The "MARIANA TRENCH" of newspapers

The morning newspaper even with a cup of steaming coffee fails to elevate our spirit. Headlines such as "College girl killed by speeding bus" or "Speeding bus rams into roadside stand; 10 injured" hardly can inspire a person to plan the day ahead. 

 Today, our lives are filled with moments of anxiety, depression and restlessness. Indian roads have brought tears to so many families. Rash or reckless driving has become the order of the day. 

      Let's see a statistical record of such accidents in India.  A Road Traffic Accident (RTA) can be defined as, 'An event that occurs on a way or street open to public traffic; resulting in one or more persons being injured or killed, where at least one moving vehicle is involved. Thus RTA is a collision between vehicles; between vehicles and pedestrians; between vehicles and animals; or between vehicles and geographical or architectural obstacles.' Road traffic accidents are a human tragedy. They involve high human suffering and socioeconomic costs in terms of premature deaths, injuries, loss of productivity, and so on.

During 2008, Road Traffic Injuries (RTI) ranked fourth among the leading causes of death in the world.  Nearly 1.3 million people die every year on the world's roads and 20 to 50 million people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many sustaining a disability as a result of their injury. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29 years and cost countries 1-3% of the gross domestic product (GDP).  

Ninety-one percent of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low-income and middle-income countries, even though these countries have approximately half of the world's vehicles. Half of those dying on the world's roads are 'vulnerable road users': Pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. Only 28 countries, representing 416 million people (7% of the world's population), have adequate laws that address all five behavioural risk factors (speed, drink-driving, helmets, seat-belts, and child restraints). If no action is taken, road traffic crashes are predicted to result in the deaths of around 1.9 million people annually by 2020. Hence the goal of the United Nations' Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011- 2020 is to save five million lives.

In India, the motor vehicle population is growing at a faster rate than the economic and population growth. The surge in motorization coupled with expansion of the road network has brought with it the challenge of addressing adverse factors such as the increase in road accidents. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), road traffic injuries are the sixth leading cause of death in India with a greater share of hospitalization, deaths, disabilities and socio-economic losses in the young and middle-aged population.  Road traffic injuries also place a huge burden on the health sector in terms of pre-hospital and acute care and rehabilitation.  

'Road Accidents in India' is an annual publication of the Transport Research Wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India. The Transport Research Wing is the nodal agency for providing information data on various facets of roads and road transport. This report presents information on various aspects of road accidents in the country during the calendar year. The information is collected from the Police Departments of the respective States/Union Territories (UTs) in the 19-item format devised under the Asia Pacific Road Accident Data (APRAD)/Indian Road Accident Data (IRAD) project of the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).

'Road Transport Year Book' is another annual publication of the Transport Research Wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India. The Transport Research Wing collects and compiles data on the registered motor vehicles from States/UTs and presents the information in this report. 

'Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India' is an annual publication of the National Crime Records Bureau of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. This report contains comprehensive statistics on a range of aspects with regard to deaths due to accidents and suicides. The National Crime Records Bureau only compiles and collates the data obtained through the State/UT Police and presents the information in the form of this report.

These reports fulfil a wide variety of data requirements of all the stakeholders like policy makers, police leadership at various levels, transport departments, road safety professionals, researchers, academia, media, NGOs and others. 

National statistical trends in road accidents, injuries and fatalities

Expansion in the road network, a surge in motorization and the rising population in the country contribute toward the increasing numbers of road accidents, road accident injuries and road accident fatalities. The road network in India, the numbers of registered motor vehicles in the country and the country's population have increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.4%, 9.9% and 1.6% respectively, during the decade 2001 to 2011. During the same period, the number of road accidents in the country increased at a CAGR of 2.1%. Similarly, the number of road accident fatalities and the number of persons injured in road accidents in the country between 2001 and 2011 increased by 5.8% and 2.4% respectively.

Even as the CAGR of the number of accidents and the number of road accident injuries has moderated during the decade 2001 to 2011, as compared to the previous decade 1991 to 2001, there has been a spurt in the CAGR of the number of road accident fatalities during the latter period. 

Between 1970 and 2011, the number of accidents increased 4.4 times accompanied with 9.8 times increase in fatalities and 7.3 times increase in the number of persons injured, against the backdrop of more than a 100-fold increase in the number of registered motor vehicles and close to a four-fold increase in the road network. 

