Happy Valentine Day

Dear Love

If you’re reading this it means I actually worked up the courage to write it, so good for me. As you very often asked me to write something or rather make it a routine to write a letter for you every day, but if you get me started I have a tendency to go on and on about how hard the writing is for me (I can write anywhere… Or not, as the case may be, which is not the case.). But this, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write.

I still remember our first meeting and it was kind of “love at first sight” Although, it was an arranged meeting (on the day of our engagement) when I’ve seen you first. —it was a perfect storm. You said one thing, I said another. Amidst all the awkwardness and in the brief encounter we had, next thing I knew, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, in the middle of that conversation. I had this feeling in my gut: You are the one. And there was not a whisker of doubt in my mind, hence I said "YES" and you reciprocated the same (I believe the feeling was mutual).

Dear Love, It’s a big, bad world full of twists and turns, and people have a way of blinking and missing the moment… the moment that could’ve changed everything. I still remember, I didn't want to blink for a moment and was mustering all my courage to tell you, "How beautiful you were looking at that moment, the moment when our eyes met for first time. A smile occurred on your lips, a bright sparkle shone in your eyes and I was so mesmerised that I completely forgot the surroundings and was dumbstruck. 

Now as we have spent quite some time together, Now I am pretty clear that you are completely nuts, in a way that makes me smile—highly neurotic, a great deal of maintenance required. That’s the good news. The bad is that I don’t know how to be with you right now, and that scares the shit out of me. Because if I am not with you right now, I have this feeling we will get lost out there.

I miss you. I miss you being around, I miss your chatters, I miss your silence, I miss your smell.  Damn!  you smell good, like home. And you make excellent coffee (for yourself) & Chai for me; that’s got to count for something, right? I miss our laughter, our fight, I miss our morning talks and arguments in night. 

In short; I miss everything “you”.

Happy Valentine Day, My Love.

Love
Ami
*taking some cue from "The Californicaton"

Sardar Sarovar Dam, Part 1 - History & Benefits

Narmada is the fifth largest river in India and largest West flowing river of the Indian Peninsula.Its annual flow           approximates to the combined flow of the rivers Sutlej, Beas and Ravi.  Originating from the Maikala ranges at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, it flows Westwards over a length of about 1312 km. before draining into the Gulf of Cambay, 50 km. West of Bharuch City. The first 1077 km. stretch is in Madhya Pradesh and the next 35 km. stretch  of the river forms the boundary between the States of Madhya Pradesh and Maharasthra.  Again, the next 39 km. forms the boundary between Maharasthra and Gujarat and the last stretch of 161 km. lies in Gujarat. The Basin area of this river is about 1 lac sq. km. The utilisation of this river basin, however, is hardly about 4%. Most of the water of this peninsula river  goes into the sea. Inspite of  the huge potential, there was hardly any development of the Narmada water resources prior to independence.

History of Sardar Sarovar Dam :

·         It was a dream for Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel to build a dam on Narmada and utilize the full potential of the water flowing through River Narmada.

·         In 1946, the then Government of Central Provinces and Berar and the then Government of Bombay requested the Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission (CWINC) to take up investigations on the Narmada river system for basin-wise development of the river with flood control, irrigation, power and extension of navigation as the objectives in view.

·         in 1948, the Central Ministry of Works, Mines & Power appointed an Ad-hoc Committee headed by Shri A.N. Khosla, Chairman, CWINC to study the projects and to recommend the priorities. Based on the recommendations of the aforesaid Ad-hoc Committee, estimates for investigations of the Bargi, Tawa, Punasa (Narmadasagar) and Broach Projects were sanctioned by the Government of India in March, 1949.

·         The Central Water & Power Commission carried out a study of the hydroelectric potential of the Narmada basin in the year 1955. After the investigations were carried out by the Central Water & Power commission, the Navagam site was finally decided upon in consultation with the erstwhile Government of Bombay for the construction of the dam.

