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Earth Hour is a worldwide event that is organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and is held on the last Saturday of March annually, encouraging households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour to raise awareness about the need to take action on climate change . Earth Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries/territories participating. Global landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour. According to figures from EnergyAustralia , a local utility, mains electricity consumption for the 2007 event in Sydney w...

Despite rapid technological progress and economic growth, close to 900 million people the world over do not use drinking water from improved sources and over 2.6 billion lack access to decent sanitation facilities. This indefensible public failing, which is conspicuous in the developing world, comes with tremendous economic and social costs. Safe drinking water and basic sanitation, as United Nations Organizations have often emphasised, help prevent water related diseases. Specifically when it comes to diarrhea, which kills 1.6 million annually, improved water supply reduces morbidity by 20 percent while improved sanitation cuts it by 37.5 percent. The indirect benefits of providing access to drinking water to households, such as the time saved by women and children – who are often carriers of this precious commodity from sources –are reflected, for example, in better school attendance. The debilitating effect of the lack of sanitation facilities is seldom appreciated. A World Bank...

Rajasthan Diwas was celebrated on 30 March marking the unification of the erstwhile princely states in the region into the State of Rajasthan. Fifty-six years ago, on 30th March 1949, took place the grand unification of the erstwhile princely states of Rajputana giving birth to Rajasthan state in the Union of India. Since then, 30th March is celebrated as Rajasthan Diwas every year. The year 2005 marks a new beginning for these celebrations. With Rajasthan emerging as a frontrunner in tourism industry, Government of Rajasthan continues to add new attractions to its repertoire of festivals while bringing forth the vast range of Rajasthani Folk Art, Craft, Dance & Music. Craft Bazaar showcasing the art forms, handicrafts, pottery styles, prints & textiles, embroideries, carpets, wood & metal work of different regions of Rajasthan promises to be a major attraction for visiting tourists as well as the residents in Rajasthan throughout the 10-day celebrations. Puppet shows ...

World Tuberculosis Day By Dr Arvind Kumar World Tuberculosis Day (also called World TB Day) is commenced on 24 March every year. This day is structured to build community awareness about tuberculosis. It was on 24 March 1882 when German scientist Robert Koch, a pioneer in Microbiology, identified Mycobacterium Tuberculosis as the causative agent of this dreaded disease. Koch estimated that tuberculosis killed one-seventh of prevailing world population. He received a Nobel Prize in 1905. The World Tuberculosis Day was announced on24 March 1982, on the 100th centenary of Dr Koch's appearance, by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) and IUATLD was joined with World Health Organization in 1996. IUATLD & WHO both are prepare an extensive assortment of other concerned organizations to raise the crash of World Tuberculosis Day. The 2012 World TB Day campaign will allow people all over the world to make an individual call to stop TB in their ...

World Meteorological Day 2012 By Dr Arvind Kumar The World Meteorological Day is annually held on or around 23 March to commemorate the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization, which was earlier known as International Meteorological Organization. The International Meteorological Organization was established at the first International Meteorological Congress in Vienna, Austria, in 1873. The organization aimed to establish meteorological station networks. These networks were linked by telegraph and improved weather forecasts. This contributed to shipping services' safety and efficiency. The International Meteorological Organization became the World Meteorological Organization on 23 March 1950. It became the UN's specialized agency for meteorology, operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences in 1951. The World Meteorological Organization plays a crucial role in contributing to people's safety and welfare. Its work is important in providing f...

World Consumers Rights Day Dr Arvind Kumar World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD), observed on 15 March every year, is an annual occasion for celebration and solidarity within the international consumer movement. The theme for World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) 2012 is Our money, our rights: campaigning for real choice in financial services. On 15 March 2012 the global consumer movement will be uniting to demand a real choice for consumers. In the lead up to the big day, Consumers International (CI) will working with its members to take action on the issue, and highlighting activity around the world. It is a time for promoting the basic rights of all consumers, for demanding that those rights are respected and protected, protesting the market abuses and social injustices which undermine them. On 15 March 1963, President John F Kennedy gave an address to the US congress in which he formally addressed the issue of consumer rights. He was the first world leader to do so, and the consu...

Bane of Avarice By Dr Arvind Kumar The growing nexus between local politicians and mining mafias is claiming a heavy human toll. The recent deaths in quick succession at the hands of illegal miners - of a senior police officer in Madhya Pradesh and an activist in Tamil Nadu - underscore the magnitude of the threat posed by mining mafias across the country. The incresing demand for minerals and enfeebling controls and licences regulating the industry have pushed up illegal mining across the country. The number of illegal mining cases more than doubled to 82,230, in four years up to 2010, despite half-hearted measures adhered to by the Central and state governments because of the political clout of local politicians and other vested interests. There is a need for sensitizing the local populace in and around mining areas to act as watchdogs and the local police and officials should take stern action against those indulging in illegal mining. But rather than policies per s...

Fukushima Revisited By Dr Arvind Kumar Japan was hit by a massive earthquake and huge tsunami on 11 March 2011 that killed nearly 20,000 people and threatened the country — and it neighbours — with a Chernobyl-type nuclear catastrophe. A year later Japan continues to grapple with theimpact and after-effects of the triple disaster. At the time of the disaster, it seemed the disaster would trigger a national rejuvenation, freeing Japan from the previous two decades of economic stagnation and political torpor. It was hoped and expected that Japan would rise from the rubble and debris with renewed dynamism and strengthened bonds of national unity and social cohesion. And Japan certainly rose to the occasion — considering the scale and nature of the tragedy — and managed to address the immediate challenges of emergency relief, aid and assistance with impressive care and speed. However, these positive accounts do not represent the whole story. The economic shock, for example, was...

Women’s Day The UN theme for International Women’s Day 2012 is Empower Women – End Hunger and Poverty. In many countries, International Women's Day is an occasion to honor and praise women for their accomplishments. On the occasion of International Women's Day 2012, the ICRC is calling for more action to help the mothers and wives of people who have gone missing during armed conflict. The vast majority of people who go missing in connection with conflict are men. As well as the anguish of not knowing what has happened to the missing person, many of these women face economic and practical difficulties. The ICRC underlines the duty of parties to a conflict to search for the missing and provide information for the families. In the India context, there is a need to celebrate the fact that in spite of adverse and hostile conditions, women here are breaking barriers and making it on their own. Though some measures have been taken to emanicipate women, yet mush needs to be done...

Human Rights & Climate Change By Dr Arvind Kumar At a recently held seminar in Geneva, some experts asserted that many of the countries that have contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions will be the worst affected by global warming, a “climate injustice” that highlights the link to human rights. While addressing the seminar, Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said: “As we take steps to address climate change, we must not do so at the cost of the most vulnerable and discriminated [against] members of the world’s communities. Pillay and others pointed out that global warming would have a harsh impact on many of the least developed countries and particularly marginalized communities, which suffer from poor resilience and inadequate ability to respond to climate change. According to Dipi Moni, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, who also addressed the seminar, the worst affected areas include Central, East and West Africa, the Pacific and South Asia. Almo...