#industrial zones In india

[no-passaran]

Genocide experts warn that India is about to genocide the Shompen people

Who are the Shompen?

The Shompen are an indigenous culture that lives in the Great Nicobar Island, which is nowadays owned by India. The Shompen and their ancestors are believed to have been living in this island for around 10,000 years. Like other tribes in the nearby islands, the Shompen are isolated from the rest of the world, as they chose to be left alone, with the exception of a few members who occasionally take part in exchanges with foreigners and go on quarantine before returning to their tribe. There are between 100 and 400 Shompen people, who are hunter-gatherers and nomadic agricultors and rely on their island's rainforest for survival.

Why is there risk of genocide?

India has announced a huge construction mega-project that will completely change the Great Nicobar Island to turn it into "the Hong Kong of India".

Nowadays, the island has 8,500 inhabitants, and over 95% of its surface is made up of national parks, protected forests and tribal reserve areas. Much of the island is covered by the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve, described by UNESCO as covering “unique and threatened tropical evergreen forest ecosystems. It is home to very rich ecosystems, including 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, and bryophytes, among others. In terms of fauna, there are over 1800 species, some of which are endemic to this area. It has one of the best-preserved tropical rain forests in the world.”

The Indian project aims to destroy this natural environment to create an international shipping terminal with the capacity to handle 14.2 million TEUs (unit of cargo capacity), an international airport that will handle a peak hour traffic of 4,000 passengers and that will be used as a joint civilian-military airport under the control of the Indian Navy, a gas and solar power plant, a military base, an industrial park, and townships aimed at bringing in tourism, including commercial, industrial and residential zones as well as other tourism-related activities.

This project means the destruction of the island's pristine rainforests, as it involves cutting down over 852,000 trees and endangers the local fauna such as leatherback turtles, saltwater crocodiles, Nicobar crab-eating macaque and migratory birds. The erosion resulting from deforestation will be huge in this highly-seismic area. Experts also warn about the effects that this project will have on local flora and fauna as a result of pollution from the terminal project, coastal surface runoff, ballasts from ships, physical collisions with ships, coastal construction, oil spills, etc.

The indigenous people are not only affected because their environment and food source will be destroyed. On top of this, the demographic change will be a catastrophe for them. After the creation of this project, the Great Nicobar Island -which now has 8,500 inhabitants- will receive a population of 650,000 settlers. Remember that the Shompen and Nicobarese people who live on this island are isolated, which means they do not have an immune system that can resist outsider illnesses. Academics believe they could die of disease if they come in contact with outsiders (think of the arrival of Europeans to the Americas after Christopher Columbus and the way that common European illnesses were lethal for indigenous Americans with no immunization against them).

And on top of all of this, the project might destroy the environment and the indigenous people just to turn out to be useless and sooner or later be abandoned. The naturalist Uday Mondal explains that “after all the destruction, the financial viability of the project remains questionable as all the construction material will have to be shipped to this remote island and it will have to compete with already well-established ports.” However, this project is important to India because they want to use the island as a military and commercial post to stop China's expansion in the region, since the Nicobar islands are located on one of the world's busiest sea routes.

Last year, 70 former government officials and ambassadors wrote to the Indian president saying the project would “virtually destroy the unique ecology of this island and the habitat of vulnerable tribal groups”. India's response has been to say that the indigenous tribes will be relocated "if needed", but that doesn't solve the problem. As a spokesperson for human rights group Survival International said: “The Shompen are nomadic and have clearly defined territories. Four of their semi-permanent settlements are set to be directly devastated by the project, along with their southern hunting and foraging territories. The Shompen will undoubtedly try to move away from the area destroyed, but there will be little space for them to go. To avoid a genocide, this deadly mega-project must be scrapped.”

On 7 February 2024, 39 scholars from 13 countries published an open letter to the Indian president warning that “If the project goes ahead, even in a limited form, we believe it will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide.”

How to help

The NGO Survival International has launched this campaign:

From this site, you just need to add your name and email and you will send an email to India's Tribal Affairs Minister and to the companies currently vying to build the first stage of the project.

Share it with your friends and acquittances and on social media.

Sources:

India’s plan for untouched Nicobar isles will be ‘death sentence’ for isolated tribe, 7 Feb 2024. The Guardian.

‘It will destroy them’: Indian mega-development could cause ‘genocide’ and ‘ecocide’, says charity, 8 Feb 2024. Geographical.

Genocide experts call on India's government to scrap the Great Nicobar mega-project, Feb 2024. Survival International.

The container terminal that could sink the Great Nicobar Island, 20 July 2022. Mongabay.

[Maps] Environmental path cleared for Great Nicobar mega project, 10 Oct 2022. Mongabay.

[shreetmtbars]

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[hgssocial]

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[fatehbaz]

About the lethal world-altering power of "legal fictions of property" and creation of laws in British imperial attempts to control the monsoon-flooded rivers and deltas of Bengal, described in Debjani Bhattacharyya's work (Empire and Ecology in the Bengal Delta: The Making of Calcutta, 2019). Other scholars have also come to similar conclusions about British treatment of Bengal. It's kind of a nice microcosm not just of British rule in South Asia, but also of imperial attempts to control ecology, communities, and imaginations across the planet.

In deltas, shorelines, seasonally-flooded rivers and riparian wetlands, mangrove forests, etc., there may not be clear distinctions between "land" and "water". The boundaries might change every year, every season, sometimes every day, depending on tide, floods, etc. So, if empires like Britain or the United States are to control such a place, there are two different challenges here. One challenge is, maybe more obviously, material, physical. The other is ontological, imaginative, etc., or what not.

---

The material or physical challenge is:

How does the empire tax or administer properties if the property changes seasonally depending on rivers, floods, precipitation, etc.? How does the empire "manage" local social/financial conditions if there isn't clear recognition of a stable title, landlord, authority figure? Where is the solid property boundary that can facilitate ownership transfer, zoning, revenue collection, etc.? How does the empire force people into industrial or plantation labor if the empire can't use the threat of home-loss or job-loss to coerce local people? How does the empire install development projects or extractive industries, like roads, bridges, monoculture/plantation fields, etc., if the land and water are always in motion, fluid, changing?

