आजचा बदलता मिडिया

 

 नमस्कार,

माझं नाव शंतनु आणि माझ्या वक्तृत्वाचा विषय आहे, आजचा बदलता मिडिया… तर मला असं वाटतं, बदलत्या मिडियाबद्दल बोलण्यापुर्वी इतिहासात काळानुसार मिडिया कसा बदलला आहे हे आधी आपण जाणून घेऊ.

मिडियामधे अनेक पातळ्यांवर खूप वेळा बदल झालेला आहे. एका माणसाला किंवा एका समुहाला अनेक माणसांसमोर व्यक्त होता येणं हे प्रसार माध्यमांचं मूळ तत्व आहे. त्यानुसार मौखिक परंपरा, ही खरंतर जगातलं पहिलं प्रसार माध्यम आहे असं म्हणता येईल. निरनिराळ्या काळी, निरनिराळ्या ठिकाणी, निरनिराळ्या परंपरेत मौखिक परंपरेनं माहिती पोहचवायचं, विचार पोहचवायचं, मनोरंजन करायचं काम वेगवेगळ्या पद्धतीने छानपैकी पार पाडलेलं आहे. आपल्याकडे हेच काम भजन, किर्तन, नाट्यप्रयोग याप्रकारच्या पद्धतींनी पार पाडलं.

मौखिक परंपरेनंतर छापील प्रसार माध्यमांचा, म्हणजेच प्रिंट मिडियाचा शोध लागला. जगातलं सगळ्यात जुनं पुस्तक चीनमधे लिहिलं गेलं असं म्हणतात. त्याकाळी आणि त्याच्या आधीही पुस्तकं असायची आणि ती छापली जात नसून लिहिली जायची. त्यामुळे त्यांचा प्रसार मर्यादित असायचा. ठराविक माणसांकडेच ती असायची आणि जनसामान्यात त्यांचा प्रसार मौखिक परंपरेनं झाला तर व्हायचा. जसा प्रिंटिंग प्रेसचा शोध लागला, तशी वर्तमानपत्रं सुरू झाली. वर्तमानपत्रांमुळं बातम्यांचा पुरावा रहायला लागला, पण साक्षरांनाच वाचता येत असल्यामुळे त्यांचा प्रसार तसा मर्यादितच राहिला. जवळपास शतका – दिड शतकानंतर तंत्रज्ञान अधिक स्वस्त व प्रगत झाल्यावर आणि दळणवळणासाठी आगगाडीचा शोध लागल्यावर वर्तमानपत्रांचा प्रसार वाढला, किंमत उतरली आणि आधिक माणसांना वर्तमानपत्रं मिळायला लागली.

नंतर साधारण दुसऱ्या महायुद्धानंतर, टि.व्ही आणि रेडियो प्रसिद्ध झाले. वाचायला जसं साक्षर असावं लागतं, तसं ऐकायल आणि बघायला असावं लागत नाही. तसंच वाचायला जितका वेळ द्यावा लागतो, तितका वेळ बघायला आणि ऐकायला द्यावा लागत नसल्यामुळे रेडियो आणि टि.व्ही. खूप प्रसिद्ध झाले. महायुद्धात  माहिती पोहचवायचं मुख्य काम तर रेडियो आणि टि.व्ही.नेच केलं. त्यानंतरही मनोरंजनासाठी, आणि इतर माहिती पोहचवण्यासाठी बरंच काम ह्या प्रसार माध्यमांनी केलं आणि अजूनही करत आहेत.

मग आलं ते इंटरनेट. आधीच्या प्रसार माध्यमांच्या मर्यादा ह्याने बऱ्यापैकी खोडून काढल्या. भजन, किर्तन किंवा नाट्यप्रयोग एका वेळेस किती जणांसमोर करता येईल ह्याला मर्यादा असतात. तुम्ही त्याचा विडियो बनवून इंटरनेटवर टाका, लाखो माणसं एका वेळेस तो बघू शकतात. सगळी छापील वर्तमानपत्रं सगळीकडेच मिळू शकतील असं नाही, पण इंटरनेटवर तुम्ही कुठलंही वर्तमानपत्रं वाचू शकता. जगातलं कुठलंही रेडियो चॅनल तुम्ही ऐकू शकता आणि कुठलाही टि.व्ही. शो तुम्ही बघू शकता. इंटरनेटने पहिल्यांदा समाजमाध्यम हा प्रकार आणला. त्यामुळे नेहमी जे फक्त बघायचे, ऐकायचे किंवा वाचायचे, त्यांनाही काहीतरी निर्मिती करायची, जगभरात व्यक्त होण्याची संधी मिळाली.