·         With the formation of the State of Gujarat on 1st May, 1960, the Narmada Project stood transferred to that State.  Accordingly, the Government of Gujarat gave an administrative approval to Stage-I of the

·         Narmada Project in February, 1961.  The Project was then inaugurated by late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 5th April, 1961.

·         Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal was formed on 6^th October 1969 and its primary objective was to set out conditions regarding the resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced by the dams.

·         As per the tribunal’s decision released by Indian government after 10 years of investigation on 12^th Oct 1979 30 major, 135 medium, and 3000 small dams, were granted approval for construction, including raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam. This decision was motivated by the assumption that it would provide water to around forty million people, irrigation, and electricity to people in the region.

·         The construction of commenced in 1985 and the major objective of this dam was to increase irrigation in the concerned areas and and produce hydroelectricity.

·         In 1985 Medha Patkar and her colleagues noticed that the construction of dam lacs the basic & crucial studies related to its impact on environment and peoples residing in the area. the officials related to the project had not even checked the land records and updated them, The people who were going to be affected by the construction of the dam were given no information but the offer for rehabilitation. Villagers weren't consulted and weren't asked for a feedback on the assessment that had taken place. And thus Narmada Bachao Andolan (NA) was formed.

·         The World Bank (WB) began working on the Narmada Project after it got clearance from the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal. The team sent by WB to assess the project on technical & economic terms didn’t focus on social & environmental aspects.

·         Although the WB has realized the harm it has done by sanctioning the loan and revised its policy to ensure that, after a reasonable transition period, the displaced people regain at least their previous standard of living. the relocation process was flawed. Several tribal people have been harmed by the project.

·         In 1985 the World Bank sanctioned the loan to state governments despite of knowing the harms this project may create but also said, "The argument in favor of the Sardar Sarovar Project is that the benefits are so large that they substantially outweigh the costs of the immediate human and environmental disruption.

·         Medha Patkar and other protesters testified on the Bank's role in Washington D.C in 1989. This led to a build-up of pressure on the Bank to set an independent review to assess the situation at hand. A lot of support was withdrawn from the project after this. The Indian Government canceled the loan sanctioned by the World Bank on March 31, 1993.

·         Since the inception, this project has been controversial and so it took more than 5 decades for it to complete. Following a number of controversial cases before the Supreme Court of India (1999, 2000, 2003), by 2014 the Narmada Control Authority had approved a series of changes in the final height – and the associated displacement caused by the increased reservoir, from the original 80 m (260 ft) to a final 163 m (535 ft) from foundation.

·         As per the decision given by Supreme Court, which was released by Government after 7 years delay The court introduced a mechanism to monitor the progress of resettlement pari passu (without partiality) with the raising of the height of the dam through the Grievance Redressal Authorities (GRA) in each party state. It has paved the way for completing the project to attain full envisaged benefits. The court's final line of the order states, "Every endeavour shall be made to see that the project is completed as expeditiously as possible"

·         Height Increases :

o    In February 1999, the Supreme Court of India gave the go ahead for the dam's height to be raised to 88 m (289 ft) from the initial 80 m (260 ft).

o    In October 2000 again, in a 2-to-1 majority judgment in the Supreme Court, the government was allowed to construct the dam up to 90 m (300 ft).^[2]

o    In May 2002, the Narmada Control Authority approved increasing the height of the dam to 95 m (312 ft).

o    In March 2004, the Authority allowed a 15 m (49 ft) height increase to 110 m (360 ft).

o    In March 2006, the Narmada Control Authority gave clearance for the height of the dam to be increased from 110.64 m (363.0 ft) to 121.92 m (400.0 ft). This came after 2003 when the Supreme Court of India refused allow the height of the dam to increase again.

o    In August 2013, heavy rains raised the reservoir level to 131.5 m (431 ft), which forced 7,000 villagers upstream along the Narmada River to relocate.^[14]

o    On June 2014, Narmada Control Authority gave the final clearance to raise the height from 121.92 m (400.0 ft) metres to 138.68 m (455.0 ft)^[15]

o    The Narmada Control Authority decided on June 17 2017 to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam to its fullest height by ordering the closure of 30 Gates

o    One of the 30 dams planned on river Narmada, Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) is the largest structure to be built.

