The Young Chronicle® Jan 3rd Week, Level 5

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All of us know that we

celebrate republic day

on 26 January. Do you

know what republic day

is?

India is a republic. A

republic is a country

where the power of de-

cision making for the

nation lies with the

elected ministers, from

among the people. India became a republic on 26th January 1950. It is on this

day that the constitution of India came

into force. Dr. B.R Ambedkar is known

as the father of constitution. Republic

day is one of the three national holidays

in India. Dr. Rajendra Prasad took oath

as the first president of India. The

president is the head of the government,

and hence he is the person who is in-

charge of how the constitution of a

country is followed. This is why the

president presides over the Republic Day parade,

that is celebrated at Rajpath in New Delhi.

The national flag is hoisted by the president at Raj-

path. States show their cultural arts. Military pa-

rades and fly pasts are a very important part of the

celebration. We also pay tribute to our freedom

fighters and soldiers who laid down their lives for

our safety, during the parade. Awards such as

Why is Republic Day Celebrated?

Written By Aradhana Tiwari

Scan this QR Code to Read The Indian

Independence Act.

Paramvir chakra, Ashok Chakra and Vir chakra are awarded to brave soldiers.

Brave and innovative children are awarded with the Prime Minister National

Children Awards.

Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

This year, the bravery

awards were clubbed

with other awards for

children, under the Pra-

dhan Mantri Rashtriya

Bal Puraskar. Children

were given awards for

Innovation, Scholastic,

Sports, Art, Culture,

Social Service, Bravery

among other categories.

These awards were

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

awards, and given on 22nd Jan.

900 applications were received for the awards. 26 children were selected from among

them. They were selected by a team of experts. This team was chaired by Women and

Child development Minister, Meneka Gandhi.

Here are some of the awardees.

Six-year-old Eiha Dixit was the youngest among the all award recipients. She planted 500

saplings alone. Kartik Goyal and Adrika Goyal of Madhya Pradesh, won the bravery

award for showing courage and providing food, water, medicine and first aid to the pas-

sengers of a train raided by rioters in UP. They gathered courage and distributed the

same, as they felt the pain of those stuck in the situation.

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

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

in the field of innovation and science.

Children, you have a year to take inspiration, do something great, and then apply for the

awards. It is time to start NOW.

Image Source: India Today

Children, you must have attended a number of fairs like

Diwali fest and Christmas carnival. Do you know the

largest fair in the world? It is called the Kumbh Mela.

‘Kumbh’ means pot and ‘Mela’ means fair. It is an im-

portant part of India’s heritage. A religious Hindu festival

that is celebrated four times over a period of 12 years.

Many Hindus believe that those who bathe in the holy

rivers during this period are blessed by God. All their sins are washed away. The story

behind this is - one day, gods and demons fought over a pot of nectar (Amrit). Nectar

would give them immortality. Few drops of Amrit spilled at 4 places. These 4 places are

the present sites of Kumbh Mela.

The site of mela rotates between 4 places -

• Ganga river in Haridwar.

• Kshipra river in Ujjain.

• Godavari river in Nasik.

• The union of Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati at

Prayagraj.

Celebration at these sites is based on the astronomical positions of

Sun, Moon, and Jupiter. This is the largest human gathering. Millions

of pilgrims, religious teachers and followers come to bathe in the sa-

cred rivers.

This year “Maha Kumbh” is taking place at Prayagraj from 15th Jan

till 4th March. Many stampedes have happened in the past due to lack of proper facilities.

It has killed thousands of people. This time, U.P. Government has made proper arrange-

ments for the smooth functioning of Kumbh Mela.

Some of the important steps taken are:

• U.P. government has spent 2500 Crore for Kumbh Mela.

• Arrangement electricity and drinking water.

• Special trains for Prayagraj.

• Laser light shows and ferry rides.

• 5 pandals have been set up showcasing different cultur-

ally rich folk dance, art, and musical performance.

