• UK paper carried Shivaji news on Page 1
• Is this the new mission link?
• NDA cadets to sail "Tarangini" at high seas
• RIL donates Rs. 11 crore for Bihar flood relief
• Nation's first community reserve biosphere comes up in Arunachal Pradesh
• Rich global Indians waking up to philanthropy
• Leander Paes wins mix doubles
• At least 3 million affected by deadly floods in India and Nepal, UN reports

• How safe is your deposit
• Why Kosi changed from cat to tiger
• Dr.Naresh Kumar Trehan, the 'heartbeat' of India
• India seeks tougher laws to tackle NRI divorce, desertion
• India for regional cooperation in fighting poverty, diseases
• Indian-born among Britain's new-age charity workers
• Punjab develops method to preserve green fodder for lean months
• Killer Kosi could leave Bihar barren
• Mukesh, Anil Ambani among world's most powerful people

Most Indians feel that bank deposits are the safest haven for their savings. Over 85% of Indians keep their savings in cash, be it in banks or at home, claims the Max New York Life-NCAER study released this year. Most Indians feel that bank deposits are the safest haven for their savings. Over 85% of Indians keep their savings in cash, be it in banks or at home, claims the Max New York Life-NCAER study released this year. Another study by IIMS Dataworks shows that 87% of Indians believe the government guarantees the safety of their deposits. While the government has indeed played a guardian angel to ailing banks over the years, did you know that only Rs 1 lakh of your deposits are insured if your bank goes bust? Besides, the government might have to rethink its role as the chances of a bank folding up have gone up in the past few years. The wave of mergers and acquisitions expected after 2009, when the sector is opened to foreign banks, is also likely to complicate matters. The best recourse then is to be aware of your rights and use the following tips to circumnavigate the insurance limit.

What does the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) do?
If a bank fails, the DICGC insures each depositor up to Rs 1 lakh for deposits that are payable in India. So if you have Rs 70,000 in fixed deposits, Rs 25,000 in a savings account and Rs 20,000 in a current account, all in the same bank, and it sinks, you will lose Rs 15,000. All commercial banks in India, including branches of foreign banks, as well as most cooperative banks, are included in the DICGC net.

Does the DICGC insure only the principal deposit or the accrued interest too?
The cover includes the principal and interest held by an individual on the date of the bank's liquidation or the date that the merger/reconstruction comes into force. But if the principal is over Rs 1 lakh, the accrued interest is not insured.

When is the corporation liable to pay up?
As per the existing laws, the DICGC has to settle all claims within two months from the day it receives the claim list from the bank. But due to the clause that says the claims can be settled only after the bank winds up operations, the process stretches indefinitely. Over Rs 400 crore of depositors' money is stuck in liquidated banks (not including 2007-8 cases). Now the National Consumer Commission has suggested amendments to ensure speedy refunds.

How can you make your deposits more secure?
The rule of thumb is, never put all your eggs in one basket.
Spread your wealth in different types of accounts. For example, apart from a savings account, consider a business account. Each account will be insured separately. If you have a current account in your name, consider a joint account for your savings deposit. Joint accounts are insured independently of any individually owned deposits. Park the money in different banks, not exceeding Rs 1 lakh in each. The accounts in the name of different family members will be eligible for separate insurance. Even with these strategies, the deposit insurance system compares poorly with that in the US, where a depositor is entitled to Rs 43.6 lakh per bank.

Courtesy: www.indiainfoline.com, September 24, 2008

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The legendary Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji's writ prevailed to such an extent that a UK newspaper, The London Gazette, carried front page news on the firebrand emperor, as far back as 1672. This piece of information was unraveled by an electronics engineer from Pune, Sayali Palande Datar, who came across the reports at the British library in London, in the course of a research on the Maratha ruler. Shivaji had founded the Maratha Empire in western India in 1664. The report mentions him as Sevagee the rebel, who had beaten the mighty Moghuls and even displayed boldness by threatening the Europeans (mainly from the East India Company) in Surat (spelt Suratte) in Gujarat asking them to deposit vast sums of money with him. The report says that because of Shivaji's sway over his area, even the baniyas (the trading community) were escaping towards "south' (meaning Bombay) and setting up business there. It describes Bombay as a lucrative place to do trade. The news provides insight into why the East India Company shifted base to Bombay. The publication carries vast collection of newspapers and reports on major events in Shivaji's life, his son Sambhaji, the Moghul Emperor Aurangzeb, Shayista Khan (whom Aurangzeb had sent with a large army to defeat Shivaji) and the Europeans in India who were planning to make use of Khan's closeness to the Moghuls to do trade in the country. Having obtained a diploma in Indology and a BA in Sanskrit, Sayali is, at present, learning Persian and is planning to study the changing western perspective of India.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, September 22, 2008

