Climate change impact: Sunderbans steadily losing its famed mangroves
Study aided by remote sensing and GIS reveals erosion of as many as 18 forested islands
•In a development that will ring alarm bells for both environmentalists and policy makers, the mangrove forest cover in the Indian Sunderbans has been depleting alarmingly over the past few decades.
•Mangrove Forest Cover Changes in Indian Sundarban (1986-2012) Using Remote Sensing and GIS , a publication by the School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University, reveals that from 1986 to 2012, 124.418 sq. km. mangrove forest cover has been lost.
•The total forest cover of the Indian Sunderbans as assessed by remote sensing studies for the year 1986 was about 2,246.839 sq. km., which gradually declined by 2,201.41 sq. km. in 1996, then down to 2168.914 sq km in 2001 and to 2122.421 sq km in 2012. The loss in the mangrove forest in the Indian Sunderbans is about 5.5 %.
•“The continuation of this process in response to climate change and sea level rise poses a serious threat to the carbon sequestration potential and other ecosystem services of this mangrove forest in future,” authors Sugata Hazra and Kaberi Samata noted.
•The paper also notes that the mean sea level rise at the Sagar Island Station, measured from 1985 onward till 2010, shows a rise by 2.6-4 mm a year, which can be considered a driving factor for coastal erosion, coastal flooding, and an increase in the number of tidal creeks.
•The publication highlights a time series of the erosion of at least 18 mangrove forested islands of the Indian Sunderbans from 1986 to 2012. For instance, the loss in mangrove cover at Gosaba has been about 20%, down from 517.47 sq km in 1986 to 506.691 sq km in 2012.
Significant losses
•In Dulibhasani West, the loss of mangrove cover has been about 9.7% — from 180.03 sq. km. in 1986 to 163.475 sq. km. in 2012. The mangrove forest cover of Dalhousie, another island, has depleted by 16%, from 76.606 sq. km. in 1986 to 64.241 in 2012. Bhangaduni has one of the highest erosion levels of mangrove forest land, from 40.4 sq. km. in 1986 to 24.9 sq km in 2012, taking the loss to over 37%.
•Jambudwip, one of the smallest uninhabited islands at the mouth of the sea, also has reduced forest cover from 6.095 sq. km. in 1986 to 5.003 sq. km. in 2012, or about 10%.
•Other islands like Sajnekhali North, Matla and Bulchery have also suffered significant mangrove loss.
•Professor Hazra, who heads the School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University, explained how climate change and sea level rise has contributed to the phenomenon of losing land, including mangrove forests in the Sundarbans, in the last part of the 21st century.
•“This is because there is less fresh water flow and sediment supply in the western (Indian) part of the delta, so we have starvation of sediment and the rate of sea level rise is higher than sediment supply. Hence we are losing land, including mangrove forest,” he told The Hindu .
•According to Professor Hazra, the eastern (Bangladesh) side of the deltap is gaining land because of the huge amount of sediment and water flow from the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers. The loss of forest cover occurs despite significant addition of forest land as plantations.
Freshwater inflow
•Ajanta Dey, joint secretary and project director of the Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS), an NGO that has been working in the Sunderban ecosystem, said that a critical minimal inflow of freshwater is necessary for the luxuriant growth of mangroves.
•“When freshwater inflow is missing, there is a change in mangrove succession, and freshwater loving species of mangroves are replaced by salt-water loving ones,” she pointed out.
•She said the immediate impact of salinity will be on the fishing community, where commercially sought after fish species will be replaced by fish that does not have as much market value.
•Ms. Dey also referred to a report by the Indian Space Research Organisation, which was presented before the Eastern Circuit Bench of the National Green Tribunal in 2015. The report said the Sunderbans has lost 3.71% of its mangrove cover, while losing 9,990 hectares to erosion in one decade.
•While earlier studies also expressed concerns over the fragile ecosystem of the Indian Sunderbans that, other than being home to the Royal Bengal Tiger, also harbours a population of 4.5 million people, this study presents definite proof of the loss of land and mangrove cover.
is Darjeeling stir killing tea and tourism?
What runs the hills' economy?
•Tea and tourism are the twin pillars of the economy of the Darjeeling region. It also has some horticulture, floriculture, spice and cinchona cultivation, but the main income and employment generators are tea and tourism. These two are now under attack as the hills are caught in a fresh spiral of violence.
What is the status of the tea industry?