वापरायला सोपं, नवं, आकर्षक, मोठं, काहीतरी वेगळं असं मिळाल्यावर त्याचे वापरकर्ते वाढायला लागले, आणि आधीच नियंत्रण करायला अवघड असणारं हे माध्यम अधिक नियंत्रणाबाहेर जायला लागलं. आजही कुठल्याही शासनाचं इंटरनेटवर पुर्ण नियंत्रण नाहीये. त्यामुळेच इंटरनेटवर फसवणूक, अफवा सर्रास पसरतात. खरंतर सरकारचं पुर्ण नियंत्रण नसणं हे एक चांगलं लक्षणही म्हणता येईल. त्यामुळं बऱ्याच अशा माणसांना व्यक्त होता येतं, ज्यांना रेडियो, टिव्ही, वर्तमानपत्रं अशा ‘सेंसॉर्ड’ माध्यमांतून व्यक्त होता येत नाही.

तर, आपण मागच्या काही शतकांत प्रसार माध्यमांत झालेला बदल बघितला. प्रत्येक बदलातला समान धागा काय? प्रत्येक बदल त्या वेळच्या गरजेनुसार झालेला आहे. त्यामुळं काही गोष्टी सोप्या झाल्या, तर काही गोष्टी अवघडही झाल्या. मौखिक परंपरेने बातमी पसरू शकते, पण ती शेवटपर्यंत एकसारखी राहील ह्याचा भरवसा नाही. छापील प्रसार माध्यमांत बातमी एकसारखी राहते, पण प्रसार फक्त वाचू शकणाऱ्यांतच होतो. रेडियो आणि टि.व्ही. मार्फत प्रसार सगळीकडे होतो, पण त्यालाही प्रसाराच्या काही मर्यादा होत्या. इंटरनेट ह्या सगळ्याच्या पुढे आलंय. अत्यंत सोपं, सगळ्यांसाठी वाचायला, ऐकायला, बघायला कुठंही, काहीही उपलब्ध करणारं असं हे माध्यम अगदी दोषविरहित वाटतं, पण अर्थातच, ह्यातही काही मर्यादा, तोटे आहेत.

आपण काय इंटरनेटच्या सगळ्या फायद्या तोट्यांची चर्चा करणार नाही आहोत. कुठल्याही माध्यमाच्या मर्यादा आणि तोटे – फायदे वापरणाऱ्यावर आधारित असतात. जसं इंटरनेट चांगल्यासाठी वापरता येतं, तसं ते वाईटासाठीही वापरता येतं. जशा चांगल्या बातम्या पसरवता येतात तसंच अफवाही पसरवता येतात. जशा उपयुक्त जाहिराती देता येतात तशा फसव्या जाहिरातीही देता येतात. फसव्या जाहिराती, अफवा ह्या गोष्टी रेडियो, टि.व्ही., वर्तमानपत्रं ह्यात सुद्धा आलेल्या आहेत. पण काळानुसार, ह्या माध्यमांत ह्या गोष्टी आपण कमी करत आलेलो आहोत. वेळेचा जर विचार केला, तर आपण वर्तमानपत्रं आता शतकाहून जास्त काळ वापरतोय. रेडियो टि.व्ही येऊनही ९० ते १०० वर्षं झालीत. त्या तुलनेत इंटरनेट फारच नवं आहे. जसा बाकीच्या माध्यमांवर आपला विश्वास आहे, तसा इंटरनेटवर यायला अजून वेळ लागेल. हा विश्वास आणण्यासाठी शिक्षण हे एक मोठं माध्यम आहे. टिव्ही, रेडियो, वर्तमानपत्रं आल्यावर जशी त्याला पुरक शिक्षण क्षेत्रं आली, तशी क्षेत्रं इंटरनेटसाठीही आली पाहिजेत. प्रसिद्ध झाली पाहिजेत.

भविष्यात अनेक नविन माध्यमं येणारेत. वर्च्युअल रियालिटी, ऑग्युमेंटेड रियालिटी ही माध्यमं अजून तेवढी प्रसिद्ध नसली तरी लवकरच होणार आहेत. बघण्याच्या पद्धती बदलल्या तरी इंटरनेट राहणारच आहे. त्यामुळे पुर्वग्रह न बाळगता आपल्याला पाहिजे तसाच आणि तेव्हाच इंटरनेटचा वापर करायला शिकलं पाहिजे…

 

- शंतनु शिंदे

Web: http://www.infogelic.com

Email: s@infogelic.com

Origami Style

 

View this post on Instagram

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the contest! Winner and runner ups, please send us a DM so that we can facilitate the free courses and merchandise (for winner) . For the people who didn't win, please don't be disheartened, everyone's a winner in our eyes. Whole point if the contest was to make you guys understand and study different Satellites! And we're sure that you have done that. So mission accomplished! . And for those who wanted free courses and merchandise, We have many contests coming up, so keep following us, and keep that post notification On! . . @shantanuspune @its_paperworld @_astro_ayushpandey_ . . . . . . . . #papermodels #papermodel #diy #satellite #papercrafts #papercrafting #paperart #bestoutofwaste #competition #giveaway

A post shared by AstronEra (@astronera) on Oct 18, 2020 at 12:54am PDT

 This satellite I made is not an existing satellite, (or at least there are no records of its existance). 