The ontological challenge is:

Part of the empire's power comes from its ability to conquer the imagination, to capture the future, to insist that there is no other way, there are no other options. Empire is inevitable. And the empire insists that borders are "real", definite, strict. But how can you believe the empire's claims about strict boundaries, about the inevitability of their future, when you can clearly see an alternative, when you are living in an ecosystem where land and water are in a kind of dance, influencing each other, fluid, impermanent?

And the empire doesn't appreciate physical, material challenges. But the empire especially doesn't want any ontological challenges. If you can identify other ways of being, alternative lives, other futures, you undermine the empire's claim to inevitability and inspire others to live otherwise. In a way, a river or a delta or an estuary, they are a provocation; as if they were alive, agents themselves, these environments are a direct challenge to empire's claims.

---

A summary of this imperial conundrum, from Natasha Ginwala and Vivian Ziherl:

'[T]his tropical coastal ecology is a site of continual refiguration: neither sea nor land, neither river nor sea, bearing neither salty nor fresh water […]. The Sundarbans covers an area of 10,000 square kilometers of intertidal zones between parts of southwestern Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India. The largest mangrove forest in the world […]. As a landscape, the Sundarbans is marked by unfixity, since its intertidal nature places it between appearance and disappearance – with islands being submerged overnight. […] [T]heir porous quality does not allow for clear border-making. [...] [W]e are met with the trembling instability of borders. [...] [H]ere the coastline becomes indiscernible as a single entity. The legal vexations of such amphibious and obtuse terrain become pronounced in sea-rights cases, wherein border-making becomes the necessity of tenure.' ["Sensing Grounds: Mangroves, Unauthentic Belonging, Extra-Territoriality." e-flux Journal Issue #45. May 2013.]

---

So, those "legal vexations", "wherein border-making becomes the necessity of tenure [ownership]"? That's what Bhattacharyya discusses, how laws become "technologies of property" in Bengal.

Basically, Bhattacharyya describes "the legal processes through which the mobility of the landscape was accommodated into the architecture of ownership" (p. 77); "drying a tidal landscape was as much an infrastructural project as it was an ontological endeavor in producing a dry culture with colonial law as its handmaiden" (p. 83)' "the materiality of the paper" functioned as "a legitimizing object of modern property" (p. 100); the British/US/imperial imagination of rivers were "characterized by a cartographic-mindedness that captures and fixes the spatial mobility. The colonial journey is one of reterritorialization that involves mapping, measuring and fixing" (p. 122).

---

In the tags of my post, I mentioned that the "legal engineering to conquer rivers in Bengal" is also the focus of two other scholars who examine the relationships with water, the creation of private property, and the power of colonial law-making in Bengal:

Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Rohan Ignatious D'Souza.

D'Souza authored Drowned and Dammed: Colonial Capitalism and Flood Control in Eastern India (1803-1946), which provides nice coverage from the East India Company, through the Mutiny and nineteenth-century expansion of finance and plantations, into modernist development of the twentieth century.

And I think Lahiri-Dutt sums up this whole situation nicely:

'Traveling through Bengal in the eighteenth century, […] [travelers] saw a highly sophisticated water-based economy – the blessing of rivers […]. Bengal’s essential character as a fluid landscape was changed during the colonial times through legal interventions that were aimed at stabilizing lands and waters, at creating permanent boundaries between them, [...] in a land of shifting river courses, inundated irrigation, and river-based life. Such a separation of land and water was made possible not just by physical constructions but first and foremost by engineering a legal framework. […] BADA, which stands for the Bengal Alluvion and Diluvion Act, a law passed by the colonial British rulers in 1825 […]. Nature here represents a borderless world, or at best one in which borders are not fixed lines on the ground demarcating a territory, but are negotiated spaces or zones. Such “[...] spaces” comprise “not [only] lines of separation but zones of interaction…transformation, transgression, and possibility” […]. Current boundaries of land and water are as much products of history as nature and the colonial rule of Bengal played a key role in changing the ideas and valuations of both. […] [R]ivers do not always flow along a certain route […]. The laws that the colonial British brought to Bengal, however, were founded upon the thinking of land as being fixed in place. […] To entrench the system, the Permanent Settlement of 1793 created zamindars (or landlords) “in perpetuity” – meaning for good. The system was aimed at reducing the complexities of revenue collection due to erratically shifting lands and unpredictable harvests in a monsoon-dependent area […]. From a riverine community, within a hundred years, Bengal was transformed into a land-based community.' ["Commodified Land, Dangerous Water: Colonial Perceptions of Riverine Bengal." RCC Perspectives, no. 3. 2014.]

---

Part of why I appreciate Bhattacharyya's take on it is that she focuses on what was lost, not just in terms of physical landscape, material accessibility, etc., but also what was lost culturally, emotionally. Stories, traditions, ways of being. This is why Bhattacharyya describes this process of British rule in Bengal "a history of forgetting". She says: "And because we forget, it is harder for us to imagine alternatives".

Basically, British legal maneuvers to strictly define borders between land and water in Bengal, achieved several things: Yes, faced with frequent seasonal/annual changes of where shorelines and islands, etc., were located, part of the benefit of this legal defining and clarification of solid land was allowing the empire to map and administer stable segments of property for purposes of taxes, records, and development projects (roads, bridges, canals, etc.). This "permanence" of property then allowed for the opening of the door to financialization, so that investors in London or Calcutta could participate in financial speculation on the real estate market.

Another benefit was the installation of "private" property and strengthening the power of landlords, enforcing a social hierarchy, detaching poorer people from land access, resulting in conditions of indebtedness. Of course, the precarity of debt and lack of access to land then essentially forced poorer people into wage labour, factory work, plantations.

