RAINWATER HARVESTING

It is basically accumulation and storage of rainwater in a scientific way to combat the increasing water crisis of the present day.It is advantageous in many ways, such as

• Use of ancient concept in a sustainable manner
• Low cost technology
• Can be performed even in common households without much apparatus or technical knowledge
• It can supply plenty of water for consumption, irrigation or other works
• The areas where ground water is saline, rainwater can solve agricultural crisis.
  

Rainwater can be harvested in many ways from simple rooftop harvesting to complex commercial harvesting.

Rooftop harvesting

• Here catchment area is available free of cost
• Supply is done at the zone of consumption

Pond, lake or other water bodies

• This can be used to recharge ground water aquifers
• Here subsurface dyke may be used.

Rain water is generally free of harmful minerals and in most cases chemicals, but can be adversely effected by air pollutants and/or contaminated by animals in the catchment area. Due to increasing levels of pollutants, city and bottled water providers are increasingly turning to use of sophisticated treatment processes and chemincals to ensure a quality product. Consequently, rainwater for drinking should be carefully stored and treated prior to consumption. Several technlogies exist for home treatment including: ozone sterilization, UV and distillation.

PRESSURE GROUPS

Any social group that seeks to influence the behaviour of the authority without capturing formal control of governance, is known as pressure group.It is a medium available for the common people to dictate the course of affairs in the government.The political right of citizens is limited to exercising the power of casting vote after a certain time gap.Such democratic deficit is compensated by the existence of pressure groups.Thus pressure groups act as medium of communication between government and the citizens.

Lobbying is a common method to create pressure on government.Sending representation to the legislature or any department to influence policy making is called lobbying.Use of media,publication of books,demonstrations, pamphlets are the other techniques.Such groups are broadly classified four types- institutional,associational,non associational,anomic.

In India such groups often use techniques like candle light protests,hartal, gherao etc.The politics of coalition has made such groups even more prominent in india.

To sum it up, such groups accelerate social development,prevents stagnation and increases social cohesion by providing outlet of popular grievances.

FINANCIAL INCLUSION

The term " FINANCIAL INCLUSION " was added in the budget 2008-09 on the recommendation of the central committee on financial inclusion.It refers to better access of the larger sections of the population to the vast organized and structured financial market of the country and ensuring availability of timely and adequate credit.In other words, it is extension of banking to the less privileged sections of the society.

Though regional rural banks and cooperative banks are larger in number in the rural areas, their contribution in total banking services is meager, 9% and 3% of the total as compared to the huge 78% of the commercial banks.Financial inclusion seeks to make corrections in such anomalies.

The financial inclusion policy of the government includes two fold policy- first to encourage the RRBs and cooperative banks to enroll more rural and semi urban households as their customers and to appoint retired bank officials and other ex servicemen to act as credit counselors or business facilitators.

This is a wonderful step in many ways.Firstly it will save the rural people from the clutches of the unscrupulous money lenders and intermediaries and help them to take benefits of the financial progress of the country.Secondly, this will boost up the overall financial health of the country as most of the population the country stll live in villages.

Suggested strategies:

• Setting up a financial inclusion task force.
• Setting up a Financial Inclusion fund like that of UK.
• Better monitoring system to keep a vigil on the banking activities in the rural areas.
• Creation of better business opportunities in the rural areas to help the rural people to utilize the credit available in better ways.
• India must learn from the mistake of the US financial system that financial inclusion policy if not guided by a pragmatic approach may cause irreversible damage to the economic structure of the nation.
  

ROLE OF USA IN PROMOTING/HINDERING INDIA-PAKISTAN RELATION

The role of the United States over the years in India-Pakistan relation has been dubious.There has been much expectation from both the sides, but practically other than giving lip services or creating confusion by changing stance, US so far has not done anything major to play the role of a responsible mediator between the two nations,often hostile at each other.

Pakistan has often enjoyed leverage over India so far relation with USA is concerned.In the cold war era, it received US support by becoming an active member of the US backed South East Asian Treaty Organization(SEATO).India on the other hand, was often criticized for not being a party to American ambitions during the cold war phase.NAM,of which India was a party, was often criticized as being tantamount to non commitment and non involvement.The relationship worsened during Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.The traditional friendship of the then USSR and India, kept India aloof from criticizing her traditional friend.On the other hand Pakistan joined hand with US to combat USSR invasion of the Afghan soil.It is only recently that India has been in the "Good Book" of USA and getting a treatment often enjoyed by Pakistan,courtesy the much talked about"Nuclear Deal".

US despite declaring war against international terrorism has been unusually silent when question came over branding Pakistan as a breeding ground of terrorism, a notion perceived by most of the nations.The so called "Four Pillar of US Policy on Kashmir" gives Pakistan an edge as it talks about Indian government's role in addressing the grievances of the Kashmiri people, whereas POK does not find any inportance at all in the policy.

The ambivalent attitude of the US after Mumbai blast of 1993 or even after 26/11 incident reflects its policy of "escapism" when its own interests are not at stake.Thus the only thing US reiterates after all the mych hyped visits of the high profile diplomats to these two nations is that US wants the Kashmir issue to be solved by these two nations themselves through dialogues.And even after verifying evidences suggeting Pakistan's role in spreading terrorism on Indian soil,it reiterates its faith in Pakistan's role in combatting terrorism.Sounds ludicrous but unfortunately the unipolarity of the world with US being the only superpower, does not allow India to give vent to her anger to such dualism.

Conflicts often get exacerbated due to duslism of the mediator.That is exactly what is happening in case of US role in India -Pakistan.US must come out of shell and present itself in a more responsible manner if it really wants peace in South East Asia.Rather than complicating the already gloomy situation,US must become a responsible communicator and strive for bringing peace among these nations.It is often very difficult to call a spade a spade, but responsibility brings with it difficulties, always.