Congratulations Blooming India

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

Happy Independence day .

Salute to Indomitable sprite of Indians.

Blooming of new India became possible because of You.

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Our Cities Hold the Key to Global Sustainability

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

Our cities play a vital role in the quest to achieve global ecological sustainability. They are the largest contributors to greenhouse gases and climate change. However, if we can achieve sustainable construction and use of urban infrastructure, our cities could become a critical leverage point in global efforts to drastically reduce emissions and avoid the social and economic costs associated with climate change, as well as enhance energy security and resilience in the face of high fossil energy prices.

The world’s urban centers already account for close to 80 percent of CO2 emissions. In the next three decades, the global population will continue to grow and become ever more urban.

To meet the urban challenge, cities around the world—in developed and developing nations—need to tackle climate change directly. Cities in developed nations can apply new technologies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions stemming from the usage of their existing infrastructure. They can invest in mobility management and incentivize sustainable lifestyle choices. Cities in developing nations can adopt best practices in urban planning and mobility management, as well as technological advances, to design sustainability into their new infrastructure. Every city is part of the solution—now is the time to act!

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Urbanization in India

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

The level of urbanization in India has gone up from 23.34 percent in 1981 to 25.72 percent in 1991 which recorded an increase of 2.38 percent over the whole decade. This has recorded an annual increase of .24 percent only, whereas during the decade 1971-81 the average annual rate of in the level of urbanization was about .34 percent which was higher than recorded in 1981-91 decade. The pace of increase is demographically known as ‘tempo of urbanization’ which has considerably slowed down over the last ten years as the economic growth takes off the level of urbanization being at a low level.

A fall in the rural population growth rate is of fundamental importance for increasing the level of urbanization for the implied increase in the level of economic development. In the 15 major states, which accounts for 97 percent of the country’s urban population, there has been fast increase in the annual growth rate of the rural population during the last decade.

When compared to the rest of the world, the level of urbanization in India is very low. The world as a whole had a level of 45 percent in 1990, the highest level being 84-85 percent in Australia and New Zealand followed by 77 percent in Japan, between 72 to 75 percent in North America, South America, Latin America and Europe, 66 percent in Central America and former USSR, and 34 percent in Africa and Asia and even Pakistan had a urbanization level of 32 percent.

By definition, the Indian census treats those areas as urban which are either statutory town or which have got

  1. a)  minimum population of 5000 persons coupled with
  2. b)  three fourth of the male workforce being engaged in non-agricultural economic activities and
  3. c)   a density of at least 400 per square kilometre.

Even those areas which are classified as rural administratively would be treated as rurban in census if they fulfill the above three criteria. Such urban areas are called “census towns”. In 1991, there were 1693 census towns out of a total of 4689 towns in the country.

 Mandal , R.B “Urban Geography” pp 305-307.

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Asteroid Found in Gravitational ‘Dead Zone’ Near Neptune

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

The five Lagrangian points of stability are shown at Neptune. (Credit: Scott Sheppard)

There are places in space where the gravitational tug between a planet and the Sun balance out, allowing other smaller bodies to remain stable. These places are called Lagrangian points. So-called Trojan asteroids have been found in some of these stable spots near Jupiter and Neptune. Trojans share their planet’s orbit and help astronomers understand how the planets formed and how the solar system evolved. Now Scott Sheppard at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and Chad Trujillo have discovered the first Trojan asteroid, 2008 LC18, in a difficult-to-detect stability region at Neptune, called the Lagrangian L5 point.

read here

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