The world is heading towards mass extinction, study suggests

Author(s): Suchetana Sinha @ 

Previous study had claimed that climate change is accelerating the risk of such extinction

Photo: NASA

We are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event, says a study by Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Published on Friday, in journal Science Advances, the research calls for an intense action on conservation of endangered species. 

According to the study, even with extremely conservative estimates, species are disappearing by up to about 100 times faster than the normal rate between mass extinctions or the background rate.

"If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover, and our species itself would likely disappear early on," said Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Autónoma de México and the lead author of the study.
Ceballos and his team, including Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies in biology and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, compared fossil records and extinction counts and the result is a definitive extinction crisis.

A 2014 study by the Brown University estimated that extinctions are about 1,000 times more frequent now than 60 million years before and the reason for such an elevation is the presence of human beings.  However, they studied evidences from evolutionary family trees. They state that though fossils are helpful sources of information, they often only allow identification of the animal or plant’s genus, but not its exact species.

Crucial ecosystem services such as global hydrological cycles that influence the purification and flow of water, honeybees’ crop pollination, provision of bio fuels, vegetation and traditional plant medicines would also disappear as species disappear, emphasises the author. Other services are recreational, spiritual and cultural, along with supporting services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling. Any harm done to it, therefore, will lead to a cut back in the availability of food, fresh water, fuel wood, fiber, biochemical and genetic resources (for breeding and bio technology).

Another research by the University of Connecticut this year had estimated that climate change accelerates the risk of extinction, threatening up to one in six species. According to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the overgrowing human population—responsible for deforestation, ocean acidification, climate change and carbon emission—has destroyed the natural habitat. About 41 per cent of all amphibian species and 26 per cent of all mammals are vulnerable to extinction.

"Avoiding a true sixth mass extinction will require rapid, greatly intensified efforts to conserve already threatened species, and to alleviate pressures on their populations, notably habitat loss, over-exploitation for economic gain and climate change," writes Ehrlich, co-author of the recent study.

The Cretaceous mass extinction event is the last extinction event that the earth has witnessed. About 65 million years ago, the event swept out dinosaurs and half of all species in the planet.  With 96 per cent species killed, the great dying or the Permian mass extinction is the largest event that the earth has experienced. The species present now are the descendents from the four per cent that remained at that time. Reasons such as climate change triggered rise in sea level and asteroid impacts are held account for previous extinction events.

Rajasthan moves to ‘privatise' basic health facilities

Author(s): Kundan Pandey @kundanmcu 

Attempts to implement the PPP model have failed in many states. Activists plan to oppose the decision  

While Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is at the centre of a high decibel media debate over her alleged association with Lalit Modi, one critical development in her state has slipped through the cracks and escaped scrutiny. On Tuesday, the state Cabinet gave its nod to the running of primary health centres (PHCs) in public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Similar initiatives in states like Chhattisgarh and Bihar have failed.

In the meeting chaired by Raje, the Cabinet decided that 90 PHCs of a total of 2,082 would be run by private players. Parliamentary Minister Rajendra Rathore said that the decision of running the PHCs and affiliated sub-centres in PPP mode was taken in view of the shortage of staff at these centres.

The centres will continue to provide facilities such as free medicines, free diagnostic services, immunisation and 104 and 108 ambulance services. The operators of the PHCs will provide doctors, paramedic and other staff, free OPD (out-patient department), 6-bed IPD (in-patient department), 24-hour emergency scheme, maternal and child healthcare, family planning, pregnancy registration, labour room for normal delivery, referral, vaccination and other facilities at these centres. The health centres will be allotted to private partners through an open bidding system.

But experts doubt the intention of the state government and accuse it of gradually moving towards privatisation.
Chhaya Pachauli, a Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) activist from Rajasthan, says that the government has not revealed details like the names of companies and the terms of such an arrangement yet. JSA is a group of activists working on health issues.

The biggest crisis, it is felt by experts, is that the state government is slowly moving towards privatisation of health. Recently, Rajasthan downsized its free medicine scheme and brought in a similar insurance model.