After all, Britain needed laborers to staff its expanding and notorious Assamese tea plantations. And the empire did this repeatedly elsewhere, too: Alienated people by using legal frameworks to force them into debt or homelessness, and then using those alienated people to work in terrible industrial conditions, often far away from their homes. Just as earlier nineteenth-century metropolitan London staffed its factories with indebted and impoverished people from elsewhere in England, Britain staffed its Assameses tea plantations with poor people from central India, and Britain staffed its plantations and infrastructure projects in Malaya with "coolies" and convicts from Bombay.

Outside of these material consequences, there is also the insidious lasting devastation of alienation itself. Emotionally. Loss of stories, songs, traditions, relationships, etc. The river, the delta, the ecosystem that you know and love, is not accessible to you. And so the empire's definitions and traditions are made resolute, the only possible future. There is no alternative.

But the river says otherwise.

[the-empress-7]

For more than 4,000 years, emeralds have been among the most valuable of all jewels.

Colombia, located in northern South America, is the country that mines and produces the most emeralds for the global market, as well as the most desirable.

It is estimated that Colombia accounts for 70–90% of the world's emerald market. While commercial grade emeralds are quite plentiful, fine and extra fine quality emeralds are extremely rare. Colombian emeralds over 50 carat can cost much more than diamonds of the same size.

The Colombian departments of Boyacá and Cundinamarca, both in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, are the locations where most of the emerald mining takes place.

Although the Colombian emerald trade has a rich history that dates as far back as the pre-Columbian era, the increase in worldwide demand for the industry of the gemstones in the early 20th century has led prices for emeralds to nearly double on the global market.

Until 2016, the Colombian emerald trade was at the center of Colombia's civil conflict, which has plagued the country since the 1950s.

For thousands of years, emeralds have been mined and considered one of the world's most valuable jewels.

The first ever recorded emeralds date back to ancient Egypt, where they were particularly admired by Queen Cleopatra.

In addition to their aesthetic value, emeralds were highly valued in ancient times because they were believed to increase intelligence, protect marriages, ease childbirth, and thought to enable its possessor the power of predicting future events.

An ancient Colombian legend exists of two immortal human beings, a man and a woman—named Fura and Tena—created by the Muisca god Are in order to populate the earth.

The only stipulation by Are was that these two human beings had to remain faithful to each other in order to retain their eternal youth. Fura, the woman, however, did not remain faithful.

As a consequence, their immortality was taken away from them. Both soon aged rapidly, and they eventually died. Are later took pity on the unfortunate beings and turned them into two crags protected from storms and serpents and in whose depths Fura's tears became emeralds.

Today, the Fura and Tena peaks, rising approximately 840 and 500 meters, respectively, above the valley of the Minero River, are the official guardians of Colombia's emerald zone. They are located roughly 30 km north of the mines of Muzo, the location of the largest emerald mines in Colombia.

Historians believe the indigenous people of Colombia mastered the art of mining as early as 500 AD. But Spanish Conquistadors are the ones who are credited with discovering and marketing globally what we now call Colombian emeralds.

Colombia, during pre-colonial times, was occupied by Muzo indigenous people, who were overpowered by Spain in the mid-1500s. It took Spain five decades to overpower the tribal Muzo people who occupied this entire mining area.

Once in control, the Spanish forced this native, indigenous population to work the mining fields that it previously held for many centuries.

Monarchs and the gem-loving royalty in India, Turkey, and Persia eventually sought the New World treasures once the gems arrived in Europe.

These new emerald owners expanded their private collections with spectacular artifacts bedazzled with emeralds between 1600 and 1820, the time frame of Spain's control over the Colombian mines.

After Colombia's independence from Spain in 1819, the new government and other private mining companies assumed mining operations. Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, these mines were periodically shut down numerous times because of political situations within the country.

Colombian emeralds are much sought after, and not just because of their superb quality and color. A gem's value depends upon its size, purity, color and brilliance. Even when they are mined in the same area, each individual emerald has its own unique look that sets it apart from the rest.

Dark green is considered to be the most beautiful, scarce, and valuable color for emeralds. An emerald of this color is considered rare and is only found in the deepest mines of Colombia.

The eastern portion of the Andes, between the Boyacá and Cundinamarca departments, is where most Colombian emeralds are mined.

The three major mines in Colombia are Muzo, Coscuez, and Chivor. Muzo and Coscuez are on long-term leases from the government to two Colombian companies, while Chivor is a privately owned mine. Muzo remains the most important emerald mine in the world to this date.

The terms Muzo and Chivor do not always refer to the particular mines that carry the same name. Instead, the two terms, originating from the local indigenous language, often describe the quality and color of emeralds. Muzo refers to a warm, grassy-green emerald, with hints of yellow. Chivor, on the other hand, describes a deeper green color.

Thank you for this great reference material! Colombian emeralds are absolutely world renowned. But, when it comes to wearing the fuck out of emeralds no one can out do the Ambanis. This necklace alone is rumored to be worth $60 million USD 😮‍💨

[elbiotipo]

Nomadic Cities are the thing that make the less sense about Arknights to me. Where do they get their food from? Leaving aside the physical and technical issues because something something Originium, a city moving over terrain as depicted would be incredibly devastating, leaving a trail of barren land down below (I think that Beanstalk has some dialogue to that effect even) To get enough food to supply an urban civilization, especially an industrial civilization like Terra, you need enormous extensions of cultivated land, close to urban zones if possible, which is impossible if cities move and devastate the land around them. I mean, look at those tracks and tell me that the land below wouldn't be pushed to a muddy mess:

The lack of ocean routes in Terra also limits how much food you could, speculatively, import from other more 'sedentary' countries (land transport is always more inefficient than sea transport), and I haven't seen too much railways or highways to support inland trade routes, so where does their food come from?

