The Forum of Environmental Journalists in India (FEJI) and the Mumbai Press Club (MPC) hosted a memorial meeting in tribute to Darryl D’Monte, the revered senior journalist and environmental activist who passed away last Saturday.
“You’re either networking or not working,” said Joydeep Gupta, FEJI’s vice-president, quoting an aphorism D’Monte frequently used — before recounting incidents to exemplify D’Monte’s use of the power of networks for the environment. “Darryl obviously left behind a void,” he said, “but he has also left behind a whole generation of journalists.”
Senior journalist and former MPC president Kumar Ketkar recalled his long association with D’Monte, and that though they were around the same age, he had looked upon him as a mentor. “I wondered what drove him,” he said, before answering it with one word: people. D’Monte did not describe himself as a liberal — in those days no one did — or secular, he said, but at the heart of all he did was his concern for people.
“Environmentalism meant people. Rights, food, activism, meant people.” Unlike many activists who could be dry, D’Monte was witty and humorous, Mr. Ketkar added, before concluding: “Darryl practised catholicism, not as religion, but as a virtue.”
MPC president Gurbir Singh recalled how D’Monte had pushed the club to include a category for environmental journalism in its Red Ink awards.
FEJI’s founding trustee, Keya Acharya, said the organisation has begun as an organisation with a similar name founded by D’Monte in 1988, the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India. When his health issues first surfaced, he asked her to take over and the body was reconstituted with D’Monte as its Chairman Emeritus.
She said he brought journalists together to understand ecosystems before words like that were in common use, and was instrumental in forming networks internationally too. On his support for environmental issues, she said, “Darryl taught us that we get it on the front page of the paper, not just on an environment page. He was the first to tell us you could write about toilets and manual scavenging; we spent a day talking about nothing but shit.”
FEJI, Ms. Acharya said, is planning to set up a memorial award in his name, to which Mr. Singh promised MPC’s support to the initiative.
Members of the audience, some of who had come from other cities just for the memorial, also offered their memories of the facets of Mr. D’Monte, as colleague, mentor, educator, community member, and companion.
Samir D’Monte, D’Monte’s son, talked of his father’s strict routine while working from home, a discipline that never got in the way of his being there for his family, before thanking the attendees and promising the family’s support for efforts to take his legacy forward.
Across Assam, villages have embarked upon a mission to save the house sparrow, by using a simple, low-cost solution: nest boxes made of cardboard.
After a state-wide survey in 2009 showed rapid decline of the sparrow population, Prabal Saikia from the Assam Agricultural University, designed a low-cost nest box and started distributing them for free.
Over the past decade, Saikia has distributed over 20,000 boxes for free in villages across Assam.
As a forerunner to World Sparrow Day on March 20, Mongabay-India brings you this heart-warming tale of entire villages taking sparrows into their hearts.
All the 65 households at Borbali Samua, a little village in the Lakhimpur district of Assam, share their homes with a chirpy, industrious, oft-beleaguered creature: the house sparrow.
Forty-seven-year-old Jayanta Neog, the owner of a rice mill, is one of the principal conservators of the sparrow in this village. He goes around the village, educating the people and children about the importance of the sparrow. On a tour around Neog’s house, one can spot various kinds of artificial bird nests – made of cardboard, wood, shoeboxes and even bamboo.
“We had noticed that there were quite a number of sparrows in the village, but there was a lack of shelter because of new infrastructure — people are now starting to build concrete houses instead of the traditional mud houses,” said Neog, who has been working for conserving the sparrows, since 2013.
The house sparrow (Passer domesticus), one of the most commonly found bird species in urban as well as rural areas in India, is facing an uncertain future. Its number is declining and experts fear that the disappearance of the bird would mean a bleak future for farms and farmers. Apart from feeding on seeds, the bird also thrives on tiny insects and pests.
This social bird, often found in groups of eight to ten, has learned to live in close contact with humans and has coexisted peacefully with humans for years. But the last two decades have seen a steep decline in its population.
All houses in Borbali Samua village, Assam have installed artificial nests for house sparrows. Photo by Prabal Saikia.
A species on the decline
Meanwhile, Prabal Saikia, the chief scientist at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Assam Agricultural University at North Lakhimpur, had conducted an extensive survey in 2009. The findings were disheartening; the population of the house sparrow was fast declining.
