Sea change in Indo-Bangla business ties
by Nisha Taneja & Neetika Kaushal
Dhaka has created investment opportunities for India, while New Delhi has agreed to removing entry barriers on Bangladeshi textiles.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka on September 6-7 has changed the course of Indo-Bangladesh economic relations. To be sure, there were disappointments, such as the delay in arriving at a water sharing accord on the Teesta river due to resistance from the Indian side, and backtracking by Bangladesh on its offer of transit to India through its territory. However, the initiative taken to promote greater investment and trade between the two countries was very promising.
INVESTMENT PACT
In order to enhance investments, the Prime Ministers of both countries issued a joint statement on completion of the talks, paving the way for a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement. Such an agreement would grant investments made by one country in the other a number of guarantees, which typically include fair and equitable treatment, protection from expropriation, free transfer of means and full protection and security.
It is expected that with the signing of this agreement, there will be a substantial increase in investment flows, which so far have been insignificant. Cumulative Indian investments in Bangladesh until 2009 were only US$ 248 million, with only 26 per cent of it having taken place up till 2007. Along with the investment agreement, the announcement regarding establishment of a special economic zone for Indian investments is a complementary measure, which is expected to facilitate Indian investments further.
On the trade front, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, announced the the Government of India's decision to remove 61 items, including 46 from textiles, from India's negative list for LDCs. This implies that Bangladesh products will now be allowed to enter Indian territory through any port, without paying duty.
TRADE CONCESSIONS
These tariff lines are a part of the list of 164 apparel items in which India allowed duty-free access to Bangladesh up to a limit of eight million pieces in April 2008, and recently raised the limit to 10 million pieces in April 2011.
Bangladesh is India's largest trading partner in South Asia, accounting for 28 per cent of India's total trade with the region. In 2009-10, India's exports were $ 2,434 million; imports were $255 million and its trade surplus with Bangladesh was $2,179 million. For several years, Bangladesh's concern has been its burgeoning trade deficit with India.
Therefore, increased market access has been a core concern for Bangladesh in all its trade negotiations with India, both bilaterally and regionally under the South Asian Free Trade Area. Perhaps, what is of significance is the approach that India has followed in offering these concessions. Instead of negotiating with Bangladesh on the reduction of items in the sensitive list, India requested Bangladesh to send a list of items on which the latter wanted zero duties. Bangladesh requested India to allow duty-free access in the case of 61 items.
Clearly, this novel approach left no room for dissatisfaction on the Bangladeshi side. This unique method has been adopted by India for Bangladesh alone. Such an approach has not been followed by India in any other bilateral FTA.
IMPACT ON TEXTILES
It is not difficult to understand why Bangladesh had problems with India's market access policies. Apparel is a major item of export accounting for about 70 per cent of Bangladesh's total exports.
These items were on India's sensitive list, restricting market access in a category that was of crucial importance to Bangladesh's economy. Now with the agreement in place, Bangladeshi local manufactures, particularly those from the medium and small sectors, expect considerable gains through increased market access to the Indian market. While Indian textile manufacturers may express disappointment because of the fear of influx of Bangladeshi garments, the positive impact of these measures will unfold in the next few years as they will help both countries integrate their textile sectors with global supply chains.
Recent evidence indicates that Indian investments are moving into Bangladesh. This trend is likely to intensify, following the investment measures that have been announced. Since the domestic market in Bangladesh is small, Indian investors in Bangladesh will be targeting export markets. Indian investors will benefit on two counts. First, they will be able to avail the GSP benefits accruing to Bangladesh from the European Union countries.
Second, Indian investors can enter into collaborative ventures to manufacture higher value-added items, in which Bangladeshi firms have developed capabilities in recent years.
Clearly, the trade and investment measures, among several others, will lead to tangible outcomes for both countries. The measures related to duty-free access for Bangladeshi items, increased investment in Bangladesh and setting up of export processing zones seem like a win-win for both countries.
(The authors are with the Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations. The views are personal.)
(This article was published on September 20, 2011)
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Living through earthquakes
Living through earthquakes
source: The Hindu
Comment (5) · print · T+ As a natural calamity, powerful earthquakes are in a class of their own, able to strike without warning and capable of creating widespread devastation. So it was with the magnitude 6.8 temblor that struck near the Sikkim-Nepal border on Sunday evening. At least 66 people have been killed and many more injured in India as well as in neighbouring Nepal and Tibet, China. Buildings and roads in Sikkim have been badly damaged. Reports from Tibet speak of landslides disrupting traffic, power, and water supplies. Rain and landslides have hampered relief efforts, and the central government has sent in military and paramilitary units, along with aircraft and helicopters, to help the civilian authorities. Tremors from the quake, which could be felt hundreds of kilometres away, caused panic in many cities, including Kolkata, Patna, and Lucknow. In Delhi, which experienced a magnitude 4.2 earthquake near the Haryana border earlier this month, the latest episode left many with jangled nerves.
This quake should serve as a wake-up call. Earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do, goes the old adage. But human-made structures — buildings, bridges, power plants and so forth — can be designed and constructed to withstand the sort of quakes that might hit a place. An earthquake quickly exposes failures in construction. Valuable infrastructure is destroyed and falling masonry can crush people to death. “In recent earthquakes, buildings have acted as weapons of mass destruction,” remarked one leading seismologist after the calamitous quake that hit the Caribbean island of Haiti in January 2010, killing tens of thousands of people. Poor quality construction on the island made the earthquake twice as lethal as any previous magnitude 7.0 event. As the crustal plate bearing India steadily pushes against the Eurasian plate, some experts fear that enough stress might have accumulated to unleash a great earthquake in parts of the Himalayas. Such a quake could have disastrous consequences across the highly populated Gangetic plain. Nor are places away from the plate boundary necessarily safe. The powerful quake at Bhuj in January 2001, for instance, claimed thousands of lives and caused havoc across a considerable area in Gujarat. Safety lies in ensuring quake-resistant construction. The Bureau of Indian Standards has laid out earthquake engineering codes for various structures. In addition, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and the Union Government's Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council have published guidelines and brochures on quake-safe construction. Turning a blind eye to such safety requirements will extract a heavy toll when an earthquake strikes.
Keywords: earthquake, natural calamity
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Comments:
It is no denying fact that earthquakes are not solely responsible for life and property destruction, but tells what lacked in the safety of various contructions whether it is a house or a bridge. What the BIS is doing is to set up certain construction norms which could hold the constructions during earthquakes and also there are initiatives from the government in this direction but the emphasis should be given from the common man while they construct houses in areas specifically that are in the chances of being hit by tremors. So we should take some resposibility on our own because our mistakes will affect not only us but our surroundings. Its a task ahead for engineers to take up the need of the hour and build strong and sustainable structures.
from: Md Nadeem
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 01:32 IST
Everyone endures for safety and they rightly feel so in their home, but in reality we are not safe anywhere, anytime. Every natural calamity exposes we are at the mercy of the real indisputable, unconquered, invisible messiah. Be honest to yourself and to your countrymen, he is alongside you to shield you from every untoward incident. Every now and then it strike with such brutal force that every human achievements, science advancement, technology developed till date looks derisory. Nothing can be done to tame the unleashing havoc once the imaginary pious vessel is brimming with sin, it goanna spill mayhem some or other day like the previous day. But we optimistic humans will start afresh, cautious enough not to repeat the same mistake and will think they can withstand the calamitous force next time but we mortal tends to forget one thing. "To err is human".
from: kush
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 01:47 IST
Earthquakes examine our tendency and immediate reaction to natural calamities.Since man is the son of mother nature, he seems to be puny when she is angry.Since quakes can't be prevented artificially , the only way out is spreading awareness regarding disaster management about earthquakes at district,state and national levels.
from: Saurabh Shubham
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 07:10 IST
People don't follow guidelines because of two reasons: 1) Lack of proper auditing on the high rise buildings, Even if there are auditors they get bribed and they don't do their job properly. 2) The additional cost factor of the materials needed to make earthquake resistant buildings. The first one can be handled if we make stronger laws to punish those who indulge in these activities. The second factor can be overcome if there is more competition in the market leading to a drop in prices.
from: Arun
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 07:20 IST
It's the need of the hour to understand the powerful nature.and make sure that what ever infrastructure we develop it must be kept in find about earth quake and tsunami
from: Gopal shah
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 08:16 IST
source: The Hindu
Comment (5) · print · T+ As a natural calamity, powerful earthquakes are in a class of their own, able to strike without warning and capable of creating widespread devastation. So it was with the magnitude 6.8 temblor that struck near the Sikkim-Nepal border on Sunday evening. At least 66 people have been killed and many more injured in India as well as in neighbouring Nepal and Tibet, China. Buildings and roads in Sikkim have been badly damaged. Reports from Tibet speak of landslides disrupting traffic, power, and water supplies. Rain and landslides have hampered relief efforts, and the central government has sent in military and paramilitary units, along with aircraft and helicopters, to help the civilian authorities. Tremors from the quake, which could be felt hundreds of kilometres away, caused panic in many cities, including Kolkata, Patna, and Lucknow. In Delhi, which experienced a magnitude 4.2 earthquake near the Haryana border earlier this month, the latest episode left many with jangled nerves.
This quake should serve as a wake-up call. Earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do, goes the old adage. But human-made structures — buildings, bridges, power plants and so forth — can be designed and constructed to withstand the sort of quakes that might hit a place. An earthquake quickly exposes failures in construction. Valuable infrastructure is destroyed and falling masonry can crush people to death. “In recent earthquakes, buildings have acted as weapons of mass destruction,” remarked one leading seismologist after the calamitous quake that hit the Caribbean island of Haiti in January 2010, killing tens of thousands of people. Poor quality construction on the island made the earthquake twice as lethal as any previous magnitude 7.0 event. As the crustal plate bearing India steadily pushes against the Eurasian plate, some experts fear that enough stress might have accumulated to unleash a great earthquake in parts of the Himalayas. Such a quake could have disastrous consequences across the highly populated Gangetic plain. Nor are places away from the plate boundary necessarily safe. The powerful quake at Bhuj in January 2001, for instance, claimed thousands of lives and caused havoc across a considerable area in Gujarat. Safety lies in ensuring quake-resistant construction. The Bureau of Indian Standards has laid out earthquake engineering codes for various structures. In addition, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and the Union Government's Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council have published guidelines and brochures on quake-safe construction. Turning a blind eye to such safety requirements will extract a heavy toll when an earthquake strikes.
Keywords: earthquake, natural calamity
Ads by Google
Coffee Making Machines
Italy's favourite coffee machines & capsules in India. Know more now!
Fresh-Honest.com
Related
TOPICS
natural disasters
earthquake
Comments:
It is no denying fact that earthquakes are not solely responsible for life and property destruction, but tells what lacked in the safety of various contructions whether it is a house or a bridge. What the BIS is doing is to set up certain construction norms which could hold the constructions during earthquakes and also there are initiatives from the government in this direction but the emphasis should be given from the common man while they construct houses in areas specifically that are in the chances of being hit by tremors. So we should take some resposibility on our own because our mistakes will affect not only us but our surroundings. Its a task ahead for engineers to take up the need of the hour and build strong and sustainable structures.
from: Md Nadeem
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 01:32 IST
Everyone endures for safety and they rightly feel so in their home, but in reality we are not safe anywhere, anytime. Every natural calamity exposes we are at the mercy of the real indisputable, unconquered, invisible messiah. Be honest to yourself and to your countrymen, he is alongside you to shield you from every untoward incident. Every now and then it strike with such brutal force that every human achievements, science advancement, technology developed till date looks derisory. Nothing can be done to tame the unleashing havoc once the imaginary pious vessel is brimming with sin, it goanna spill mayhem some or other day like the previous day. But we optimistic humans will start afresh, cautious enough not to repeat the same mistake and will think they can withstand the calamitous force next time but we mortal tends to forget one thing. "To err is human".
from: kush
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 01:47 IST
Earthquakes examine our tendency and immediate reaction to natural calamities.Since man is the son of mother nature, he seems to be puny when she is angry.Since quakes can't be prevented artificially , the only way out is spreading awareness regarding disaster management about earthquakes at district,state and national levels.
from: Saurabh Shubham
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 07:10 IST
People don't follow guidelines because of two reasons: 1) Lack of proper auditing on the high rise buildings, Even if there are auditors they get bribed and they don't do their job properly. 2) The additional cost factor of the materials needed to make earthquake resistant buildings. The first one can be handled if we make stronger laws to punish those who indulge in these activities. The second factor can be overcome if there is more competition in the market leading to a drop in prices.
from: Arun
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 07:20 IST
It's the need of the hour to understand the powerful nature.and make sure that what ever infrastructure we develop it must be kept in find about earth quake and tsunami
from: Gopal shah
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 08:16 IST
COPING WITH GRIEF
COPING WITH GRIEF
BY Swami Avdhutananda
Ex Acharya, Chinmaya Mission-Sikkim
Nobody born in this world is immuned from negative experiences—failures, sorrows, miseries, old age, disease and death. From poorna avataar to the most lowly one, everyone has to go through some or the other negative experiences.
The entire existence sustains on the pairs of opposites. Actually the so called pairs of opposites such as: joys and sorrows, birth and death, success and failures, positive and negative, creation and destruction etc. are like the two inseparable sides of the same coin or the two polar ends of the same battery cell. It cannot function in isolation. Can a battery cell function with just a polar end either positive or negative? No! It needs both the diametrically opposite ends to function. So also there cannot be birth without death, pleasure without pain, joys without sorrows etc. They follow each other. If we chose one, the other will automatically follow. There is no way it can be prevented. The entire creation is a play of these pairs of opposites. Birth is followed by death and then again death is followed by birth. Had there been only births and no deaths, there would not have been enough space to even stand on our toes on this planet. Lord Krshna says, “These pairs of opposites come and go, forbear them O Arjuna”. We cannot attain eternal, infinite bliss unless we transcend these pairs of opposites.
Death is a subject which is of the deepest interest to everyone. One day or the other all must die. All are terribly afraid of death. No one wants to die. The terror of death overshadows the lives of all human beings. Most people are so afraid to die that, from their efforts to avoid death, they never live. Even intellectual people who have grasped the idea that the Self is immortal and is distinct from the body are also overwhelmingly scared of death. We may read the whole of Yoga Vashishtha / Bhagavad Geetaa / Vedaanta etc. but if an accident takes place in our family, we are bound to feel it, because the scriptural readings have not brought about a fundamental transformation in the realm of awareness. It has only enlarged the scope of our intellect. At the most we may say, ‘Oh, life is temporary’, but still we will be struck with the disaster. It brings unnecessary sorrow, suffering and anxiety to the survivors who are anxious to know about death, the life, if any, after death and the fate of the departed individuals.
