Archive for May 28th, 2008

REVISE THE STANDARDS FOR SAFETY

Wednesday, 28th May, 2008

One of the key issues in achieving water sustainability is the pollution of water resources. Pollution of water resources, particularly the surface water exacerbates water constraints and shortages. Majority of rivers, lakes and seasonal rivulets in the country are today contaminated with the discharge of sewage and effluents.  While the groundwater is largely pure, the leaching of contaminants as pesticide residue and heavy metals is increasingly threatening underground resource too.

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Significant progress has been made with regard to availability of appropriate technology to treat the sewage before it is discharged into the surface water. The standards that prescribe the level of treatment before the sewage is discharged into a water body are also in place. In spite of all these, the surface water bodies remain polluted. The river Yamuna is an example of all efforts to improve the quality of wastewater that went waste.

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The fault lies in adopting standards that do not take into account the total load of a pollutant into the water body. The standard for Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand, which represents the extent of organic pollution in a water body, is fixed at 30mg/l in the country. This means any industry or infrastructure project or municipality has to treat the sewage or effluent to a level of 30mg/l prior to discharging the same to a water body. A water body like a river does not drain a single source of sewage but hundreds of sources. Even if each source of sewage, say every residential colony discharges the sewage in compliance with regulatory standards of 30 mg/l, the cumulative effect of this is responsible for the current state of affairs of rivers.

Therefore, the standards in the developed countries are being revised and are now being based on the Total Maximum Daily Load calculations rather than a source based limit as not a fixed value but a calculated figure based on (1) sum of the allowable loads of each pollutant from all sources (2) variations in flow and (3) a margin of safety to ensure that the water body can be used for its designated purpose.

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RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Wednesday, 28th May, 2008

 

Rajasthan Royals have emerged as one of the strongest cricket team in the ongoing Indian Premier League. There is not any star cricketer accept Shane Warne and Graeme Smith   Prior to the matches the team was being considered to be the weakest team in the IPL This became evident when they lost their first match to Delhi Dare Devils. But they defeated the Kings XI Punjab in the next game and have won the next five matches in a row. They have lost only two games out of thirteen and and have reached the semifinals with highest point tally of 22.

 

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Team is owned by UK based company Emerging Media Its franchise was acquire by the group for $67million, was the lowest bidding price for any team. Shane Warne is the captain and coach of the team. It is the only team in the IPL having a foreigner captain.

 

Warne’s magic is working well as they have kept their winning streak on, accept some debacles in. Captaincy is being praised by all. His aggressiveness has inspired all the players to perform at their best..They have played in a very disciplined manner whether it is the bowling department or the batting department throughout whole of the series. This all has happened under the guidance and leadership of Shane Warne. His crafty tactics have worked a lot in their favour.

 

In the last game they dashed the Mumbai Indians’ hopes of semifinal by scoring a spectacular last ball win over them. The team needed 15 runs in the final over and they won it by scoring two runs off the last ball and also have kept their winning streak on.

 

Chasing the target of 146, Rajasthan Royals had lost five wickets till the end of the 12th over for just 77 runs .When Kamran Akmal (18), Swapnil Asnodkar (17), Shane Watson (18) and Mohammad Kaif (12), all failed, it were Ravindra Jadeja (23 not out) and Niraj Patel (40 not out) who then, bailed the team out of the crisis .They both not only scored required 69 runs but also preserved their unbeaten record at home.

 

 

Sidddharth Trivedi kept, both the Mumbai Indians’ openers, Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya, under control and Sohail Tanvir forced the visiting middle and lower order to dance to his tunes. Both the openers could score only 60 runs from the first 10 overs. Their disciplined bowling attack lead by Sohail Tanvir (4 for 14) and Sidddharth Trivedi (2 for 31) restricted the Mumbai Indians to the score of 145 for 7.

 

Although the Royals team is lacking quality batsmen as compared to the other IPL teams their determination to win, disciplined performance whether it is balling or batting ,and the aggressive captaincy have proved the cricket pundits wrong who had considered it the weakest team in the earlier stages of the IPL.