Bleeding Rainbow

Bleeding Rainbow



Troubled Galaxy Destroyed dreams: Chapter Ten


Palash Biswas



http://www.troubledgalaxydetroyeddreams.blogspot.com/

Rainbow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia






Rainbows are optical and meteorological phenomena that cause a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. They take the form of a multicoloured arc, with red on the outer part of the arch and violet on the inner section of the arch. More rarely, a secondary rainbow is seen, which is a second, fainter arc, outside the primary arc, with colours in the opposite order, that is, with violet on the outside and red on the inside.


A rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colours. Traditionally, however, the sequence is quantised. The most commonly cited and remembered sequence, in English, is Newton's sevenfold red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. "Roy G. Biv" and "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain" are popular mnemonics.

Rainbows can be caused by other forms of water than rain, including mist, spray, dew, fog, and ice. Moreover, rainbows can have shapes other than a bow (arc), including stripes, circles, or even flames. (See circumhorizontal arc).



Rainbows can be observed whenever there are water drops in the air and sunlight shining from behind a person at a low altitude angle (on the ground). The most spectacular rainbow displays happen when half of the sky is still dark with draining clouds and the observer is at a spot with clear sky in the direction of the Sun. The result is a luminous rainbow that contrasts with the darkened background.

The rainbow effect is also commonly seen near waterfalls or fountains. Rainbow fringes can sometimes be seen at the edges of backlit clouds[1] and as vertical bands in distant rain or virga. The effect can also be artificially created by dispersing water droplets into the air during a sunny day. Rarely, a moonbow, lunar rainbow or night-time rainbow, can be seen on strongly moonlit nights. As human visual perception for colour is poor in low light, moonbows are often perceived to be white.[1]

You can create your own rainbow by facing 180 degrees from the sun and spraying mist from a garden hose in front of you in a circular motion, outlining a 360 degree "rainbow".

It is difficult to photograph the complete arc of a rainbow, as this would require an angle of view of 84°. For a 35 mm camera, a lens with a focal length of 19 mm or less would be required, whilst most photographers are only likely to have a 28 mm wide-angle lens. From an aeroplane, one has the opportunity to see the whole circle of the rainbow, with the plane's shadow in the centre. This phenomenon can be confused with the glory, but a glory is usually much smaller, covering only 5°–20°.







When I Look At The Rainbow


Lord when I look at the Rainbow you have placed in sky so
blue, it reminds me that all your promises are true
Your Rainbow reminds me that those who believe on you
are few, yet you have called us your little Ewe
Lord when I look at the Rainbow I see it's hue, it reminds
me that your love for us true
Your Rainbow in sky so blue, reminds me to keep praying
through
Lord when I look at the Rainbow it reminds me of your
promise to all of your creatures some of whom are of
different features
Your Rainbow and it's many colors reminds me that it
represents some whom are called colored
Lord when I look at your Rainbow and see how it's colors
are bright, it reminds me to do what is right
Your Rainbow I have never seen at night, this reminds me
to stay in the light
Lord when I look at your Rainbow it reminds me of your grief
because of our unbelief
Your Rainbow have no pot of gold, but your wonderful story
of love it has told
Lord when I Look at your Rainbow it reminds that you
promised to never again destroy the World with a flood
Your Rainbow to me is a sign of your love it represents
your Son's life Blood

Vincent G. Mead


And yet another dream......


Feel like dancing under a rainbow, feel like singing happy
songs, but my rainbow, no my rainbow, wont shine for me.
Feel like going to the ocean, building castle in the sand..
but my rainbow, my rainbow, wont shine for me.
,

DAVID GERARDINO

Rainbow


When I first came to the city
the rainbow paint the sky
It's in a little bus station
where I heard the rainbow song
a beautiful mother singing to her little three sons
And then rainbow shows day after day
with God telling me everything's gonna be so right
Oh, beautiful rainbow, beautiful sign
just letting people feel right

It is in this rainbow season
that love fills friends' hearts
some to express, some to hide
some to broadcast, some are shy
With the rainbow in the sky
You shouldn't hide and you shouldn't be shy
Nobody's gonna laugh at your lovely lines
Oh, beautiful rainbow, beautiful sign
Forever having her by my side

Xin Wang



Rainbow

I raised the elbow
I have seen the rainbow
It is the celebration of sky
My heart vibrates with joy
Rainbow happens on special moment
Busy life misses it in the speed movement
Waiting for rainbow,
In the raindrops Meadow,
Sky is not showing grace
Rainbow is not in trace

Rainbow with seven colors,
Appears to my beloved,
stays somewhere,
melts in the infinite sky!
Heart felts it’s gay
Rainbow is not mirage
It leaves image in my soul!

Mula Veereswara Rao


Rainbows bleed!

Just you should have the vision. Not only the Vision, you must have a heart to feel and a mind to understand.

For us, the persecuted Untouchables, black people and all underclasses, the refugees, the immigrants and the victims of Holocaust, Partition, Natural and man made hazards, Wars and civil Wars , the rainbows have to bleed!

