country? In the light of these, how important is this Iran-Pakistan-India gas deal and who wants it more badly? The Iranians? The Pakistanis or the Indians? I can say for certain, the Indians dont need it as bad.
Shantanu, thanks for alerting me about the Tehelka event- even its attendee composition was quite telling- a relatively large number of expat professional Pakistanis compared to Indians attended this event.
Having experienced a range of insinuations at the Conference may I add my own?National enlightened self interest wins over personal economic aspirations amongst expats from Pakistan. To use a phrase, made popular once again by the book of the same name - We are like that only entrenched in our compassionate Capitalistic (the latter word purposefully with a capital “C” and the former with a small “c”) mindset and to an extent, perhaps it is for the better; we have become great role models of tolerance - too great for our own good, I think!
Related Posts:
India - Pakistan: Notes from an Island
On Nano, global warming, India and China
India, Iran and the IPI pipeline
India-China-Japan-US and the politics of energy
July 15th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Enviroment Related, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), India & Its Neighbours, Indian Economy, Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India |
no comments
Amidst all the violence and “protests” around the issue of transfer of 40 hectares of land to Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), I noticed twoquestions that appear to have gone unanswered.
The first question…and this is really the elephant in the room, is, “How many “Hindus” would it take to change the demography of Kashmir?
It is important to consider this question as this is what seems to upset most Kashmiris. To wit:
…President of Action Committee Against Land Transfer (ACALT) and former Kashmir Bar Association President, Mian Abdul Qayoom…termed the (SASB) decision as a conspiracy to change the demography of occupied Kashmir [ link ]
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairperson of the hard-line Hurriyat faction, has beenquoted as saying, “Transfer of forestland to SASB is a conspiracy to change the demography of the Valley. We will not allow this ploy to succeed,”
Let us look at some numbers.
According to 2001 Census of India, the population ofJammu and Kashmir was just over 10m of which6.8m (66.97%) were Muslims; Hindus were just over 3m(29.63%) -note that the % Muslim population has increased since the last censusin 1981 and the proportion of Hindus has decreased (atleastpartly due to migration);According to the 1981 census, Muslims accounted for 64.19% andHindus were at 32.24%.
However, this distribution hides the skewed demographics in the “Valley”. In Kashmir (Valley), the proportion ofMuslims is generally accepted to be~ 95% (e.g. see here),possibly more.
The 1981 census put the Pandits’ number (in the Valley) at a little over 124,000 in a total population of 3.1 million (It should be noted that between 1941 and 1981, the Pandit population declined from 15% to just under 5% while the Muslim population grew from 83% to 95%.The Hindu population in the Valley today is certainly lower than the 1981 number while the Muslim population has grown. According to this report, “…of the estimated 200,000 Hindus, known as Pandits, who lived in the Kashmir Valley…only some 10,000 remain.”
Against this backdrop, is itnot a joketo talk about the land allotment to SASB being an attemptto change the “demographics” of Kashmir - and to reduce Muslims to a minority?
Or am I missing something?
To change the demographics of the Valley, the entire Hindu population in Kashmir will have to move to the Valley and then some…even then, they may be short of a few lakhs, in numbers…
Why does not anyone expose the specious argument?
***
The second question is who exactly are the environmental critics or “local environmentalists” who areopposing the transfer on ecologicalgrounds?
E.g. “Critics say building permanent structures at base camps of the pilgrimage will ruin the fragile ecology of the mountainous region…” and “…Local environmentalists protested against the decision and local politicians joined them in opposing the issue…”
I did not find a single “expert” being named in any of the tens of news-reports…
It needs to be mentioned that the one department in the government that you would expect to have raised objections on environmental grounds - the Forest Department - has actually approved the proposal.
Specifically, “the matter was examined in the forest department at various levels and was finally submitted to the minister by the Principal Secretary of the Forest Department recommending that the proposal be approved.”[link ]
Am I the only one herewith the feeling something is not quite right?
Related Posts:
Specious Arguments and False Propoganda
More on Muslim Population Growth in India
Some startling stats from the eastern front
P.S. As many of you would know, Kashmir’s association with Hinduism goes back through the ages…The name itself issaid to be derived from Kashyapa, one of the seven Saptarishis…and Kashmir is home to some of the holiest shrines in Hinduism…Amarnath, of course but also Kheer Bhawani,Shankaracharya Mandir, Hari Parbat etc…
Eminent Kashmiris (from the ancientpast) are said toincludeAbhinavagupta, Kalhana and Charaka (and possibly Kalidasa). More here.
