Govt Allows Plumbers, Electricians - HT

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal visited Krishna Nagar Gurudwara to Celebrate 550th Parkash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev Ji

इंसान तो इंसान, दिल्ली के परिंदे भी है परेशांन

Press cuttings in the last few days : HT, TOI, IExp, NBT, Parking Policy, Open Gates, Odd Even

Ban on crackers may not save Delhi, bursting them certainly kills it faster

Delhi’s deteriorating air quality was the reason that the Supreme Court banned the sale and use of conventional firecrackers in the National Capital Region this year. However, a few hours into the celebration, the ban went up in smoke.

Bending rules is the rule of the game for most Delhi residents. This Diwali, they demonstrated that they could even turn suicidal in that pursuit.

This year, the Supreme Court banned the sale and use of conventional firecrackers in the National Capital Region for a good reason. Fuelled by gunpowder, firecrackers are the worst possible cocktail of toxins. Since Delhi’s deteriorating air quality was already making headlines and trending on social media, one imagined that for once, citizens of Delhi would see sense in not poisoning the foul air further in their already choking city this Diwali.

However, a few hours into the celebration, the ban went up in smoke. Most people across the city, overcome by a strange self-destructive urge, found various ways to procure firecrackers illegally and burst them with abandon. Some people even wore pollution masks while bursting crackers, for good measure. Unsurprisingly, pollution levels on Diwali night were worse than last year’s. Delhi has since been draped in unrelenting smog.

For a long time, many of us have played down health risks by justifying Diwali as a once-a-year celebration. But toxic fumes from the city’s massive fleet of private vehicles, unchecked garbage burning, dust from construction sites and stubble burning in neighbouring states are already filling up our lungs. Diwali firecrackers could well be the proverbial last straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Multiple studies have shown that foul air is compromising the lung capacity of children in Delhi. The latest one, released by the World Health Organisation last month and well publicised by the media, stated that in 2016, India recorded the highest number of air pollution-induced deaths of children below five years. Yet, on Diwali night, many people burst crackers because their “children liked them”.

It is easy to blame enforcement agencies. However, Delhi Police did arrest as many as 310 persons for bursting crackers on the Diwali night. However, why do we need the police to stop us from damaging our lungs?

The argument that bursting firecrackers on the Diwali night is a tradition we must continue does not cut much ice. In fact, Diwali has traditionally been the festival of light. Fireworks, in any case, are a borrowed fad we seemed to have rapidly internalised. Gunpowder and fireworks were invented in China more than a thousand years ago. The Chinese believe that the loud sound from firecrackers drives away evil spirits, and burning them during the Lunar New Year is an age-old Chinese tradition. But that has not come in the way of even the proud inventor restricting their use to fight air pollution.

Unlike India, where such decisions have been left to the judiciary, it is the government that has banned fireworks in more than 400 Chinese cities and towns. Last December, the Beijing legislature prohibited fireworks within the fifth ring road and allowed them to be lit only in designated suburbs and at specific times.

“The low-key celebrations (during the Lunar New Year) were in stark contrast to previous years when the streets were crammed with Beijingers setting off firecrackers and the sky was lit by near-constant firework displays, unleashing a deafening thunder until dawn”, the PTI reported from the Chinese capital in February this year.

A ban on fireworks is not easy on local businesses. In China, the largest manufacturer of fireworks in the world, a ban on crackers has forced many factories to shut shop. In India, however, government scientists have prepared prototypes for green crackers, which promise up to 40% reduction in emission. After getting the mandatory license from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, the technology should be available to manufacturers for large-scale production.

The switch is not going to be easy. Barring a few big manufacturers, much of the fireworks industry in India is small-scale. Technology transfers, investment in new types of raw material and equipment, training workers as well as monitoring staff will be a big challenge. To clear their inventories, sellers will continue to push old stocks in the market, perhaps even next Diwali.

In the end though, it is the demand that will push production. Unless citizens themselves commit to a cleaner, healthier Diwali, no ban on crackers or switching over to greener versions will ever be successful. Foregoing fireworks on Diwali and other occasions will not end Delhi’s air pollution. But bursting them will invariably make it much worse, every time. Delhi has to have a stubborn death wish to risk it for a lark.

with thanks: Shivani Singh - HT

Foggy impact of fumigation on dengue, chikungunya

The govt and the civic bodies have taken up fogging on a war footing, but experts are divided on its effectiveness in checking the mosquito problem

As the number of deaths from dengue and chikungunya spiked in September, the Delhi government and the municipal corporations responded in the way they do every year when cases of vector-borne diseases shoot up in the monsoon: they ramped up fogging, or fumigation, across the city.

