Noise Pollution - Emergency DG Sets at Sector-18, NOIDA

Minamata Convention - Primary Zinc metallurgical industries worldwide

About 90% of world’s total zinc output is produced from zinc sulphide concentrates through conventional hydro-metallurgical route i.e. Roast – Leach – Electro-win (RLE) process.

These zinc sulphide concentrates invariably contain varying amounts of mercury. [Pls. refer click: http://www.slideshare.net/prchandna/zinc-smelter-concept-note page 19]

The pre-requisite condition of zinc metal extraction from sulphide concentrate through a hydro-metallurgical process route is the elimination of its sulphur content in order to make it amenable to further treatment by leaching and then electro-winning processes.

This is predominately accomplished by roasting of zinc sulphide concentrates in fluid bed roasters and the fixation of SO₂ bearing off – gases thus generated as sulphuric acid by double contact process.

1 (One) tonne of Zinc metal co-produces approximately 1.8 (One point eight) tonnes of Sulphuric acid. [Please refer click:  http://www.slideshare.net/prchandna/zinc-smelter-concept-note page 18].

The present zinc production capacities in India have grown in geometric proportion to One million tonnes per annum in the past one decade.

The bye-product Sulphuric Acid thus produced at zinc smelters are utilized to produce phosphoric acids, which is further used for production of various types of fertilizers.

During roasting operations at 1000-1100 °C, almost all the mercury contents of the zinc sulphide concentrate fed to roasters gets volatilized and carried along with the SO₂ bearing off-gases, which is further converted to Sulphuric Acid manufacture.

Unless, the well proven technologies, which are already available worldwide, are installed and operated religiously by the Zinc metallurgical industries in the country, to remove and recover the mercury contained in the zinc sulphide concentrate fed into these smelters, all the mercury metal is compulsorily entering into fertilizers [entering the food chain] and are being served to us on our plates starting every day morning at breakfast till at dinner, subjecting all of us to mercury poisoning – a well-known disease ‘MINAMATA’.

View these Videos:  
Mercury Poisoning- The Minamata Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihFkyPv1jtUThe Minamata Disease Truth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdKG1Y2XFN0

Better Leaders + Better Governance = Better Democracy.

1.    Today India strives for: Better Leaders + Better Governance = Better Democracy.

Noise Pollution - It's time for Action

In continuation to our article on Noise Pollution here. It's high time that the Pollution Control boards and Police in India should wake up from the long slumber.

Just because we cannot see noise pollution doesn’t mean we can turn a blind eye to it. Environmental Noise regulation needs updating right away.  

European Commissions Noise pollution report proves it’s time for action. An interesting read at:  
http://www.eeb.org/index.cfm/news-events/news/commissione28099s-noise-pollution-report-proves-ite28099s-time-for-action/

Ten Questions for Congress

Reproduced below is my mail to Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Coordinator, Election Related Affairs, Indian National Congress.

My criterion for evaluation of the present government.

----- Original Message -----

From: P R Chandna

To: Jairam Ramesh

Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 9:07 AM

Subject: TEN QUESTIONS

Dear Mr. Jairam,

In continuation to my e-mail as below, I am giving below ten questions for you to provide me with the answers.

TEN QUESTIONS

1.                How would your party align with the people at bottom of the pyramid?

2.                How would your party engage yourself with people at the ”Bottom of Pyramid”?

3.                What are your policies to provide good education to their children?

4.                What are your policies to provide jobs to them?

5.                How would your party going to provide wellness facilities to them?

6.                What policies of your party would provide a good quality life to them?

7.                How would your party empower women

8.                What are your policies to attract 400 million youth under 25 years in the country?

9.                How would you align & engage with these youths?

10.          How would you provide to them corruption less & transparent environment for them to develop & grow fearlessly in the country?

In case your party can answer these questions favorably, you are the wineer.

With Best Regards

P R CHANDNA

----- Original Message -----

From: P R Chandna

To: Jairam Ramesh

Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 5:55 PM

Subject: Re: Five Big Questions on the BJP's Manifesto of Omission

Dear Mr. Jairam Ramesh,

Good work done will always speaks. However, you need to caution yourself wrt the recent financial crisis and the reasons there off. In case you are able to address these issues then rest assured for the results. You need to keep your eyes on the " Bottom of the Pyramid" and they will take care of you.

All the best and keep it up.

With Best Regards

Your's

Pushkar

----- Original Message -----

From: Jairam Ramesh

To: prchandna@hotmail.com

Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 8:02 AM

Subject: Five Big Questions on the BJP's Manifesto of Omission

Dear Friend,

I hope you have had a chance to glance through our Party's manifesto that I sent you earlier.