“The decline of the house sparrow is an indicator of the continuous degradation of the environment around us,” said Saikia. “The house sparrow is believed to be declining for various reasons, ranging from the destruction of their habitat to lack of insects for the young, vanishing courtyards, cramped buildings, [and radiation] from phone towers. Their decline is an indicator of things going wrong in the space we live.”
To increase the population of the house sparrow, Saikia came up with a solution – low-cost cardboard nests. He believed that the population of the house sparrow could get a boost if low-cost nest boxes were popularised amongst the common people. He went on to design a low-cost nest box for sparrows and promoted it across Assam.
“The sparrow easily adapts to man-made nests and if they are promoted on a large-scale, it can lead to long-term conservation of the bird,” said Saikia. “Nest boxes are very easy to make and cost almost nothing. In our survey in several districts of Upper and Lower Assam, we have noticed substantial occupancy of the house sparrow in the low-cost nest boxes.”
The predator-proof nest boxes are made of cardboard and it costs around Rs. 10 to make one. In the past decade, Saikia has distributed over 20,000 boxes for free in villages across Assam.
“We are adopting villages and installing nest boxes in the village houses to support the remaining population of the house sparrow,” Saikia said. “We also encourage people to make use of waste, such as shoeboxes, to make nest boxes.”
“A little bit of love goes a long way.”
For the inhabitants of Borbali Samua, it is more than just conserving sparrows. One can feel the love and compassion they hold for the beleaguered bird by merely talking to these villagers.
“You’ll see these birds everywhere. They like to be around people. You eventually become involved in the life of these birds. You put up a nest for them, see them gathering twigs to build their nests, see them have young ones. A little bit of love goes a long way,” Neog said.
Our conversation was interrupted by a group of school children who arrived at Neog’s doorstep seeking bird boxes.
“The cardboard nests given to us by Dr. Saikia have been distributed in every household. We put up quite a number of boxes and we gradually saw an increase in the population of the sparrow. People who visit us also take away those boxes. They are quite in demand,” said Neog, while assembling a few for the children.
School children of Borbali Samua village, Assam, with Jayanta Neog (left) and Prabal Saikia. Photo by Kasturi Das.
The children in Borbali Samua are sensitised at an early age. Caring for and protecting the house sparrow and other wildlife is something that has been ingrained in them. They often attend awareness meetings and have workshops in their school and have learned the importance of conservation of nature around them.
“We have held meetings in schools in and around the village. I think we have been largely successful in our endeavour,” Neog said with a glint of pride in his eyes. Neog was conferred an award by the RARS in 2018, along with six others from various villages in Assam, for their exceptional efforts in conservation of the house sparrow.
Ever since 2009, Saikia has been conducting awareness programmes throughout the length and breadth of the state. This year, the Krishi Vigyan Kendras of the Assam Agricultural University will be observing the World Sparrow Day in 23 districts in Assam.
Saikia claims to have seen a tremendous shift of awareness amongst the common people, in the past decade, regarding the need to conserve wildlife. “I have always maintained that it is only the common man that can save the sparrow, the common bird,” he said, adding that, “It is the need of the hour to start habitat conservation drives by switching to organic gardening, planting hedges and putting up artificial nest boxes dedicated to house sparrows.” (Source: Mongabay)
In a development that exposes how little is known of the hidden and varied wildlife of Dima Hasao district, a ‘white’ deer – an extremely rare occurrence anywhere in the country – was sighted for the first time in the North East on Monday. Unfortunately, the deer – snow-white in appearance – was killed and its skin and some body parts were recovered later in the day.
The Dima Hasao forest authorities said that it was an albino barking deer. Over the past century or so, there have been only a few authenticated sightings of albino white deer. Albinism is characterised by the absence of the melanin pigment, resulting in white body with pink limbs, snout, ears and red eyes.
This particular specimen, however, was almost entirely white.
“It is an albino barking deer, an extremely rare occurrence, and marks the first such occurrence in the North East. It is very sad that the animal was killed. The killers need to be given exemplary punishment,” noted conservationist Dr Choudhury said.
A Haflong-based forest official said that the skin and four leg bones were seized on Monday and two persons, including the killer, arrested.
“This is the first time we have seen an albino deer in the district or for that matter, in the entire North East. The killing took place near Zion, a remote forest village. The arrested poachers will be strictly dealt with under the Wildlife (Protection) Act,” the official said. (The Nagaland Post)
The Himalayan region in four South Asian nations, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, which is home to about 100 million people, has witnessed rapid urbanisation over the past few decades.
