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World Tourism Day 27 September 2011 According to UN general Secretary, The theme of this year’s World Tourism Day, “Tourism – linking cultures”, highlights the powerful role of tourism in building international understanding and mutual respect. There is no better way to learn about a new culture than to experience it first-hand. Tourism offers a wonderful connecting thread between visitor and host community. It promotes dialogue and interaction. Such contact between people of different backgrounds is the very foundation for tolerance. In a world struggling for peaceful coexistence, tourism can build bridges and contribute to peace. Tourism’s contributions to development also advance the cause of global solidarity. At a time of profound global economic uncertainty, tourism’s ability to generate socio-economic opportunities and help reduce the gap between rich and poor, is more important than ever. Promoting and developing tourism with a view to contributing to economic

9/11 Anniversary 11 September marks the 10th anniversary of terrorist attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon headquarters in the United States. This is the solemn occasion to take stock of what the governments must do to ensure that their respective countries never experience another such terrorist attack. Unoubtedly, the United States is safer than it was on September 10, 2001—at least 40 terror plots against the U.S. have been foiled since 9/11—but the war on terrorism still continues. It is heartening to see that so many plots have been foiled, their number also points to the magnitude of the ongoing threat that must not be ignored However, India continues to be the worst victim of terrorism having suffered extraordinary terror attacks on Indian Parliament in December 2001 and Mumbai attack on 26 November 2008, apart from many incidents of bomb blasts in trains and corwded places in urban areas, latest being the suitcase bomb blast at the

2011 Global Green Economy Index By Dr Arvind Kumar Expert practitioners in the green economy have ranked Germany as the top overall national green performer while a new index consisting of 37 datasets scoring country performance places New Zealand on top. These results are incorporated in the 2011 Global Green Economy Index (GGEI) prepared by Dual Citizen Inc., a Washington-based consultancy, which publishes the annual report ranking 27 nations according to their green leadership, domestic policy frameworks, cleantech investment climate and commitment to green tourism. According to Jeremy Tamanini, the founder of Dual Citizen Inc.: “Green reputations are a vital component of overall country brands and the Global Green Economy Index provides government and private stakeholders in the green economy a unique tool to track, analyze and improve upon performance in this sector.” The aggregate GGEI results show that the United States and China – the two largest greenhouse gas (GHG) e

Environmental Refugees By Dr Arvind Kumar People normally seldom leave their homes, their families, and their communities unless they have no other option. Yet as environmental stresses mount due to rising seas, increasing devastating storms, expanding deserts, falling water tables, and toxic waste and radiation mount, people are forced to flee their homes and become vironmental refugees. The advance of expanding Saha ra desert northward is squeezing the populations of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria against the Mediterranean coast. A 2006 U.N. conference on desertification in Tunisia projected that by 2020 up to 60 million people could migrate from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa and Europe. In Brazil, some 250,000 square miles of land are affected by desertification. In Mexico, many of the environmental refugees end up in Mexican cities, others cross the northern border into the United States. Over the last half-century or so some 24,000 villages in northern and western Chin

Ties with Bangladesh By Dr Arvind Kumar Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s two-day visit to Bangladesh on 6-7 September 2011 is expected to provide further impetus to the process of consolidation of friendly relations set in motion by the visit of bangladesh Prime Minister in January 2010 and exchange of other high-level visits between New Delhi and Dhaka in recent months. While negotiating different agreements on sharing of waters and border trade between the two countries, the Indian side should not ignore the interests of the neighbouring sitates on the Indian side of the border. The growing trade imbalance in India’s favour should be brought on even scales keeping in view the Bangla sensitivities as well as the tirade of opposition parties to embarrass the present ruling dispensatiuon in Dhaka. More attention should be focused in securing India’s startegic interests with due consideration to Bangladesh sensitivities. India’s has to be vigilant against China’s growing influ

Religious Festival & Environment By Dr. Arvind Kumar Season for religious festivities has set in and this phenomenon is an annual feature which is celebrated with great devotion and enthusiasm by the devotees by preparing idols of their chosen deities and holding processions. The festivals of Ganesh Chathurthi and Durga Puja are of specific significance because their celebrations entail preparing of idols of Ganeshji or Ganapati Bappa during Ganesh Chathurthi and the idol of Goddess Kali is prepared and decorated beautifully during the Durga Puja. The idols of the deities are prepared from the clean and pure earthly soil and thereafter these idols are beautifully decorated with different colours. There takes place a sort of competition among different groups to prepare the most attractive idol of their deity. The colours used in beautifying the idols of the deities contain harmful chemical ingredients. Once the celebrations are over, these idols are immersed in the nearby wa