•Let us take tea first. The 87 operating tea gardens in Darjeeling indirectly employ over a lakh people and directly around 60,000 people, 60% of whom are women. As per existing laws, the estates also provide housing and medical facilities to about four lakh people — families of the workers. However, the output of the exotic crop has been on a decline, nearly halving over the last few decades. Most worrisome is the fact that the industry for many reasons is not only losing crop but also revenue.
Why has it been hit hard?
•The current agitation does not help matters, as it comes during peak production season. The two leaves and a bud, plucked during the summer months between April and July, yield some of the best Darjeeling teas, fragrant with their unique muscatel flavour. These are also the teas that fetch the best prices in domestic and international markets, giving the industry 40% of its annual revenue.
•The industry’s initial optimism on the agitation being a short-lived one has been dashed. Not only is productivity being affected due to the closure but the movement of inputs to the gardens and output of the made teas are also jeopardised.
•The industry has already sent out SOS appeals, saying that this may lead to closure of many gardens even after return to normalcy.
What about tourism?
•Despite having a palette as rich as the Sundarbans and the Darjeeling Hills, West Bengal was never a top tourist destination. The steps taken by the present government to augment and enhance the state’s tourism potential have yielded results and now the State is among India’s top 10 tourist destinations.
•As per latest official statistics of the Union Tourism Ministry, in 2016 West Bengal attracted 74.5 million domestic tourists, slipping to the eighth position from fifth in 2015. It attracted 1.5 million foreign tourists during 2016. A significant portion of them headed to the eastern Himalayas to get a view of the Kanchenjunga range as also to soak in the ambience of this former summer capital of the British Empire. Many of them rushed to scamper back to the safety of the plains as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha agitation fanned across the hill district.
•Aware that Darjeeling is literally the crown-jewel of the State’s tourism assets, the government has taken several steps to spruce up the existing accommodation while adding new ones at Darjeeling and its neighbouring subdivisions like Kalimpong and Kurseong. It has also rolled out a home-stay policy and many people have invested to make their homes a pleasant tourist accommodation. All these are aimed at boosting the employment generation in a State where the scope of generating employment through large industries is limited. These now lie in waste.
What does the future hold?
•Very little, unless the current agitation is resolved. The 18.5 lakh population of the district has a fairly high literacy rate of around 79.6%, according to the 2011 census figures. The tea industry is already losing able hands to a population which is migrating from the district, leaving the women and the infirm to their fate on the tea estates. The tourism industry is run by plains as well as hills people providing employment to the local youth. Little changes for the political leaders in such agitations but much is at stake for the locals, and the Queen of Hill Stations as Darjeeling was once lovingly referred to.
‘After GST, time for one nation, one farmers’ movement’
Rally to Delhi will see largest coalition of farmers in decades: Yogendra Yadav
•Over 100 farmers’ organisations across the country will participate in a march from Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur to Jantar Mantar in Delhi later this month, pressing for loan waivers and higher minimum support price (MSP), the All-India Kisan Struggle Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) said here on Saturday.
•The AIKSCC had announced its Kisan Mukti Yatra after protesting farmers in Mandsaur were fired upon by the police last month.
Two demands
•Speaking at a press conference here, AIKSCC member and Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav said that the march would be the biggest coalition of farmers to come together in decades.
•Mr. Yadav said that 142 outfits had expressed support so far for the two demands: loan waivers and an MSP that gives 50% more than the input cost to farmers.
•“We have one nation, one tax. It is time we have one nation, one farmers’ movement,” he said, referring to the roll-out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Saturday.
•Avik Saha, a Swaraj Abhiyaan founder member and convener for the march, said the rally would begin in Mandsaur on July 8, spend three days in Madhya Pradesh, two days each in Maharashtra and Gujarat, four days in Rajasthan, and a day in Uttar Pradesh, before making its way to Delhi via Faridabad in Haryana.
•Mr. Yadav added that after reaching Delhi, farmers would carry on the demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
•V.N. Singh, convener of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, said that the financial situation of farmers had worsened, with 34 farmer suicides being reported in Mandsaur after the firing incident less than a month ago.
•He added that even as the erstwhile UPA government failed to implement the report of the National Commission on Farmers, which recommended 50% over the cost as MSP, the BJP had promised it would do so in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
IIT Guwahati succeeds in regenerating damaged nerve
Rats with regenerated sciatic nerve exhibited significantly better walking pattern
•Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have taken the first successful step in treating peripheral nerve damage which can result from traumatic injuries caused by accidents, physical conflict, bullet wounds as well as during surgical intervention. The nerve conduits synthesised by the researchers and implanted in rats with sciatic nerve injury showed “excellent” functional recovery one year after implantation. The results were published in the journal Biomedical Materials.
