Communalism : A Threat To Indian National Integrity

July 27, 2008 at 5:12 pm (Social Issues) ()

India is a unique nation in itself. Since the time of the Harappan Civilization, people of different religions and races came over here, and the great soil of India sleltered them all. The bounteous Indian culture adopted all their customs and festivals to and soon they incorporated here. Thus  India used to nourish all kinds of religions and races from the beginning of culture and civilization. Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, Christians and many different religious communities resides in India, having businesses with each other. Everything is so simple and satisfactory untill here. But now a problem named “Communalism” occurs and ruined their easy going life. So, now a question comes before us that what is Communalism ? Who gave it birth, and What for ?

Communalism is originated from a French word “Commune”, which stands for a kind of independent state, and the national government a confederation of such states, having only limited powers. In fact, Communalism describes a broad range of social movements and social theories,       which are in some way centered upon the community. It can take the form of communal living or communal property, among others. It is sometimes said to put the interests of the community above the interests of the individual, but this is usually only done on the principle that the community exists for the benefit of the individuals who participate in it. Very often, Communalism is associated with Anarchism, Socialism, and Communism, particularly with Primitive or Religious Communism. It is a practice of communal living and common ownership i.e. loyalty and commitment to the interests of one’s own minority or ethnic group rather than to society as a whole. Communalism, in many parts of the world, is a modern term that describes a broad range of social movements and social theories which are in some way centered upon the community. But in South Asia, it is used to denote attempts to promote primarily religious stereotypes between groups of people identified as different communities and to stimulate violence between those groups.

In modern India, the term Communalism is related to the violent activities of religious extremists. Now it designates the conflicts not only between extremist religious communities and the people of the same religion, but also between the people of different religions, regions and states. There are historical evidences of the riots, caused by Communalism.  Hindu-Muslim ‘Lat Bhairo’ riots 1809-1811,  ‘Hep Hep’ riots 1819,  Hindu-Muslim ‘Banaras’ and ‘Kanpur’ riots 1931,  ‘Manzilgah’ and ‘Sukkur’ riots 1940,  ‘Kolkata’ Hindu-Muslim riots 1946,  Hindu,Sikhs-Muslim riots 1947 ( During the partition of India and Pakistan ),  Sikh riots 1984,  Mumbai riots 1992,  ‘Wandhama’ massacre 1998 ( 25 Hindu victims ),  Chittisinghpura massacre 2000, Gujarat Hindu-Muslim riots 2002,  ‘Kuluchak’ and ‘Marad’ massacres 2002,  Kherlangi massacre 2006,  Indore Hindu-Muslim riots 2008, are some of the fatal examples of Communalism.

Communalism is a potential threat to the sovereignty, democracy, integrity, and in short the very existence of India. Communalism is a modern day phenomenon – a sectarian, restrictive, and negative response to the process of modern nation building. As Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote, “One must never forget that communalism is a later day phenomenon which has grown up before our eyes.” In a multi-religious society like India the secular interests such as social, cultural, economic and political of one religion are dissimilar with the followers of other religions, and communalism raises its head when the interest of different religions are seen as mutually incompatible, hostile and antagonistic.

It is said that the the foundation of communalism in India was laid by the British think tank, during the British rule over India. Communalism flourished in India and reached monstrous proportions in 1947 under British rule. But British did not create communalism. It only took advantage of socio-economic and cultural differences and amplified those differences to serve their political ends. Hence the British policy of ‘divide and rule’ was planted on an earth made very fertile by those existing differences. Post 1857, British shifted to a policy of ‘concession, counterpoise and coercion’ to accommodate new rising class, to counterbalance strong class and to browbeat recalcitrant class. some of the certain innocuous political trends, though not communal in themselves, obliquely led to its growth. Some tactful reasons as the derision for Congress as Hindu body and fear of majority gobbling up the minority led to the growth of communalism. And the foundation of the communal organizations like All India  Muslim League (1906) and Hindu Mahasabha (1915) provided the gory feast of hatred and mistrust from which communal forces drew their sustenance and balancing justification for each other.

