જંતરમંતર છૂ

કરુણતા અને ફારસ વચ્ચે ઘણી વાર દોરાભારનું અંતર હોય છે. એ હકીકતનું તાજું ઉદાહરણ એટલે દિલ્હીમાં કહેવાતા ખેડૂતની આત્મહત્યાનો કરુણ કિસ્સો. જંતરમંતર પર 'આપ'ની રેલી ચાલુ હતી ત્યારે એ ભાઇ ઝાડ પરથી લટકી ગયા અને આઘાતની વાત એ છે કે તેમને કોઇએ બચાવ્યા નહીં કે એવી કોશિશ પણ ન કરી. ટોળાં ભેગાં થયાં હોય ત્યાં ઘણી વાર આવું બને છે. કોઇને બચાવવા જીવનું જોખમ વહોરીને ધસમસતા પાણીમાં કૂદી પડેલા 'હીરો' બહાર નીકળ્યા પછી 'પહેલાં એ કહો કે મને ધક્કો કોણે માર્યો' પૂછે--એવું ફક્ત રમુજમાં જ નહીં, વ્યવહારમાં પણ બનવાજોગ છે. એકઠાં થયેલાં ટોળાં, વાતાવરણમાં ફેલાયેલો ઉન્માદ અને રાજકીય ભાષણબાજી-આ મિશ્રણ નબળા મનના માણસો માટે જીવલેણ નીવડી શકે છે. દિલ્હીમાં મૃત્યુ પામેલા ગજેન્દ્રના કિસ્સામાં જે રીતે રાજકારણ ખેલાઇ રહ્યું છે એ જોતાં, સચ્ચાઇ ભાગ્યે જ કદી ઉજાગર થશે. પણ એટલું નક્કી છે કે ગજેન્દ્રના આપઘાત પછી કાર્યક્રમ યથાવત્ ચાલુ રાખીને 'આપ' અને અરવિંદ કેજરીવાલે મોટું રાજકીય ગોથું ખાધું છે.
'આપ'ની આવી ભારે ગફલતથી ભાજપ ગેલમાં આવી ગયો છે. મૃતકની ફિકરને બદલે 'આપ'ને ઝૂડવાની ભાજપની તાલાવેલી સમજાય એવી છે. પરંતુ આ બાબતે 'આપ' એટલું વાંકમાં છે કે તેની પાસે નાકલીટી તાણવા સિવાય કોઇ રસ્તો રહ્યો નથી. દિલ્હીના મુખ્ય મંત્રી કેજરીવાલે વધારે મોડું થાય તે પહેલાં માફી માગી લીધી, પણ તેમના નિવેદનમાં કોઇ લોકનેતાનો અફસોસ નહીં, એક ખંધા રાજકારણીની ઔપચારિકતા ગંધાય છે. પહેલાં એમણે એવું કહ્યું કે 'ખરેખર તો હું કલાક બોલવાનો હતો, પણ (આત્મહત્યાના બનાવ પછી) મેં દસ-પંદર મિનીટમાં આટોપી લીધું. એ મારી ભૂલ હતી. મારે કદાચ બોલવું જોઇતું ન હતું. તેનાથી કોઇની લાગણી દુભાઇ હોય તો હું માફી માગું છું.' તેમનું બીજું નિવેદન કંઇક આવું હતું, 'હું દોષી છું. મને દોષ દો. મને લાગે છે કે રેલી અટકાવી દેવી જોઇતી હતી, પણ મહેરબાની કરીને તમે ખેડૂતોની આત્મહત્યાના અસલી મુદ્દા પર ધ્યાન કેન્દ્રિત કરો. જે દોષી હોય તેને લટકાવી દો, પણ મૂળ ચર્ચાને ફંટાવા ન દો.'
શાંતિથી વાંચતા જોઇ શકાશે કે ઉપરના એક પણ નિવેદનમાં અંતઃકરણપૂર્વકની કે બિનશરતી માફીનો ભાવ નથી. પહેલા વિધાનમાં 'કોઇની લાગણી દુભાઇ હોય તો' તેમણે માફી માગી અને બીજામાં તેમનો સૂર છે કે 'લો આ માફી માગી, પણ એ તો મૂળ મુદ્દાની ચર્ચા ફરી શરૃ કરવા માટે.' આ બન્ને વિધાનો થોડા મહિના પહેલાં કેજરીવાલ તરફથી આવ્યાં હોત તો કલ્પના પણ ન આવત કે 'મૈં તો બહુત છોટ્ટા આદમી હું જી. મેરી ઔકાત હી ક્યા હૈ...'નું રટણ કરનારા ભાઇ રીઢા રાજકારણીની ભાષામાં વાત કરી રહ્યા છે અને કોઇના મૃત્યુથી વિચલિત થવાને બદલે, ઔપચારિક માફી માગીને, હાથ ખંખેરીને 'ચાલો, આપણે મુદ્દા પર આવી જઇએ?'ની મુદ્રામાં રાચે છે.
કેજરીવાલના નિકટ ગણાતા અને યોગેન્દ્ર યાદવ-પ્રશાંત ભૂષણ સામેની કાર્યવાહીમાં પહેલી હરોળનો મોરચો સંભાળનાર 'આપ' પ્રવક્તા આશુતોષ કેજરીવાલની કક્ષાના ખેલાડી નથી. એ મૂળ ટીવી પત્રકાર. એટલે કૅમેરા સામે તેમને ફાવે ખરું. પણ કેજરીવાલ જેવી કળા તેમને સાધ્ય નથી. એટલે મૃત ગજેન્દ્રની દીકરી સાથે ટીવી ચર્ચામાં વાત કરતાં કરતાં આશુતોષ રડવા બેસી ગયા. તેમનો ખ્યાલ એવો હશે કે તે ભાવવિભોર થઇને 'હાં બેટી, મૈં ગુનહગાર હું, મૈં તેરે પિતાકો નહીં બચા પાયા' આવું કહેશે, એટલે તેમની નિર્દોષતા પુરવાર થઇ જશે. આશુતોષ ઘણું રડયા, પણ હકીકત એ હતી કે તેમનું રુદન કોઇને પીગળાવે શકે એવું ન હતું. તેના માટે એક્ટિંગની આવડતનો અભાવ નહીં, પણ રુદનનું મૂળભૂત કારણ જવાબદાર હતું. ટીવીના હિસાબે ખાસ્સો લાંબો સમય કહેવાય ત્યાં સુધી રડતાં રડતાં આશુતોષ જે બોલ્યા તેનો મુખ્ય સાર એ હતો કે 'અમારા પક્ષને આ મામલામાં ખોટો ફસાવી દીધો છે. બધા એની પર રાજકારણ ખેલી રહ્યા છે અને અમે એમાં પાકા પાયે ફસાઇ ગયા છીએ. આવું ને આવું ચાલશે, તો અમારું શું થશે...'
દરમિયાન, મૃતકની ઓળખ અને તેમની આત્મહત્યાના હેતુ વિશેનું રહસ્ય બરકરાર છે. દિલ્હીની પોલીસે પોતાની રીતે તપાસ શરૃ કરી છે, જેની પૂછપરછનો રેલો મુખ્ય મંત્રી કેજરીવાલ સુધી પહોંચી શકે છે. વળતું પત્તું ઉતરીને કેજરીવાલ સરકારે મેજિસ્ટ્રેટ પાસે તપાસ શરૃ કરાવી છે, પરંતુ પોલીસે તેમાં સહકાર આપવાની ના પાડીને કહ્યું છે કે આ મેજિસ્ટ્રેટનું અધિકારક્ષેત્ર નથી. મૃતકના ગામમાંથી મળતા અહેવાલ પ્રમાણે, એ ભાઇનો મુખ્ય વ્યવસાય ખેતીનો ન હતો અને તે આર્થિક રીતે અભાવગ્રસ્ત કે ખેતીની નિષ્ફળતાથી દુઃખી થઇ જાય એવી સ્થિતિના બિલકુલ ન હતા. એ અચ્છાખાસા સમૃદ્ધ પરિવારના હતા અને આપઘાતના દિવસે તેમણે ઘરે કરેલી વાતમાં પણ કશું અસામાન્ય જણાયું ન હતું. આ હકીકતો ધ્યાનમાં રાખતાં, આપઘાતના બનાવમાં વ્યાપક તપાસને અવકાશ છે. પરંતુ રાજકીય પક્ષો એવી તપાસ થવા દે, એવી શક્યતા ખાસ લાગતી નથી.

Algorithms are like invisible judges that decide our fate

Companies now use ‘voice analysis’ software to determine whether to hire us. And, once we’re employed, to predict if we’ll stay

Imagine that you’re a contestant in an audition round of The Voice, where you belt out your best I Will Always Love You. A minute passes. No reaction from the celebrity judges. You keep singing. Another minute, still no encouraging smile or nod.

You strain to hit your highest note, pleading with your performance: “Please, please accept me! I am doing my best!” The song ends. No one wants you. Your family bow their heads in shame. Your mom cries. You stand on the stage, alone in the spotlight, heartbroken. A trap door opens beneath your feet and you slide screaming into Adam Levine’s basement torture maze.Dehumanising

Think that’s bad? In the real world, science has come up with something worse. A company called Jobaline offers “voice profiling” to predict job success based on how candidates sound; its algorithm identifies and analyses over one thousand vocal characteristics by which it categorises job applicants on suitability.

It’s horrible and dehumanising, like all our other profiling (the racial kind is always a big hit!) and reliant on born-in, luck-of-the-genetic-draw factors that we can neither avoid nor control.