Plumes of diesel and malathion, an insecticide that has low toxicity for humans but can be more dangerous if ingested, soon rose up from the roads and alleys.

On September 14, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Minister Kapil Mishra and BJP MP for north-east Delhi Manoj Tiwari were photographed on bicycles fitted with fumigation devices, spraying insecticide into the air in Sonia Vihar.

Full effort

The government and civic bodies pledged more resources to their respective efforts. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said 600 more machines would be deployed. The cash-strapped East Delhi Municipal Corporation recently procured 30 new hand-held devices, adding to the 182 it already possessed.

In total, the EDMC, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation have 1,100 hand-held fumigation devices. The three corporations also have 25 vehicle-mounted fogging machines.

‘Minimal impact...’

There’s only one problem.

Experts, municipal officials and councillors are divided on whether fogging is really helping Delhi deal with the mosquito menace.

Councillors and municipal officials have repeatedly said in meetings of Standing Committees that fumigation has minimal impact on controlling the spread of vector-borne diseases as it only targets adult mosquitoes, not the larvae.

‘...but people are satisfied’

But, it works well in one way.

“People are satisfied. I can’t comment on the scientific impact, but the fumigation drive is working,” said Subhash Arya, the Leader of the House in the SDMC.

The SDMC has borne the brunt of the mosquito menace, with 353 of the total 1,692 dengue cases as of September 24 coming from South Delhi — the highest of the three corporations.

Mr. Arya added that while adult mosquitoes are killed through fumigation, the practice can’t lead to total eradication of the disease-carrying insects. However, he said the fogging efforts had been intensified.

Not all residents are satisfied though.

B.S. Vohra, the president of the east Delhi RWAs Joint Front, said that while regular fogging is being carried out, the results are short-lived.

“There is respite from mosquitoes for a few hours or a day at most after fogging, but then the mosquitoes are back. In almost every other household there is a patient of chikungunya or dengue,” said Mr. Vohra.

Apart from questions about its effectiveness, there are concerns about the environmental and health impact. As per the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme’s Operational Guidelines for Urban Vector-Borne Disease Control 2016, one part of malathion is to be mixed with 19 parts of diesel.

Last year, when Delhi saw a record-breaking number of dengue cases at over 15,000, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had said that the fogging drive was ineffective in controlling the disease.

Adding to that, the director-general of the CSE, Sunita Narain, told The Hindu on Saturday that fogging was the “last resort” all over the world.

“It is being seen as ineffective. Over time, it builds resistance and even impacts water sources. What is being done for site management where breeding occurs? Every pothole, every garbage dump is a potential site for breeding,” said Ms. Narain.

Fogging has little impact on controlling the spread of diseases as it only targets adult mosquitoes.

with thanks : The Hindu

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13th Rotary On The Spot Poster Painting Competition

SUB: Invitation For Participation in 13th Rotary On The Spot Poster Painting Competition - Organised by Rotary Club Of Delhi South West On Feb 2, 2014 at ARSD College , Atma Ram Sanatan Dharam, Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi

Date :         Sunday, 2nd February 2014

Time :         11:00 am to 2:00 pm

Venue :       ARSD College, Ring Road, Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi. 

                    (Atma Ram Sanatan Dharam College)

We are organising 13th 'Rotary on the Spot Poster Painting (+ one line message) Competition' as per the details mentioned above. This competition is organised every year where more than 3500 children participate from all the schools of Delhi and NCR. Entry is free & open to all children.

These paintings would be used for exhibition/ publicity for creating awareness in the society.

please visit: www.RotaryDelhiSouthWest.org and register for individual or group participation. On the Spot Registrations will also be available on the Venue (please bring your School ID Card or Age Proof). For any enquiry please write to mail id: RotaryPosterPainting@gmail.com

Participation Certificate, Polio Cap & refreshment will be given to all the children. 15 prizes per age group will be awarded, the entries will be evaluated by a panel of eminent judges. The judges’ decision will be final and binding. Awardees will be felicitated at a separate function later.

You are requested to inform to the ,Art teacher and the students of the school about this competition. We are attaching  the posters of the event. There is no limit to the number of students participating from a school. We hope students from your school will participate in this competition.  School  with the Maximum number of Participation will be Awarded.

In case of any query or suggestion, please feel free to contact any of the co-ordinators.

Regards & Best Wishes

Your's Faithfully

For Rotary Club of Delhi South West

Rtn. Ranjan Chopra

Event Chairman

Message received from Sh Watwani ji.