SIBERIAN CRANES IN BIHAR

Danapur earlier known as Dinapur is a satellite town of Patna , the capital of Bihar . It is about 17 kilometres from Patna and is well connected from Patna junction through rail or road . There is  Indian Army's cantonment area in Danapur which literally turns this place into a bird sanctuary every year during May – September with thousands of Siberian cranes making it their abode ahead of monsoon rains. Siberians cranes are sensitive but disciplined birds, which fly in groups in search of food. They travel long distances in search for favourable environment. Cranes find the cantonment area a safe shelter and thus flock the place each year before monsoon. These birds also find a welcoming host in the Indian army authorities stationed here. Cantonment officials have marked out specific areas, favourite with the cranes, as an ecological park . Any human activity and movement of vehicles is restricted, to ensure a safe place for the migratory birds. The birds come to Danapur military area  since there are a lot of trees. They are not hunted here and this is the reason they come here .However, unfortunately a few villagers and outsiders become successful in hunting them clandestinely . Cranes like the logged rainwater in the area, which helps breeding of small fish. Thus this is a convenient place for the cranes in regard to food also.They also find plenty of fish in the nearby Ganges River. The idea to play as good hosts for the Siberian cranes has drawn many residents also to join hands with the Army personnel here. Residents believe that the cranes signify fortune with rains for the farmers. The larger the number of birds better are the chances of heavy rainfall which ultimately would bring prosperity for all. The cranes begin descending the area in late May and early June. They start nesting soon after . They lay eggs here. When the eggs hatch, they leave the place with their cheeks . The birds usually leave by mid-September to their native places . I hope national / international agencies working for environment must be in the know of this area . If they wish they could do more for the conservation of these birds with the help of Danapur Military cantonment and extend the area to a few kilometers ahead northward with the help of Bihar Government giving the entire area a good forest cover  . This may help promote eco-tourism in the area converting it into a veritable ecological park .  

 -    SUDHANSHU KUMAR

MALDIVES GOING UNDER SEA WATER - EFFECT OF GLOBAL WARMING

Maldives is a country having group of Islands in Indian Ocean and presently larger parts of the country are under threat of submergence in sea water due to climate change . Maldives is a small South Asian nation consisting of about 1200 coral islands with an average elevation of 1.5 metre . The important aspect of the scenario is that Maldivian President Mr. Mohammed Nasheed is looking out for an option to relocate some of the country's population to India . Though he has not made any official discussion on this issue with the Government of India yet the matter has been mentioned to Indian officials in regard to buying land in this country. At Toronto International Film Festival a documentary namely The Island President was demonstrated recently in which the President performed the lead role . The film focused on the danger faced by the country on account of Global warming leading to rising levels of Indian Ocean  .  

Once in a discussion with retd. Professor Shri Krishna Bihari Mishra , Magadh University , Bodh Gaya , Bihar I came to be revealed that the coastal areas of the world are under threat of submergence with sea water due to the rising phenomenon of Global Warming and if submerged totally there will be a 300ft. high water level on the ground . Some areas have started sinking .Others will start sinking in due course of time . 
Have we ever thought why the global warming is taking place resulting in melting of glaciers across the world ?  Perhaps No . Let us know and create awareness on this count . This is our bounden duty for survival . The factors responsible for global warming are rising carbon dioxide , carbon monoxide , sulphur dioxide , gasolene and CFCs etc. in our environment  . All combined in atmosphere is causing increase in global temperature which is responsible for melting glaciers and consequently the rise in sea levels . It would be very pragmatic on our part if we reduce carbon contents in our atmosphere gradually . Some of the ways are minimum use of private vehicles and promotion of public transport , minimizing  coal and woods for fuel purposes , use of safety tanks in place of open toilets in the villages , avoidance of cutting forests , proper plantation of trees in the vacant land , use of heat absorbing and insulating concrete materials , use of ACs and Freezes which emit less of CFCs even though they are a little bit costlier . Let us resolve to adopt all possible ways to minimize rising temperature in the biosphere . 

 - SUDHANSHU KUMAR 

CARING ENVIRONMENT - VULTURE RESTAURANTS IN NEPAL

I was surprised when I realized I had not seen vultures in the sky for long years . I had seen them in huge numbers perhaps a decade and a half ago in Delhi trans - Yamuna area behind the house I was staying in. They were feeding upon a dead animal . They were not seen again by me in North India and any other part of the country except on a few occasions and that too in scattered numbers . A couple of years back when I was coming from Delhi to Patna I had seen a few creatures at  Lucknow – Jaunpur railway route. They seemed very close to Vultures from the running train . I was almost sure they must be vultures . I thought to write to World wide Fund for Nature and some other conservation agencies to explore the matter but could not do so for reason of slackness. I regret and admit I failed to perform my social duty towards Nature  .