This is not the only creepy algorithm system HR departments have been employing to help the company bottom line. Companies like Wal-Mart and Credit Suisse have been crunching data to predict which employees are “flight risks” who are likely to quit (easily remedied with a simple anklet attaching the worker to his or her cash register or cubicle) versus those deemed “sticky,” meaning in-it-for-the-long-haul. The information lets bosses either improve morale or get a head-start on a search for a replacement.

The inventors of such programs often enjoy the impeachable, amoral cloak of scientific legitimacy. When it comes to voice profiling, computers are not judging the speakers themselves; only the reactions the speaker’s voice provokes in other (presumably human) listeners. ‘Mechanical judge’

“The algorithm functions as a mechanical judge in a voice-based beauty contest”, wrote Chamorro-Premuzic and Adler in The Harvard Business Review. “Desirable voices are invited to the next round, where they are judged by humans, while undesirable voices are eliminated from the contest.”

The makers of voice profiling programs tout this as a moral achievement. Human beings bring loads of biases into any evaluation; computers are blissfully unaware of differences in race, gender, sexual preference or age. “That’s the beauty of math!” Jobaline CEO Luis Salazar told NPR. “It’s blind.”

The problem is, when applied in a capitalist system already plagued by unfairness and inhumanity, this blindness sounds really, really dangerous. An impersonal computer program gets first say as to who gets to earn money to buy food and who doesn’t, based on an application of a binary code too subtle and complex for us to understand. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015

NASA launches project to search for alien life

The programme aims to better understand the various components of an exoplanet.

NASA has launched an ambitious project that will lead the search for signs of life beyond our solar system.

The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) initiative will bring together the “best and brightest” and marshal the expertise of 10 universities, three NASA centres and two research institutes, the US space agency said.

The programme aims to better understand the various components of an exoplanet, as well as how the parent stars and neighbouring planets might interact to support life.

The programme brings together planetary scientists, Earth scientists, heliophysicists and astronomers to identify and search for biosignatures, or signs of life.

“This interdisciplinary endeavour connects top research teams and provides a synthesised approach in the search for planets with the greatest potential for signs of life,” said Jim Green, NASA’s director of planetary science.

“The hunt for exoplanets is not only a priority for astronomers, it’s of keen interest to planetary and climate scientists as well,” said Green.

One NExSS project, called “Exoplanets Unveiled,” will specifically address this question: What are the properties of exoplanetary systems, particularly as they relate to their formation, evolution and potential to harbour life?

The project is led by James Graham, a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and will draw upon the expertise of Bruce Macintosh, a professor of physics at Stanford University and the principal investigator for the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI).

Most exoplanets are detected through the Doppler technique — measuring the “wobble” of the parent star as an unseen planet’s gravity tugs on it — or though detection of a transit, as the planet’s orbit brings it between the star and Earth.

As the newest generation of instruments for imaging exoplanets, GPI blocks out the bright star to directly see the faint planet next door.

GPI has already imaged two previously known exoplanets and disks of planetary debris orbiting young stars where planets recently formed.

“Getting a complete picture of all the incredibly strange planetary systems out there will require every different technique,” Macintosh said.

“With this new collaboration, we will combine the strengths of imaging, Doppler and transits to characterise planets and their orbits,” said Macintosh.

The first image of an Earth-ize exoplanet is still likely years away. GPI is currently only sensitive enough to detect infrared emission from hot, bright planets the size of Jupiter.

Detecting the faint, reflected light of cooler, smaller planets will require next-eneration technologies and techniques, which MacIntosh said will be developed via instruments like GPI for eventual use on future planet—finding missions such as NASA’s Wide-ield Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).

In a reversal of its earlier stand, recently India accepted the request of the United States and some other developed countries to work towards phasing out refrigeration chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, under the Montreal protocol on ozone layer protection. Write a critical note on the importance of Montreal Protocol and examine how would India’s policy change affect industries and consumers in India.

The Montreal Protocol (MP) aims at phasing out ozone depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) that were mostly used in air conditioning, refrigerating and foam industry. The implementation of MP lead to the substitution of CFCs with hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Unlike, CFCs, HFCs are not ozone depleting, but have a high global warming potential. This potential combined with their widespread use could undercut the benefits expected from the reduction of other greenhouse gases.

Currently, international mechanism exists to regulate the use of HFCs. Developed countries lead by the US have been lobbying for the inclusion of HFCs within the MP. But this was opposed by developing countries led by India. The latter wanted HFCs to be governed by the Kyoto Protocol, which embodies the principle of "common but differentiated responsibility" (CBDR) unlike the MP which holds developed and developing countries equally responsible for elimination of banned chemicals. However, India has recently reversed her stand and agreed bring HFCs within MP. This would have the following implications:

(A) Given the absence of CBDR principle from the framework of MP, India will be subject to a targeted and time-bound action on phasing out of HFCs.
(B) India's refrigeration sector is likely to be adversely impacted as HFCs were its mainstay.
(C) HFCs are proposed to be replaced with hydrocarbon (HC) technology, which have low global warming potential. But HC technology is underdeveloped and commercial viability of the technology has not been proved.
(D) The use of HC technology is also fraught with risks as they are highly flammable. Flammability will be a big issue across the value chain especially the handling of flammable refrigerants by inadequately trained technicians across the country both in urban and rural areas
(D) Indian economy is likely to be held hostage by foreign, especially American, MNCs as they hold patent rights over technology alternatives to HFCs.

Therefore, India's stand is problematic in light of the fact that there are no alternatives available, which are technically proven, commercially viable, safe to use and matured as a technology.

-vk


Ans2:
Montreal Protocol is an international treaty which came into being in 1987 in order to phase out the production and use of ozone depleting substances (ODS) like CFCs and HCFCs. As a result of the binding nature of the treaty, the ODS were replaced by Hydro Fluorocarbons (HFCs) which are harmless to the ozone layer.

These HFCs are used as coolants and refrigerants in air-conditioners and refrigerators, in fire extinguishers etc. Though HFCs are harmless to the ozone layer but have significant greenhouse effect and thus contribute to global warming.

Because of their contribution to the climate change and global warming, there is a general agreement that just like CFCs or HCFCs, the HFCs should be phased out. But, since, HFCs are greenhouse gases and not ODS, India and other developing countries wanted this phase out to happen through Kyoto Protocol under UNFCCC. Kyoto Protocol is based on the principle of differentiated responsibility where developing countries have no legal binding limits on their emissions. This would have made their phase out near impossible in near future.

Recently, India made a reversal on its earlier stand, and has proposed an amendment to the Montreal Protocol to include HFCs under its mandate. Since, Montreal Protocol has binding responsibility on its parties, the phase out of HFCs is possible through this amendment.

With, the proposed amendment, India had demanded full compensation for the technological upgradation and also a grace period of around 15 years more than the developed world.

The impact of this this decision is going to be on the regrigerator and AC industry, who will have to look out for other alternatives. Some of the Eurpean Union countries have already started using alternatives to HFCs. Since, these alternatives and costlier and are patent protected, it is going to be a huge burden on the industry to cope up with the change in policy.
-dsp


Ans3:
Montreal Protocol:-
-Montreal protocol is the policy agreement to prevent the use of HFC and CFC gases etc. by all the nations in order to savethe ozone layer from depletion.
-Ozone layer is responsible to prevent the harmful UV rays to enter into the atmosphere ,which may cause serious skin disease and even cancer.
-Due to use of these coolant substance HFC and CFC in refrigerators ,AC's ,Aerosols and other coolant equipment ,their emission in the atmosphere has led to hole in the ozone layer in the Antarctic region, In order to revive ozone layer it’s imperative to get rid of these chemicals and find some other substitutes.
-The available substitutes are costlier and patented by developed countries(e.g.US).

India's stand:
-Erstwhile India had stand that it would be difficult for developing and underdeveloped countries to use the substitute chemical as it's costlier and it would hit the coolant industries in the country ,currently growing annually at the rate of around 10% in India ,so if India uses the substitute chemical it would badly hit the coolant industries as the production cost will rise up and ultimately inflate the cost for consumers.

-But for India it is necessary to handle economic growth with sustainable measures as it is envisaged in our 12th Five year plan. India emerging as a leader of developing nations it’s his responsibility to give up the use of this greenhouse chemicals in phased manner with minimal impact to these industries hence its positive step by India to rethink on this policy.
-omkar

The bricks to rebuild IBSA

Google the acronym “IBSA” and you will get news about the International Blind Sports Federation and the Illinois Baptist State Association. When was the last time you heard about the other IBSA? At the time of its launch a decade ago, IBSA was referred to as the coming together of the “biggest democracies” of Asia, Latin America and Africa — India, Brazil and South Africa. In his address at IBSA’s first summit in Brasilia, in September 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “The idea of IBSA is without precedent.” Today, the Indian Foreign Minister is trying hard to find a meeting date convenient to all to host a pre-summit meeting; the next summit is scheduled to be held in New Delhi later this year.

The rise of BRICS

IBSA was visualised as the coming together of three great democracies of the developing world, all three, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multicultural, committed to the rule of law in international affairs and the strengthening of multilateral institutions. IBSA, its founding heads of government said, would not just be a trilateral gathering of officials; it would also facilitate the coming together of businesses and civil societies in these three democracies.

Launched with much fanfare and promise, as an association of developing country democracies that believe they have a right to claim permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), IBSA has been overshadowed over the past few years by that other acronym without an adjective, BRICS. Launched by Russia and repeatedly injected with life by China, BRICS has moved beyond ritual to claim for itself the status of being a counterpoint to the Group of Seven (G7). Cleverly manipulated by Russia and China, and with India adding purpose to it with its sponsorship of the idea of a BRICS New Development Bank, the summit of the five-nation BRICS gets 6,40,000 search results on Google, compared to the 88,200 results for an IBSA summit.