During 2011, a total of 4,97,686 road accidents were reported by all States/UTs . The proportion of fatal accidents in the total road accidents has consistently increased since 2002 from 18.1 to 24.4% in 2011. The severity of road accidents measured in terms of persons killed per 100 accidents has also increased from 20.8 in 2002 to 28.6 in 2011. 

    Road accident cases in the country have marginally decreased by 0.02% during 2012, while the casualties in road accidents in the country have increased by 1.3% during 2012; as compared to 2011.

Normalized indicators of road accidents, injuries and fatalities
All India averages

To get an appropriate measure of the incidence of accidents, the normalized/standardized accident rates for India have been worked out in terms of the number of accidents/injuries/fatalities (a) per lakh persons (b) per ten thousand motor vehicles and (c) per ten thousand kilometres of road length.

A significant decline in the number of accidents per ten thousand motor vehicles is discernible from 814.4 in 1970 to 35.1 in 2011.

There has been more than a three-fold increase in the number of persons injured per lakh of population from 13 in 1970 to 42.3 in 2011, while persons killed per lakh of population jumped four-fold from 2.7 in 1970 to 11.8 in 2011. Exposure of population to road accidents leading to deaths and injuries largely depends on the amount of travel undertaken, defined as the number of trips, the distance traveled or time in the road environment, number of motor vehicles and the amount of motorized traffic, and so on. 

As regards the number of persons injured and killed per 10,000 vehicles the decline has been dramatic. To some extent, the decline in this parameter has been brought about by improvement in vehicle crashworthiness and occupant protection. The number of persons injured per 10,000 vehicles has declined from 500 in 1970 to 36 in 2011. Similarly, the number of persons killed per 10,000 vehicles in the country has also fallen from about 104 in 1970 to 10 in 2011 .

The rate of deaths per thousand vehicles has decreased marginally from 1.3 in 2008 to 1.0 in 2012, even as the number of vehicles in the country has increased by 58.3% and the quantum of road accidents has increased by 5.8% during the same period.

Inter-state comparisons

The statistics provides a share of the top five States in India with regard to the total number of road accidents, persons killed, and persons injured in road accidents against a backdrop of their share in India's motor vehicle population.During the calendar year 2012, Tamil Nadu has reported the maximum number of road accidents (67,757) accounting for 15.4% of such accidents in the country. Although Maharashtra had the highest number of registered vehicles in the country, the highest number of deaths due to road accidents during the years were reported in Tamil Nadu (11.6%) followed by Uttar Pradesh (10.9%), Andhra Pradesh (10.8%) and Maharashtra (10.0%). The rate of accidental deaths per thousand vehicles was highest in Bihar and West Bengal at 1.9 each followed by Himachal Pradesh (1.8), Andhra Pradesh (1.5) and Jammu and Kashmir (1.5) as compared to 1.0 at the national level. The rate of deaths per 100 cases of road accidents was the highest in Nagaland (133.3), followed by Punjab (75.8) and Mizoram (70.0) as compared to 31.6 at the national level. The deaths in Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, due to road accidents were reported to be 69.6, 67.5, 53.5 and 51.9% respectively.  

The term 'mega city' refers to cities that have a population of at least 10 lakhs as per the Population Census of 2011. The highest cases of road accidents were reported in Chennai (9,663), which resulted into 8,628 injuries and 1,401 deaths, followed by Delhi (city) (5,865 cases, 5,563 injuries and 1,527 deaths) and Bengaluru (5,508 cases, 4,527 injuries and 725 deaths), among the 53 mega cities. However, 97.6% accidental deaths in Lucknow followed by 81.2% accidental deaths in Asansol were due to road traffic accidents. 

Latest characteristics of road traffic accidents in India

Classification of Roads: National Highways accounted for 30.1% of the total road accidents and 37.1% of the total number of persons killed in 2011. State Highways accounted for 24.6% of the total accidents and a share of 27.4 % of the total number of persons killed in road accidents in 2011. 

Spatial distribution: In 2011, the total number of accidents that occurred in rural areas (53.5%) was more than that in the urban areas (46.5%). Rural areas had more fatalities (63.4%) than urban areas (36.6 %). The number of persons injured was also more in rural areas (59.4 %), as compared to urban areas (40.6 %). 