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The proposed repair of the breach in the Kosi that has submerged northern Bihar will leave vast areas still vulnerable to intense flooding, environmental activists and engineers have warned. Water resources ministry officials had last week hatched a plan to plug the breach using boulders, polypropylene sheets and sandbags after slightly diverting the river's flow to allow the repair work. But experts cautioned that creating a short segment of new embankment at the site of the breach would only leave long stretches of aging embankments on both sides of the river as vulnerable to future floods as before. "A river such as Kosi with an enormous volume of water cannot be tamed with embankments," said Rajiv Sinha, professor of engineering geosciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The volume of water in the Kosi in the months after the monsoon is sometimes 40 times its discharge before the monsoon, Sinha said. The embankments built on either side of the Kosi during the 1950s and 1960s to protect several thousand square kilometres of northern Bihar and Nepal had a typical lifespan of 25 or 30 years, Sinha said. "They were never envisaged as a long-term solution." The Kosi also carried such high loads of sediments that at some points along the embankment, they had raised the riverbed even higher than the adjoining land, according to a fact-finding team that had visited stretches of the Kosi in Bihar in March this year. Instead of protecting the land from floods, these embankments contributed to increasing the flood-prone area in Bihar from 2.5 million hectares in the 1950s to 6.8 million hectares now, the team said in a report released today. Experts said the embankments and the rising sediment levels had combined to dramatically reduce the space for water, increasing the chance of breaches at dilapidated points along the embankments. "Caging Kosi has made a tiger out of a cat, making the river ferocious and unpredictable," the report by environmental activists Gopala Krishna and Sudhirendar Sharma, two members of the fact-finding team, said. The embankments had prevented the Kosi from distributing its annual silt load of about 92 million cubic metres into areas on either side of the river and improving soil fertility there. Instead, they contributed to waterlogging in the low-lying areas on the two sides of the river by preventing natural drainage from the area. "The embankments have had a disastrous impact. The breaches cause floods, and even when there's no flood, there's permanent waterlogging in the low-lying areas on the sides of the river," Krishna said.

Courtesy: www.telegraphindia.com, September 13, 2008

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An Indo-British team of scientists has made a unique discovery in the Western Ghats - an amphibian whose offspring develop as foetuses inside the body, instead of within eggs. It is the first 'viviparous' (those that do not lay eggs) creature to be found in Asia. The discovery could help explain how reptiles evolved into mammals. Another peculiar characteristic of the legless amphibian, named Gegeneophis seshachari, is that its newborns eat their mother's skin instead of drinking milk. A study of the amphibian has been published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, by David Gower of London's Natural History Museum, Varad Giri of the Bombay Natural History Society, and Mahesh Dharne and Yogesh Shouche from the National Centre for Cell Science, Pune. "The new analyses suggest that live-bearing [foetus, instead of eggs] evolved in this type of reptiles independently at least four times from egg-laying ancestors, which is remarkable. This demonstrates that this group of animals can offer a clue to the evolution of reproductive biology," said Gower. "The babies of some egg-laying species peel off and eat the enriched outer layer of their mothers' skin. These animals have specialised teeth that are used for scraping off and eating nutrient-rich layers of their mothers' oviducts before they are born," added Giri. "It will explain how reptiles evolved into mammals," he said, adding, "Climate and security of the progeny seem to be the main reasons. This species was found in the northern part of the Western Ghats, which is drier, making it difficult for eggs to survive," he said.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, September 13, 2008