Death is the price we pay for the gift of the body. Once we have the body, death is inevitable. But death is not for us. It is for the body and it starts from the moment, the body comes into manifestation. Therefore celebrating birth is ignorance; celebrating death is understanding. The moment a person is “born”, he starts his journey towards “death” from the very next moment and on the day of his “death” he completes his journey. Every completion of a journey needs to be celebrated and not mourned, since it indicates progress.
We don't cry because of emotions, but because of confusion, ignorance and a non-acceptance of facts. Crying does not alter the fact that the dead have gone and the dying do not require our tears. If we ourselves are dying, then too crying is useless. Why then, this sorrow? Sorrow is born of confusion (aviveka). What is subject to change will change. Why then sit and say, “They are changing. They are changing. Changing is changing.” Everything changes except the law of change.
The Padma Puraana (one of the texts of Sanaatana Dharma) says that the fate of five things in one's life is already decided at the time of one's conception in the womb—education, one's occupation, the aggregate wealth one will acquire, lifespan, and when, where and how one’s body will drop or disintegrate, or in more common parlance “die”. Happenings associated with these five are preordained and will come to pass, no matter what, and can be termed one's destiny. One's character, molded by one's samskara-s, will then make one act in such a manner that events play out as destined.
All of us come in each other’s contact due to karma bandhana—debts from the past life. We come in contact with each other as relatives, friends, neighbours, colleagues, teachers etc. Debts may be financial, material, that of service (sevaa), emotional, that of knowledge or that of being a guide or being guided on the spiritual path. We need to clear our debts to the best of our abilities so that we are relieved of the karma bandhana. While we are clearing our debts brought forward from past several lives, we tend to get attached to things and beings and end up making the existing karma bandhana-s even stronger as well as forge new karma bandhana-s.
The biggest cause of all our problems in life is our desires and our attachment to things and beings that are essentially impermanent. Attachment is such a funny thing that the very thing that we are attached to becomes the cause of our extreme sorrows and miseries—be it close family members, property, money etc. Even though we are fully aware that death will eventually take away everything from us we still continue to cling to things and beings and therefore suffer.
One is said to be born when the subtle body, that is a bunch of samskaara-s and vaasanaa-s (impressions and tendencies) enters the gross body and begins functioning. When it packs up and departs, it is one’s death. Hence the phrase ‘dead and gone’. It thereafter goes to another body, depending on its past vaasanaa-s. This process of unpacking, packing up and transfer is known as birth, death and transmigration. The gross body appears sentient when in association with the subtle body and insentient when it disassociates. The gross body lasts until it finishes its full quota of experiences that it has to undergo. Some may have a smaller quota of experiences for this life and therefore, have a shorter life span, while others may have a bigger quota of experiences, and therefore have a longer life span.
We suffer because we want our beloved ones and ourselves to be immortal in the mortal body. It is like someone seeking a permanent job in a temporary department. One can never be immortal in an ever-perishing body. We go through great grief, sorrow and depression simply because we refuse to come to terms with this simple fact.
HAVE THE COURAGE TO CHANGE WHAT YOU CAN, SERENITY TO ACCEPT WHAT YOU CANNOT CHANGE AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. COMMON SENSE IN AN UNCOMMON DEGREE IS WISDOM.
The Self (aatmaa) is unborn and immortal. It is of the nature of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. It lends sentiency to all inert matter. The subtle body too does not die. It continues its journey in another body. Hence, neither should be mourned upon death. The gross body is inert and ever perishing. Even during our lifetime, our body cells are constantly being replaced by new ones. Every moment 15 million cells die and 15 million cells are born. We gain a totally new body every seven years. One cannot, therefore, mourn over an already perishing body. Mourning is something where an already perished body is wept upon by one or more continuously perishing bodies!! Like green leaves mourning over a fallen leaf, where leaves keep falling off the tree all the time. The embodied never dies. Mourning is like weeping for someone over the dress discarded by him. The one who has discarded the dress is now wearing a new dress, which we are unable to recognize. Knowing this, we should remove all false notions of grief from our minds about disease, decay and death.
The dead are free from bondage. Mourning is the chain forged by the mind to bind itself to the dead.
When we are consumed with remorse over the dead past and with sorrow concerning the unborn future, let us visualize Shri Krshna saying to us, “You are worrying unnecessarily”.
When an event is past, do not nurse its memory. Cremate it and forget it. Otherwise it will decompose in the mind and stink.
We can overcome pain and sorrow, if we know the meaning of sorrow, pain, suffering and death. Death is the most common phenomenon in nature and yet the least understood fact. The phenomenon of death sets the human mind to think deeply. Man does not want to die. He wants to live forever. This is the starting point of philosophy. All philosophy springs from the phenomenon of death. Philosophy, in fact, is the study of death. The highest philosophy in India starts with the subject of death. Scriptural texts such as Bhagavad Geetaa, Chhaandogya Upanishad and Kathopanishad deal, especially, with the subject of death. It is one of the most difficult problems of philosophy, because there is no direct evidence usually available as to what really happens in and after death. Death is a call to reflect and to seek the goal of the Absolute Truth, the eternal, pure Self. Philosophy enquires and investigates the phenomenon of death, which is referred in the scriptures as the ‘Principle of Change’.
The enlightened Masters clearly describe their experiences at ‘death’ and state that they are relieved of a great burden of this physical body along with its aches, pains and afflictions, and that they enjoy perfect composure at the time of separation from the physical body. Similar is the description of those who have gone through ‘near death experiences’ (NDE).
The question is who should mourn whom? Lord Krshna calls this body as “dukkhaayatana”—a counter or an abode where pain and sorrow is experienced. At death one gets rid of this “dukkhaayatana” and along with it its aches, pain and afflictions. Should we mourn for such a one or should such a one mourn for those who are still saddled with their “dukkhaayatana” along with its aches and afflictions?
Knowledge of this science will rob death of all its terror and sorrow and enable us to see it in the proper light and to understand its place in the scheme of our evolution. It will certainly inspire us to find out suitable methods to conquer death and attain immortality. It will urge us to take to the study of Brahma-Vidyaa in right earnest. We have suffered very much simply out of ignorance and superstition concerning this most important matter. With the right knowledge the veil of ignorance will be removed. We will be freed from the horrors of death.
Death is separation of the jeeva (finite ego, finite self or individual self) from the physical body. Death becomes the starting point of a new and better life. Death merely opens the door to a higher form of life; it is only the gateway to a fuller life.
Birth and death are two illusory scenes in the drama of our life and that of this world, projected by the jugglery of maayaa (divine Hypnosis). He who is born begins to die. He who dies begins to live. Life is death and death is life. Birth and death are merely doors of entry and exit on the stage of this world.
Just as we move from one house to another house, the jeeva passes from one body to another to gain experience. Just as a man casting off worn-out garments takes new ones, so the dweller in this body, casting off worn-out bodies, when it becomes unfit for further activities and use, enters into others that are new. Death is only a change of form. All change is only change of environment and embodiment. In scriptural language death is called the law of change. Death is only separation of astral body from the physical body.
Death is not the end of life. Life is one continuous never-ending process. Death is only a passing and necessary phenomenon, which every jeeva has to pass to gain experience for its further evolution. Jeeva continuously gets purged and perfected in order to attain the final bliss. This takes place through myriads of births.
Death is like sleep. Birth is like waking up. Birth follows death just as waking follows sleep. Death brings promotion to a new and better life. One will again resume the work that was left off in one’s previous life. Therefore, there is no reason to be afraid of death. A man of discrimination and wisdom is not afraid of death. He knows that death is the gateway to life.
Infinite, Pure Self is a circle without a circumference, where every point in the infinity is the centre. There is no difference between the individual self and the Infinite Self, except ignorance. This individual self is also a circle without a circumference, but its centre appears to be in the body. Death for the individual self means the change of this centre from body to body. Why, then, should we be afraid of death and even mourn death?
Man is ever in the jaws of death—right from the birth of the body he proceeds every moment towards its death. Death overtakes him suddenly when he is least prepared for it. He thinks that he will escape death or even if he believes in death to be certain he expects it only at a very distant date.
The game of birth and death takes place every second in our body. About 15 million blood cells are produced and destroyed in the human body every second. Every minute, 40,000 dead skin cells fall from our body. Seventy percent of the dust in our homes consists of shed human skin. There are more living organisms on the skin of one human being than there are human beings on earth.
The jeeva moves between this and the next world as between waking and the dream states. It moves from birth to death and again birth. The body lasts until all the praarabdha karma-s (fructified karma-s or destiny) have been exhausted by experiencing it. Some people’s praarabdha karma-s take a long time to exhaust, so they drop the body in the ripe old age. Others may have limited praarabdha karma-s to exhaust so they may drop their body in middle age or prime of youth or even in childhood or infancy. While in birth it associates itself with the physical body, in death it dissociates with them. The self that is identified with the subtle body completely detaches himself from the body. Just as he detaches himself from the gross body and enters deep sleep, similarly he detaches himself from this body during death and attaches himself to another. As frequently as man moves from the dreaming to the waking, from the waking to the dream and then to deep sleep, so also, as frequently he transmigrates from one body to another. He has transmigrated from many such bodies in the past and will continue to do so in the future as well.
Death is not the end of life. It is merely cessation of an important individuality. Life flows on to achieve its conquest of the universal; life flows on till it merges in the eternal.
Lord Krshna speaks about rebirth several times in Bhagavad Geeta. For example in ch. 2 v. 12: “na tvevaaham jaatu naasam na tvam neme janaadhipaah / na chaiva na bhavishyaamah sarve vayamatah param” (“It is not that at any time (in the past) indeed, was I not, nor were you, nor these rulers of men. Nor, verily, shall we ever cease to be hereafter”). Ch. 4, v. 5: “bahuni may vyatitaani janmaani tava chaarjuna / taanyaham veda sarvaani na tvam vettha parantapa” (“Many “births” of Mine have passed as well as yours, O Arjuna; I know them all but you know them not, O Parantapa [scorcher of foes]”).
Bhagavad Geetaa, ch. 2, v. 13: “dehino ’smin yathaa dayhay kaumaaram yauvanam jaraa / tathaa dehaantara-praaptih dhiras tatra na muhyati” (“Just as in this body the embodied (ego / soul) passes into childhood, youth and old age, so also does he pass into another body; the firm man does not grieve at it”). We do not mourn at the death of childhood following which alone can we come to experience youth; we are confident in our knowledge that by entering the age of youth, though the childhood has ended, there is a continuity of the existence of the one in the child into the one in the youth. So too, at the moment of death, there is no extinction of the individual, but the embodied ego of the dead body leaves its previous structure and, according to the vaasanaa-s (impressions or tendencies) that it had developed during its embodiment, gets itself identified with a physical equipment where it can express itself completely and seek its perfect fulfillment.
Bhagavad Geetaa, ch. 2 v. 22: “vaasaansi jirnaani yathaa vihaaya navaani grhnaati naro paraani / tathaa sharirani vihaaya jirnaani anyaani sanyaati navaani dehi” (“Just as a man casts off his worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so also the embodied Self casts of its worn-out bodies and enters others which are new.”).
According to the concept of natural causation, nothing is unconditioned; the existence of everything depends on some conditions. Therefore there must be something because of which our forms come into existence. Despair, grief, old-age, disease, death etc. are
there because there is birth. If a man were not born he would not have been subject to these miserable states. Birth also has its condition. It is the will to become, the force of the blind tendency or predisposition to be born, which causes our birth. But what is the cause of this tendency? Our mental clinging to or grasping the objects of the world is the condition responsible for our desire to be born. This clinging again is due to our thirst or craving to enjoy objects and beings.
From where does this desire originate? We would not have any desire for objects had we not tasted or experienced them before. Previous sense-experience, tinged with some pleasant feelings, is therefore the cause of our craving. But sense-experience could not arise but for contact of sense organs with objects. This contact would not arise had there not been the six organs of cognition—the 5 senses and the mind. These six again depend for their existence on the mind-body organism, which constitutes the perceptible being of man. But this organism could not develop in the mother's womb and come into existence if it were dead or devoid of consciousness. The consciousness that descends into the embryo in the mother's womb is only the effect of the impressions (samskaara / vaasanaa) of our past existence. The last state of the past life, contains in a concentrated manner the impressions or effects of all our past deeds. The impressions that cause rebirth are due to ignorance about Truth. If the transitory, painful nature of the worldly existence was comprehended and the Pure Self perfectly realized, there would not arise in us any karma resulting in rebirth. Ignorance of our True nature or Real Self, therefore, is the root cause of impressions or tendencies that cause rebirth.
Briefly speaking, suffering in life is due to birth, which is due to the will to be born, which is due to our mental clinging to objects. Clinging is due to desire for objects. This is due to sense-experience, which is due to sense object contact, which is again due to the six organs of cognition. These organs dependent on the embryonic organism (body-mind-intellect) could not develop without some initial consciousness, which hails from the impressions of the experience of past life, which lastly are due to ignorance of Absolute Truth.
Thus we have 12 links in the chain of causation.
According to Vedaanta, birth, death and rebirth are apparent only from the standpoint of the finite ego, which is strongly identified with the constantly composing, decomposing and recomposing gross body and is therefore subject to transmigration. No one has ever experienced his own non-existence. We have memories of only those events and experiences that have actually occurred. No one has any memory about one’s own birth or death simply because they have never occurred as far as the Real Self is concerned. Hence from the standpoint of the ever-existent Pure Self, which is our real nature, there is no birth and therefore no death and obviously the question of rebirth doesn’t arise. In fact, finite ego identified with the gross body is a superimposition on the Pure Self and this finite ego alone appears to transmigrate from one body to another.
On this subject Lord Krshna says in Bhagavad Geeta, ch. 2, v. 20: “na jaayatay mriyatay vaa kadaachid naayam bhutvaa bhavitaa vaa na bhooyah / ajo nityah shaavato yam puraano na hanyatay hanyamaanay shareeray /” (“He is not born, nor does He ever die; after having been, He again ceases not to be; Unborn, Eternal, Changeless and Ancient, He is not killed when the body is killed”).
We cannot die, because we were never born. We are the beginningless and eternal Self. Birth, death and rebirth are false scenes in the unreal drama of maayaa. They concern the gross, inert physical body only, an entity with apparent or relative reality, formed by the combination of the five elements. The ideas of birth, death and rebirth are mere illusion, a product of ignorance.
No one has the experience of his non-existence. No one can say ‘I do not exist’. Everybody feels ‘I exist’, ‘I am’. This itself proves the existence of an eternal, Supreme Self. In deep sleep we rest in Pure Self. There is no world for us. We enjoy pure bliss. This proves that the absolute, non-dual Self exists and its essential nature is pure bliss. Since our essential nature is that of Pure existence, knowledge and bliss, the notions of death, deception and dejection are unacceptable to us as they are unnatural to our real being.
Once a Master said, “Nobody is dead; men feign themselves dead and endure mock funerals and there they stand looking out of the windows hale and hearty in some new and strange disguise.”