•A team led by Prof. Utpal Bora from the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Guwahati synthesised nerve conduits by electrospinning a mixture of silk fibroin protein and electrically conductive polymer called polyaniline. To produce tubular shaped nerve conduits, the researchers rolled the electrospun sheets multiple times over a stainless steel spindle.
•“In tissue engineering, silk fibroin protein is routinely used as a scaffold. Since silk is not electrically conductive we coated it with polyaniline nanoparticles, which is a good electrical conductor,” says Dr. Suradip Das from the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Guwahati and the first author of the paper; he is currently at the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.
•Nerves are like electrical wires where the conducting portion of the nerves is covered with myelin (a fatty white substance) sheath secreted by specialized cells called Schwann cells that forms an insulating layer. To fabricate a conduit that mimics this native architecture, the Schwann cells, which surround the axons, were cultured on the conduits. The Schwann cells were found to grow between the multiple layers of silk fibroin-polyaniline composite, and also on the surface and inside of the conduit.
•“The Schwann cells produce myelin sheath which act as biological insulators and play a crucial role in nerve regeneration. Our aim was to seed the conduit with Schwann cells so they initiate the regeneration process when the conduits are implanted in animals,” says Dr. Das.
•To test how well the nerve conduit synthesised in the lab helped in nerve regeneration, the researchers removed 10 mm of sciatic nerve from rats and implanted the conduit. The surgical area was reopened after six and 12 months.
•Compared with untreated animals where the nerve gap was found to have grown further, the conduits in the treated animals showed no deformation or dislocation. The polyaniline was not toxic to rat Schwann cells when 0.1% of polyaniline was used.
Regenerated neurons
•“But most importantly, we found regenerated neurons and Schwann cells inside the conduit. And there was myelin sheath over axons in the regenerated tissue from inside the conduits,” he says. “The conduit helped initiating and enhancing the quality of regeneration across the nerve gap.”
•In terms of functional neuro-regeneration, the conduits seeded with Schwann cells exhibited as high as 86% velocity of current propagation through the nerve. The ability of the nerves to control muscle contraction was also found to be good at 80%.
•“Nerves when electrically stimulated contract the muscles. We stimulated one end of the conduit electrically and recorded electrical output from the muscle. If there is a gap along the conduit then the signals won’t travel,” Dr. Das explains.
•Finally, the electrical property of the muscles that are directly innervated was 70%. “If the nerves don’t reach the muscles then we won’t be able to register muscle electrical activity. If there is good muscle electrical response then it is an indication that the nerve has grown and is able to communicate with the muscles and the muscles are not dead,” he says.
•Rats with regenerated sciatic nerve exhibited significantly better walking pattern compared with other groups in the study. “This is proof that our work could restore a lot of the sciatic nerve functions in rats,” Dr. Das says.
From rats to pigs
•The next step is to conduct trials on pigs, which are genetically and physiologically closer to humans. “We have plans to undertake trials on pigs to collect more animal data,” says Prof. Bora. But conducting trials on bigger animals might be a challenge in India. “Conducting research on higher animals is proving to be difficult in India,” says Dr. Kushal K. Sarma from the College of Veterinary Science, Khanapara, Guwahati and one of the authors of the paper.
•“There is a growing demand for nerve implants with increasing number of road accidents but there are no indigenously developed nerve conduits available in India. We have taken the first step to make locally developed nerve implants available in India,” Prof. Bora says.
Antarctica’s ice-free islands set to grow
Until now the impacts of climate change and associated ice melt on bidoversity have been overlooked
•Scattered within the vast frozen expanse of Antarctica are isolated ice-free nooks — nunataks (exposed mountain tops), scree slopes, cliffs, valleys and coastal oases — which cover less than 1% of the area, but support almost all of the continent’s biodiversity.
•But by the turn of the century these ice-free islands could grow by over 17,000 sq.km (a 25% increase) due to climate change, according to a paper published inNature.
•While this may sound like good news for Antarctica's biodiversity that is likely to find larger habitats, “it is not known if the potential negative impacts will outweigh the benefits,” the authors say.