Sulakshana Nandi, a health activist from Chhattisgarh who fought her state’s effort to privatise the health sector, said attempts to hand over public health establishments to private players in diagnostic services and PHCs had failed to materialise. No private players came forward to provide health facilities in remote regions. “Obviously, these private players are interested in minimum investment and maximum gain. Why these private players will go and serve those rural areas where government has failed to retain its employees?” she asks.

 Local groups in Rajasthan are planning to protest against government initiatives to privatise public services like health and education.

The drying pens of calligraphy

Author(s): Sabreen Haziq @ 

As digital calligraphy becomes popular, traditional calligraphy artists who write by hand are facing diminishing prospects for their livelihood

Photos by Sabreen Haziq

Abdul Rahman lives in fear of losing his job every day. The 62-year-old katib or traditional calligrapher from Old Delhi’s Urdu Bazaar now finds himself competing with computerised calligraphy fonts, a development that threatens to wipe out the traditional occupation of his entire community.

This state of near joblessness has forced several katibs to replace their shops with those selling food items, digitally printed books and readymade garments. But Rahman refuses to quit.

In his 8x8 foot room in a lane of Urdu Bazaar, Rahman talks about calligraphy and his connection with the art. “It took me a very long time to learn this art and to give it away just like that would be like driving a stake through my heart,” he says. “With digitalisation of calligraphy fonts, the lives of many like me have been collapsing like a house of cards.”

Rahman can write Urdu, Arabic and Persian in calligraphy. “I usually write names of offices and departments required to make stamps. I also make calendars for madrasas, but it barely fetches me any money to get through even a day.”

Remuneration for artists like Rahman hasn’t increased significantly from the Rs 5,000 they earned in the past. Typically, they earn up to Rs 3 per word, while commercial artists charge up to Rs 5 per letter.

Traditional calligrapher Abdul Rahman shows a sample of his work in his shop in Old Delhi

A short walking distance away is the shop of 70-year-old Mohammad Tehsin. Tehsin is frustrated with how the tide has turned against these artists. “There was a time when I would not even get the time to eat my lunch because of the work load. I remember sitting at my bench and working till 2 am in the night. Those were my golden days,” he says.

Tehsin is from Muzaffarnagar. He started working as a calligrapher in Delhi’s Urdu Bazaar in 1968. “All sorts of people like politicians and film stars would come to me to get written scripts made because before the computer was invented, people appreciated the beauty of this art form,” he says. He doesn’t think computers can play around with the fonts like he can.

Calligraphy is the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner. First practised by Sumerians, calligraphy became very popular in Asia. Here, it evolved into a new alphabet, with more details and basic sounds.

Calligraphy was first seen on a wide scale in ancient India during Asoka’s reign. He was the first Indian emperor to promote his dynasty through carved stones and pillars. Over history, Indian calligraphy artists have worked with a wide range of materials such as clay coins, stone, metal, cloth, leaves and paper. Exquisitely styled ink-pots are a special feature of Indian calligraphy.

Renowned Bollywood lyricist and script writer, Javed Akhtar, explains why calligraphy by hand must be protected. “Calligraphy takes a word and writes it in a way that’s visual, which to begin with, was extremely utility-oriented but become an art itself,” he says. “Do we really need this art? But then do we need beauty? Of course we do. Calligraphy enriches our lives.”

85-year-old Rasheed Chowdhary, owner of India Art Studio in Urdu Bazaar, has been a calligrapher since partition. He says there are only two ways left for traditional calligraphers to go. “They could either give up on this art form and start using computers if they want to do well financially, or continue to do what they do and ultimately bleed out on the thorns of life.”

Calligraphy in a new avatar

Traditional calligraphy may have ceased to be a profitable venture for artists from Urdu Bazaar, but the style has found favour with international tattoo artists who are using technology to make intricate calligraphy-based tattoos for their clients.

Ankit, a tattoo artist at Devil’z Tattooz in the upmarket GK-1 area of South Delhi, tells Down To Earth, “We have several customers who get written scripts tattooed because they hold a meaning. Calligraphy fonts are particularly in demand when making such tattoos.”