But the issue is not about such trivial differences. The fact is that the political leadership of both Russia and China have shown greater commitment to the idea of BRICS, and pushing their anti-West agenda through it, than have the political leadership of Brazil, India and South Africa to IBSA, and to its pro-democracy agenda. IBSA observers — and there are not too many of them around — believe that China has been successfully influencing South Africa’s current leadership to ignore IBSA and pay more attention to BRICS.

UNSC link

However, to be sure, in a world where countries have multiple interests and loyalties, most are members of several and a growing number of associations. Indeed, many countries have become members of associations that often have conflicting objectives. In a globe where no one wants to be left out of any new group, the proliferation of groups has crowded the travel itinerary of foreign ministers. It’s like New Delhi’s elite who seek membership of all available clubs but have no time for any, given their hectic professional and personal life. Nations too join many associations, after a fashion, and end up paying little attention to most.

Something like this fashion victimhood has befallen IBSA. Its government leaders are so busy at home and with other summits that they have no time for IBSA. One reason for this is that the compelling shared objective that brought IBSA into being a decade ago, namely UNSC restructuring and membership, seems to have become less compelling. Countries aspiring for UNSC reform and restructuring and for permanent membership seem to have given up all hope of change.

Reviving IBSA

Interestingly, though, there seems to be a change in India’s stance on this score. Prime Minister Narendra Modi signalled a renewed commitment to the goal of UNSC membership when he told an audience in Paris earlier this month that permanent membership of the UNSC is “India’s right”, and not just a favour it begs for. Are Brazil and South Africa also ready to assert this right?

The argument that since the world’s status quo powers are only paying lip service to UNSC reform and expansion and will not allow any change, the IBSA must give up staking their claim is ridiculous. The UN governance system, as indeed that of all the post-Second World War multilateral institutions, has become moribund. The bankruptcy of the UNSC is all too visible in its inability to deter unilateral action by powerful countries. So, if the UNSC had failed to prevent action by the United States in Iraq, it failed to thwart Russian action in Crimea and Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen. Against this backdrop, the voice of the three great democracies of the developing world would carry weight, if properly and appropriately articulated. But IBSA need not be about UNSC alone. The three countries have some common security concerns. Drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorism is one such. Maritime security is another. Just as the world has sought stability and the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region, IBSA could articulate the need for maritime peace, stability and the rule of law in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic. If Brazil dominates the South Atlantic and India dominates the Indian Ocean, South Africa shares a coastline with both oceans.

As the dominant power of what can be called the Indo-Atlantic region, Brazil, India and South Africa can come forward with a maritime doctrine for the region based on international law and democratic principles. Maritime security, freedom of navigation, climate change and energy security could be the common agenda that IBSA can pursue, adding meat to the trio’s skeletal structure.

While distance acts as a disincentive in Brazil-India relations, the structure of their economies is such that there is great complementarity. Brazil has a high land-man ratio, with ample natural resources on a per capita basis, and India has a low land-man ratio, and is resource poor on a per capita basis. This creates synergy. Equally, Brazil and India can work together to build a stronger manufacturing base, with untapped potential in defence manufacturing. The potential for India-South Africa business relations remains high and not fully tapped.

As ‘East-West’ bridge

Beyond the potential for deeper and wider bilateral economic relations, IBSA have shared political concerns. While all three emerging powers feel equally frustrated by the West’s unwillingness to yield space in global governance, they also have a shared concern in China’s growing influence in their own individual neighbourhoods. If India worries about China’s rising profile in South Asia, Brazil worries about China’s growing clout in Latin America, and South Africa finds its influence in Africa receding as more of its neighbours turn to China.

Thus, both on account of their inability to get the G7 and the P-5 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council) to raise their stake in global governance, and on account of the challenge they face within their own neighbourhood from China’s growing economic presence, IBSA have a substantial, shared, meaningful agenda to chalk out and pursue. The problem is that not many in the three capitals are paying any attention to these issues.

Also, recall the fact that while the international community responded with alacrity to the Trans-Atlantic financial crisis of 2008-09 and elevated the G20 into a summit level forum of developing and developed economies, the G20 have since been riven by differences between the G7 and BRICS. While some portray the G7 vs BRICS interplay as a “North-South” divide, the fact is that IBSA are today the real representatives of the South on most multilateral economic issues and on subjects pertaining to global governance.

Rather than being content with membership of BRICS, there is a case for IBSA — the Indo-Atlantic powers — to step up their interactions in dealing with both the countries of the North Atlantic and the rising powers of Eurasia, and arrive at a shared strategic perspective on a range of global issues. As countries of the “South”, and given their shared concerns, IBSA could in fact act as a bridge between the “West” and the “East”, so to speak.

Challenge of agrarian distress

Everything else can wait but agriculture cannot, said Jawaharlal Nehru. This should have been the talisman for India’s progress. Yet, successive governments have failed to accord agriculture the priority it deserves. The tragic suicide of a farmer during an Aam Aadmi Party rally in New Delhi has brought to the fore the agrarian crisis facing India. Official records reveal that more than 2.96 lakh farmers have ended their lives over the last two decades. This year has been particularly bad because of damage to the rabi crop caused by rain and hailstorms. Extensive damage to cash crops and horticulture has brought even some prosperous farmers to the brink of ruin. Despite the adverse impact of climate change, non-remunerative prices, lack of adequate irrigation facilities, absence of assured income and paucity of crop insurance, Indian farmers have brought the country up to the ranks of the top global producers of rice, wheat, vegetables, fruits and milk. Some 85 per cent of India’s farmers are small and marginal, and 65 per cent of farming is rain-fed. But high input costs, low returns, the consequent inability to repay farm loans, and general neglect have made agriculture unviable for the small and marginal farmer. Government spending here has dwindled over the years to 14.7 per cent, and the private sector has demurred, citing lack of rural infrastructure and modernisation.

For all its assertions, the Narendra Modi government has yet to come up with a clear strategy on this front. Barely a few months in power, it came up with some controversial amendments to the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, doing away with the provisions for obtaining consent from landowners and for social impact assessment ahead of acquisition. The government’s insistence that the changes would facilitate ease of business and speed up its development agenda has not convinced the Opposition parties. Its handling of the impact of unseasonal rain on farmers, slippages in keeping its promise to raise the support price for major crops, and tardy payments to sugarcane growers have given rise to a perception that the government is not farmer-friendly. A majority of farmers are in the clutches of private moneylenders who double up as sellers of seeds, fertilizers and other inputs. A failed crop pushes growers into deeper debt, from which it is not easy to escape. The forecast of a deficient southwest monsoon for the second year in a row adds to the worries. In such a situation, the Central government must display political will and come up with urgent measures that will bring the promised “achche din” to farmers. Leaving the task to the States won’t help.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.” ― Aristotle. Explain the meaning an significance of this statement, especially in the context of public administration.

The above statement reflects that the root causes of negative external manifestations of acts or thoughts of humans are his endless desires. There are no end to desires, and one desire leads to other. Thus, while an external enemy is finite and can be defeated, the real challenge is in defeating our internal enemy of desires which is endless and infinite.

Even in Indian context, Buddhism also argues desires as the root cause of all evils. Thus, Buddhism advocates elimination of desires for achieving happiness. Even, Gandhi Ji also emphasized on the virtue of self-control for achieving happiness. His famous quote - "While there is enough for everyone's need, there is not enough for even one person's greed" reflects the role of self-control for peace and sustainability.

Public administrators are the guardians of public interest. However, as of today they have come to be characterized by self- aggrandizement, self-promotion, self-interest etc, a manifestation of inability to control internal desires. This had led to corruption, crony capitalism, nepotism and favoritism in public affairs. Self interest has replaced public interest. Thus, the need of the hour is to promote the principles of self-control among public administrators. It must be remembered that administrators are not only public servants but also expected to be model citizens. A self-controlled public administrator will not only lead to an efficient, public-oriented administration but also sustainable society.
-Himanshu

Ans2:
Humans act are determined by his thoughts, desire, mind. If he has control over his desire than he can control his outcome and can better concentrate on his goals. His efforts will be targeted and better planned. Human desires are unlimited, if you don't control them, in the end you will realize that you haven't made good efforts for even one.

Yogis, Buddha achieved enlightenment by controlling their desires. For all this one need strong will to achieve goal & stick to his principles. There will be many difficulties but strong will, principles will help him sail through. External enemies are small, limited in number but if the desires are allowed to grow it will become unlimited, uncontrollable and ruins our life.

The Public administrator is also expected to act on same lines. He is expected to act in larger public interest and to keep his personal goals, desires away from his work. He is given public authority, powers to punish, backing of law etc to act impartially. He has to control his desires to not use same resources for his personal interest. Sticking to his principles help him having larger personal satisfaction, public respect, act in larger public interest, serving his duty well.
-columbus

A bill for juvenile injustice

The Cabinet’s nod to amendments in the Juvenile Justice Bill would not only violate the basic principles of the Constitution, but also be in conflict with evidence-based social policy

Nearly 25 years ago, India ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and joined the world in making a promise to protect and promote the rights of children. Today, with the government’s proposed amendments to the Juvenile Justice Bill, India is in serious danger of going back on that promise.