It is a project in progress by Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratary, Pasadena, California. Brian Trease, reasercher at NASA JPL, works on a project of folding satellite parts in Origami style so they can fit in rocket. For solar arrays, which are one of the largest parts of satellite, Brian developed this origami fold. 

Inspired by this fold, NASA is also working on the project called 'Star Shade'. As the name says, it's going to be a big shade useful for observing exoplanets. When observing and collecting data of exoplanet from space telescope, very bright light of star it is orbiting fades up all the details of exoplanet. This fade and blurry data is of no use for knowing whether it is icy planet, gas giant or rocky planet like us. This Star Shade will be placed on some distance from Space Telescope before the star, so it could block any excessive light coming into telescope and let collect important data. 

I replicated the fold and made a satellite. Attached some other satellite's payload to it. This fold helps solar arrays to be big yet compact.

- Shantanu Shinde

Web: www.infogelic.com

E-mail: s@infogelic.com

Coastal Road of Mumbai: Some facts.

Today, (26 September 2020) I attended the webinar on the coastal reclamation happening in Mumbai. It discussed about the Coastal Road project, what the coastal road is, and why it’s harmful for Mumbai. Panelist were Debi Goenka, trustee of Conservation Action Trust; Zoru Bathena, an Environmentalist; Zaman Ali, advocate in Mumbai High Court; Shweta Wagh, associate professor, urban researcher, ethnographer; and Hussain Indorwala, urban researcher.

Discussion started with a question: What is coastal road? Coastal Road is a project which proposes the road stretched across the sea coast of Mumbai by reclamation of the sea land. Coastal Road is something that British people were fascinated about. It might be appropriate to build such road in 1900’s, but today, we know that it is not good anymore.

This road is going to be built on reclamation land. Mumbai has seen lots of reclamations, but we should ask ourselves a question, is reclamation really necessary? Because of each reclamation occurred in past, we have seen some serious and visible consequences, such as water clogging, major floods, less fishing area, mass damage to marine life, etc.

Biggest victim of this reclamation would be fishermen. Reclamation land contains 40 intertidal and subtidal areas where majority of fishing area and fishes are. Fishermen Associations along with Shweta Wagh and some environmentalists made an appeal to Mumbai High Court as the project site include many of their ancestral fishing sites.

After hearing study reports from various environmentalists and fisheries institutes, High court gave their decision in favor of fishermen. BMC did have CRZ clearance for the mega project, but didn’t have Ecological and Wildlife Clearance. High court gave orders to not start the project until they get Ecological and Wildlife Clearance. BMC then made an appeal to Supreme Court, which after a year, gave go ahead to the project.

So, why it is important to save these 40 intertidal and subtidal areas? What lies in it?

Well, in general, intertidal and subtidal areas are ecologically rich zones. Our Mumbai sea coast is no different. These 40 areas have plenty of species including species which are listed as Schedule 1, such as Corals. What’s this Schedule 1? We have these lists called Schedule 1, 2, 3 and 4 which have names of various species which are endangered, endemic, near extinction, and so on and so forth. Construction in the habitats of Schedule 1 species is strictly prohibited. Only under two clauses, we can build something there. One, if that habitat is dangerous to human, or two, for educational purposes.

BMC says there is no wildlife and biodiversity beneath or on this proposed 111 hectare of sea. On contrast, various other reports and research show that there are various species of fishes, invertebrates, vertebrates, and much more. Reports they showed didn’t have proper study of natural history, wildlife, marine life of that place, neither of fishermen, their residence, and 800 years old fishing areas where large amount of fish breeding happens.

So, what happens if despite all of this, the reclamation occurs?

If reclamation happens, all ancestral fishing sites will be gone. All ecological balance will be destroyed. All marine life present there will be destroyed. Besides all this, it would be huge risk for the city itself. By reclamation, we will be pushing sea backwards, which may result in sea level rise and flooding in certain areas. Force of tides and waves can also be a huge problem for structure of reclamation and construction above it. Global sea level is rising very fast. It may cause some really bad impacts on city.

And, at what cost we will get this?

