The Young Chronicle® Jan 3rd Week, Level 6

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India is a republic. A republic is a country

where the power of decision making for

the nation lies with the politicians elected

by the people.

India became a republic on 26th January

1950. This is the day when the Constitu-

tion of India came into force. 26th January

was especially selected because it was the anniversary of the day the Indian

National Congress decided to fight for Purna Swaraj, or complete independ-

ence from British rule (26 January 1930). Until 1930, the Congress was only

fighting for dominion status. Dominion status allowed India to form an inde-

pendent government under the British crown. It was only after 1930, that we

started fighting for complete independ-

ence. But when we signed the Inde-

pendence Act, we were a dominion, till

26th Jan, 1950, when the Constitution of

India came into effect.

Our constitution is the longest written

constitution in the world. It contains

448 articles in 22 parts, 12 schedules

and 97 plus amendments. Dr BR

Ambedkar and the members of the constituent as-

sembly, drafted the constitution. This is why Dr.

Ambedkar is known as father of constitution. The

constitution of India is a detailed document that

contains all laws, roles of each part of the govern-

ment, the rights and duties of citizens. In short, it is

a rule book for the country to operate.

It took 2 years, 11 months & 18 days to draft the

Why is Republic Day Celebrated?

Written By Aradhana Tiwari

Scan this QR Code to Read The Indian

Independence Act.

constitution. Two hands written copies were prepared, one in English and one

in Hindi. These original copies are kept in helium filled cases, in the parlia-

ment. Dr. Rajendra Prasad took the oath as the first president of India. There-

fore, he became the first guardian of the Indian constitution. The president is

the head of the government, therefore he gets to preside over the Republic

Day.

The republic day is celebrated at Rajpath in New Delhi. A 21-gun salute is

fired as the president unfurls the tricolor at Rajpath. The military parade and

floats representing different states, are a very important part of the celebra-

tion. On this day, we also pay tribute to our freedom fighters and soldiers who

laid down their lives for our safety. Awards such as Paramvir Chakra, Ashok

Chakra and Vir chakra are awarded to brave soldiers. Brave children are

awarded with the National Bravery Awards and are honoured and appreciated

on this day.

Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

This year, the bravery awards were clubbed with other awards for

children, under the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar. Children

were given awards for Innovation, Scholastic, Sports, Art, Culture,

Social Service, Bravery among other categories. These awards were

given on children’s day, earlier. This year, the awards were clubbed

with the bravery awards, and given on 22nd Jan, in a run up to the

26th January celebrations.

26 awardees were selected from 900 applicants, by a national committee formed with experts from the

field of Sociology, Psychology, Mathematics, Science, Art, music, and Sport. This team was chaired by

Women and Child development Minister, Meneka Gandhi.

Each winner would get a medal, a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, book vouchers worth Rs 10,000, a certificate and

a citation. More so, these children will get to participate in the Republic Day parade.

Here are some of the awardees.

Six-year-old Eiha Dixit, of Meerut, was the youngest among the all award recipients, alone planted 500 sap-

lings. Kartik Goyal and Adrika Goyal of Madhya Pradesh, won the bravery award, as they showed courage

and provided food, water, medicine and first aid to the passengers of a train raided by rioters in UP. They

gathered courage and distributed the same, as they felt the pain of those stuck in the situation.

Esow, from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, won the award for excellence in sport.

Arunima Sen, a student of Class XII, in Bangalore, bagged the award for her contribution in the field of in-

novation and science.

Children, you have a year to take inspiration, do something great, and then apply for the awards. It is time

to start NOW.

Image Source: India Today

This year “ Maha Kumbh” is at

Prayagraj from 15th Jan till 4th

March. Many stampedes have

happened in the past due to lack

of proper facilities. It has killed

thousands of people. This time,

U.P.

Gov-

ernment

has made proper arrangements for a smooth func-

tioning of Kumbh Mela.

Some of the important details are –

• Uttar Pradesh government has allocated 2500 Crore for

Kumbh Mela.