And now after India’s independence communal forces are so deeply indexed in our beliefs, that is is hard to recognize them. This particular manifestation of the contradictions set in motion after independence, lays the objective basis on which the present  concerted offensive by the communal forces has been mounted. The discontent amongst the Indian people, as a result of the crisis of the system,  accumulated over the years, is growing. Discontent is affecting also the expanded and vocal middle class,  drawn more from the former exploiting classes rather than from the upward mobility of the exploited classes.  The domination of the consciousness of the exploiter classes combined with discontent provides fertile soil for the growth of communal ideology.   Exploiting this discontent and on the basis of the perpetuation of backward consciousness, the communal forces are able today to divert this discontent into communal channels in pursuit of their political objective. the communal forces have adopted a two pronged strategy. On the one hand, they seek to generate a sort of a monolithic unity amongst the vast diversity within the community of Indians embracing Hindu religion, and, on the other, they generate  hate against enemies outside of the Hindu faith, i.e. the Muslims and the Christians. The entire propaganda mechanism based on fascist  techniques unleashed by them is to achieve this dual strategy.

As if we talk about the solution of this monsterous problem of communalism in India, we found no easy solution to it. For we have to put a redical change in mentality, and to respect all other religions. We have to try to create a faith in all minor religious communities, that their feelings, faiths, ways, and places of worship would not be tolerated anyway. Respect of their thoughts and customs would arouse it into them. Political parties should keep themselves away from the communal issues, or the issues that enthreat the communalism. This is the only easy way, we can keep our unity and integrity safe and secure.

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Reservation In India : Backward Mentality For Backwards

July 26, 2008 at 12:29 am (Social Issues) ()

Reservation in India is always controversial, and a debate head for all aware and educated paople in India. Although It provides facilities to  a small group of paople, on the basis of caste and religion, yet it also creates dis-satisfaction in a comparetively larger group of the discriminated people. The demand for reservation is spreading like a viral disease among the Indian mass. The most depressing aspect of reservation is that it is going to be a lethal risk for the unity and dignity of India. It is shameful that political parties make it their election agenda for their personal benefits. The demand for reserving seats in jobs, both in government as well as private sector, on the basis of caste, religion, minority and domiscile is increasing day by day, among the Indian mass. The recent Gurjar ( Gujjar ) upheavel in Rajasthan is one of the lustrous example of it. This upheavel was started in Rajasthan in April – May 2008, and soon it spreaded in the whole state like forest conflagration. Very often, Gujjar agitations had come out of Rajasthan, and engulfed Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the National Capital Region. And this was all happening due to the Gurjar community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status in Rajasthan, while it is considerable that Gurjar is one of the major castes in Rajasthan. The upheavel ended with a fine compansation after more than 50 innocent persons died.

The history of the current reservation system goes back to 1882, under the British rule, when Jyotirao Govindrao Phule ( Mahatma Jyotiba Phule ) made a demand of free and compulsory education for all along with poportionate reservation and representation in government jobs. But The demand for reservation of government jobs was made as early as 1891 with an agitation in the princely State of Travancore against the recruitment of non-natives into public service overlooking qualified native people. After that this trend started in the princely states of Baroda, Kolhapur, Maysore and some others, one after another. Reservations were introduced in favour of a number of castes and communities that had little share in the administration by the British in the year of 1908. But the official provisions for reservation were introduced in the Government of India Acts of 1909 and 1919. Communal Reservations were first introduced in Madras Presidency in 1921, in which reservation of 44 percent for non-Brahmins, 16 percent for Brahmins, 16 percent for Muslims, 16 percent for Anglo-Indians and Christians and eight per cent for Scheduled Castes were distributed. This gave breath to communalism in India for the first time. Provisions for clear caste-based reservations were launched by the Government of India Act, 1935. In the same year, Indian National Congress passed a resolution to allocate separate electoral constituencies for depressed classes. Dr. Ambedkar also established the All India Depressed Classes federation and demanded reservations for the Scheduled castes in government services and education.

In 1947, the great year of Indian freedom, the newly implemented constitution of India prohibits discrimination on the grounds caste, race, religion, sex and the place of birth, and provide equality of opportuinity to all Indian citizens. But on the other hand, it contains special clauses for the advancement of any socially and educationally depressed classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Separate constituencies allocated to scheduled castes and tribes to ensure their political representation for 10 years. But susequently this time limit is being extended for every 10 years through various constutional amendments. After the independence of India, many commissions and committees were established to review this situation in which Khalelkar Commission ( 1953 ) and Mandal Commission ( 1979 ) are remarkable. Mandal Commission was established to assess the situation of the socially and educationally backward. Mandal Commission submitted a report in 1980 and recommended changes to the existing quotas, increasing them from 22% to 49.5%. As of 2006 number of castes in Backward class list went up to 2297 which is the increase of 60% from community list prepared by Mandal Commission. Mandal commission recommendations were implemented in Government Jobs in the year of 1990, during the Congress Government. In 1991, Government introduced 10% separate reservation for Poor Among Forward Castes. In 1995, a permitting reservation in promotions to the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes was introduced through constutional amendment.