We, the defenders of Nature and Natural resources, have to be killed and uprooted. this has been the Ultimate agenda of the Ruling Class and Hegemony all the time and Everywhere!

It happened in Americas while Columbus invented the new world for Colonisation. It was repeated as Vasco De Gama reached India. It was the same story in Africa, Australia and Neuzealand.

Europe experienced the Bloodshed with the introduction of industrial revolution followed by Hundred Years War, the CRUSED!

A Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo consists of enough Bloodshed.

USA also had to cross the rivers of blood in the struggle of Independence! USA had to suffer the tragedies involving civil War. Rise of Barrack Obama is the climax of all those tragedies.

China and Korea suffered Japanese Aggression!

Russia faced Napoleon and thus, Leo Tolstoy wrote the classic, War and Peace! USSR was born in bloodshed. USSR was the ultimate demise in Bloodshed.

Vietnam bore the burn of War as Hiroshima and Nagasaki witnessed first atomic Disaster heralding an Age of Troubled galaxy!

We witness Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Palestine and the middle east have never seen any Rainbow without the rain of Blood!

Thus, the Rainbows are bleeding for us worldwide. We bear the heritage and legacy of Holocaust as the War criminals consist of the Galaxy ruling Class!

Memories of Another Day continue and continue!

I have to live with so many families losing dearest and nearest ones in partition. Families had its members stranded in East Pakistan. Sometimes the Old Men and Helpless ladies would come to me and request to write a Post card for them addressed somewhere in East Bengal.

I learnt this with personal tragedies.

In 1960, my father Pulin Babu organised an all India Refugee Conference in Dineshpur. Invitees included SM Bannerjee, MP kanpur, Renuka chakrabarti and Samar Mukherjee , MPs from West Bengal and other dignitaries. Some posters printed for the event were stocked on the partition wall in our Uttar Gahr, the North House. I found them later. i don`t remember anything particular about that conference. Nainital based Bengali Refugees demonstrated in Rudrapur in 1956 under the banner of Terai Udvastu committee. Pulin Babu was the general secretary. Radhakanta Roy, a Paundra Kshatriya from Khulna and resettled in Sunderpur Refugee colony in Dineshpur Area had been the President. Haripada Biswas was another prominent leader who hailed from Khulna and was resettled in Laxmipur Colony. Kumud Ranjan Mallick from Panchananpur, Shadanand Shikdar from Khanpur, Prafulla saha from Udainagar, kalipada Mandal from Kalinagar, Haren Roy from Chandan Nagar, Haren Sarkar from Makrand pur, Basudeb Mandal from Pipulia, Phuljhuri Mandal from Chandayan, Sukhlal Mandal from Dinesh Pur, Shishubar Roy from Vijaya Nagar, Meghnad Roy from Shibpur, Birinchi Pada Mandal from Durgapur, Deben Biswas from Amrita Nagar, Prafulla Manjhi from Haridaspur, Harimohan from Anand Khera were the prominent leaders of the Bengali refugees at that time.


I remember well that all the Bengali MPs and MLAs skipped Dinseh Pur and Shaktifarm with refugee colonies countrywide. Only in seventies, while CPIM launched Marichjhanpi Movement, leaders from West Bengal visited Dandakaranya. Uttaranchal saw the West Bengal based comrades only after the death of my Father. In 2001, Newly Uttaranchal BJP Government led by Nityanand Swami, made domicile certificates compulsory for jobs in the state. Bengalies were denied the domicile certificates. All the Bengali Refugees settled in Terai were branded as Bangladeshi. The Bengalies and the Sikhs settled in Terai in the same time period in early fifties and they were responsible for deforestation and cultivation in Terai. But the Sikhs were never questioned. The Bengalies launched an agitation once again after 1956. this time, they had to defend their citizenship. All communities residing in Terai, the media and all political parties except BJP, stood united rock solid to support this agitation.

We contacted the West Bengal Government, Political parties, Civil Society and Media. We formed an organisation, SAHMARMI. For the first time, West Bengal supported the Dalit Refugees. Later it turned out to be an exercise to expand the CPIM base in North India with refugee Vote Bank. CPIM launched a false land movement led by Brinda karat in Terai only to divide the Bengalies settled there.MPs and Party leaders including Biman Basu visited our area for the first time while they had already cooperated to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2003. Cpim fielded no less than forteen candidates in the next assembly elections!

ND Tiwari was the only leader who always supported the Bengali refugees in Terai. He visited Bengali resettlement in 1954 for the first time. He befriended with all the refugees. he knew all the Old Men and the Youth by name in every colony.

In 1960, only ND Tiwari ensured the suceess of the first All India Refugee Conference in Dineshpur.

I was to young to join the conference. But I would never forget the occassion. My father was involved in Refugee Mobilisation. Meanwhile, he visited the riot torn Assam. he returned and organised the conference having sent his younger brother, Chhoto kaka to Assam.

My two sisters died without any medical help during those hectic days.