In August 2014, this government introduced the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection Bill) in Lok Sabha which proposes to introduce a ‘judicial waiver’ system in India whereby juvenile offenders aged between 16 and 18 years would be tried and punished as adults for a certain class of crimes. Subsequently, this Bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee which examined this in detail and submitted strong objections in February this year. In spite of this, media reports indicate that the Union Cabinet has decided to go ahead with this Bill. In my opinion, doing this would result, first and foremost, in violating the basic principles of the international juvenile criminal system and our own Constitution. More importantly, this would be a regressive move which would run foul of evidence-based social policy.

Busting misconceptions

There is a perception that many juveniles are committing violent crimes, especially rapes, and this can be addressed by the government’s amendments. Let’s look at the factual evidence we have. According to government crime statistics, in 2013, 1,388 cases of rape were registered against juveniles in the 16 to 18 year age group. This amounts to less than 5 per cent of all rape cases registered that year. Further, when the Parliamentary Standing Committee examined the matter, it found that many of the juvenile rape cases could be attributed to the increase in the age of consent of sexual activity from 16 to 18 years. This, prima facie, should put to rest the growing misconception that there is a high proportion of juveniles accused of committing rapes. Some people have spoken in support of the proposed Bill on the ground that the seriousness of the crime reflects the mental maturity of the juvenile. Unfortunately, this argument seems to have ignored all the research in neuroscience and psychology. It is now well accepted that adolescence is a period of tremendous physiological, hormonal, emotional and structural changes in the human brain, making it a time of great vulnerability. Neuroscientists have found that the prefrontal lobe in the human brain, which is responsible for important functions such as planning, reasoning, judgment, and impulse control, is fully developed only by the age of 25 years.

A closer look at the government’s crime statistics reveals that almost 80 per cent of juveniles accused of crimes belong to families having an annual income of less than Rs. 50,000 and more than 50 per cent of them did not complete primary school. Evidence from many juvenile homes across the country reflects the same grim picture. So when we, as a society, have collectively failed to provide our children with the right environment to grow in, how fair is it for us to penalise them using an adult criminal system?

A heart-warming example of the efficacy of the present juvenile justice system is the story of ‘G’ (identity protected), a girl who came in to conflict with law at the age of 16. She lost her mother at a very young age and was sexually and physically abused as a child. She was arrested for prostitution and trafficking. During her time at a juvenile home, she would often feel incredibly angry and suicidal. But, professional help and care at the Government Juvenile Centre was integral to her turning over a new leaf. Now, almost 20 years old, ‘G’ is working as a salesgirl in a cloth shop and knows tailoring, embroidery and has even started taking care of children where she stays. This story is part of the excellent work done on this subject by the National Law School’s Centre for the Child and Law.

Even countries such as the U.S. and U.K., which introduced the judicial waiver system, have now accepted that they have been ineffective in addressing juvenile crime rate, public safety and recidivism. According to the National Campaign to Reform State Juvenile Justice Systems (U.S.), 80 per cent of the juveniles who are released from adult prisons go on to commit more serious offences. It is for us to now decide whether we want juveniles to reform and rejoin our society or become hardened criminals themselves.

Protecting child rights

According to media reports, the Union Cabinet has decided to override the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s recommendations. We can expect the Bill to be discussed in the Lok Sabha in the next few days. In this context, it is essential for us to ensure that correct facts are placed on record. In the past one month, I had sought information, evidence and opinions from various women rights groups, lawyers, Pro-child Network — a collective of more than 50 NGOs who are working on child rights — and juvenile centre administrators on this issue. The unanimous opinion of all of them was that the changes proposed in this Bill are detrimental to the rights of Indian children. Even the Supreme Court, in the cases of Swamy vs Raju (2014) and Salil Bali vs Union of India (2013), has upheld the constitutionality of the existing juvenile justice system.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee, which was chaired by a member from the Bharatiya Janata Party, studied the Bill in detail and stated that subjecting children in the age group of 16 to 18 years to an adult criminal system would be unconstitutional. Keeping in mind the prevailing scientific, judicial and parliamentary wisdom, I call upon political parties across the ruling and opposition benches to stop this Bill in its tracks.

‘Climate change is the most important story of our lives’

Alan Rusbridger , editor-in-chief of The Guardian , on the massive response to the newspaper’s fossil fuel disinvestment campaign and the urgent need to take action on climate change

KEEP IT IN THE GROUND:“I was thinking about what I would regret not having done as editor and I wished we had done more on this story to wake people up.” Picture shows Alan Rusbridger (right) and the team at the offices of The Guardian in London. —PHOTO: THE GUARDIAN

The idea for ‘Keep it in the Ground’ — the campaign on disinvestment in fossil fuel-based energy companies launched by The Guardian early this year — was seeded by Editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger, who will soon step down from his 20-year leadership of the highly respected media group. In order to save the planet from catastrophic climate change, global temperatures have to stay within a 2°C threshold. This can be achieved if the 200 top fossil fuel companies wind up operations or shift to alternate renewable fuels. The campaign is therefore urging organisations to divest from such companies, and has started by petitioning two of the biggest philanthropic organisations: the Wellcome Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to do so. The other arm of the campaign is to change readers’ mindsets on the imminent threat of climate change, by telling the story more effectively and through different media. Mr. Rusbridger spoke to Parvathi Menon in London about the campaign. Excerpts :

Why the campaign, and why now?

I have had a feeling for a long time that this is an important story, if not the most important story of our lives. Climate change does pose an existential threat to the species, and we haven’t got long to do something about it. If we go beyond 2°C [in global temperatures] then the consequences are really problematic for millions of people. So if that is right, then it is such an enormous story that you would expect it to be on the front page every day — and it almost never is.

I was thinking about what I would regret not having done as editor and I wished we had done more on this story to wake people up. I came back from Christmas and pulled together a group of staff. Not just the environmental writers, but economic, political and culture writers, graphic design and video people — a big group of about 45 — and asked them what they thought, and there was tremendous enthusiasm to do something. We decided to start with people we admired, the two trusts, because they are in science and health and believe that climate change is a mortal threat. And because they are progressive and intelligent, we thought they might be up to listening to the argument.

Well, that was how the campaign started, and we decided we would do reporting as well, because we are not just a campaign organisation. We will do it in multiple media, we will get poets and artists as well as data people, and investigative reporters — we will throw everything at it. And we would try and suggest ways by which the readers could join in by helping, signing petitions, lobbying, writing and putting pressure on their own places of work.

What is the response and where is it coming from?

It is having a huge response. I think in the first month it was the most tweeted issue anywhere in Britain. One hundred and eighty thousand people have signed the petition. Six thousand people wrote back and told us they would like to help. We asked them to write a letter to the Wellcome Board members, and hundreds of people did that. The letters have come from all over the world — China, India, America, South America and other European countries.

What about the two trusts, as well as the fossil fuel companies that you have identified for divestment?

Well, they have all engaged with us, and I am going to be meeting the chief executive of Shell soon to talk to him. Wellcome’s position at the moment is that they share the same anxieties about climate change but that it is better if they have the money in these companies so that they can engage with the issue. We have asked them to show us how that [investment] is producing any benefit because lots of people are sceptical about it. The Gates Foundation is broadly saying that they need to maximise their revenues. But more and more of our reporting shows that the bulk of the oil companies, and the fossil fuel companies generally, are underperforming. And so you are not losing out by divesting.

The argument in the developing world would be that the disinvestment you are talking about and a swift shift to non-conventional sources could be devastating in its impact, as it might actually commit a vast section of the population to very low levels of energy quality and access. Do you think your campaign should factor in these issues?

I think there are always arguments for not doing it, and there are always arguments about timing, but the status quo at the moment is not delivering anything, and I suppose the fear of the rest of the world about India is that it is going to burn vast amounts of dirty coal in very inefficient ways, and that could be really devastating. So if the rest of the world can persuade India not to do that, then we have to look at the issue of subsidies by which fossil fuels are supported. You say solar is expensive. But as I understand, the price of solar — for example in China — is dropping. So, if it is a price thing, then we have to look at the cost of making renewables, especially solar which you have a lot of in India. There is also the fact that once solar is installed the ongoing cost is zero.

How flexible is your campaign framework? If you say that fossil fuel companies are by and large to blame for global warming and climate change, isn’t there a logic to extend disinvestment in, say, transport companies that are a major source of carbon emissions — Volkswagen or General Motors, for example.

That would be another good campaign. The reason I like our campaign is that it is very easy to understand and if you succeed in getting the idea out — and that is what we are doing — it changes the way that people see the finances of the whole thing. Of course, you are looking at consumers as well as producers, and that would be another campaign, and maybe The Hindu could do that ( laughs ). Seriously, I think it is the responsibility of journalists to start thinking of things to change behaviour.

Will you continue to be involved with this post-retirement?

Well, I find the last two months have been really interesting. The issues are intellectually fascinating, and I don’t want to just drop out. I hope it is making other journalists think on ways of writing the biggest story in the world. One or two journalists have carped saying this isn’t a good campaign. That is fine. But what have you done? When your grandchildren ask you, “what did you do for an issue that is so important for the future of mankind”, and if the answer is “well, I have done xyz”, that is fine. But I suspect most of them won’t. It is much easier to sit on the sidelines and pick holes in it. Anyone could do that. But what have you actually done that is going to make a difference? If journalists can’t answer that question, or are not thinking imaginatively about ways of engaging young people, then what is their responsibility in this?