Invasive species
•As ice-free islands expand and coalesce, biodiversity could homogenise, less competitive species could go extinct and ecosystems destabilise from the spread of invasive species, which already pose a threat to native species, says the paper.Much life thrives in Antarctica's ice-free pockets: small invertebrates (nematodes, springtails, and tardigrades) vascular plants, lichen, fungi, mosses and algae. They also serve as breeding ground for sea birds (including the Adelie penguins) and elephant seals.
•One of the biggest threats from an increase in ice-free area appears to be the spread of invasive species, lead author Jasmine R. Lee from School of Biological Science at the University of Queensland, Australia, told The Hindu in an email. “The species that will lose will most likely be those that are not very competitive and can’t cope with the invasive species,” said Dr. Lee
•Newly exposed habitats have already been colonised by invasive species in the Antarctic Peninsula, the paper points out. “Rocks recently exposed by snow melt have been subsequently colonized by Rhizocarpon lichens [and]... the invasive grass Poa annua has colonized new ice-free land near Ecology Glacier,” the paper notes.
•The greatest change in climate is projected for the Antarctic Peninsula by the end of the century, and more than 85% of the new ice-free area is believed to occur in the north Antarctic Peninsula.
•While considerable research has been directed towards the impact of climate change on melting Antarctic ice sheets and consequent sea level rise, “until very recently, the impacts of climate change and associated ice melt on native Antarctic biodiversity have been largely overlooked,” says the paper.
New material uses sunlight to detoxify water
•Scientists have developed a new non-toxic material that uses solar energy to degrade harmful synthetic dye pollutants which are released at a rate of nearly 300,000 tonnes a year into the world’s water. The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
•The novel, non-hazardous photocatalytic material developed researchers at Swansea University in the UK effectively removes dye pollutants from water, adsorbing more than 90% of the dye and enhancing the rate of dye breakdown by almost ten times using visible light.
•By heating the reaction mixture at high pressures inside a sealed container, the composite is synthesised by growing ultrathin “nanowires” of tungsten oxide on the surface of tiny particles of tantalum nitride.
•As a result of the incredibly small size of the two material components — both the tantalum nitride and tungsten oxide are typically less than 40 billionths of a metre in diameter — the composite provides a huge surface area for dye capture.
•The material then proceeds to break the dye down into smaller, harmless molecules using the energy provided by sunlight, in a process known as “photocatalytic degradation.” Having removed the harmful dyes, the catalyst may simply be filtered from the cleaned water and reused.
•While photocatalytic degradation of dyes has been investigated for several decades, it is only relatively recently that researchers have developed materials capable of absorbing the visible part of the solar spectrum.
Will H-1B impact mean more IT offshoring? Jury is still out
The hypothesis that offshoring will increase could turn out true, says consultant
•Would stringent and costly H-1B visa regulations in the U.S. steer American clients of technology services to send more work to India? Logically, if it costs more to keep a job in the U.S., moving more jobs to India to keep a lid on costs could be a natural consequence. It is not yet in evidence, however, and could take a while to show up if it happens.
•“The hypothesis that offshoring could increase is not wrong; but there are some nuances to it,” said Siddharth Pai, a technology consultant who has advised on more than $20 billion of outsourcing deals, and now works as advisor to CEOs, investors and boards. Cost-cutting is prevalent among clients of technology services, he said. “There is hesitation [among clients] to make decisions. The offshore-onsite mix is changing for the same amount of work.”
•“Now, there is a move to automate certain pieces of work that occur in the U.S. Without offshoring necessarily increasing, the mix is changing to 90:10 due to automation,” Mr. Pai said. This compares with the rule of thumb of 80:20.
‘Poaching to begin’
•Nasscom, the industry’s apex body, has said that Indian IT services firms are unable to find critical skills (referred to as STEM – or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – skills) in the U.S. “In the absence of new talent with STEM skills, Indian companies will start poaching green card holders and citizens from each other in the U.S.,” Mr. Pai said.
•Even if clients want to send jobs offshore, there are some that just have to be located in the U.S. “That offshoring may increase is not a natural consequence of visa curbs in the U.S.,” said S. Mahalingam, former CFO of TCS and director at Kasturi & Sons, the publishers of The Hindu . “Some kinds of jobs such as production support may be outsourced. Others, like programme manager, technical architect or a specialist have to be onsite.”
•Further, with the need for digital technologies (related to mobile, cloud, social or data analytics) increasing among U.S. clients, and the stress on automating mundane tasks, visa curbs are not the only issue that IT vendors have to deal with. “Three or four things are happening simultaneously. There is little visibilty,” said Rostow Ravanan, CEO of Mindtree, a mid-sized IT services firm.