Insecurity is the basic fact of life and we must recognize it. We must come to terms with the uncertain nature of our existence. Spirituality teaches us not to identify with the external, not to try to anchor ourselves in the things we own, nor in other people. The inner loneliness can only be transmuted by the experience of the eternal and unshakable within ourselves and spirituality provides us with the practical means to foster that experience.
That which death can snatch from us is not important. Money then is useful but not important; so also power, prestige, relatives etc. That which death can never snatch from us is important.
Losses do occur in life, but it is not what life takes away from us that count. It's what we make of what is left with us.
Life is neither lived in the tomb of the dead moments of the past nor in the womb of the unborn moments of the future. Life is not a continuous procession of past regrets and future anxieties. Life is lived in the dynamic present. The present moment is all that we have at our disposal. These living, dynamic present moments are the only fields to be hammered at, wherein are all the glories of life, all the gains in existence.
Constructive thought is the first step to contemplation and eventual cessation of divisible thinking. It is made possible only when the inner awareness is freed from past (which exists but as memory) and future (which exists but as worry, a mixture of fear and hope). Only the present is. It is a present from God.
May He grant you the strength, courage and UNDERSTANDING to face the facts and overcome the grief.
BY Swami Avdhutananda
Ex Acharya, Chinmaya Mission-Sikkim
Nobody born in this world is immuned from negative experiences—failures, sorrows, miseries, old age, disease and death. From poorna avataar to the most lowly one, everyone has to go through some or the other negative experiences.
The entire existence sustains on the pairs of opposites. Actually the so called pairs of opposites such as: joys and sorrows, birth and death, success and failures, positive and negative, creation and destruction etc. are like the two inseparable sides of the same coin or the two polar ends of the same battery cell. It cannot function in isolation. Can a battery cell function with just a polar end either positive or negative? No! It needs both the diametrically opposite ends to function. So also there cannot be birth without death, pleasure without pain, joys without sorrows etc. They follow each other. If we chose one, the other will automatically follow. There is no way it can be prevented. The entire creation is a play of these pairs of opposites. Birth is followed by death and then again death is followed by birth. Had there been only births and no deaths, there would not have been enough space to even stand on our toes on this planet. Lord Krshna says, “These pairs of opposites come and go, forbear them O Arjuna”. We cannot attain eternal, infinite bliss unless we transcend these pairs of opposites.
Death is a subject which is of the deepest interest to everyone. One day or the other all must die. All are terribly afraid of death. No one wants to die. The terror of death overshadows the lives of all human beings. Most people are so afraid to die that, from their efforts to avoid death, they never live. Even intellectual people who have grasped the idea that the Self is immortal and is distinct from the body are also overwhelmingly scared of death. We may read the whole of Yoga Vashishtha / Bhagavad Geetaa / Vedaanta etc. but if an accident takes place in our family, we are bound to feel it, because the scriptural readings have not brought about a fundamental transformation in the realm of awareness. It has only enlarged the scope of our intellect. At the most we may say, ‘Oh, life is temporary’, but still we will be struck with the disaster. It brings unnecessary sorrow, suffering and anxiety to the survivors who are anxious to know about death, the life, if any, after death and the fate of the departed individuals.
Death is the price we pay for the gift of the body. Once we have the body, death is inevitable. But death is not for us. It is for the body and it starts from the moment, the body comes into manifestation. Therefore celebrating birth is ignorance; celebrating death is understanding. The moment a person is “born”, he starts his journey towards “death” from the very next moment and on the day of his “death” he completes his journey. Every completion of a journey needs to be celebrated and not mourned, since it indicates progress.
We don't cry because of emotions, but because of confusion, ignorance and a non-acceptance of facts. Crying does not alter the fact that the dead have gone and the dying do not require our tears. If we ourselves are dying, then too crying is useless. Why then, this sorrow? Sorrow is born of confusion (aviveka). What is subject to change will change. Why then sit and say, “They are changing. They are changing. Changing is changing.” Everything changes except the law of change.
The Padma Puraana (one of the texts of Sanaatana Dharma) says that the fate of five things in one's life is already decided at the time of one's conception in the womb—education, one's occupation, the aggregate wealth one will acquire, lifespan, and when, where and how one’s body will drop or disintegrate, or in more common parlance “die”. Happenings associated with these five are preordained and will come to pass, no matter what, and can be termed one's destiny. One's character, molded by one's samskara-s, will then make one act in such a manner that events play out as destined.
All of us come in each other’s contact due to karma bandhana—debts from the past life. We come in contact with each other as relatives, friends, neighbours, colleagues, teachers etc. Debts may be financial, material, that of service (sevaa), emotional, that of knowledge or that of being a guide or being guided on the spiritual path. We need to clear our debts to the best of our abilities so that we are relieved of the karma bandhana. While we are clearing our debts brought forward from past several lives, we tend to get attached to things and beings and end up making the existing karma bandhana-s even stronger as well as forge new karma bandhana-s.
The biggest cause of all our problems in life is our desires and our attachment to things and beings that are essentially impermanent. Attachment is such a funny thing that the very thing that we are attached to becomes the cause of our extreme sorrows and miseries—be it close family members, property, money etc. Even though we are fully aware that death will eventually take away everything from us we still continue to cling to things and beings and therefore suffer.
One is said to be born when the subtle body, that is a bunch of samskaara-s and vaasanaa-s (impressions and tendencies) enters the gross body and begins functioning. When it packs up and departs, it is one’s death. Hence the phrase ‘dead and gone’. It thereafter goes to another body, depending on its past vaasanaa-s. This process of unpacking, packing up and transfer is known as birth, death and transmigration. The gross body appears sentient when in association with the subtle body and insentient when it disassociates. The gross body lasts until it finishes its full quota of experiences that it has to undergo. Some may have a smaller quota of experiences for this life and therefore, have a shorter life span, while others may have a bigger quota of experiences, and therefore have a longer life span.
We suffer because we want our beloved ones and ourselves to be immortal in the mortal body. It is like someone seeking a permanent job in a temporary department. One can never be immortal in an ever-perishing body. We go through great grief, sorrow and depression simply because we refuse to come to terms with this simple fact.
HAVE THE COURAGE TO CHANGE WHAT YOU CAN, SERENITY TO ACCEPT WHAT YOU CANNOT CHANGE AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. COMMON SENSE IN AN UNCOMMON DEGREE IS WISDOM.
The Self (aatmaa) is unborn and immortal. It is of the nature of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. It lends sentiency to all inert matter. The subtle body too does not die. It continues its journey in another body. Hence, neither should be mourned upon death. The gross body is inert and ever perishing. Even during our lifetime, our body cells are constantly being replaced by new ones. Every moment 15 million cells die and 15 million cells are born. We gain a totally new body every seven years. One cannot, therefore, mourn over an already perishing body. Mourning is something where an already perished body is wept upon by one or more continuously perishing bodies!! Like green leaves mourning over a fallen leaf, where leaves keep falling off the tree all the time. The embodied never dies. Mourning is like weeping for someone over the dress discarded by him. The one who has discarded the dress is now wearing a new dress, which we are unable to recognize. Knowing this, we should remove all false notions of grief from our minds about disease, decay and death.
The dead are free from bondage. Mourning is the chain forged by the mind to bind itself to the dead.
When we are consumed with remorse over the dead past and with sorrow concerning the unborn future, let us visualize Shri Krshna saying to us, “You are worrying unnecessarily”.
When an event is past, do not nurse its memory. Cremate it and forget it. Otherwise it will decompose in the mind and stink.
We can overcome pain and sorrow, if we know the meaning of sorrow, pain, suffering and death. Death is the most common phenomenon in nature and yet the least understood fact. The phenomenon of death sets the human mind to think deeply. Man does not want to die. He wants to live forever. This is the starting point of philosophy. All philosophy springs from the phenomenon of death. Philosophy, in fact, is the study of death. The highest philosophy in India starts with the subject of death. Scriptural texts such as Bhagavad Geetaa, Chhaandogya Upanishad and Kathopanishad deal, especially, with the subject of death. It is one of the most difficult problems of philosophy, because there is no direct evidence usually available as to what really happens in and after death. Death is a call to reflect and to seek the goal of the Absolute Truth, the eternal, pure Self. Philosophy enquires and investigates the phenomenon of death, which is referred in the scriptures as the ‘Principle of Change’.
The enlightened Masters clearly describe their experiences at ‘death’ and state that they are relieved of a great burden of this physical body along with its aches, pains and afflictions, and that they enjoy perfect composure at the time of separation from the physical body. Similar is the description of those who have gone through ‘near death experiences’ (NDE).
The question is who should mourn whom? Lord Krshna calls this body as “dukkhaayatana”—a counter or an abode where pain and sorrow is experienced. At death one gets rid of this “dukkhaayatana” and along with it its aches, pain and afflictions. Should we mourn for such a one or should such a one mourn for those who are still saddled with their “dukkhaayatana” along with its aches and afflictions?
Knowledge of this science will rob death of all its terror and sorrow and enable us to see it in the proper light and to understand its place in the scheme of our evolution. It will certainly inspire us to find out suitable methods to conquer death and attain immortality. It will urge us to take to the study of Brahma-Vidyaa in right earnest. We have suffered very much simply out of ignorance and superstition concerning this most important matter. With the right knowledge the veil of ignorance will be removed. We will be freed from the horrors of death.
Death is separation of the jeeva (finite ego, finite self or individual self) from the physical body. Death becomes the starting point of a new and better life. Death merely opens the door to a higher form of life; it is only the gateway to a fuller life.
Birth and death are two illusory scenes in the drama of our life and that of this world, projected by the jugglery of maayaa (divine Hypnosis). He who is born begins to die. He who dies begins to live. Life is death and death is life. Birth and death are merely doors of entry and exit on the stage of this world.
Just as we move from one house to another house, the jeeva passes from one body to another to gain experience. Just as a man casting off worn-out garments takes new ones, so the dweller in this body, casting off worn-out bodies, when it becomes unfit for further activities and use, enters into others that are new. Death is only a change of form. All change is only change of environment and embodiment. In scriptural language death is called the law of change. Death is only separation of astral body from the physical body.
Death is not the end of life. Life is one continuous never-ending process. Death is only a passing and necessary phenomenon, which every jeeva has to pass to gain experience for its further evolution. Jeeva continuously gets purged and perfected in order to attain the final bliss. This takes place through myriads of births.
Death is like sleep. Birth is like waking up. Birth follows death just as waking follows sleep. Death brings promotion to a new and better life. One will again resume the work that was left off in one’s previous life. Therefore, there is no reason to be afraid of death. A man of discrimination and wisdom is not afraid of death. He knows that death is the gateway to life.
Infinite, Pure Self is a circle without a circumference, where every point in the infinity is the centre. There is no difference between the individual self and the Infinite Self, except ignorance. This individual self is also a circle without a circumference, but its centre appears to be in the body. Death for the individual self means the change of this centre from body to body. Why, then, should we be afraid of death and even mourn death?
Man is ever in the jaws of death—right from the birth of the body he proceeds every moment towards its death. Death overtakes him suddenly when he is least prepared for it. He thinks that he will escape death or even if he believes in death to be certain he expects it only at a very distant date.
The game of birth and death takes place every second in our body. About 15 million blood cells are produced and destroyed in the human body every second. Every minute, 40,000 dead skin cells fall from our body. Seventy percent of the dust in our homes consists of shed human skin. There are more living organisms on the skin of one human being than there are human beings on earth.
The jeeva moves between this and the next world as between waking and the dream states. It moves from birth to death and again birth. The body lasts until all the praarabdha karma-s (fructified karma-s or destiny) have been exhausted by experiencing it. Some people’s praarabdha karma-s take a long time to exhaust, so they drop the body in the ripe old age. Others may have limited praarabdha karma-s to exhaust so they may drop their body in middle age or prime of youth or even in childhood or infancy. While in birth it associates itself with the physical body, in death it dissociates with them. The self that is identified with the subtle body completely detaches himself from the body. Just as he detaches himself from the gross body and enters deep sleep, similarly he detaches himself from this body during death and attaches himself to another. As frequently as man moves from the dreaming to the waking, from the waking to the dream and then to deep sleep, so also, as frequently he transmigrates from one body to another. He has transmigrated from many such bodies in the past and will continue to do so in the future as well.
Death is not the end of life. It is merely cessation of an important individuality. Life flows on to achieve its conquest of the universal; life flows on till it merges in the eternal.
Lord Krshna speaks about rebirth several times in Bhagavad Geeta. For example in ch. 2 v. 12: “na tvevaaham jaatu naasam na tvam neme janaadhipaah / na chaiva na bhavishyaamah sarve vayamatah param” (“It is not that at any time (in the past) indeed, was I not, nor were you, nor these rulers of men. Nor, verily, shall we ever cease to be hereafter”). Ch. 4, v. 5: “bahuni may vyatitaani janmaani tava chaarjuna / taanyaham veda sarvaani na tvam vettha parantapa” (“Many “births” of Mine have passed as well as yours, O Arjuna; I know them all but you know them not, O Parantapa [scorcher of foes]”).
Bhagavad Geetaa, ch. 2, v. 13: “dehino ’smin yathaa dayhay kaumaaram yauvanam jaraa / tathaa dehaantara-praaptih dhiras tatra na muhyati” (“Just as in this body the embodied (ego / soul) passes into childhood, youth and old age, so also does he pass into another body; the firm man does not grieve at it”). We do not mourn at the death of childhood following which alone can we come to experience youth; we are confident in our knowledge that by entering the age of youth, though the childhood has ended, there is a continuity of the existence of the one in the child into the one in the youth. So too, at the moment of death, there is no extinction of the individual, but the embodied ego of the dead body leaves its previous structure and, according to the vaasanaa-s (impressions or tendencies) that it had developed during its embodiment, gets itself identified with a physical equipment where it can express itself completely and seek its perfect fulfillment.
Bhagavad Geetaa, ch. 2 v. 22: “vaasaansi jirnaani yathaa vihaaya navaani grhnaati naro paraani / tathaa sharirani vihaaya jirnaani anyaani sanyaati navaani dehi” (“Just as a man casts off his worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so also the embodied Self casts of its worn-out bodies and enters others which are new.”).
According to the concept of natural causation, nothing is unconditioned; the existence of everything depends on some conditions. Therefore there must be something because of which our forms come into existence. Despair, grief, old-age, disease, death etc. are
there because there is birth. If a man were not born he would not have been subject to these miserable states. Birth also has its condition. It is the will to become, the force of the blind tendency or predisposition to be born, which causes our birth. But what is the cause of this tendency? Our mental clinging to or grasping the objects of the world is the condition responsible for our desire to be born. This clinging again is due to our thirst or craving to enjoy objects and beings.