Coastal road will encourage people to buy private vehicles. This will result in more traffic congestion. This road is not an ultimate and cheapest solution for traffic congestion. There are plenty of other ways to solve the problem. Capacity of the coastal road would be much less compared to the number of vehicles that travel every day in Mumbai. It would be just like any other road of Mumbai. Despite this, do you think this is solution for increasing pollution of the city? Then think of the pollution that reclamation process may cause. It is enormous.

And this does not come for less. It is a lot of money that is going into project, which we pay to the government as tax.

 I understand that there are many other topics which need much more attention than the collapsing ecology, irreversible damage we are doing to our precious coastline, impact on the income sources of fishermen and money that need to be spent on more important issues; but please, trust me, these are some issues which need your attention.

- Shantanu Shinde

s@infogelic.com

Web: https://www.infogelic.com

Hunting Exoplanets

Since we have started exploring the universe, we are fascinated by exoplanets (extra-solar planets), ‘aliens’, their super natural powers, their super technology, their weird faces, shapes and stuff like that. A lot of our literature and movies have used these ideas. From the times of ‘The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells - 1898)’ to ‘Men In Black (Movies – 1997 to 2019)’, everyone likes these alien, planets and galaxies kind of things.

Why? Well, because everyone is curious about these things.

I, being interested in astronomy, attend various sessions. Today (07 Aug 2020), I attended a session of AstronEra on YouTube about Exoplanet Searching. Ellen Glad spoke on the subject. AstronEra is conducting a lecture series. This was Episode-2. First Episode was streamed on 31^st Jul. 2020. Next Episode will be on 14^th Aug 2020. Ellen Glad will be faculty for the series. There will more episodes on 21st and 28th Aug. 2020 

Session was about methods of searching exoplanets, steps followed for exploration, how it is determined whether the object found is planet or not, and technicalities in between. Ellen also spoke about her experience of working in exoplanet exploration project.

First of all, what is exoplanet? Exoplanet is any planet outside our solar system. There are thousands of exoplanet candidates, which mean they are explored, their location is noted, but further study about their mass, size, orbit has to be done in order to declare them as planet. There are several tools and methods to spot an exoplanet. NASA’s Exoplanet Archive is one of the tools which can be used to spot exoplanet and its host star. This provides information useful to find exoplanet. 

Two methods are used to spot down exoplanets. 1) Transit Method, 2) Radial Velocity Method. NASA had launched various exoplanet hunting missions in space, which includes telescopes to look for exoplanets with use of transit method all the time. Ellen talked about what is Transit Method. She has worked with it in a college project of searching for exoplanet. 

So, what is Transit Method? Suppose there is a planet, which is orbiting around its star. At certain point, we will see from earth that the planet is transiting through the star. Whenever the planet transits through the star, relative magnitude (brightness) decreases. It creates a dip in the chart, which says that there is a planet! Method to search for the planet with help of dip in the star’s magnitude (brightness) is called Transit Method. Ellen showed a chart of magnitude of a star with a dip. 

In order to find an exoplanet with Transit Method, some steps need to be followed.

1.    First step is to plan. Look for ETD (Exoplanet Transit Database) to know about occurring transit predictions. Look for how long transit is going be, where in the sky it is going to be. What is starting time, what is ending time, etc. According to that, the day is planned. Only clear sky is not sufficient for spotting the planet. Even the humidity needs to be on the spot to get clear images of stars.

2.    Next step is to calibrate the Telescope. Two types of images show imperfections in telescope.

o   A) Bias Images show imperfections in sensor. Zero second exposure photos are taken to look after any sensor imperfections.

o   B) Flat Field Frames shows optical imperfections. Any problems in lenses are solved here. Five to seven frames of these are sufficient. Frames should be taken after sunset or before sunrise.

3.    Then comes the step Pointing. Telescope is pointed to bright star and then the center is aligned. These calibration steps are very important to get sharp and accurate images.

4.    Then, start the work, focus on the star.

Post – Processing, Imaging 

5.    Take Images. Hundreds of images are taken until transit is over or cloud is in between.

6.    Perform Photometry. Photometry is performed on each star in the frame, and on each frame photographed. Photometry means determining magnitude (brightness) of the star. When photometry on the frames is done, then the magnitude is plotted with time, and presented in form of chart. If a chart of certain star shows the dip, then congratulations, you discovered a new exoplanet candidate!

This is an entire process of finding an exoplanet. This data has a lot of value. This data can be contributed to Exoplanet Transit Database. This database helps us understand the universe more closely. We could find various elements, various materials and various minerals on other planets which we have never seen. We can determine whether they are in habitable-zone of their star or not. Whether they have water in liquid form or not, whether they have life just like us or they are living in totally different situation which we cannot even think. There are a lot of ways of exploration and plenty of things yet to be discovered…

Huge thanks to AstronEra, for arranging such an interesting lecture series. Looking forward to attending more episodes of the series! Also I thank Ellen for such an interesting information she gave...!