While you make your important voting decision, I wanted to bring to your attention five big unanswered questions in BJP's election manifesto 2009.

Question 1: Will the BJP abolish the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) scheme that is providing employment to crores of poor households across the country, while generating tangible public assets?

Question 2: Why is the BJP manifesto silent on the role of the public sector? Is it because it wants to continue its policy of indiscriminate and non-transparent privatization by stealth?

Question 3: Why is the BJP's manifesto bereft on any ideas on industrial development? Is the BJP intellectually bankrupt on ideas for the industrial development of India?

Question 4: Does the BJP have any tangible plan on agricultural loan waiver beyond the vague statement .Waive Agricultural Loans. that adorn its manifesto? Or is it promising to do something that the Congress-led UPA government has already done?

Question 5: How exactly does the BJP propose to .improve upon the POTA.? What more will it do that goes beyond the strong anti-terror law . the amended UAPA . that the Congress-led UPA government has already enacted?

We believe that these questions must be answered by the BJP in order that the electorate has a clearer choice. The attached link is a short note on these unanswered questions.

5 Big questions on the BJP Manifesto

Please feel free to share this document with others, in order to generate informed discussion and decision-making.

Best Regards,
Jairam Ramesh
Coordinator, Election Related Affairs,
Lok Sabha Elections 2009, Indian National Congress
jairam@congress.org.in

जिंदगी

हमने जिसे देखा, काश वो धुंध न होती |

हमने जिसे छुआ, काश वो प्रतिबिम्ब न होती |

हमने जिसे गले लगाया, काश वो रेत का पुतला न होती |

हम जिसके पीछे हो लिए, काश वो मृगतृष्णा न होती | |

Noise Pollution - “How much we ignore it”

Noise pollution – it’s strange to think how much it affects every one of us whether rich or poor; young or old; men or women; drivers or pedestrian or Minster or a worker; there is hardly any escape from such ubiquitous noise pollution. Noise pollution is making NOIDA/Delhi and any other Metros audibly intolerable places to live in. I am very sure that our brethren dwellers from various other urban and semi-urban cities worldwide would also have the similar experiences and predicament to narrate. Noise pollution in our country is emerging as a major threat not only to individual health but also to social harmony and well-being and has both economic and societal consequences.

Pause and ponder how much we IGNORE IT.

A decade ago, on 14^th February 2000, the Union ministry for environment and forests (MoEF) enacted the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, but was hardly ever holistically implemented. The Act recognizes that there is “increasing ambient noise levels in public places from various sources, inter alia, industrial activity, construction activity, generator sets, loudspeakers, public address systems, music systems, vehicular horns and other mechanical devices” and further states that these have “deleterious effects on human health and the psychological well-being of the people”. Consequently, the government also considered it “necessary to regulate and control noise producing and generating sources with the objective of maintaining the ambient air quality standards in respect of noise”. As per this Act; the ambient air quality standards in respect of noise for different areas/zones have been specified below:

Ambient Air Quality Standards in respect of Noise

Area Code	Category of Areas/ Zone	Limits in dB(A) Leq *
		Day Time	Night Time
(A)	Industrial Area	75	70
(B)	Commercial Area	65	55
(C)	Residential Area	55	45
(D)	Silence Zone	50	40

Notes:

1.             Day time shall mean from 6.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m.

2.             Night time shall mean from 10.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m.

3.             Silence zone is defined as an area comprising not less than 100 metres around hospitals, educational institutions and courts. The silence zones are zones which are declared as such by the competent authority.

4.             Mixed categories of areas may be declared as one of the four above mentioned categories by the competent authority.

* dB(A) Leq denotes the time weighted average of the level of sound in decibels on scale A which is relatable to human hearing.

A - "Decibel" is a unit in which noise is measured.

"A", in dB(A) Leq, denotes the frequency weighting in the measurement of noise and corresponds to frequency response characteristics of the human ear.

Leq : It is an energy mean of the noise level, over a specified period.

The Act empowers State Governments to take measures for abatement of noise including noise emanating from vehicular movements and ensure that the existing noise levels do not exceed the ambient air quality standards specified under these rules. The authority has been made responsible for the enforcement of noise pollution control measures and the due compliance of the ambient air quality standards in respect of noise. The law also empowers the local police station officer to take action whenever complaints are received. It is, however, not often common public is compelled to come forward to approach the police.