The thing is, they move because of catastrophes, understandable, and perhaps the catastrophes aren't common enough to move all the time. But if catastrophes aren't so common, why spend all this effort in making them nomadic? And if they are so common to justify this, it means that sedentary populations, which are basic for agriculture, are impossible, and so neither cities or farming is sustainable and you have no civilization at all, let alone an advanced industrial civilization. It all comes to where the food comes from. If I had to explain it, I would say that they plant it somewhere in the city infrastructure, indoors agriculture powered by originium reactors or something, but it's still something I would like to see, and at least from the few images it literally looks like a plate with wheels and a city above, no layers for indoors agriculture; if anything, you would use the top layer to cultivate stuff such as fruit and delicate crops, and live in the lower layers.

I actually thought at first they were flying cities, when I saw all the references to Rhodes Island deck and the fact it's called an island. And believe it or not, to me it would make so much sense. Imagining, say, Lungmen as a collection of floating cities, Laputa style, while the terrain down below is rural and densely cultivated like say China or India, but at the mercy of catastrophes which city dewellers can avoid, creating class conflicts. Transporting things would be easy assuming originium allows cities to float, air transport would also be trivial, it would be a question of floating above a region and sending transports to collect crops, perhaps directly from farmers themselves. It would be a wholly different game setting though, because you will have introduced the omnipresence of air transport and have to deal with that (and Arknights has a conspicous lack of air warfare or support; there are some brief mentions of pilots but we never see them in action, one would think the operator squads would have something like a Mi-24 or a Huey helicopter assigned to them)

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

“Some view the practice as a means of gaining financial autonomy and draw parallels with sex work, arguing that women should have the right — and freedom — to so-called commodify their bodies if they choose. Yet others have drawn comparisons with practices like the sale of organs, and ask, if the option of becoming a surrogate is presented to vulnerable women who are desperate to lift their families out of poverty, how much can their decision ever really be construed as an active choice?

…

The transnational element to commercial surrogacy agreements — which overwhelmingly involve those from affluent countries traveling to poorer nations to source a surrogate — is another reason many are uncomfortable with the practice, leading some bioethicists to brand it a form of biological colonialism. Before the practice was outlawed in India — first for foreign couples in 2015 before being entirely banned in 2021 — stories in the country’s press abounded of women recruited from deprived, rural regions, being pushed into signing surrogacy contracts they were unable to read and, once pregnant, crammed together in dormitories. Surrogacy in Nepal generated headlines after the 2015 earthquake, when the Israeli government swept in to airlift a small group of Nepalese women carrying the babies of Israeli nationals out of the disaster zone, while other earthquake victims were left behind, bringing stark global inequalities into sharp relief. Commercial surrogacy flourished in Thailand until 2015 when the country banned it for foreigners after a series of high-profile cases, including an Australian couple who were accused of abandoning their “Baby Gammy,” who was born with Down syndrome.”

[usafphantom2]

The Netherlands allocates 350 million euros to Ukraine to acquire air-to-ground weapons for the F-16 and drones

The Pentagon would have insisted that the Ukrainian F-16s should only be used within the borders of Ukraine.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 03/21/2024 - 09:00 in Military, War Zones

The Dutch government announced new aid for Ukraine, with the allocation of more than 150 million euros for the purchase of F-16 ammunition and another 200 million euros for the acquisition of ISR drones.

The announcement came from the Minister of Defense of the Netherlands, Kajsa Ollongren, after the recent meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG).

The Netherlands has taken a proactive position in supporting Ukraine in the midst of the ongoing conflicts, highlighting its commitment to international security and cooperation. The ammunition, designed specifically for use in F-16 aircraft, should be purchased directly from the industry, ensuring timely support for Ukraine's military needs.

In addition to air support, the Dutch government is expanding its contributions to include unmanned aerial systems. With an investment of more than 200 million euros, the Netherlands plans to acquire and donate a substantial number of ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) drones to Ukraine. These drones, which have already demonstrated their effectiveness on the battlefield, will be acquired in collaboration with other partners and the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Further demonstrating its support, the Netherlands is fulfilling its previous commitment by sending F-16 fighters to Romania. These jets are not only intended for defensive operations, but also to serve as a crucial component of a training center for Ukrainian and Romanian pilots. This initiative, highlighted by the sending of aircraft along with spare parts and necessary ammunition, was detailed by General Onno Eichelsheim, Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces, during the UDCG meeting.

The Netherlands, in collaboration with Denmark and the United States, leads the UDCG air force coalition. A total of 18 Dutch F-16 jets have been designated for training purposes in Romania, while another 24 are being prepared for delivery in Ukraine. This preparation is a coordinated effort between the coalition partners, illustrating a united front in the provision of military assistance to Ukraine.

The Pentagon would have established "red lines" in relation to the use of Ukrainian F-16 fighters in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, stating that they should only be used within the sovereign territory of Ukraine.

This stance was transmitted by Patrick Ryder, press secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense, in an interview with RFE/RL.

Tags: Military AviationF-16 Fighting FalconRNLAF - Royal Netherlands Air Force / Royal Dutch Air ForceWar Zones - Russia/Ukraine

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[dailyanarchistposts]

Asia, Africa, India and Latin America

While we have been focusing on North America, the park model was actually exported throughout the world, forcing millions of tribal peoples out of their habitats/territories. The practice continues to this day in Asia, Africa and India, for example, where non-profit foundations and United Nations sponsored organizations are eagerly trying to protect what little land is left that hasn’t been destroyed by industrial modes of living.

Unfortunately, be it the Twa peoples expulsion from Congo’s Kahuzi-Biega National Park, the Maasai from the Amboseli National Park in Kenya or tribal people in southern India forced out of the Indira Gandhi National Park as part of an “eco-development” scheme funded by the Global Environment Facility, parks and conservation lands remain one more force which dispossesses tribal peoples. In Africa alone, one million square kilometers of land has been expropriated for conservation over the past one hundred years. Estimates in India range around three-quarters of a million people pushed off their traditional lands for conservation, in Africa the number is likely in the millions. Unfortunately, and ironically, land that has long been occupied and protected by indigenous peoples continues to be deemed “wild” and therefore suitable for “conservation” primarily by having them declared parks, thus making them out of bounds for the indigenous peoples who maintained them in the first place.

