Tag: #interestingfacts

The problem of poverty in India

In India, poverty is presently estimated by fixing a poverty line based on a differentiated calorie-norm. This means that the level of poverty depends upon the capacity of a person to purchase food and a person who can buy specific amount of food to cross the poverty line margin for nutrients and calorie intake is above the poverty line. Whereas, the person who cannot buy enough food to meet the required nutrition value of calories and carbohydrates is below the poverty line. This level is not the correct parameter to check the level of poverty.

A task force of the Planning Commission in 1979 defined the poverty line as that per capita expenditure at which the average per capita per day calorie intake was 2400 calories in rural areas and 2100 calories in urban areas. Average per capita expenditures incurred by that population group in each State which consumed these quantities of calories, as per the 1973-74 survey of NSSO, were used as the poverty lines.

The debate on the extent of poverty in India has been a matter of global interest in the recent years. The primary reason for the global interest in the debate is that the levels of poverty in India and China have come to exert significant influence over the trends in world poverty itself.

Within India too, there has been growing contestation around poverty estimates, particularly in the period of economic reforms. First, there are persistent disagreements among economists on whether the rate of poverty decline after economic reforms was slower than in the preceding period. Secondly, the shift to targeted, rather than universal, welfare schemes has witnessed the use of poverty estimates to decide on the number of households eligible to access these schemes. The report of the Expert Group on the estimation of poverty, chaired by Suresh Tendulkar, is the latest input to the “Great Indian Poverty Debate.”

It is to be noted here that many subsidies and programs are launched by the government but these additional increments do not reach the actual people that are in need of them. Instead it is sent back to the businessman and thus a lot of profit is earned on these subsidized goods. Thus, to lower the level of poverty in India, schemes have to be launched in order to directly benefit the people in need.

The Hindu states that, “A final issue with the report, of much long-term consequence, relates to the wisdom of abandoning the calorie norm. It is indeed true that the levels of calorie intakes are not well correlated with nutritional outcomes. However, abandoning the calorie norm altogether and taking solace from the fortuitous fact that calorie intakes appear adequate at the new poverty lines is an arbitrary proposition. It is unclear whether there is any basis, theoretical or empirical, for this relationship to hold true across time.”

the Tendulkar Committee has pitched for a policy position that is stranded between the harsh realities of poverty in India and the fiscal conservativeness of a neo-liberal framework. The real challenge lies in preserving the positives from the report, and strongly persisting with the demand for a universal social security system.

– Ananya Kaushal

Top 5 venomous snake species

Snake are deadliest animal. Whenever one encounters it many get hurt or you can easily say they are dangerous to humans. They have aggressive nature. They are very dangerous especially for rural area people’s. There are estimated 3,500 snake species out of which 600 are venomous. Their estimated yearly attacks ranges from 53 lakhs to 54 lakhs, out of which more than 1 lakh people die due to their attack.

1) Inland Taipan

They are also known as fierce snake. They has the most toxic venom in the world. The average quantity venom give by this snake is 44mg while the most given is 110mg, which is enough to kill 100 people. Its venom consists of neurotoxins, Hemotoxins (procoagulants) affecting the blood, myotoxin affecting the muscles, nephrotoxins affecting the kidneys and hemorrhaggins causing hemorrhage. Its venom paralysis the body and cause hemorrhage. It is found in Australia.

2) Dubois sea snake

Dubois sea snake is also known as reef shallow sea snake. It is a species of venomous sea snake. Adult sea snake grows upto 4.86ft but usually grow upto 2.6ft. It is most venomous sea snake and one of the top three most venomous snakes in the world. The venom is lethal and contains neurotoxin that act on the nerve cell, myotoxins acting on muscles. The venom of this snake paralysis the respiratory system which ultimately cause death of the person. They feed on fish and swallow the whole fish. True incident of sea snake bite has not been recorded but they might have caused bite in rural area where taking record might not be possible. They are not aggressive but can bite if feel threatened or surprised. Fisherman’s are more likely to get trapped in their bites often when they try to remove them from fishing net. They are found in Australia, and some parts of Indian Ocean and Timor sea.