 

- Shantanu Shinde

Email: shantanuspune@gmail.com

Mob. No.: 7887881031

Facebook: @shantanuspune

Instagram: @shantanuspune

Twitter: @shantanubole

चमत्कार (स्टॉप मोशन ॲनिमेशन विडियो)

तुम्हाला, पिंगू पेंग्विन, शाव्न द शीप ही कार्टून्स माहिती आहेत? कदाचित तुम्ही ती बघतही असाल. नसेल माहित तर नक्की शोधा. ही कार्टून्स स्टॉप मोशन कार्टून्स आहेत. काही डिजीटल कार्टून्स सोडली, तर सध्या सुद्धा स्टॉप मोशन कार्टून बनवली जातात. अशा कार्टूनमधली प्रत्येक वस्तू हाताने बनवतात. हेच ह्या स्टॉप मोशन ॲनिमेशनचं वैशिष्ट्य आहे. 

तुम्ही तुमच्या वहीत एका कोपऱ्यात चित्र काढून त्यात लहान लहान बदल करून फ्लिप बूक बनवलं असेल ना? 

स्टॉप मोशन हे सुद्धा त्याच एक प्रकारचे अनिमेशन
असते. यात एखाद्या गोष्टीचे वेगवेगळ्या अवस्थेत फोटो काढले जातात आणि त्यांना सलग बघितलं की ती वस्तू हलल्याचा भास होतो. त्याला म्हणतात स्टॉप मोशन! 

स्टॉप मोशन हे कार्टून आणि विडियो बनवायचं सगळ्यांत जुनं तंत्र आहे. सगळ्यांत पहिला विडियो कसा तयार झाला तुम्हाला माहितीये? एका माणसाबरोबर दुसऱ्या एका माणसाने पैज लावली. दुसरा माणूस म्हणत होता की घोडा जोरात पळताना स्वतःचे चारही पाय हवेत उचलतो. पहिला माणूस म्हणाला काय पण काय बोलतो? घोड्याने चारही पाय उचलले तर तो पडणार नाही का? दुसऱ्या माणसाने स्वतःचं म्हणणं पुराव्यासकट दाखवायचं ठरवलं. त्यानुसार, त्याने बारा फोटो काढायचे कॅमेरे ओळीने मांडले, घोडा समोर आला की फोटो काढण्यासाठी माणसं उभी केली आणि घोडा त्या कॅमेऱ्या समोरून पळत नेला. घोडा पळतानाचे बारा फोटो आले आणि घोडा पळताना आपले चारही पाय उचलतो हे त्यातल्या एका फोटोमधून कळालं. तो पैज तर जिंकलाच, पण त्यातून त्याला कळालं की ते बारा फोटो एका नंतर एक पटपट बघितले, तर घोडा पळताना दिसतो! असा विडियोचा शोध लागला. 

आता घोडा जिवंत होता, म्हणून त्याचे हलतानाचे फोटो काढून विडियो बनवता आला. पण निर्जिव वस्तूंचे हलतानाचे विडियो कसे बनवणार? स्टॉप मोशन ॲनिमेशनची पद्धत वापरून कुठलीही निर्जिव वस्तू जिवंत करता येते. खेळायच्या क्लेचे मॉडेल्स, कागदाचे कट-आऊट, कागदावर काढलेली चित्रे, खेळणी, अगदी काहीही. त्यांचे वेगवेगळ्या पोजमधले भरपूर फोटो काढावे लागतात. वस्तू सुरळीतपणे हलताना दिसावी म्हणून तिच्यात छोटे छोटे बदल करून एका पद्धतीने फोटो काढावे लागतात. कष्ट करावे लागतात खूप, पण एन्ड रिझल्ट भन्नाट असतात.

कॉम्प्युटर अनिमेशनमुळे कार्टून्स करणं सोपं झालं, पण त्यात त्याचे स्वतःचे लिमिटेशन आले. त्यामुळे, अजुनही स्टॉप मोशन ॲनिमेशन चालू आहे...

- शंतनु शिंदे

मोब. नंः 7887881031

ईमेल - shantanuspune@gmail.com

Jividha Serie di Lezioni : Dr. Mandar Datar

Gli affioramenti rocciosi sono molto comune ma meno studiato paesaggi del Maharashtra. Gli altipiani vulcanici e le scogliere sono alcuni tipi degli affioramenti rocciosi. Ogni di questi paesaggi hanno la biodiversità unica e gli habitat. Il 2o Marzo, 2020 ho assistito una lezione delle scogliere e gli altipiani vulcanici del Maharashtra e tipi degli habitat hanno. Jividha ha organizzato questo evento. Hanno organizzato un serie di lezioni dal 2o al 7o Marzo, degli habitat naturale di vario specie.