The Supreme Court decision

Despite popular protest, the Supreme Court gave clearance for the height to be increased to 121.92 m (400 ft), but in the same judgment Justice Mr. Bharucha gave directions to Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (the Grievance Redressal Authorities of Gujarat) that before further construction begins, they should certify (after inspection) that all those displaced by the raise in height of 5 metres have already been satisfactorily rehabilitated, and also that suitable vacant land for rehabilitating them is already in the possession of the respective States. This process shall be repeated for every successive five metre increase in height.

Benefits of Sardar Sarovar Dam

·         It is a gravity dam on the Narmada river near Navagam, Gujarat in India. Situated to the south west of Malwa plateau, the dissected hill tracts culminate in the Mathwar hills, located in Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh. Below these hills Narmada river flows through a long, terrific gorge. This gorge extends into Gujarat where the river is tapped by the Sardar Sarovar dam.

·         Four Indian states namely Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and Rajasthan are mainly benefitted by its irrigation and electrical power supply

·         It is a part of the Narmada Valley Project, a large hydraulic engineering project involving the construction of a series of large irrigation and hydroelectric multi-purpose dams on the Narmada river.

·         Irrigation

o    The project will irrigate more than 18,000 km² (6,900 sq mi), most of it in droughtprone areas of Kutch and Saurashtra. The Sardar Sarovar Project will provide irrigation facilities to 18.45 lac ha. of land, covering 3112 villages of 73 talukas in 15 districts of Gujarat.

o    It will also irrigate 2,46,000 ha. of land in the strategic desert districts of Barmer and Jallore in Rajasthan and 37,500 ha. in the tribal hilly tract of Maharashtra through lift.

o     About 75% of the command area in Gujarat is drought prone while entire command in Rajasthan is drought prone. Assured water supply will soon make this area drought proof.

·         Power

o    There are two power houses viz. River Bed Power House and Canal Head Power House with an installed capacity of 1200 MW and 250 MW respectively.

o    The dam's main power plant houses six 200 MW Francis pump-turbines to generate electricity and include a pumped-storage capability. Additionally, a power plant on the intake for the main canal contains five 50 MW Kaplan turbine-generators.

o    The total installed capacity of the power facilities is 1,450 MW. Its final configuration is the second largest concrete gravity dam (by volume) after Grand Coulee Dam in the US and has the world's third largest spillway discharging capacity.

o    The power would be shared by three states - Madhya Pradesh - 57%, Maharashtra - 27% and Gujarat 16%.

o    This will provide a useful peaking power to western grid of the country which has very limited hydel power production at present. A series of micro hydel power stations are also planned on the branch canals where convenient falls are available.

·         Flood Protection

o    The dam will also provide flood protection to riverine reaches measuring 30,000 ha (74,000 acres) covering 210 villages and Bharuch city and a population of 400,000 in Gujarat

·         Drinking Water Supply

o    A special allocation of 0.86 MAF of water has been made to provide drinking water to 131 urban centres and 9633 villages (53% of total 18144 villages of Gujarat) within and out-side command in Gujarat for present population of 28 million and prospective population of over 40 million by the year 2021.

o    All the villages and urban centres of arid region of Saurashtra and Kachchh and all "no source" villages and the villages affected by salinity and fluoride in North Gujarat will be benefited.

o    Water supply requirement of several industries will also be met from the project giving a boost to all-round production

·         Wild life sanctuaries viz. "Shoolpaneshewar wild life sanctuary" on left Bank, Wild Ass Sanctuary in little Rann of Kachchh, Black Buck National Park at Velavadar, Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in Kachchh, Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary and Alia Bet at the mouth of River will be benefited.

