086014309
#5674By Joseph D. on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 2:38 pm

Modern Indian writing is not about the old and new communities in India but about present day situation in the field of social justice, awareness, struggle, ethics, way of life and coexistence. it is very easy to proove who came earlier and who later. It's shortsightedness. what happened if anyone born a day after the born a day before. This sort of attitude later on turns as fascism. People should not talk like that. Anyway modern literature in India is very rich and having variety of colours. Prose and poetry are also at helm of affair that should be talked of.Say in fiction Mr. Uday Prakash is heartbeat of youngsters while poems of Mr. Shailendra Chauhan are so simple and thoughtful that one can't ignore. Hope the discuusion on modern Indian literature will be meaningful and not things will be digged from old graveyard.

086764775
#5706By kemala on Wednesday, June 09, 2004 - 7:06 am

hello....
i want to studying hindi or marathi language.because i have bf from india.and i want to talk with him.thats why i want to studying hindi or marathi language.so...pls help me for it all.

ooh ya,i m from indonesia country.
my names is kemala.
thanks u.....for all

086794564
#5718By Anonymous on Wednesday, June 09, 2004 - 3:22 pm

Go to http://thinkers.net/talk and click on 'get messages in mail' to get new messages/your own posts/replies/messages of your favorite topics in your inbox.

086953949
#5724By Shailen (Shailen) on Friday, June 11, 2004 - 11:39 am

Hi Kemela !
Do u want to learn hindi ? It's very simple, see Hindi movies, hindi serials on tv, hindi news from india. Many a hindi channels are there ie star tv, zee tv, ndtv, sahara samay and others. Also buy a small primary booklet of hindi learning through english and try to read. You will very soon be able to speak hindi.On net also learner's hindi sites are available. Even in Indonesia there will be hindi teaching in some of the schools.Even if u feel a problem u can always mail at shailendrac@epatra.com

086953950
#5725By Shailen (Shailen) on Friday, June 11, 2004 - 11:39 am

Hi Kemela !
Do u want to learn hindi ? It's very simple, see Hindi movies, hindi serials on tv, hindi news from india. Many a hindi channels are there ie star tv, zee tv, ndtv, sahara samay and others. Also buy a small primary booklet of hindi learning through english and try to read. You will very soon be able to speak hindi.On net also learner's hindi sites are available. Even in Indonesia there will be hindi teaching in some of the schools.Even if u feel a problem u can always mail at shailendrac@epatra.com

090557234
#6030By Anonymous on Friday, July 23, 2004 - 4:33 am

Need to frame Sustainable Development in Nepal # Shailendra Chauhan

Nepal is endowed with rich natural and cultural diversity. The country spans tropical plains in the South to the Himalayas in the North, within less than 200 km. This tremendous variation in altitude within a relatively short distance is what gives the country its varied ecological zones and the range of biological and cultural habitats it enjoys. The inhabitants comprise a mosaic of ethnic groups speaking more than 60 languages. Nepal is landlocked and lies between 80° 4'- 88° 12' East longitude and 26° 22'- 30° 27' North latitude with a total area of 147,181 sq. km.

The land resource mapping of the country has revealed that cultivated land covers about 20 percent of the total land, forest 29 percent grassland covers 12 percent, shrub lands 11 percent, and other categories like rocks, snow lands and settlements made up the rest. The country is broadly divided into the terai, hills and mountains covering 23 percent, 42 percent and 35 percent of the total area respectively. Of the total population of 23.15 million, 48.4 percent live in the terai, 44.3 percent in the middle hills and 7.3 percent in the high mountains. Such a geographical setting of the country brings both complexity and opportunity for natural resource management and sustainable development

Nepal covers 0.1percent of the world's land area but has high representation of biotic diversity. It claims 9.3 percent of bird, 4.5 percent of mammal, 2.6 percent of butterfly, 1.0 percent of fish and over 2.0 percent of the flowering plant species of the world. This richness of species can be attributed to the immense physical and climatic variation of the land.

With a population growth rate of 2.24 percent per annum, and a corresponding doubling rate of 31 years, Nepal's environmental resources are facing tremendous pressure. Economic growth has long been emphasized as the core element of Nepal's development strategy. Despite substantial efforts to build development infrastructure to stimulate economic growth, the country is still engulfed in a vicious cycle of poverty, underdevelopment and environmental degradation. Nepal is one of the least developed countries where 38 percent of the population is below the poverty line. The Nepalese economy is dualistic with a relatively modern non-agricultural sector and a largely subsistence-based agricultural sector. The pre-dominant traditional sector is characterized by a subsistence agrarian regime, high under employment (47 percent of the total population) and low agricultural productivity. About 86 percent of the population lives in rural areas with many people deprived of the minimum urban amenities necessary to fulfil their basic needs. On the other hand, urban management is becoming more complex and some urban poor are also deprived of basic amenities. The government faces a major challenge to provide an appropriate level of infrastructure to these remote and scattered settlements to support development and reduce poverty. Over 80 percent of the economically active population depends on agriculture for subsistence, which contributes to some 39 percent of its GDP (2000). Although the country has made significant strides in education, health and other social services, particularly within the last decade, the level of human development in Nepal remains among the lowest in the world.

