The cancer train - A hope for thousands :)

Its 9 PM when people start queuing in the platform 1 in at the Bathinda railway station, looking forward to board the train 58703. This train is popularly called ‘The cancer train’ in these areas. This indicates that India is probably the country with highest number of cancer patients in the whole world. In Punjab, which is known for Green Revolution in India, almost 500 out of a population of 10,000 suffer from cancer. Due to lack of medical facilities in this region, people near Bathinda in Punjab have to travel to Bikaner in Rajasthan. According to accurate data, Punjab’s pesticide control is about 923 Kg/ha (kilogram per hectacre)which is way above the national average of 570 Kg/ha. The main region affected is the Malwa region which comprises  of mainly, Faridkot, Moga, Muktar, Ferozpur, Sangur and Mansa which grow mainly Cotton. When cotton

was affected by the American cotton ball pest, the crops were subjected to almost 15 strong pesticides. This value clearly indicates the level of carcinogenic matter present in the region. Presently it is indeed sad to know that even the ground water has become unfit for drinking and irrigation.

It is first necessary for all the people to know the implications of these deadly pesticides and of course reduce their usage for a healthy future.

Its our future and we need to brighten it up with innovations. We have to come up with ideas which would the change the situation of this soil and of course as a result our earth. :)

Killers of silence !

My next blog in the series 'With a cause !! :)' will be about the effect of pesticides and insecticides.

First of all I thought, the topic can be given as 'Shiva or Yama' through which I wanted to imply that these chemicals which were initially used for destroying have turned out to be killers. This has become a worrisome change.

Coming to the point, lets see what are these chemicals and what are they being used for.
Each crop has a particular pest which hinders its growth. These pests can either be microbes or insects. To prevent the attack of these organisms on the plants, many chemicals are being used. These chemicals are called as pesticides and insecticides.

Eventhough these insecticides and pesticides have a positive impact i.e. it increases the growth of the plant by killing the unwanted organisms. It has 100s of negative impacts or the aftermath effects of these chemicals are numerous.

Let us look at a few suitable examples:

• During the 1930s, when the dutch elm disease struck the tall towering elm trees, the US government started praying the trees with DDT a powerful chemical which killed the Elm beetle. The aftermath effects were disastrous. The DDT killed almost one-third of the bald eagles in US

• The insecticides methyl parathion has been found to interfere with the legume-rhizobium chemical phenomenon. Reduction in this symbiotic relationship in turn results a decrease in nitrogen fixation and in turn a reduction in crop yield. But we need to remember that this root nodule formation saves the world economy almost $10 billion in synthetic nitrogen fertilizer every year.

Most of these chemicals are non water soluble and are hence carried away from one place to another easily. These chemicals mainly have three important characteristics namely persistence, bio accumulation and toxicity.

These are not degraded easily by physical and chemical phenomenon which renders them to be persistent in nature. These chemicals are also called as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Bio accumulation is the accumulation of hazardous chemicals along the food chain. It is estimated that bio accumulation at higher levels of the food chain is 70,000 more hazardous in nature.

The problems caused by these chemicals are numerous. These chemicals render the soil almost useless devoid of nutrients and kill the earthworms which help in composting. Mot of these chemicals are found to be carcinogenic in nature (cancer causing). In the case of pregnant women, these chemicals result in diseased newborns. Eventhough some chemicals like DDT and Endosulfan are banned throughout the world, it is not banned in our country raising questions regarding the health of people in this country.

It is found that India is the largest producer and consumer of endosulfan and an entire village Kasargod in Kerala is affected where even the ground water remains polluted. The aftermath effects are very bad which include deaths, deformed babies, many cancer affected people and so on.

It is indeed saddening to know that there is a train called ‘cancer train’ which runs from Bathinda in Bikaner in Rajasthan. This train is crowded with cancer patients seeking treatment in Bikaner. Ever since green revolution started in India, the yield has increased and at the same time, the effects of these chemicals have also increased

Punjab to

.

By understanding the effects of these chemicals, we need to look out for some alternatives like the organic farming otherwise the land will be unfit for use with a lot of diseased people.

The wealth of the country is not based on money, but based on it health of people and natural beauty. :)

Project Ganga :)

Till now we had conservation projects like 'Project tiger', 'Project Rhino' and so on. Now time has come for the people to come up with a conservation project like 'Project Ganga'.

We all know that since the ancient days, The Ganges has been considered to be sacred river.
This river is so sacred that it washes away all our sins.

Let us know see how much our sacred and pure river has been polluted by us:
According to mythology, The Ganga is so pure that it flows down from Lord Shiva's head since the earth couldn't bear the direct force of the river. The present state of this  river is very horrible. As people do believe that they get 'Moksha' after their death, dead bodies are thrown into the river. People consider this as an easy way for disposal. According to many reliable sources, The Ganges is considered to home for as many as 100 different species of fishes and 50 different species of amphibians most of which are Endemic to our country. This is the largest river in India spanning about 2520 km with its source in the 'Gangothri Glacier' in Uttarakhand. The river is considered to be an Embodiment of sacredness. 


While reading about the greatness of this river, I came across these verses from the Gangashtakam

"O Mother! ... Necklace adorning the worlds!
Banner rising to heaven!
I ask that I may leave of this body on your banks,
Drinking your water, rolling in your waves,
Remembering your name, bestowing my gaze upon you."

These lines indeed gives us an idea on how pure the river was considered.

But these days, the situation is just the opposite.

According to human nature, the settlement takes place wherever there is ease of transportation of basic amenities like water, food, etc. Like wise the human settlement started near the river and grew to the extent that today, The Ganga river basin has the largest population than any other river basin in the whole world

with about 400 million people and it is estimated that more than 20,00,000 bathe everyday in this holy river. The situation becomes worse during the times of Kumbh Mela where people from all over the world come all the way to take a dip in this holy river. Even this problem can be considered as negligible when it comes to the amount of garbage being dumped into the river and the untreated sewage being poured into the river. The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and the Biological Oxygen Demand ( BOD ) values are increasing at a rapid rate making the water unfit for even drinking.

So we need to sit and think. When our country has been gifted with flora and fauna, our actions are such that we tend to destroy them a lot. Are we faithful to the beautiful nature ? definitely not. We have to open our eyes and see the world in a wider perspective so that we can have a better future. This problem of river pollution is prevalent not only in India but throughout the world. We need to take steps to tackle this problem to have a prosperous future.

The wealth of a country as generally seen in a layman's perspective is the richness of flora and fauna. So let us all make our country richer :)