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Dr. Naresh Kumar Trehan, the renowned personality in the medical world, is today viewed as a pioneer in the field of cardiology in India. He is a renowned cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon. Earlier, Dr. Trehan was the Executive Director and Chief Cardiovascular Surgeon of the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre for 20 years. Over the years, he has made a tremendous difference in public opinion about heart ailments. "Large number of Indians used to come to me in New York for coronary bypass surgery as this branch of surgery had not developed in India till then. Everyone would ask me why didn't I come back to India? I thought that if at all I have to return to India, I wouldn't go just for practice," Dr. Naresh Trehan, the cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon, narrated. "I had some great plans to develop cardiac surgery in India, as I came from an academic background at New York University. The plans included bringing in the best cardiac treatment in India, to arrange for better training of doctors in India along with pioneering new research projects with a special focus on Indian patients," he added. Dr. Naresh tells that the first step to achieve his objectives was the establishment of Escorts Heart Institute in collaboration with Mr. H P Nanda. The project started in 1981 and completed in 1988, and that's when he returned. "When I came back, the facilities for me to get started were already established and it was a great homecoming. We assembled a great team of cardiac surgeons in the world. We tried many new procedures and therapies," said Dr. Naresh Trehan. Great thing about Punjabis is that we are perhaps the best suited for heart surgery. We Punjabis have stamina and toughness to stand the pressure of heart surgery. The pressure of heart surgery is tremendous. It takes a lot of guts and responsibility because the patient will either live or die in our hands. He says that the study shows that there are 3 endemic states in India- Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab. The people of these states are twice at a greater risk when compared to others. It's no mystery why it is so. Punjabis often relish foods like Bhaturas, Lassi, fried food and heavily sweet deserts. "To add to it all, many of them drink (alcohol) too. That's precisely why I say Punjabis are at a great risk of confronting heart disorders," Naresh warns. He says that the Indian medical system has some of the biggest challenges to meet. The biggest of all is the question of providing healthcare at different levels to different people so that nobody is denied healthcare. "This is what I am trying to do in my next project. My new venture at the Medicity is an attempt is to create world's best facilities and offer them at affordable costs. Another need that I am trying to look at is the development of more rural and mid-level health projects," Dr. Naresh Trehan informed. Presently, Dr. Trehan is the Senior Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon at Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi and also Chairman, Global Health Private Limited (popularly known as Medicity Gurgaon). Dr. Trehan has received many prestigious awards, including the coveted Padma Shree and the Padma Bhushan Awards.

Courtesy: www.yahoo.com, September 12, 2008

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A sailing expedition by the officers and cadets of National Defence Academy (NDA), to a few Indian Ocean Region countries on board a Sail Training Ship 'Tarangini' is scheduled to take place from September 21 to November 24. The INS Tarangini, the Indian Navy's Sail Training Barque, will be used for this expedition. It is custom-built for sail training of officers and cadets. Built at the Goa Shipyard Limited, Vasco da Gama, Tarangini is the only sailing ship to be commissioned into the Indian Navy on 11 November 1997, and is based at Kochi under Southern Naval Command. The ship is built for long voyages and can be deployed at sea continuously for a period of over 20 days. She is 54 metres long and carries 18 sails with a sail area of almost 1000 square metres. The sailing expedition will provide the cadets an opportunity to interact with officers and cadets of other countries and also go a long away in projecting the ethos of this great institution. It will also provide them an ideal platform to gain first hand experience of the vagaries at sea and foster character virtues of courage, comradeship and endurance. INS Tarangini would be flagged off for the sailing expedition by Vice Admiral S.K. Damle AVSM, NM, VSM the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief Southern Naval Command from Kochi on September 21. The ship will visit the ports of Salalah (Oman), Port Victoria (Seychelles), Male (Maldives) and Colombo (Sri Lanka) before culminating at Kochi on November 24. She will traverse a distance of 4900 nautical miles in 65 days. Two officers and 60 cadets in two groups will take part in the expedition. These cadets shall undergo a training capsule for one week duration on board the ship prior to setting sail for the voyage. One officer and 30 cadets will undertake first half of the voyage from Kochi till Seychelles, where they will be replaced by the second batch of cadets who will sail rest of the voyage. Major General B.S. Grewal, Deputy Commandant and CI of the Academy shall be accompanying the cadets in the last leg of the voyage from Colombo to Kochi.

Courtesy: www.yahoo.com, September 12, 2008

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In view of the increasing number of cases where NRI husbands deserting their Indian brides were being easily let off by overseas authorities, the government has decided to hold discussion on the legalities of the issue with local authorities in five countries. The decision was arrived during a inter-ministerial meeting participated by Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vyalar Ravi, Minister of state for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury and representations from Ministry of Law and Justice, National Commission for Women, National Human Rights Commission and state governments of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. Earlier an inter-ministerial sub-committee recommended that the team of Indian officials from these ministries should hold talks with USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand where the problem of desertion of Indian women were most acute. "There are country specific legalities that need to be studied first. Thereafter, some changes or enhancing some clauses to curb the problem in these countries can be recommended after sensitising their local authorities about the problem of desertion of Indian brides," Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), K Mohandas told PTI.