090576561
#6034By Anonymous on Friday, July 23, 2004 - 9:56 am

Rasul Gamzatov

# Shailendra Chauhan

Gamzatov, Rasul Gamzatovich.. Born on 8 September 1923 in an Dagestani village. His father, the Peoples Poet Gamzat Tsadas, was his first teacher and mentor in the study of poetry. Gamzatov wrote his first poem when he was nine years old.Gamzatov studied at the pedagogical institute and, in 1940, returned to teach in his village school for a short time. He then took on a series of jobs, including director''s assistant in a traveling theatre troupe, and worker for radio as well as the newspaper Bolshevik Gor.In 1943, he published his first collection of poems, Firey Love and Burning Hate, in Avar, the language of Dagestan. That same year, he became a member of the Soviet Writers UnionBetween 1945 and 1950, Gamzatov studied at the Gorky Institute of Literature in Moscow. His first collection of poems in Russian was published in 1947. Since then, he has published over 20 books in both Russian and Avar.Gamzatov translated many of the best Russian poets into the Avar language. !
Among his many translations are the works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Mayakovsky, and Esenin.His poetry collection Year of My Birth (1950) was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1952. Gamzatov also won the Lenin Prize for his 1962 collection Lofty Stars. Some of his other titles include, Word About The Older Brother (1952), Dagestani Spring (1955), Miner (1958), My Heart is in The Hills (1959), Two Shawls, Letters (1963), Rosary of Years (1968), By The Hearth (1978), Island of Women (1983), Wheel of Life (1987) as well as the lyrical novel My Dagestan (1967-1971).In 1959, Gamzatov was declared a People''s Poet of Dagestan. In 1974 he became a Hero of Socialist Labor. In 1950, Gamzatov was named Chairman of the Dagestani Writers Union, a post he held until his death.In connection with the approach of Gamzatov''s 80th birthday, the entire of 2003 was declared the Year of Rasul Gamzatov in Dagestan.On 3 November 2003, Rasul Gamzatov passed away in the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.

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#6036By Vijay on Friday, July 23, 2004 - 1:00 pm

shailendra chauhan whom I am searching is a creative writer of Hindi language. He use to write in Hindi literary Magazines viz; Pahal, Vasudha, Ashay, Abhivyakti, Paraspar, Sakshatkar etc. Also in Hindi newspapers ie; Jansatta, Rastriy Sahara, Dainik Bhaskar, Deshbandhu etc. but these contributions/writeups are not available on net. Can u do something for that also ?

090728784
#6042By vasu on Sunday, July 25, 2004 - 4:13 am

A close observer of Land Reforms in China, William Hinton, died on May 15th '04 at the age of 85.

# Shailendra Chauhan

WHEN William Hinton first came to the village of Long Bow, in the high plateau lands of northern China, snow lay on the ground. But the peasant hut in which he was welcomed had no door and no fire. Torn paper filled the windows, and the mud walls were thickly daubed with creosote. This, and the stink of garlic and tobacco from the inmates, almost suffocated him. Henceforth, the smell of poor China was to permeate his life.
It was March 1948, and Long Bow was in “liberated” territory, where communist militiamen under Mao Zedong's orders were confiscating landlords' property and sharing it among the peasants. The process was known as fanshen, “overturning of the body”. Wang Wenping, the peasant in the hut, counted himself lucky that fanshen had brought him three and a half acres and food to eat. He was discontented that a further share-out had not brought him a cart or a chest he had liked, but only a table and a pair of old trousers. The best things had gone to the cadres.
Wang's disappointment took Mr Hinton aback. He himself was an ardent supporter of the Chinese revolution and its drive to empower the rural masses. His love affair with China had been growing ever since, at the age of 17 and about to go up to Harvard, he had worked his passage round the Far East by washing dishes. His reading of Edgar Snow's “Red Star over China” in 1942 had turned him from a dreamy pacifist into a committed Marxist. And here was his chance of action.
He had come to Long Bow, leaving his English teaching at the Northern University in Shaanxi province, specifically to watch the peasants throw off the yoke of their abusive landlords, put away superstition, learn to read, and embrace a primitive form of democracy. He had hoped to be at the forefront of revolutionary movements in the cities. But this cold backwater would have to do.
His days with the land-reform work team were spent mostly in an Orwellian round of meetings. At any and every opportunity, weary labourers would be summoned by megaphone to attend. Fanshen required the old ruling magistrates to be replaced by an elected council of peasants. Revolutionary purity also required that landlords and errant party members should be brought before the council to criticise and abase themselves. But men relieved of their fetters do not instantly become reasonable. In Long Bow, a man who had stolen a steamed bun from the communal lunch was stripped of his citizenship. As for the landlords, who had idled and profited as their tenants slaved and starved, they were sometimes whipped with belts or killed on the spot.
Mr Hinton remained an optimist. Despite these flashes of revenge, and despite the privations—the lice, the hard brick beds, the corn gruel eaten from unwashed bowls—he could see the village improving as the feudal lock was broken. He described the main square jammed with pedlars' carts piled high with dried persimmons, pigs and wool, and the pedlars' tales of production achievements from other outflung places. This had not happened, he believed, because the peasants now had some land of their own; he could never attach much importance to ownership. Party organisation had done this.