From where does this desire originate? We would not have any desire for objects had we not tasted or experienced them before. Previous sense-experience, tinged with some pleasant feelings, is therefore the cause of our craving. But sense-experience could not arise but for contact of sense organs with objects. This contact would not arise had there not been the six organs of cognition—the 5 senses and the mind. These six again depend for their existence on the mind-body organism, which constitutes the perceptible being of man. But this organism could not develop in the mother's womb and come into existence if it were dead or devoid of consciousness. The consciousness that descends into the embryo in the mother's womb is only the effect of the impressions (samskaara / vaasanaa) of our past existence. The last state of the past life, contains in a concentrated manner the impressions or effects of all our past deeds. The impressions that cause rebirth are due to ignorance about Truth. If the transitory, painful nature of the worldly existence was comprehended and the Pure Self perfectly realized, there would not arise in us any karma resulting in rebirth. Ignorance of our True nature or Real Self, therefore, is the root cause of impressions or tendencies that cause rebirth.
Briefly speaking, suffering in life is due to birth, which is due to the will to be born, which is due to our mental clinging to objects. Clinging is due to desire for objects. This is due to sense-experience, which is due to sense object contact, which is again due to the six organs of cognition. These organs dependent on the embryonic organism (body-mind-intellect) could not develop without some initial consciousness, which hails from the impressions of the experience of past life, which lastly are due to ignorance of Absolute Truth.
Thus we have 12 links in the chain of causation.
According to Vedaanta, birth, death and rebirth are apparent only from the standpoint of the finite ego, which is strongly identified with the constantly composing, decomposing and recomposing gross body and is therefore subject to transmigration. No one has ever experienced his own non-existence. We have memories of only those events and experiences that have actually occurred. No one has any memory about one’s own birth or death simply because they have never occurred as far as the Real Self is concerned. Hence from the standpoint of the ever-existent Pure Self, which is our real nature, there is no birth and therefore no death and obviously the question of rebirth doesn’t arise. In fact, finite ego identified with the gross body is a superimposition on the Pure Self and this finite ego alone appears to transmigrate from one body to another.
On this subject Lord Krshna says in Bhagavad Geeta, ch. 2, v. 20: “na jaayatay mriyatay vaa kadaachid naayam bhutvaa bhavitaa vaa na bhooyah / ajo nityah shaavato yam puraano na hanyatay hanyamaanay shareeray /” (“He is not born, nor does He ever die; after having been, He again ceases not to be; Unborn, Eternal, Changeless and Ancient, He is not killed when the body is killed”).
We cannot die, because we were never born. We are the beginningless and eternal Self. Birth, death and rebirth are false scenes in the unreal drama of maayaa. They concern the gross, inert physical body only, an entity with apparent or relative reality, formed by the combination of the five elements. The ideas of birth, death and rebirth are mere illusion, a product of ignorance.
No one has the experience of his non-existence. No one can say ‘I do not exist’. Everybody feels ‘I exist’, ‘I am’. This itself proves the existence of an eternal, Supreme Self. In deep sleep we rest in Pure Self. There is no world for us. We enjoy pure bliss. This proves that the absolute, non-dual Self exists and its essential nature is pure bliss. Since our essential nature is that of Pure existence, knowledge and bliss, the notions of death, deception and dejection are unacceptable to us as they are unnatural to our real being.
Once a Master said, “Nobody is dead; men feign themselves dead and endure mock funerals and there they stand looking out of the windows hale and hearty in some new and strange disguise.”
Insecurity is the basic fact of life and we must recognize it. We must come to terms with the uncertain nature of our existence. Spirituality teaches us not to identify with the external, not to try to anchor ourselves in the things we own, nor in other people. The inner loneliness can only be transmuted by the experience of the eternal and unshakable within ourselves and spirituality provides us with the practical means to foster that experience.
That which death can snatch from us is not important. Money then is useful but not important; so also power, prestige, relatives etc. That which death can never snatch from us is important.
Losses do occur in life, but it is not what life takes away from us that count. It's what we make of what is left with us.
Life is neither lived in the tomb of the dead moments of the past nor in the womb of the unborn moments of the future. Life is not a continuous procession of past regrets and future anxieties. Life is lived in the dynamic present. The present moment is all that we have at our disposal. These living, dynamic present moments are the only fields to be hammered at, wherein are all the glories of life, all the gains in existence.
Constructive thought is the first step to contemplation and eventual cessation of divisible thinking. It is made possible only when the inner awareness is freed from past (which exists but as memory) and future (which exists but as worry, a mixture of fear and hope). Only the present is. It is a present from God.
May He grant you the strength, courage and UNDERSTANDING to face the facts and overcome the grief.
Sikkim’s Vulnerable and Vital Roads
By HEATHER TIMMONS AND SRUTHI GOTTIPATI
SOURCE: nytimes
National Highway 31-A, connecting West Bengal with Sikkim, blocked due to a landslide in July 2011.The very remoteness that makes the misty, mountain-locked Indian state of Sikkim a growing draw for tourists has made it difficult to provide relief to victims of the earthquake this Sunday, which has claimed at least 22 lives in the state so far.
Highway 31, which climbs and falls from Bihar to Assam through the area’s mountains and valleys, is the main transportation artery connecting the northeast with the rest of India. Natural disasters like the floods in September 2008 routinely cut this already culturally and economically isolated region from the rest of India. The highway’s very necessity also makes it a popular target of protest groups.
Serpentine Highway 31-A, the offshoot that leads to Gangtok, Sikkim’s capital, follows the Teesta River, sometimes as a single-lane road hugging a hillside. In recent years, a growing number of trucks full of construction materials, the offshoot of a building boom in Sikkim, traverse the highway, and it has been a regular target for protestors who want to establish an independent state in India called Gorkhaland.
On Monday morning, teams of emergency personnel were waiting in West Bengal, in the city of Bagdogra, four hours away from the Sikkim capital of Gangtok, because the roads were impassable. A clear estimate wasn’t available about the state of the roads, the state government said then, but one road official had counted 16 landslides in a stretch of about 6 miles.
By Monday afternoon, the Ministry of Home Affairs reported there had been landslides in “over 21 places” on Highway 31-A, but said the road was open for traffic to Gangtok by 4:00 P.M. The road that leads north from Gangtok to Nathula showed “severe damage,” with 12 landslides in the first 21 kilometers (about 10 miles) and the North Sikkim Highway suffered 16 landslides, the ministry said.
Local and national government and foreign development agencies, including the Asian Development Bank, have regularly noted that the northeast’s citizens are at the mercy of unreliable roads, and millions of dollars in road improvement projects are underway in the area.
One such project, which plans to widen Highway 31-A into two lanes, may have had the unintentional impact of making the area even more cut-off after the earthquake, citizens say.
‘‘There are big earth-moving equipment, which are continuously working at various places along the road,’’ said Praful Rao, a former wing commander with the Indian Air Force who now runs a Darjeeling-based not-for-profit dedicated to preventing landslides. ‘‘Where many landslides are taking place is where the work has not been completed.’’
While a natural disaster like an earthquake can’t be planned for, Mr. Rao said that completing more of the highway work outside of the monsoon season would have helped. ‘‘Firstly, you take advantage of the dry season. It is not a time to relax,’’ he said.
The earthquake lasted for just 20 seconds or so, he noted, but if it was a minute or longer ‘‘we would have had casualties on an immense scale,’’ he said.
By HEATHER TIMMONS AND SRUTHI GOTTIPATI
SOURCE: nytimes
National Highway 31-A, connecting West Bengal with Sikkim, blocked due to a landslide in July 2011.The very remoteness that makes the misty, mountain-locked Indian state of Sikkim a growing draw for tourists has made it difficult to provide relief to victims of the earthquake this Sunday, which has claimed at least 22 lives in the state so far.
Highway 31, which climbs and falls from Bihar to Assam through the area’s mountains and valleys, is the main transportation artery connecting the northeast with the rest of India. Natural disasters like the floods in September 2008 routinely cut this already culturally and economically isolated region from the rest of India. The highway’s very necessity also makes it a popular target of protest groups.
Serpentine Highway 31-A, the offshoot that leads to Gangtok, Sikkim’s capital, follows the Teesta River, sometimes as a single-lane road hugging a hillside. In recent years, a growing number of trucks full of construction materials, the offshoot of a building boom in Sikkim, traverse the highway, and it has been a regular target for protestors who want to establish an independent state in India called Gorkhaland.
On Monday morning, teams of emergency personnel were waiting in West Bengal, in the city of Bagdogra, four hours away from the Sikkim capital of Gangtok, because the roads were impassable. A clear estimate wasn’t available about the state of the roads, the state government said then, but one road official had counted 16 landslides in a stretch of about 6 miles.
By Monday afternoon, the Ministry of Home Affairs reported there had been landslides in “over 21 places” on Highway 31-A, but said the road was open for traffic to Gangtok by 4:00 P.M. The road that leads north from Gangtok to Nathula showed “severe damage,” with 12 landslides in the first 21 kilometers (about 10 miles) and the North Sikkim Highway suffered 16 landslides, the ministry said.
Local and national government and foreign development agencies, including the Asian Development Bank, have regularly noted that the northeast’s citizens are at the mercy of unreliable roads, and millions of dollars in road improvement projects are underway in the area.
One such project, which plans to widen Highway 31-A into two lanes, may have had the unintentional impact of making the area even more cut-off after the earthquake, citizens say.
‘‘There are big earth-moving equipment, which are continuously working at various places along the road,’’ said Praful Rao, a former wing commander with the Indian Air Force who now runs a Darjeeling-based not-for-profit dedicated to preventing landslides. ‘‘Where many landslides are taking place is where the work has not been completed.’’
While a natural disaster like an earthquake can’t be planned for, Mr. Rao said that completing more of the highway work outside of the monsoon season would have helped. ‘‘Firstly, you take advantage of the dry season. It is not a time to relax,’’ he said.
The earthquake lasted for just 20 seconds or so, he noted, but if it was a minute or longer ‘‘we would have had casualties on an immense scale,’’ he said.
In Sikkim, building codes tumble out of cupboard
PTI A building bearing cracks after a high intensive tremor in North Sikkim on Monday.
Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 19:
“In recent earthquakes, buildings have acted as weapons of mass destruction.”
This is what renowned US-based seismologist Dr Roger Bilham famously observed during a visit to the mega-quake-hit Haiti last year.
Closer home, his words ring a bell in the context of the M6.8 quake (magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale) that jolted Sikkim in the Himalayas on Sunday evening.
MOST VULNERABLE
Cities in third world countries are most vulnerable because they often have widespread sub-standard housing and a weak infrastructure.
Sikkim State falls in Seismic Zone IV of the earthquake hazard map of India, and this corresponds to High Damage Risk Zone.
Seismic activity along the Himalayan arc is due to the thrusting action of Indian plate beneath the Eurasian plate, experts say.
The India plate converges with Eurasia at a rate of approximately 46 mm/year towards the north-northeast and this has resulted in the uplift of the Himalayas, the world's tallest mountain range.
Risk governance
Large destructive earthquakes have occurred across the arc. Research as well as instrumentation indicates the possibility of large earthquake in the near future.
‘Seismic deficient' buildings and infrastructure, which means those which are not built as per the earthquake code of practice in quake-prone areas, combined with poor risk governance, collateral impacts (landslide, liquefaction, amplification across ridge, mass movement, etc) and inaccessibility are primarily responsible for deaths and injuries.
Damage records and observations from neighbouring States and countries indicate the vulnerability of the built environment.
PREVENTIVE ACTION
Buildings and critical infrastructure such as communication, emergency centres, power, hospitals and transport, among others, across the seismic prone region will require a phased assessment and strengthening/retrofitting so that they can survive and remain functional in case a future event occurs in the region.
While earthshaking cannot be prevented, life loss and damage can always be minimised with thoughtful and preventive action.
Current trend in climate change related initiatives globally, has somewhat reduced the interest of institutions to work in earthquake risk reduction initiatives although they are equally important, a research paper by the Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre rued.
SOURCE:HINDUBUSINNESLINE
Seven killed as quake rocks Tibet
Seven killed as quake rocks Tibet
PTI
At least seven people have been killed and 22 others injured in Tibet as the earthquake that hit Sikkim and other North Eastern States in India also rocked the Chinese autonomous province leaving a trail of destruction.
The earthquake has caused hundreds of landslides that have disrupted traffic, power and water supplies, as well as telecommunications in Yadong County, Tibet, which is 40 km away from Sikkim, the epicenter of the 6.9-magnitude quake.
Local authorities in Xigaze Prefecture, who administers Yadong, have mobilised workers to use heavy machinery to clear debris from major roads in order to ensure the expedient transport of relief supplies, state-run Xinhua reported on Monday.
The road traffic to the Himalayan county resumed today.
Xinhua reporters arriving at the county this morning saw dozens of earthquake victims on streets enduring rain and sleet
PTI
At least seven people have been killed and 22 others injured in Tibet as the earthquake that hit Sikkim and other North Eastern States in India also rocked the Chinese autonomous province leaving a trail of destruction.
The earthquake has caused hundreds of landslides that have disrupted traffic, power and water supplies, as well as telecommunications in Yadong County, Tibet, which is 40 km away from Sikkim, the epicenter of the 6.9-magnitude quake.
Local authorities in Xigaze Prefecture, who administers Yadong, have mobilised workers to use heavy machinery to clear debris from major roads in order to ensure the expedient transport of relief supplies, state-run Xinhua reported on Monday.
The road traffic to the Himalayan county resumed today.
Xinhua reporters arriving at the county this morning saw dozens of earthquake victims on streets enduring rain and sleet
Water is the new weapon in China's armoury
The three red lines on the map represent three separate
routes to divert river waters to China’s parched northern plains.
By Brahma Chellaney
Financial Times, August 31, 2011
China has aroused international alarm by using its virtual monopoly of rare earths as a trade instrument and by stalling multilateral efforts to resolve disputes in the South China Sea. Among its neighbours, there is deep concern at the way it is seeking to make water a political weapon.
At the hub of Asia, China is the source of cross-border river flows to the largest number of countries in the world — from Russia to India, Kazakhstan to the Indochina peninsula. This results from its absorption of the ethnic minority homelands that make up 60 per cent of its land mass and are the origin of all the important international rivers flowing out of Chinese territory.
Getting this pre-eminent riparian power to accept water-sharing arrangements or other co-operative institutional mechanisms has proved unsuccessful so far in any basin. Instead, the construction of upstream dams on international rivers such as the Mekong, Brahmaputra or Amur shows China is increasingly bent on unilateral actions, impervious to the concerns of downstream nations.
China already boasts both the world’s biggest dam (Three Gorges) and a greater total number of dams than the rest of the world combined. It has shifted its focus from internal to international rivers, and graduated from building large dams to building mega-dams. Among its newest dams on the Mekong is the 4,200 megawatt Xiaowan — taller than Paris’s Eiffel Tower. New dams approved for construction include one on the Brahmaputra at Metog (or Motuo in Chinese) that is to be twice the size of the 18,300MW Three Gorges — and sited almost on the disputed border with India.