I had seen vultures in huge numbers in childhood in my village or other places of Bihar where I spent successive years of life .  Even in Patna I have not been able to see them feeding on a carcass or flying ever in the sky for last many years whereas they used to be usual phenomenon along the bank of Ganges  .

Have we ever tried to know why the vultures were becoming extinct  ? Perhaps no. The reason is veterinary Diclofenac drug administered to sick animals .The drug used to treat diseases in cattle and cows is deposited in their body . When vultures feed on the meat after the death of these animals the drug deposited in their bodies causes to them kidney failures. 'The killer drug is said to be responsible for 95-99% of the extermination of the vulture species in Nepal, India and Pakistan . 

We should remember vultures are natural scavengers and act as cleaners in our environmental system . I thank the people of Nepal , one of the poorest countries in the world they have begun a unique initiative to save the endangered vulture by building ‘ vulture restaurants .’ what is a vulture restaurant ? A vulture restaurant is a place where fresh and poison free meat or livestock / wild mammals or animal carcasses free of diclofenac are put out for vultures and other scavengers so that they could not eat dead animals infested with diclofenac . Diclofenac is now almost banned across the globe . Bird Conservation Nepal an N.G.O. raised Rs. 200,000 to buy the new drug, Meloxicam, and gave the new stocks to drug stores in place of the killer drug. The Terai plains lying along the Indo-Nepal border have pockets where large vulture colonies nestle. N.G.Os. and government organizations should take inspiration from organizations like Bird Conservation Nepal  .  

                  

– SUDHANSHU KUMAR



indiannational: NATIONAL CAPITAL OF INDIA - NEW DELHI

indiannational: NATIONAL CAPITAL OF INDIA - NEW DELHI: New Delhi is celebrating 2011 as centenary year of its formation . The foundation of the city was laid on December 15, 1911. It was planned ...

NATIONAL CAPITAL OF INDIA - NEW DELHI

New Delhi is celebrating 2011 as centenary year of its formation . The foundation of the city was laid on December 15, 1911. It was planned by two leading 20th century British architects namely Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker. The new Capital was christened "New Delhi" in 1927 and subsequently inaugurated on February 13, 1931, by the then Governor General Lord Irwin . New Delhi is home to three Unesco world heritage sites  Humayun's Tomb , the Qutb Complex and the Jantar Mantar . Delhi was laid out to the south of the Old city which was constructed by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan . Earlier Calcutta was the capital of India until December 1911 during British Period . On  December 12, 1911 during the Delhi Durbar the then Emperor of India king George V   along with Queen Mary  made the  announcement that the capital of the Raj was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi  while laying the foundation stone for the Viceroy's residence in the Coronation Park in kingsway camp. In fact it was the foundation stone of the new Capital . With a total area of 42.7 km²  New Delhi forms a small part of the Delhi metropolitan area and is located in the Indo - Gangetic plain  because of which there is little difference in the city's altitude. New Delhi and surrounding areas were once a part of the Aravalli Range but all that is left now is the Delhi Ridge which is also called the Lungs of Delhi . The second feature is the Yamuna floodplains . New Delhi lies west of the Yamuna river, although for the most part , New Delhi is a landlocked city . New Delhi falls under the seismic zone IV making it vulnerable to earthquakes .

The climate of New Delhi is a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate . The temperature varies from 40 °C  in summers to around 7 °C  in winters and even goes beyond that to arond 3 degree celsius in case of snowfalls in Himalayan regions .  Summers are long from early April to October with the monsoon season in between . Winter starts in November and peaks up in January. The average annual rainfall is 714 millimetres most of which is during the monsoons in July and August. Duststorm is a normal feature in mid summer month of May-June . 

At the heart of the city is the magnificent Rashtrapati Bhavan (formerly known as Viceroy's House) which sits atop Raisina Hills. The Secretariat, which houses various ministries of the Government of India, flanks out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan . The Parliament House, designed by Herbert Baker, is located at the Sansad Marg, which runs parallel to the Rajpath. The Connaught Place is a large, circular commercial area in New Delhi, modelled after the Royal Crescent in England . Twelve separate roads lead out of the outer ring of Connaught Place, one of them being the Janpath .

The city is believed to be the site of Indraprastha , legendary capital of the Pandavas in the Indian Epic Mahabharata .

  

- SUDHANSHU KUMAR

INDIA DOWN THE DECADES AFTER INDEPENDENCE - NEED OF LOKPAL

When the country was fighting its freedom under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi none had intention to misrule the country and enjoy the freedom of the country to  one's own benefits . The leaders were selfless people dedicted to the cause of freedom of the nation . They  were all stalwarts , well educated and scholarly with no motifs to acquire assets and fill their houses with wealth . Most of them were members of Indian National Congress ,  the sole representative party of Indians established in 1885 .  A few belonged to the left groups and other organisations . After the freedom of the country in 1947 the leaders handled the affairs of the country right from first Five Year Plan with  sincerity  and strived hard to put the economy of the country on the right tracks . In 1951 first general elections were held in the country and the people elected the best able persons as their representatives .