Changed variables, same equation

The Afghanistan President, Dr. Ashraf Ghani, will be in India this week, beginning today, on his first official visit here. There has been speculation about the fact that he is visiting New Delhi after having made, ever since assuming office in late September 2014, two visits in the region, namely to China (October 2014) and also to Pakistan (November 2014), and then to the United Kingdom (December 2014), Saudi Arabia (March 2015), and the United States (March 2015). Therefore, this delay sends out its own message about a reprioritisation in Afghanistan’s foreign policy calculus about relations with India. It marks a sharp contrast to the kind of warmth that his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, displayed towards India and the comfort levels that he enjoyed with the Indian leadership, cutting across party lines.

Afghanistan’s first Strategic Partnership Agreement was signed with India in 2011 and was supported across the board in the Afghan Parliament at the time of ratification. While Dr. Ghani is no stranger to India, this time around he will be under scrutiny for what he says about how he visualises India-Afghanistan relations and, equally, what questions he chooses to sidestep. He will do well to keep in mind that he is engaging with a new Indian leadership which has adopted a more robust and active foreign policy posture and displayed no anxiety about the fact that he waited for six months before visiting New Delhi.

Trajectory of violence

Incidentally, Mr. Karzai also had his share of ups and downs with India. In the early years, he tried hard to build relations with Pakistan, confident that the U.S. would back him in this effort but became disillusioned when he discovered that it had no stomach for reining Pakistan in, even after realising that the growing Taliban insurgency had its roots across the border. The first Presidential election in Afghanistan in 2004 passed off peacefully because U.S. President George Bush had virtually read out the riot act to General Pervez Musharraf, ensuring Pakistan’s cooperation in controlling the border. But after October 2005, when the parliamentary elections were over, it was as if a tap had been turned on with the number of suicide attacks and improvised explosive device (IED) blasts skyrocketing. Between 2001 and October 2005, there had been four suicide attacks in Afghanistan; the figure jumped to 15 during the last quarter of 2005. As Gen. Musharraf candidly acknowledged in an interview a couple of months ago, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was supporting the Taliban in its efforts to destabilise Mr. Karzai’s government. Such was Gen. Musharraf’s paranoia about India’s role in Afghanistan that he once told Mr. Karzai during an official meeting that India was running more than 25 consulates in Afghanistan! Gen. Musharraf, and subsequently former Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, would demand evidence from Afghanistan every time Mr. Karzai complained about the activities of the Quetta and Peshawar shuras or the Haqqani group (led by Hussain Haqqani); a charade that only ended after Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad in 2011.

Internal pressures

As violence levels rose in Afghanistan, so did Western casualties. Gradually, the nature of the Pakistan Army’s double game became apparent, but by this time, Western countries had lost the appetite for their Afghan engagement and were seeking an exit. Mr. Karzai foresaw this as early as 2007. He also realised that this would leave Afghanistan at the mercy of the ISI’s manipulations and concluded that he had to engage the Taliban in a peace process. Initially, the U.S. was opposed to the idea but Mr. Karzai went ahead with the setting up of the High Peace Council in 2010. He persuaded former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani to chair it. The Council did not achieve much and the following year, Rabbani was killed in a Taliban suicide attack. Mr. Karzai wanted to control the peace process, and through the Council tried to wean away some of the Taliban commanders, but the ISI stranglehold proved to be too strong. Eventually, when the U.S. put its weight behind opening the Taliban office in Doha, Qatar, to promote reconciliation, it came to the same conclusion and the process has remained stillborn.

Unlike his predecessor, Dr. Ghani is more of a technocrat rather than a politician. As Finance Minister during President Karzai’s first term, Dr. Ghani conceptualised the National Solidarity Programme (NSP), a local community-led development programme. Incidentally, this highly successful scheme was ably implemented by Mohammad Hanif Atmar who is now Dr. Ghani’s National Security Adviser. Unlike Mr. Karzai who could spend hours interacting closely with tribal leaders, Dr. Ghani is more at home with policy wonks, graphs and power point displays and hardly tolerates dissent. Second, he is a man in a hurry. He knows that his election was a contested one. His legitimacy rests on the tenuous compromise of a National Unity Government, backed by the U.S.’s heavy diplomatic lifting, with presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah reluctantly accepting the newly created post of a Chief Executive Officer. On September 21, 2014, the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan had merely announced the end of the election process and declared Dr. Ghani the President but voting results were withheld with no mention being made about the internationally monitored comprehensive audit of all the ballots. Power sharing between the President and the CEO has not happened leading to strains within the political system and delaying cabinet formation and crucial administrative appointments. This is why both leaders undertook a joint visit to the U.S. last month. Dr. Ghani also realises that the U.S. is headed for elections in 2016 and while he was able to persuade U.S. President Barack Obama to maintain the current U.S. troop presence of nearly 10,000 till end-2016, there is uncertainty about the U.S. and Western role and commitment, post-2016.

Dr. Ghani is under pressure to conclude a peace process with the Taliban and get some investment into the Afghan economy so that economic growth, which has declined from nine per cent annually, during the last decade, to two per cent is resumed. He is all too aware of Pakistan’s ability to play the role of “spoiler” and has tried hard to start on a clean slate with Pakistan. To demonstrate his goodwill, he made it a point to call on Gen. Raheel Sharif at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, in 2014, in a notable departure from protocol. In December last year, Latif Mehsud, a senior Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander, who was held in Bagram, Afghanistan, was handed over to the Pakistani authorities. TTP infiltration across the Durand Line has been blocked by strengthening Afghan Army deployments in provinces like Kunar and Nuristan. Also, for the first time, six Afghan cadets are training at the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul. But, so far, there is little to show for it. The Taliban has launched the spring offensive by declaring its ‘Operation Azm’. A deadly suicide attack in Jalalabad, Pakistan, claimed more than 30 civilian lives on April 18. On April 10, an Afghan Army outpost in Badakhshan was overrun by militants who beheaded eight soldiers. The brutality has led to speculation about whether these incidents might be the handiwork of the Islamic State (IS) making forays into the Afghan theatre or by yet another militant group incubated in the AfPak nursery under a different name.

Looking to China

In addition to wooing the Pakistan Army, Dr. Ghani is also trying to get China to invest in Afghanistan’s reconstruction. Given the uncertainty about sustained Western financial support, if the Chinese can be tempted to invest as part of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, it could even generate pressure on the ISI to enable a meaningful peace process with the Taliban to move forward. The announcements made during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Pakistan, in April, about projects worth $46 billion being launched around the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, coupled with Gen. Sharif’s statement that a dedicated division could be raised to ensure security for the Chinese-aided projects would have sounded encouraging to Dr. Ghani.

Engaging with India

India need not feel unduly concerned about Dr. Ghani testing his Pakistan-China project. This does not diminish the wealth of goodwill built up over the past decade with all sections of the Afghan community covering countrywide economic cooperation projects, infrastructure, health, nutrition, institution building, human resource development and industry. This cooperation should be expanded provided security is managed. Dr. Ghani’s desire not to purchase military hardware from India is not a rebuff, for India’s capabilities to provide lethal military hardware are extremely limited. Instead, we should urge Dr. Ghani to use his influence to open up transit through Pakistan for India-Afghan trade so that Afghan farmers can rediscover their traditional markets for fruit and dry fruits. Today, the Afghan Pakistan Transit and Trade Agreement (APTTA) is seen as a barrier because of delays at the borders, restrictions on vehicles, and Afghan trucks having to return empty as they are barred from picking up Indian goods! At the same time, India needs to accelerate the expansion of the Chabahar port on the Iranian coast which provides an alternative route to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Even as Dr. Ghani clears the air about his agenda, India should wish him well, for as a proud Pashtun, and as a proud Afghan, he understands that India is a strategic partner because we share the same vision — of a stable, united, independent and democratic Afghanistan where all its ethnic groups live and prosper together.

Redraw the lines

Ashraf Ghani has been president of Afghanistan for seven months and has visited the US, Pakistan and China prior to this week’s visit to India. In contrast to his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, he has reached out to Pakistan to help negotiate a settlement with the Taliban. He has also reciprocated China’s advances aimed at playing a bigger role in the fragile Afghan peace process and towards investing in the economy of the strife-torn country. This has left India marginalised in the developing situation in that country, with proposals of a strategic partnership with Afghanistan during Karzai’s stint now being moved to a backburner. Karzai had, in fact, requested India in 2013 to provide military equipment, including helicopters, field guns and battle tanks. The UPA government dragged its feet and eventually Ghani withdrew the requests.

The first top-level meeting between the leaders of the two countries since the change of government in both capitals provides the BJP government an opportunity to reshape its Afghan policy, according to the evolving situation. India will be handing over three light helicopters to Afghanistan during Ghani’s visit. This sends the signal that India is ready to provide more military equipment to Afghanistan, even if it is only of the non-lethal kind. Another major item on the agenda has to be the final approval of a transit agreement involving India, Afghanistan and Iran using Chabahar, an Iranian port developed with Indian help. This provides India more reliable access to landlocked Afghanistan — and on to Central Asia — in comparison to the one through Pakistan. With Iran having signed the P5+1 deal, it is important India clinches this transit agreement during Ghani’s visit.

Delhi should be wary of China’s emerging role in Afghanistan. A month after Ghani’s visit to Beijing in October last year, China hosted a team headed by Qari Din Mohammad, leader of the Taliban team based in Qatar. In February, the Chinese foreign minister declared in Islamabad that China would “provide necessary facilitation at any time if it is required by various parties in Afghanistan.” India should be supportive of China’s role as long as it brings peace and stability to the region. But if it threatens Delhi’s historical and cultural ties with Kabul or provides a bigger role to radical Islamist forces in the region, the Indian government must draw the line. Ghani’s visit provides Prime Minister Narendra Modi the opportunity to make this amply clear.