I remember that day. It was a dark, humid day in Terai. We saw no Rainbow in the sky as it did not rain. The sky was unclear and the Himalays were not visible. The Himalays just disappeared from the Horizon.

We were all alone, isolated like a lonely Island.

Though our Village people were there. But what help could they offer? They tried their best to locate Pulin Babu and failed.

Tuni was younger than me. the other girl was an infant and was still unnamed. They both succumbed in the Evening and all the darkness of this Galaxy involved us. I saw my Jetah Moshai, the Eldest uncle weeping. Thamma, Pisisma, Jethima and Kakima were crying. Didi, Meera was also crying. All the women in the neighbourhood were crying.

But I was not crying. I do not know how I realised in those days of innocense that any amount of crying is not going to help us anyway.

I just noted and witness the Event of Tragedy.

I was shocked.

But I was strong enough to face the Ultimate truth.

It was my Making. I had to change this scenerio!

Tragedies and Holocaust never cease. We have to change the system and circumstances causing all these tragedies and Holocausts.

Believe me, or not, I saw the rainbow bleedin all the time and always I believed that we could Change! It has to be changed!

This is the ultimate lesson I got with my first solid memory as a child.

And just read this letter which I wrote in 2007. It is addressed to a friend , Dr PG Biswas, a Professor in GB Pant University Pant Nagar.

The Terai in Nainital was a home for epidemics and wild life. We changed it.

We have to change the galaxy someday!


Biswas Da (PG Biswas, Pantnagar University, Namaskar.
I was waiting for your call/mail. My mobile 09903717833 as well as land phone had been out of order for few days. May be you have tried. I tried to call you yesterday thrice and failed to contact. I am interested to know the progress of your work. I also wait for the feedback from all the friends and orgs involved in Dalit mobilisation and anti imperialism Black Untouchable Resistance!
Meanwhile, BAMCEF invited me to address its National conference in Patna. I have to speak on Nationality problem , Refugee problem and citizenship amendment act, Dalit Panchayat and south India and non Hindu periphery. I have to speak on 25th December.I have nothing against the other faction of Bamcef which is holding its conference in New Delhi. I was also proposed to address that conference. Since they do not treat our case, the plight of Dalit Bengali Refugees and Nationality problems, non Hindu periphera as burning issues inescapable and skip it- I decided for not going there. But I believe broader unity of all subaltern, SC, ST, OBC and Minority unity to annihilate this Hindu, Zionist, White Post Modern Manusmriti Corporate Manusmriti Imperialism!

On the other hand , our family faced a great tragedy as my cousin sister`s MeeraDee`s eldest Son Shekhar who belong to Suraj Farm, expired in a road accident near Bijnore.The body is waited to reach there from New Delhi AAIMS, where a brain surgery was done to save him as last bid. Whole family is there. I had to go.But I can not.Shekhar had been eldest amongst all our children. While my father was leading Dhimri Block Insurrection in 1958 or led refuges countrywide, we, Meeradi and me had been the only children in the joint family. My uncles were liable to see the family. Father was dedicated to the society. Later, after the riots of sixties my late uncle Dr Sudhir Kumar Biswas was also sent to Assam refugee areas to attend their health needs. Meeradi looked after me. As the ladies in the family my aunts and mother used to be always busy to attend infinite needy crisis struck daily guests and home management.
Shekhar was borne at our place and I clearly visualise the event. he had been such a nice boy always present to help in crisis. Thanks God, My father, mother, Uncles and aunts - no one survive to face the tragedy. My sister is an excellent old lady and her Husband had been a teacher. I am concerned for the poor old couple!
My wife Sabita had undergone open heart surgery in 1995 and we have got doctors appointments.
Moreover, it is a rare opportunity to address the BAMCEF Conference as no other political or non political org supports us.
You know the family legacy and liability. It is really a very tough decision to make. I inherit the legacy of struggle from my father. And perhaps you should know that two of my sisters expired without medical care while he was engaged in mass mobilisation.
I am just following my father`s example. My wife is weeping all these days. As last week my bosome college life friend Pawan Rakesh also lost his only son dearest gaurab, only 23 yrs old in a road accident in Dehradoon where he studied.
It is a very tough time.
but I have to be aware of my surroundings. I have to take care of my enslaved communities unguarded from civil and human rights violations. My family in Naninital and relatives countrywide would consider me heartless as my family considered my father once upon a time in 1960.
In these circumstances I want your support to convince my friends there that I have not any other option. i will be in Naninital in January, i hope.
I request everyone belonging to Bahujan communities to attend the BAMCEF Conference in Patna beginning from 25th December. I hope that our friends from Uttaranchal and UP will be there. It is much more important as the conference is being held in Bihar where Dalit Bengali refugees are isolated rest of the community.
We have to unify all the Islands!
Palash Biswas
Kolkata
15 December,2007