What happens to the people who once lived rich, meaningful lives within these habitats? They become like you and I. Dispossession leads to rootlessness, discouragement, depression, inability to be self-reliant, bad nutrition, broken communities, severed kinship ties, and anger, too often turned inward or directed to the nearest person.

I think we need to realize that dedication to creating parkland and conservation areas does not necessarily coincide with helping regenerate ways of living harmoniously with a habitat. More often than not it promotes a misanthropic outlook that posits intact, healthy land areas being by definition “human-free’’, rather than capitalism-free. We tend to ignore the fact that indigenous peoples seeking to maintain or renew their traditional life ways need to have access tothese areas, especially if the parkland in question was actually part of their traditional territory.

Even liberal organizations like UNESCO have begun to realize that there has been a negative social impact associated with many protected areas. In some places in Asia, Africa and Latin America, provisions have been made for local control so that traditional lifestyles might continue. But these tend to be limited “buffer zones”, where the original inhabitants can control “development projects”. These attempts have not succeeded.

Apparently coalitions of indigenous peoples have had some success in forcing international bodies to recognize their inherent right to manage their traditional territories. “In the 1990s, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), the World Conservation Congress and the World Commission on Protected Areas all adopted new policies and resolutions which strongly endorse indigenous peoples’ rights and promote the co-management of protected areas, based on negotiated agreements.[8]” However, these organizations aren’t arguing for free access to one’s habitat, but to “negotiated agreements” with outsiders and centralized authority, and land bases integrated into the scheme of state regulations and subject to the pressures of politics and the market.

Regardless of some recognition, many parks and conservation areas, especially in impoverished countries, remain part of the greater theft of traditional homelands by arrogant, powerful outsiders who impose their views of what constitutes healthy habitats. It isn’t parks and conservation areas that will help stem the tide of destruction and plunder, but recognition that new ways of living are required. And these new ways can be informed by the old ways ofland based people.

[colonelrajyavardhanrathore]

Eye on Making Investments a Reality: Rajasthan Government’s Strategic Move to Attract Investors

Rajasthan: A Growing Economic Powerhouse

Rajasthan, India’s largest state by area, is home to a diverse economic landscape that ranges from agriculture and mining to tourism and industrial growth. Historically, the state has seen substantial contributions from sectors such as mineral resources, textiles, and craftsmanship. However, with the changing times, the state government has recognized the need to diversify and expand the economy by inviting more modern, high-impact industries, especially in technology, manufacturing, and renewable energy.

Government Initiatives to Attract Investments

The Rajasthan government has been taking a series of proactive measures to make the state a hub for both domestic and foreign investments. These initiatives include:

Investor-Friendly Policies: The government has launched a variety of tax incentives, subsidies, and reduced bureaucratic hurdles to create a more streamlined investment environment. This helps both new startups and established multinational companies to enter the market with ease.

Infrastructure Development: The state has significantly boosted its infrastructure, building robust transportation networks, logistics hubs, and industrial zones in key regions such as Jaipur, Udaipur, and Jodhpur. This development ensures that businesses have access to world-class facilities that facilitate smooth operations.

Dedicated Investment Promotion Units: The Rajasthan government has set up specialized bodies, such as the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO), to act as a one-stop solution for investors. These units help streamline processes related to land acquisition, approvals, and permits.

Focus on Renewable Energy: Rajasthan’s commitment to sustainable energy is also notable. With vast open spaces and favorable climatic conditions, the state has become a leader in solar power generation in India. This attracts investors focused on clean energy solutions.

Col Rajyavarshan Rahtore: A Visionary Leader in the Investment Drive

One of the key figures behind Rajasthan’s investment drive is Col Rajyavarshan Rahtore, whose leadership and strategic insights have helped shape the state’s future. With a background in the Indian Army, Col Rahtore brings a unique perspective to governance and economic development, combining disciplined military strategies with innovative policy-making.

A Strong Advocate for Investor Relations

Col Rahtore is known for his strong advocacy of cultivating good relations with both domestic and international investors. He believes that fostering long-term partnerships with the private sector is crucial to ensuring the state’s economic prosperity. Under his leadership, the government has worked to build trust and create a stable investment climate that encourages both large-scale and small-scale investors.

Collaborative Approach to Investment Promotion

Col Rajyavarshan Rahtore understands that attracting investments goes beyond policy implementation. He has emphasized the need for collaboration between local entrepreneurs, large corporates, and foreign investors. By establishing public-private partnerships, he has played a pivotal role in creating a more inclusive environment for various industries, such as technology, healthcare, education, and manufacturing.

Focus on Sector-Specific Growth

While Col Rahtore’s initiatives have been broad-reaching, he has also directed special attention to specific sectors with the highest potential for growth. These include:

Tourism and Hospitality: Rajasthan has long been a popular tourist destination, known for its palaces, forts, and cultural heritage. Under Col Rahtore’s leadership, the state has focused on developing world-class infrastructure for tourism and hospitality. This includes the construction of modern hotels, resorts, and convention centers that cater to international visitors.

Renewable Energy: With a sharp focus on sustainability, Col Rahtore has played a central role in Rajasthan becoming a leading state in India for solar power generation. The government’s efforts to build large solar parks, such as the Bhadla Solar Park, have attracted significant investment from global renewable energy firms.

Industrial Growth: The government’s push to develop industrial corridors in Rajasthan has opened doors for a range of industries. Special emphasis has been given to attracting automobile manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and defense industries to set up shop in the state.

Rajasthan’s Investment Ecosystem: Key Strengths and Opportunities

As the Rajasthan government accelerates its investment initiatives, several aspects of the state’s economic ecosystem make it an attractive proposition for investors. These factors are contributing to the state’s growing reputation as an investment hub.