Age and gender of accident victims: The detailed age profile of accident victims other than the drivers, for the year 2011, revealed that the age group between 25 and 65 years accounted for the largest share, 51.9%, of total road accident casualties, followed by the age group between 15 and 24 years, with a share of 30.3%. More than half of the road traffic casualties were in the wage-earning age group.  Only 15% of the road accident victims were females during the calendar year 2012.

Mode of Transport: During 2012, road traffic accidents shared 35.2% of the accidental deaths; 23.2% of the victims of road accidents were occupants of 'two wheelers' . Although the break-up of total government and private vehicles is not available, it is pertinent to note that the majority of victims were traveling in private vehicles. During 2012, Delhi city, among the 53 mega cities, accounted for 16.1% of the deaths of pedestrians', 10.0% deaths due to car accidents and 9.5% deaths due to two wheelers. 

 Month of occurrence: In 2012, the month-wise distribution of road accidents has also shown more accidents during the month of May (8.8%) followed by the month of April (8.74%) and January (8.72%), while the least number of road accidents were reported in the month of September. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka which accounted for 15.4, 10.3% and 10.1% of road accidents in the country, respectively have also reported the maximum number of road accidents during each month of the year at the national level. 
Time of occurrence: In 2012, 16.7% of the cases of road accidents were reported to have occurred between 1500 hours and 1800 hours (day), followed by 16.6% between 1800 hours and 2100 hours (night) and 6.3% between 0000 hours to and 0300 hours (night).

Causes: The major human factors that contribute to the potency of road accident causation include drunken drivers, indecisiveness, fatigue, distraction, and confusion. In addition, in most of the cases the drivers are found to be inexperienced, risk takers, impulsive, aggressive, casual and unaware of the road signals. During 2011, driver's fault (77.5%) was the singlemost important factor responsible for accidents, as revealed by an analysis of road accident data by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.  

Limitations of the available statistics Details of traffic crashes are not available at the national level. Even as the official road traffic fatality data may be close to the actual number, the injury data are gross underestimates.

Underreporting of RTIs is a serious and global problem.  

In addition to the above-mentioned national reports, findings of independent hospital and population-based research studies related to road traffic accidents in India are also available. 

The spectrum of injuries from road crashes varies from instant death to those requiring only first aid. The most common sources of RTI data are from police and hospitals. The majority of deaths are reported to the police due to their medicolegal nature, prosecution concerns, and compensation needs. A few deaths and a majority of injuries are not reported to the police due to several reasons. A study in Bangalore compared police and hospital deaths and found underreporting of 5% for deaths and more than 50% for serious injuries.  

Another study from rural Haryana estimated the ratio of serious:moderate:minor injuries to be 1: 29:69. Even though every healthcare institution provides care for RTI patients, details of RTIs are not clearly available, due to the poor information system. Hence, the real problem is likely to be much higher than the reported figures. The limited studies in India reveal that 2050% of the Emergency Room registration and 1030% of admissions are due to RTIs. Information on this aspect is lacking from district and rural areas.  
A bibliometric analysis was done to document injury literature published in low- and middle-income countries, and also to quantify literature on road traffic injuries by countries before and after the World Health Day on Road Safety celebrated in April 2004. On neoplasm there were 280 articles published per million population, whereas, for road traffic injuries, the rate was four-fold articles per million population. India, the second-most populous country in the world, contributed only 0.7% articles on road traffic injuries and had less than one article on road traffic injuries per 1,000 road traffic-related deaths. The percentage of change in articles on road traffic injuries for the period 2004-2007 in comparison to period 2001-2004 was +118for India. 

To be effective, policies on injury prevention and safety in developing countries must be based on local evidence and research, and designed to suit the social, political, and economic circumstances found in developing countries. As a result, strategies to increase research itself must develop alongside steps to stimulate policymakers and practitioners to demand and use research evidence. 

Strengthening and undertaking research on the public health burden and impact, understanding the risk factors, characteristics of trauma, and measuring the impact of interventions through well-designed public health and clinical research methods (trauma registry, surveillance programs, hospital- and population-based studies etc.) is the need of the hour. Health professionals and their professional bodies across wide disciplines need to take an initiative for the same, with active commitment. 

   As a student of a prestigious institution, my heart bleeds to see the blood on the roads. As a future citizen of the country, I feel the necessity of a radical range in traffic rules  and regulations. Planning without execution is like a ship without a runner. Through visual and print media, we get access to countless cases where the influential members of the society manage to evade the clutches of law. 

