Global warming – Developed countries cornering India?

Some studies reported in Nature have indicated that the global warming will be stabilized at 2 degree Celsius above the “below pre-industrial era levels” if CO2 emissions are halved by 2050. The UN Panel of climate scientists has predicted that the average global temperature rising above the threshold of 2 degree will have catastrophic impact on the climate.

Is is understood that India has accepted this as the global limiting level at the Major Economies Forum meeting held recently in Italy. The rich countries which participated in the meeting also agreed to reduce the emissions by 7-14% below 1990 levels by 2030. It looks too small for the countries which have been polluting the environment with green-house gases for so long. The CO2 emission from US was 6.049 billion metric tonnes in 2004 with per capita of 20.4 metric tonnes! Compared to this, India’s emissions stood at 1.342 billion metric tonnes with per capita of 1.2 metric tonnes. China’s emissions were about 4 times higher than that of India.

A United Nations agency in one of the survey reports (2009) rightly pointed out that the industrialized nations should take deep emission cuts of the order of 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% cut by 2050. In a global carbon budget scenario, the share of industrialized countries should be of the order of 21%. Any consumption of the budget exceeding this by the developed countries would be at the cost of developing countries, which need industrialization in a big way in the coming years.

India should not or should not be made to accept any such discriminatory or legally binding proposals on emission-cut targets in the forthcoming United Nations Conference at Copenhagen in December this year. In support for the global concerns on climate change, India also should develop and employ emissions-free technologies in its future industrial developments.

Lead pollution world-wide – Alarming

Pollution from lead and other heavy metals are agents of disease for many of the world’s children. In poor countries, the health risks associated with this kind of pollution are all too often seen as the inevitable price of economic development.

Lead exposure is a major health hazard. It is a metal with no known biological benefit to humans. A direct link has been found between early exposure and extreme learning disability, hyperactivity, violence and lethargy. Too much lead in the body interferes with the normal development of the brain, the central nervous system, the kidney and the heart.

An estimated 120 million people worldwide are exposed to lead in the environment, in air, soil, water. It is estimates that over 12 million people are affected by lead contamination from processing of used lead acid batteries and unsafe unregulated recycling throughout the developing world. Dangerous lead contamination is found in children in some 80 countries.

Lead poisoning is determined by measuring the ratio of lead to blood in the human body. The accepted limit of lead in blood is 10 µg/dL.

To take the lead out of blood, a chemical called calcium di-sodium EDTA is injected into the body to form a complex (chelate) with the lead ions in the blood which ultimately passes out in urine and faeces. The concentrations, in such levels are measured using advanced testing equipment such as total reflection x-ray fluorescence unit and germanium photon detectors. International organizations such as IAEA support such activities.

Benefits – Yes but Risk – No

This is the typical mind-set of any human being. Unless people learn to take a little risk - the level of risk which people always take at their workplaces or during traveling to the work places – no developmental work to improve the living conditions can take place in the country. The West Bengal government always remained anti-industry, causing the industrialists to shift their industries to the more obliging states.

Now, the agitation is to stop nuclear power plants coming in Haripur of East Midnapore. Every one knows that unlike fossil-fuel based thermal power plants, the nuclear power plants do not pollute the environment. Radiation dose received by population living around the plants get negligibly radiation dose. India has considerable expertise in managing nuclear plants safely. Then, why the resistance? The benefits out-weigh risks.

It looks it is only a political issue. The affected persons are likely to be rehabilitated; they will get jobs, get supporting small businesses and of-course the much needed electricity for developmental activities. Like Nandigram, story will be repeated at Haripur. It will again be loss to Bengal.

India leads - 140,000 road mishap fatalities in 2007

It is indeed shocking and shameful news for every Indian! Human error has been identified as the single largest cause of road accidents. There are very issues to be tackled to reduce this number. The very first reason is the procedure for granting driving license is not at all stringent. Other important reasons are: non-availability of immediate medical care to the accident victims due to red-tapism; use of mobile phones and earplugs while driving; improper road furniture, driving after consuming alcohol, inadequate traffic control measures, etc. Added to this, corruption is rampant in this sector.