Strategic Location and Connectivity

Rajasthan’s geographical location in India is one of its key advantages. The state is well-connected to other major Indian markets, as well as global trade routes. With excellent rail, road, and air connectivity, businesses can easily transport goods both within India and abroad. The government has also made substantial investments in improving infrastructure at ports, airports, and highways.

Skilled Workforce and Educational Institutions

Rajasthan is home to several leading educational institutions that produce a highly skilled workforce. These include prestigious engineering colleges, business schools, and medical universities. The state is positioning itself as a key player in producing the next generation of workers in industries like IT, biotechnology, and manufacturing.

Large Consumer Market

With a population of over 80 million people, Rajasthan offers access to a vast and growing consumer market. As incomes rise, there is increasing demand for goods and services in sectors such as consumer electronics, food processing, and healthcare. This provides significant growth potential for companies looking to expand their reach in India.

Conclusion: Rajasthan — A State to Watch for Future Investments

Rajasthan’s strategic initiatives and the leadership of Col Rajyavarshan Rahtore have set the stage for a future where the state becomes one of India’s top destinations for investment. With its investor-friendly policies, focus on infrastructure development, and an eye on key sectors such as renewable energy, tourism, and manufacturing, Rajasthan is well on its way to becoming a beacon of economic growth.

The efforts being made to streamline processes and build strong relationships with investors are already bearing fruit. With more and more companies looking to invest in the state, Rajasthan is poised to realize its potential as a significant economic powerhouse in India’s growth story. As Col Rajyavarshan Rahtore continues to guide the state forward, there is no doubt that Rajasthan will remain a key player in shaping the country’s economic future.

[digitaldetoxworld]

Bank PO Prelims Results Check Your Scores and Selection Status

 This is  statement of Bank Probationary Officer (PO) results Prelims in Rajasthan is a exceptionally anticipated event for lots of aspirants who've labored diligently to steady a career in the banking region. These outcomes represent the fruits of a rigorous selection system that entails a couple of ranges, along with a preliminary examination, a mains examination, and sooner or later, an interview method.

It is assessments, performed by means of prominent establishments just like the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) or State Bank of India (SBI), function the gateway for filling vacancies in nationalized and local banks. In Rajasthan, candidates aspiring to enroll in those prestigious banks participate in this aggressive examination, which assessments their understanding, flair, reasoning, and hassle-fixing competencies.

The Exam Process

The Bank PO selection method begins with a preliminary examination, that is a qualifying degree. Candidates who clear this exam continue to the mains examination, a extra complete evaluation regarding questions on reasoning, quantitative aptitude, well known recognition (targeted at the banking industry), and English language talents. Upon effectively passing the mains, candidates are shortlisted for the interview phase, in which their communication skills, banking know-how, and universal persona are assessed by means of a panel of experts.

Importance of Results

The statement of Bank PO consequences is a essential second for candidates in Rajasthan, as it determines their future in the banking zone. These outcomes are generally published on-line on the official web sites of the conducting our bodies, like the IBPS or the individual banks, and can be accessed the use of login credentials, including the candidate's registration wide variety and date of beginning.

For a hit applicants, the result marks the start of a satisfying career in banking. For others, it gives perception into regions for development. In Rajasthan, where authorities jobs are rather widespread, Bank PO outcomes keep sizeable price. The aggressive nature of the exam and the status associated with the job make the statement of those consequences a defining moment for aspirants.

IBPS PO Prelims Results the guide of  consequences is regularly followed by using further instructions regarding record verification, medical exams, and the very last posting.

[everfastfrieght]

Warehousing Services in India by Everfast: Your Reliable Partner for Efficient Storage Solutions

In today's fast-paced business environment, efficient warehousing is essential for the smooth functioning of supply chains. Whether you're a manufacturer, retailer, or distributor, having a reliable warehousing partner can significantly impact your business operations. This is where Everfast comes into the picture, offering top-notch warehousing services across India to cater to your storage and distribution needs. Why Choose Everfast for Warehousing Services in India? Everfast has established itself as a trusted name in the logistics and warehousing industry in India. With a focus on delivering high-quality services, Everfast ensures that your goods are stored safely and efficiently, allowing you to focus on your core business activities. Here are some compelling reasons to choose Everfast for your warehousing needs:

Strategic Locations Across India Everfast operates a network of strategically located warehouses across major cities in India. This ensures that your products are stored close to your target markets, reducing transportation costs and delivery times. Whether you're looking for warehousing solutions in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, or Bangalore, Everfast has you covered.

State-of-the-Art Facilities The warehousing facilities provided by Everfast are equipped with modern technology and infrastructure to ensure the safety and security of your goods. From temperature-controlled storage for perishable items to high-security zones for valuable products, Everfast offers a wide range of storage solutions tailored to your specific needs.

Efficient Inventory Management Everfast employs advanced inventory management systems to keep track of your stock in real-time. This ensures accurate inventory levels, reduces the risk of stockouts, and allows for seamless order fulfillment. With Everfast, you can rest assured that your inventory is in capable hands.

Customized Solutions for Every Business Every business has unique warehousing requirements, and Everfast understands this. That's why they offer customized warehousing solutions to meet the specific needs of different industries. Whether you're in the FMCG sector, automotive industry, or e-commerce, Everfast provides tailored solutions to optimize your supply chain.

Cost-Effective and Scalable Services Everfast offers cost-effective warehousing solutions that can be scaled up or down based on your business needs. This flexibility ensures that you only pay for the space and services you require, making it an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes. Additional Services Offered by Everfast In addition to warehousing, Everfast offers a range of value-added services to enhance your supply chain operations. These include: Transportation and Distribution: Seamless integration of warehousing with transportation services for efficient last-mile delivery. Packaging and Labeling: Professional packaging and labeling services to ensure your products are ready for market. Order Fulfillment: Streamlined order processing and fulfillment to meet customer demands quickly and accurately. Conclusion In a country as vast and diverse as India, having a reliable warehousing partner like Everfast can make all the difference in your supply chain operations. With strategically located warehouses, state-of-the-art facilities, and a commitment to customer satisfaction, Everfast is your go-to choice for warehousing services in India.