What happened afterwards . The economic plans   from 1951 onwards  invested huge  amount  in different developmental projects of the country . The people initially remained honest and committed to the nation . But temptations  were bound to emerge gradually . A large number of brokers and middlemen surfaced due to  large scale investments in different sectors of economic development. They acted as liasioners , to use the sophisticated term , between politicians and industrialists on the one hand and the industrialists and bureaucrats on the other hand . The nexus resulted in corruption , and to be specific , 1980 onwards corruption became intensified . The new economic policy launched in 1991 added to further woes of countrymen as it resulted in further larger influx of money and thus larger exodus of illegal money to brokers , middlemen , politicians , bureaucrats , businessmen and industrialist . This huge exodus of illegal , unaccounted money earned through backdoor  was  known as black money . This is now in billions and trillions lying  underground for the fear that if detected by government agency it will be seized . Thus we see that black money which should have been in circulation  and could have generated employment and removed poverty in India  remained out of  normal monetary stream and   caused  liquidity problem in the country . Most of the black money today is deposited in foreign banks or in private Indian banks in fake names . Many account holders who have deposited such  money in the private/public banks are not turning up for years to make any single transaction . They are afraid if they transact they will be detected and caught . So all such money is out of tax net and the government of India is failing to collect any revenue out of it . The development of nation is thus checked badly . 

what should have been done . This is a million dollar question any would like to ponder . A strict surveillance  as well as Punitive machinery should have been floated with the introduction of New Economic Policy way back in 90's to contain the economic corruption visualising that absolute political power , dying and decaying morality , lust for luxury , false status symbol i.e. an obsessive socio - psycho disorder of mankind would tend Indians to become more corruption prone . The middle classes followed the corruption of rich class and the commoners inspired by these two classes also indulged in petty practices of corruption . Corruption became the common practice of the land . Everybody accepted corruption as a way of life and those who committed and chose to be honest were laughed and ridiculed as either fools or timid . Those who took to wrong and corrupt practices were called brave and bold . Those who chose to be honest were made to feel demoralised  .  An era of demoralisation started for the honest at the behest of the corrupt ones  . The demoralisation caused the honest to hide in shells whereas the corrupt held their heads high . The honest and just workers were being  sidelined in  establishments . The chief functionaries in goverment offices and establishments did not want honest persons on their panel for the fear  they  would know their wrong practices and may expose them if the time comes . 
 

What is being done . The government after forty second year of conceiving  a Lokpal Bill is now ready to get it passed in Parliament . Quite ironically  it was first tabled in Parliament in 1969  . Altogether it was tried for nine times, if I am right, to convert it into a law but was aborted for various reasons so far . Interesting fact about Lokpal is that it was a term coined by former MP late Dr. L. M. Singhvi as the Indian equivalent of the scandinavian concept of an Ombudsman in 1963 . The term was   translated as Lokpal in Hindi and was  incorporated in Hindi dictionary by Singhvi , the father of present chairman of Parliamentary standing council , Sh. Abhishek Manu Singhvi . It is this committee which has to recommend the provisions of the bill to parliament for final approval . Though the issues contained in  the Bill have been consented and approved by the Parliament yet the responsibility of  Shri Abhishek Singhvi has become greater to get the bill passed in Parliament in the form it is  approved  by the house . It will be a great tribute by a  son to  his father .   Thanks to  leaders that they have finally come to understand the difficulty of a common man . The bill that the government  chose to table in Parliament was a weak one so they tabled different bills in the house and resolved to consider three most important provisions of Sh. Anna Hazare . What Anna Hazare and his team has put in the Lokpal is strong but lacks in the respect that it is not practical to some extent  .  Let us see what good comes out finally with consensus .

 Seeing the corruption as a demon  all should lean forward for restoring prestige to a common man . The young generation should remain more alert and watchful that the bill is passed in Parliament to become an effective law  because the environment and the kind of education youths are getting they would not be able to cope up with the continuing  corruption . They are more understanding , frank , cultured and honest and want to enjoy their life without shame of corruption . I think it is better to serve in heaven than to reign in hell .  