On the blacklist
In 1953, still glowing, he left China, carrying on his back more than 1,000 pages of notes. A revolution had never been observed as minutely as this, from the ground up. An American had never had such access to the deepest thoughts of the Chinese peasantry. But the FBI was not pleased to see him. His papers were confiscated (he had, as a precaution, eaten his Chinese exit visa), and the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security blacklisted him. Forbidden to take a job, he became a Pennsylvania farmer. Intent on his justifications of Maoism, he struggled for years to find a publisher for the book, “Fanshen”, that made his reputation. Only the Marxist Monthly Review would touch it, until it became a bestseller.
Time did little to alter his views. Conservatives often called him naive, especially for his dismissal of the famine that killed perhaps 40m Chinese between 1959 and 1961. Was this not the direct result of his fanshen? Mr Hinton disputed it; there had been failures, certainly, but famine had been frequent before the revolution, and bad weather had not helped.
Once restored to grace at home, he was allowed back to China. He visited Long Bow often, admiring the new cement mill and the coking plant and ploughing his own savings into local projects. Their grain yields, he told villagers, were better than he had ever managed in Pennsylvania.
At the age of 80, he was still assuring audiences that Mao's land reforms remained the most solid and useful model for third-world countries mired in poverty. He could not bear Deng Xiaoping's decision in the 1980s to de-collectivise the farms. And though he argued from sentiment, mourning the replacement of the big communal fields with tiny leased plots, he had a point. Without some consolidation of land, Chinese farming cannot be efficient. And farmers themselves, still lacking tenure of the fields they till, have once more become second-class citizens in the surging new China.

090948708
#6056By vasant on Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - 5:18 pm

Premchand : A Great Indian Storyteller

# Shailendra Chauhan

MUNSHI PREMCHAND

A pioneer of modern Hindi and Urdu social fiction, Munshi Premchand’s real name was Dhanpat Rai. He wrote nearly 300 stories and novels. Among his best known novels are: Sevasadan, Rangmanch, Gaban, Nirmala and Godan. Much of Premchand’s best work is to be found among his 250 or so short stories, collected in Hindi under the title Manasarovar.Three of his novels have been made into films.Premchand’s literary career started as a freelancer in Urdu.
He was born at Lamahi near Banaras (now Varanasi) on 31st July,1880. His father Munshi Ajaib Lal was a clerk in the postal department. Premchand’s early education was in a madarsa under a maulvi, where he learnt Urdu. Premchand was only eight years old when his mother died. His grandmother took the responsibility of raising him but she too died soon. He was married when he was 15 and in the 9th grade . His father also died and after passing the intermediate he had to stop his study. He got a job as a teacher in the primary school. In 1919, he passed his B.A., with English, Persian and History. After a series of promotions he became Deputy Inspectors of Schools. In response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call of non-cooperation with the British he quit his job. After that he devoted his full attention to writing. His first story appeared in the magazine Zamana published from Kanpur.In his early short stories he depicted the patriotic upsurge that was sweeping the land in the first decade of the past century. Soz-e-Watan, a collection of patriotic stories published by Premchand in 1907, attracted the attention of the British Government In 1914, when Premchand switched over to Hindi, he had already established his reputation as a fiction writer in Urdu. While writing Urdu novels and short stories he emphasised in presenting the realities of life and he made the Indian villages his theme of writing. His novels describe the problems of the urban middle-class and the country’s villages and their problems. He also emphasised on the Hindu-Muslim unity. His famous works include Godan, Maidan-e-Amal, Bay-wah, Chaugaan etc.It would not be wrong to say that Premchand was the Father of Urdu short- stories. Short stories or afsanas were started by Premchand. As with his novels, his afsanas also mirror the society that he lived in. With a simple and flowing writing some of his works depict excellent use of satire and humour. His later works used very simple words and he started including Hindi words too to honestly potray his characters. His famous afsanas are Qaatil Ki Maan, Zewar Ka Dibba, Gilli Danda, Eidgaah, Namak Ka Daroga and Kafan. His collected stories have been published as Prem Pachisi, Prem Battisi, Wardaat and Zaad-e-Raah.
Premchand was the first Hindi author to introduce realism in his writings. He pioneered the new form - fiction with a social purpose.He supplemented Gandhiji’s work in the political and social fields by adopting his revolutionary ideas as themes for his literary writings.
Besides being a great novelist,Premchand was also a social reformer and thinker.His greatness lies in the fact that his writings embody social purpose and social criticism rather than mere entertainment. Literature according to him is a powerful means of educating public opinion.He believed in social evolution and his ideal was equal opportunities for all.Premchand died in 1936 and has since been studied both in India and abroad as one of the greatest writers of the century.