A study now stresses that rapid urbanisation in the region, driven mainly by tourism, is threatening water security in the area which will only be exacerbated by climate change.
The researchers argue that unless a long-term and mountain specific strategy is devised, millions living in the region would face a severe water crisis.
Today is World Water Day and globally, organisations and individuals are campaigning for water as a human right and ensuring access to water for all.
Millions of people living in the Himalayan region of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal may face a grim water future if the rapid and unplanned urbanisation taking place in the ecologically fragile mountains is not quickly addressed, said a study which recommended long-term mountain-specific urban planning to tackle the threat.
The study by researchers Sreoshi Singh (Nepal), S.M. Tanvir Hassan (Bangladesh), Masooma Hassan (Pakistan) and Neha Bharti (India), was published in the journal ‘Water Policy’ in February 2019. The findings are significant as the Himalayan region in these four south Asian countries is home to over 100 million people. The study emphasised that the Himalayan region is witnessing rapid urbanisation due to factors like migration, tourism and religious pilgrimage and one of the inevitable consequences of rapid urbanisation is water shortage.
“Unfortunately, the unprecedented population growth has led to overexploitation of water sources in the region pushing the inhabitants to a state of despair,” it added.
The entire Himalayan region is spread across an area of 4.2 million square km across eight countries, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan, sustains the livelihood of 240 million people. It is also the source of 10 major river basins and home to four of 36 global biodiversity hotspots.
Explaining further, the study stated that urban centres in the mountains largely depend on springs and rivers, but as these sources are snow and glacier-fed, the impact of climate change may affect the quantity of water available from these sources, leaving groundwater sources as more critical for these cities in different seasons.
“Several mountain urban centres are now augmenting their water supplies through water transfers from distant sources, as existing water sources are insufficient to meet rising water demands. However, due to the inherent fragility of mountain environments, such water transfers may not always be feasible due to the high infrastructure and energy costs involved,” the study said.
The study highlighted that the “uniform definition of urban centres applied with equal weight across plains and mountains, often tends to ignore important strategic locations as ‘urban’ in the mountains, although, in terms of water security, the capacity of mountains is much lower than that of the plains.”
“In the mountains, smaller settlements like district headquarters or market towns perform a number of functions typical of an urban centre. However, they are not formally classified as urban centres because they do not meet the nationally set criteria. This calls for a mountain-specific definition of urban areas, which takes into cognisance mountain specificities like fragility, limited water sources and remoteness,” said the study.
It, however, noted that Nepal is an exception as it has a mountain-specific criterion for demarcating urban centres.
S.M. Tanvir Hassan, who is one of the authors of the study, told Mongabay-India that, “for better planning and management, first, a mountain-specific definition of urban centres needs to be introduced in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, which Nepal has already done.”
Haphazard growth is making the Himalayas vulnerable to water stress
The study emphasised that the “haphazard growth of mountain urban centres coupled with their fragile geography makes them particularly vulnerable to water stress and insecurity” and that the majority of urban areas in the Himalayan region “cannot meet water demand from municipal sources.”
“Some of these mountainous urban centres are of historical importance while some are popular tourist destinations. The present planning process has failed to provide alternative systems incorporating seasonal influx of population in these urban centres leading to acute water scarcity, congestion and pollution,” it said.
As per the study, highly visited tourist areas in the Himalayan region in the four south Asian nations include Bandarban district (Bangladesh), Jammu and Kashmir, Shimla, Haridwar and Rishikesh, Darjeeling and all north-eastern states in India, most of Nepal and the Himalayan region of Pakistan.
Last year, Shimla witnessed serious water crisis, which according to reports was due to deficit in rainfall and snowfall.
Unplanned growth in the Himalayan region in South Asian nations is threatening water security. Photo by Kartik Chandramouli/Mongabay.
The study also noted that using groundwater, either from spring sources or through dug-wells and bore-wells, is one of the most commonly adopted strategies by people for coping and adapting to water scarcity.
“However, unless supplemented with adequate and well-planned recharge programmes, excessive reliance on groundwater will lead to further potentially deleterious consequences in the future, given that aquifers in mountainous regions are inherently fragile,” the study warned.