·         SSP would generate electricity. On completion, annual additional agricultural production would be Rs. 1600 crores, power generation and water supply Rs. 175 crores, aggregating about Rs. 2175 crores every year equivalent to about Rs. 6.0 crores a day.

·         In addition, there will be benefits of fisheries development, recreational facilities, water supply for industries, agro industrial development, protection of conserved forest from grazers and secondary benefits viz employment generation, increase in vegetal cover in 3.4 M. Ham. of GCA, gains due to compensatory forest, tree plantation 100 times and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) fixation to large extent by 70 times.

Source – Wikipedia, narmada.org, sardarsarovardam.org, supreme court judgement on NBA Vs Union of India 2000.

BIHAR CHRONICLE - A New Begining: Inviting Volunteer writers to contribute in THE BIHAR WEBZINE

BIHAR CHRONICLE - A New Begining: Inviting Volunteer writers to contribute in THE BIHAR WEBZINE

Primary education in India

I belong to a middle class, upper caste family in an unknown village in Bihar where parents emphasizes more on getting educated. But whenever I came across the kids of lower caste or lower class families I wondered why they are in such a pathetic condition and deprived of all the basic amenities like food, health and most importantly education; I only realized about all these things during my growing years.
The main reasons behind their poor condition are as follows:
(a). Extreme poverty.
(b). Caste discrimination (Now a days it is not relevant in my village).
(c). Inaccessibility of government schemes.
(d). Corruption.
(e). Most importantly lack of interest in getting educated.
Poverty and discrimination force poor parents to send their kids to earn bread & butter rather than to school. Hence these kids loose interest in studies. Corruption and Inaccessibility to government scheme also lead them far from being literate.
These statements are true not just about my village only but it is common to allover India. India during the days of Takshshila, Rajgriha, Bikramshila and Nalanda used to be the center of education around the world. But now a days when its GDP is expected to cross the mark of 7% and stock market soaring high despite global meltdown the statistics are not that much impressive on education front.
India's education %ge still hovers around 60% and more than 40% of its population is still uneducated or illiterate.
A recent survey shows that despite of having 40% of population under the age of 15 years of age. 15 out of 100 kids doesn’t go to school and among 85 who so 50% could not proceed further than Vth grade.
The main reason for such a drop-out rate is the extreme poverty among the people. Though the private education market in India is estimated to be worth of 40 billion 8 in 2008 and will increase to $68 billion in 2012. yet most of the Indian family could not afford to send their kids to these schools.
Another reason for low literacy is lack of educational institution in India. As of 2008, India’s post-secondary high school offers only enough seats for India’s 7% of college age population. 25%of teaching position nation wide are vacant and 57%of college professors lacks either a master’s or PHD degree.
Meager fund spend by government is also no sufficient to improve its education level. India spends only 3.3% of its GDP while develop countries spends almost 5.8% for same. But on defense sector India spends India spends almost 12.5% of its GDP which higher than its education expense.
The absenteeism among teacher and teaching staffs also led to lowering of interest for education among students. ’A survey shows that 1 out of every 4 teachers could be found absent on any given time and 50% among these esteemed professionals does not willing to take class at any moment (I had seen this in my village school as well and it left a huge imprint in my mind hence prompted me to put my efforts in bringing changes ).
• Subsequent government after independence tried to raise education level in India and put their best efforts in doing so. The District Primary Education Program (DPEP) was launched in 1994 with an aim to universalize primary system in India by reforming and revitalizing education system. 85% of DPEP was funded by Central Government while 15% was funded by the states. DPEP which had opened 160000 new schools including 84000 alternative education institutions delivering alternative education among 3.5 million children was also supported by UNICEF and other international programs.
• This primary education scheme has also shown a high Gross Enrollment Ratio 93%-95% for the last three years in some states.
• Significant improvement in staffing and enrollment of girls has also been made as a part of this scheme.
The current scheme for universalization of education for all is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, Which Is One Of The Largest Education Initiative In the world. Enrollment has been enhanced but the level of quality remains low.
But hopefully the scenario is going to be change as today’s youth is much more eager and enthusiastic to bring changes for the betterment of nation. Lots of NGO’s and initiatives by differerent individuals putting their best effort to change the course of time.