*31st July is Munshi Premchand’s 125th Birth Anniversary

091530292
#6082By Vasant on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 10:51 am

Bio Diversity Act – 2004 : The Intentions behind it.

# Shailendra Chauhan

Biological Diversity Act came into existence on 15 April 2004. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) notified the Biological Diversity Rules under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The process started only after India becoming a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992. Even then it took a good 10 years for the Act to be notified. The efforts of government officials, NGOs and academicians have also contributed to highlighting and pressing for the need for the conservation of biodiversity. However, the gaps in the Act and subsequently (now) in the Rules indicate that the real push was an international treaty obligation. Prior to 2002, there was no legal protection for biodiversity in India, and the Act was intended to provide some space for biodiversity conservation. Today, there is a strong opinion that the little space the Act provided has been completely diluted with the new set of Rules meant to operationalise the Act.
There are some significant gaps in the 2004 Rules. The Act mandates the establishment of a National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), State Biodiversity Boards (SBB) and at local levels the Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC). The setting up of the BMCs could have enabled local communities to have some voice in the conservation, sustainable use, and equitable benefit-sharing of biological resources. But as per the Rules the role of the BMCs is merely limited to preparing People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) that document local knowledge and bio-resources. This immensely undermines the rights of local communities who are the most important stakeholders when it comes to conservation of biological resources. Documentation, without any legal protection is also an invitation to exploitation. The BMCs would be preparing the PBRs, but where is the power to ensure that they will not be openly accessible for theft or piracy.
The Act lays down some procedures for seeking clearances for the access and use of the nation's biodiversity. But the NBA, which is empowered to grant such clearances, is itself controversial. The constitution of the NBA has left many people feeling extremely cheated. The present NBA has no representatives from tribal or other communities, and from independent NGOs. This, despite the Act clearly requiring "five non official members to be appointed from amongst specialists and scientists having special knowledge of, or experience in, matters relating to conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of biological resources and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of biological resources, representatives of industry, conservers, creators and know ledge holders of biological resources.”
There is an apparent lack of will for involvement of local groups in decision making, as well as it seems an attempt to centralize natural resource management all over again. It appears just concessionary inclusion to locals, without actually vesting any power in them. Such a step, even after the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of India have upheld the need for decision making at the village level, seems completely retrograde. One can the real 'conservers' and 'creators' have not found their representative places in the corridors of decision-making !
At that time the ministry had been uploaded the draft rules on the website and comments were invited. However, there was no list of proposed NBA members! Instead, there were other details about its role, that of the SBBs, BMCs and so on. Critical responses on these were sent to the MoEF. The concerns are not new but little seem to have been incorporated and the concerns remain as they were.
Now it is very much needed that efforts must be made to bring together gram sabhas and other local bodies to pass resolutions against these rules. Letters to be written to the MoEF by biodiversity sympathisers, the media also can be associated in some respect to propagate the awareness in public. But, is this all enough? Specifically, will the ministry's response be sufficient to revise the Rules, or address core issues with the Act itself ? Actually we have to make it clear that the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 endorses intellectual property rights on the biological resources and knowledge of India by allowing for screening of patent applications on the same. In providing for a regulatory system for access, the law also facilitates bio-trade and the increasing privatisation of biological resources and traditional knowledge. It is dangerous. Biological Diversity Rules, 2004 need immediate reorientation, the composition of National Biodiversity Authority also needs a serious reconsideration for involvement of local bodies dedicated to the cause of biodiversity and ecological balance in India.

091621469
#6085By Vasant on Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - 12:11 pm

Dropping of Atom Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki :
The Great Tragedy in World’s history

# Shailendra Chauhan

The day August 6, 1945, was clear, bright, and cloudless. As the mid-summer sun climbed into the sky, the temperature rose rapidly. At 7:09 a.m. a yellow alert sounded, and many people retreated into air-raid shelters, but the attack turned out to be just one American plane flying at high altitude, the alert was lifted at 7:31 a.m. The people left their shelters and started off to work.
That single plane had been observing the weather for the atomic bombing.
The city of Hiroshima was the political and economic heart of the Chugoku Region. It was an educational center as well as a major military base. On that day, some 350,000 people, including over 40,000 military personnel, are thought to have been in the city.
Though it was August, the war prevented schools from taking normal vacations. Students in middle school and above were mobilized for daily work at factories or removing debris at demolition sites. On August 6, approximately 8,400 students, mainly first and second year male and female middle-school students, were scheduled to help with the demolition work. Children attending national school (now called elementary school) in the third grade and above had been evacuated to the countryside, so only young children remained in the city.
the atomic bomb exploded approximately 580 meters in the air over the Shima Hospital in Saiku-machi (now Otemachi 1 chome), about 300 meters southeast of the Aioi Bridge. At the instant of detonation, the temperature of the air at the point of explosion exceeded a million degrees Celsius (the maximum temperature of conventional bombs is approximately 5,000 °C). A white-hot fireball appeared millionths of a second after detonation. After 1 second, the fireball reached a diameter of approximately 280 meters. For the following three seconds, it emitted powerful heat rays, and continued to shine visibly for approximately 10 seconds.
At the instant of explosion, intense heat rays and radiation were released in all directions. The pressure on the surrounding air created a blast of unimaginable force. The cloud generated by the explosion rose on powerful updrafts. As the pillar of radiation-laden soot and smoke reached the bottom of the stratosphere, it spread horizontally to a diameter of several kilometers, forming a giant mushroom cap. Of the energy released, about 35% was in the form of heat, 50% was blast, and about 15% was radiation.