In the year of 1998, Central Government conducted large nationwide survey for the first time to estimate economical and educational status of various social groups. National surveys indicated that the status of OBC is comparable to Forward castes in many areas. In 2005 reservation ensured to OBC, SC and ST in Private Educational Institutions through the 93rd Constitutional amendment. Reservation was introduced for Other backward classes in Central Government Educational Institutions in the year of 2006. Thus the total reservation went up to 49.5 percent. But the Supreme Court, in 2007, gave stay on OBC reservation in Central Government Educational Institutions. In 208, The Supreme Court upheld the Government’s move for initiating 27% OBC quotas in Government funded institutions.

But with all these happenings, the most important question we have to face is that, what is the necessacity of reservation ? The goal of reservation in India has been to bring about an improvement in the welfare who, have been economically, socially, mentally and educational depressed. But, in arriving at this judgement about who should be eligible for reservation, the criterion has been a person’s caste rather than his income or wealth. In practice, a large number of persons, who are really backward, couldn’t be regarded as backward. Thus many of the benefits of reservation have been captured by well-off groups from the depressed persons and comparatively poorer ungrouped persons, who are not categorised in these so called backwards, have failed to benefit. I personally know many of such persons in my hometown, who have a rather good education and economic condition but they are all having benefits of various government schemes for backwards.

For changing these graphs, the government, the officials and of course, the people should try to change their attributes towards reservations. The government should concentrate on the modest improvements of the educational level of Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes, and Other Backward Classes. Because if the belongers these backward groups would be class-educated, they will be selected for the jobs without any Reservation, on their own behalf, both in Government, as well as Private Sector, . All political parties should prohibit the reservation as their election agenda, as it intend to increase the communalism and tension in between the people of various states. The only thing we need is honest effort to solve this issue, which India is struggling with, for more than a century.

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Biomass And The Biofuels

July 24, 2008 at 7:15 pm (Technology) (, , , , , )

Biomass
Biomass was the first fuel that mankind learned to use for energy through the burning of wood for warmth and cooking. Biomass is the waste of recently living orgasms including both animals, as well as plants. Biomass is carbon-cycle based renewable energy source. The term ‘biomass’ covers all plant and animal matter on the Earth’s surface. Heat, electricity, or automotive energy generated from crops, trees, or agricultural waste, is referred to as ‘bioenergy’.Biomass is a sustainable resource that it is constantly being formed by the interaction of air, water, soil and sunlight. If biomass is not used for chemical or energy purposes, it is broken down again by microorganisms into its elementary constituent parts: water, CO2 and energy in the form of heat. There are almost no limits on how much biomass can be grown. The continuous growth of plants on our planet exceeds our primary energy requirements many times over.

Bioenergy, produced through Biomass is amongst the world’s most important renewable energy sources, generating heat and electricity for various applications at different scales.

The Net Primary Production, i.e. the radiation energy emanating from the sun that is biologically absorbed in biomass amounts to approximately 50 billion t of crude oil equivalent units every year. Compare this with mankind’s current primary energy requirements of approximately 9.7 billion t of crude oil equivalent units every year. Of course, only part of the biomass that grows can actually be supplied for energy use, both for ecological, technical and economic reasons. Yet there remains a huge amount of biomass that is very suitable for exploitation.

Biofuels
Biofuels can be originated from dead biological materials. Biofuels are found in the form of solid, liquid or gas. These are derived from photosynthetic plant. Biofuel is any fuel that derives from biomass i.e. recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts. Thus it could be oils from plants, manure from cows, wood from trees and so on. It is a renewable energy source unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal and nuclear fuels.The most important fact about Biofuels is that Biofuels increases energy security by reducing dependence on petroleum. These offer the possibility of producing energy without a net increase of carbon into the atmosphere because the plants used in to produce the fuel have removed CO2 from the atmosphere, unlike fossil fuels which return carbon which was stored beneath the surface for millions of years into the air. Thus these are more nearly carbon neutral and less likely increase atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.

Agricultural products specifically grown for use as biofuels include corn and soybeans, primarily in the United States, and flaxseed and rapeseed, primarily in Europe. Waste from industry, agriculture, forestry, and households can also be used to produce bioenergy; i.e. manure, straw, sewage, lumber, garbage and food leftovers. There are many ways of producing biofuels, but two ways are most commonly approached. These are :

1. To grow crops high in either sugar (sugar cane, sugar beet, and sweet sorghum) or starch (corn/maize), and then use yeast fermentation to produce ethyl alcohol i.e. “ethanol”.