[distributorschannel1]

Bharat Ka Distributors

Welcome to Bharat Ka Distributors:

Bharat ka Distributors is a premier B2B platform designed to serve small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as distributors. It brings together manufacturers, traders, distributors, brand owners, and others on a unified platform to facilitate business growth and support. The Distributors Channel enables users to discover a wide range of trade opportunities, linking companies in search of reliable distributors with distributors looking for trustworthy business partners.

Who Are We? 

Bharat ka Distributors is crafted to simplify the business experience for distributors, channel partners, and manufacturers. Our goal is to build a strong network where business needs are transformed into profitable opportunities. We assist distributors in finding suitable brands within their comfort zone, recognizing that securing distributorship in Indian towns is a challenging task. To support this, we host thousands of brands on our platform, offering distributors the flexibility to select based on their preferences. We take on the responsibility of negotiating with manufacturers, generating business opportunities, preventing fraud, and meeting the needs of distributors. Our core mission is to provide expert guidance to help distributors enhance their success, including access to credit facilities and the momentum needed to drive their businesses forward. With a community of 17,000 manufacturers and 197,000 distributors across India, Bharat ka Distributors is more than just a platform—it's a family. Join us as we continue to make an impact in the industry by leveraging the power of distribution networking. At Bharat Ka Distributors, we make the distributorship process simple!

Our Vision:

Bharat Ka Distributors is dedicated to providing a straightforward and transparent platform for entrepreneurs, nurturing the development of a robust and dynamic business network.

Our Mission:

Our aim is to boost product sales and distribution using innovative online marketing strategies. We are committed to modernizing traditional markets by embracing digital transformation, leading to increased profitability.

Our Expo:

Bharat ka Distributors successfully hosted expos in Delhi, Noida, Lucknow, Gujarat, and various other cities, attracting a diverse array of manufacturers and distributors. The event was a significant success, offering an ideal platform for networking, product showcases, and discovering new business opportunities. Attendees had the chance to connect with potential partners, discuss industry trends, and establish valuable relationships. The high turnout and positive feedback underscore the expo's role in promoting business growth and collaboration. Distributors Channel continues to be dedicated to organizing impactful events that drive innovation and reinforce connections within the industry.

[viratsteelspecial-blog]

Need top-notch tool and die steel in Sinner Industrial Area Nashik, Maharashtra?

Look no further! Virat Special Steels delivers excellence. Whether it’s tool steel, die steel, mold steel or any other steel requirement, Virat Special Steels stands out as a trusted supplier in Maharashtra!

Virat Special Steels is a reputable supplier of various steels, including tool steel, die steel, plastic mold steel, high-speed steel, and alloy steel. They offer value-added services such as material machining, cut pieces, and tailor-made materials.

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Plastic Mould Steels: Varieties like DIN 2738, 2311, and AISI P20.

High-Speed Steels: Featuring DIN 3243, 3343, AISI M2, and M35.

Cold Work Steels (HCHCr): Comprising DIN 2379, 2080, AISI D2, and D3.

Alloy Steels, EN-Series, and More.

With a state-of-the-art plant in Gurugram and Ludhiana, they ensure quality and reliability. Their strong distribution network across India makes them accessible to customers nationwide.

Special offer for Plastic Mold Manufactures in Sinnar Nashik: Virat Special Steels is a reputable supplier, and they’ve got some interesting offerings. Specifically, let’s talk about DIN 1.2738, also known as DIN 2738 Mould Steel or Plastic Mould Steel 1.2738.

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[amazingarchitecturewebsite]

Levana Roof Top Restaurant in #Lucknow, India by 42MM Architecture @42mmarchitecture. Read more: Link in bio! Photography: Ravi Kanade 42MM Architecture: The design of Levana Roof Top Restaurant is a homage to the Mughal and the French Architectural heritage of Lucknow. The site is located in Hazratgunj, which is a 200 year old market street in the heart of the city. It is one of the most contextually opulent city zone. The site is induced with layers of contextuality that Lucknow bears. Through time, the city is embellished with Mughal and French architecture ornamenting it in their respective eras. Investigating through the different iconic structures, we consciously subject the elements and style of a French structure commonly known as Lucknow Residency onto the site. This added a layer of singularity and set the tone for the aesthetics as well the structural characteristics like the imposing metal structure, vintage industrial joinery details, venerable and distressed skeleton… #india #restaurant #архитектура www.amazingarchitecture.com ✔ A collection of the best contemporary architecture to inspire you. #design #architecture #amazingarchitecture #architect #arquitectura #luxury #realestate #life #cute #architettura #interiordesign #photooftheday #love #travel #construction #furniture #instagood #fashion #beautiful #archilovers #home #house ‎#amazing #picoftheday #architecturephotography ‎#معماری (at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnzuKY0OFWv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mariacallous]

Officially, the shadow fleet doesn’t exist. These rickety, uninsured vessels, running oil from Russia to China, India, and others, live off-book as they cruise the world’s oceans to dodge sanctions.

But they’re all too real, as Russia’s maritime neighbors have painfully discovered. I’ve written about the risk of disastrous oil spills as these shadow vessels pass through Denmark’s treacherous Great Belt. In recent weeks, they have begun conducting a lot of their business just outside the Swedish Baltic Sea island of Gotland. That offers the unorthodox possibility of two unlikely allies joining forces: NATO and environmental groups such as Greenpeace. Neither wants to see oil spilt from crumbling hulks into Europe’s waters.