Damages

1. Massive destruction and loss of life from the enormous explosion.
2. Destruction was instantaneous.
3. In addition to suffering tremendous social and economic losses, the health of survivors was subject to continuing damage due to the aftereffects of burns and radiation. The complex effects of this permanent anxiety compounded by their


other losses created numerous obstacles that impaired their recovery of physical and economic well-being.

Approximately 140,000 persons dead (±10,000) as of the end of December 1945.
(Of Hiroshima's estimated population of 350,000)

Because the Atom-bomb exploded close to the center of the city, and because 85% of the buildings were within 3 km of the hypocenter, destruction to the city was nearly complete, with 90% of buildings collapsed or burned.

At the instant of detonation, an enormous fireball was created in the air which, within 1 sec of detonation, had grown to its maximum diameter of 280 meters. Temperatures on the ground reached 5,000°C.
The powerful heat rays burned exposed human skin up to 3.5 km from the hypocenter. Anyone within 1.2 kilometers who was directly exposed received deep burns not just to the skin but deep into the tissues and internal organs. Nearly all died instantly or within a few days.
The temperature on the ground reached 2,000 °C as far as 600 meters from the hypocenter. Roof tiles within this radius displayed the unique marks of a surface that had melted and bubbled. Even far from the hypocenter dark letters or patterns on clothing or paper were instantly burned out. Here and there, railway fences ignited and burned.

Reasons for this cruel Action -

In the US, with the atomic bomb development still underway, it was decided in September 1944 to use the bomb against Japan. The United States wanted to force Japan's surrender as quickly as possible to minimize American casualties. In addition, the United States needed to use the atomic bomb against Japan before the Soviet Union entered the war to establish US dominance after the war. Further, the Americans wanted to use the world's first atomic bomb for an actual attack and observe its effect. For these reasons, those in charge were in a hurry. Shortly after successfully testing history's first atomic explosion on July 16, 1945, the order to drop the atomic bomb was issued on July 25.
Based on this order, a field operation order dated August 2 called for the attack to take place on August 6, with Hiroshima to be the primary target. It was thought that Hiroshima was selected for the following reasons:

1. The size and topography of the city made it suitable for testing the destructive capabilities of the atomic bomb, and for confirming the destructive effects later.

2. There was a concentration of military troops, installations, and factories in Hiroshima that had been spared previous bombing.


The building now known as the Atom-bomb Dome was built in 1915 as the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall. As the most elegant building in the city, it soon became a beloved landmark. Just west of this building was an unusual T-shaped bridge (Aioi Bridge), which is said to have been the target of the atomic bombing.
The American B-29 bomber Enola Gay, carrying the atomic bomb, left Tinian Island at 1:45 a.m. Japan time on August 6, 1945. It was accompanied by two other planes, one
that would drop equipment to measure the destructive power of the bomb, the other to take photographs. It took about six hours and thirty minutes to fly the approximately 2,740 kilometers from Tinian Island to Hiroshima.
After the yellow alert was cleared at 7:31, the Enola Gay entered Hiroshima City from the northeast and dropped the bomb from an elevation of 8,500 meters (according to Japanese military records; US records put the altitude at 9,600 meters). Then, it quickly changed course and flew to the north.

Now even after 59 years of such a terrible genocide Atom Bombs are there with super powers. Not only Atom bombs but lot many types of mass destruction weapons are lying with these countries. Very recently such a deadly showdown was seen on Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the time has come when this barbaric race of weapons should stop to save the mankind.

092032797
#6095By Vasant on Monday, August 09, 2004 - 6:26 am

Dropping of Atom Bomb on Nagasaki

# Shailendra Chauhan

At 11:02 a.m., August 9, 1945 an atomic bomb exploded 500 meters above the town.
The fierce blast wind, heat rays reaching several thousand degrees, and deadly radiation generated by the explosion crushed, burned and killed everything in sight and reduced this entire area to a barren field of rubble.
About one-third of Nagasaki City was destroyed and 150,000 people killed or injured, and it was said at the time that this area would be devoid of vegetation for 75 years. Now, the hypocenter remains as an international peace park and a symbol of the aspiration for world harmony.

DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE ATOMIC BOMB EXPLOSION

Levelled Area...................6.7 million square meters
Damaged Houses:
Completely Burned ------11,574
Completely Destroyed-----1,326
Badly Damaged------------5,509
Total-------------------18,409
Casualties
Killed------73,884
Injured-----74,909
Total------148,793
(Large numbers of people died in the following years from the effects of radioactive poisoning.)

117024616
#8336By Prabhat on Wednesday, May 25, 2005 - 12:36 pm

Harmony Between Man And Nature :
Energy-independent residential house
SS CHAUHAN*

An energy-independent residential house (`HARBEMAN house'; Harmony Between Man And Nature), incorporating sky radiation cooling, solar thermal, and photovoltaic energies was built in Sendai, Japan during July, 1996. The HARBEMAN house, which meets almost all the energy demands, including space heating and cooling, domestic hot water, electricity generated by photovoltaic cell and rainwater for standard Japanese homes. Sky radiation cooling, solar thermal/photovoltaic (PV), and underground coolness as well as rainwater and waste heat were utilized in combination. Annual variations of water temperature in the underground main tank, heating/cooling/domestic hot water demands, collected and emitted heats by the solar collector and sky radiator have been monitored.
---------
Introduction

The third conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3) held in December 1997 in Kyoto urged the industrialized nations to reduce CO2 emissions by 5.2% (on average) below 1990 levels until the period between 2008 and 2012 (Kyoto protocol). Presently Current energy consumption in the residential sector of Japan is about 14% of the entire primary energy consumption. The projected energy consumption upto 2010 is estimated to be as 24%.
Except for lighting and electric appliances, most of the residential energy can be classified into the so-called low temperature level energy ranging from 5 to 60°C. For example, space heating, cooling, and domestic hot water supply are categorized into this range.
For this reason, it is possible to provide these energies with natural energy including solar thermal, photovoltaic, sky radiation cooling, wind, rainwater, and underground coolness.
About 20 years ago, was proposed an energy-efficient house in Japan incorporating solar thermal and sky radiation and the fundamental experiments were conducted by using facilities at the Tohoku university.
Experimental data on long-term heat and cool storage modes were presented in Saitoh (1984), Saitoh et al. (1985) and Saitoh and Kuwabara (1987). Along with these experiments, theoretical analysis and simulation were done to obtain an optimal design for the proposed house (Saitoh and Ono, 1984a,b).
The HARBEMAN house is having two major features; one is a large heat/cool storage tank (30-60 m3) which makes it possible to store energy seasonally. From a standpoint of storing solar energy, the storage capacity can be minimized if one allows a relative large temperature fluctuation and an increase of auxiliary heating need. However, in case of this long-term storage over 3 months, the storage capacity should be large enough.
Another feature is to utilize seasonal sky radiation cooling. As is well known, sky radiation cooling appears most significantly under a clear weather condition in low relative humidity and low wind speeds.
However, unfortunately, the weather in summer in Japan is not appropriate for sky radiation to be effectively used because of high ambient temperature and high humidity (80-90% in most areas).
This difficulty was overcome by changing the period of sky radiator operation: the water of the underground tank is chilled in advance in spring when the ambient temperature and humidity are relatively low. The temperature of the tank is cooled down to 4°C with the aid of a small-capacity heat pump (600 W) that utilizes night-time electricity.
The first example which utilizes a large underground tank for a residence was the MIT Solar house (Hottel et al., 1942) designed by Professor Hoyt C. Hottel in 1939. Later, George O.G. Löf, who was a student of Professor Hottel, built the Löf house (Löf et al., 1963) in Englewood, Denver.
The performance of the low energy houses of the International Energy Agency (IEA) task 13; Solar Heating and Cooling Program was reported (IEA, 1995).
The system has two operational modes: (i) a long-term thermal energy storage mode extending from September to March and (ii) a long-term cool storage mode extending from April to August. The system is intended to utilize as little energy as possible to collect and emit the heat.
This reveals primary energy consumption, external costs (externalities) and the effect for reduction of carbon dioxide emissions for the house. The primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the house are only about one-tenth of those of a conventional, standard house. Moreover, the thermal performance of this house will be compared with the results of the IEA solar low energy house TASK 13. Finally, this validates the external costs of this house, which have been intensively discussed in recent years in European countries.
The present energy-efficient house will give a promising concept for reducing CO2 emissions, and will contribute to mitigate global warming.

THE HARBEMAN HOUSE
Fig. 1 shows a schematic drawing of a residential house which is located in Sendai, Japan. An overall view is shown in Plate 1. The number of degree-days in Sendai is ~1580, the total cooling load is 2100 MJ on average, and the average solar energy received on a horizontal surface in January is 7.9 MJ/m2/day.

Fig. 1. A schematic of the HARBEMAN house.

