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Archive for July, 2011

School Go Green through “GuruDakshina”

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“Gurudakshina” being seen having green impact in a small place at Rajasthan where a government school in the state practices a unique tradition of making their students plant trees in the premises as a payback to their teachers before they pass out , this is really a good initiative to keep the tradition of repaying one’s teacher or guru after a period of study giving acknowledgment, respect, and thanks to their teacher/guru.

Hardayal Government Upper Primary School in Sikar town, Rajasthan, has been doing this practice since 2006. As a result, the school has about 800 trees at present, including some growing small plants.

This guru dakshina tradition started by the then Principal Mahaveer Prasad Sain since from 2006, who was an environmentalist and that time there were only a couple of trees in the school premises.

The guru dakshina tradition of repaying one’s teacher after completion of formal education has thus given a remarkable green look to the surroundings area of this school. The school requests every student who passes class 8 to seek transfer certificates only after planting at least one tree, the present Principal Parmeshawari Devi said.

“We do not force students to do so. It is solely on their choice. But it is really good to know that a majority of students are following this religiously,” she said.

A student, Ajay Rastogi said “I planted two plants – one of Indian gooseberry (Amla) and other of Cestrum Nocturnum ( Raat ki Raani ) as guru dakshina. I really love to see them growing. Once I leave this school, my juniors will start to look after it and I will also try to visit the school occasionally to see my plants growing,”.

“Most of them plant at least two. It is also necessary for the student to hand over the responsibility of caring for the specific tree to some junior student,” said Parmeshawari Devi.

“To ensure that the tree is being properly taken care of, the students visit the school from time to time to supervise the progress,” she said. “Now almost each part of the school has a tree,” the principal added.
We wish every school should follow this tradition.
Source: IANS

Posted by admin on July 25th, 2011

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Indias Largest Polluted Town

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Sukinda is a town in Jajpur district of Orissa which has abundance of chromite deposits, that is around 97% of India’s total deposits. (one of the largest open cast chromite ore mines in the world). this makes it among the third most-polluted place in the world followed by Vapi.

Type of Pollutants: Hexavalent chromium and other metals

Source of Pollution: Sukinda Chromite Mines is an old mine owned by OMC. The mining lease was granted over 936.22 hectares to the corporation in 1966, the main source of pollution is Chromite mines and processing.

Scope of the Problem: Around 12 mines operate in the area without proper environmental controls. Pollution caused by the mines is a major health hazard, these mines continue to operate without any environmental management plans and control. The town has over 30 million tons of waste rock which are spread over the surrounding areas and the Brahmani riverbanks. The mines discharge untreated water into the river resultant approx 70% of the surface water and 60% of the drinking water contains hexavalent chromium at more than double national and international standards and levels of over 20 times the standard have been recorded.

Health Hazard: Workers and nearby resident are exposed to contaminated dust and water, Tuberculosis, asthma and Gastrointestinal bleeding, are common ailments. Infertility, birth defects, and stillbirths and have also been reported. According to estimates 84.75% of deaths in the mining areas and 86.42% of deaths in the nearby industrial villages occurred due to chromite-mine related diseases. Villages within one kilometer of the mines were the worst affected, with over 24% of the population found to be suffering from pollution-induced diseases.

Clean-Up Status: Pollution in Sukinda is spread over a very large area and residents are affected by the chromium through different source. The Odisha government has gone on record saying: “It is unique, it is gigantic and it is beyond the means and purview of the [Odisha Pollution Control] Board to solve the problem.” Remedial plans remain lying on the paper with no decisive action to provide for effective health monitoring and abatement programs.

Officially no comprehensive health study has been carried out as yet at Sukinda by any Government agencies, however the results of different surveys conducted by non-governmental organizations are enough to alarm the Government about the worst situation because these studies have reported acute health problems due to chromium contamination of the whole ecosystem, the CAG report is more specific: “The valley has been witnessing hexavalent chromium pollution in its air, land and water due to 12 operating mines.” Significantly, around thirteen mines in the area have no ‘environment management plan’ to operate further… The government should wake up from deep slumber and take urgent call on this..

Posted by admin on July 25th, 2011

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