Let us put our hands together to make India The best nation in the world and help in improving the education status in nation.


Amitesh

my dear endangered nationl animal

From last few days I,ve been hearing a lot about The status of tiger in India or perhaps in entire world. Every FM channel every news channel and all the medias pleading to peoples to save the most precise and valuable animal on earth The Tiger.
The tiger word in itself is the symbol of masculinity, machoism and power. But the symbol of power is fading day by day and if we do not take any appropriate and preventive measures I dont know how long we could sustain the ecological balance on this earth. When i used to teach geography almost 5 years back I taught a lot about ecology and ecological balance on this earth and in my all such classes I told them Tiger is one of the most important part of our ecology and environment as it helps in maintaining proper food chain on earth. And the same is true for some other birds like Hawk and Eagles which are also in the same league of endangered animals and which are crucial for mainttaining food chain.


Here are some facts related to tigers in India which I have collected from different blogs and sites from google search.
Current Status of Tiger in India
India holds over half the world's tiger population. According to the latest tiger census report released on February 12, 2008 by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the current tiger population stands at 1,411 (i.e. ranging between a minimum of 1,165 to a maximum of 1,657). The results include figures from 16 tiger states and are exclusive of Jharkhand and Sunderbans. The state of West Bengal was covered only partially (i.e. North Bengal) during the census. The Tiger Census 2008 report has classified the tiger occupied forests in India into 6 landscape complexes; namely (a) Shivalik-Gangetic Plains, (b) Central Indian Landscape Complex (c) Eastern Ghats, (d) Western Ghats, (e) North-Eastern Hills and Bhramaputra Plains, and (f) Sunderbans. Within the Shivalik-Gangetic plain landscape, it is reported that the tiger occupies 5080 km2 of forested habitats with an estimated population size of 297 (259 to 335) in six separate populations. In the Central Indian Landscape, tiger presence is currently reported from 47,122 km2 (11.6 % of forests) with an estimated tiger population of 451 (347 to 564) distributed in 17 populations.The Eastern Ghat landscape complex currently has about 15,000 km2 of potential tiger habitat. Tigers occupy 7,772 km2 of forested habitats with an estimated population size of 53 (49 to 57). Currently tigers occupy 21,435 km2 of forests within the Western Ghat Landscape comprising 21% of the forested area. The current potential tiger habitat in the landscape complex is about 51,000 km2. The population estimate for this landscape was 366 (297-434) tigers. North-Eastern hills and Bhramaputra plains currently reported tiger occupancy in 4230 km2 of forests. Many of the tiger populations, particularly those outside protected reserves, are fragmented, suffer from intense poaching pressure, a dwindling prey base and over-used habitat. The strategy for tiger conservation in India revolves around the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Between the mid 1970's and mid-1980's, many protected areas (66 national parks and 421 wildlife sanctuaries) were set aside, including large tracts of tiger habitat. They were later increased to 96 national parks, 510 wildlife sanctuaries and 3 conservation reserves and 2 community reserves. This resulted in an increase in tiger densities at many locations. Tragically, these conservation successes were short lived. Rampant poaching for the trade in tiger parts - all destined for markets outside India's borders - now threatens the tiger's very existence.Prevailing conservation efforts are not geared towards, nor have they adequately addressed, the new threats with new protection strategies ie. better law enforcement, training and support. Excellent new tiger protection measures (such as the recommendations of the (Subramanian Committee for the Prevention of Illegal Trade in Wildlife, 1994 and Tiger Task Force, 2005) have been proposed but not implemented and little effective action has been taken in the field. Few of the tiger reserves have an established intelligence network and nearly 80% of our tiger reserves do not have an armed strike force or basic infrastructure and equipment to combat poaching. The forest guards are often out-gunned and out-manned by poachers. In December 1998, three forest staff were murdered in Manas Tiger Reserve and several cases of murder and serious assault on forest guards have been reported since. The last meeting of the National Board of Wildlife was held on 01 November 2007. Large development projects, such as mining and hydroelectric dams, are also taking their toll on the tiger's habitat. In the past ten years, thousands of square kilometers of forest land have been diverted and destroyed to facilitate such projects. Though mostly outside the protected network, the loss of this vital habitat will have serious repercussions on tiger conservation in India.Since 1994, WPSI has made a concerted effort to gather accurate information on tiger poaching occurring throughout India. A total of 832 tigers are known to have been killed from 1994 to 2007. WPSIs extensive database of tigers poached has detailed information on poaching figures collected by us. These figures, however, are reported cases and represent only a fraction of the actual poaching activity in India.Recent undercover investigations by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) revealed that the trade in tiger and leopard body parts in China continues to thrive, operating without any hindrance from the Chinese government whilst driving India’s wild tigers closer towards extinction. Despite all these problems, India still holds the best chance for saving the tiger in the wild. Tigers occur in 17 States within the Republic of India, with 5 States reportedly having populations in excess of 100 tigers. There are still areas with relatively large tiger populations and extensive tracts of protected habitat. Adequate funding and international pressure will help. But probably the most effective way to implement tiger conservation action in India today is to enhance NGO participation. There are a number of dedicated organisations that are effectively involved in hands-on tiger conservation. They keep the issue energized on a national level and tenaciously try to increase political will to secure the tiger's future. The Indian conservation and scientific community is now a proven force. It needs to be strengthened.