Plate 1. Overall view of the HARBEMAN house.
The solar collector, which is of a liquid-type (having an area of 30.4 m2), is installed on the top of this house with tilt angle of 45° from the horizontal. The azimuth angle of the collector is 20° to the east. To prevent freezing in winter, the water in the collectors and pipes is automatically drained back to the main tank by magnetic valves.
The sky radiators used consist of uncovered copper tubes with aluminum fins (the same structure as in the solar collector, except for the glazing and insulation), which are painted black (partially selective surface, area: 15.2 m2), and placed with a tilt angle of 10° (azimuth angle: 20° to west).
The entire housing was insulated with glass wool (density: 10 kg/m3) of 100-350 mm thickness. The total floor area is ~260 m2.
In addition to the above mentioned features, this house has a 1.6-m3 auxiliary tank situated in the basement and a 600-W heat-pump, which utilizes night-time electricity. The auxiliary tank is utilized during the cool storage mode to provide space heating and domestic hot-water supply demands. The rainwater is collected in a rainwater tank (2 m3) buried underground and utilized for toilet flushing, watering of the garden, and car washing.
The operation and control of this house is fully done by 128 microprocessors and a personal computer.
The total maximum available energy for space heating, cooling, hot water supplying, and rainwater is ~117 GJ per year. This results in saving about 6300 US$ per year. If the HARBEMAN house was incorporated in all future residences, about 20% of the total primary energy consumed annually in Japan would be saved.

PRINCIPAL SPECIFICATION
Principal specifications of the present HARBEMAN house are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Specifications

Location Sendai

Latitude 38°17´00´´ N

Longitude 140°50´14´´ E

124 m above sea level

Solar collector Area 30.4 m2

Glazing Single

Tilt angle 45° (due south)

Azimuth angle 20° E

Type Liquid

U-value 5.0 kW/m2 K

Intercept Fr 0.8

Flow rate 16.2 l/min

Sky radiator Area 15.2 m2

Tilt angle 10° (due north)

Flow rate 12.4 l/min

Underground water tank Capacity 31.0 m3

(7.0 m×2.1 m×2.1 m)

Insulation thickness 0.15 m/0.10 m

(Polyurethane, FRP coated)

Concrete thickness 0.20 m

Auxiliary tank Capacity 1.6 m3

(2.0 m×0.6 m×1.4 m)

Insulation thickness 0.07 m

Photovoltaic cell Type Single crystalline

Area 11.5 m2

Output 1.5 kW

Heated floor area 185 m2

Total floor area 260 m2

Housing insulation Roof 25-35 cm

(glass wool) The others 10 cm

Windows Glazing Pair-pane glass

Overall heat transfer coefficient (U-value)

Living room 0.78 W/m2 K

Japanese room 0.69 W/m2 K

Low emission film Transmissivity 0.5

Reflectivity 0.78

Overall heat transfer coefficient (U-value) 4.53 W/m2 K

Rainwater tank Capacity 2.0 m3

Heat pump Type Liquid-liquid, motor-driven

Power 600 W

COP 2.0-3.0


The airtightness of this house is the same as one of the conventional airtight houses.
Copper-constantan thermocouples are set up at more than 35 points in the wall, water and soil in order to measure the temperature and the heat fluxes around the tank.
Fan coil units (FCUs) are used for space heating and cooling, and thermopanels (TPs) are used for space heating for the entrance hall, toilet, and stairway space.
Photovoltaic cells with a capacity of 1.5 kW are installed both on the top part of the roof facing due south and in the parking lot. Electricity (about 1000 kWh per year) produced by the PV system is utilized to operate the solar pump, the computer system and so on.
The operational control of this house is quite complicated because there are more than 100 controlling solenoid valves, motored valves, and other valves as well as thermocouples and sensors with length of more than 2000 m. Furthermore, there are two operational modes; thermal storage and cool storage modes. For this reason, it was decided to operate this house by a personal computer and 128 microprocessors. Relatively simple operations like controlling the fan coil units and the pumps are done by the microprocessors. The solar collector and sky radiator loops are controlled by a personal computer. A special computer code for this system was made in the BASIC language.
Owing to many difficulties in construction and controlling processes, it took almost 8 months.

TWO OPERATIONAL MODES FOR THE HARBEMAN HOUSE
There are two operational modes for this house; (i) long-term heat storage mode, and (ii) long-term cool storage mode.
4.1. Long-term heat storage mode
In Fig. 2, the piping network for the heat storage mode is schematically shown.

Fig. 2. Schematic flow network for the long-term heat storage mode.
This mode covers from end of summer (usually end of August or the beginning of September) to end of winter (usually end of March). The water is fed to the solar collector by the circulating pump, and the heated water is returned to the storage tank underground. The inclination angle (45°) was selected so that good collector efficiency is achieved especially in winter. The hot water is pumped to fan coil units, thermopanels, and floor heating coil in the bathroom, bath, and shower (room on the second floor).
Domestic hot water is supplied through copper-coil heat exchangers immersed in the main and sub tanks.
If auxiliary heating is necessary in mid-winter, an auxiliary boiler (fuel: city gas) is fired. However, use of this auxiliary boiler is limited to emergency situations.
4.2. Long-term cool storage mode
In Fig. 3, the piping network for the cool storage mode is schematically shown. This mode begins in early April and lasts until the end of summer (end of August or early September).