Nirmal. Nirmal joshi, a friend , a comrade is no more. He died on 24 October,2007. He was sick for long time. My sweet home Nainital is situated perhaps in another galaxy. We have so many E-Groups, mobiles and net, but we did not know the news. I had to attend the birthday party of Golu, the lovely small boy , my friend film director Rajiv Kumar`s son last Sunday. We met in south kolkata in his new flat. Director Joshy Joseph and a bunch of young filmmakers and technitians were present. We discussed nandigram, Singur, Bangladesh, Refugee movement, my father, globalisation and American corporate Imperialism. But we could not discuss on our home Nainital or Uttrakhand. We have no news, no feedback, no phone call from Nainital. No body informed us that Nirmal is not there to participate in any hot debate on our favourite topics as he used to do in seventies during our college days, during emergency and Chipko Andolan, during Nasha nahee Rozgar do. He won`t be there to enact again , `Thank You Mr Glad’.
On monday only, I recieved a copy of Nainital samachar and got the news. I informed rajiv. We were stunned that a friend born in 1956 went away for ever so silently. Nirmal was never silent. We shared a single quilt in Girda`s room with Girda, Mohan, Prim, Pushpa and Nirmal. We shared single cup of tea during rehearsals of Yugmanch. We shared a bottle of wine in chilly night in Nainital.Everyone had to have a chuski. We discussed the world strolling on Mal road beside the splendid Naini Lake in winter nights amid snowfall. We discussed Marx and Mao, Gandhi and Lohia, Classics written worldwide and the contemporary world. We discussed our dreams. We discussed every moment a better Uttarakhand , a better India and a better world.
What Uttarakhand we have got! What a world is this!

During emergency, we were students in degree classes in Nainital. Mohan alias Kapilesh Bhoj and me went to Mathura and Kota during winter vacation to attend writers` secret meetings. We used to have our study circles on Snow Peak or Tiffin Top. Nainital samchar was yet to publish. In DSB college we had Mahendra Singh Pal, the students` Union President, Raja Bahuguna, Sher Singh Naulia, Bhagirath Lal, the most versatile actor Zahoor Alam, Suresh Arya, Kashi Singh Airy and many more who represent Uttarakhand assembly nowadays.Pradip Tamta, now a Congress MLA , was our ideological leader.He was most aggressive. Mohan and me were considered intellectuals in the group as we used to write regularly.At that time we were room partners in Bengal Hotel Nainital as we left the house of Tara Chandra Tripathi, our guide and teacher.

We knew Girda as a poet and a very good director actor.We had no interaction with Rajiv Lochan sah or Shekhar Pathak at that time. DD Pant was our Vice chacellor who launched Uttarakhand Kranti Dal later and kash emerged the leader.

Tamta came to our room and introduced Nirmal, an MA student in political science.His father was the head clerk in our DSB college and we had serious doubts about Nirmal`s commitment. Very soon he proved to be more committed. We had secret meetings in Kashipur, Gularbhoj and Dineshpur in Terai. We had regular study circles. We were fighting against emergency. Raja Bahuguna joined us at this point. He shifted to new founded Uttaraghand Sangharsh Vahini with us from Janata Dal. Earlier he had been Nainital district Youth Congress President. He left Congress during May, 1977 elections.

During Chipko movement and just after Nainital Club Fire, the entire group was together with Almora friends Vipin Tripathi, shamsher Singh Bisht and chandra Sekhar Bhatt, PC Tiwari and many more. Nirmal was most active among us.Nainital Samachar, Nainital, Ramje Inter College Almora, Someshwar, Dwarahat, Tehri, Uttarkashi and the total Uttarakhan along with Terai became our centres of activity. We often were involved in heated discussion. Niramal, Girda, Vipin Chacha and Me were the most vocal. Harish Pant, Zahoor Alam, Shamsher, Rajiv Lochan, Pawan Rakesh, Shekhar Pathak, dr Ajay Rawat and Dr Chandresh Shastri were very logical. We always dominated.

We decided the layout and content of Nainital Samachar and the editorial team had to surrender. Outsiders like Naveen Joshi from Lucknow were the regular visitors. Pankaj Bisht, Biren Dangwal, kunwar Prasoon, Sundar Lal Bahuguna, Jawaqhar Lal kaul, Anand Swaroop Verma, Himanshu Joshi, Diva Bhatt and others interrupted us sometimes.
Uma Bahtt was married to Shekhar and she became the most silent and active worker. She played the host role for us the anarchists. We danced together on the occassion of Rajiv`s marriage. We may not forget all those days. Rajiv Kumar came from Pantnagar and became a part of us. We played dramas by Badal Sarkar and the director was BB karanth. We played Trishanku with BM shah.

During Thank You Mr Glad our team was attacked in Ramje college by RSS goons. Nirmal was thrashed. He played the Patnaik role in the play. He was not an actor as Zahoor and our Yugmanch friends were. But he acted very well. The wife of Patnaik was enacted by Pushpa. Nirmal`s father was not ready to agree their marriage as Nirmal was a Kumauni Brahmin and Pushpa , a Thakur titled Bisht. Bua Pushpa and Nirmal passed those challanges very well. both of them were established lawyers in Nainital Highcourt.
Me and Savita went to Nainital just after our marraige. We met Nirmal and Pushpa for the last time then in May, 1983.
Nirmal changed a lot. He was drinking too muich and was availabl only in the Boat club. thus, I could not meet him for years. same was the case with friends in Nainital. We listened that Nirmal is changing once again. he is prepared to play a second innings in the mass movement.



