Project SEARCH helps students become 'social entrepreneurs'

Report by India Education bureau, New Delhi: After successfully reaching out to 300,000 students to educate them about good waste management practices, Project SEARCH* – a joint initiative  by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Tetra Pak – is helping students become social entrepreneurs through its “Vasundhra” programme that promotes social entrepreneurship in schools. The brand new initiative under Project SEARCH was started to create scoial enterprises, completely owned by schools in six different cities. Pune’s Vidya Valley School was awarded the “Best Social Enterprise Idea award” for the year 2014 at an event organised here today.

The event also marked the launch of Project SEARCH’s seventh phase while celebrating the success of winning schools in different categories as well as awarded SEARCH school of the year to three best performing schools:

 

 o St. Mary's School, Dwarka, New Delhi(Gold Award), Holy Spirit Institute, Margao, Goa, (Silver Award), Vidya Valley School, Pune (Bronze Award) won the “Best School of the Year Award”

o Medha Kulkarni, Acharya Shree Vijay Vallabh Secondary School, Bhawani Peth, Pune has won “Tetra Pak teacher of the year” award

o Manasi Desai from Vidya Valley School, Pune won best “Step Project” for the year award

o “SERACH Impact Award” was given to DES Secondary School, Pune (No1)

 

UNESCO’s Senior Programme Specialist (Natural Sciences) Mitrasen Bhikajee, who was also the chief guest at the ceremony, said, “I would like to congratulate TERI and Tetra Pak for their relentless efforts towards educating young minds about sustainable development. These budding entrepreneurs have undertaken the pledge towards creating a green and healthy environment which is inspiring to all ages.”

 

Giving a Special Address on the occasion, Dr Leena Srivastava, Acting Director-General, TERI said ‘We are privileged to have a partnership between TERI and Tetra Pak but the biggest partnership we have to recognize is the partnership with the young generation. I believe the young generation of India is the hope not only of our country but also of the world; you are the ones who have the power to bring about positive change. I would like to congratulate Tetra Pak and my colleagues at TERI for the 7th phase of Project SEARCH. This Project is about: creating an understanding for the kind of challenges we face; empowering students by giving them the tools and techniques to be able to address the challenges and finally it is about leadership on the basis of understanding and empowerment. I want to thank Tetra Pak for being a long term partner with TERI, especially since it is unique that a corporate comes forward for such a long term partnership.’

 

Ms Ranjana Saikia, Director, Educating Youth for Sustainable Development, TERI, said, “During our sixth phase of Project SEARCH, we worked with schools across cities wherein we collected a total of 47 tons of waste. As a part of SEARCH programme we also trained school students in social entrepreneurship through our pilot initiative, Vasundhara. As we begin with seventh phase of Project SEARCH, we plan to expand our outreach and connect with over 300,000 students and teachers across locations through our newly launched website. Our partner, Tetra Pak’s unending support and commitment towards environment education drive us to achieve our goal. We are going to ensure that Phase 7 sets a new benchmark in school education programs on sustainability”.

 

Project SEARCH aims at effecting behavioral changes in the students and teachers and the response so far has been splendid. We are going to ensure that Phase 7 sets a new benchmark in school education programs on sustainability.

 

Jaideep Gokhale, Communication Director, Tetra Pak South Asia Markets, said, “We were successfully able to create young entrepreneurs who adopted an eco-friendly approach towards developing profitable, sustainable and innovative enterprises. These are values that resonate with what Tetra Pak stands for. We are extremely proud to see the conviction and dedication of the students and the teachers towards good waste management practices.”

 

Project SEARCH encourages young students and teachers to practice the 4Rs – refuse, reuse, reduce and recycle – in their daily lives and make consumption choices that would ensure the sustainability of the planet in the years to come. In 2014 Project SEARCH was recognized by UNESCO as one of the 5 ‘Good Practice Stories on Education for Sustainable Development’ in India.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Soon all blood types could turn into universal donors

The immune system is highly sensitive to blood groups and even small amounts of residual antigens could trigger an immune response.

Canadian researchers, including one of Indian origin, have now developed a way to transform all donated blood into a neutral type that can be given to any patient.