The study called for long-term strategies such as mountain-specific urban planning which takes into account “the myriad fragilities of mountain ecosystems and ecological restoration of forested uplands that feed the urban water systems.”
“Without long-term and sustainable urban planning and accountability of the stakeholders, many of these urban centres in the HKH are poised for a grim water future, which will only be exacerbated by climate change,” it added.
Tanvir Hassan emphasised that “it is not just climate change that is threatening the water security in the Himalayan region but also uncontrolled and unplanned urbanisation which is leading to water scarcity, pollution and congestion in the region.”
“A long-term and well-planned strategy is needed to address this problem otherwise the whole region and millions living in this area would face a severe crisis,” Hassan added.
A recent report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) had noted that the Himalayan region provides two billion people a vital regional lifeline via water for food, water for energy and water for the ecosystem.
It had also stressed that India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and China together account for more than 50 percent of the world’s groundwater withdrawals which mostly take place in the plains of river basins that originate in the Himalayan region.
CITATION:
Sreoshi Singh, S. M. Tanvir Hassan, Masooma Hassan, Neha Bharti; Urbanisation and water insecurity in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: Insights from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Water Policy wp2019215. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2019.215
Banner Image: The Himalayan region covering the four south Asian countries is home to over 100 million people. Photo by Kartik Chandramouli/Mongabay
It’s almost time to hang up those winter coats. The season of flower blossoms, pastel colors, playoff basketball and Easter egg hunting is upon us.
This year, the first day of spring—also known as the vernal equinox—falls on March 20. Here’s what you need to know about the occasion.ADVERTISING
What’s the Spring Equinox?
The vernal quinox marks one of the two times a year when day and night are nearly the same length. The term equinox comes from the Latin word equinoxium, which means “equality between day and night.”
This phenomenon occurs when the center of the sun is directly above Earth’s equator.
The spring equinox signals that the Northern Hemisphere of the planet has begun slowly tilting toward the sun, leading to longer days and more sunlight, according to NASA.
When Is It, Exactly?
The precise time of the astronomical start of spring is Wednesday at 5:58 p.m. ET. If you’re in a different time zone, you can check what time it starts on the US Naval Observatory’s website.
Is Anything Special Happening?
The night sky will shine a little brighter than usual.
There will be a full moon on Wednesday at 9:43 p.m. ET, just a few hours after the official start of spring. It’s the first time since 1981 that the spring equinox and a full moon coincide on the same day.
This full moon is also extra special because it will be a supermoon. That means the moon will appear larger than normal because of its close proximity to Earth.
Is the Spring Equinox Always on the Same Day?
No, but it doesn’t vary by much. The spring equinox always occurs in the Northern Hemisphere on March 19, 20 or 21.
The date of the equinox changes from year to year to account for the fact that the Earth doesn’t take exactly 365 days to make a complete revolution around the sun. The Gregorian calendar adds a leap day every four years to account for this, and the spring equinox date varies for the same reason.
How Do People Celebrate It?
People across the globe mark the occasion in various ways.
The vernal equinox also is the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz. For more than 300 million people worldwide it’s the start of a monthlong celebration of new beginnings.
In Chichen Itza, Mexico, thousands gather at the Kulkulkan pyramid. In the late afternoon, the sun creates a shadow that looks like a snake sliding down the northern staircase.
And in Stonehenge, England, pagans, druids and tourists watch the picturesque sunrise at the prehistoric monument.
Holi, a major festival in India that marks the start of spring, also begins on March 20 this year. During Holi, people come together for song, dance and to splash their loved ones with colored powder and water.
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By Justin Grieser
If you’re ready for warmer weather, blossoming trees and allergies, you won’t have to wait much longer. March 20 is the vernal equinox, which traditionally marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
This year’s equinox — which occurs Wednesday at 5:58 p.m. Eastern time — will also feature the third and final supermoon of 2019. Less than four hours after the equinox, the moon will appear full at 9:43 p.m. According to EarthSky, the spring equinox and full moon haven’t occurred this closely together since 2000.
While a full moon on the first day of spring is relatively rare, the vernal equinox happens every year on or around March 20. The equinox is the exact moment when the sun’s strongest and most direct rays shine on Earth’s equator before crossing into the Northern Hemisphere.CONTENT FROM AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE Natural gas can help increase the use of renewable energy like wind and solar because it offers a low-cost backup capacity that’s critical for the power grid.
