The Forest cover of India and its Environment Impact

India Forest Cover

India has  21 Percent of her geographical area under forest cover. According to the State Forest Report 2009, in the last 10 years, forest cover in the country has increased by 3.31 million hectares, showing an average 0.46% increase every year.

Few interesting observations are

1. Dense forest has not declined.  It has improved in last 10 years.
2. Moderately dense forests are not improving. These are the forests which are outside the national parks and sanctuaries of the country.
3. India’s forest and tree cover neutralize over 11% of its global warming gas emissions at 1994 levels. As per the report, this is equivalent to offsetting 100% emissions from all energy used in residential and transport sectors, or about 40% of emissions from farms.
4. North- East India occupies  25 percent of India’s forest cover
5. Biggest Losses in forest cover in absolute terms were recorded in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, and Chhattisgarh.

Earthquake History of India and How Safe Are We?

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are mighty killers. About 15,000 people are killed by them every year and more than 100 million people have lost their life due to earthquakes in the history of mankind. Earthquakes have the power to uproot trees and send them crashing into buildings. They can trigger landslides and avalanches and cause fires, flooding and tsunamis that cause further devastation.

Any one who has visited California in USA will tell you what a beautiful State it is . But it is one of the most earthquake prone regions in the world. This is because a series of cracks in the earth crust run parallel to its coast. These are called faults. They are the places where the slabs that make up the earths crust called the tectonic places rub alongside each other. The tectonic pates move continually and this movement causes tremors along the fault lines.

The Indian Tectonic Plate

The India or Indian Plate is a tectonic plate that was originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwanaland from which it split off, eventually becoming a major plate. About 50 to 55 million years ago, it fused with the adjacent Australian Plate. It is today part of the major Indo-Australian Plate, and includes the subcontinent of India and a portion of the basin under the Indian Ocean.

About 90 million years ago, subsequent to the splitting off from Gondwanaland, the India Plate split from Madagascar. It began moving north, at about 20 cm/yr and began colliding with Asia between 50 and 55 million years ago.  During this time, the India Plate covered a distance of 2,000 to 3,000 km , and moved faster than any other known plate. In 2007, German geologists determined that the reason the India Plate moved so quickly is that it is only half as thick as the other plates which formerly constituted Gondwanaland.

The collision with the Eurasian Plate along the boundary between India and Nepal formed the orogenic belt that created the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya Mountains, as sediment bunched up like earth before a plow.

The India Plate is currently moving northeast at 5 cm/yr, while the Eurasian Plate is moving north at only 2 cm/yr . This is causing the Eurasian Plate to deform and the India Plate to compress at a rate of 4 mm/yr.

The seismic zone of India is depicted in the map.  It clearly shows the highest earthquake riskis  at the zones close to the Indian Plate.

Himalayas and how it is formed?

The highest mountain range in the world, the snow-capped Himalayas, is an example of a continent-to-continent collision. This immense mountain range began to form when two large landmasses, India and Eurasia, driven by tectonic plate movement, collided.  As both landmasses have about the same rock density, one plate could not be subducted under the other. The pressure of the colliding plates could only be relieved by thrusting skyward. The folding, bending, and twisting of the the collision zone formed the jagged Himalayan peaks. This string of towering peaks is still being thrust up as India, embedded in the Indo-Australian Plate, continues to crunch relentlessly into Tibet, on the southern edge of the Eurasian Plate.

Major Earthquakes in India

DATE	LOCATION	MAGNITUDE	TOTAL DEATH
2004 DEC 26	OFF WEST COAST OF SUMATRA	9.3	2,25,000*
1897 JUN 12	SHILLONG PLATEAU	8.7	NA
1950 AUG 15	ARUNACHAL PRADESH-CHINA BORDER	8.5	NA
1934 JAN 15	BIHAR-NEPALBORDER	8.3	10,700
1941 JUN 26	ANDAMAN ISLANDS	8.1	NA
1819 JUN 16	KUTCH,GUJARAT	8	NA
1905 APR 04	KANGRA, H.P	8	19,000
2001 JAN 26	BHUJ , GUJARAT	7.7	21,000
1918 JUL 08	SRIMANGAL, ASSAM	7.6	NA
2005 OCT 08	PAKISTAN	7.6	85000*
1869 JAN 10	NEAR CACHAR, ASSAM	7.5	NA
1943 OCT 23	ASSAM	7.2	NA
1930 JUL 02	DHUBRI, ASSAM	7.1	NA
1885 MAY 30	SOPOR, J&K	7	NA
1956 JUL 21	ANJAR, GUJARAT	7	NA
1999 MAR 29	CHAMOLI DIST, UP	6.8	NA
1988 AUG 06	MANIPUR-MYANMAR BORDER	6.6	1,000
1991 OCT 20	UTTARKASHI, UP HILLS	6.6	2,000
1967 DEC 10	KOYNA, MAHARASHTRA	6.5	NA
1988 AUG 21	BIHAR-NEPAL BORDER	6.4	NA
1993 SEP 30	LATUR-OSMANABAD, MAHARASHTRA	6.3	10,000
1975 JAN 19	KINNAUR, HP	6.2	NA
1997 MAY 22	JABALPUR,MP	6	NA

* – Death toll is the total  include the deaths in other countries in the region.

Metros going in Metro Way

Delhi Metro has Opened Yamuna bank on January 6, 2010 – Anand Vihar section.  This is Delhi Metro’s Fourth Line . Delhi Metro now has 96 km network with 83 stations.

The new fully-elevated Metro line  has five stations — Laxmi Nagar, Nirman Vihar, Preet Vihar, Karkarduma and Anand Vihar.

With the new line the Anand Vihar Metro Station is a major integrating terminal that brings together three modes of public transport – the Metro, the Indian Railways and the Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT). ISBT and Metro share the common circulation area. The Anand Vihar Metro Station will thus act as a crucial point for people coming from outside Delhi to access the spreading Metro network to go to different parts of the city and National Capital Region (NCR).

The DMRC has constructed two foot overbridges  at the Laxmi Nagar and Nirman Vihar stations, situated on Vikas Marg. The Foot Over Bridges have been constructed to provide commuters easy access to the Metro stations as well as help them to cross the road through unpaid area of the stations.

The success of Delhi Metro in creating a modern solution to the growing transport problem in the city is now accepted by other Metro cities of India.

Kolkata was the first Metro city  in India to adopt Metro in its transport network.  Kolkata Metro runs from Dum Dum to New Gharia.

Bengaluru (Banglore) city has already started with the Metro work. The metro is expected to connect the city from north to south and East to West and solve the infrastructural bottleneck the city is facing.

Mumbai Metro network is expected to support the existing suburban train system in the city.

Chennai Metro Project is planned to have two corridors to connect the city.

Hyderabad Metro service is also planned to provide a solution to the cities transport problem.

The rush for having a metro network in the Indian cities is mainly due to the following factors.

1. With the limited land, it is becoming more difficult to have new roads to solve the transport problems. Metros can be built overhead and underground  which enables it to be built even along with the existing infrastructure network
2. Vehicular transport and particularly the middle class prefer to travel in a better and comfortable way. The metro provides the solution
3. It shows the economic progress of the city
4. It is attracting the working class population as an easiest mode of transport

Besides the metros, other cities in India  are also showing interest in implementing Metro network .