ARSENIC POLLUTION: ITS SOLUTION

               Arsenic is a grayish-white element which forms a poisonous compound when heated some areas in the world including West-Bengal, Bangladesh, Hungary, New Zealand and Thailand have heavy concentration of this element which when remaining under deep water is relatively harmless. But if it comes into direct contact of sun it volatalises and forms the noxious compound. This compound taken unknowingly with water causes serious skin diseases including cancer. The layer of iron sulphide abounds in arsenic when sunk in water it is not harmful. But when the water layer goes down and the iron sulphide layer comes into contact with oxygen it becomes highly damaging. Arsenic is also found in factory affluents, garbage and insecticides used in agriculture- all of which pollutes the air and water if proper precautions is not taken. Arsenic infection is initially difficult to detect. Patients suffer from cough and feel weakness. In advanced stages arsenic infection leads to cavatolene gangrene and skin cancer. Fatal result of arsenic poisoning have also been reported. Towards the eighties of the last century only a few cases of arsenic poisoning was reported in west Bengal. But by 2005 the number of arsenic infection has gone up to a million or more. It is not east to surver all areas which are potentially arsenic prone. The only safeguard against the danger is to drink pond and canal water after purification instead of water from wells. It is the duty of local bodies like the panchayats to determine with the health Dept. to conduct a survey of the regions and make the people conscious of the dangers of arsenic poisoning and its remedies.

Little Friends may Prove to be Great Friends

             There was a lion and a mouse in a jungle. The lion lived in a den, near to that a mouse lived in a hole. One day the lion was sleeping. The mouse was running up and down. By chance the mouse got into the nostril of the lion. The lion wake up. He was very angry. He caught the mouse with his paws and was about to kill it. The mouse prayed for mercy. It said that it might be of use to him in future. The lion laughed at the small mouse and let it go. After some days the lion was caught in a hunter’s nest. He could not tear the net. So he began to roar. The mouse could know the lion from its roar. It went there without losing time and gnawed into the net. It said, “O king of beasts. I have cut into the net. Now run for your life. I had been able to do a good turn to you.” The lion was glad and ran away.

The Dog and the Crow

         Once a dog found a piece of bone. He was eating it sitting under a tree. There sat a crow on the tree. It wished to take away the bone for itself.

The crow was very cunning. It fled away. After sometime it returned there with another crow. Both the crows went to the dog. One of them with the beak pulled the dog by his tail. The dog felt disturbed and annoyed. Again the crow bites the dog in its tail. The dog got very angry. He dropped the piece of bone on the ground and looked back to see what the matter was. In the meantime the second crow picked up the bone and flew away with it.

The moral of the story is ‘the power of cunning’.

Panini and the Well

              Panini was a great scholar of ancient India. He lived in Punjab. But as a boy he was very dull. He could not understand anything. He had read in primary schools but was driven out from all of them because of his dullness. He was sixteen years old yet he learnt nothing. His father grew angry and drove him. Panini became sad and roamed about. One day he came near a well. Village women had come there for water. Their pitchers had made deep hollows on the hard stones around. Being impressed Panini thought, “These stones are hard. But the pitchers have rubbed them daily and made these hollows on them. My brain surely not harder than a stone? Can I also make my dull brain sharp if I try harder?” He thought thus and went to a village. One kind teacher admitted him in his school. There Panini worked hard. Eventually his dullness was gone. He learnt quickly and became a very learned man. He wrote many books.

So the moral of the story we all learn from here “always see where you are going”.

A Man and his Ass

        A man dealt in salt. He had an ass to carry loads of salt from a distant town. There was a stream on the way. The ass had to cross that river every day. One day the ass fell in to the river. Some of the salt melted in the water. The load became lighter. The ass felt relieved to some extent. It became clever. It began to let it feet slip every day. The dealer suffered a great loss. He became very angry. He wanted to teach the ass a good lesson. He kept it without food for two days. The ass could realize its fault. It never did such a thing again.

Don’t Try a Thing You Don’t Know

         A fisherman was fishing in a river. He fished for a long time and was tired. He went to a house nearby to have a smoke. He left the net by the riverside. There was a big tree beside the river. A monkey lived in that tree sitting by a distance the monkey watched carefully how the fisherman threw his net and caught the fish. The monkey wished to throw the net into the river. So it went to the net. It picked up the net and tried to throw it. But it was not an easy thing for the monkey to do. In trying to do so it got entangled in to the net. It tried hard but could not get free. The fisherman came in the meantime he was very angry. He beat the monkey to death.

Look Before You Leap

            A fox was once passing by a well after sunset. It had been dark. She he did not notice the well. He slipped in to the well. He remained there all the night and suffered much. Somehow he saved himself from drowning. Near that well there lived a villager. The villager had a goat. The goat was quite foolish. In the morning while grazing about, she went near the well. The fox on seeing the goat said, “Come friend, you have not tasted such clear and sweet water in your life as you may find in this well. I have drunk and drunk and yet want to drink.” The foolish goat was a bit thirsty. She could not check herself. She at once jumped into the well. The fox got upon the head of the goat and got out of the well.