The researchers have created an enzyme that could potentially pave the way for changing blood types. The enzyme works by snipping off the sugars, also known as antigens, found in Type—A and Type—B blood, making it more like Type—O.

Type-O blood is known as the universal donor and can be given to patients of all blood types. With this enzyme, Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu from the University of British Columbia and colleagues were able to remove the wide majority of the antigens in Type-A and B blood.

“We produced a mutant enzyme that is very efficient at cutting off the sugars in A and B blood, and is much more proficient at removing the subtypes of the A-antigen that the parent enzyme struggles with,” said lead author of the study David Kwan from the University of British Columbia in Canada.

To create this high-powered enzyme capable of snipping off sugars, researchers used a new technology called directed evolution that involves inserting mutations into the gene that codes for the enzyme, and selecting mutants that are more effective at cutting the antigens.

In just five generations, the enzyme became 170 times more effective. While the researchers were able to remove the wide majority of the antigens in Type-A and B blood, before it can be used in clinical settings, the enzyme used would need to remove all of the antigens.

The immune system is highly sensitive to blood groups and even small amounts of residual antigens could trigger an immune response. The findings appeared Journal of the American Chemical Society.

India’s urban challenges

The Union Cabinet’s nod on Wednesday to the 100 smart cities project and a new urban renewal mission is an important first step toward dealing with an old problem that has only got progressively worse over the years: urban liveability. A shade less than a third of India’s population now lives in urban areas, overcrowded cities and towns with infrastructure bursting at the seams. This problem will only worsen with little or no intervention happening. The proportion of the urban population can only go in one direction — upward — as more Indians migrate to the cities and towns in search of jobs. Cities are engines of growth, and as a result attract a lot of people. The country’s urban population contributes over 60 per cent of India’s GDP; in 15 years this will be 70 per cent. On the other hand, there is little incentive for people to migrate out of cities. Earlier attempts at providing better urban infrastructure or at creating new townships have not been able to deal with the issue of liveability satisfactorily. Even successful special economic zones have had to contend with the issue of lack of social infrastructure, which usually means access to avenues of education, health, arts, sports, and so on. There are numerous definitions of a smart city but the Modi government’s idea of one usefully encompasses institutional infrastructure (governance), physical infrastructure, as also social infrastructure.

The Cabinet approval marks the first of many steps, as also the easiest, that will be required for the project. The challenges start now. Of course there is no doubt that this has created tremendous enthusiasm amongst many possible stakeholders, including service providers who have been part of smart city projects elsewhere in the world. Countries such as Japan, Singapore and Germany, among many others, have evinced interest to be a part of this. Yet, in its scale and complexity the project will be second to none. The official estimates of per capita investment requirement is Rs.43,386 for a 20-year period, or a total investment of Rs.7 lakh crore. Creating a smart city isn’t just about creating the physical infrastructure — roads, clean water, power, transport and so on, things India finds difficult to deliver to its citizens nearly seven decades after Independence. It is hoped that public private partnerships (PPP) will deliver but the mechanism seems to need a lot of tweaking in order for it to work, a fact acknowledged in the recent Budget. The big challenge will be to create self-sustaining cities, which create jobs, use resources wisely and also train people. This also means more autonomy for these cities. Whether that can happen is a moot question depending heavily on the maturity of the Indian political system.

Keywords: Smart City Project, smart city, urban planning

Amending the law against corruption

Not all the amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act cleared by the Union Cabinet last week inspire public confidence or meet the objective of filling gaps in domestic anti-corruption law. In significant respects, the proposals fall short of public expectations and fail to address key issues in corruption jurisprudence. In its Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2013, the UPA government proposed to extend the protection of prior sanction for prosecuting public servants to former officials. The ostensible reason was that Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure protected retired officials, while the PCA covered only serving officials. The government wants to stick to this change, when it would have been more advisable to bring the CrPC in consonance with the PCA. The sanction provision ought to have been restricted to prosecutions that flow from deviations from public policy, laws and regulations. Possessing unexplained assets, being caught red-handed while taking a bribe and misappropriating property cannot be actions in the course of official functions, and in such cases prior sanction cannot be required. The Bill drops the protection accorded to bribe-givers if they depose during trial, thereby deterring those coerced into giving a bribe from subsequently testifying against offenders. A distinction ought to have been made between collusive bribery and bribery under coercion.