Earthquakes and Seismic Waves ;Everything You need to know

What Are Plate Tectonics?

To experience the plate tectonics--the jostling of giant plates that carry continents and oceans--try this experiment: Hold your hand in front of you and watch you finger nails grow. That is roughly the average speed of a tectonic plate. Even at this slow rate, over time movement can produce dramatic and deadly consequences.

Plate tectonics tells us that the Earth's rigid outer shell, or lithosphere, is broken into a mosaic of oceanic and continental plates which can slide over the plastic aesthenosphere, which is the uppermost layer of the mantle. The plates are in constant motion. Where they interact, along their margins, important geological processes take place, such as the formation ofmountain belts, earthquakes, and volcanoes.

The lithosphere covers the whole Earth. Therefore, ocean plates are also involved, more particularly in the process of sea-floor spreading. This involves the midocean ridges which are a system of narrow submarine cracks that can be traced down the center of the major oceans. The ocean floor is being continuously pulled apart along these midocean ridges. Hot volcanic material rises from the Earth's mantle to fill the gap and continuously forms new oceanic crust. The midocean ridges themselves are broken by offsets know as transform faults.


Map of the Earth's Plate Boundaries

Seismic Zones
Plate tectonics revealed that there are four types of seismic zones. The first follows the line of midocean ridges. Activity is low, and it occurs at very shallow depths. The lithosphere is very thin and weak at these boundaries, so the strain cannot build up enough to cause large earthquakes. Associated with this type of seismicity is the volcanic activity along the axis of the ridges (for example, Iceland, Azores, Tristan da Cunha).

The second type of earthquake associated with plate tectonics is the shallow-focus event unaccompanied by volcanic activity. The San Andreas fault is a good example of this. In faults like this, two mature plates are scraping by one another. The friction between the plates can be so great that very large strains can build up before they are periodically relieved by large earthquakes. Although, activity does not always occur along the entire length of the fault during any one earthquake. For instance, the 1906 San Francisco event was caused by breakage only along the northern end of the San Andreas fault.

The third type of earthquake is related to the collision of oceanic and continental plates. One plate is thrust or subducted under the other plate so that a deep ocean trench is produced. This type of earthquake can be shallow, intermediate, or deep, according to its location on the downgoing lithospheric slab. Such inclined planes of earthquakes are know as Benioff zones.

The fourth type of seismic zone occurs along the boundaries of continental plates. Typical of this is the broad swath of seismicity from Burma to the Mediterranean, crossing the Himalayas, Iran, Turkey, to Gilbraltar. Within this zone, shallow earthquakes are associated with high mountain ranges where intense compression is taking place. Intermediate-and deep-focus earthquakes also occur and are known in the Himalayas and in the Caucasus. The interiors of continental plates are very complex, much more so than island arcs. For instance, we do not yet know the full relationship of the Alps or the East African rift system to the broad picture of plate tectonics.

Recycling of Crustal Material

If the Earth was not to be blown up like a balloon by the continual influx of new volcanic material at the ocean ridges, then old crust must be destroyed at the same rate where plates collide. The required balanced occurs when plates collide, and one plate is forced under the other to be consumed deep in the mantle, a process kown as plate subduction.

It is now known that there are seven major crustal plates, subdivided into a number of smaller plates. They are about 80 kilometers thick, all in constant motion relative to one another, at rates varying from 10 to130 millimeters per year. Their pattern is neither symmetrical nor simple. As more and more are learned about the major plates; many complicated and intricate maneuvers are taking place. We know that most large-scale geological action--such as the formation of mountains, rift valleys, volcanoes, earthquakes, faulting--is due to different types of interaction at plate boundaries.


Plate Tectonic Interactions
The Relationship between Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes



The Earth is formed of several layers that have very different physical and chemical properties. The outer layer, which averages about 70 kilometers in thickness, consists of about a dozen large, irregularly shaped plates that slide over, under and past each other on top of the partly molten inner layer. Most earthquakes occur at the boundaries where the plates meet. In fact, the locations of earthquakes and the kinds of ruptures they produce help scientists define the plate boundaries.

There are three types of plate boundaries: spreading zones, transform faults, and subduction zones
Cross section of the Earth's Plate Tectonic Structure

At spreading zones, molten rock rises, pushing two plates apart and adding new material at their edges. Most spreading zones are found in oceans; for example, the North American and Eurasian plates are spreading apart along the mid-Atlantic ridge. Spreading zones usually have earthquakes at shallow depths (within 30 kilometers of the surface).

Transform faults are found where plates slide past one another. An example of a transform-fault plate boundary is the San Andreas fault, along the coast of California and northwestern Mexico. Earthquakes at transform faults tend to occur at shallow depths and form fairly straight linear patterns.

Subduction zones are found where one plate overrides, or subducts another, pushing it downward into the mantle where it melts. An example of a subduction-zone plate boundary is found along the northwest coast of the United States, western Canada, and southern Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Subduction zones are characterized by deep-ocean trenches, shallow to deep earthquakes, and mountain ranges containing active volcanoes. Earthquakes can also occur within plates, although plate-boundary earthquakes are much more common. Less than 10 percent of all earthquakes occur within plate interiors.

As plates continue to move and plate boundaries change over geologic time, weakened boundary regions become part of the interiors of the plates. These zones of weakness within the continents can cause earthquakes in response to stresses that originate at the edges of the plate or in the deeper crust.

What is an earthquake?



An earthquake is the vibration, sometimes violent, of the Earth's surface that follows a release of energy in the Earth's crust. This energy can be generated by a sudden dislocation of segments of the crust, by a volcanic eruption, or even by manmade explosions.

But the most common kind of quakes, the most destructive and the kind people generally have in mind when we think of earthquakes are the ones that are caused by the sudden dislocation of large rock masses along the faults within the earth's crust. These are known as tectonic earthquakes.

A fault is a fracture within some particular rocky mass within the earth's crust. Fault sizes can vary greatly, as some faults can be miles long. Earthquakes are caused by active faults, which are, faults along which the two sides of the fracture move with respect to each other.

In short, an earthquake is caused by the sudden movement of the two sides of a fault with respect to another.

There are three different groups of faults, depending on the way they move (refer to diagram):




-

Normal faults
These occur in response to pulling or tension: the overlying block moves down the dip of the fault plane.

- Thrust (reverse) faults
These occur in response to squeezing or compression: the overlying block moves up the dip of the fault plane.

- Strike-slip (lateral) faults
These occur in response to either type of stress: the blocks move horizontally past one another.

The slow and continuous movement of two sides of an active fault relative to one another can noticed over time; this movement is called fault slip. The rate of this movement may be as little as a few inches or so per year. The movement of these two sides of the fault cannot be an entirely smooth, easy type of movement. We can infer the existence of conditions or forces deep with the fault which resist this relative motion of the two sides of the fault. This is because the motion along the fault is accompanied by the gradual buildup of elastic strain energy within the rock along the fault. The rock stores this strain like a giant spring being slowly tightened.

Eventually, the strain along the fault becomes too much for the rock to bear. The fault then ruptures, or suddenly moves a comparatively large distance in a short amount of time. The rocky masses which form the two sides of the fault then snaps into a new position. This snapping back into position, upon the release of strain, is the elastic rebound.

The rupture of the fault also results in the sudden release of the strain energy that had been built up over the years. The most important form that this suddenly released energy takes is that of seismic waves.

What are Seismic Waves?

Seismic energy travels through the crust in the form of waves. There are two basic kinds of seismic waves: body waves and surface waves. Body waves travel outward in all directions, including downward, from the quake's focus -- that is, the particular spot where the fault first began to rupture. Surface waves, by contrast, are confined to the upper few hundred miles of the crust. They travel parallel to the surface, like ripples on the surface of a pond. They are also slower than body waves.

P-waves

Following an earthquake, the body waves strike first. The fastest kind are the primary waves, or P-waves. People often report a sound like a train just before they feel a quake, which is the P-wave moving as an acoustic wave in the air. P-waves can travel through solids, liquids and gases. When these waves travel throught the air, it is called sound waves. In most rocks, p-waves will travel about 1.7 and 1.8 times faster than the secondary, or S-waves.
S-waves


A person in a building perceives the arrival of S-waves as a sudden powerful jolt, as if a giant has pounded his fist down on the roof. Finally, the surface waves strike. In very strong earthquakes, the up-and-down and back-and-forth motions caused by surface waves can make the ground appear to roll like the surface of the ocean, and can literally topple buildings over. This wave can only travel through solids, and do no travel through the earth's core.

