Petrol prices hiked

State-owned oil companies on Saturday raised petrol prices by 2.50-2.54 per litre, the second hike in a month, on back of rising crude oil prices. Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer, will raise petrol prices by 2.50 per litre with effect from Saturday midnight, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) would hike rates by 2.54 a litre, an industry official said. Bharat Petroleum Corp would raise price by 2.53 per litre with effect from Saturday midnight. The three firms from December 15-16 raised petrol prices by 2.94-2.96 per litre, the biggest hike in six months.

Lucknow's Hazratganj gets a makeover

It all started with a realisation that this heritage market would soon complete 200 years of existence. Within days, Hazratganj came under everyone’s sharp fo cus — from local shopkeepers to civic authorities and from Ganjing addicts to Lucknow lovers across the seven seas. A market, which till a few months back faced all sorts of civic problems, was suddenly on everyone’ agenda. But no one really spoke about it Even though the demand for its betterment had been very much there for the past six years. And then, one day in July last year, chief minister Mayawati directed authorities to beautify Hazratganj. The ball was set rolling. It was not an easy task at all. Yes, there were some delays. Deadlines were over shot. But at the end of the day, the project did get completed more or less within the stipulated time frame set by the CM. “Had that been a vacant land, it would have been far easy. But it was a heritage market with all sorts of complex problems,” said a senior Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) official, closely associated with the project. What followed was a rare co-ordination between various civic authorities like LDA and Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) that actually did the turnaround. The makeover is now complete — for everyone to see. Many would say that ‘Ganjing’ is back. “This Ganj is for everyone. There has to be a sense of ownership,” said architect Ashish Srivastava, who canvassed the concept of ‘Hazratganj revitalisation’ for the civic authorities. In fact, the heritage market, which once looked as dilapidated as any other locality in the walled city area from the terrace of Srivastava’s office, now stands trans formed. “It was a completely different kind of task. We did it successfully,” said LDA executive engineer O P Mishra. Gone are the conventional streetlights many of which did not function. They have been replaced with cast-iron Victorian lampposts, five metres tall. Installed on the footpaths on either side of the main road, the lampposts have been put up at a distance of every 10 metres. Earlier, a smaller version of a Victorianstyled lamp posts was also planned. But, the plan was put off. The wide footpaths are also now a reality. The executing agency, Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), was not sure of getting enough uniformity through the stretch. However, the footpaths now have a width ranging between five and seven feet, said an LDA engineer. LDA officials said that they had to negotiate with traders on a day-to-day basis to get through the obstacles. The relatively broader and spacious footpaths not only have come to allow a smooth pedestrian movement but also have designer roundabout benches at certain points. The traffic movement also improves, as all vehicles now get parked in the multi-level parking lot. “Now it’s a moving traffic,” said another LDA official. All other parking lots have been done away with. A green patch with benches, where one can sip coffee has replaced them. Throughout the stretch from Hindi Sansthan to the main Hazratganj crossing, there are now only four cuts — one each for Janpath Market, Shahnajaf Road crossing, Lalbagh crossing and Maqbara. While the cuts to Shahnajaf and Lalbagh are prominent (at least eight to 10 feet wide), the ones at Janpath and Maqbara are comparatively narrow — around three feet. In a way, the entire market has now been turned into a noparking zone. “The entire makeover is surely going to increase visitors’ footfall. In fact, it has already started,” said K C Bhambawani, president, Hazratganj Traders Association (HTA).

Hazratganj’s main street has uniform 18-metre width

The footpath is five to seven feet wide

Victorian Lampposts measuring 5 metres installed on the footpaths on either side of the main road.

Roundabout benches placed at six spots in the market

Two green patches : one near DRM office and the other near the multi-level parking lot

A storm water drainage system to prevent waterlogging in Hazratganj

The market is a no-hoarding zone

All signages have a uniform colour : White written on a black background

Shops and buildings too painted in a uniform colour : cream and pink

Market has a moving traffic altogether

All existing parking lots done away with

Vehicles are being parked at multi-level parking lot with a capacity of nearly 1,000 vehicles

The Harvest Festival

Makar Sankranti, Lohri, Pongal, Poush Sankranti......

Half of H-1B visa-holders from India

Nearly half of H-1B visa holders in the US are from India, an official report states. Most of these visaholders are hired for technology-related positions. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that between 2000 and 2009, 46.9% of the approved H-1B visa holders had India as their country of birth. “Between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 2009, the majority of approved H-1B workers (initial and extensions for both employers subject to the cap and cap-exempt employers) were born in Asia,” said the report. “Over the last decade, the top four countries of birth for approved H-1B workers were India, China, Canada and the Philippines. Across all 10 years, about 64% of approved H-1B workers were born in these countries, with the largest group from India,” it added. Although details on the total H-1B workforce is lacking, data show that since 2000, most people of these visaholders from India or China were hired for technology positions.

Ulfa talks update

After several rounds of informal exchanges with the Centre and the Assam government through interlocutor P C Haldar, Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has formally written to chief minister Tarun Gogoi expressing the outfit’s willingness to hold peace talks. “I have received Rajkhowa’s letter. He has said Ulfa wants to hold talks with the government. But the outfit is yet to take a formal decision,” Gogoi said here on Sunday. “According to Rajkhowa, Ulfa’s central executive council meeting will be held soon. Decisions taken at the meeting will be communicated to the government. It is up to them now.” The Ulfa chairman has not mentioned any date for starting talks. But the formal communication has set the ball rolling. Sources said Ulfa’s recent move is expected to set in motion the peace process that will lead the outfit to the discussion table. The central executive council is likely to meet after next week when citizens’ group Sanmilita Jaitya Abhibartan, which has been mediating talks, prepares the draft charter of demands on behalf of the outfit. The charter will be sent to the Ulfa leadership before it is submitted to the government for initiating dialogue. This charter will form the basis of the much-awaited talks, said sources.