He added that to achieve the desired results, Indian embassies in these five countries are also being engaged on the issue and Indian officials would also travel abroad if required. The recommendation was accepted by the committee on observation that it is very easy to seek for and get a divorce in these countries. The team comprising officials from Ministries of Overseas Indian Affairs, External Affairs, Law and Justice, Women and Child Development also wants to propose an agreement to assist deserted Indian women in these countries. A final nod from the Cabinet is now awaited as the proposal has been sent for seeking a political consent by the inter-ministerial committee. Once cleared, the team in assistance with Indian Embassies would establish contact with local authorities in these countries. While members from the Women and Child Development ministry would document pending cases in courts of these countries, the Law and Justice team would study local regulations and assist the MOIA in framing suitable strategies for protecting the future of Indian brides. Taking a number of steps in view of the rising incidents of Indian women being deserted by their NRI husbands, the government had already launched a scheme to provide legal assistance of USD 1,000 to deserted Indian wives for defending their cases abroad. "With the launch of the scheme, both the MOIA and Indian Embassies are now better placed to tackle the issue. Going by our experience of the scheme, the need for putting in place a suitable legal interference was felt," the MOIA official said. The government had also mooted the idea of a common marriage registration form that would require NRI grooms to provide their social security number, passport particulars and labour ID card details so that they could be tracked and detected in cases of desertion.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, September 12, 2008

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The Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited on Wednesday announced a donation of Rs. 11 crore to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for flood victims in Bihar. Handing over the cheque to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Nita Ambani, chairperson of the Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation, reiterated the company's resolve to partner the State in alleviating the suffering of the people and helping in future relief and rehabilitation efforts. Given the scale of the disaster, companies need to extend a helping hand to the Bihar government as well as the agencies involved with relief efforts, she said.Ms. Ambani hoped the funds would be utilised to check epidemics and provide preventive vaccination to all, especially the children and the old people.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, September 11, 2008

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India on Monday sought regional cooperation in overcoming the challenges posed by poverty and diseases, which are likely to aggravate owing to climate change. The appeal was made External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee while inaugurating the 26th meeting of the Ministers of Health and the 61st session of the World Health Organisation Regional Committee for South East Asia here. Mr. Mukherjee said that while there was remarkable improvement in the infant and maternal mortality rates in the country, the goals were still far from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "The challenges are stupendous and we have to overcome them." While suggesting inter-sectoral convergence to achieve the desired MDG outcomes, he called for cooperation between the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the South East Asia Region countries under the World Health Organisation in the health sector.

Anbumani's call
The proposed SAARC Development Fund, mooted at the 14th SAARC meet in Colombo, could be used for setting up blood banks, supplying vaccines and creating storage facilities and capacity building. These facilities would be implemented shortly and India had started the telemedicine system facility to Bhutan and Sri Lanka from a super speciality hospital and the same would be extended to the other member countries too. Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said public health was paramount to any country. The region was populous and prone to the vagaries of nature. He cited the recent cyclone havoc in Myanmar and floods in Nepal and Bihar. Expressing empathy with the flood-affected people, he said the need of the hour was to ensure dignity and quality healthcare to them. India, he said, continued to shape the global public health agenda. Promoting yoga and discouraging smoking and drinking were high on the agenda of the government. Besides enhancing the Gross Domestic Product on health and other related determinants, the focus was on the National Rural Health Mission for improving primary healthcare, reproductive and child healthcare and controlling communicable diseases. Dr. Ramadoss said India was ready to offer any help in dealing with climate change issues in the region. WHO Director General Margaret Chan and the world body's Regional Director for South East Asia, Samlee Plianbangchang, appreciated India's efforts in dealing with the flood situation in Bihar. During the session, the Public Health Foundation of India and the Health and Family Welfare Ministry will organise the first National Advocacy Workshop on Tobacco Control Laws and Related Issues on September 9 and 10. Douglas Bettcher, Director of the Tobacco Free Initiative - a campaign under the WHO, will be present for the meetings. He is a votary of a total ban on tobacco advertising to prevent young people from smoking and chewing tobacco. The Initiative was established in July 1998 to focus international attention, resources and action on the global tobacco epidemic. Its objective is to reduce the global burden of diseases and death caused by tobacco, thereby protecting present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, September 09, 2008