La lezione di 2o Marzo é stato condotto da Dr. Mandar Datar. Lui ha iniziato con la definizione degli affioramenti rocciosi. Questi sono posti cui la roccia di fondo é esposto a causa di erosione o attività simile e coperto con strato magro o no strato di suolo. Lui ha detto che anche se é difficile per vario piante a sopravvivere nelle zone come questi, sono riusciti a adattare. Queste piante ora sono cosi dipendenti su affioramenti rocciosi, che non possono crescere altrove, non altre piante possono vivere nell’ ambiente duro come questi. Ha studiato degli affioramenti rocciosi e adattamento di vario piante in queste zone.

Dr. Datar ha dette che intero Western Ghat non ha lo stesso biodiversita. Western Ghat é la catena moutuosa, che ha sparso dal nord al sud, iniziando approssimativamente dal Gujrat e finendo al Kanyakumari. L’altitudine delle scogliere e l’altipiani vulcanici, la clima, la temperetura, la disponibilità d’acqua, e vario altre parametri cambia la flora e fauna di Western Ghat. Se vai a sud, la biodiversità cambia, ed anche cambia a nord. L’altipiani e scogliere ha abbondanza dei microhabitat. Normalmente l’altopiano e sulla scogliera. L’altopiano ha la vegetazione densa. Sul bordo di l’altopiano, sopra scogliera ha Overhanging stones. Sotto quello, molti crepe e fessure possono essere trovati. Alcune grotte possono anche essere viste in giro. Depressione causato dal flusso di acqua é anche il microhabitat. Questi i microhabitat ospita abbondanza di flore come organismi, specie di ebre, alghe, fungo, muschio, e specie endemico.

Gli altipiani vulcanici sono di piú ospitale delle scogliere. Gli altipiani ha strato magro di suole. Gli altipiani guardano abbastanza noioso e asciutto in estate. Ma in monsone, vario le pozze e i fiumicelli possono essere viste sugli altipiani. Questi é i microhabitat perfetto per vario specie. Specie sono cosí sensibile nelle quste pozze, che anche minimo cambio nell’acqua influisce loro. Qualche volta, queste le pozze pieno con suole, ospita intero differente tipi di specie.

Molti parameteri fanno le scogliere inospitale. Il maggiore fattore é gravitá. Quando una pianta cresce sulla terra pianura, gravitá funziona come forza amica. Mantiene la pianta robosta. Ma quando una pianta cresce sulla scogliera, gravitá funziona come forza negativo. Scogliera normalmente ha angolo di 90 gradi con superficie. Le piante piú grande in taglia possono cadere. Le spicie hanno mantenere loro la taglia a vivere.

Il prossimo fattore puó essere la scarsitá di acqua e nutrienti. Le scogliere hanno molto meno quantitá di suolo. Anche a alcuni posti gli altipiani hanno molto meno quantita do suolo. Perche il suolo é primario fonte di nutrienti, queste piante hanno cercare alcuni alternativa fonte. La creazione di tubero e la comune adattore tecnica questi piante usa. Loro immagazzinano loro nutriente in tubero, e usa quando necessario. C’é anche carnivoro piante. Questi catturare e digerire insetti a ottenere i nutrienti. C’é una spicie chiamato ‘Topli Carvi’ in Marathi. Questi spicie raccoglie e immagazzinare i nutrienti, e fiorire una volta in molti anni. Periodo cambia dipendendo sui tipi di ‘Topli Carvi’. Puó essere 5 a 6 anni, o 10 a 12 anni. Western Ghat ha un’estate grande. Piante specie delle scogliere e gli altipiani disidratano molti. Questi spicie hanno sopravvivere questo disidratazione, e mantenere loro posizione fino all’imminente monsone. Monsone offre piú che sufficiente acqua. Anche questo é la sfida. Piante devono lottare per non fluire in acqua. Questi spicie ha adattato a maneggiare tutti di due situazioni. Alcuni piante spicie usano poikilohydry tecnica a adattare scarsitá. Questi specie sono piú comunemente conosciute come tollerante all’assiccazione o piante di risurrezione perche di loro adattore unica per sostenere in periodo secco. Poikilohydry specie appena non perde loro posto. Anche se loro cella perde l’acqua, stanno vivi. Loro usano ogni mililitro dell’acqua. Alcuni piante anche cresce loro radici piú a lungo, e fare loro toccare terra, cosi loro prendono abbondanza dell’acqua e nutrienti.