• Tents have been established equipped with all 5-star fa-

cilities.

• About 40,000 toilets and temporary hospitals are built.

Our country is so rich in culture. We should be proud of our motherland. Kumbh Mela

adds to our India's culture's richness.

Would you like to visit this grand mela?

Kumbh Mela

picture credit- thedispatch.in

Scan this QR Code to find

meanings to the underlined

words in this issue.

Written By: Nandini Kadyan

picture credits- huffingtonpost.com

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

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

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

surface is covered with water but only 1% is fit for

consumption. Rest is ocean water or salty water. Wa-

ter, which is the source of life is limited. This has led

to the search for new and alternative sources.

Millions of people do not get fresh water. In order to

solve this problem, some nations have developed desalination plants. These plants re-

move salt from seawater. This method is becoming very popular. Many countries in

North Africa and the Middle East are using such plants to solve their water problems.

There are two such desalination plants in Tamil Nadu, India as well. But this technology

has its own drawbacks. Researches show that the by-product of these desalination plants

will soon become a big problem for the environment.

How do these plants work?

The desalination plants take the seawater or brackish water and use different techniques

to filter water. Brakish water is a mix of sea water and fresh water. These desalination

plants produce water which is fresh. It is fit for drinking or can be used in irrigation. But

what is left behind is super saline water or brine. Studies have found out that every one

litre of fresh water leaves behind one-and-half litre of brine. This highly salty water is

disposed of in the ocean.

The Problem

This disposal of this brine is creating problems. Most of the desalination plants are near

the coast and they throw the brine waste into the ocean. The brine settles down on the

ocean bed. As a result, it causes harm to marine life. It might also contain harmful chem-

icals like copper or chlorine. These substances pose a great danger to the aquatic world.

There is a whole world under the sea. It contains fishes, turtle eggs, larvae, and many

tiny creatures. So, when that water is taken into desalination plant, all that gets killed. In

this way, we will create an imbalance.

The Solution

Most importantly disposal of this brine should be done properly. This brine can be used

in irrigating plants species which are salt-tolerant. It can also be used for “mining” ele-

ments like bromine, lithium or uranium.

More studies need to be done on brine discharge. This will help in saving our aquatic

friends. We must not forget that we humans have a responsibility towards nature. We

must not harm Mother Earth in any way.

Making Seawater Drinkable Also Creates Brine

Written By: Preeti Kapoor

Dear kids, there are a lot of people

around us who are involved in adding

meaning to society. One such person is

the Scientist Ankita Gulati. This 27-year-

old graduate has developed a device. It

allows the blind students to access dia-

grams and pictures.

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

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

on a project. She visited a school while working on it. She found that the way of

teaching was not correct, for the blind students.

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

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

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

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

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

not able to understand the entire course.

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

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

helps the blind students to understand the con-

tent. It describes the diagrams and pictures

while they try to read them by touching. She

has been working on the technology since 2015.

She received the National Award for this bril-

liant idea within two months. The device was

modified almost four times. This was based on

the feedback of the blind students after teach-

ing them for 6-8 months. The final version was

created on July 2017.

Really, people like Ankita Gulati are an example of today’s youth, to serve the

nation in a brilliant way.

image source: indianexpress.com

Device that Allows Visually Impaired to Access Images

image source: indianexpress.com

Written By: Shruti Chaturvedi

How is the Josh? High Sir!

You would have heard this

phrase, if you are a defence

officer’s child, or have watched

URI. The movie is one of the

better shot defence films.

Apart from the ’josh’, what

people took to, was the tech-

nology used in the film. Many

wondered if the military actu-

ally uses such technology.

While there is no way the mili-

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

chance that they may possess similar technology.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Spy Satellites:

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

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

tivity that may be occurring there.

• Night Vision Glasses:

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

and those who do night patrols in sensitive areas.

• Airborne Early Warning and Control System:

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

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

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

veillance.

Image Courtesy: sawirrotv , Image Source: digit.in

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