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Called the 'Land of the Rising Sun' Arunachal Pradesh is known for its rich bio-diversity and natural beauty. And, to conserve nature's gifts, the Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh has taken an initiative to create a community biosphere reserve here. Claimed to be first of its kind in India, this community biosphere aims to preserve the tribe's pristine environment and promote tourism in the State. The initiative of the Adi tribe of Simong village has attracted Future Generation, an international NGO to assist them in creating a Community Biosphere Reserve. Nalong Mize, a Board member of the Future Generations Arunachal, said: "Definitely, if eco tourism is there and if it is flourishing, there will be employment generation, the youth and everybody in meaningful activities which means that they will not deviate from other harmful detrimental activities." Omak Apang, a member of the Future Generations, said: "We have to get together and be ready for it. Get the people work together and get them self-employed and then request them to come and invest in Arunachal Pradesh. Otherwise our people have got entrepreneurial skills and they are enterprising too, so we have to explore all this business opportunities." Community Biosphere Reserve is a unique initiative as it is for the first time a tribal community in the country has taken such a step. The aim of the Adi tribe is not only to conserve their environment and traditions through voluntary community action but also to tackle the problem of unemployment by promoting tourism in the region. Pamula, a resident, said: "If the Centre promotes tourism here, problems related to unemployment could be solved." Arunachal Pradesh is known not only for its rich bio diversity but as a centre of Buddhism as well. The 400-year-old Buddhist monastery in Tawang is thronged by hundreds of Buddhist followers and tourists from across the world. The untapped remoteness of Arunachal Pradesh makes it one of the best adventure sports destinations in the country, with the mighty Bhramputra and its tributaries- Lohit and Subansari offering river-rafting expeditions. Located on the strategically important Indo- China border, Arunachal Pradesh is home to more than five hundred different varieties of flora and fauna and has a huge potential to become a major tourist destination in northeast India.

Courtesy: www.yahoo.com, September 07, 2008

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It's not usual for a wealth manager to tell his clients how to give away money their money, but that, says Peter Flavel, global head of Standard Chartered private banking "is what the clients want." Standard Chartered has just set up its focused Global Indian private banking programme for both onshore and offshore HNIs, the second such global programme after one for Australians. To begin with, the programme launches in UK, where Mr Flavel estimates there are 35,000 rich global Indians with more than USD 1 million to invest, that is the base level. Says Mr Flavel, "More wealthy Indians want to do good things with their money, but don't know where to give, or how. We're in a position of being able to provide the service." So philanthropy partnership will be one of the main pillars of Standard Chartered's new Global Indian private banking programme.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, September 07, 2008

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Courtesy: www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, September 07, 2008

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Indian tennis ace Leander Paes stayed on course for a grand double at the US Open when he and Zimbabwe's Cara Black won the mixed doubles crown at the season-ending Grand Slam on Thursday. The fifth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair beat the American-British pairing of Liezel Huber and Jamie Murray 7-6, 6-4 in the final. The triumph increased Paes's tally of Grand Slam crowns to eight. Games went with serve in the first set, which went to the tie-breaker, where Paes and Black fought back from 4-6 down to take the set at 8-6. In the second set, Paes and Black got the crucial break in the fifth game, breaking Murray. They held serve comfortable thereafter to take the set and match. Paes will also figure in the men's doubles final on Friday, when he and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy take on the Bryan twins Mike and Bob of the United States. In 1999, Paes had partnered Mahesh Bhupathi and Lisa Raymond to win the men's doubles and mixed doubles crowns at Wimbledon.