Prossimo problema loro hanno e di spargere loro semi  e impollinare. Questi specie usano vario metodi a disperdere semi. Alcuni piante anche lasciano semi sull’aria. Carnivoro non mangiano ogni insetti che va a loro. Alcuni insetti sono per impollinare e alcuni per mangiare. Bravo!

Adattore di questi piante é fantastico. Ho menzionato alcuni della problema e tecniche loro hanno. Questi specie hanno adattato ai loro habitat per cosí tanto tempo, che ora non possono vivere altrove. Ecco perché Charles Darwin dice, “É non la piú forte di specie che sopravvivere, né la piú intelligente, ma il piú adattabile al cambio.”

Tax Haven

Tax havens are countries which have effectively low or no rate of particular tax or taxes. Their financial secrecy laws are quite strict. The best thing of tax havens is that one doesn’t need to stay there to get benefit from their policies. Once the money is invested there, one gets benefit from their policies. Besides tax saving, financial secrecy is also a thing that attracts investers and businesses. Country with high secrecy and high taxation is also known as tax haven, though not much universally. Low taxation and less secrecy tax havens are universally known and are in most of the lists of tax havens.

This is how tax haven country work. Tax haven countries encourage industry and investment. Individuals prefer higher secrecy to invest their money. Individuals keep their money in such country’s banks and financial institutes. Countries get so much invesments, that these banks could lend money to other countries. Like any other banks,these banks of tax haven invest in several stocks, shares, bonds, (probably of their own country), etc. Income from the interest of loans and bank investments is good enough.

Businesses decide where they want to invest as every tax haven offer different tax concession. Even though company doesn’t have to pay or pay quite little amount of tax, they need to follow strict rules of the country. Companies are not supposed to exploit their employees, country’s natural resourses, etc. Companies are suppose to work for their employees’ welfare. Tax havens encourage industry to make development which could benefit them as well as country.

Because of their attractive tax rates, tax haven countries tend to attract capital. Due to that, non tax haven countries face loss of tax revenue. Several individuals and businesses invest in tax havens to save their tax. To avoid that, countries make several tax treaties which could be beneficial for both countries.

Most of the tax haven countries are known to have most successful and wel-governed economies in world. E.g. Switzerland has a very stable economy. According to Swiss Laws, bank does't have permision to share their clients’ information to anyone. It’s considered as a crime. Recently, due to pressure from European Union and USA, Swiss government have to provide information of American and European Swiss bank account holders to respective countries. However, Switzerland is on the top in the Financial Secrecy Index of 2018.

There are many small countries in Caribbean Sea and Europe which are tax haven and they have a very good economy. There are several countries in the world which don’t have anything that could attract money. So instead of increasing taxes and making citizens’ life horrible, countries become tax haven, make themselves trustworthy and attract much more money…

Artemis

Almost after 50 years, NASA is planning to step on Moon again, for establishing a camp where astronauts can stay for a month or two. Yes, I am talking about NASA’s new mission, Artemis.

This mission will take place in year 2024. In Apollo missions, astronauts landed in equatorial region of Moon. They were on lunar surface for total 16 days, and travelled less than 100 kilometers on body whose surface area is as much as Africa’s. As part of Artemis missions, NASA will establish the Artemis Base Camp on South Pole of Moon. (Where the Indian Lunar Rover ‘Vikram Lander’ was supposed to land) All experiments conducted here will pave a way for manned mission to mars and long-term economic and scientific activity on Moon. This next wave of lunar exploration will be fundamentally different. It will start with American expeditions to the vicinity of the Moon in 2023, and landing astronauts on surface in 2024. Lots of different nations are partners in this mission. Various nations have announced their contributions in various forms as external robotics, habitation components, etc. Even companies such as SpaceX are partner with NASA.

Artemis mission is designed on the efforts taken by astronauts on International Space Station. Lunar Orbiter Reconnaissance has been mapping the Moon for decades. In 2021, NASA will land some payloads which will conduct some scientific experiments. It will demonstrate technology of precision landing, which will ease future landings, human or robotics. There will be VIPER, Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. The major work of this rover will be of validating the data orbiters have sent. Orbiters have sent tonns of data, validating it would build the confidence in data orbiters send. Later will be sent large cargo, which will be in direct human support.

In early stage of Artemis mission, NASA will launch a Gateway, which will be evolving Moon, acting as its name to the Moon. Later, Artemis I will be launched. It will be unmanned mission, demonstrating technology which would later carry humans. After that, there will be launched Artemis II, a crewed mission. After 50 years, first time the astronauts will enter in vicinity of Moon, as in Apollo 8 mission. In Artemis III, first woman and next men will step on Moon.