Also recommended:Amarnath exposes Kashmir Faultlines(fromOfftsumped)
June 28th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Enviroment Related, Jammu & Kashmir related, Muslim Population in India, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement, Post Independence History |
5 comments
Many of you probablyread B Raman’s open letter to Aamir Khan in rediff recently.
In the article Shri Raman made several points about why (and how) India and China are fundamentally different and how India’s record on human rights - while not stellar - cannot be compared to that of China.
It is worth reminding ourselves of that as “lumping” India and China in one bracketis becoming something of a fashion these days.
The tendencyto do this is hardly limited to politics or to human-rights issues.
For example,when it comes to business or economic development issues, even otherwise astute observers of international affairs succumb to the temptation(or intellectual laziness)ofpainting them with the same brush - or worse, lumping them under the naive (and ill-considered) label “ChIndia”.
Icame across abrilliant critique of this intellectual laziness is anarticle I had read some time ago - and of which I was reminded of once again after reading B Raman’s piece.
Here are some excerpts from “EYE ON THE TIGERS“by Ashutosh Sheshabalaya
“They are omnipresent, even if they lie shrouded backstage in discussions about climate change. At last count, there were almost two-and-a-half billion of them - Chinese and Indians.
Indeed, one of the most sterile facets of the global warming debate is to refer to China and India, rather than to Chinese and Indians. China and India may be among the worlds biggest CO2 emitters. But your everyday Wang or Rajiv hardly qualifies for such an honour.
The reasons are clear: out of the worlds 235-plus countries, China and Indias populations outnumber the bottom 220 put together. And their per-head/per-body contribution to global warming is vastly lower than that of the West.
In the typical Indians case - commercial energy use is, crucially, also far below the global average. In 2005, world electricity consumption was 2,400 kilowatt hours (kWh) per person. Indias was just 432 kWh, four times less than Chinas 1,662 kWh. Oil use, too, exemplifies such trends.
An Indians consumption of crude, at 0.8 barrels per year, pales against the worlds 4.5 barrels, and is less than half Chinas 1.8. There is little point throwing more dazzling, vulgar beams of light by juxtaposing such figures against the Western world, lit up end-to-end for the Christmas and New Year festivities.
Still, what is clear is that the difference between India and China is at least as significant as that between China and the world. And here is a suggestion to move the climate change debate beyond noisy palavers (a word originally referring to the patronising monologues of European colonial adventurers in Africa).
Firstly, differentiate between India and China. Both may be rising industrial powers, but Chinas economic growth-at-any-cost is rather different from that of India, and this difference goes far beyond the numbers referred to above.
Keep Reading…
April 9th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
China related, Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Enviroment Related, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), Human Rights and Legal Issues, India & Its Neighbours |
3 comments
From Monday’s Telegraph(”Brahmaputra jitters from China project“):
“…Hints have emerged from China that it may be gearing for a project on the Brahmaputra that threatens drought in Indias Northeast, environment experts and Indian officials claim.
Delhi, however, has decided to ignore the developments and instead volunteered to pay Beijing for help in avoiding floods in the region, government sources here said…
China, despite official disclaimers, has long been suspected of planning to divert the waters of the Brahmaputra which originates in southwest Tibet as the Yarlung Zangbo or Tsangpo to its thirsty northwest.
Experts have warned that such a project could trigger an ecological disaster in Indias Northeast and Bangladesh.
In recent weeks, a flood of technical articles has appeared in China backing the diversion plan, indicating Beijing is setting the stage for the project, Indian officials said. They said the Chinese government had also built an airstrip on the rivers banks close to a potential diversion point where a dam could come up…”
So what does our Government do?
Nothing. It just “watches”
Keep Reading…
April 3rd, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
China related, Current Affairs, Enviroment Related, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), India & Its Neighbours, Politics and Governance in India, Post Independence History |
4 comments
I used to dismiss the idea of saving the planet by choosing a vegetarian diet as far-fetched untilI came across this report from EarthSave, “
Although some of the points it makes may be contentious (e.g. the aerosols argument is more complex than appears: while some aerosols help reduce temparatures, others may have a warming effect), it nevertheless makes for fascinating reading.
It is richly annotated and deserves serious attention and wide publicity - far more than it has got in the mainstream media and press to date. I wish someone likes Shri Pachauri makes it part of his/her agenda…Otherwise we are unlikely to see any significant moveaway from the current obsession with CO2.
Excerpts (emphasis mine):
“…The environmental community rightly recognizes global warming as one of the gravest threats to the planet. Global temperatures are already higher than theyve ever been in at least the past millennium, and the increase is accelerating even faster than scientists had predicted. The expected consequences include coastal flooding, increases in extreme weather, spreading disease, and mass extinctions.