3) Eastern brown snake

Eastern brown snake or also known as common brown snake. This snake is highly venomous snake in the family Elapidae. Adult eastern brown snake goes upto 2m or 7ft. The venom of the snake mainly affects the circulatory system, coagulopathy, hemorrhage, cardiovascular collapse and cardiac arrest mainly the death occurs due to cardiac arrest. And one of the main components of venom is prothombinase which breaks down prothrombin. It is responsible for about 60% of snake bite death in Australia. They are native to eastern and central Australia and southern New Guinea.

4) Black mamba

Black mamba also belongs to highly venomous species of family Elapidae. It is second longest venomous snake after king cobra. It grows upto 2m (6ft 7in) and commonly grow to 3m (9ft 10in). Its colour varies from grey to dark brown and it’s species is both terrestrial and arboreal (found on trees). It is native to parts of Sub Sahara Africa. Its venom is composed of neurotoxins and it’s induce symptoms within ten minutes and is frequently fatal. This species of snake is aggressive but only attack when threatened or cornered. It constantly bites more than once and it’s bite derive 100mg-120mg of venom, the highest venom recorded is 400mg. It is considered as snake of medical importance by World Health Organization. Its venom if not treated on time will result in respiratory failure, cardiovascular collapse and ultimately death.

5) Boomslang

Boomslang snake is one of the venomous snake of family Colubridae Average adult Boomslang is 100-160 cm in total length and exceeds to 183cm. Colouration is very different like males are light green with black or blue scale edge while females may be brown. Their weight varies from 175 to 510 g. The Boomslang snake is able to open its jaws up to 170 degree when butting. It is found in sub Saharan Africa, south africa, Botswana and Namibia. Its venom is hemotoxin and disables coagulation process and the victim die as a result of internal or external bleeding. Its venom cause hemorrhaging in to tissue such as muscles and the brain tissue. Its venom is slow acting. This snake is timid and only bite if attempted to handle, catch or kill.

WHAT!! FACTS????

. PANDORA’S BOX

According to Greek mythology, Pandora was the first ever women created by Zeus as a punishment for humankind after Prometheus stole fire for human use. Zeus then asked all the other gods and goddesses to shower gifts on her. She was also presented with a jar which contained all the evils & illness which she was not suppose to open. However she couldn’t resist the urge to open the container which resulted in unleashing evils into the world. Then onwards Pandora box signifies as the origin of troubles or complications. Morden generation criticised the myth an example of misogyny.

. HAPLODIPLOID SEX DETERMINATION

What does halpodiploid sex determination means? This type of sex determination is scene in honey bees. I’m this the sex of an individual is determined by the number of set of chromosomes received. An offspring formed from the the union of sperm and an egg developed into a female (queen or worker) and the unfertilized egg is developed into a male by parthenogenesis, which implies males have half the number of chromosomes that of a female. The female gets differentiated on the basis of food they consume during the development. The female that consumes royal jelly grows into a queen bee and others developes into a worker bees(sterile). The males produces sperms by mitosis so they do not have father and thus cannot have son’s but have a grandfather and can have grandsons.

. LIFE WITHOUT STOMACH?

Do you know that it’s possible to live without stomach? Let’s understand how; suppose a person is having a stomach cancer the recommended treatment would be partial or total removal of stomach termed as gastrectomy. When a person’s stomach is removed completely the esophagus is directly connected to intestine. A person is advised to consume a lot of calories in small bites/meals more times a day to prevent weight loss. A person may experience Dumping Syndrome (experience of nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, sweats) as the the work of stomach is transfer to intestine, so a person is suggested to sit upright after having their food for sometime. It is difficult to adjust to changes but this is how a human tendency to survive.