Person's nexus of statuses, defines only a selection of his rights, duties, and capacities and endangers only one sector of his total social identity....

The family is a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood, or adoption; constituting a single household, interacting and inter-communicating...A Joint family is a group of people who generally live under one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who hold property in common.

Tribe, caste, sect and class are the various categories of social stratification found in India. A tribe is a collection of families or groups of families.

330 kms northeast of New Delhi in the Kumaon Himalayas lies the Nainital Lake Valley (29° 22' 60N and 79° 27' 0E) and adjacent hill resorts. The Nainital area (1938m) lies in the central Himalayas and is a vantage point to view the great Nanda Devi massif. The Pangot area (1900m) lies 15 kilometers past Nainital and is on the road to Vinayak past Kilbury.
The area and its surrounding hills has a record of 200+ Himalayan bird species.


Mixed forests dominated by thick ban-oak, pine and rhododendron cover most of the area and surrounding hills. A large part of the landscape is characterized by dense vegetation. Numerous perennial creeks and streams crisscross the area.

The terai & bhabhar belt presents the climate of the plains while the deep valleys with elevation upto 1000 Mts. play host to flora and fauna typical of hills as well as plains. The middle Himalayan ranges to 2000 Mts and the sub alpine region upto 2500 Mts complete the eco-zones.


Indian farmers in a district in Uttar Pradesh, who had given up traditional rice varieties for high yielding varieties (HYVs) during the Green Revolution, found themselves in difficulty as the HYVs ran into problems. These farmers were saved by the foresight of one farmer who had continued growing traditional varieties which are cheaper to cultivate and superior to the HYVs in disease and pest resistance, climate tolerance, yield, flavour and market price.

While several farmers had started growing the Pant-4 HYV (and some other HYVs) recommended to them, the very high demands of irrigation as well as chemical fertilisers for this rice HYV were proving a problem for them. This problem was particularly acute in this drought year. As a result of heavy exploitation of water, nearly half of the artesian wells (the most important sources of irrigation in the terai) had dried up. In the remaining wells too the pressure had reduced considerably.

Even in rivers the water level declined steeply. The water level in the Haripura dam on Bhakhra river and the Bore dam on Bore river has receded so much that the farmers could not seek any solace from these structures.

A large number of eucalyptus trees planted here in recent years have also contributed to lowering the water-table. Most of these trees have been planted on fields bunds. Villagers say that a row of this tree sucks up to a distance of five metres in the field.

Earlier the main feature of this area had been its abundance of ground-water. But the destruction of natural forests in the hills above as well as in the plains of the terai reduced this to a large extent. At the same time, exploitation of the ground-water started on a truly massive scale by not only bringing much more land under cultivation but also growing highly water-intensive HYVs, especially the new exotic strains of paddy, on this land. The water-table went down drastically, at some places as low as 50 feet, making it necessary to dig tubewells to satiate the needs of the HYVs and the new cropping pattern.

Initially, when water abundance had made this a particularly good land for growing rice HYVs, the traditional paddy varieties had been given up by most farmers. However, one far-sighted farmer, Inder Singh continued to grow and preserve several diverse traditional varieties having different properties with respect to disease and pest susceptibility, climate tolerance, yield, flavour, aroma, etc. Among these he noticed one particular variety which had good qualities of flavour as well as high yield.

As the water level receded and the HYVs ran into some other problems as well, some farmers started yearning for traditional seeds and happily they could get these from Inder Singh. His best variety was named Indarasan - as a tribute to his farsightedness in preserving and improving it. Owing to high productivity and low costs of cultivation (in terms of fertilisers and water), this variety was popular among farmers. The small farmers least capable of coping with the high cost of HYVs especially found Indarasan a very useful variety. In just about six to seven years nearly half of the land was covered by Indarasan, and even some big farmers adopted this variety.

During the recent drought season, Indarasan coped much better than Pant-4, the most widely grown variety here among the various paddy HYVs. In fact the yield of Indarasan paddy this year has gone up, reaching a peak of 32 quintals per acre from the earlier average of 25 quintals per acre. On the other hand Pant-4 has stagnated at 20 quintals per acre, and where irrigation could not be arranged, this HYV has been destroyed almost entirely.

What is more, the Indarasan variety is fetching a better price on the market - its rate of Rs.208 per quintal in Gandarpur mandi (market) compares very favourably with the Rs.175 per quintal for Pant-4.

There is a big rush among farmers to get the Indarasan seed for next year's crop.

Farmers who have been cultivating Indarasan for some time are satisfied that it has not been susceptible to diseases and they compare this to the high susceptibility of the so-called HYVs.