The expanded provision relating to bribery and enhanced jail terms are positive developments, but the idea of subsuming most offences now covered under ‘criminal misconduct’ into a single clause should be revisited, lest some form of abuse of office slips through the net. Another worrisome aspect is the change made to the offence of possessing ‘disproportionate assets’. When the 2013 Bill used the term ‘intentional enrichment’, it seemed as though the prosecution needed to prove the possession of unexplained assets as well as the ‘intention’ to enrich oneself. The government now says “possession of disproportionate assets” will be proof of “such illicit enrichment”. It is to be hoped that this will mean the prosecution need not prove the intention to amass wealth, as such an additional requirement would allow those in possession of ill-gotten wealth to escape the law. The proposed amendments have positive aspects too. They seek to curb commercial entities from offering inducements to public servants and provide for punishments to individuals in charge of such entities. The trial court itself can now deal with the process of attachment of property instead of the district court. Fixing a time frame for grant of sanction and completion of trial is a welcome feature. A crucial opportunity to overhaul the anti-corruption law should not be lost through imperfect amendments.

Keywords: Anti-corruption Act, Prevention of Corruption Act

Vedanta - Work from a Distance

PARMARTHI RAINA





Why do we work? We work to provide for our family and contribute to society . And the purpose of human life? The Vedas tell us that it is to ultimately attain moksha, or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The Gita recommends four yogas -karma (action), raja (meditation), jnana (knowledge) and bhakti (devotion) -as paths to achieve this goal.Of these, karma yoga is the most practical. All occupations are equally good, be that of a sweeper or a sanyasi, a householder or a judge. When performed to the best of one's ability and without attachment, this work will help in advancing one on the spiritual path.
We usually work for personal gain or satisfaction. Karma yoga is a system of ethics fo m of ethics fo cused on un selfish action.
Selfishness comes from attachment with people, things, to the results of one's work. It arises from a sense of possession that, in turn, comes from an identification with things as `mine'. Non-attachment, vairagya, is a state of mind. A rich man and a poor man may both live in nonattachment. Both may be very attached to their -vast or meagre -possessions.
We are not the architects of the fruits of our labour. Krishna tells Arjuna (Gita 2.47-50), “You have the right to perform your prescribed duty , but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty . Perform your duty with equipoise.“

May 02 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

2008 study on polluting vehicles still relevant

New Delhi TIMES NEWS NETWORK





Ever wondered how polluting the trucks that pass through Delhi every night are. TOI revisited a 2008 study commissioned by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and executed by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), which found that the particulate matter (PM) emissions from diesel vehicles was about 24 times that of the petrol-run ones.The PM emissions from light commercial vehicles (LCVs) run on diesel were found to be 166 times the PM emissions from petrol passenger cars.The study was conducted for BS II vehicles but is relevant even now because most of the LCVs passing through Delhi continue to be BS II compliant. These are the more than 10-year-old vehicles, which will be off roads if the NGT ban is properly implemented. But even the new LCVs getting registered outside Delhi continue to be BS II and BS III compliant, which could further complicate the matter.
Of the 85,000-odd commercial vehicles that pass through Delhi--all nondestined for the city--a majority are BS II, admit transport officials.
“The vehicles may be new but they are still BS II complaint. That's because these vehicles are more easily available and cheaper,“ said the official.
The impact is clearly felt in the emission levels. BS II vehicles are decidedly less efficient when it comes to processing the fuel pollution.Sources say around 70-80% of the vehicles passing through Delhi are BS II. “Many a times, even if the vehicle is new, since it's BS II compliant, the emission levels are still high as compared to a BS III or BS IV vehicles,“ added the official.
The 2008 study also found that levels of polycyclic aro matic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from diesel LCVs were about 17 times that of PAH emissions from petrol cars. While the two engines of LCVs and cars may not be comparable, there is a huge health risk from such high PAH emissions.
According to toxipedia, a toxicology encyclopedia, “health effects from chronic or long-term exposure to PAHs may include decreased immune function, cataracts, kidney and liver damage (like jaundice), breathing problems, asthma-like symptoms, and lung function abnormalities. PAHs could also contain carcinogenic elements.
Even BS III trucks registered outside Delhi that pass through the city emit more than seven times the particulate matter (PM) than petrol.Plugging the entry of these vehicles can give the city considerable relief, experts said.
Daily bulletin on air quality of 8 cities
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Friday launched a daily bulletin service to highlight air quality index in eight cities namely Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Faridabad, Kanpur, Agra and Varanasi.
The bulletin was launched on CPCB's website and will provide a comparative data of air quality index on a daily basis in the categories of moderate, satisfactory and poor, apart from giving the major pollutant in that particular area. The index will be calculated as an average of past 24 hours. It covers eight cities, which will be eventually increased, a senior ministry of environment, forests and climate change official said. According to Friday's bulletin, Delhi has the poorest air quality.

