Tag: Mumbai

Prithvi Shaw sizzles; Mumbai downs Jharkhand in Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament.

Source – thehindu.com

For Prithvi Shaw, the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament was going to be an important one as it was his first chance to show how strongly he can come back after his suspension for failing a dope test earlier this year.

And if the first couple of matches are anything to go by, the 20-year-old has shown that he has been able to put that setback firmly behind him.

Tricky target

On Sunday, in a must-win game for Mumbai against Jharkhand, chasing a tricky target of 171, Shaw single-handedly set the game up for his side with a brilliant 64 (39b, 4×4, 5×6) which ensured a comfortable five-wicket win for the domestic heavyweight.

The Lalbhai Contractor Stadium here was almost full, a rare sight for domestic cricket in India, and Shaw ensured that the crowd was treated to some high-quality strokeplay.

The former U-19 World Cup-winning captain started with a big six over square-leg and lofted boundary off pacer Vivekanand Tiwari before launching into Varun Aaron.

The India pacer was made to look ordinary as Shaw sent the first ball he faced from him straight back past him over long-on before punching one through point and then slogging him over mid-wicket.

The youngster then went after left-arm spinner Sonu Kumar, tossing him over mid-wicket and hitting two consecutive sixes after stepping down, bringing up his fifty off just 28 balls, as Mumbai raced to 80 for no loss by the ninth over.

Fightback

However, Jharkhand fought back with three quick wickets as Sonu Kumar removed Shaw and Shreyas Iyer after Anukul Roy had given a breakthrough by removing Aditya Tare.

At the end of 14 overs, the match was evenly poised with Mumbai needing 64 off the last six but Shivam Dube changed things in the 15th over, hitting off-spinner Utkarsh Singh for three big sixes before getting dismissed.

That over cost Jharkhand 24 runs and thereon Siddesh Lad (18 n.o.), along with Sujit Nayak (12 n.o.), sealed the win.

Earlier put into bat, Jharkhand finished on 170/5 riding on opener Kumar Deobrat’s 58 (30b, 8×4, 2×6) as he put on 85 runs for the opening wicket with skipper Saurabh Tiwary.

Then medium-pacer Shubham Ranjane brought Mumbai back into the game as he removed the openers in successive overs in his spell of 2/17.

From a good base, Jharkhand lost momentum, but thanks to Sumit Kumar’s run-a-ball 28, it just about managed to get to 170.

Wanted: Saviour for felled trees in Jharkhand.

Source – telegraphindia.com

Remember the outrage recently when the Supreme Court stepped in after thousands of trees were cut in Arey, a suburb of Mumbai, for the Metro rail project? Now sample this: The Jharkhand forest department has still not been able to implement a high court direction from three years ago on transplanting trees cut for infrastructure projects.

The department has been struggling to complete the tender process to find an agency to undertake the task.

Concerned over mindless felling of trees in the name of development, Jharkhand High Court while hearing a public interest litigation in June 2015 had imposed a total ban on cutting of trees for widening highways.

The court had constituted a high-powered panel of lawyers and experts to study the present conditions and the need to cut trees for projects. The committee comprised the regional chief conservator of forest (RCCF) of Ranchi as its chairman and also the road construction department chief engineer, former IFS officer Narendra Mishra, environmentalist Bulu Imam, and the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) CEO.

The committee had in its report suggested empanelment of a tree transplanting agency.

“We had started the tender process for empanelment of tree transplanting agency three times in the last three years but the process could not be completed as only one firm took part in the bidding process,” a highly placed forest department source said. “We have again started the process again and have also initiated talks with some local agencies to show interest in the tender bid so that we can complete the process.”

The high court had in August 2016 had criticised the state government for delay in arranging a tree transplanting agency.

A senior forest official associated with the project of finalising the tree transplanting agency confirmed that Hyderabad based Volvo Trucks is interested in executing the work across state.

“Volvo Trucks has tree transplanting machines and has taken part during all the tender processes. However, no other agency took interest as the truck-mounted transplanting machine costs in excess of Rs 4 crore. We are in talks with some local agencies so that they take part in the tender agencies, even if they do not meet the eligibility criteria, to complete the tender process through multiple bidders. This is because we cannot complete the bidding process with a single bidder. We hope to complete the exercise by the end of October,” said the official.

According to the norms, whoever applies for the job should have at least three years’ experience in this field in the country. The company should also have a qualified team of at least one tree biologist and/or silviculturist (tree specialists, especially for forests) and a minimum of 10 tree transplanting machines, besides adequate number of complementary machines and other requisite resources to successfully carry out the task in time.