The Indarasan variety also has good flavour and scent, and its threshing is much easier. In comparison the threshing of Pant-4 requires much more effort. In addition the proportion of unbroken grains is higher in Indarasan.

In terms of flavour Indarasan is vying with popular types of rice like Basmati and Hansraj for a place of honour. It also yields more dry fodder for cattle compared to the dwarf HYVs, and even in quality Indarasan's fodder has been found relatively better (generally paddy fodder is considered a poor quality fodder, to be used only in case of extreme need).

Unfortunately some scientists who identify their own work only with the popularisation of exotic HYVs are feeling uneasy about this re-discovery of farmers, instead of learning from the field-situation and re-orienting their research effort accordingly.

This better performance of a traditional variety grown at a lower cost, particularly in a drought year, is especially significant since it took place in the Nainital terai region, considered a birth-place of the Green Revolution in India.



Nainital is referred to in the ‘Manas Khand’ of the ‘Skanda Purana’ as the Tri-Rishi-Sarovar, the lake of the three sages, Atri, Pulastya and Pulaha who were reputed to have arrived here on penitential pilgrimage and finding no water to quench their thirst dug a hole and siphoned water into it from Mansarovar the sacred lake in Tibet.

The second important mythological reference to Nainital is as one of 64 ‘Shakti Peeths’. These centres were created wherever parts of charred body of Sati fell, when Lord Shiva was carrying around her corpse in grief. It is said that the left eye (Nain) of Sati fell here and this gave rise to patron deity of town Nainital. It is said that the lake is formed in the emerald eye shape. Naina Devi temple is located at the northern end of the lake. Thus name of Nainital derivated from Naina and the tal (Lake).

Before creation of independent District Nainital on October 13, 1891, it was part of Kumaon Sessions Division vide Notification No.1314/VI-48-1914 dated 26th March, 1914 Mr.Wyndham, I.C.S. was appointed as first Commissioner of Kumaon Division, who also worked as Sessions Judge for this Division. At that time, Almora, Garhwal, Nainital and Pilibhit were placed under this Sessions Division. Later on, Pilibhit was removed from Kumaon Sessions Division.

Under the treaty of Sigauli in 1816, Nepal formally ceded the territory of Uttarakhand, and certain other areas to the East India Company. A province of Kumaon was formed consisting of the erstwhile districts of Almora, Garhwal and Nainital. Garhwal was separated from Kumaon under the Act X of 1838 and Terai Districts were created. Thus, the province of Kumaon included the districts of Kumaon, Garhwal and Terai came in existence. But, on 13th October, 1891, Nainital district was formed by combining the Tarai and Bhabar area with certain hill patties which were formerly included in what was known as Kumaon District which thereafter came to be known as Almora. The three Districts of Almora, Nainital and Garhwal constituted the Kumaon Division. On the merger of the erstwhile Tehri State in 1949, Tehri District was also added to this Division.

On the absorption of Kumaon with the rest of British India, the then Governor-General appointed Hon’ble E.Gardner to assume the office and title of Commissioner for the affairs of Kumaon and Agent to the Governor-General on 3rd May, 1815, and Mr. G.W.Traill as his Assistant. But as the former mostly remained busy with his military and political duties in Nepal, the burden of administration fell on his Assistant, Mr.Traill.

The administrative history of Kumaon Division in the words of Whalley in his "Law of Non-Regulation-Provinces" divides itself into three periods "Kumaon under Traill; Kumaon under Batten and Kumaon under Ramsay". The regime in the first period was essentially paternal, despotic and personal. It resisted the centralizing tendency which the policy of the Government had developed. It, though arbitrary was just wise and progressive administration. Mr.Traill’s administration lasted from 1815 to 1835.

"Mr. Batten ruled Kumaon during 1836-56, but the early stages of his rule were marked by an influx of codes and rules and a predominance of official supervision which gradually subsided as he gained influence position and experience. Thus, the second period glided insensibly, into the third period which nevertheless has a distinctive character of its own. In Sir Henry Ramsay’s administration we see the two currents blended. The personal sway and unhampered autocracy of the first era, combining with it the orderly procedure and observance of fixed rules and principles, was the chief feature of the second."

It may be stated that in the earliest times administration of justice, civil or criminal was hardly any problem to the British Government. From 1st of January, 1820 to 31st December, 1821 the total number of criminals confined in Jail amounted to sixty five out of whom 4 had been convicted of murder, 3 for thefts above Rs.50 and the rest for petty thefts, assaults, defamation, forgery, etc. In the words of Traill himself in his Statistical Sketch of Kumaon, "affrays of a serious nature are of rare occurrence and even petty assaults are most infrequent…..Applications to court on the subject of caste are numerous; these are invariably referred to the Pandit of the Court, whose decree delivered to the party concerned is conclusive …. In civil judicature the simple forms of the preceding Government have been generally retained. The petition originating the suit is required to be written on an eight-anna stamp but no institution or other fees are levied. A notice in the form of an ittalanama is then issued when process is served by the plaintiff in three cases out of four produces a compromise between the parties. In case the compromise is not affected it is returned by the plaintiff to the court and the defendant was summoned. The parties then plead their cause in person and in case the facts are disputed on either side, evidence is called for. Oaths are never administered except in particular cases and at the express desire of either party. Suits for division of property or settlement of accounts are commonly referred to arbitrators selected by the parties. In the matter of execution of decrees, the established forms were followed by the leniency of native creditors renders imprisonment and sales in satisfaction of decrees uncommon… At that time only one court (Commissioner’s Court) exists in the province for trial of civil cases."