Don't sleep on it, read the signs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK





Sleep disorders a silent killerEyes Wide Shut | It's time you woke up to this epidemic our fast-paced life has spawned, says Durgesh Nandan Jha

A prominent lawyer known for closing cases at breakneck speed recently visited a hospital complain ing of poor perform ance and fatigue. The 51-year-old's pace had been flagging and he had even been caught napping by judges in court. Tests showed he suffered from sleep apnea requiring immediate medication attention.With today's fast-paced lifestyles, 24x7 activity and increasing screentime at night, sleep disorders are widespread. “Sleep loss and related disorders are a silent epidemic affecting adults as well as children,“ says Dr Nevin Kishore, pulmonologist at Max Hospital, Saket. In severe cases, these can kill, but they also increase the risk of road accidents, heart failure, obes ity and memory impairment.
Low awareness about sleep problems means people don't take their snoring and breathing difficulties seriously. Often, they are in denial. “Some are brought to hospital by their spouse with video clips of their snoring pattern and actions during sleep,“ says Kishore.
Clinical psychiatrist Dr Jitender Nagpal says snoring is a major cause of marital discord. People who snore or have breathing difficulty during sleep always feel tired and avoid intimacy. “Many divorces take place because a partner snores a lot and is not willing to get treated for it.“ Neeta Jha's (name changed) marriage was saved because her husband agreed to see a doctor for his snoring. “My husband used to snore a lot but would never accept it. When we started sleeping in separate rooms he thought I was cheating on him.It took me months to convince him to consult a doctor and when the sleep study results came out even he was shocked to see that his oxygen levels went down severely.“ Three months of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy cured him.
Dr J C Suri, who heads the department of sleep medicine at Safdarjung Hospital and founded the country's first sleep lab in 1995, says there are more than 70 sleep disorders but insomnia and sleep apnea are but insomnia and sleep apnea are the most common. “When I started working on sleep patients, few people, including doctors, knew about it. Every day, we get over a dozen cally referrals of criti ill patients who suffer from breathing difficulty during sleep.“
Studies show that 30-40% of the working population, particularly those in high-stress jobs such as corporate executives, medical professionals and cops, don't sleep well. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), characterized by respiratory difficulties during sleep, affects 9-21% of women and 24-31% of men. It has been linked to heart disease, obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia (abnormal levels of cholesterolfat in blood) and insulin resistance.
Accidents and occupational injuries are other risks associated with poor quality sleep. Experts say, by 2020, the number of fatalities in vehicle accidents will double to 23 lakh, of which 2.3 lakh to 3.5 lakh will result from sleepiness or fatigue. “Sleep disorder is a silent epidemic. Few people suffering from it know about the condition and fewer still seek treatment for it,“ says Kishore.
Many Indians felt proud when US President Barack Obama complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sleeping less than him. Some even felt inspired. But doctors dealing with sleep disorders were not impressed.
Dr Sanjay Manchanda, senior consultant, department of sleep medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, says seven to eight hours of sleep is a must for most adults. “Prime Minister Modi can do with lesser sleep because he practises meditation and pranayama which help in rejuvenation of the body. Also, he has a strict diet regimen. Most of us do not follow that. So we should focus on getting a good night's sleep and reducing risk factors such as obesity and hypertension that aggravate sleep problems.“