Fig. 3. Schematic flow network for the long-term cool storage mode.
Firstly, the water in the main tank is pumped up to the sky radiators placed on the roof facing due north. The photograph of the sky radiators is shown in Plate 2. Aluminum reflectors are patched on to the vertical wall of the house to present back radiation to the sky radiators.

Plate 2. Sky radiator.
The tank water temperature can be decreased to about 10°C by the sky radiators alone. Beyond this point, a small-capacity heat pump is used in combination to decrease the water temperature further to 4°C. Space cooling is done by introducing the cold water to the FCUs.
Since the atmosphere of the earth is relatively transparent in the infrared wavelength region between 8 and 13 µm, what we call the atmospheric window, a part of the thermal radiation at the surface of the earth is lost into space. Hence cooling takes place. This effect is especially evident on a clear night with low humidity.
The sky radiation cooling power in Japanese southern cities like Osaka and Fukuoka is not sufficient to provide cooling energy in summer. In this case, the water in the subtank is chilled by operating the sky radiator loop in mid-night and early morning hours. The heat pump works very well with high COP (coefficient of performance) between the subtank and main tank.
Recent simulation results performed by Saitoh and Marushima (1998) indicate that this system will work even in Fukuoka and Osaka, where the average ambient temperatures in summer are very high (27-28°C). The heat pump operated by night-time electricity also contributes for leveling, i.e. peak cut of the electricity demand.

HIGH-PERFORMANCE INSULATIONS, WINDOWS, LIGHTINGS, AND APPLIANCES
The final goal for the house was to reduce total purchase energy to a very low level without compromising human comfort.
To this end, the active solar thermal system, sky radiation cooling design, and the photovoltaic system were of primary importance. Besides these, high-performance insulation and windows, an airtight construction, ventilation heat recovery, energy-efficient lightings and appliances, and the use of rainwater were also among the requirements.
The building envelope is insulated with glass wool (density: 10 kg/m3 and thickness ranging from 0.1 m for vertical walls to 0.35 m for ceiling), with U-values of 0.44 W/m2 K for the walls and 0.14 W/m2 K for the ceiling, respectively. The windows are double-pane glass with an air layer thickness of 6 mm. The low-emission film (transmissivity: 0.5 and U-value: 4.53 W/m2 K) is placed on the inner side of the glass. Moreover, the polyethylene film (thickness: 20 µm) was pitched on to the inner frame of the window. The air layer thickness between the glass and the film was 10 mm. For the room, additional glass and shoji (Japanese lattice paper) were placed for traffic noise reduction. Also the room has similar insulations including two curtains to prevent heat loss and for noise reduction. As a consequence, the U-value of the windows is 0.78 W/m2 K except for the window in the room, which has a U-value of 0.69 W/m2 K.
The main tank is insulated on the inside with 0.15 m polyurethane. The insulation was water-proofed with three-ply fiber reinforced plastic (FRP).
Two cross-flow and counterflow plate heat exchangers are equipped in the living room and the basement. This type of heat exchanger has been very common as a ventilation heat-recovery system in the Japanese market in the past decade.
The house has a grid-connected 1.5-kW PV system. The expected annual generated electrical power is about 1000 kWh, which is utilized for the circulating pump and data acquisition system including the personal computer and microprocessors. Surplus electricity was sold to the local electric power company at a good rate of 23 yen (19 cents) per kWh in the year 1996.
Further, rainwater collected is stored in a stainless steel tank buried in the garden. More than 150 m3 of rainwater are utilized annually for toilet and garden water feeding etc. Since the costs of making city water and sewage treatment are very expensive in Japan, conservation of water is very important. The average electricity required to make 1 m3 of city water in Japan is currently 1.5-3 kWh. Therefore, utilization of rainwater saves much electricity.


CONCLUSION
The following conclusions may be derived from this study.

The fundamental operational performance was clarified by the monitored data from August 1996 to March 1999.
This house consumes only one-sixth of fossil energy compared with the conventional house. It also emits very low amounts of carbon dioxide and other pollutant gases.
The external costs of this house are considered to be at least 28,000 US$ per year.
This house uses sky radiation energy for space cooling and this would be particularly effective to prevent urban warming (i.e. heat island) in metropolitan areas where it is estimated that the ambient temperature in the summer evening around 2030 will exceed 40°C.


About Author :

S.S.CHAUHAN*, 48 Years, working as Chief Manager (Engg.) in Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. Nagpur
Presently assigned the job of technical vetting of EHV S/S & transmission lines construction proposals.

List of articles published:

1. Number of technical articles in Powergrid/NTPC House journals.
2. Atomic energy and the problems of radiation control. TOI
3. Ecology and environment. Indian Institute of Environment journal, Vaigyanik (BARC)
4. Many a articles in Hindi magazines on environment issues
5. Literary creative writing in all standard Hindi magazines/Newspapers.