India’s provisional population totals announced

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Rashid Faridi

India in World Population

 

 

 

The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, Ministry of Home Affairs on March 31 published the provisional population totals based on Census 2011 data.

According to the provisional population totals, India’s decadal population growth rate continues its predictable decline from the peak of 24.8 percent over 1961-71, touching 17.64 percent, the lowest since Independence. This, though, is higher than the Central Statistical Organisation’s estimate, resulting in the enumerated total population being 121 crore, about 3 crore higher than the Central Statistical Organisation’s (CSO) forecast. Economic Times reported that population growth in Assam and West Bengal is lower than the national average, suggesting that fears in some quarters over an immigrant flood from Bangladesh are greatly exaggerated.

2001

2011

 

 

Links and Sources:

Geospatial,  Census India

 

Posted in India | Leave a comment

Maple Syrup is a Superfood!!

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Rashid Faridi

Researchers have identified compounds in maple syrup with similar anti-inflammatory or anti-oxidant properties as blueberries, green tea and other “superfoods.”

Initial studies also suggest that polyphenols in the syrup may help keep blood sugar levels in check, important for diabetics, by inhibiting enzymes that are involved in the conversion of carbohydrates to sugar, he said.

The discoveries of new molecules in the syrup also provide chemists with leads that could prompt synthesis of medications to fight other diseases.A total of 54 beneficial compounds were identified by the researchers in pure maple syrup from Quebec, including five of which have never been seen in nature.

Among the new compounds is quebecol — named in honor of the Canadian province of Quebec, which leads the world in maple syrup production.The researchers believe it is created when a farmer boils off the water in maple sap to get maple syrup. It takes 40 liters (20.5 gallons) of sap to make one liter (two pints) of syrup.

The sweet sap is collected from maple trees in the spring when freezing and thawing cycles cause it to rise and flow from taps hammered into tree trunks.

read here

Posted in BIODIVERSITY, inventions | Leave a comment

India’s tsunami warning centre working well

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Rashid Faridi

After the December 26, 2004 tsunami, the Government of India invested heavily in putting together state-of-the-art infrastructure, information technology and resources to set up the Tsunami Early Warning Centre at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) in Hyderabad. And, this centre is working well, according to Indian Express report.Any quake that’s above 6.5 on theA Richter scale could trigger a tsunami and when that happens, Kumar gets anything between a few seconds to a few minutes to react, depending on the location of the quake. “In the case of the March 11 earthquake on the East Coast of Honshu, Japan, we were able to generate a tsunami report within seven minutes of the event. Our model showed that there was no threat of a tsunami in the Indian Ocean but it would hit the Japanese coast within minutes,” Srinivasa said, showing a simulated map of the quake and tsunami that hit Japan.

read more

Posted in India, Japan Tsunami, Natural Calamities | Leave a comment

Spanish Scientists Think They have Found Fuel of the future

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Rashid Faridi

In a forest of tubes eight metres high in eastern Spain scientists hope they have found the fuel of tomorrow: bio-oil produced with algae mixed with carbon dioxide from a factory.Almost 400 of the green tubes, filled with millions of microscopic algae, cover a plain near the city of Alicante, next to a cement works from which the C02 is captured and transported via a pipeline to the “blue petroleum” factory.The project, which is still experimental, has been developed over the past five years by Spanish and French researchers at the small Bio Fuel Systems (BFS) company.

The microalgae reproduces at high speed in the tubes by photosynthesis and from the CO2 released from the cement factory.Every day some of this highly concentrated liquid is extracted and filtered to produce a biomass that is turned into bio-oil.The  great advantage of the system is that it is a depollutant — it absorbs the C02 which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

Source:AFP

Posted in Alternative Energy, BIODIVERSITY, inventions | Leave a comment