The consequences of such frenetic construction are already clear. First, China is in water disputes with almost all its neighbours, from Russia and India to weak client-states such as North Korea and Burma. Second, its new focus on water mega-projects in the homelands of ethnic minorities has triggered tensions over displacement and submergence at a time when the Tibetan plateau, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia have all been wracked by protests against Chinese rule. Third, the projects threaten to replicate in international rivers the degradation haunting China’s internal rivers.
Yet, as if to declare itself the world’s unrivalled hydro-hegemon, China is also the largest dam builder overseas. From Pakistan-held Kashmir to Burma’s troubled Kachin and Shan states, China is building dams in disputed or insurgency-torn areas, despite local backlash. Dam building in Burma has contributed to renewed fighting, ending a 17-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Army and government.
For downriver countries, a key concern is China’s opacity on its dam projects. It usually begins work quietly, almost furtively, then presents a project as unalterable and as holding flood-control benefits.
Worse, although there are water treaties among states in south and south-east Asia, Beijing rejects the concept of a water-sharing arrangement. It is one of only three countries that voted against the 1997 UN convention laying down rules on the shared resources of international watercourses.
Yet water is fast becoming a cause of competition and discord between countries in Asia, where per capita freshwater availability is less than half the global average. The growing water stress threatens Asia’s rapid economic growth and carries risks for investors potentially as damaging as non-performing loans, real estate bubbles and political corruption.
By having its hand on Asia’s water tap, China is therefore acquiring tremendous leverage over its neighbours’ behaviour.
That the country controlling the headwaters of major Asian rivers is also a rising superpower, with a muscular confidence increasingly on open display, only compounds the need for international pressure on Beijing to halt its appropriation of shared waters and accept some form of institutionalised co-operation.
The writer is a professor at the independent Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and author of Water: Asia’s New Battleground.
Update on Sikkim Earthquake
Update on Earthquake at 9:00 P.M. on 19.09.2011
• NH 55 from Bagdogra to Darjeeling has now been restored.
• Highway from Gangtok to Nathu La is expected to be cleared by 6 PM tomorrow.
• 10 doctors have been airlifted to Chungthang in North Sikkim and medicines are being airlifted to Bagdogra from where they will be sent to Chungthang
• 20 Medical detachments have been deployed by army.
• The optical fiber link to Gangtok which had been disrupted is now restored.
• 2 more deaths in West Bengal. The death toll in the state has risen from 5 to 7
*****
DS/SK
(Release ID :76091)
• NH 55 from Bagdogra to Darjeeling has now been restored.
• Highway from Gangtok to Nathu La is expected to be cleared by 6 PM tomorrow.
• 10 doctors have been airlifted to Chungthang in North Sikkim and medicines are being airlifted to Bagdogra from where they will be sent to Chungthang
• 20 Medical detachments have been deployed by army.
• The optical fiber link to Gangtok which had been disrupted is now restored.
• 2 more deaths in West Bengal. The death toll in the state has risen from 5 to 7
*****
DS/SK
(Release ID :76091)
Update on Earthquake as at 6:00 p.m. on 19.09.2011
Ø An earthquake of following intensities has occurred in Sikkim :-
Sl.No.
Date
Time
Magnitude
Latitude & Longitude
1.
18.09.2011
1811 hrs
6.8
27.7°N 88.2° E
2.
18.09.2011
1821 hrs
6.1
27.5º N 87.5º E
3.
18.09.2011
1842 hrs
5.3
27.7º N 88.5° E
Ø The states of Sikkim, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram were affected in this earthquake.
Ø Meetings of National Crisis Management Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary were held at 1930 hrs on 18.9.2011 and 1000 hrs today (i.e. 19.9.2011) to review the situation caused by earth quake.
STATUS OF DAMAGE:
Ø Information received from Govt of Sikkim, there are 32 deaths (excluding 2 from the army), 75 people reported to be injured, 6 persons are reported to be still trapped. Latest report also indicate 01 Junior Engineer of Border Road Organization has died on way to land slide area.
Ø Information from State Govt. of Bihar 02 death, West Bengal 07 death & 29 injured while one person reported to be injured in Assam.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY STATE GOVT SIKKIM
Ø State Government of Sikkim has announced ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lacs per deceased, Rs. 50,000/- for major injuries and Rs. 30,000 for minor injuries.
Ø Teams have been deployed to all 04 districts to assess damage. Medical aid, supply of drinking water and essential commodities not affected. Supplementary assistance being organized. Sufficient stock diesel, Petrol and Kerosene available.
Ø The arrangement for airdropping of food packets tied up with the State Govt of West Bengal and is being done from Siliguri. Purnia in Bihar also identified as back up for food dropping. The State Govt of West Bengal has been told to provide all help to the Sikkim Government.
Ø The bad weather, heavy rain, low visibility affecting the air support/air efforts in the affected areas.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY GOVT. OF INDIA
NDRF
Ø 05 Teams of NDRF consisting of 203 personnel along with necessary rescue equipments have been deployed Ex-Delhi and reached Bagdogra by 0308 hrs on 19.09.2011.
Ø Another 05 Teams of NDRF consisting of 200 personnel along with necessary rescue equipments have been deployed Ex-Kolkata, who have already reached Bagdogra.
Ø 05 teams have proceeded from Siliguri to Gangtok.
ITBP
Ø A strength of 712 personnel of ITBP are already engaged in rescue and relief operation in Sikkim.
Food Supply
Ø Air dropping of food packets from Siliguri organised for Mangan Distt.
MEDICAL AID
Ø A medical team comprising of 20 Doctors (Surgeon –04, Orthopaedician - 07, Anaesthesian - 05, Neuro-Surgeon -02 and medicine -02 ) left for Sikkim from Ex-Delhi and reached Bagdogra at 0430 hrs on 19.09.2011. Further they are held at Bagdogra (circuit house) due to Land Slide causing road blockage at various places in the highway.
Ø A team of 10 doctors have left for Mangan Districts.
Ø 4.5 tonnes of medicines/other supplies being dispatched
STATUS OF ROAD
Ø National Highway No.31-A from Siliguri to Gangtok has been opened.
Ø 120 columns of army including 10 engineering columns have been deployed in restoration / relief work.
Ø The road between Gangtok and Changthang (16 land slides) and Gangtok and Nathula (12 land slides) are likely to take time.
Ø Blockades at National Highway No. 55 in West Bengal connecting Darjeeling to Siliguri (2 land slides) being removed.
TELECOMMUNICATION
Ø In the telecommunication sector, out of the 489 Mobile towers, 216 are non-functional. Land line connections and Microwave links are working. The service providers affected are Vodafone 60%, Reliance 46%, Idea 10%, Aircel-100%, Airtel-10% and BSNL-26%.
POWER
Ø Power situation has improved in the meanwhile. All the major power generating stations i.e. Teestha stage-V, Rangit, Chukha and Ramman with a total capacity of 845 MW have been made operational. 220 KV lines have been fully restored. Power supply (20 MW) to Gangtok is available. However, 66 KV lines from Gangtok to Tadong is yet to be restored for which M/Power has given instructions to the Powergrid personnel to help the State Electricity Board in the restoration work.
Chief Secretary, Sikkim has been advised to open community shelters and feeding centres in inaccessible pockets. At present, 1500 persons have taken shelter in Army camps and 10 langers are being run to feed them.
Chief Secretary, West Bengal has been advised to keep enough quantity of packets of dry foods, matchboxes, candle and medicines, ready at the Siliguri for air dropping.
Necessary instructions have been issued to the concerned for prioritization of traffic on National Highway 31A as soon as it opens by facilitating the movement of relief and response teams.
MHA officials along with NDMA and NDRF personnel have been working round the clock since the time of occurrence of earthquake to mobilize and facilitate response teams. The situation is being closely monitored and every possible assistance is being extended to the State Government.
*********
RS/-
(Release ID :76088)
Ø An earthquake of following intensities has occurred in Sikkim :-
Sl.No.
Date
Time
Magnitude
Latitude & Longitude
1.
18.09.2011
1811 hrs
6.8
27.7°N 88.2° E
2.
18.09.2011
1821 hrs
6.1
27.5º N 87.5º E
3.
18.09.2011
1842 hrs
5.3
27.7º N 88.5° E
Ø The states of Sikkim, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram were affected in this earthquake.
Ø Meetings of National Crisis Management Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary were held at 1930 hrs on 18.9.2011 and 1000 hrs today (i.e. 19.9.2011) to review the situation caused by earth quake.
STATUS OF DAMAGE:
Ø Information received from Govt of Sikkim, there are 32 deaths (excluding 2 from the army), 75 people reported to be injured, 6 persons are reported to be still trapped. Latest report also indicate 01 Junior Engineer of Border Road Organization has died on way to land slide area.
Ø Information from State Govt. of Bihar 02 death, West Bengal 07 death & 29 injured while one person reported to be injured in Assam.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY STATE GOVT SIKKIM
Ø State Government of Sikkim has announced ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lacs per deceased, Rs. 50,000/- for major injuries and Rs. 30,000 for minor injuries.
Ø Teams have been deployed to all 04 districts to assess damage. Medical aid, supply of drinking water and essential commodities not affected. Supplementary assistance being organized. Sufficient stock diesel, Petrol and Kerosene available.
Ø The arrangement for airdropping of food packets tied up with the State Govt of West Bengal and is being done from Siliguri. Purnia in Bihar also identified as back up for food dropping. The State Govt of West Bengal has been told to provide all help to the Sikkim Government.
Ø The bad weather, heavy rain, low visibility affecting the air support/air efforts in the affected areas.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY GOVT. OF INDIA
NDRF
Ø 05 Teams of NDRF consisting of 203 personnel along with necessary rescue equipments have been deployed Ex-Delhi and reached Bagdogra by 0308 hrs on 19.09.2011.
Ø Another 05 Teams of NDRF consisting of 200 personnel along with necessary rescue equipments have been deployed Ex-Kolkata, who have already reached Bagdogra.
Ø 05 teams have proceeded from Siliguri to Gangtok.
ITBP
Ø A strength of 712 personnel of ITBP are already engaged in rescue and relief operation in Sikkim.
Food Supply
Ø Air dropping of food packets from Siliguri organised for Mangan Distt.
MEDICAL AID
Ø A medical team comprising of 20 Doctors (Surgeon –04, Orthopaedician - 07, Anaesthesian - 05, Neuro-Surgeon -02 and medicine -02 ) left for Sikkim from Ex-Delhi and reached Bagdogra at 0430 hrs on 19.09.2011. Further they are held at Bagdogra (circuit house) due to Land Slide causing road blockage at various places in the highway.
Ø A team of 10 doctors have left for Mangan Districts.
Ø 4.5 tonnes of medicines/other supplies being dispatched
STATUS OF ROAD
Ø National Highway No.31-A from Siliguri to Gangtok has been opened.
Ø 120 columns of army including 10 engineering columns have been deployed in restoration / relief work.
Ø The road between Gangtok and Changthang (16 land slides) and Gangtok and Nathula (12 land slides) are likely to take time.
Ø Blockades at National Highway No. 55 in West Bengal connecting Darjeeling to Siliguri (2 land slides) being removed.
TELECOMMUNICATION
Ø In the telecommunication sector, out of the 489 Mobile towers, 216 are non-functional. Land line connections and Microwave links are working. The service providers affected are Vodafone 60%, Reliance 46%, Idea 10%, Aircel-100%, Airtel-10% and BSNL-26%.
POWER
Ø Power situation has improved in the meanwhile. All the major power generating stations i.e. Teestha stage-V, Rangit, Chukha and Ramman with a total capacity of 845 MW have been made operational. 220 KV lines have been fully restored. Power supply (20 MW) to Gangtok is available. However, 66 KV lines from Gangtok to Tadong is yet to be restored for which M/Power has given instructions to the Powergrid personnel to help the State Electricity Board in the restoration work.
Chief Secretary, Sikkim has been advised to open community shelters and feeding centres in inaccessible pockets. At present, 1500 persons have taken shelter in Army camps and 10 langers are being run to feed them.
Chief Secretary, West Bengal has been advised to keep enough quantity of packets of dry foods, matchboxes, candle and medicines, ready at the Siliguri for air dropping.
Necessary instructions have been issued to the concerned for prioritization of traffic on National Highway 31A as soon as it opens by facilitating the movement of relief and response teams.
MHA officials along with NDMA and NDRF personnel have been working round the clock since the time of occurrence of earthquake to mobilize and facilitate response teams. The situation is being closely monitored and every possible assistance is being extended to the State Government.
*********
RS/-
(Release ID :76088)
'We were flung like helpless dolls'
PTI A monk sits near his house damaged in the earthquake, in Gangtok in Sikkim on Monday.
It was 6.10 in the evening when I suddenly felt the tremor. Living here, we are used to frequent tremors and our first reaction is to run to an open safe place. But this wasn't the usual earthquake. It felt like a destructive child was frantically shaking her dolls' house and we were the helpless dolls inside getting pushed in all directions. We could hear the sound of things hitting the floor. I bruised myself almost falling but managed to stop myself.
In this 30-second ordeal, all of us in the house managed to run out. The power was gone. It was pitch dark. I ran back inside to my parents because at that point I decided if this was the end, I wanted to be with them. We could hear people shouting, children screaming, sounds of distress I never again want to relive. My mother realised my sister and brother-in-law were not yet home, and we started calling them only to find the networks were down. Luckily it was BSNL which emerged the hero and got us connected. Soon, Facebook became a source of contact that kept us updated and provided some kind of relief, because though the networks were restored we were unable to make calls.
We were in terrible shock. Never before had I felt so helpless before the enormity of nature. We settled ourselves at what we thought was a safe spot when we experienced another shock, and then another. At 11.30 we decided to go to bed, an emergency bag with basic essentials by our sides. But sleep eluded us.
This is one of the worst quakes Sikkim has seen in living memory. The main secretariat is badly affected and a few buildings are reported to have collapsed. Most houses have cracks. Over 18 deaths have been reported, with news of more trickling in. Two buses with Army personnel are reported missing in North Sikkim. Conditions in Mangan, headquarters of North district, the epicentre of the quake, seem to be the worst, but we know very little. All we are doing is praying for the safety of everyone.
(The writer is Assistant Registrar, Sikkim University, and a resident of central Gangtok.)
source:The Hindu
Monday, September 19, 2011
Army and Airforce Mount Rescue and Relief Operations in Quake Hit Sikkim on a War Footing
Army and Airforce Mount Rescue and Relief Operations in Quake Hit Sikkim on a War Footing
A day after a powerful earthquake struck Sikkim, the Armed Forces have mobilized rescue and relief operation on a war footing. Two MI-17 helicopters of the IAF carried relief material and National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) to Lachen and Mangan, the interior regions of North Sikkim. Over 5,000 army personnel, including ten columns of army engineers each comprising 15-20 personnel, were pressed into rescue operations immediately after the first tremors were felt at 1811 hours yesterday. Troops stationed in the area have provided shelter to over 1,500 people including 1,000 civilians at Gangtok and 200 civilians at Darjeeling.