By - SUDHANSHU KUMAR

HISTORY OF LOKPAL  

 (Outsourced material )

   The Lokpal Bill has been pending for the last 42 years. Though it was passed in the Lok Sabha in 1969, the Rajya Sabha rejected it.
The Bill was re-introduced in the Rajya Sabha as many as nine times and yet it could not get the nod of the upper house of Parliament. The Rajya Sabha saw the Bill in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008. The Bill is still pending adoption into law.
The Lokpal Bill is important in the sense that even people occupying high public offices including the Prime Minister, ministers and MPs can be probed for corruption charges. The Bill seeks to create the institution of Lokpal or ombudsman of India, who will receive complaints even against the Prime Minister.
The institution of Lokpal was first contemplated way back in early 1960s with an aim to rooting out corruption in public offices. The Lokpal Bill was based on the recommendations of the Santhanam Committee for Prevention of Corruption in 1966.
The Lokpal Bill (as introduced in 1998) seeks the establishment of the institution of Lokpal to inquire into allegations of corruption against public functionaries. The Lokpal Act of 1998 seeks to provide for setting up office of Lok Pal with a chairperson and two members for fixed terms of three years or until attainment of age of 70 years, whichever is earlier.
The Lokpal will inquire into complaints filed by any person other than public servant, alleging that public functionaries have committed an offence punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The Lokpal will have the powers of a civil court to summon and enforce attendance, receiving evidence and issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents.
Those exempted from the purview of Lokpal are the President, the vice-president, the Speaker, the chief justice of India and other judges of Supreme Court, CAG, CEC and other members of Election Commission, and chairman and members of UPSC.
The Lokpal has the powers to conduct an inquiry into the allegations in an open court.
Is there any time limit for the inquiry?
The time frame for disposal of complaints filed before the Lokpal is six months .   

    

               

                    

                    

64th INDEPENDENCE DAY OF INDIA - BRIEF ASSESSMENT

India celebrated her 64th Independence Day on 15th August 2011 . India is my motherland and I am happy that she is free from any imperial and colonial rule . We can remain free only when our country is free . Freedom means freedom in totality subject to certain constitutional bindings . Fundamental rights means our existence in the country with a sense of dignity and uprightness but at the same time involves a feeling of certain fundamental duties enshrined in our constitution by 42nd amendment in 1976 . Irony is that we often talk of fundamental rights with our feasts clenched or chests emboldened but hardly talk of fundamental duties with the same fervour . I opine bravado means both in claiming rights and performing duties . A balance is now need of the day .

Where we lack . This is a question most of us would like to ask . What we have achieved during 64 years of our independence . We should not forget we remained under colonial rule for approximately two hundred years and the resources of country was drained out by the British ruthlessly . Thus when the British finally left the country we were left with a shattered economy as there were no industrial productions and the cottage industries was in a mess . While Britain flourished on account of its Industrial revolution hundred years ahead the Industrial revolution in India thriving on her resources input  we felt cheated and bewildered . Nonetheless we started on a good note investing in the field of agriculture right from the First Five Year Plan and industry afterwards . 

Political freedom is one aspect of coin . What we need is proper socio-economic development combined with political freedom. Unfortunately we have taken a very long time to work effectively for socio - economic progress . we have passesd delayed legislations which give teeth to socio-economic progress . I would not blame any party or individual for that . What I visualise and conceive is that we have lacked a slew of visionary and dedicated leaders except a few one who could have fast steered the country in all these spheres.

The time is yet not gone . Certain legislations so far are pointers that we are serious for the development of the country . Reservation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in government services , Right to Information Act against corruption, Right to Education Act 2009 for free and compulsory education for children ( all on national level ) , Right to service in states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh , 50% reservation of women in local bodies in some of the states , as well as recent developments on Food Security Bill and a strong LOKPAL likely to be initiated in Parliament against corruption are indicators that we have understood the reality how a nation/polity can progress .

The most important issue before the country in present days is the issue of corruption of which many of us are not serious.  Corruption eats into the very vitals of the country . Former Prime minister of India late sh. Rajiv Gandhi once stated and agreed that only  fifteen percent of benefit of government schemes trickles down to beneficiaries most of whom are poor and leaving in hardships. Rest 85% dried up midway. Situation has rather aggravated today. Certainly the money of tax givers should not become subjected to the corrupt practices of those who are powerful and manipulators. Anybody thinking that he would simply walk over after embezzling the money of the government must be booked under appropriate laws and fund so embezzled must be brought back to the government exchequer . If the loot/plunder of money in billions is checked every year the country will have resources enough to feed and educate each and every individual below poverty line and the country will become militarily powerful so that none may think of grabbing its land and continue terrorist activities here .The red menace or the problem of naxalism will also be wiped out from the land as no youth will remain unemployed to carry the arms supplied by the red forces . This is all happening due to abject poverty and for the reason money is being drained out from the normal system and is lying hidden from the tax net . However, the efforts are going on - on the part of the government as well as citizens . Remedies for different malaises will reflect in due course of time . Rome was not built in a day and we should be optimistic India will evolve gradually to become a strong force to reckon with.

- Sudhanshu kumar