The India government should take immediate measures to curb this trend and ensure road safety. There are too many vehicles on the city roads. Unless the existing laws are strictly enforced, the situation is not likely to improve. Who cares?

Swine flu in India – An update

As per the SIFY news quoting union health ministry, four new swine flu deaths, all of them from Maharashtra State, were reported this Sunday, taking the country's toll due to the contagious virus to 344. With these deaths, the toll in Maharashtra has gone up to 139, the highest among the states in the country. The state sees 7% rise in H1N1 cases in September. The medical officer (epidemic) of the state health services said that throat swabs of only severely ill patients are being tested for the virus since mid-August.

At least 164 fresh infections were reported taking the total number of cases in the country to 10,894. Among the states, Maharashtra has maximum number of cases with 3,024, closely followed by Delhi where around 2,800 people have been infected by the influenza A (H1N1) virus. A study carried out in New Delhi indicated that surgical masks are as good as the costly N95 respirators recommended for preventing the infection.

WHO is actively monitoring the progress of the pandemic through frequent consultations with the WHO Regional Offices and member states and through monitoring of multiple sources of data. As of 27 September 2009, worldwide there have been more than 343,000 laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009 and over 4100 deaths reported to WHO. All pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza viruses analyzed to date have been antigenically and genetically similar to A/California/7/2009-like pandemic H1N1 2009 virus.

Everyone is waiting for an effective and safe vaccine to control the spread of the virus.

India’s annual inflation rate continues to be negative week after week!

The government has again reported negative inflation rate for the week ended on 22 August 2009. The inflation rate is based on the Wholesale price index. The government’s view is that the wholesale price index is more closely tracked than consumer-price gauges for economic analysis, as it captures prices of a higher number of products and is released weekly. How the WPI can be negative when the prices of food items at retail level have gone up over 20%?

Union Finance Minister announced that 2004-05 as the base year for the calculation of inflation rate based on wholesale price index (WPI) series in the country. Replying to a question on price indices in the Lok Sabha, the minister said the WPI series is being upgraded with base year 2004-05 in lieu of the existing one with base year 1993-94. He said that the index would provide a better picture of the current scenario of prices.

On the other hand, the consumer price index, which is released on a monthly basis, rose 11.89 percent in July from 9.29 percent in June, as per the government data. The basket in consumer price index measures prices of logically used items by the common man. This index takes into account prices for house rentals, toiletries, phones and school fees.

There are some realistic recommendations made by DNA Analysis, viz., WPI is the least reliable barometer of the price behavior and hence should not be used as a yardstick to express inflation affecting the common man. Consumer price index should be made more comprehensive and should be used, calculated on a monthly basis.

The present arrangement of calculating the inflation rate based on WPI is faulty and should not be used for the calculation of any compensations or allowances.

World Water Crisis

In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated March 22 as "World Water Day" to draw international attention to the critical lack of clean, safe drinking water worldwide. World Water Day is celebrated since 1993. Nearly 1.1 billion people (roughly 20% of the world’s population) lack access to safe drinking water. The lack of clean, safe drinking water is estimated to kill almost 4,500 children per day. Water is essential to the treatment of diseases, something especially critical for children and aged people.

The amount of water in the world is finite. The number of us is growing fast and our water use is growing even faster. This problem isn’t confined to a particular region of the world. A third of the world's population lives in water-stressed countries now. By 2025, this is expected to rise to two-thirds.

The world water crisis is created by a confluence of factors including climate and geography, lack of water systems and infrastructure, and natural and man-made pollution of water resources. The crisis is worst in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Countries depend only on rains for drinking water. The lack of clean water, coupled with the lack of basic sanitation and a dearth of hygiene education, is one of the largest obstacles to progress and development in these regions and across the world. Time has come to use hi-tech for the production of pure drinking water.

Let all the citizens of the world get sensitized about the world water scarcity which may lead to one of the largest public health issues of our time. World media should wake up to this reality.

Save Water. Do not pollute water. Consume less water. Water is precious.