          

 Scores of accidents keep taking place and as students, we cannot afford to remain mute and deaf. It is high time the traffic norms are executed in letter and spirit. Laws should have more teeth and the offenders need to be penalized. I am hopeful the number of accidents will greatly reduce in the years to come and the saying "Morning shows the day" will come alive once again.

Is The Safety Of Women At Stake?

Raise Voice Against This Devilish Act

 'Oh! Please help! Some Please Help!'  Perhaps this is a line heard in almost every corner of present-day India.

Women have been bestowed with honour, dignity and grace since the by-gone days and have been treated as an incarnation of power, nobelity and goodness - position of women was esteemed high from the days of the past and the heroic exploits of such women like Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, Joan of Arc, Ahalla Bai, Pritilata Wadeddar  can never be forgotten. Yet, it is alarming and painful that today women are no longer safe in their homes as well as outside. 
           Mostly, there are victims of domestic and criminal violence whereby they are harassed and tormented both physically as well as mentally. Cases of domestic violence are ample. Many a bride is forced to commit suicide, many become victims of violence and are put to death, some are exploited in the name of dowry and are so tormented that they lose their stability.  Are women so cheap? Does money have more worth than the life of a woman?
 

   At work places again, women are no longer safe.  They become victims of exploitation  whereby their male counterparts try to take advantage and force them to humiliation and oppression. Often, they are scandalized and given ill treatment if they try to protest and rebel and sometimes this leads to fatal aids - they can be seen on the roads during cases of daily travel, in buses, trains, stations - at every place and at every time, in spite of existing onlookers who often remain nude and passive when it comes to the rescue of humiliated women. Women trafficking is yet another major problem.

     Justice appears to be slow for them, laws appear weak while protecting women and above all, the value of women is getting lost in a world of vice, crime and corruption. 
             The Government, NGOs and other women organizations need to work unitedly to protect women from physical and mental assaults which is evident in the daily news and strict legal offence, including capital punishment, must be implemented on such offences to set exemplary action before others.                               

Social Networking- its pros and cons

Social Networking

We have often heard people using the term 'social network'. But, what is a social network? 

A social network is a world wide web platform where millions of people can connect and communicate with each other by the click of a mouse or the touch of a finger.

In this network, one can exchange videos, indulge in chat and exchange photographs, views and music. In this world of connectivity, an individual can stay connected with thousands of his acquaintances at the same time. Hence, it has a tremendous impact 

  The social network has become the face of the world. The whole world has been transformed into a global village. The world is at the prick of a button. It brings the whole world to a small page on the desktop. Social Network has its own advantages and disadvantages. 

      This social network can also be termed in the name of a few websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut. Social network is the cheapest method of connectivity. With the help of a social network, one can connect with people living in far flung areas of the world,

even with people living in the Kamchatka Peninsula, or in  Tierra del Feugo or the Ring Of Fire. This medium enables one to exchange one's views with thousands at a time and even with people they haven't met before. Through this medium, one can get replies to all queries. Social Network also gives a motivation for creativity. Networking widens our bondage with people. Accepting a person's request to be friends online grants them access to a level of intimacy that one might not be comfortable with- complete access to all the content that one has put up on one's site such as on Facebook. Teenagers like to accept friend requests and are more attractive to high technology of social network.

Such types of teenagers are known as Tech Savvy. 

The concept of friendship is a tricky game for kids and teens in the online world and shades of grey have started to surface in the once hunky dory platform. Maintaining relationships was never easy but the online world, with its blessed lines between friends and strangers is making it easier. Thus, we can transform the social network to a cultural platform. 

           Social Network is a public forum. Whatever you put up in it, shall be visualized by the whole online world. If the text or image seems to have a criminal intent, you shall be prosecuted. The most common example is MMS and the uprising of the Arab Spring.

Thus, putting up of characters in Facebook should be done very cautiously. Thus, it is very helpful in identifying criminals. 
    