The problem of noise pollution act presently is more concerned with how it impacts public well-being, rather than how it affects the wallet. However, there has been a study by OECD, an international organization helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalized economy, which reports on the social costs from transport noise:

• Lower property values.
• Health care costs can spiral when dealing with loss of sleep, hearing problems or stress.
• Affecting one’s work income due to poor concentration, communication difficulties or fatigue due to insufficient rest.

Ever since the liberalization of 1991, the economic activities in the country have grown at pace, which has also accelerated the growth of automobile, and maintains at double digit figures. The number of vehicle on the road have increased exponentially and contributing to intolerable noise pollution, if left uncontrolled will grow monstrously beyond the control and our society will have to pay dearly.

The decibel the noise pollution has already reached levels which doesn’t need any substantiations; these video clippings of traffic on a road having a hospital and two schools – which comes under “Silence Zone”; uploaded at the web site ‘Youtube’ at the following URLs, speaks volumes:

 

What  is shockingly evident from above videos is that it does not boggle our minds. 

We usually do not think and does not want to think about these matters.

Recently, during March 2011, MoEF has initiated an action of monitoring the noise levels in various cities and 35 numbers of real time ambient noise monitoring systems (five each in seven cities of India, viz., Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore) have been installed in phase – I and during phase – II another 35 will be installed in this year [2011] in the same seven cities. The phase – III; 90 more monitoring stations in 25 cities, are scheduled for installation next year.

The statistically relevant result will take few more years to initiate a policy decision and the actual implementation will hopefully take another few more years and surely another decade will elapse by that time, some of us will definitely lying peacefully under the grave. It is a well known fact that almost (100%) of private buses, CVs, SUVs, etc., gets fitted with Pressure Horns immediately on taking deliveries. A simple conventional noise monitoring methods, as above, can immediately predict existing noise levels for taking an immediate prudent strong willed decision to initiate administrative actions for mitigation of ubiquitous noise pollution.

It is thus imperative from the foregoing that the individual estrangement caused by the noise pollution can have negative and harmful societal and economic consequences and it’s high time that government should take immediate steps to completely ban manufacture, supply/selling and installation of Pressure Horns in all types of motor vehicle to mitigate the nuisance of Noise Pollution and the laws are implemented as strictly as air pollution norms and ban of plastic bags are being implemented.

Furthermore, as a long term solutions awareness programmes should also be launched country wide, looping in the NGOs, media, schools & colleges and others to sensitize the public on the problems of vehicular and all other sources of noise pollution and take them out from syndrome of habitual honking and noise making.

“When I read P.R. Chandna’s article on Noise Pollution, I was cheering loudly (but still within limits).", - A Review by Dr. Charles M. Savage, President & Mentor, Knowledge Era Enterprises International, Munich,Germany
Web Pages: http://www.kee-inc.com/; http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=32529&locale=en_US&trk=tyah

Click Here to Read The paper: IMCI, Delhi - 50th ABCeMag

श्रद्धा विश्वाश

श्रद्धाविश्वाश - याभ्यां विना न पश्यन्ति  सिद्धा: स्वान्त: स्थ्मी श्र्व्रम || - श्री रामचरितमानस 

 

श्रद्धा और विश्वाश ही है जिनके बिना सिद्धजन अपने अन्त:करण में स्थित इश्वर को नहीं देख सकते ||

Guidelines for declaration of Eco- Senstive zones around National parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries

Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has issued a Guidelines for declaration of Eco-Sensitive zones around National parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, based on the decision taken by the National Board of Wildlife. These guidelines have been framed to facilitate the States/ Union Territory Governments for declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.

It is available at their site here. http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Guidelines%20for%20Eco-Sensitive%20Zone.pdf

Introduction of Derivative Contracts on Foreign Stock Indices

SEBI has issued a circular which permit Stock Exchanges to introduce derivative contracts (Futures and Options) on foreign stock indices in the equity derivatives segment. This circular comes into force from today. It is available on SEBI website Click Here: at http://www.sebi.gov.in/circulars/2011/cirdnpd022011.pdf

Eligibility Criteria: The minimum market capitalization mandated is USD 100 billion and the stock exchange may introduce derivatives on a twenty four foreign stock index if the derivatives on that Index is available. Index should be is “broad based”, that is, the Index consists of a minimum of 10 constituent stocks and no single constituent stock has more than 25% of the weight, computed in terms of free float market capitalization, in the Index.

Trading in derivatives on Foreign Stock Indices shall be restricted to residents in India.