Wednesday is one of only two days of the year — the other being the autumnal equinox in September — when the Earth’s axis is tilted neither away from nor toward the sun. As a result, the Northern and Southern Hemisphere see approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Most places on Earth, apart from the polar regions, also see the sun rise at due east and set at due west along the horizon.
The arrival of spring means the sun is climbing higher in the sky with each passing day. The sun is now up for more than 12 hours, and we’ll continue to see daylight increase for the next three months until we reach the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, June 21.
Not quite equal day and night
Though “equinox” comes from the Latin words “aequus” (equal) and “nox” (night), both of Earth’s hemispheres actually see slightly more than 12 hours of daylight on the equinox.
In Washington, sunrise on Wednesday will be at 7:12 a.m. and sunset will be at 7:20 p.m., bringing us a total of 12 hours and eight minutes of daylight. The date of the “equilux” — when sunrise and sunset occur exactly 12 hours apart — was March 17.
Why aren’t day and night exactly equal, as the name implies?
There are two reasons for this. One is atmospheric refraction, the bending of the sun’s light as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere. This causes the sun to appear slightly higher in the sky than it actually is.
The other is how we measure the length of a day. The sun appears as a disk in the sky, not a single point. Sunrise occurs as soon as the sun’s upper edge appears on the horizon, while sunset doesn’t occur until the sun’s upper edge disappears from the horizon.
Together, these factors add about 10 minutes of daylight to the equinox, depending on how far you live from the equator. (At high latitudes, near the North and South Poles, the atmosphere “stretches” the distance between the sun’s center and its outer edges more, causing the sun to take longer to rise and set.)
Rapidly increasing daylight
Every year around the March equinox, we see daylight increase faster than at any other time of year. Washington is now gaining about 2 minutes and 32 seconds of daylight each day. By the end of March, sunrise and sunset are more than 12½ hours apart.
Locations to our north are seeing even greater increases in daylight. In Boston, daylight is increasing by nearly three minutes each day. Seattle is tacking on 3 minutes and 27 seconds, and in Fairbanks, Alaska, the sun is up 6 minutes and 43 seconds longer with each passing day.
At lower latitudes closer to the equator, the increase is slower. Miami and Houston, for example, see their daylight hours increase by less than two minutes a day.
As the days grow longer and the sun climbs higher in the sky, temperatures start to rise as well. The District’s average high temperature, now 57 degrees, hits 60 on March 27 and climbs to 71 degrees by the end of April. And although temperatures below freezing are not uncommon into the first half of April, the average date of the last freeze is quickly approaching inside the Beltway.
So, while it’s probably too early to hang up your winter coat for the season, the arrival of the spring equinox means that cold days are usually numbered. Now that the sun brightens our skies for more than 12 hours each day, it can only mean that warm spring weather is just around the corner.
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sent a message to his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan, greeting people of the neighbouring country on the eve of its National Day, official sources said.
The prime minister, in his message, said it was time for the people of the sub-continent to work together for a democratic, peaceful, progressive and prosperous region, in an atmosphere free of terror and violence, they said.
Modi’s message to Khan comes in the midst of severe strain in ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours following the Pulwama attack and the subsequent air strikes by India on a JeM terror camp in Pakistan’s Balakot.
Significantly, India on Friday boycotted a reception at the Pakistan High Commission here to mark Pakistan’s National Day, objecting to invites extended to several separatist leaders from Jammu and Kashmir for the event.
Imran Khan also tweeted PM Modi’s message.
“Received msg from PM Modi: ‘I extend my greetings & best wishes to the people of Pakistan on the National Day of Pakistan. It is time that ppl of Sub-continent work together for a democratic, peaceful, progressive & prosperous region, in an atmosphere free of terror and violence’,” Khan said.
Received msg from PM Modi: “I extend my greetings & best wishes to the people of Pakistan on the National Day of Pakistan. It is time that ppl of Sub-continent work together for a democratic, peaceful, progressive & prosperous region, in an atmosphere free of terror and violence”
15.9K people are talking about this Earlier, Pakistani envoy Sohail Mahmood, in an address at the reception here, said Pakistan and India need to consolidate the process of de-escalation and stabilise the ties against further shocks, hoping that the “long winter” in bilateral relations would come to an early end.