The picture below shows how an S wave travels by vibrating up and down. The black box shows how an area of rock deforms as the wave passes. The hammer represents the initial release of energy at fault rupture





Magnitude and Intensity of an Earthquake
The Richter Magnitude Scale


eismic waves are the vibrations from earthquakes that travel through the Earth; they are recorded on instruments called seismographs. Seismographs record a zig-zag trace that shows the changing amplitude of ground oscillations beneath the instrument. Sensitive seismographs, which greatly magnify these ground motions, can detect strong earthquakes from sources anywhere in the world. The time, location, and magnitude of an earthquake can be determined from the data recorded by seismograph stations. The richter scale was developed as a mathematical device to compare the size of eathquakes.
The magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs. On the Richter Scale, magnitude is expressed in whole numbers and decimal fractions. For example, a magnitude of 5.0 might be computed for a moderate earthquake, and a strong earthquake might be rated as magnitude 6.0. Each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; as an estimate of energy, each whole number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release of about 31 times more energy than the amount associated with the preceding whole number value.
The Richter Scale is not used to express damage. An earthquake in a densely populated area which results in many deaths and considerable damage may have the same magnitude as a shock in a remote area that does nothing more than frighten the wildlife. Large-magnitude earthquakes that occur beneath the oceans may not even be felt by humans. Earthquakes with magnitude of about 2.0 or less are usually called microearthquakes; they are not commonly felt by people and are generally recorded only on local seismographs. Events with magnitudes of about 4.5 or greater--there are several thousand such shocks annually--are strong enough to be recorded by sensitive seismographs all over the world. Great earthquakes, such as the 1964 Good Friday earthquake in Alaska, have magnitudes of 8.0 or higher. On the average, one earthquake of such size occurs somewhere in the world each year.
The Modified Mercalli Intesity Scale
The effect of an earthquake on the Earth's surface is called the intensity. The intensity scale consists of a series of certain key responses such as people awakening, movement of furniture, damage to chimneys, and finally--total destruction. The current intensity scale being used in the U.S. is the Modified Mercalli (MM) Intensity Scale. The scale is composed of 12 increasing levels of intensity that range from imperceptible shaking to catastrpic destruction. This scale does not have a mathmatical basis, instread it is an arbitrary ranking system based on observed effects.

Land, development and democracy

India cannot continue with a pattern of industry that yields so few jobs but has such a large ecological footprint. Neither can it be excited by the urban nightmares that its cities are today. The land law debate must be the occasion to talk about these key national agendas
The current debate on the land law is important because it affords us a chance to reflect more deeply on the nature of India’s development process and the experience of democracy for a majority of our citizens. I see the 2013 land law as part of a response — highly belated in my view — to the perception of millions of our people that while India’s economy was booming over the last two decades, they were not part of the growth story.

Indeed, many people feel that development has happened at their cost. Official estimates place the number of people displaced due to development projects since Independence at 60 million, less than a third of whom have been properly resettled. Most of the displaced are the assetless rural poor, marginal farmers, poor fisherfolk and quarry workers. Around 40 per cent of them are Adivasis and 20 per cent Dalits. Official statistics testify that on all indicators of development, Dalits and Adivasis have been the worst off groups. Already at the bottom of the development pyramid, being deprived of their land and livelihoods has completely pauperised them, forcing many to move and live in subhuman conditions in our metros. The last two decades have also seen unprecedented agrarian distress, with more than two lakh farmers committing suicide, as per the National Crime Records Bureau. This is something that had never happened before in Indian history.

A sense of hurt
It is in this backdrop that we need to understand the heightened sensitivities and palpable anger over forcible land acquisition. Given that 90 per cent of our coal, more than 50 per cent of most minerals, and prospective dam sites are mainly in Adivasi regions, there has been, and is likely to be, continuing tension over issues of land acquisition. Through these tensions, not only has a question mark been placed over our development strategy, the delicate fabric of Indian democracy has become terribly frayed at the edges. In the remote Adivasi heartlands of India, people feel such a deep and abiding sense of hurt, alienation and cynicism that they have allowed themselves to be helplessly drawn into a terrible vortex of violence and counter-violence, even when they know in their heart of hearts that it will lead to their own destruction.

The 2013 land law tried to reach out to these people, by undoing a draconian colonial Act more suited to a 19th century empire than to a 21st century vibrant democracy. At the heart of the 2013 law was the provision of seeking the consent of those whose lands were to be acquired and of caring for those whose livelihoods would be destroyed in the process. Undoing theseprovisions is a virtual resurrection of undiluted powers of “eminent domain”, which the 1894 law conferred on the state.

Listening to the farmer
I do not dispute the fact that there can be many situations where land is needed for a development project that could actually benefit those whose lands are being acquired. What could be the possible harm in seeking the prior, informed consent of these people, after making the effort of explaining to them how they would stand to benefit? There are those who argue that farmers would be better off giving up farming. Indeed, they say farmers do not want to farm any more. Why would these farmers conceivably say no if we were to propose more attractive and tangible alternative options to them in return for their land? Is it not for farmers to assess whether the project will actually be of benefit to them and whether the recompense offered to them is a fair bargain? And allow them to be parties in working out what could be regarded as a fair deal for all? But all this will happen only if we are willing to talk to farmers and listen to them, who, I dare say, based on my experience of listening to them for 25 years, have a great deal to teach us.

Importance of SIA
This is the essence of Social Impact Assessment (SIA), which was again at the heart of the 2013 law. SIA is an instrument meant to assess the positive and negative impacts of the project and also to assess whether the objectives of the proposed project could not be achieved in some other manner, especially by acquiring significantly less fertile, multi-cropped land, a crucialrequirement of national food security. When we look back at the history of land acquisition in India, we find it riddled with instances of far too much land being acquired and not being put to use. Just one look at the huge amounts of unused land in possession of many of our universities today would make you see the point. And as a recent study by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reveals, of the over 60,000 hectares of land acquired for Special Economic Zones (SEZs), from 2006 to 2013, around 53 per cent has not been put to any use. Just because it was possible to bully uninformed village people, we continued to do so.

SIA is an attempt to check these kinds of malpractices. It is also a way of making sure that land acquisition is not an easy way for the real estate mafia to make a quick buck in the name of development. The CAG study found many instances of land acquired at rates much below the market value being diverted to private builders in urban areas for commercial exploitation after denotification. The 2013 Act provided for the return of unused land to the original owner in cases where the land has not been used for the purposes for which it was acquired within five years. This is a key provision that should be retained.

SIA is an attempt to restore the declining faith in the democratic process, by reaching out to those who believe all decisions affecting their lives are made in distant, uncaring corridors of power, leaving them without any say. Incidentally, SIA is also best practice in development projects across the world. The 2013 law was a belated attempt to catch up with what other nations have been doing for long. Doing away with SIA would destroy a very powerful means of what is globally termed “conflict prevention”, a variety of activities aimed at anticipating and averting the outbreak of conflict.

Many people are rightly concerned about the slow pace of decision-making in development projects. They wish to do away with democracy-building, consent-seeking processes. But repeated experience shows that the attempt to push through projects without the consent of local people only results in massive delays, costing huge sums of money to the project developer. For an enlightened capitalist, it would be far more sensible and expeditious to conduct business in a peaceful, consensual atmosphere, rather than being repeatedly prevented from functioning due to endless strife and conflict. The 2013 law has proposed a time-bound SIA, which could be a powerful means of conflict prevention by taking local communities on board and making them integral partners in development. There are many instances of this across the world, as also in India.

Need for debate
The enactment of the 2013 law was a real struggle, with many, across partisan divides, fiercely opposing it. A key role in its passage was played by Parliament, which instilled the law with necessary balance. The extraordinary leadership provided by the present Speaker of the Lok Sabha was crucial in seeing the Act through with complete unanimity. Her sagacity and consensus-building skills, as Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, helped reconcile conflicting arguments into a seamless whole.

It is the very same spirit that the nation seeks today from Parliament, for balance and compromise are the hallmarks of a democracy. This has not been an empty debate. All sides have had powerful points to make. All the concerns being expressed are genuine national concerns. The country needs industrialisation and urbanisation. But their specific forms need to be debated. Surely, we cannot continue with a pattern of industry that yields so few jobs, and one that has such a large ecological, especially water, footprint. We also cannot be excited by the urban nightmares that our cities are today. The debate on the land law is a great occasion to move the dialogue forward on these key national agendas. If we want to acquire the land of farmers to serve larger goals, surely the projects in which they are embodied must not be of the kinds that repeat the mistakes of the past. The people of this country, who are being asked to make sacrifices for the larger national good, must know and be convinced that what they give up will indeed serve a meaningful “public purpose” and not involve the injustices and malpractices of the past. That is why the consent and SIA clauses need to be retained in the land law that Parliament eventually passes. Let us not reduce it to a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) vs. United Progressive Alliance (UPA) issue. Let us hope Parliament will rise above narrow partisan politics and seize this opportunity to provide an appropriate response to the utterly tragic suicide of Gajendra Singh.

Farming is not a political game

Given the high investment and negative incentives such as input subsidies, small farmers have not benefited from government schemes.
Everything about the suicide of the farmer from Dausa, Gajendra Singh, save the tragedy for his family, has been theatre — the very public venue, the occasion of a political rally, the politicians happily playing their populist cards, and the media’s focus on trivialities. The tragedy is being skilfully milked for all its political mileage without addressing the grave issue of farmer suicides in India, which occur at the approximate rate of about 1,500 per annum and represent 11 per cent of the total number of suicides in the country.

Subsidies exist everywhere
Farmers are the holy cows of every country. They are the recipients of quotas, subsidies, and tax benefits not just in India but also in Europe and the U.S. In fact, benefits extended to the agricultural class in the West are significantly more than in India. According to a World Trade Organization filing, India’s total farm subsidy stands at $56 billion; this caters to approximately 120 million Indians who are engaged in full time or part-time cultivation.

In contrast, the U.S. pays out an average farm subsidy of approximately $20 billion to some two million farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural workers; the European Union pays €58 billion to its agricultural class that numbers slightly over 27 million. These numbers offer some perspective on the state of agricultural subsidies in India and where the focus of reform initiatives should lie.

Interestingly, studies into the causes of farmer suicide have not yielded any concrete results. It is usually found to be a confluence of pressures, of which indebtedness is a major but not primary factor. In a 2014 study, a prevalence of three factors accounted for almost 75 per cent of farmer suicides — land ownership of less than 10,000 m, excessive reliance on cash crops, and a debt of Rs. 300 or more.