•Mr. Ravanan categorises projects into ‘run the business’ and ‘change the business’ for clients. “For the former, there is severe price pressure. Automation is key.” In projects that aim to ‘change the business’ for clients, onsite presence is required. “Since it is transformation kind of work, you need to be close to the client. There is need for more people to be onsite, especially in the first 1-2 years.”
•With protectionist noises also being made, decision-making is delayed due to uncertainty among clients. “Volume [of business] is affected,” said Mr. Ravanan.
•Protectionist noises could also have a long-term impact. “An H-1B onsite resource typically comes back to India and helps grow the offshore team,” said Mr. Mahalingam. With a local being recruited, “the transfer of knowledge does not happen. So, the ability of the vendor to offshore more declines.”
•Mr. Pai is not as sceptical about the prospects for offshoring. “What Indian IT firms need to do is follow the example of Japanese car companies,” said Mr. Pai. “Japanese manufacturers faced flak for exporting cars to the U.S. but not creating jobs there.” This led to setting up of factories by these firms. “This did create local jobs, but how many, is the question.”
•Indian IT firms, he said, will localise but more to cater to perception issues. He exhorted Indian firms to up the ante on public relations. “Japanese firms spent significant amounts of time and money in lobbying and in PR, to create the impression of doing their best for the local economy. Indian IT firms should do the same.”
•For Mindtree, the digital opportunity is throwing more business its way. “The digital business, constituting 40% of total revenues, is growing at twice the rate as our overall business. Deal sizes in digital are twice as much now versus two years ago.” Sales cycles have lengthened in some cases, but that is of little concern, said Mr. Ravanan. “Unlike the traditional business, decisions on digital are not based purely on cost,” he reasoned.
Employee impact
•The impact of these developments on staff addition is unavoidable. IT firms have hotly denied reports of large layoffs. “We have seen the end of the factory model where an IT firm makes, say, 1,000 offers in a single campus,” said Mr. Pai.
•He also highlighted that those who did not add value would find their jobs in jeopardy. “If they do some really mundane kind of work or are merely pushing emails from the client to the development team, it would be hard to retain them.”
One nation, one school board?
To increase employability of graduates, we need uniformity in school education
•It is admission season, and, once again, cries for quotas and reservations fill the air as students — at every level from playschool upwards all the way to PhD programmes — scramble to get a place in the more sought-after courses and institutions in India’s ferociously competitive education system.
•The demand-supply gap is staggering, despite the fact that in absolute numbers, India continues to have the largest number of children out of school in any country in the world. The twin issues of accessibility and affordability combine into a deadly double whammy for parents struggling to educate their children. For the poor, access to affordable (free or subsidised) government education is limited due to the absence of anything like the requisite physical and soft infrastructure.
•For those who can afford to pay, the challenge of finding a seat for their wards in one of the sought-after schools leads to ridiculous scenes of hysterical parents protesting in the streets and plethora of court cases every year.
The 30% target
•At the higher education level, the situation gets even worse. The Centre has targeted to achieve a 30% enrolment level in higher education by 2020. If one in every three eligible students who have completed high school actually wants to join college in three years from now, we need to create 40 million university seats.
•Despite the spectacular growth in private sector education — the education sector had gross revenues of Rs. 7,80,000 crore as of last fiscal and is growing at a clip of 20% per year according to research by India Ratings — we are still millions of seats short of the target.
•So, quotas. Everybody wants one, and with everybody now figuring out which political button to push to get what they want, the pie is getting awfully hard to slice and dice further. Apart from the constitutionally mandated affirmative action reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, we have all kinds of other quotas at the State level, from straightforward caste-based quotas to shares for the economically backward, the socially disadvantaged, the physically challenged, the religiously persecuted and so on and so forth.
State-based quota
•Last week, we saw an interesting new wrinkle added to the whole quota debate. In Tamil Nadu, the State government decreed that as much as 85% of engineering and medical college seats in the State will be reserved for students who had completed the qualifying exam — the XII standard or equivalent certificate — under the State’s own board of secondary education. The move followed a dismal showing by State-board students in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to engineering/medical degree programmes.
•Simultaneously, in Delhi — where Delhi University college seats, particularly the top-rated ones, are arguably the world’s most difficult to get into, with cut-offs in some colleges approaching a ridiculous 100% — the Aam Aadmi Party government passed a resolution in the State Assembly demanding that Delhi University reserve 80% of its seats for students from Delhi.