Courtesy: www.daijiworld.com, September 05, 2008

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Punjab agriculture department has developed a novel method to preserve green fodder by making silage and hay to feed the cattle when there is shortage of green fodder around September and October every year. The novel technique recently formulated by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Punjab which has been successfully implemented in the border areas of Amritsar. Due to the sowing of new crops, the scarcity of non-leguminous fodders such as maize, Jowar, Bajra and ryegrass has become real. Traditionally, farmers when faced with the shortage of fodder dry or preserve or buy it at a higher price. As a result both cattle and farmers suffer. Dr. Hazra Singh Cheema, the feed and fodder development expert, said: " It's natural that if animals eat less fodder, their yield of milk too would be reduced. Therefore, it would mean losses for the dairy farmer. So when green fodder is easily available in the market at a reasonable price, it is advisable to store it for later use by pickling it. One can use it when the supply of green fodder is in short supply and when it is heavily priced. As a result of this, the animals' yield is not affected and the dairy farmer also escapes losses." Non-leguminous fodders can be used to make silage (fermented, high-moisture fodder that can be fed to ruminants or cud-chewing animals like cattle and sheep) while surplus leguminous fodders can be used for hay. After cutting the crop at an appropriate stage, the green fodder is chaffed at two to three inches length to make silage. Then it is put into a silo pit (underground chamber for storing grain) and pressed thoroughly, either manually or with tractors. By pressing, an anaerobic condition is created for proper fermentation. Then the pit is covered with a polythene sheet and mud for a period between 40 to 45 days. After the fermentation is complete, the fodder is ready for feeding. Good quality silage is yellowish green in colour and has a distinctive odour. Dr. Hazra Singh Cheema, Feed and fodder development expert, said: "When we make this pickle, the cattle having an anatomy of 4-segment stomach are a greatly benefited. It is so because pickling of fodder results in a chemical process, which converts it into fodder as in the last stage of digestion process. The pH value and lactic acid content of such fodder is equivalent to semi-digested fodder making it easy for the animals to digest." Seeing the positive results more and more farmers are lining up to understand the technicalities involved in the process. Now they preserve more than 10 acres of fodder using this technique. Kabul Singh, a Dairy farmer, said: "This process of fodder pickle helps us a lot. We use this fodder for over five to six months. There are many benefits of such a process. We save on labor and the loss in the yield of milk is also averted." The green fodder preservation technique is not only scientifically advantageous for the cattle but it is also economically cheaper for the farmers, especially for those dairy farmers who buy fodder at high prices during the lean periods. It's a respite for dairy farmers to cope up with the acute shortage of green fodder.

Courtesy: www.yahoo.com, September 05, 2008

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Modern India's worst ever floods continued to eat up vast swathes of farmland in Bihar, with a much larger war to fight: thousands of acres of barren farmland, property squabbles, no cattle to plough the land, and homeless millions. It is the mother of all floods: the river is now 32 kilometres wide. Unlike other rivers which bring fertile silt with them, the soil brought by the Kosi is like poison for the soil of the affected area. The river has been notorious for centuries for destroying the land it touches. "The Kosi brings with it coarse sand and gravel from the upper reaches of the river system … it will make the land almost barren," said Dr. M.A. Khan, a top eastern India official with the Indian Council for Agricultural Research. "It will badly affect the food security of the state, and will take a long time to repair," said Khan, speaking by telephone from Patna. The flooding in the Kosi has submerged 1.1 lakh hectares (2.75 lakh acres) of farmland - that is 1,100 square kilometres, slightly less than the area of New Delhi. At the largest relief camp in Purnea, many of the 2,600 villagers rushed to have their name written on an HT reporter's notebook, hoping that this would help bring back their lost land.

Young men elbowed their way in, announcing their names, and the names of their village, post office and district. Old men folded their hands. Women stood on their toes. Those who don't have barren land will be worse of: their seeds are washed away, they have no fertilisers, thousands of cattle are dead, leaving no way to plough the land in the impoverished area that has small land holdings and can't afford tractors. "This is a matter of very serious concern … There is a saying in those parts: wherever the Kosi goes, not even a blade of grass grows there for 20 years," said Pratyaya Amrit, additional commissioner in the state's disaster management department. World Bank officials met state officers on Tuesday to discuss the issue, and the central government will send a team of agriculture experts in two weeks to assess the road ahead, Amrit said. For many, that does not matter: their land just disappeared. "Where there was my land, there is now the river. I don't know what to do," said Mohammed Wasi, a farmer from Murliganj village, as he stood in a relief camp in Purnea some 75 kilometres from his home. New land will appear elsewhere, on the original course of the river, and revenue officials fear widespread land squabbles. Monsoons are always tough times for northern Bihar, home to 13 crisscrossing rivers. But when the river began changing its course mid-August, it tore down a straight path rather than a meandering curve it had traditionally taken. "India has seen many floods but this is unprecedented … I don't think anything like this has been seen before," said K.M. Singh, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority whose rescuers are saving lives and scooping up survivors in submerged areas. Even as the central and state governments came in for tough criticism for tardy relief work, officials said thousands of soldiers were on the ground. Some 6.5 million people have been evacuated. Thousands of people are choking the 260-odd relief camps across several districts, with long uncertainty before them. "Please write down my name, Sir, I had my wife, three children, six bighas of land, two buffalos and a pair of ox," said Sudarshan Shah, 45, of Murliganj village.

"Now there is just me."

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, September 04, 2008

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More than 3 million people have been uprooted and 60 people killed by the worst flooding to hit north-east India in five decades, the United Nations World