…Unfortunately, the environmental community has focused its efforts almost exclusively on abating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
This is a serious miscalculation. Data published by Dr. James Hansen and others show that CO2 emissions are not the main cause of observed atmospheric warming….
Though this may sound like the work of global warming skeptics, it isnt: Hansen is Director of NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies who has been called a grandfather of the global warming theory. He is a longtime supporter of action against global warming, cited by Al Gore and often quoted by environmental organizations…
…The focus solely on CO2 is fueled in part by misconceptions. Its true that human activity produces vastly more CO2 than all other greenhouse gases put together. However, this does not mean it is responsible for most of the earths warming.
Many other greenhouse gases trap heat far more powerfully than CO2, some of them tens of thousands of times more powerfully. When taking into account various gases global warming potentialdefined as the amount of actual warming a gas will produce over the next one hundred yearsit turns out that gases other than CO2 make up most of the global warming problem
…the fact remains that sources of non-CO2 greenhouse gases are responsible for virtually all the global warming were seeing, and all the global warming we are going to see for the next fifty years. If we wish to curb global warming over the coming half century, we must look at strategies to address non-CO2 emissions. The strategy with the most impact is vegetarianism.
By far the most important non-CO2 greenhouse gas is methane, and the number one source of methane worldwide is animal agriculture.
…Methane is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together. Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than doubled.
With methane emissions causing nearly half of the planets human-induced warming, methane reduction must be a priority.
…the number one source (of methane) worldwide is animal agriculture. Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. And this source is on the rise: global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past fifty years, and shows little sign of abating.
About 85% of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock…
…The conclusion is simple: arguably the best way to reduce global warming in our lifetimes is to reduce or eliminate our consumption of animal products.
Simply by going vegetarian (or, strictly speaking, vegan), we can eliminate one of the major sources of emissions of methane, the greenhouse gas responsible for almost half of the global warming impacting the planet today…
In addition to having the advantage of immediately reducing global warming, a shift away from methane-emitting food sources is much easier than cutting carbon dioxide…”
***
Read the reportin full: EarthSaveReport.
Adjacent Post: Of Sacred Bulls, Divinity &Development
Cross-posted on DesiCritics
March 14th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Enviroment Related, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy) |
one comment
Once upon a time, I used to dismiss talk of increasing pollution in Indian cities as scare-mongering by NGOs eager for funds and publicity…
I am a little wiser now…but this recent news-item really sobered me up.
Excerpts from “Mumbai. Delhi among world’s dirtiest cities”:
“…Mumbai and Delhi are among the 25 dirtiest cities in the world while the four Indian metros and Bangalore are among the 20 densest cities, according to the Forbes magazine.
The US business magazine also lists Sukinda in Orissa and Vapi in Gujarat among the 10 most polluted places globally.
While listing Mumbai as the seventh dirtiest, the magazine also cites a recent private sector proposal, Vision Mumbai, which seeks $1 billion government aid for infrastructure, pollution control and economic growth strategy.
Delhi at No.24 fares little better but gets drubbing for the pollution in Yamuna river, which is devoid of marine life and where “garbage and sewage flow freely, creating a rich environment for the growth of water-borne diseases contributing to extremely high rates of infant morbidity.”
In an earlier Forbes list of the 20 densest urban areas in the world, Mumbai and Kolkata occupied the top two slots, packing in over 23,000 people per square kilometre.
India and China combine to claim nine of the 20 slots, according to 2007 statistics from citymayors.com.
Chennai is at No.8, Delhi at No.13 and Bangalore at No.19 in the list of densely populated cities. Karachi in Pakistan is at No.3.
In Forbes’ list of 10 most polluted places on earth, two Indian towns figure. In Sukinda, Orissa, large swathes of the area’s surface water and drinking water contain very high covalent chromium levels, potentially affecting 2.6 million people, the magazine said.
Sukinda is home to almost all of the country’s chromite ore deposits and one of the largest opencast chromite ore mines in the world.
In Vapi, the pollutants are chemicals and heavy metals from industrial estates, potentially affecting over 70,000 people. Mercury in the groundwater here is reported to be 96 times higher than the World health Organisation (WHO) standards.
Local produce can contain up to 60 times more heavy metals, such as copper, chromium, cadmium and zinc than non-contaminated produce in control groups, Forbes reported.”
I am worried…very worried. Are our policy planners listening?
The original Forbes report is here.
March 5th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Enviroment Related, Indian Architecture & City Planning, Indian Economy, Politics and Governance in India |
2 comments