• Proper arrangement el of electricity and drinking water.

• Special trains for Prayagraj.

• Laser light shows and ferry rides.

• 5 pandals have been set up

showcasing different culturally

rich folk dance, art, and musical

performance.

• Tents have been established

equipped with all 5-star facili-

ties.

• About 40,000 toilets and tem-

porary hospitals are construct-

ed.

Our country is so rich in cul-

ture. We should be proud of our motherland.

Would you like to visit this grand mela?

Kumbh Mela

picture credit- thedispatch.in Scan this QR Code to find

meanings to the underlined

words in this issue

Written By: Nandini Kadyan

picture credits- huffingtonpost.com

Earth is also known as the ’blue planet‘. Do you know

why? It is because the Earth is the only planet in the solar

system where there is water. 70% of the Earth’s surface

is covered with water but only 1% is fit for consumption.

Rest is ocean water or salty water. Mother Earth has giv-

en us plenty of natural resources. But these are not

enough for the rising population. So, we have to find a so-

lution to the rising demand. This has led to the search for new and alternative sources.

Water, which is the source of life, is scarce. Millions of people across the globe do not

get fresh water. In order to solve this problem, some nations have developed desalination

plants. These plants remove salt from seawater. This method is becoming very popular.

Many countries in North Africa and the Middle East are using such plants to solve their

water problems. There are two such desalination plants in Tamil Nadu, India as well. But

this technology has its own drawbacks. Research from the United Nations' University In-

stitute for Water, Environment, and Health states that the by-product of these desalina-

tion plants is posing a big problem for the environment.

How do these plants work?

The desalination plants take the seawater or brackish water and use processes like heat

treatment or reverse osmosis filtration to extract fresh water. The water from the desal-

ination plants is fit for human consumption or used in irrigation. But what is left behind is

super saline brine. Studies have found out that every one litre of fresh water leaves be-

hind one-and-half litre of brine. This highly salty water is disposed of in the ocean.

The Problem

This disposal of this brine is posing a big problem. Most of the desalination plants are

near the coast and they throw the brine waste into the ocean. The brine is denser than

the seawater and tends to settle on the ocean bed. As a result, it causes harm to marine

life. It might also contain harmful chemicals like copper or chlorine. These substances

pose a great danger to the aquatic environment. “Seawater is a habitat. It contains fishes,

eggs, larvae. So, when the seawater is taken into the desalination plant, all that is killed”,

says Heather Cooley, Director at the Pacific Institute.

The Solution

Most importantly, the disposal of this brine should be done in a reasonable manner. This

brine can be used in irrigating plants species which are salt-tolerant. It can also be used

for “mining” elements like bromine, lithium or uranium.

More research is needed on brine discharge. This will help in saving our aquatic buddies.

Innovation is undoubtedly required for the progress of mankind. We must not forget that

humans are part of the ecosystem and their deeds should be in harmony with nature.

Making Seawater Drinkable Also Creates Brine

image source: Source: shutterstock.com

Written By: Preeti Kapoor

Children, just visualize standing on a vast ex-panse of land covered with white. The white blanket stretches till your eyes can see. Imag-ine being able to see magnificent sunrise and sunsets from that very place. I know you im-agined a place covered with snow, isn’t it? But what if I told you this place is a desert? “What are you nuts?” you would say. How can the desert be all white?

But this place does exist. It is in our country in the

state of Gujarat.

It is the Rann of Kutch. A part of Kutch is actually a salt

marsh. It is a part of the Thar Desert. Once a year, for

around three to four months this Rann (or desert) comes

alive. The Rann Utsav is celebrated here. This year it is on-

going from November 1, 2018 to February 20, 2019.

The then Chief Minister of Gujarat Mr. Narendra Modi envi-

sioned the barren desert of Kutch as a major tourist attrac-

tion. Thus the first Rann Utsav was inaugurated in 2006.