2. To grow plants containing high amounts of vegetable oil, such as oil palm, soybean, algae, or jatropha. When these oils are heated, their viscosity is reduced, and they can be burned directly in a diesel engine, or the oils can be chemically processed to produce fuels such as biodiesel.

Wood and its byproducts can also be converted into biofuels such as woodgas, methanol or ethanol fuel. Cellulosic ethanol from can be made from non-edible plant parts, but it is rather a difficult, as well as expendible process. The production of biofuels to replace petroleum-based oil and natural gas is in active development. The carbon in biofuels was recently extracted from atmospheric carbon dioxide by growing plants, so burning it does not result in a net increase of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. As a result, biofuels are seen by many as a way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by using them to replace non-renewable sources of energy.

Kinds Of Biofuels
Many kinds of Biofuels can be produced through Biomass as Biomass is the most important biological energy resource. Some of these are :

Biohydrogen
Hydrogen gas is an interesting alternative fuel because it completely eliminates carbon as an energy carrier.Therefore it obviously cannot contribute to the green house effect. Although hydrogen is currently being produced by either thermally decomposing natural gas or by electrolysis of water there is also a potential for biological hydrogen production. Some microorganisms produce hydrogen naturally, and biotechnologies based on these microbial systems could lead to the development of clean, renewable sources of hydrogen. Biohydrogen is hydrogen produced via biological processes or from
biomass The enzyme which is responsible for the production of hydrogen, hydrogenase, however is extremely sensitive to oxygen so that hydrogen is only produced in anaerobic habitats. Biohydrogen plants are proposed industrial plants for the production of hydrogen, such as “Algae”. Algae grows prolifically in adverse conditions, and can store large amounts of oils or starches useful for making biodiesel or ethanol. But some strains also use an enzyme called hydrogenase to produce small amounts of hydrogen gas. Scientists think this is the organism’s way of getting rid of excess energy under high-light conditions.They would typically involve processes such as thermophillic fermentation, photofermentation and gas cleaning. Hydrogen can be produced by bacterial species such as Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Enterobacter cloacae. Biohydrogen can be produced through dark fermentation either by mix culture of hydrogen producing sludge or pure culture of anaerobic bacteria such as Clostridium butyricum.

Bioethanol and biodiesel are interesting because they can be directly used in an existing technology, the internal combustion engine, hydrogen has the potential to be used in a far more efficient way in the hydrogen fuel cell. In a conventional engine all the energy is released in an explosive way by burning. In a fuel cell however the oxidation is accomplished in steps at an electrode in a process which closely resembles the functioning of an everyday battery. In this process the energy is not explosively released as heat but produces an electric current with high efficiency which can be used to run an electric engine. However because hydrogen is one of the smallest molecules known a number of engineering problems arise with storing and transporting it. Because it is a gas it takes up a greater volume than an equivalent bioethanol or biodiesel. Although it can be adsorbed by certain metals, these metals themselves like platinum are toxic and prohibitively expensive for large scale use. It represents a bigger danger for explosions and because of its small size it can get lodged in crystal defects in the metal pipes through which it is conducted making them brittle.

Biodiesel
Biodiesel is a natural and renewable domestic fuel alternative for diesel engines made from vegetable oils, mostly soy and corn. It contains no petroleum, is nontoxic and biodegradable. It is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel can be produced from straight vegetable oil, animal oil/fats, tallow and waste cooking oil. The process used to convert these oils to Biodiesel is called transesterification. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.

Fuel-grade biodiesel must be produced to strict industry specifications (ASTM D6751) in order to insure proper performance. Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Biodiesel that meets ASTM D6751 and is legally registered with the Environmental Protection Agency is a legal motor fuel for sale and distribution. Raw vegetable oil cannot meet biodiesel fuel specifications, it is not registered with the EPA, and it is not a legal motor fuel. Biodiesel is better for the environment because it is made from renewable resources and has lower emissions compared to petroleum diesel. It is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar. Since it is made in the USA from renewable resources such as soybeans, its use decreases our dependence on foreign oil and contributes to our own economy. The largest possible source of suitable oil comes from oil crops such as rapeseed, palm or soybean. In the UK rapeseed represents the greatest potential for biodiesel production. Most biodiesel produced at present is produced from waste vegetable oil sourced from restaurants, chip shops, industrial food producers such as Birdseye etc. Though oil straight from the agricultural industry represents the greatest potential source it is not being produced commercially simply because the raw oil is too expensive. After the cost of converting it to biodiesel has been added on it is simply too expensive to compete with fossil diesel. Waste vegetable oil can often be sourced for free or sourced already treated for a small price.