Somewhere in Delhi....

The MCD has come up with a unique way to meet the growing water requirement to maintain its parks in south Delhi. After the civic agency started focusing on building a green capital, parks are getting special attention. But the depleting ground water level is not helping matters. So now, the MCD is planning to use sewer water to maintain parks. To achieve this, MCD is taking the help of National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), a government organization, in setting up a natural plant-based sewer water purifying unit in Chirag Dilli. Under this technology, also known as phytorid, sewer water is purified using special types of plants and stones. NEERI, which is a part of the Council for Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR), has submitted the project report to MCD. The plant, MCD sources said, will be installed on Chirag Dilli nullah and the treated water will be used for maintenance of 22 acres of land, including Millenium Park which is spread over 11 acres in Chirag Dilli. “There is an acute shortage of water in south Delhi. The ground water level is dismal. We have borewells, but most of them have dried up. Hence, we decided to try out this method of using purified sewer water for maintaining our parks,’’ said an MCD official. MCD needs just two lakh litre of water per day which is less than 1% of the total output of Chirag Dilli nullah. The flow in the nullah is 80-90 million litres per day. NEERI experts said to produce two litres of purified water, a small unit would suffice. The best part about this plant is that it doesn’t require any machinery. Therefore, maintenance cost is almost zero. “We have to make a small tank of 100 metres in length and three metres in depth. We will then fill it up with stones, some of which are treated with micro-bacteria, and plant water hyacinths, American pondweed, common arrowhead etc. These plants can survive in waterlogged areas and its roots extract impurities from water. When the impure water comes in contact with the roots and stones, the carbon content is oxidized. When carbon dioxide is extracted from the impure water, the treated water doesn’t have foul smell,’’ explained Dr Rakesh Kumar, head, NEERI (Mumbai). It takes 24 hours to purify impure water and make it ready for use. The sewer water is released at one end of the 100-metre tank and in 24 hours it slowly moves towards the other end and by then the impurities is completely treated. NEERI has installed the plant in several places like Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik etc. A senior MCD official said: “It will cost MCD close to Rs 1 crore to set up the unit, but it will solve our water problems forever. We might expand this project and treat the entire nullah in the long run. The project should be approved soon. Usually sewer water is not preferred as the foul smell remains in the water. But this project solves that problem.’’

India to miss population goals

India will miss its target of reaching population stabilization by 2045 with the Union health ministry now looking at 2060 as a plausible target. India had set itself the goal of attaining replacement levels of fertility — 2.1 by 2010 — to achieve the larger goal of population stabilisation by 2045 — a gap of 35 years. However, by the end of 2010, only 14 states achieved the target. In fact, six states have fertility as high as 3-4. This has made the ministry feel that instead of reaching population stabilization in 2045 at 145 crore people, it will reach the target around 2060 at 165 crores. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad feels improving use of any form of contraceptives — male and female condoms, IUCDs or pills — will help India reach its target. The government has, therefore, under a pilot project involving 150 districts, decided to use Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to deliver contraceptives to the doorstep of villagers. Azad said instead of sending the contraceptives to states and “let them rot in their godowns,” ASHAs will be given contraceptives free of charge by the Central government who will go from door to door in designated villages and sell them at 10% the cost. “This way, the condoms will not cost the ASHAs a penny. However, by selling them to villagers at 10% the cost, they can keep the money as commission. On the other hand, villagers who now travel miles to get contraceptives will have it at the lowest price right at their doorstep,” he said. According to Azad, villagers give up using contraceptives because they have to travel far for a shop. Second, they feel shy to ask a chemist in a town for condoms or pills. Azad added, “We can’t fool ourselves anymore. Unless the rapid growth of population is contained, it will be difficult to ensure quality education, healthcare, food, housing, clean drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and a healthy environment for all.” The minister is expected to discuss the issue of population stabilization at the state health ministers’ meeting in Hyderabad on January 12 and 13. “I believe we can achieve our target of population stabilization by improving contraceptive use and not by any legislation. At the Hyderabad conference, we will discuss not just TFR but how to reduce maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate,” Azad added. Population stabilisation is a stage when the size of the population remains unchanged. It is also called the stage of zero population growth. Global population is said to be stabilizing when births equal deaths. So what are the factors that influence population growth? According to India’s Population Stabilization Fund, natural increase denotes the difference between the number of births and deaths. India has seen declining death rates but the birth rates remain high. This decline is due to two factors — unwanted and unplanned fertility and the desire for larger families. According to officials, children who are born because of lack of poor access to contraceptive services — also known as the unmet need — are a major cause of India’s population boom. The birth of three and above three children accounts for 45% of 26 million births each year. They said the preference for a male child and high infant mortality accounts for 20% of births.

Bursting At The Seams
India’s population in 2001 was 102.9cr.
It was projected at 117.6cr in 2010 and 119.3cr in 2011
India had targeted attaining replacement level of fertility (2.1) by 2010 and population stabilization in 2045 at 145cr
Only 14 states have achieved fertility rate target.
India’s target now seems likely to be attained only by 2060