Untramelled by any laws, rules and regulations Mr. Traill made his own arrangements for administration of Civil and Criminal justice. He was not only the head of the civil administration but the sole legislator and dispenser of civil justice. He had framed his own rules of procedure for presentation of plaints on an eight-anna stamp irrespective of the valuation of the claim on presentation of which the plaintiff was required to serve notice on the defendant himself. In seventy-five percent of cases the claims were compromised. In other cases the parties were first examined where after their witnesses, if any, were examined, but oath was generally not administered.

There were no lawyers and no one was permitted to act as an agent of the contending parties and the maximum duration of a suit was twelve days. Incidentally, it may be stated that Mr. Traill also conducted the first ‘Nazarandazi’ survey of Kumaon in Samvat 1880 i.e., 1818 A.D. (Commonly known as "Sal assi") which still continues to form the basic document for determining village boundaries. There was no actual survey, but Mr. Traill rationally allotted and amidst the different villages by reference to natural or prominent features existing on the northern, southern, eastern and western boundaries of each village. Actual survey operations in most of the areas of Kumaon were undertaken for the first time by Mr. Beckett in 1856.

According to Walton’s Gazetteer for the District of Almora first Munsif was appointed in 1829 and seven Kanungos were invested with the title and powers of Munsif and title of Sadar Amin was conferred on Court Pandit. These officers continued to exercise powers of Civil Judges till 1838. After these offices were abolished, the Act X of 1838 was enforced under which the districts of Kumaon and Garhwal each had one Senior Assistant, one Sadar Amin and one Munsiff under Sadar Dewani Adalat. In civil administration Kumaon Province was placed under the jurisdiction of Sadar Dewani Adalat in 1838 and remained subject to its jurisdiction till 1864. The Assam Rules with certain modifications were adopted for the administration of civil and criminal justice in 1839. These rules were superseded in 1863 by a set of Civil and Revenue Rules known as Jhansi Rules, statutory authority was given to these rules by section 2 of the Non-Regulation District Act (Central Act XXIV of 1864). Under section 4 of the said Act, Civil Procedure Code was also made applicable. Rules for service of processes were based on the lines laid down by Mr. Traill.

Thereafter, a new set of rules under notification No.628/VII-569-B dated 27th June, 1894 were promulgated under which the Commissioner was constituted as the High Court of Kumaon except in the cases under Succession Act, in respect of which he acted as a District Judge and an appeal would lie to the High Court of Allahabad against his decision. The other revenue officers i.e. Assistant Collectors were invested with the powers to decide civil cases with varying extent of jurisdiction. Under Rule 17 the Government had however been vested with power to make reference to the High Court of Allahabad against the decision of the Commissioner. Thereafter, the Commissioner sitting as the High Court of Kumaon would decide the cases in accordance with the opinion of the High Court.

The Commissioner of Kumaon, however, continued to exercise the powers of a High Court until the enforcement of Notification No.543/VII-421 dated 1st April, 1926 (Published at page 57 of the Rules and orders relating to Kumaon). A District Judge was appointed to exercise jurisdiction over Pilibhit and the three districts Almora, Garhwal and Nainital constituting the Kumaon Division. Later on Pilibhit was separated from Kumaon judgeship. The Deputy Commissioners of the three districts were invested with the powers of a subordinate judge and Assistant Collectors who were revenue officers were empowered to try civil suits up to a valuation of rupees five thousand.

The arrangement of investing revenue officers with the powers of Civil Judges and Munsiffs did not work satisfactorily. After 1926 the District Judge of Kumaon became the Appellate Court in respect of civil case decided by them. These revenue officers were not very much conversant with civil laws. Their judgments were subjected to severe criticism at the hands of the District Judge. Consequently they were hesitant to try civil cases which had been thrust upon them by virtue of their office as Assistant Collectors. This led to an appalling state of affairs in the accumulation of arrears in the disposal of civil cases. Sir Iqbal Ahmad the then Chief Justice drew the attention of the Government to this fact. In 1942 the U.P. Government agreed to post one judicial officer at Almora with powers of an Assistant Collector of first class, who by virtue of his office became a Civil Judge with jurisdiction to try civil suits up to a valuation of Rs.5,000/-.

This experiment proved very successful. Consequently in 1947 the Government appointed a number of young and promising lawyers as Revenue Officers exclusively to try and dispose of civil cases. In 1952 the High Court appointed its own Munsiffs and Civil Judges under Bengal and Assam Civil Courts Act.