Within hours after the earthquake, two C-130J Hercules Aircraft took to the skies last night with 203 NDRF personnel, sniffer dogs, search and rescue teams, medical personnel and carrying 9 tonnes of relief materials including tents, medicines and food stocks, from Air Force Station Hindon to Bagdogra. A team of 20 doctors from the Army Medical Corps (AMC) carrying 200 kg of essential medical supplies flew to Bagdogra from New Delhi this afternoon on board an IAF Avro aircraft. An MI-17 helicopter with medical team and relief equipment also took off from Bagdogra for Gangtok. Another two Cheetah helicopters from Bagdogra carried out aerial recce missions to assess the damage caused by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicentre on Indo-Nepal border in Sikkim.
Meanwhile, more men and material are being pressed into rescue and relief operations. One IL-76 with 100 volunteers of No.2 NDRF battalion and 8 tonnes of material flew from Chandigarh to Bagdogra this morning. It will come back and make another sortie tonight. To augment the relief operations, two AN-32 aircraft flew from Delhi to Bagdogra early today. Relief efforts are expected to pick momentum after the personnel of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) toiled throughout the night to restore traffic on the National Highway No.31 this afternoon.
Four ALH and Five Cheetah Helicopters are on standby at Sukna Military Station. Two Cheetah and one MI-17 Helicopters also on standby at Bagdogra Airbase. Besides this two Mi-17 Helicopters are kept on standby at Guwahati. They will be operational once the weather improves.
The Armed Forces have also suffered casualties due to the tremors last evening. Two Army personnel died near Zima, North Sikkim while a Junior Engineer of BRO was reported killed during rescue operation.
Sitanshu Kar/
(Release ID :76085)
A day after a powerful earthquake struck Sikkim, the Armed Forces have mobilized rescue and relief operation on a war footing. Two MI-17 helicopters of the IAF carried relief material and National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) to Lachen and Mangan, the interior regions of North Sikkim. Over 5,000 army personnel, including ten columns of army engineers each comprising 15-20 personnel, were pressed into rescue operations immediately after the first tremors were felt at 1811 hours yesterday. Troops stationed in the area have provided shelter to over 1,500 people including 1,000 civilians at Gangtok and 200 civilians at Darjeeling.
Within hours after the earthquake, two C-130J Hercules Aircraft took to the skies last night with 203 NDRF personnel, sniffer dogs, search and rescue teams, medical personnel and carrying 9 tonnes of relief materials including tents, medicines and food stocks, from Air Force Station Hindon to Bagdogra. A team of 20 doctors from the Army Medical Corps (AMC) carrying 200 kg of essential medical supplies flew to Bagdogra from New Delhi this afternoon on board an IAF Avro aircraft. An MI-17 helicopter with medical team and relief equipment also took off from Bagdogra for Gangtok. Another two Cheetah helicopters from Bagdogra carried out aerial recce missions to assess the damage caused by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicentre on Indo-Nepal border in Sikkim.
Meanwhile, more men and material are being pressed into rescue and relief operations. One IL-76 with 100 volunteers of No.2 NDRF battalion and 8 tonnes of material flew from Chandigarh to Bagdogra this morning. It will come back and make another sortie tonight. To augment the relief operations, two AN-32 aircraft flew from Delhi to Bagdogra early today. Relief efforts are expected to pick momentum after the personnel of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) toiled throughout the night to restore traffic on the National Highway No.31 this afternoon.
Four ALH and Five Cheetah Helicopters are on standby at Sukna Military Station. Two Cheetah and one MI-17 Helicopters also on standby at Bagdogra Airbase. Besides this two Mi-17 Helicopters are kept on standby at Guwahati. They will be operational once the weather improves.
The Armed Forces have also suffered casualties due to the tremors last evening. Two Army personnel died near Zima, North Sikkim while a Junior Engineer of BRO was reported killed during rescue operation.
Sitanshu Kar/
(Release ID :76085)
Earthquake Update in Sikkim
Earthquake Update in Sikkim and Elsewhere on 19 Sept, 2011 at 4.00 pm
The latest human casualties reported (by Governor) in Sikkim are 22, in addition to death of 2 Army personnel, 6 persons are reported to be still trapped. As indicated by Chief Secretary, Sikkim, 75 people have been hospitalized while 5 have been discharged. Several hundred public buildings and large number of private houses have suffered damage, The Secretariat building at Gangtok is also badly affected. Govt of Sikkim have announced ex-gratia compensation of 5 lakh for each death, 50,000 for major injury and 30,000 for cases of minor injury.
2. The National Highway-31A has suffered landslides at over 21 places, over a cumulative length of 700 meters. It was reported by Director General, Border Road Organization and Chief Secretary, Sikkim that the road could be opened for traffic by 4.00 p.m. today. The NDRF personnel who are stranded at Bagdogra will be able to reach Sikkim once the road is opened for traffic. (At 1.30 p.m. information has been received that NH-31A is functional till Singtam, 29 km short of Gangtok).
3. The damage of road from Gangtok to Nathula (61 kms) is yet to be assessed fully. The first 24 kms of road has been surveyed so far showing 12 landslides and severe damage to the road-formation over a cumulative stretch of 90 meters. Restoration of this road is unlikely to take place immediately, as indicated by DG, BRO.
4. The third important road in Sikkim which is affected badly is North Sikkim Highway from Gangtok to Chungthang (95 kms). About 400 meters of road-formation has been damaged due to 16 landslides. Restoration of this road too is likely to take some time.
5. The loss of life reported in Darjeeling area by Chief Secretary, West Bengal is 5. The Darjeeling-Siliguri road has been blocked by 2 landslides, Repair work has started and the road is likely to be opened for traffic today itself.
6. In Bihar, 2 persons are reported to have died; one due to earthquake related stampede (Darbhanga) and the other due to collapse of wall (Nalanda). The situation does not appear to be alarming.
7. As far as the Central agencies are concerned, restoration work of communication has started with full swing. The Border Road Organization, which has lost one Junior Engineer, is at work with maximum manpower and equipment to clear the landslides and restore communication at various points at NH-31A. Restoration work of Siliguri-Darjeeling road is going to be completed by 3.00 p.m. today. 120 columns of Army including 10 engineering columns have also been deployed in restoration/relief work.
8. Power situation has improved in the meanwhile. All the major power generating stations i.e. Teesta Stage-V, Rangit, Chukha, and Ramman with a total capacity of 845 MW have been made operational. 220 KV lines have been fully restored. Power supply (20 MW) to Gangtok is available. However, 66 KV line from Gangtok to Tadong is yet to be restored, which is to be done by the State Electricity Board. M/o Power has given instructions to the Power Grid personnel to help the State Electricity Board in the restoration work.
9. As regard telecommunication network, landlines have been fully restored. Out of 489 mobile towers / BTSs, 273 are functioning. The damage to the remaining 216 mobile towers is reported to be to the extent of 10-100%. M/o Telecommunication has indicated requirement over 20,000 litres of diesel daily to keep the BTSs operational. M/o Petroleum has been directed to make diesel available to the service providers on priority basis.
10. A team of 9 doctors and 10 paramedics despatched from Delhi by M/o Health & Family Welfare has already reached Siliguri. The team will proceed to Gangtok once the Siliguri-Darjeeling road is restored. Chief Secretary, Sikkim has, however, informed that there is no urgency of dispatching medical teams.
11. Nine NDRF teams were despatched yesterday. They have already reached Bagdogra over the night. They will proceed to Gangtok as soon as the road communication is restored. Chief Secretaries of West Bengal and Sikkim have been advised to take particular care to regulate and prioritize the movement of traffic on the road to avoid blockade due to sudden rush of vehicles, and to ensure that essential manpower, equipment and supplies required for relief and rescue work is able to get through first.
12. Although Chief Secretary, Sikkim has informed that there is no shortage of essential commodities, which is also corroborated by Secretary, M/o Food and Consumer Affairs, and M/o Petroleum & Natural Gas, instructions have been issued to preposition enough quantity of essential commodities particularly diesel and LPG, and despatch the same to affected areas, as soon as the roads are opened. Kerosene stock is available in Sikkim for 36 days, while availability of LPG is limited to 4 days.
13. Chief Secretary, Sikkim has been advised to open community shelters and feeding centres in inaccessible pockets. At present, 1500 persons have taken shelter in Army camps and 10 langars are being run to feed them. Chief Secretary, West Bengal has been advised to keep enough quantity of packets of dry foods, matchboxes, candle and medicine, ready at Siliguri for air-dropping. Presently, air dropping of food packets is not possible because of adverse weather conditions/heavy rains in and around Gangtok, But Defence Secretary has been advised to drop some packets quickly, weather permitting. The weather in Sikkim continues to be inclement. As a result, sorties by helicopters have not been possible so far today. However, helicopters, including an MN-17 for air-dropping of supplies, are in readiness.
14. Chief Secretary, Sikkim has been asked to designate one officer who would coordinate with the media. Similarly, media briefing/releases will be coordinated in Delhi by Ministry of Home Affairs.
15. The process to assess the damage due to earthquake is continuing. Another meeting of National Crisis Management Committee under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary is scheduled to be held at 7.30 p.m. today.
*****
OK/RS/SKS
(Release ID :76086)
The latest human casualties reported (by Governor) in Sikkim are 22, in addition to death of 2 Army personnel, 6 persons are reported to be still trapped. As indicated by Chief Secretary, Sikkim, 75 people have been hospitalized while 5 have been discharged. Several hundred public buildings and large number of private houses have suffered damage, The Secretariat building at Gangtok is also badly affected. Govt of Sikkim have announced ex-gratia compensation of 5 lakh for each death, 50,000 for major injury and 30,000 for cases of minor injury.
2. The National Highway-31A has suffered landslides at over 21 places, over a cumulative length of 700 meters. It was reported by Director General, Border Road Organization and Chief Secretary, Sikkim that the road could be opened for traffic by 4.00 p.m. today. The NDRF personnel who are stranded at Bagdogra will be able to reach Sikkim once the road is opened for traffic. (At 1.30 p.m. information has been received that NH-31A is functional till Singtam, 29 km short of Gangtok).
3. The damage of road from Gangtok to Nathula (61 kms) is yet to be assessed fully. The first 24 kms of road has been surveyed so far showing 12 landslides and severe damage to the road-formation over a cumulative stretch of 90 meters. Restoration of this road is unlikely to take place immediately, as indicated by DG, BRO.
4. The third important road in Sikkim which is affected badly is North Sikkim Highway from Gangtok to Chungthang (95 kms). About 400 meters of road-formation has been damaged due to 16 landslides. Restoration of this road too is likely to take some time.
5. The loss of life reported in Darjeeling area by Chief Secretary, West Bengal is 5. The Darjeeling-Siliguri road has been blocked by 2 landslides, Repair work has started and the road is likely to be opened for traffic today itself.
6. In Bihar, 2 persons are reported to have died; one due to earthquake related stampede (Darbhanga) and the other due to collapse of wall (Nalanda). The situation does not appear to be alarming.
7. As far as the Central agencies are concerned, restoration work of communication has started with full swing. The Border Road Organization, which has lost one Junior Engineer, is at work with maximum manpower and equipment to clear the landslides and restore communication at various points at NH-31A. Restoration work of Siliguri-Darjeeling road is going to be completed by 3.00 p.m. today. 120 columns of Army including 10 engineering columns have also been deployed in restoration/relief work.
8. Power situation has improved in the meanwhile. All the major power generating stations i.e. Teesta Stage-V, Rangit, Chukha, and Ramman with a total capacity of 845 MW have been made operational. 220 KV lines have been fully restored. Power supply (20 MW) to Gangtok is available. However, 66 KV line from Gangtok to Tadong is yet to be restored, which is to be done by the State Electricity Board. M/o Power has given instructions to the Power Grid personnel to help the State Electricity Board in the restoration work.
9. As regard telecommunication network, landlines have been fully restored. Out of 489 mobile towers / BTSs, 273 are functioning. The damage to the remaining 216 mobile towers is reported to be to the extent of 10-100%. M/o Telecommunication has indicated requirement over 20,000 litres of diesel daily to keep the BTSs operational. M/o Petroleum has been directed to make diesel available to the service providers on priority basis.
10. A team of 9 doctors and 10 paramedics despatched from Delhi by M/o Health & Family Welfare has already reached Siliguri. The team will proceed to Gangtok once the Siliguri-Darjeeling road is restored. Chief Secretary, Sikkim has, however, informed that there is no urgency of dispatching medical teams.
11. Nine NDRF teams were despatched yesterday. They have already reached Bagdogra over the night. They will proceed to Gangtok as soon as the road communication is restored. Chief Secretaries of West Bengal and Sikkim have been advised to take particular care to regulate and prioritize the movement of traffic on the road to avoid blockade due to sudden rush of vehicles, and to ensure that essential manpower, equipment and supplies required for relief and rescue work is able to get through first.
12. Although Chief Secretary, Sikkim has informed that there is no shortage of essential commodities, which is also corroborated by Secretary, M/o Food and Consumer Affairs, and M/o Petroleum & Natural Gas, instructions have been issued to preposition enough quantity of essential commodities particularly diesel and LPG, and despatch the same to affected areas, as soon as the roads are opened. Kerosene stock is available in Sikkim for 36 days, while availability of LPG is limited to 4 days.
13. Chief Secretary, Sikkim has been advised to open community shelters and feeding centres in inaccessible pockets. At present, 1500 persons have taken shelter in Army camps and 10 langars are being run to feed them. Chief Secretary, West Bengal has been advised to keep enough quantity of packets of dry foods, matchboxes, candle and medicine, ready at Siliguri for air-dropping. Presently, air dropping of food packets is not possible because of adverse weather conditions/heavy rains in and around Gangtok, But Defence Secretary has been advised to drop some packets quickly, weather permitting. The weather in Sikkim continues to be inclement. As a result, sorties by helicopters have not been possible so far today. However, helicopters, including an MN-17 for air-dropping of supplies, are in readiness.
14. Chief Secretary, Sikkim has been asked to designate one officer who would coordinate with the media. Similarly, media briefing/releases will be coordinated in Delhi by Ministry of Home Affairs.
15. The process to assess the damage due to earthquake is continuing. Another meeting of National Crisis Management Committee under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary is scheduled to be held at 7.30 p.m. today.
*****
OK/RS/SKS
(Release ID :76086)
Quake toll mounts to 52
PTI
At least 52 people have been killed, including 39 in Sikkim, and hundreds injured in the powerful 6.8 magnitude quake that hit the Himalayan State, causing widespread damage to buildings and roads.
West and South districts remain inaccessible for the Army with no relief work having reached the areas, Major General S.L. Narasimhan, GOC 17 Mountain division told reporters in Gangtok on Monday.