He said both the countries should act with “wisdom” to normalise ties, asserting that “coercive measures” have not worked in the past and will not work in the future.
The envoy said a key takeaway from recent developments was that a lack of engagement creates “dangerous vacuum and serious risks” for relations between the two neighbours, adding Pakistan has “turned a corner” in its fight against the scourge of terrorism.
He said the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, return of the two High Commissioners to their respective missions, and bilateral meetings on the Kartarpur Corridor “are steps in a positive direction”.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after Indian Air Force fighter jets bombed terror group JeM’s training camp near Balakot deep inside Pakistan on February 26.
Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target Indian military installations the next day. However, the IAF thwarted their plans.
The Indian strike on the JeM camp came 12 days after the terror outfit claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in which 40 soldiers were killed. PTI
Ram Prasad Sarmah had resigned from the party after his name was missing from the list of probable candidates.
Among those who were snubbed is senior BJP leader from Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has been clinical in strengthening the party’s hold in the state and the north-east. The snub given to Biswas has not gone down well several members of the party and has dampened the mood for Biswas’ loyalists.
However, Shah issued a clarification justifying the decision and said that it was taken in the best interests of the party and the state of Assam. “The Assam election selection committee and Assam BJP members had recommended Himanta Biswa Sarma’s name for the Lok Sabha elections. But the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) in consultation with the central leadership of the BJP has decided to let Biswas to continue to as a minister in Assam and continue the work of the NEDA chairman and continue to contribute a healthy growth of the party in Assam and the north-east,” the BJP president said in a post on micro-blogging platform Twitter.
Three sitting MPs in Assam were dropped from BJP’s first list of candidates for the coming general elections announced on Thursday evening. The suspense, however, continued over tickets in two crucial seats.
The BJP named candidates for 8 of the 14 seats in Assam while refraining from making announcements for Nagaon and Tezpur. Alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) will contest from 3 seats and Bodo People’s Front (BDF) from one.
Former union minister Bijaya Chakraborty, 80, who has represented the Guwahati seat thrice since 1999, was replaced by another woman candidate Queen Oja (67).
Sitting MPs from Mangaldoi, Ramen Deka and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa (Jorhat) were replaced by Dilip Saikia and Tapan Gogoi, a minister in the Sarbananda Sonowal government.
Two sitting MPs, Rameshwar Teli (Dibrugarh) and Pradan Baruah (Lakhimpur) were given tickets while the fates of two other MPs, union minister Rajen Gohain (Nagaon) and Ram Prasad Sarmah (Tezpur), are yet to be decided.
BJP had won 7 of the 14 seats in the state in 2014. After Sarbananda Sonowal became chief minister in 2016, the Lakhimpur seat went to Pradan Baruah.
Union minister of state for railways Rajen Gohain, who is facing a rape charge, had announced recently that he won’t be contesting till his name is cleared and Ram Prasad Sarmah had resigned from the party after his name was missing from the list of probable candidates.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, a senior minister in the Sonowal cabinet and convenor of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a BJP-led group of anti-Congress parties in the region, was expected to get the Tezpur ticket.
But putting all speculations to rest, BJP president Amit Shah announced on Thursday evening that since Sarma holds important responsibilities the party high command wants him to continue with them for the time being.
“The BJP central committee requested Sarma to continue as NEDA chairman, work for overall development of northeast and help coordinate between the party and the government at Centre,” Shah wrote in a series of tweets in Hindi.
“I hope Assam BJP and workers across northeast will accept this decision,” added Shah.
There are speculations that Ram Prasad Sarmah might be given the Tezpur ticket while Rupak Sarma, a first-time MLA, might get the Nagaon seat.
The four million people in Assam who have been left out of the final draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) have caught the attention of the US State Department. A 55-page report gives extensive description of human rights abuses in India vis-à-vis the minority community and vulnerable sections of the society and includes reference to the BJP leadership and government ministers.
The Hindustated that the report mentioned about BJP president Amit Shah who had stated on September 24 last year that the Bangladeshis present in Assam are “termites whose names will be struck out from the citizens’ register”. The US State Department report also highlighted that the four million people of Assam whose names were missing from the final draft NRC face “uncertain citizenship status”.
The report also documented that refugees and internally displaced persons need more effective legal safeguards to prevent human rights abuse.
Whenever dust particles hang thick in the air in South Korea, sales of pork rise.