Harish Chandra, a commercial artist from Munirka in South Delhi is attempting to revive the art of calligraphy by hand. He started a company called Calligraphy India in 1995 to teach all those interested in learning the art.

Chandra says traditional calligraphers need to come together to protect their profession. “It’s not like there is a dearth of calligraphers in India, but unfortunately there is no interaction within this community. There is a need to bring them together under one umbrella through societies or associations,” he says.

Kerala writes to Tamil Nadu over chemical contamination of vegetables

Author(s): M Suchitra

The state requires 30 lakh tonne of vegetables every year and produces only 40 per cent of its requirements, thus importing the rest from neighbours

Kerala food safety officials paid a visit to farmlands in Tamil Nadu, following a campaign against the sale of vegetables with high pesticides content (Credit: Masahiro Ihara/Flickr)

The Kerala government has sent an official letter to its counterpart in Tamil Nadu, informing that vegetables bought from the latter contained pesticide residues three to five times higher than the permissible limit.

A team of Kerala food safety officials recently paid a visit to farmlands in nine districts of Tamil Nadu. This was in the wake of a campaign launched by the state against the sale of vegetables with high pesticides content imported from neighbouring states. The drive has come at a time when the country is still reeling under the Maggi controversy and food safety is uppermost on everyone’s mind.

“Food safety officials from the state visited two-three farmlands in nine districts of adjacent Tamil Nadu and prepared the report,” said T V Anupama, Kerala’s food safety commissioner. The districts covered by the Kerala officials include Nagercoil, Dindigul, Tirunelveli and Kodaikanal, she added.

Earlier, a meeting was convened by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on June 10 to check the import of vegetables high in pesticides content into the state. Anupama said an inter-state secretary-level meeting had been planned next month to discuss the matter.

Deficit in production

According to the state-owned vegetable procurement agency, Kerala Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp), the state requires 30 lakh tonne of vegetables every year.
However, Kerala produces only 40 per cent of its requirements and imports the rest from neighbouring states. In the past too, there have been several reports by the media on the indiscriminate use of pesticides in vegetables grown in Tamil Nadu.

Last year in November, Chandy had said that Kerala would soon form an authority under the food safety commissioner to check fruits and vegetables entering the domestic market from outside to check contamination. But till date, the authority has not yet been formed.

Kerala’s organic policy

In 2008, Kerala had formulated an organic policy “for making farming sustainable, rewarding and competitive and ensuring poison-free water, soil and food for every citizen”.

At present, with increasing awareness among consumers about the harmful effects of pesticides, there is a high demand for organically-cultivated produce. “Therefore, it has become the solemn responsibility of the government to encourage organic farming to ensure poison-free food at affordable prices to every citizen,” the government policy reads. However, the policy has not been implemented. Even the vegetables produced in the state are contaminated with pesticides.

In the past couple of years, an organic vegetable movement has slowly spread in the state. Many people have also started growing vegetables on the terrace. Political parties are also not far behind. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has taken it upon itself to popularise organic vegetable farming.

“In Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha we’re making real efforts to combine organic vegetable farming and municipal solid waste management. It’s paying off,” said Thomas Isaac, the party’s central committee member and former finance minister. Issac represents Alappuzha in the state legislative assembly.

Jackfruits sidelined

Interestingly, at a time when Kerala is making such a hue and cry about chemical contamination of vegetables, it is wasting jackfruits which grow in abundance in the state.

The benefit of cultivating jackfruit is immense, as chemicals are not required to grow it. According to the National Horticulture Board, the state’s production of jackfruit in 2013-14 stood at 300,000 tonne.

However, there is a glitch in the story. “At least, one-third of this (jackfruit produce) is allowed to rot in the open. Besides this, around 50,000 tonne of jackfruit is going out of the state to cities such as New Delhi, said Shree Padre, a well-known journalist and editor of Adike Patrike, a farm journal in Kannada. Padre has been writing on jackfruit for the past seven years.