Jharkhand principal chief conservator of forest Sanjay Kumar said the department wanted to comply with the high court direction.

“The department is trying its best to select a tree transplanting agency for empanelment across state as per the advise of the high power committee constituted by the high court,” Kumar said. “Hopefully, it will be completed soon. As of now, agencies carrying out development work requiring tree felling are either carrying out tree plantation or transplantation on their own. It is mandatory to compensate for each felled tree by planting trees.”

The PIL was initiated suo motu by the high court on the basis of a news report that the road construction department had cut thousands of trees but had not planted saplings as it was supposed to do so.

Geologist and environmentalist Nitish Priyadarshi, lecturer in the department of environment and water at Ranchi University, said that in recent years hundreds of trees have been felled for road widening projects.

“In the last one or two years, hundreds of old trees have been cut in Taimara under Bundu police station area along NH-33 for its widening. There are proposals to cut hundreds of trees for widening of the Ranchi-Khunti and Ranchi-Silli road. Tree transplanting is the best method as merely planting saplings are no replacement for cutting old trees; the saplings would take years to grow, which would harm the ecology,” said Priyadarshi.

There are reports that nearly 3.44 lakh trees would be felled for the North Koel reservoir (known as Mandal dam) in the Palamau Tiger Reserve. “Tree transplantation should be done for projects both in city and rural areas as loss of tree cover will harm the environment,” Priyadarshi said.

All you want to know about malnutrition in India

Source: thehindu.com

Moderate Acute malnutrition (MAM): Children aged between six months and 59 months who are between the -2 and -3 standard deviation for weight for height (wasting) score.

Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM): Children aged between six months and 59 months and have a weight for height (wasting) score 3 standard deviations below the median, have a mid-upper-arm circumference less than 115 mm, or the presence of bilateral edema.

Severe Chronic Malnutrition (SCM): Calculated with the Z-score defined as a height-for-age index less than –3 standard deviations from the mean weight of a reference population of children of the same height and/or having edema.

Stunting: Calculation is based on height-for-age. It is is associated with an underdeveloped brain, poor learning capacity, and increased nutrition-related diseases.

Wasting: Calculated by weight-for-height. It is associated with decreased fat mass. Also known as wasting syndrome, it causes muscle and fat tissue to waste away.

Underweight: Calculated by the weight-for-age formula. It is a body weight considered to be too low to be healthy. It can reflect both stunting and wasting.

Key highlights of the report

The highest levels of stunting and underweight are found in Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

At the national level, among social groups, the prevalence of stunting is highest amongst children from the Scheduled Tribes (43.6 percent), followed by Scheduled Castes (42.5 percent) and Other Backwards Castes (38.6 percent).

The prevalence of stunting in children from ST in Rajasthan, Odisha and Meghalaya is high while stunting in children from both ST and SC is high in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.

Prevalence of wasting is highest in Jharkhand (29.0%) and above the national average in eight more States (Haryana, Goa, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat) and three UTs (Puducherry, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli).

Prevalence of underweight is also highest in Jharkhand (47.8%) and is above the National average in seven more States (Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar) and one UT (Dadra and Nagar Haveli).

Food and malnutrition in the country

Over the last 20 years, total food grain production in India increased from 198 million tonnes to 269 million tonnes. Despite increase in food production, the rate of malnutrition in India remains very high.

In the food basket, it turns out that in both urban and rural areas, the share of expenditure on cereal and cereal substitutes has declined between 1972-73 and 2011-12, from 57% to 25% in rural areas and from 36% to 19% in urban areas.

The energy and protein intake from cereals has decreased in both rural and urban India, largely because of increased consumption of other food items such as milk and dairy products, oils and fat and relatively unhealthy food such as fast food, processed food, and sugary beverages.

The consumption of unhealthy energy and protein sources is much higher in urban areas.

Double burden of malnutrition

For several decades India was dealing with only one form of malnutrition– undernutrition. In the last decade, the double burden which includes both over- and undernutrition, is becoming more prominent and poses a new challenge for India.

From 2005 to 2016, prevalence of low (< 18.5 kg/m2) body mass index (BMI) in Indian women decreased from 36% to 23% and from 34% to 20% among Indian men.

During the same period, the prevalence of overweight/obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2) increased from 13% to 21% among women and from 9% to 19% in men.

Children born to women with low BMI are more likely to be stunted, wasted, and underweight compared to children born to women with normal or high BMI.