This quirky correlation in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, where air pollution outstrips industralised peers, stems from an old belief attributed to coal miners, that the slippery pork oil helped cleanse dirt from their throats.
For middle school student Han Dong-jae, eating greasy barbecued pork belly on a smoggy day is a life lesson imbibed from his mother.
“I eat more pork when fine dust is dense like today,” said the 15-year-old as he dug in over a sizzling grill at a barbecue restaurant in Seoul with his mother after school.
“I think it’s somewhat helpful, because pork meat has oil and the oil soothes my throat.”
Scientists say there is no rationale for the belief, but pork sales jumped about a fifth on the year from Feb. 28 to March 5, when pollutants blanketed most areas, data from major retailers E-Mart and Lotte Mart showed.
SOCIAL DISASTER
South Korea faces a battle against unhealthy air, a combination of domestic emissions from coal-fired power plants and cars, and pollutants wafted in from China and North Korea.
Its air quality was the worst among its industrialised peers in 2017, data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) grouping of wealthy nations showed.
South Korea registers 25.1 micrograms per cubic metre of fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometres on average each year, just over double the OECD figure of 12.5, but far lower than the world average of 44.2.
The pollution has affected South Korean policy and businesses, driving up shares of companies that make air purifiers and masks.
Legislation this month included a measure designating the problem a “social disaster”, which could unlock emergency funds.
Cho Seog-yeon, an environmental engineering professor at Inha University, called for more study of the exact damage wrought by high levels of concentrated pollutants, adding, “We don’t know now where the damage is done (by air pollution).”
People battle the air pollution by wearing masks and staying indoors. But in a country where 28 percent of all households have a pet, furry companions are a priority too.
Sales of pet masks surged more than five times in early March, said Suh Hyuk-jin, director of pet products maker Dear Dog.
Cho Eun-hye, who lives in the northwestern city of Incheon, bought a mask for her 18-month-old brown Korean Jindo dog, Hari, who needs to be walked two times a day.
“It’s inconvenient, but I think we have to keep living with that,” said the 36-year-old office worker.
SEOUL (Reuters) – Whenever dust particles hang thick in the air in South Korea, sales of pork rise.
This quirky correlation in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, where air pollution outstrips industralised peers, stems from an old belief attributed to coal miners, that the slippery pork oil helped cleanse dirt from their throats.
For middle school student Han Dong-jae, eating greasy barbecued pork belly on a smoggy day is a life lesson imbibed from his mother.
“I eat more pork when fine dust is dense like today,” said the 15-year-old as he dug in over a sizzling grill at a barbecue restaurant in Seoul with his mother after school.
“I think it’s somewhat helpful, because pork meat has oil and the oil soothes my throat.”
Scientists say there is no rationale for the belief, but pork sales jumped about a fifth on the year from Feb. 28 to March 5, when pollutants blanketed most areas, data from major retailers E-Mart and Lotte Mart showed.Cho Eun-hye (R) and her one-and-a-half-year-old Korean Jindo dog Hari, both wearing masks, go for a walk on a poor air quality day in Incheon, South Korea, March 15, 2019. REUTERS/Hyun Young Yi
SOCIAL DISASTER
South Korea faces a battle against unhealthy air, a combination of domestic emissions from coal-fired power plants and cars, and pollutants wafted in from China and North Korea.
Its air quality was the worst among its industrialised peers in 2017, data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) grouping of wealthy nations showed.
South Korea registers 25.1 micrograms per cubic metre of fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometres on average each year, just over double the OECD figure of 12.5, but far lower than the world average of 44.2.
The pollution has affected South Korean policy and businesses, driving up shares of companies that make air purifiers and masks.
Legislation this month included a measure designating the problem a “social disaster”, which could unlock emergency funds.
Cho Seog-yeon, an environmental engineering professor at Inha University, called for more study of the exact damage wrought by high levels of concentrated pollutants, adding, “We don’t know now where the damage is done (by air pollution).”
People battle the air pollution by wearing masks and staying indoors. But in a country where 28 percent of all households have a pet, furry companions are a priority too.Slideshow (8 Images)
Sales of pet masks surged more than five times in early March, said Suh Hyuk-jin, director of pet products maker Dear Dog.
Cho Eun-hye, who lives in the northwestern city of Incheon, bought a mask for her 18-month-old brown Korean Jindo dog, Hari, who needs to be