The shadow vessels travel through the waters of countries that have no oil dealings with Russia but foot the bill each time one of these vessels has an accident in their waters. Last month, the shadow oil tanker Andromeda Star, which is, as is normal for shadow vessels, managed by an obscure firm and was sold to undisclosed buyers at the end of 2023, hit a cargo vessel just off the coast of Denmark.

Ordinarily, the tanker’s insurance would have covered the incident. But because the Andromeda Star is a shadow vessel, it lacked the Western insurance that is the industry standard. Instead, it is insured by a mysterious Russian outfit that’s unlikely to pay out a single krone. Denmark’s taxpayers may never recover the money the authorities spent attending to the incident. Fortunately, the Andromeda Star had its accident while traveling to Russia, its tanks empty—or the consequences could have been far worse.

As I’ve written for Foreign Policy, when Russian shadow vessels sail from Baltic Sea ports out to the Atlantic, they typically pass through the Great Belt. And because many of them refuse pilotage, the risk of accidents is enormous. Yet under international maritime rules, Denmark can’t bar these risky vessels from entering. On April 3, a sanctioned shadow tanker that appears to lack insurance and had been deflagged by Liberia sailed, Lloyd’s List Intelligence reports, from the Russian fuel terminal Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea through the strait between Denmark and Sweden on to the North Sea and the Mediterranean.

Now Swedish authorities are concerned, too. In recent weeks, Russian shadow vessels have taken to positioning themselves just off the island of Gotland. Or rather, they place themselves just outside the 12-nautical-mile line that marks a country’s territorial waters. But even outside territorial waters, coastal states have an exclusive economic zone where they own the natural resources—and it’s those resources that are now in danger.

The Russian ships are there to conduct ship-to-ship (STS) transfers, the highly hazardous business of transferring oil from one vessel to another. The Swedish public broadcaster SVT has tracked vessels sailing from the Russian port of Primorsk and the Ust-Luga fuel terminal to the waters off eastern Gotland, where they meet up with another tanker, the Zircone.

Swedish officials told me that Gabon, the shadow fleet’s flag state of choice, is suddenly all over Swedish waters. “We have a front-row seat watching the shadow fleet in operation,” a senior Swedish official said. Like Denmark, Sweden faces being subjected to oil spills that will harm its maritime environment and cause considerable work for the authorities and expense to the taxpayer. “For many years, STS has been a huge problem in Denmark, too,” said retired Rear Adm. Nils Wang, a former chief of the Royal Danish Navy. “The risk of oil spills is considerable. But we found out that there was nothing we could do about the STS.”

Oil spills caused by a hostile country illegally operating merchant vessels are not a military attack. But the vessels are indisputably harmful not just to Sweden and Denmark but also to Finland, Estonia, Norway, and other NATO member states whose waters they traverse. Indeed, as I argued in January, Russia could instruct shadow vessels to deliberately cause harm—a cheap and easy way of hurting NATO member states. (It doesn’t help that the Zircone belongs to the Latvian company Fastbunkering, which is itself owned by an Estonian firm.)

Environmental crimes are clearly not NATO’s remit, but local authorities can only investigate once an accident happens. And they won’t be able to deter the activity. When researching this article, I thought of something a Japanese journalist asked me: “Couldn’t Greenpeace do something?”

Of course it could! And before I had finished entertaining this thought, the environmental campaign organization did. On April 12, Greenpeace activists turned up in small boats at the Zircone’s waiting spot off Gotland and painted “Oil Is War” and “People Want Peace” on the tanker’s hull. Suddenly, the whole region knew that Russian shadow vessels had turned the waters off Gotland into a hub for hazardous oil activities.

“This [the shadow fleet] is as wrong as it gets. Not only does the shadow fleet constitute an immediate environmental threat, it is also fuelling Russia’s war on Ukraine,” Rolf Lindahl, Greenpeace Nordic’s peace and energy campaigner, said in a press release. “Our mission at the moment is to bring attention to this problem and put pressure on our governments to stop the shadow vessels,” Lindahl told me by phone. “Ever since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we’ve been bringing attention to Russia’s transport of fossil fuels. It’s a big problem for our region, especially since so much of Russia’s shadow fleet sails through the Baltic Sea.”

Greenpeace has a long history of activism at sea—directed against nuclear weapons, whaling, and much more—as well as its own small boats. That has put it in the firing line in the past, as when the French security service blew up a Greenpeace boat in New Zealand, killing one person. Ideologically, Greenpeace is often at odds with NATO and its members, but when it comes to the shadow fleet, they are, so to speak, in the same boat. Yes, NATO and Greenpeace would be highly unlikely to officially join forces, but both want the dirty boats gone.

“It would be extremely difficult for NATO to team up with Greenpeace since Greenpeace’s position is that they don’t work with authorities,” Wang noted. “It would have to be an unspoken alliance, with the authorities not intervening whenever Greenpeace decided to spray-paint shadow vessels. As authorities, what we can do is put the binoculars to our blind eye when they target shadow vessels.” Military vessels, for their part, could patrol the waters frequented by shadow vessels. Both actions would cast unwanted attention on those who want to harm the planet in obscurity.

Greenpeace and other activist outfits could also help by identifying and outing the shadowy entities that own the shadow vessels. (Such shaming would convince many a shadowy owner that the shadow fleet isn’t worth the effort.) And analysts at NATO, Greenpeace, and beyond could send the International Maritime Organization (IMO) details about suspected shadow vessels.

Armed with such data, the IMO could create a list of vessels that bear the shadow fleet’s trademarks of poor insurance, obscure ownership, regular signals gaps, and frequently changing flag registration. “Shadow vessel destinations like India may not have a clear picture of which vessels that arrive in their ports are shadow vessels,” Wang said. “And India is surely not interested in having ships in its waters that could endanger the maritime environment.”

New national security threats will, in fact, require NATO to become more agile. It can’t respond to every threat, of course; it’s a military alliance, after all. But with galling violations that cause concrete harm to member states, NATO can intervene—together with novel allies. When it comes to the shadow fleet, doing so would be a good deed for international security and for the environment.