Chennai celebrated Vinayaka Chaturthi today with the same great zeal as always. Half of the town was closed, with the shutters down of the market shops. Schools, Colleges and offices were also closed marking the day as religious holiday. The whole town tuned into
Pullaiyar Pullaiyar Shivan son Pullaiyar!!
Ellarukkum Vinayakar Chathurthi Vazhthukkal!!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sent his greetings to the people on this occasion and sought the blessings of Lord Ganesha. “Ganpati Bappa Maurya…. Greeting on ganesh Chaturthi. On Ganesh Chaturthi, we bow to Lord Ganesh. May Lord Ganesh shower his blessings on us and enrich our lives with peace, joy and wisdom.” The Prime Minister said in a message released by his office.
Vinayaka during Visarjan
Chennai witnessed huge rush in all the temples and Pandals of Lord Vinayaka. Outside the temples vendors were aligned with the flower garlands and bhog for prasadam for the devotees to devote it to God. “This festival is celebrated for rain prosperity, peace and happiness. We celebrate it again on 14th January, for better crops. The festival continues to 10 days and then the idol is submerged into the river” said a devotee Mr. Janardhan. Continue reading →
The relation between India and China has never been static. It is always defined as sweet and sour. The two countries became neighbor after 1950. They have been enjoying everlasting cultural bond of brotherhood and amity as Buddhism have played a prominent role for these two. Before independence both the countries fought against imperialism and colonialism.
Although the bilateral relationship between the two countries are not ideal, hence it is important to understand the interaction between the two countries as well as some other parameters like:
1. Unresolved territorial issues
2. Compulsion of geo-politics
3. The quest for resources and markets
4. Aspiration of the two countries for global influence and power and
5. Inter connected dreams of the two countries
The aforesaid are some of the factors which gives us hope for a stronger relationship in future. Though the two countries follow different political paths, India a democratic while China a communist path, these two Asian super powers share a dynamic relationship due to cultural and historical past.
Geographical structure of India and China
India’s foreign policy and defense policy faces major challenges due to China. China is India’s largest neighbor with whom India shares 4338km of border, and there is an unsettled border dispute between the two countries. Chinese soldiers have entered into Indian Territory 37 times in the last five years.
Cooum is an important but extremely polluted river running inside Chennai city emanating odious smell. The mighty Kooum, considered a path for survival is itself fighting for its existence today. As the river flows through the city, a continuous deterioration in the quality of water can be seen.
Flowing river turned into sewage
Conjusted slum on the bank of Cooum
Cooum is presently the most polluted river of India, spoiled by filth and dirt of the town, and the water quality is considered to be highly toxic and completely non-potable. According to scientists, in the 1950 there were around 49 species of fish. This was reduced to 21 species by 1970. And now the disposal of untreated water and waste has made them completely extinct from the whole 65 kilometer long river. Even after diluting the sample water, fish can survive only for 3 to 4 hours.
Catering the need of almost 46,810,87 percent of population the river bears the aggregation of huge amount of dirt and filth being thrown into it. The pace of development and rising urbanization is striding parallel to the increasing contamination of the river. A major chunk of sewage, untreated industrial effluents and huge quantities of solid waste are dumped into the river. Thousands of animals and human corpses are thrown into the river every day, contributing to the pollution load.
The aquatic life is also not exempted. Whereas the health of the people living near the bank of the river are adversely affected. Due to discharge of heavy metals like copper and pesticides like endosulphan and lindane in the river skin diseases have become common. A resident of the slum, East Namachivayapuram 3rd street, Sarla of Nungambakkam says, “The government officials came to see but after that there was no response from them. We use metro water even for drinking, and not boring water, which is also not regular and frequent. There are just 2 bore wells here in this whole area. We are suffering from skin problems in our legs and hands due to this polluted river water.”
Krishna Kumar a resident of Nungambakkam says, “The condition of Cooum is pitiable near this area and water is badly exploited. Dead bodies are flown into the river and there is no restriction in it. The water smells so bad and is the home for mosquito breeding.” He added, “All this water is water is finally flown into the Marina beach and this AIDMK government don’t seem interested enough to work on the cleaning projects.” Whereas while talking to ward counselor of Nungambakkam, Chairman Mr. Shaakti said, “The sewages are flown separately. It is only in the last when the sewage is connected to the river and flown away into the sea with it.”
In 2010 more than 130 sewage outfalls in the Cooum were identified. And a majority of them were in between Aminjikarai and Nungambakkam. In places like Maduravoyal, everyday more than 7 tonnes of municipal solid waste is being dumped in the river. 60 percent of the estimated 55 million litres of untreated sewage is let into the water daily.
However, the sand bars near Napier Bridge is the chief problem most of the times, as it blocks the river mouth preventing the river water from draining into the sea. This has elongated the river water further upto 18 km stretch. In 2004, tasunami cleaned the mouth nevertheless the river returned back to its usual polluted self within a short period. The report says, that stopping discharge of sewage water is important to safeguard the environment which might cause irrevocable harm to biodiversity.
Monsoon seems to have set into some of the northern parts but it isn’t of as much relief as people thought it would be. Water shortage is a serious problem in most rather all parts of India and apparently in Chennai it is an everyday problem but most people are trying to learn to live with it. But do they really have to do that? Chennai is a city surrounded with water and residents here facing water crisis is almost unacceptable.
It’s a fact for sure that Chennai is a city where the sea is but is that water usable? C.H Hanumantha Rao in his book on water resources mentions, “There is a difference between ‘available’ water and ‘usable’ water.” So basically Chennai even after having so much water all around is short of water resources. Continue reading →
the verdict 