“The fruit is highly nutritious and is a staple in the state,” Padre added. Padre wondered as to why Kerela was not paying any attention to minimise the wastage. The state still continues to consider jackfruit a poor man’s food, he rued.

K Pratapan, the state horticulture mission director, said Kerala does not have any separate funds or programme to promote jackfruit.

Inequalities still persist in reproductive and child health care, says study

Author(s): Suchetana Sinha @ 

Despite the progress that many countries have made over past few years, inequalities remain a concern

Photo: Sonal Matharu

Though inequalities have narrowed in low and middle income countries, they are still visible in most of the reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health indicators. According to a new research, titled “State of inequality: reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH)”, there is still much progress to be made in reducing inequalities within these indicators.

The study was published by World Health Organization (WHO) on June 16.

To determine the inequalities in reproductive health interventions, parameters such as family planning and contraceptives have been used for the purpose of research. The report highlights that demand for family planning satisfied was at least 17 percentage points higher among women with secondary or higher education than among the ones with no education. This was observed in half of the countries where the study was conducted. Moreover, considerable economic-related inequality in use of modern and traditional contraception was found.

The report that has analysed publically-available data from 86 low and middle income countries has concluded that national averages demonstrated improvements over the past decade. This progress, however, was not sufficiently equity-oriented to bridge the gap. Though there were variations, based on the country and the indicator, inequalities were still pervasive between people of different economic status subgroups, education levels, places of residence and sex (in a few cases). These four are also the dimensions of inequality that have been described as the common source of discrimination by WHO.

Urban v rural

Researchers also found similar gaps in urban and rural setting. For example, prevalence of births attended by skilled health personnel were at least 20 percentage points higher in urban areas than in rural. The trend was found in half of the countries in the total subject group.

Pneumonia is a major cause of death among children under five years of age and a large number of children do not have access to health facilities. According to WHO, it claims lives of nearly 1.5 million kids annually across the globe. Therefore, care seeking (availability to health facility) for children with pneumonia symptoms has been used as a parameter to assess the inequality regarding localities of subjects. Researchers found a gap of at least 20 percentage points between care seeking for children with pneumonia symptoms in the poorest and richest subgroups.

Immunisation was another indicator. The findings suggest that there was no (or very little) difference in immunisation coverage between boys and girls.

The study also found that the infant mortality rate was at least eight deaths per 1,000 live births higher in rural areas, as compared to the urban ones. In about one quarter of study countries, the gap in neonatal mortality rates between the most and least educated subgroups was at least 15 deaths per 1,000 live births. Child mortality accounted for 6.3 million deaths globally; translating into 17, 000 daily deaths of children aged five years or younger.

CURRENT AFFAIRS JUNE/30/2015

           CURRENT AFFAIRS JUNE/30/2015

1.  CHENNAI GETS FIRST PHASE OF METRO RAIL:

i.   Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa launched first phase of Chennai metro Rail Service.

ii.  first phase of Metro Service covers the 10 km elevated stretch which connects Alandur in South Chennai to Koyabedu in the North.

2.  MUMBAI ECONOMIC ZONE:

i.   GFH financial Group signed pact with Adani Group for developing Mumbai Economic Zone.

ii.  GFH is a Bahrain based financial Group.

3. WEATHER-BASED CROP INSURANCE SCHEME:

i.    Bajaj Allianz launched weather-based crop insurance scheme for 3 districts of Maharashtra.

ii.   Insurance covers orange crops in Nagpur, Hingoli and Washimdistricts of Maharashtra

4.  ASIA INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK:

i.  50 countries have signed articles of Agreement for China initiated Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.

ii.   Out of 57 founder member countries, remaining seven –Denmark, Kuwait, Malaysia, Philippines, Holland, South Africa and Thailand did not signed the agreement.

5.   NELSON PIQUEST JR WON FIA FORMULA E CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE:

i.    Nelson Piquet Jr won the inaugural FIA formula E championship title.

ii.  Brazilian Racer Nelson piquet jr. drove for Chinese team Nextev.