Almost all biodiesel is produced using base catalyzed transesterification as it is the most economical process requiring only low temperatures and pressures and producing a 98% conversion yield. For this reason only this process will be described in this report. The Transesterification process is the reaction of a triglyceride (fat/oil) with an alcohol to form esters and glycerol. A triglyceride has a glycerine molecule as its base with three long chain fatty acids attached. The characteristics of the fat are determined by the nature of the fatty acids attached to the glycerine. The nature of the fatty acids can in turn affect the characteristics of the biodiesel. During the esterification process, the triglyceride is reacted with alcohol in the presence of a catalyst, usually a strong alkaline like sodium hydroxide. The alcohol reacts with the fatty acids to form the mono-alkyl ester, or biodiesel and crude glycerol. In most production methanol or ethanol is the alcohol used (methanol produces methyl esters, ethanol produces ethyl esters) and is base catalysed by either potassium or sodium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide has been found to be more suitable for the ethyl ester biodiesel production, either base can be used for the methyl ester. A common product of the transesterification process is Rape Methyl Ester (RME) produced from raw rapeseed oil reacted with methanol.

Ethanol
Ethanol is a liquid alcohol made of oxygen, hydrogen and carbon and is obtained from the fermentation of sugar or converted starch contained in grains and other agricultural or agri-forest feedstocks. Ethanol fuel is an alternative fuel to gasoline. Typically, ethanol fuel is made either from a grain such as corn or maize or from sugarcane. Corn is primarily used to make ethanol fuel, while in other generally warmer locations, sugarcane is the preferred source of biomaterial for making ethanol fuel. It is also possible to distill ethanol fuel from petroleum oil, though mention of ethanol fuel usually refers to bio-ethanol. Fuel ethanol, which is sometimes referred to as “gasohol”, has been distilled and dehydrated to create a high-octane, water-free alcohol. All water must be removed because a water-alcohol mixture cannot dissolve in gasoline. Fuel ethanol is made unfit for drinking by adding a small amount of a noxious substance such as gasoline.

Ethanol fuel can be used unmixed in an modified gasoline engine, but it is much more common to find an 85% gasoline and 15% ethanol fuel mixture. This mixture can be used directly in any gasoline engine. This mixture burns cleaner in the engine, causing less pollution. If the ethanol is made from renewable bio-sources, then it also reduces the use of fossil fuels. Ethanol fuel does have a few disadvantages; it has a lower energy density than gasoline, so a tank of ethanol fuel will not go as far as a tank of gasoline, and ethanol fuel can be more difficult to start in very cold temperatures. Some vehicles are specially manufactured to operate on an ethanol blend that contains up to 85 percent ethanol and at least 15 percent gasoline. (The 15 percent gasoline is needed to assist in engine starting because pure ethanol is difficult to ignite in cold weather.) This E-85 blend cannot be used in standard gasoline vehicles, however vehicles designed to run with a high ethanol blend can also operate using gasoline when necessary.

Methanol
Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, carbinol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical compound with chemical formula CH3OH (often abbreviated MeOH). It is poisonous, flammable and relatively volatile. It has no taste or color, but it does have a slight scent. Methanol is used as a fuel and an antifreeze, and to make formaldehyde. It is also added to ethanol to make it unpalatable so that it avoids taxes on drinkable alcohol, as ethanol without a denaturant of some sort is consumable by humans. Methanol was first discovered in 1661, though it had been used without isolation by peoples as far back as the Egyptians in their embalming processes. The name comes from methy, meaning wine, and hyle, meaning trees.

Methanol has been used for decades in a wide variety of industrial and consumer applications, and has been used as a racing fuel in Indy cars, dragsters and other high power applications. Only recently has methanol been investigated for use in ordinary cars and light trucks, and as a replacement for diesel fuel in heavy-duty trucks and buses. When used in a properly prepared engine, methanol could combust more completely than gasoline. This would result in lower levels of the exhaust emissions that contribute to urban pollution and global warming. Methanol contains no aromatic compounds and therefore produces no benzene emissions. Full analysis of all of the energy and materials required to produce and distribute methanol must be done, however, before the true environmental impact of large scale methanol use can be determined.

Pure methanol is not sold as a stand-alone motor fuel, although in its pure form it is commonly used as racing fuel. As a motor fuel for general transportation it is mixed with gasoline to produce M85 (85% methanol and 15% gasoline). It is also the primary alcohol used to mix biodiesel.

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