This mission will be the important step in space history. Sustained stay in space was possible only in ISS, but in 2024, there will be camp based on Moon which could host astronauts for long period, and let them experiment; try new technology which could help in mission to Mars. It is after long time that someone is sending astronauts to Moon. It would be great to see how NASA works it out.

Jividha Lecture Series: Dr. Mandar Datar

Rock outcrops are very common, yet less studied landscapes of Maharashtra. There are several types of rock outcrops like volcanic plateaus, cliffs, etc.; and each of these has unique bio-diversity and habitats. On 2nd of March, 2020 I attended a lecture on cliffs and plateaus of Maharashtra and types of habitat they have. Jividha organized this event. They had organized a lecture series from 2nd to 7th of March, about natural habitats of various species.

Lecture of 2nd March was conducted by Dr. Mandar Datar. He started with the definition of rock outcrops. These are the places where the bed rock is exposed due to erosion or such activity and covered with very thin or no layer of soil. He said that though it is very difficult for various plants to survive in such areas, they have managed to adapt. These plants are so dependent now on rock outcrops that they cannot grow elsewhere, nor can plants from elsewhere live in such harsh environment. He has studied about such outcrops and adaptation of various plants in such areas.

Dr. Datar said that entire Western Ghat doesn’t have the same bio-diversity throughout its range. Mountain range, spreading north to south, starting approximately from Gujrat and ending near Kanyakumari is called Western Ghat. Altitude of cliffs and volcanic plateaus, climate, temperature, water availability and lots of other parameters change the flora and fauna of Western Ghat. As you go south, the bio diversity changes, and towards north it is again different. Plateaus and cliffs have plenty of micro habitats. There is normally a plateau above the cliff. It has dense vegetation. On the edge of plateau, top of the cliff, it has Overhangs. Below that, lots of cracks and moist crevices can be seen. Some caves can also be seen around. Ledge of cave can also be a microhabitat. Some deep cracks such as fissures can be found on cliff. Depressions caused by water flows are also microhabitat. These microhabitats host tons of floras such as organisms, species of grasses, algae, fungi, mosses, and endemic species.

Plateaus are comparatively more hospitable for various species than cliffs. Plateaus have thin layer of soil. Outcrops look quite boring and dry in summer period. In contrary, various puddles and rivulets can be seen in monsoon. These are the perfect microhabitats for various species. Species are so sensitive in these puddles, that even a slightest change in water affects them. Sometimes, these puddles get filled with soil, and host entirely different types of species.

Many parameters make cliffs inhospitable. The major part is gravity. When a plant grows on a flat, plain land, gravity works as a friendly force. It keeps the plant sturdy. But when a plant grows on a cliff, gravity works as a negative force. Cliff normally has 90 degree angle with the surface. Plants bigger in size can fall down. The species have to maintain their size to live.

Next big factor can be the water and nutrients scarcity. Cliffs have very less amount of soil stuck on them. Even at some place on plateau has very less soil. As the soil is the primary source of nutrients, these plants need to search some alternative sources. Creating tubers is the common adaption these plants use. They store their nutrients in tuber, and use it when necessary. There are also carnivorous plants. These capture, digest insects to get nutrients. There is a species called ‘Topli Carvi’ in Marathi. These species collect and store the nutrients, and bloom once in lots of years. The period changes depending on type of ‘Topli Carvi’. It can be 5 to 6 years, or even more, like 10 to 12 years.  Western Ghat has a big summer season. Plant species at cliffs and plateaus dehydrate a lot in this season. These species have to survive this dehydration, and maintain their position till upcoming monsoon. Monsoon offers more than enough water. Even this is a challenge. Plants have to struggle not to be flown off in the flow of water. These species are adapted to handle both contradictory situations. Some plant species use poikilohydry technique, to adapt such scarcity. These species are more commonly known as desiccation tolerant or resurrection plants because of their unique adaptation for sustaining during the dry period. Poikilohydry species just don’t lose their place. Even their cells lose the water, they stay alive. They use every milliliter of water they get. Some plants even grow their roots longer, and make them touch the ground from the cliff, so they can get plenty of nutrients and water.

Next problem they face is spreading their seeds and pollinating. These species use various methods to disperse seeds. Some even let their seeds go on wind. Insectivorous don’t eat all insects that come to them. Some insects are used to pollinate, and some are for meal. Quite smart!

Adaptation of these plants is just amazing. I have mentioned some of the problems and techniques they have. These species are adapted to their habitats for such long time, that now they can’t live without them. That’s why Charles Darwin says, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptive to the change.”

- Shantanu Shinde
Mobile: 7887881031
Blog: infogelic.blogspot.com
Email: shantanuspune@gmail.com
Profile: facebook.com/shantanuspune