       But, Facebook is very addictive.It creates a problem and destroys useful time of humans by useless chat with unknown people. Some of the users spend a minimum of thirty eight hours per week on social networking sites., hence, losing touch with reality and reeking havoc on studies, jobs, family lives and even careers. The addiction begins innocently. At the start, you are not even aware of the possibilities of your excessive computer use. Once the novelity of keeping in touch with your colleagues wears off and researching starts to bore you, you may possibly expand your computer usage to chatting and  visiting social networking sites. Facebook also gives rise to unwanted relationships. These are extremely and absolutely harmful. Also, people with evil minds and intentions create fake accounts as who's gonna see who is at the back of the computer? Innocent people get threats from them and this leads to fatal results, sometimes. 
                                                                 But, with all its advantages and disadvantages, social networking sites help people a lot. But, according to you, is Facebook a curse or a boon?

Not the triumph and but the Struggle

Triumph v/s Struggle

 Life is not a bed of roses. in life, everyone has to tackle with struggles, face challenges in order to survive in this world. Some people feel that life would be very luxurious and very easy. But, is their feeling right? life would be very dull and uninteresting without struggles. ' You can say that life is like a video game.' Yes, there is a proof for my statement. in the 1970s, the Americans were the most prosperous people in the world, but still they were not happy. Life for them was very easy; they did not have struggles in their lives- no thrills, no suspicions. Yeah! What a boring life it was! But, at present, there are many people in America who are struggling for their lives and thus, they are quite happy.

The Modern Olympic games was founded and started by Pierre de Coubertin in 1896 in Athens, Greece.

  The spirit of the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part. Till now, people participate in this game with the same spirit in them.

Oscar, who did not have his legs, and legs were replaced by wood, took part in the Olympic games. Such type of people believe in themselves. They acknowledge their gifts and use them to the best of their ability. they focus on their strength and not their limitations.

in life, the most important thing is not the triumph, but the struggle. Also, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. APJ Abdul Kalam was born and grew up in a small fishing village. He had no money to pursue his higher studies. He went to his sister who sold her jewellery and got him the money to go to college. Today, he is thw ex- president of India and is called our 'Rocket Man'. Jennifer Capriati, a tennis player shot to fame in 1990 at the tender age of 13. A couple of years later, she was charged with drugs and shop-lifting offenses and was thrown out of tennis ranking. In 2001, she announced her comeback by winning the Australian open. A young boy was dismissed from school because the teacher felt that he had no brains to study. His mother taught him. He is none but Thomas Alva Edison. Christopher Reeves, who acted the role of Superman, fractured his leg and at once, went to coma. But, he did not give up. he continued his life with his physical struggle. All these people have not put a full stop to their lives in spite of their struggles and hardships. Also, in school, can everyone become the first boy or the first girl? no,, but, everyone continues to study with all their struggles. they have big dreams, they think big and positive. They have a vision or a goal and keepit before their minds always. They think, live and breathe success. Don't we remember Maharana Pratap, Rana Sanga of Mewar and Chand Sultana? The lost against the Mughals but are still remembered for their skills.
                                                                          The same thing applies applies for Olympic Games, too. The 2012 London Olympic Games has proved to be astuggle for many who have participated in it. India has only won 2 silver medals and 4 bronze medals, but no gold medal. Still, the people who have won them, that is, Vijay Kumar, Mary Kom, Gagan Narang and all others have the spirit of the Games in them- PARTICIPATE FOR YOUR STRUGGLE AND NOT FOR WINNING. Usain Bolt, the greatest athlete, is a genius and the top in his line. No one has ever been successful to beat him. But, still he wants struggles. As a result, he wants to play cricket and football now, to make his life interesting.

               But, there are some participants who are destroying the spirit of the Games. They want to win in their line. They take steroids to gain extra power in order to be the first. In 1988, in the Seoul Olympic Games, Ben Johnsons won a gold medal in athletics. He had to undergo a check-up where he was caught and the medal was handed over to Carl Lewis, who initially was the first runner-up.

Nowadays, doping has been taking place- the first and foremost being Oxygen Doping. Large amounts of oxygen are pumped into their bodies which in creases their haemoglobin content and energy. Secondly, there is aloso blood doping. A little amount of blood is taken out from their bodies which is treated with nutrients and that extra blood is injected into the body. Thus, the amount of red blood corpuscles increases, thus increasing the energy and power of the participants.
               
But, people still have the real spirit of the Games. How many are there with steroids and doping? Maybe a two or athree in a hundred. Thus, people to this day still go to the Olympic Games with the spirit of participating and not winning.