The festival is celebrated in the temporary erected tent city

of Dhordo. Dhordo is the last village in Bhuj. It lies 80km

north of the Bhuj City. Around 400 tents are set up for the

tourists. These tents are a mixture of village charm

equipped with amenities of urban luxuries. Tourists get a

chance to experience the full moon on the salt deserts.

The desert comes alive with traditional music, folk dances and cultural performances of the local artisans. The tourists can also get a taste of the local cuisine in this tent city. Vari-ous adventure activities like para sailing, desert bikes, hand gliding and also camel safaris can be experienced here. Varying stalls are set up for the visitors get to see and shop the local art and crafts. They include the famous embroi-dery and mirror work, Rogan art, Bandhani tie and dye, metal crafts, pottery, etc.

So kids, what are you waiting for? Next time you plan your

holiday destination do consider visiting this spectacular de-

sert with your family and friends.

Image : Rannutsav.in

Image :Insider.in The night view of the tents

Image :Insider.in

Rann Utsav. Magic in the White Sand

Written By: Meghna Gandhi

Dear kids, there are a lot of people

around us who are involved in adding

meaning to society. One such person is

the Scientist Ankita Gulati. This 27-year-

old graduate has developed a device. It

allows the blind students to access dia-

grams and pictures.

Ankita pursued her studies in the field of Computer Science. The idea of devel-

oping this device named Touch Vision came to her mind while she was working

on a project. She visited a school while working on it. She found that the teach-

ing methodology being used, was not optimal.

During her research, she found that the subjects like Science, Technology, En-

gineering, and Mathematics were almost out of the reach for blind students.

She says that such students are not encouraged to study Mathematics and Sci-

ence beyond class 8. She found that proper content is not available for them.

Even in other subjects, diagrams are deleted from the books. Blind students are

not able to understand the entire course.

This situation motivated her to develop something that could be helpful to such

students. Then she thought of developing this Touch Vision Device. This device

helps the blind students to understand the content. It describes the diagrams

and pictures while they try to read them by touching. She has been working on

the technology since 2015. She received the

National Award for this brilliant idea within two

months. The device was modified almost four

times. This was based on the feedback of the

blind students after teaching them for 6-8

months. The final version was created on July

2017.

Really, people like Ankita Gulati are an example

of today’s youth, to serve the nation in a bril-

liant way.

image source: indianexpress.com

Device that Allows Visually Impaired to Access Images

image source: indianexpress.com

Written By: Shruti Chaturvedi

How is the Josh? High Sir!

You would have heard this

phrase, if you are a defence

officer’s child, or have watched

URI. The movie is one of the

better shot defence films.

Apart from the ’josh’, what

people took to, was the tech-

nology used in the film. Many

wondered if the military actu-

ally uses such technology.

While there is no way the mili-

tary will accept or negate the use of the technology (for security reasons), there is a fair

chance that they may possess similar technology.

• A Drone That was Shaped like an Eagle. The Drone Was Called Garuda, in the Movie:

It is possible that the military possesses a drone. However it may not be as efficient

as the one shown in the movie. In the movie, the drone looked like a bird, had night

vision, and could hover and also take off and land on any surface. While the military

may use drones, it may not possess drones that look like a bird and are technically

so advanced. The name Garuda, comes from one of the avatars that Lord Vishnu

took. The avatar had a mix of eagle and human features.

• Spy Satellites:

Designated satellites are certainly used to spy and track terrorist activities. Once an

approximate location is identified, the satellites do scan the area and track any ac-

tivity that may be occurring there.

• Night Vision Glasses:

The night vision glasses used in the film are definitely used by the special forces

and those who do night patrols in sensitive areas.

• Airborne Early Warning and Control System:

The AEWAC system in the movie was actually an aircraft. In the movie, Pakistan’s

military is shown using such an aircraft to track Indian aircrafts and helicopters.

Such systems do exist and the Indian military possesses and uses the same for sur-

veillance.

Image Courtesy: sawirrotv , Image Source: digit.in

Choose Who is Elected, Wisely!