•Of course, DU, being a Central university, can thumb its nose at the AAP government, but the genie has been unleashed from the bottle. Sooner rather than later, the demand for this latest take on a quota will get political and somebody will cave in somewhere, setting off a chain reaction of court cases and stays.
•The simple solution, of course, is to create adequate seats so that everybody who wants a degree can get one. Like all simple solutions, this is not as simple as it appears.
•The higher education sector is currently facing a simultaneous but different crisis — hundreds of engineering seats are going a-begging, as word gets around that the graduates of these colleges are proving to be unemployable in the job market. Hence, employers apply stricter filters to decide on who gets a job offer and who doesn’t. So, we need both quantity and quality, something that even the private sector seems unable to deliver at the moment.
Looking for Filters
•So, some filters will have to be applied in sieving out candidates, which is why these quota and reservation demands pop up in the first place. The trouble is that our education system, whether at the school or college level, has never been able to convince stakeholders that it performs its human resource development function of equipping a candidate with the appropriate skills and knowledge uniformly enough, so that potential employers/admissions officers do not need to apply additional filters.
•They simply do not buy the argument that anyone with a high school degree is good enough to become a doctor or engineer or manager or lawyer, which is why we have an alphabet soup of other filtration exams like NEET, JEE, CAT, CLAT and so on.
•Using the eminent domain powers of the state to ramrod quotas is simply not going to work in such a situation. The only workable solution is to ensure uniformity in the quality of education, at least at the school level to start with.
•This means, for instance, going for a nationwide CBSE system, instead of State boards of varying quality. The UPA government had even proposed this. Perhaps, like many of its other good ideas like Aadhaar, DBT and MGNREGA, the Modi government can pick it up and execute it.
The pursuit of app-iness
Good results from the world’s first suicide prevention app in Australia underscore the need for such initiatives in India
•Three years after its launch, iBobbly, the world’s first suicide prevention app, has shown promising results in the first randomised controlled trial in any population. Developed by researchers at Black Dog Institute, a mental health organisation in Australia, and launched in the country in 2014, the app is specially targeted at young people from the indigenous communities, who are at four times the risk of suicide compared to the rest.
•iBobbly doesn’t need the Internet to be accessed once downloaded. It allows a person to keep a ‘mood diary’ after self-assessment, and teaches the user to manage thoughts — especially suicidal thoughts — and feelings and create a personalised action plan with tools to monitor progress. The programme maintains patient confidentiality and is password-protected.
•Three years on, the researchers say participants from the Kimberley region in Western Australia who used the app over a six-week period reported a 42% reduction in symptoms of depression, 30% reduction in suicidal ideation and 28% reduction in distress.
Lessons for India
•Mental health experts believe there might be lessons for India in this, where according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest suicide data, nearly 1,00,000 people commit suicide every year. The country’s suicide mortality rate is 20.9 per 1,00,000 people, among the highest in the world, with majority of the vulnerable groups not able to get the help they need, says Soumitra Pathare, a psychiatrist with the Pune-based Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy (CMHLP).
•“Technology is the way forward. The use of technology has increased among youth and the app allows us to reach them anonymously,” says Dr. Pathare, who is currently working on scaling up a similar project in India. Called ‘Atmiyata’, Sanskrit for compassion, this project involves using short films loaded on a basic Android app as a training tool to enable a bunch of villagers to identify mental health disorders.
•The project was rolled out in the Peth block of Nashik district, Maharashtra, in December 2013, making mental health care accessible to many in this part for the first time. “We are now looking at scaling it up to 500 villages in Mehsana district [of Gujarat],” he adds.
•Asked if app-based interventions like iBobbly could work in low-resource settings in different parts of the world, Joe Tighe, one of the app developers at Black Dog Institute, said the feedback from the pilots has proven that the app improves mental health literacy. “The need for mental health apps like iBobbly is driven by scalability options. Remote Australian communities are very poorly serviced by mental health providers, hence the need for app development. Feedback from users is very positive and added benefits include an increase in mental health literacy, understanding and stigma reduction through conversations about taboo subjects such as suicide,” said Mr. Tighe.
•In India, suicide prevention helplines have proved to be handy with apps yet to gain wide traction.
•(Suicide is preventable. Call Aasra at 022 2754 6669 or Sneha at 044 2464 0050 or 044 2464 0060 if you know someone suffering from depression or mental health issues and in need of help.)