The increasing vulnerability of this particular segment of farmers is a long story. In essence, however, the Green Revolution of the 1970s and early 1980s exacted a price in terms of soil salinity, fertiliser consumption, and water requirement. Farms that were not viable tried to get more bang for their buck by opting for higher yields through modified seeds and by growing cash crops. These were more expensive and susceptible to the vagaries of the market; if a crop failed, the burden of debt on a small farmer was enormous.

Small holdings stay unviable
Admittedly, the government has had several schemes for decades now to help farmers modernise their holdings. Unfortunately, the high initial investments required, in combination with negative incentives such as input subsidies (fertiliser, pesticide, water, electricity), have meant that small farms could not reap the benefit of these schemes and remained unmechanised, without micro-irrigation, and with poor crop storage facilities. Thus, small holdings continue to be unviable and the input subsidies that politicians eagerly announce do little to change this fact. In essence, government assistance does not usually reach the neediest segment. It is also a myth that frequent bank loan waivers alleviate the penury of small farmers. In fact, most small farmers have hardly any collateral, and also fail to satisfy other conditions to qualify for bank loans in the first place. As a result, they turn to local moneylenders who charge exorbitant rates of interest. As a 2012 government report revealed, 85 per cent of farmers who held less than 0.1 hectares of land had loans pending to moneylenders, while among those owning over 10 hectares, only 21 per cent resorted to borrowing from the unorganised sector. The methods that moneylenders use to recover their investment are legend, and likely the direct contributors to farmer suicides.

Living on the edge
The cumulative result of corruption, inefficiency, and lack of access to finance keeps small farmers in a high-risk category, where just a medical emergency or a marriage — even the poorest in India cannot abandon extravagant marriage ceremonies — can tilt the balance from borderline sustenance to debt, poverty, and suicide.

Though the local requirements may vary from region to region, agriculture in India is desperate for a complete overhaul. This cannot be done in isolation — if farmers are to be displaced from their lands, there must be alternative sources of income for them. In that regard, this government’s ‘Make in India’ programme is vital. If industry and manufacturing can absorb labour, with a little regulatory help, farm holdings can grow larger and become viable.

Yet, for industry to expand, it needs power and land. This is where the government’s efforts to reform land acquisition laws and improve the energy situation in the country interlock. Each sector carries part of the weight towards an eventual improvement in Indian agriculture and the lives of small farmers.

This is the set of reforms that politicians and the media need to be discussing, not the parasitic politics one has become accustomed to in this country.

What To Do Before , During and After an Earthquake

The following are things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your property in the event of an earthquake.

• To begin preparing, you should build an emergency kit and make a family communications plan.
• Fasten shelves securely to walls.
• Place large or heavy objects on lower shelves.
• Store breakable items such as bottled foods, glass, and china in low, closed cabinets with latches.
• Fasten heavy items such as pictures and mirrors securely to walls and away from beds, couches and anywhere people sit.
• Brace overhead light fixtures and top heavy objects.
• Repair defective electrical wiring and leaky gas connections. These are potential fire risks. Get appropriate professional help. Do not work with gas or electrical lines yourself.
• Install flexible pipe fittings to avoid gas or water leaks. Flexible fittings are more resistant to breakage.
• Secure your water heater, refrigerator, furnace and gas appliances by strapping them to the wall studs and bolting to the floor. If recommended by your gas company, have an automatic gas shut-off valve installed that is triggered by strong vibrations.
• Repair any deep cracks in ceilings or foundations. Get expert advice if there are signs of structural defects.
• Be sure the residence is firmly anchored to its foundation.
• Store weed killers, pesticides, and flammable products securely in closed cabinets with latches and on bottom shelves.
• Locate safe spots in each room under a sturdy table or against an inside wall. Reinforce this information by moving to these places during each drill.
• Hold earthquake drills with your family members: Drop, cover and hold on.

Know the Terms

Familiarize yourself with these terms to help identify an earthquake hazard:
Aftershock - An earthquake of similar or lesser intensity that follows the main earthquake.
Earthquake - A sudden slipping or movement of a portion of the earth's crust, accompanied and followed by a series of vibrations.
Epicenter - The place on the earth's surface directly above the point on the fault where the earthquake rupture began. Once fault slippage begins, it expands along the fault during the earthquake and can extend hundreds of miles before stopping.
Fault - The fracture across which displacement has occurred during an earthquake. The slippage may range from less than an inch to more than 10 yards in a severe earthquake.
Magnitude - The amount of energy released during an earthquake, which is computed from the amplitude of the seismic waves. A magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter Scale indicates an extremely strong earthquake. Each whole number on the scale represents an increase of about 30 times more energy released than the previous whole number represents. Therefore, an earthquake measuring 6.0 is about 30 times more powerful than one measuring 5.0.
Seismic Waves - Vibrations that travel outward from the earthquake fault at speeds of several miles per second. Although fault slippage directly under a structure can cause considerable damage, the vibrations of seismic waves cause most of the destruction during earthquakes.

During an Earthquake

Drop, cover and Hold On. Minimize your movements to a few steps to a nearby safe place and if you are indoors, stay there until the shaking has stopped and you are sure exiting is safe.

If Indoors

• DROP to the ground; take COVER by getting under a sturdy table or other piece of furniture; and HOLD ON until the shaking stops. If there isn’t a table or desk near you, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner of the building.
• Stay away from glass, windows, outside doors and walls, and anything that could fall, such as lighting fixtures or furniture.
• Stay in bed if you are there when the earthquake strikes. Hold on and protect your head with a pillow, unless you are under a heavy light fixture that could fall. In that case, move to the nearest safe place.
• Do not use a doorway except if you know it is a strongly supported, load-bearing doorway and it is close to you. Many inside doorways are lightly constructed and do not offer protection..
• Stay inside until the shaking stops and it is safe to go outside. Do not exit a building during the shaking. Research has shown that most injuries occur when people inside buildings attempt to move to a different location inside the building or try to leave.
• DO NOT use the elevators.
• Be aware that the electricity may go out or the sprinkler systems or fire alarms may turn on.

If Outdoors

• Stay there.
• Move away from buildings, streetlights, and utility wires.
• Once in the open, stay there until the shaking stops. The greatest danger exists directly outside buildings, at exits and alongside exterior walls. Many of the 120 fatalities from the 1933 Long Beach earthquake occurred when people ran outside of buildings only to be killed by falling debris from collapsing walls. Ground movement during an earthquake is seldom the direct cause of death or injury. Most earthquake-related casualties result from collapsing walls, flying glass, and falling objects.

If in a Moving Vehicle

• Stop as quickly as safety permits and stay in the vehicle. Avoid stopping near or under buildings, trees, overpasses, and utility wires.
• Proceed cautiously once the earthquake has stopped. Avoid roads, bridges, or ramps that might have been damaged by the earthquake.

If Trapped Under Debris

• Do not light a match.
• Do not move about or kick up dust.
• Cover your mouth with a handkerchief or clothing.
• Tap on a pipe or wall so rescuers can locate you. Use a whistle if one is available. Shout only as a last resort. Shouting can cause you to inhale dangerous amounts of dust.

After an Earthquake

• When the shaking stops, look around to make sure it is safe to move. Then exit the building.
• Expect aftershocks. These secondary shockwaves are usually less violent than the main quake but can be strong enough to do additional damage to weakened structures and can occur in the first hours, days, weeks, or even months after the quake.
• Help injured or trapped persons. Remember to help your neighbors who may require special assistance such as infants, the elderly and people with access and functional needs. Give first aid where appropriate. Do not move seriously injured persons unless they are in immediate danger of further injury. Call for help.
• Look for and extinguish small fires. Fire is the most common hazard after an earthquake.
• Listen to a battery-operated radio or television for the latest emergency information.
• Be aware of possible tsunamis if you live in coastal areas. These are also known as seismic sea waves (mistakenly called "tidal waves"). When local authorities issue a tsunami warning, assume that a series of dangerous waves is on the way. Stay away from the beach.
• Use the telephone only for emergency calls.
• Go to a designated public shelter if your home had been damaged and is no longer safe. Text SHELTER + your ZIP code to 43362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest shelter in your area (example: shelter 12345).
• Stay away from damaged areas. Stay away unless your assistance has been specifically requested by police, fire, or relief organizations. Return home only when authorities say it is safe.
• Be careful when driving after an earthquake and anticipate traffic light outages.
• After it is determined that it's safe to return, your safety should be your primary priority as you begin clean up and recovery.
• Open cabinets cautiously. Beware of objects that can fall off shelves.
• Find out how to keep food safe during and after and emergency by visiting: http://www.foodsafety.gov
• Put on long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, sturdy shoes and work gloves to protect against injury from broken objects.
• Clean up spilled medicines, bleaches, gasoline or other flammable liquids immediately. Leave the area if you smell gas or fumes from other chemicals.
• Inspect the entire length of chimneys for damage. Unnoticed damage could lead to a fire.
• Inspect utilities.
  • Check for gas leaks. If you smell gas or hear blowing or hissing noise, open a window and quickly leave the building. Turn off the gas at the outside main valve if you can and call the gas company from a neighbor's home. If you turn off the gas for any reason, it must be turned back on by a professional.
  • Look for electrical system damage. If you see sparks or broken or frayed wires, or if you smell hot insulation, turn off the electricity at the main fuse box or circuit breaker. If you have to step in water to get to the fuse box or circuit breaker, call an electrician first for advice.
  • Check for sewage and water lines damage. If you suspect sewage lines are damaged, avoid using the toilets and call a plumber. If water pipes are damaged, contact the water company and avoid using water from the tap. You can obtain safe water by melting ice cubes.