Sikkim, which bore the brunt of the quake, accounted for 39 deaths alone, with most casualties taking place in the North district and in towns and villages located along the Teesta river, officials in the district control room said.
Eight persons travelling in a bus of Teesta Urja Limited Company in North district are presumed dead as their vehicle got stuck under debris, Maj. Gen. Narasimhan said.
This, however, has not been incorporated in the official toll.
Six people have died in different areas of north Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is on her way to Kurseong, said adding she would review the situation there with officials.
In Bihar, seven people have died with several houses being damaged in four districts.
While Darbhanga alone accounted for four deaths, one each was reported from Nawada, Nalanda and Bhagalpur districts, officials at the State headquarters said.
Maj. Gen. Narasimhan said the Army has launched "Operation Madad" in Gangtok and other areas by deploying over 2,000 troops.
“Around 44 columns of the army are working in various parts of Sikkim, while another 15 are in the East District of the state. We are also sending teams to Darjeeling and Kalimpong (in West Bengal),” he said.
Two districts — West and South — in Sikkim remained inaccessible to the army, delaying rescue work, he said, adding local authorities were carrying it out and commanders stationed there have been alerted.
A group of 14 tourists were rescued by the army from North Sikkim on Sunday night, he said. The devastated visitors have been admitted to Chungthang Army Hospital.
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling has announced an ex gratia compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for the kin of the deceased, Rs. 50,000 for those grievously injured and Rs. 25,000 for those with minor injuries.
At a high-level meeting at his residence, Mr. Chamling asked department secretaries to oversee the relief work in the four districts of the State.
Around 300 rescue workers from the National Disaster Response Force are stuck at Bagdogra airport as chopper services to Gangtok is suspended due to inclement weather, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, adding helicopters have been kept ready for their movement.
“Since the relief materials for Sikkim were being routed through Bagdogra airport in Bengal, we will monitor and coordinate the movement of those materials as we also have a responsibility,” Ms. Banerjee said.
She said efforts were on to repair the damage to NH-31A and NH-55 due to landslide on war-footing.
A compensation of Rs. 2 lakh each for the next of kin of every victim will be given, Ms. Banerjee added.
source: The Hindu
PTI
At least 52 people have been killed, including 39 in Sikkim, and hundreds injured in the powerful 6.8 magnitude quake that hit the Himalayan State, causing widespread damage to buildings and roads.
West and South districts remain inaccessible for the Army with no relief work having reached the areas, Major General S.L. Narasimhan, GOC 17 Mountain division told reporters in Gangtok on Monday.
Sikkim, which bore the brunt of the quake, accounted for 39 deaths alone, with most casualties taking place in the North district and in towns and villages located along the Teesta river, officials in the district control room said.
Eight persons travelling in a bus of Teesta Urja Limited Company in North district are presumed dead as their vehicle got stuck under debris, Maj. Gen. Narasimhan said.
This, however, has not been incorporated in the official toll.
Six people have died in different areas of north Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is on her way to Kurseong, said adding she would review the situation there with officials.
In Bihar, seven people have died with several houses being damaged in four districts.
While Darbhanga alone accounted for four deaths, one each was reported from Nawada, Nalanda and Bhagalpur districts, officials at the State headquarters said.
Maj. Gen. Narasimhan said the Army has launched "Operation Madad" in Gangtok and other areas by deploying over 2,000 troops.
“Around 44 columns of the army are working in various parts of Sikkim, while another 15 are in the East District of the state. We are also sending teams to Darjeeling and Kalimpong (in West Bengal),” he said.
Two districts — West and South — in Sikkim remained inaccessible to the army, delaying rescue work, he said, adding local authorities were carrying it out and commanders stationed there have been alerted.
A group of 14 tourists were rescued by the army from North Sikkim on Sunday night, he said. The devastated visitors have been admitted to Chungthang Army Hospital.
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling has announced an ex gratia compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for the kin of the deceased, Rs. 50,000 for those grievously injured and Rs. 25,000 for those with minor injuries.
At a high-level meeting at his residence, Mr. Chamling asked department secretaries to oversee the relief work in the four districts of the State.
Around 300 rescue workers from the National Disaster Response Force are stuck at Bagdogra airport as chopper services to Gangtok is suspended due to inclement weather, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, adding helicopters have been kept ready for their movement.
“Since the relief materials for Sikkim were being routed through Bagdogra airport in Bengal, we will monitor and coordinate the movement of those materials as we also have a responsibility,” Ms. Banerjee said.
She said efforts were on to repair the damage to NH-31A and NH-55 due to landslide on war-footing.
A compensation of Rs. 2 lakh each for the next of kin of every victim will be given, Ms. Banerjee added.
source: The Hindu
Sikkim Earthquake – Updates at 1330 hrs
Sikkim Earthquake – Updates at 1330 hrs
Border Roads Organisation restores traffic on National Highway No.31 .
105 columns of Army personnel in rescue operation.
Army provides shelter to 1500 persons and is running ten langars.
Four ALH and Five Cheetah Helicopters on standby at Sukna Military Station.
One MI-17 Helicopter at Bagdogra for distribution of food packets.
Two Army personnel died near Zima, North Sikkim.
One Junior Engineer of BRO reported killed during rescue operation.
Two C-130J, One IL-76 and One Avro Aircraft left NCR last night carrying NDRF personnel, sniffer dogs, search and rescue teams and medical personnel.
Sitanshu Kar/
(Release ID :76072)
Border Roads Organisation restores traffic on National Highway No.31 .
105 columns of Army personnel in rescue operation.
Army provides shelter to 1500 persons and is running ten langars.
Four ALH and Five Cheetah Helicopters on standby at Sukna Military Station.
One MI-17 Helicopter at Bagdogra for distribution of food packets.
Two Army personnel died near Zima, North Sikkim.
One Junior Engineer of BRO reported killed during rescue operation.
Two C-130J, One IL-76 and One Avro Aircraft left NCR last night carrying NDRF personnel, sniffer dogs, search and rescue teams and medical personnel.
Sitanshu Kar/
(Release ID :76072)
Strong earthquake rattles Sikkim, Northeast India & Nepal
September 19, 2011, 00:27
Zeenews Bureau
Gangtok: A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook Northeast India, Nepal and Bangladesh on Sunday evening, killing at least 16 people and causing extensive damage to several buildings.
The earthquake - the biggest in two decades with epicentre at the Sikkim-Nepal border - was also felt across many states in the northern and eastern parts of the country.
While five people died in Sikkim, four were killed in West Bengal and two in Bihar. In Nepal, five people were killed. Over 100 were reported to be injured in quake-hit areas.
The epicentre of the quake - which hit at 6.10 pm - was located at a depth of 10 kilometres at Mangan and Sakyong areas, over 50 km from Gangtok on Sikkim-Nepal border.
"Tremors were felt between 30 seconds to one minute in some parts of Sikkim, including Gangtok," Shailesh Nayak, Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said in Delhi.
Sikkim Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso described it as “a massive earthquake”.
Three aftershocks of 5.7, 5.3 and 4.6 magnitude on the Richter scale were also felt in the region within an hour of the first quake.
Immediately after the quake, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and offered him all necessary help.
Five persons were killed in Sikkim - two at Singtham (East), two in Rishi (West) and one in Mangan (North) as the government sought Army's assistance in reaching help to the affected, Gyatso said.
Three persons were killed in Darjeeling district and one in adjoining Jalpaiuri in West Bengal, while two others – a five-year-old girl in Nalanda and a youth in Darbhanga – lost their lives in Bihar.
At least five people were killed in Nepal, three of them outside the British Embassy in Kathmandu, when a high brick wall collapsed. Dozens were injured as houses crashed across the mountainous country, snapping communication lines.
Relief and rescue
In Sikkim, communication links snapped with mobile towers getting damaged. Gangtok and several other areas plunged into darkness following major power failures.
Heavy rains and darkness hampered relief operations in the night. Landslides caused by the quake and rains blocked several roads in many parts of the state.
Army columns in small teams were deployed in rescue mission across Sikkim. The columns comprised medical teams with first aid, engineer detachments and relief and rescue units.
Many tall buildings shook and developed cracks in Gangtok and Darjeeling and window panes shattered as thousands of people ran out to the streets in panic. Two buildings of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) collapsed in Pegong area though there was no immediate report of any casualty, a senior official said.
Four teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been rushed to Sikkim and five more teams were being sent from Kolkata, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth told reporters after a meeting of top officials in Delhi convened on the direction of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
A team of doctors is also being rushed to Sikkim from Delhi, Seth said after chairing a meeting of Crisis Management Group.
Army units have also been mobilised and field hospitals have been activated in Sikkim, he said. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has also been mobilised for restoring normal traffic on NH-31A which connects Sikkim with rest of the country.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force has rushed five cargo planes to the Northeast with relief material and personnel. These include two C-130 J planes and two AN-32 aircraft. An Avro-1 plane was also scheduled to arrive from Delhi with relief material.
Tremors in northern and eastern India
The tremors were also felt in Assam, parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Reports said few houses collapsed in Bihar’s Katihar and capital Patna.
In Assam, one woman was injured in Dhubri district on Assam-Bengal border, buildings developed cracks in various parts of the state and electric poles fell. Official sources in Guwahati the woman was injured when a wall of her house collapsed.
As buildings shook, people rushed out of their houses and took refuge in open places.
"We saw computers, chairs and tables rattling in our office," said Manu Singh and Binod Singh, who were among those who rushed out in the open in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
In the national capital, the tremor was felt in certain parts -- the second such experience within a fortnight after Delhiites were jolted around midnight on September 7 by an earthquake of 4.3 magnitude.
Delhi's suburb Gurgaon and some other parts of the National Capital Region experienced very mild tremor.
Power supply was disrupted in parts of northern West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in Kolkata.
Seismologists consider India’s Northeast to be the sixth most earthquake-prone belt in the world.
September 19, 2011, 00:27
Zeenews Bureau
Gangtok: A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook Northeast India, Nepal and Bangladesh on Sunday evening, killing at least 16 people and causing extensive damage to several buildings.
The earthquake - the biggest in two decades with epicentre at the Sikkim-Nepal border - was also felt across many states in the northern and eastern parts of the country.
While five people died in Sikkim, four were killed in West Bengal and two in Bihar. In Nepal, five people were killed. Over 100 were reported to be injured in quake-hit areas.
The epicentre of the quake - which hit at 6.10 pm - was located at a depth of 10 kilometres at Mangan and Sakyong areas, over 50 km from Gangtok on Sikkim-Nepal border.
"Tremors were felt between 30 seconds to one minute in some parts of Sikkim, including Gangtok," Shailesh Nayak, Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said in Delhi.
Sikkim Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso described it as “a massive earthquake”.
Three aftershocks of 5.7, 5.3 and 4.6 magnitude on the Richter scale were also felt in the region within an hour of the first quake.
Immediately after the quake, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and offered him all necessary help.
Five persons were killed in Sikkim - two at Singtham (East), two in Rishi (West) and one in Mangan (North) as the government sought Army's assistance in reaching help to the affected, Gyatso said.
Three persons were killed in Darjeeling district and one in adjoining Jalpaiuri in West Bengal, while two others – a five-year-old girl in Nalanda and a youth in Darbhanga – lost their lives in Bihar.
At least five people were killed in Nepal, three of them outside the British Embassy in Kathmandu, when a high brick wall collapsed. Dozens were injured as houses crashed across the mountainous country, snapping communication lines.
Relief and rescue
In Sikkim, communication links snapped with mobile towers getting damaged. Gangtok and several other areas plunged into darkness following major power failures.
Heavy rains and darkness hampered relief operations in the night. Landslides caused by the quake and rains blocked several roads in many parts of the state.
Army columns in small teams were deployed in rescue mission across Sikkim. The columns comprised medical teams with first aid, engineer detachments and relief and rescue units.
Many tall buildings shook and developed cracks in Gangtok and Darjeeling and window panes shattered as thousands of people ran out to the streets in panic. Two buildings of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) collapsed in Pegong area though there was no immediate report of any casualty, a senior official said.
Four teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been rushed to Sikkim and five more teams were being sent from Kolkata, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth told reporters after a meeting of top officials in Delhi convened on the direction of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
A team of doctors is also being rushed to Sikkim from Delhi, Seth said after chairing a meeting of Crisis Management Group.
Army units have also been mobilised and field hospitals have been activated in Sikkim, he said. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has also been mobilised for restoring normal traffic on NH-31A which connects Sikkim with rest of the country.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force has rushed five cargo planes to the Northeast with relief material and personnel. These include two C-130 J planes and two AN-32 aircraft. An Avro-1 plane was also scheduled to arrive from Delhi with relief material.
Tremors in northern and eastern India
The tremors were also felt in Assam, parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Reports said few houses collapsed in Bihar’s Katihar and capital Patna.
In Assam, one woman was injured in Dhubri district on Assam-Bengal border, buildings developed cracks in various parts of the state and electric poles fell. Official sources in Guwahati the woman was injured when a wall of her house collapsed.
As buildings shook, people rushed out of their houses and took refuge in open places.
"We saw computers, chairs and tables rattling in our office," said Manu Singh and Binod Singh, who were among those who rushed out in the open in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
In the national capital, the tremor was felt in certain parts -- the second such experience within a fortnight after Delhiites were jolted around midnight on September 7 by an earthquake of 4.3 magnitude.
Delhi's suburb Gurgaon and some other parts of the National Capital Region experienced very mild tremor.
Power supply was disrupted in parts of northern West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in Kolkata.
Seismologists consider India’s Northeast to be the sixth most earthquake-prone belt in the world.
Vision for a new Nalanda
PATH AHEAD: ‘Ever since I saw Nalanda for the first time as a child, I was completely bowled over by the vision it offered to humanity. I dreamt of bringing the great institution back to life, some day,’ says Prof. Amartya Sen. The Nobel Laureate at Nalanda in February 2009. Photo: Sugata Bose
Professor Amartya Sen answers questions on the making of a dream university.
Nalanda University, the world's oldest centre of higher learning, is being re-established through an Asian initiative, involving India, China, Singapore, Japan and Thailand. Amartya Sen, Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, is chairman of the Interim Governing Board of Nalanda University. Professor Sen, the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics, believes that Nalanda stands for the passion of propagating knowledge and understanding. It was a residential university, and at its peak had 10,000 students from many countries, especially China, Korea, Japan, and Turkey, studying various subjects. Professor Sen responds to Shreeya Sinha's questions about the project ahead of a lecture he will give at the Asia Society in New York on September 22. Excerpts:
What was the original ethos behind Nalanda University?