Interesting facts about our Planet Earth

Our planet Earth, which is also known as the Blue planet because 75% of this planet is covered in the ocean and also it has pleasant humanity surviving on this planet. As we know this is the only planet where we are aware of life existence since the very beginning and is currently the only place where we can live in this Universe. There are interesting facts about our mother earth that we dint know about, and that is:- 

Moon is probably a part of the Earth

According to the scientist, approximately 4 billion years ago earth dint has a moon at that point until a big space rock probably the size of Mars collided with our planet which resulted in a big part of the earth broke away and later formed into Moon which we see today in the night time.  

Our planet’s days are increasing 

When our planet was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago, the day was roughly about 6 hours long buy by 620 million years ago it had increased to 21.9 hours long. Today, the average period of a day is 24 hours long but the time is increasing by 1.7 milliseconds every century. The reason may be the moon is slowing down the earth’s rotation through the tides. The spin of our planet results in a position of tidal ocean bulges to be pulled a little ahead of the Moon and earth axis, which makes a twisting force that slows down the Earth’s rotation.

Exploding lakes

Well on the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda as well as in Cameroon there are three deadly explosive lakes Nyos, Lake Monoun and Lake Kivu are crater Lakes that are located over volcanic Earth this means that magma lurking below the surface emits carbon dioxide into the waters of the lake this carbon dioxide builds up in a thick layer at the bottom of the lakes until pressure gives way and it’s released in an explosion. It doesn’t happen often but if anyone is unlucky enough to be passing by at that moment they’ll be asphyxiated with the gas.

The Earth’s changing magnetic field 

Our planet has a very strong magnetic field because of two reasons first is Nickel – Iron core and a pretty fast axial rotation, the magnetic field is significant for earth since it protects the planet from the solar winds. We think about our plant’s magnetic field as something constant and stable but the fact is it’s changing. According to some researches, they say that since the 19th century the northern magnetic pole has shifted approximately 685 miles moving towards North West across the Canadian arctic. The southern magnetic pole is also continuously roaming, scientists have known about the migration of the poles for a long time. James Ross an explorer and British naval officer pinpointed the northern magnetic pole for the first time in 1831 he discovered it during his exhausting voyage to the Arctic where his ship got trapped in the ice forcing the crew to spend a harsh 4 years after that nobody went back to that place until the next century in 1904 Roald Amundsen a polar regions Explorer from Norway reached the North Magnetic Pole again and was surprised to find that it had shifted 31 miles since Ross’s discovery. 

Gravity is not the same everywhere

Despite our common belief, our planet isn’t perfectly round it’s more like a sphere, for example how a human head is shaped. So its mass is irregular and differs in various places which causes wobbles of gravity in different areas of the planet one of these gravitational anomalies is found in Canada’s Hudson Bay where the gravity is much weaker than anywhere else on the planet. A 2007 study found the reason for such a phenomenon is melted glaciers that area was once covered with a thick layer of ice when that ice later melted the imprint of this glacier partially pushed aside some of the Earth’s mass in that region is exactly this slight deformation of the crust that can explain the 25 to 45 per cent weaker gravity. Perhaps it’s somehow connected with the movement of magma in the planets mantle, what researchers have predicted in a science journal.

Earth may have a second moon

According to some scientists, they believe that our planet used to have an additional satellite. According to their research, a smaller celestial body about 750 miles wide orbited the earth just like a second moon it most likely crashed into our main satellite later on such a collision could explain why the two sides of the moon look so different from each other one being heavily cratered in ruff scientists also don’t rule out the probability that one day earth will get another satellite. Even today there are tons of celestial bodies that follow the planet they’re mostly temporary companions though but scientists believe that the gravitational field of our planet occasionally captures even quite big asteroids that spin around the earth for several months or about three rotations after that they move on in their journey across the expanses of the cosmos.