So please do something the best u can , to pass on something important to cherish for our next generation.
Keep reading

AMITESH

If I can get back to school once again............:-)

Do u know how exactly it feels when u talk with some of ur old pals or class mates after a period of eight years। I had this experience just yesterday and the feeling can't be described in just some words.
I got her no from another girl of our class whose number incidentally I got from a networking site (thanks to the growing communication mediums, which helps in finding old friends). She used to be one of the most pretty girls of our batch and most of my class fellows had a crush on her san me. I was among the guys who always creates troubles for all the girls (just for kidding and b'coz of childish nature) and now after eight years when all of us grown with time and parted our respective ways it felt great to have a conversation with a old friend.
In an hour long chit-chat many secrets had been unfolded, many kiddings was revealed, all the days old days started moving in front of my eyes like a motion picture, when we stand on the rooftop of our hostel, just to watch the girls heading towards mess to had their lunch, pronouncing of nick-names loudly in front of all the class, sharing notes n books or having some puffs in an empty class(just after making sure that no one would know about it), all the bets and challenges which we tend to make very often etc.
There was many things we recalled many things revealed and many things we couldn't discussed as an hour long conversation on phone is not sufficient to fill the time gap of eight years.
I dont khow how she looks like now a days but I hope she must be as beautifull as was during our schooldays. we promised to meet very soon and I am very eagery waiting tfor that moment when two old folks who always fought for very small matters in class will meet after a long time.
I'll write more about this incident later as I gotta go.

C U Soon.......... Keep smiling Always

the lost jyoti (divine light) of communalism in India

It is very much disheartning to wake up in the morning and to read that Jyoti Basu the Longest serving CM of post independence era in India and an Iconic stature of Indian politics passed away after a long illness.
A political career spanning over six & half decade, been chief minister of West Bengal for almost 3 decades he single handedly carried the thoughts and philosophy of communism in India. At 95 you can't expect from any person to be active in any field san politics yet Mr Basu was such a person whose advices and thoughts matters even for his rivals as well. So it is not that much surprising if Our Prime Minister Mr Singh Took advices on different matters from him.
He could have made history by becoming the PM,but he couldn't made to the apostle. Manmohan Singh said that He could have been the best prime minister India never had. His demise created a huge void in Indian Political arena which is hard to fill. As far as CPI is concerned non of its politicians are near about the leadership skill and charisma which Mr Basu possesed.

LAL SALAM to this brave son of India.