CURRENT AFFAIRS JUNE/28 & 29/2015

           CURRENT AFFAIRS JUNE/28 & 29/2015

1.  SPACE X FALSON-9 ROCKET BROKE APART IN FLAMES:

i.   Space X Falcon-9 rocket broke apart in flames minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

ii.  The accident occurred in only two and half minutes after the launch.

iii.  This incident is the third failure to send supplies to the ISS in the last 8 months.

       ISS- International Space Station.

2.  SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT DISSSOLVED PARLIAMENT:

i.   Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved Parliament

ii.  Sirisena dissolved the parliament within 160 days after assuming his office

iii.  This dissolution ends the term of the coalition government that was appointed for a period of 100 days after the presidential election.

3.  CANADA BADMINTON TOURNAMENT 2015:

Category	Player won	Player lost
a.      Men’s Single	Lee Chang Wei (Malaysia)	Ng KaLong Anglus (Hong Kong)
b.      Women’s Single	Michelle Li (Canada)	Kaori Imabeppu (Japan)
c.       Women’s Double	i.        Jwala Gutta (India) ii.      Ashwini Ponappa (India)	Eefje Muskens (Dutch Pair) Selena Pick
d.      Mixed Doubles	i.        Li Junhui (china) ii.      Liu Yuchen (China)	Kaixiang Huang (china) Sijie Wang (China)

4.  SATNAM SINGH BHAMARA JOINED NBA:

i.  Satnam Singh Bhamara become first Indian basketball player to join NBA.

ii. Punjab born Satnam Singh is only 19 year old and is 52^nd overall pick at the 2015 draft by the Dallas Mavericks

iii. Earlier , Sim Bhullar became the first basketball player of Indian origin to join the NBA.

CURRENT AFFAIRS JUNE/26 & 27/2015

           CURRENT AFFAIRS JUNE/26 & 27/2015

1.  WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2015:

i.   UNCTAD released World Investment Report 2015.

ii.  The report was titled as, ‘Reforming International Investment Governance’.

iii.  UNCTAD- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

2.  FIRST UNIT OF BENGAIGAON THERMAL POWER PROJECT COMMISSIONED:

i.   BHEL commissioned first 250 MW unit of NTPC’s Bongaigaon Thermal Power Project of NTPC in Assam.

ii.  BHEL is executing the NTPC’s project for setting up three units of 250 MW each as coal- based project which will be completed by 2016.

iii.  BHEL- Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.

iv.  NTPC- National Thermal Power Corporation.    

3.  INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE AND ILLICIT TRAFFICKING:

i. International Day Against Drug abuse and illicit traffickingwas observed globally on 26^th June 2015.

ii.  The theme for the day was, “Let’s Develop our lives, Our Communities, our identities without drugs”.

4.  SACHIN TENDULKAR NAMED AS GREATEST TEST PLAYER OF 21^ST CENTURY:

i.  Former Indian Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is voted as the best Test player of 21^st century in an online poll.

ii.  Sachin Tendulkar got 23% votes and was followed by Srilanka’s Kumar Sangakara (14% votes) and Australia’s Adam Gilchrist (13% votes).

5. ANSHULA KANT BECOMES CFO AND DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SBI:

i.  Anshula Kant is appointed as the new Chief Financial Officerand Deputy Managing Director of State Bank of India.

ii.  Anshula Kant succeeded P.K.Gupta, who is promoted as Chief Executive Officer of SBI capital.

6. RBI RELEASED FSR 2015:

i.  RBI has released Financial Stability Report June 2015.

ii. This is the Eleventh issue of its half yearly publication.

7.  DEADLINE FOR EXCHANGING PRE-2015 CURRENCY NOTES EXTENDED BY 6 MONTHS:

i.  RBI has extended the deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes by 6-months i.e. till 31^st December 2015.

ii.  Earlier on 23^rd December 2014, it extended the deadline for echanging pre-2005 notes of various denominations by another six months till 30^th June 2015 for previous 31^stDecember 2015.

Note: Past-2005 notes have added security features and will help in curbing the menace of fake currency.