After the merger of the erstwhile Tehri State one more Civil and Sessions Judges were posted to Kumaon under the District and Sessions Judge. On account of administrative convenience his headquarters was fixed at Tehri. The District and Sessions Judge of Kumaon was also a Civil Judge of Kumaon and as such he tried and disposed of original suits of higher valuation. An Additional Civil and Sessions Judge was also appointed to assist him whenever the workload increased.

As regards administration of criminal justice, criminal jurisdiction was conferred on Kumaon officers in July 1817 under Regulation X of 1817 except in certain serious offences like murder, robbery, treason etc. for the trial of which a Commissioner had to be specifically appointed by the Governor-General in Council. After recording evidence in the case, the Commissioner used to submit his report to the Nizamat Adalat which passed the final sentence. It seldom became necessary to appoint a Commissioner under this provision. This Regulation was subsequently repealed by Act X of 1838, as a result of which criminal courts in Kumaon came directly under the control of Nizamat Adalat. Rules were made under the Act for administration of criminal justice which was later on superseded by the Criminal Procedure Code under which the Commissioner of Kumaon was appointed as the Sessions Judge.



Shukla RP, Nanda N, Pandey AC, Kohli VK, Joshi H, Subbarao SK.
Malaria Research Centre (Field Station), Haldwani, India.

A study on the bionomics of Anopheles fluviatilis sensu lato was carried out in two physiographic regions, viz. Bhabar and Terai of District Nainital, Uttar Pradesh. In both areas, An. fluviatilis was found resting indoors predominantly in cattlesheds. Cytological examination of An. fluviatilis revealed that species T and U were sympatric in Bhabar and Terai villages with predominance of species T. These two sibling species appear to be poor vectors of malaria.

PMID: 10448226 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]







[edit] Scientific explanation
The rainbow's appearance is caused by dispersion of sunlight as it goes through raindrops. The light is first refracted as it enters the surface of the raindrop, reflected off the back of the drop, and again refracted as it leaves the drop. The overall effect is that the incoming light is reflected back over a wide range of angles, with the most intense light at an angle of 40°–42°. The angle is independent of the size of the drop, but does depend on its refractive index. Seawater has a higher refractive index than rain water, so the radius of a 'rain'bow in sea spray is smaller than a true rainbow. This is visible to the naked eye by a misalignment of these bows.[2]

The amount by which light is refracted depends upon its wavelength, and hence its colour. Blue light (shorter wavelength) is refracted at a greater angle than red light, but because the area of the back of the droplet has a focal point inside the droplet, the spectrum crosses itself, and therefore the red light appears higher in the sky, and forms the outer colour of the rainbow. Contrary to popular belief, the light at the back of the raindrop does not undergo total internal reflection and some light does emerge from the back. However, light coming out the back of the raindrop does not create a rainbow between the observer and the sun because spectra emitted from the back of the raindrop do not have a maximum of intensity, as the other visible rainbows do, and thus the colours blend together rather than forming a rainbow.



Light rays enter a raindrop from one direction (typically a straight line from the Sun), reflect off the back of the raindrop, and fan out as they leave the raindrop. The light leaving the rainbow is spread over a wide angle, with a maximum intensity of 40.6°–42°.

White light separates into different colours (wavelengths) on entering the raindrop because red light is refracted by a lesser angle than blue light. On leaving the raindrop, the red rays have turned through a smaller angle than the blue rays, producing a rainbow.






Religion and mythology



The end of a rainbow.


















Main article: Rainbows in mythology
The rainbow has a place in legend owing to its beauty and the historical difficulty in explaining the phenomenon.

In Greek mythology, the rainbow was considered to be a path made by a messenger (Iris) between Earth and Heaven. In Chinese mythology, the rainbow was a slit in the sky sealed by Goddess Nüwa using stones of five different colours. In Hindu mythology, the rainbow is called Indradhanush, meaning the bow of Indra, the God of lightning and thunder. In Norse Mythology, a rainbow called the Bifröst Bridge connects the realms of Ásgard and Midgard, homes of the gods and humans, respectively. The Irish leprechaun's secret hiding place for his pot of gold is usually said to be at the end of the rainbow. This place is impossible to reach, because the rainbow is an optical effect which depends on the location of the viewer. When walking towards the end of a rainbow, it will move further away.

After Noah's Deluge, the Bible relates that the rainbow gained meaning as the sign of God's promise that terrestrial life would never again be destroyed by flood (Genesis 9.13-15[14]):

I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Another ancient portrayal of the rainbow is given in the Epic of Gilgamesh: the rainbow is the "jewelled necklace of the Great Mother Ishtar" that she lifts into the sky as a promise that she "will never forget these days of the great flood" that destroyed her children. (The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet Eleven)

Then Ishtar arrived. She lifted up the necklace of great jewels that her father, Anu, had created to please her and said, "Heavenly gods, as surely as this jewelled necklace hangs upon my neck, I will never forget these days of the great flood. Let all of the gods except Enlil come to the offering. Enlil may not come, for without reason he brought forth the flood that destroyed my people."