Old Nalanda as an educational institution was fully dedicated to the pursuit of learning. It was committed to educational excellence. Indeed, because it was largely successful in achieving and maintaining excellence that Nalanda attracted foreign students — from China, Japan, Korea and elsewhere. The institution was Buddhist in terms of its foundation, but Nalanda's teaching and research were not confined to Buddhist studies. Indeed it was well-known also for what it offered in secular subjects such as health care, linguistics, and astronomy. Nalanda received patronage from Hindu kings (such as the Guptas) as well as from Buddhist kings (such as the Palas of Bengal). It was not, in any sense, a specifically Buddhist institution, but it was in the general Buddhist tradition of focussing on knowledge and understanding as ways of solving problems that pester humanity. It was also a “modern” institution — modern in relation to its time — in offering education that went well beyond religion, and included science (such as astronomy) and the pursuit of practically useful arts (such as public health care).
What is your vision for its future?
Ever since I saw Nalanda for the first time as a child, I was completely bowled over by the vision it offered to humanity. I dreamt of bringing the great institution back to life, some day. As I continued to visit Nalanda through my teenage years, the idea of an outstanding centre for higher education at the great centre of ancient Indian civilisation, in Bihar, gripped me more and more. When Chief Minister Nitish Kumar approached me about helping them build a new institution near the old site, I was impressed to see how close his own vision was to what I had hoped would happen one day. I hope to see that dream being realised — at least the initial stages of it — before long. The fact that Bihar also has a lot of economic problems, including persistent poverty, makes it even more necessary for the new Nalanda to offer educational opportunities for the useful arts (such as information technology, environmental studies and management), without undermining the more abstract investigations.
How was the Vice-Chancellor chosen? What qualifications were the Nalanda Mentor Group looking for?
The post of Vice-Chancellor is meant to be open to any of the member-countries of the East Asia Summit, even though for the first Vice-Chancellor, the Nalanda Mentor Group had a preference for an Indian academic, with the practical ability to do things, to get the project moving. The four primary considerations that the selection committee had, on the basis of the deliberations of the Mentor Group, were: (1) academic excellence, (2) administrative ability, (3) interest in — and commitment to — the Nalanda university project, and (4) willingness to be based on the new campus in Nalanda to build an intellectual community there from scratch, and be fully involved with Bihar's problems and concerns.
Members of the selection committee talked with at least 20 people, sought their advice and also checked their own interest in being considered for the position, including living in Nalanda, as and when it becomes a functioning reality. From time to time, reports on these consultations somehow got leaked in Indian newspapers (even though the consultations and ascertaining of interest in being a resident Vice-Chancellor have sometimes been confused, in these reports, as “offers” having been made to this person or that). On the basis of all the information it had, the selection committee decided that the best feasible appointment would be Dr. Gopa Sabharwal, but it was willing to accept the possibility of appointing some other person from a list of three it gave to the Government of India. Dr. Sabharwal's academic qualifications are excellent (one of our advisers on the academic side was Professor Andre Beteille, a world-renowned sociologist); her administrative ability is well established; she is totally committed to the Nalanda project; and her involvement with Bihar and willingness to be based in Nalanda contrasted sharply with some others who could have been considered for the position. The Nalanda Mentor Group, which was authorised to make the selection, listed three names, including that of Dr. Sabharwal, but the government could have appointed any one of the three. The government offered Dr. Sabharwal the position of being Vice-Chancellor Designate, to be followed by being Vice-Chancellor as the legal formalities of the university are sorted out. The Mentor Group was very happy that she agreed to take on this job when she was approached.
I understand that in some parts of the media questions have been raised about whether someone who was not a “full professor” should have been chosen to be the Vice-Chancellor. I suppose an obsession with rank and status in our stratified society makes some people inclined to judge a person not by his or her qualities — and particular qualifications for a very specific job — but by the person's position in the social hierarchy.
Has the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Gopa Sabharwal, started functioning, and what steps is she taking to get this big project off the ground?
Dr. Sabharwal has made an excellent beginning in setting up the campus, with the help of the Bihar government (which has been impeccably cooperative), and also in planning the legal, administrative and academic arrangements. The first two faculties to be started will be environmental studies and historical studies, to be followed by others such as information technology and international relations. The work on setting up these faculties is very much on the way. Nalanda University, under Dr. Sabharwal's leadership, has also established reciprocal relations with the Nalanda-Srivijaya Centre in Singapore and the Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, and, at an informal level, with the Peking University in China, through Professor Wang Bangwei of that University who, as an active member of the Mentor Group, has been involved in the planning of Nalanda. There will be a partnership with Korean and Japanese universities as also with leading American universities. These possibilities are now being explored. The making of the architectural plans for the campus and the buildings is in high gear right now, along with securing and looking after the land that the Bihar government has given to the university.
Unfortunately, Dr. Sabharwal still remains “Vice-Chancellor Designate” rather than being the actual Vice-Chancellor, because of administrative delays at the level of the Government of India, and this does hamper Dr. Sabharwal's ability to discharge her duties even more efficiently. The Board of the Nalanda University very much hopes that these delays would soon come to an end, which would help her do her job with even greater speed. The Nalanda University Act was passed in Parliament last November (in line with the recommendations of the Mentor Group), and it is anticipated that the administrative delays at the governmental level would soon cease.
How will the university be financially viable?
At the moment the bulk of the expenses are being met by the Government of India, through the Planning Commission, which is also helping in sorting out the administrative hurdles. There have been promises of contributions from abroad, both from governmental and non-governmental sources (from China, Singapore, Australia, Laos and elsewhere). But there is a long way to go in firming up the financial base of the university.
(The full text of the interview can be read at http://asiasociety.org/blog/reasia/qa-nobel-prize-winning-economist-amartya-sen-reviving-nalanda-university)
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Water Quality Testing Laboratory Inaugurated in Sikkim
Sikkim Mail
Gangtok, September 15
With an aim of providing adequate and safe drinking water to the rural populace, the Rural Management and Development Department(RMDD), Government of Sikkim, established two State Water Quality Testing Laboratories at RMDD complex in Jorethang, South Sikkim for South and West districts and the other in RMDD complex in 5th Mile Tadong, Gangtok for North and East districts respectively. The Laboratory at Tadong was inaugurated by the Minister for RMDD; C.B. Karki on 15th September in presence of Secretary RMDD A.K. Ganariwala, senior government officials and staffs from the department. The Laboratory inaugurated is constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 6, 69,844 lakhs and consists of three laboratory rooms and one office room. The construction of the laboratory had commenced from May 2010 and completed on September 2010. The bacteriological, chemical and physical parameters testing can be done at this laboratory is informed. Director of Anir Water Machinery Private Limited, Mr S. Bhowmick and Head of Regional Water Laboratory from Kolkata Dr. D Mondal had imparted fifteen days training to the chemists and lab assistants at Karfectar, South Sikkim along with three days at RMDD store complex
Sikkim Mail
Gangtok, September 15
With an aim of providing adequate and safe drinking water to the rural populace, the Rural Management and Development Department(RMDD), Government of Sikkim, established two State Water Quality Testing Laboratories at RMDD complex in Jorethang, South Sikkim for South and West districts and the other in RMDD complex in 5th Mile Tadong, Gangtok for North and East districts respectively. The Laboratory at Tadong was inaugurated by the Minister for RMDD; C.B. Karki on 15th September in presence of Secretary RMDD A.K. Ganariwala, senior government officials and staffs from the department. The Laboratory inaugurated is constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 6, 69,844 lakhs and consists of three laboratory rooms and one office room. The construction of the laboratory had commenced from May 2010 and completed on September 2010. The bacteriological, chemical and physical parameters testing can be done at this laboratory is informed. Director of Anir Water Machinery Private Limited, Mr S. Bhowmick and Head of Regional Water Laboratory from Kolkata Dr. D Mondal had imparted fifteen days training to the chemists and lab assistants at Karfectar, South Sikkim along with three days at RMDD store complex
Babus block Indian Army’s plans to counter China’s PLA
Babus block Indian Army’s plans to counter China’s PLA
Published: Friday, Sep 16, 2011, 9:00 IST | Updated: Friday, Sep 16, 2011, 0:51 IST
By Saikat Datta & Mayank Aggarwal | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
Indian Army’s plans to beef up presence on the Indo-China border have met with fierce resistance from two unexpected quarters — the finance and the environment ministries.
The finance wing of the defence ministry in consultation with the ministry of finance is not agreeable to spend a whopping Rs12,000 crore to set up a Mountain Strike Corps even as a plan to create an alternate, all-weather route from Siliguri to North Sikkim to rush troops to the Indo-China border has been rejected by the ministry of environment and forests on the grounds that the alignment passes through eco-sensitive areas.
Left with almost no options, the army headquarters is now planning to move in an independent armoured brigade into North Sikkim to try and maintain some muscle on one of its most sensitive border. According to sources in South Block, which houses the ministry of defence, the army is all set to induct the tank brigade by December 31 this year.
The proposal to beef up the army’s force on the Indo-China border comes at a time when the US Pentagon has reported that China was training two divisions in high altitude warfare. The idea to raise a dedicated mountain strike corps as a bulwark against China was mooted in the aftermath of the disastrous Operation Parakram, when the Indian army mobilised after the December 13 attack on Parliament.
At that time, the then army chief, Gen NC Vij, had ordered a comprehensive review of the army’s offensive and defensive posture. Headed by the then Western Army Commander, Lt Gen JJ Singh, the study group had recommended a mountain strike corps to be created for the Indo-China border.
The study group was unambiguous that a dedicated mountain strike corps is essential to maintain deterrence against the Chinese. “We must have a mountain strike corps in the sector if we need to maintain a strong deterrent posture,” Gen Vij told DNA.
As army chief he had pushed for a major reorganisation of the military structure to prepare for all exigencies on the Pakistan and China fronts.
“Ideally, the strike corps should have the full paraphernalia to launch a strike by troops who are already there and fully acclimatised in the high altitude areas. At those heights we need infantry, artillery, logistics and armoured brigades to strike back if someone was to plan a misadventure. Our current force levels are quite inadequate and it takes years to build up a new army corps in the area,” Gen Vij told DNA.
In fact, army headquarters was at pains to explain to the government that most of the army corps that came up as a reactive measure was too little, and too late. The Sukhna-based 33 Corps (in Darjeeling) came up after the 1962 defeat at the hands of the Chinese and Leh-based 14 Corps came up after the surprise Pakistani intrusions in Kargil.
The study group looked at the combined threat from Pakistan and China in a future war and concluded that the bulk of the fighting would take place in the high mountains.
“We found that current force position was woeful. Every Corps is supposed to have at least three army divisions and we were already short of 4 divisions. So not only did we feel the need to fill the void but also have a credible deterrent against China,” a senior officer familiar with the secret study told DNA.
“Our current military strategy against China is of dissuasion. But we need to upgrade it to deterrence for which we need at least two mountain strike corps,” said Brig Gurmeet Singh (Retd), director of the prestigious think-tank, CLAWS.
But the finance wing of the defence ministry after consultations with the finance ministry shot down the proposal on the grounds that funds were not available for such a massive project. This is a double barrel blow to the army’s plans to beef up its strength vis-a-vis China because the proposal to have an alternate route from Siliguri to the border has been opposed by the environment ministry.
Documents available with DNA show that the army had proposed three alternate routes to Aritar in North Sikkim- one starting from Khunia More in north Bengal, another from Bagrakot and a third from Damdim. The environment ministry has pointed out that at least two routes “will result in irreversible loss of bio-diversity vitality and vigor thereby affecting adversely the entire eco-system.” Stuck between environment and financial constraints, the Indian army is still years away from a credible deterrence against an aggressive China.
Published: Friday, Sep 16, 2011, 9:00 IST | Updated: Friday, Sep 16, 2011, 0:51 IST
By Saikat Datta & Mayank Aggarwal | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
Indian Army’s plans to beef up presence on the Indo-China border have met with fierce resistance from two unexpected quarters — the finance and the environment ministries.
The finance wing of the defence ministry in consultation with the ministry of finance is not agreeable to spend a whopping Rs12,000 crore to set up a Mountain Strike Corps even as a plan to create an alternate, all-weather route from Siliguri to North Sikkim to rush troops to the Indo-China border has been rejected by the ministry of environment and forests on the grounds that the alignment passes through eco-sensitive areas.
Left with almost no options, the army headquarters is now planning to move in an independent armoured brigade into North Sikkim to try and maintain some muscle on one of its most sensitive border. According to sources in South Block, which houses the ministry of defence, the army is all set to induct the tank brigade by December 31 this year.
The proposal to beef up the army’s force on the Indo-China border comes at a time when the US Pentagon has reported that China was training two divisions in high altitude warfare. The idea to raise a dedicated mountain strike corps as a bulwark against China was mooted in the aftermath of the disastrous Operation Parakram, when the Indian army mobilised after the December 13 attack on Parliament.
At that time, the then army chief, Gen NC Vij, had ordered a comprehensive review of the army’s offensive and defensive posture. Headed by the then Western Army Commander, Lt Gen JJ Singh, the study group had recommended a mountain strike corps to be created for the Indo-China border.
The study group was unambiguous that a dedicated mountain strike corps is essential to maintain deterrence against the Chinese. “We must have a mountain strike corps in the sector if we need to maintain a strong deterrent posture,” Gen Vij told DNA.
As army chief he had pushed for a major reorganisation of the military structure to prepare for all exigencies on the Pakistan and China fronts.
“Ideally, the strike corps should have the full paraphernalia to launch a strike by troops who are already there and fully acclimatised in the high altitude areas. At those heights we need infantry, artillery, logistics and armoured brigades to strike back if someone was to plan a misadventure. Our current force levels are quite inadequate and it takes years to build up a new army corps in the area,” Gen Vij told DNA.
In fact, army headquarters was at pains to explain to the government that most of the army corps that came up as a reactive measure was too little, and too late. The Sukhna-based 33 Corps (in Darjeeling) came up after the 1962 defeat at the hands of the Chinese and Leh-based 14 Corps came up after the surprise Pakistani intrusions in Kargil.
The study group looked at the combined threat from Pakistan and China in a future war and concluded that the bulk of the fighting would take place in the high mountains.
“We found that current force position was woeful. Every Corps is supposed to have at least three army divisions and we were already short of 4 divisions. So not only did we feel the need to fill the void but also have a credible deterrent against China,” a senior officer familiar with the secret study told DNA.
“Our current military strategy against China is of dissuasion. But we need to upgrade it to deterrence for which we need at least two mountain strike corps,” said Brig Gurmeet Singh (Retd), director of the prestigious think-tank, CLAWS.
But the finance wing of the defence ministry after consultations with the finance ministry shot down the proposal on the grounds that funds were not available for such a massive project. This is a double barrel blow to the army’s plans to beef up its strength vis-a-vis China because the proposal to have an alternate route from Siliguri to the border has been opposed by the environment ministry.
Documents available with DNA show that the army had proposed three alternate routes to Aritar in North Sikkim- one starting from Khunia More in north Bengal, another from Bagrakot and a third from Damdim. The environment ministry has pointed out that at least two routes “will result in irreversible loss of bio-diversity vitality and vigor thereby affecting adversely the entire eco-system.” Stuck between environment and financial constraints, the Indian army is still years away from a credible deterrence against an aggressive China.
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