EVER DROP COUNT-TEXT

EVER DROP COUNT

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

Long Long Ago:

This is a picture of Ghadsisar. Sar means a lake. King Ghadsi of Jaisalmer got it made 650 years ago with the help of the people.

All around the lake there are ghats with steps leading to the water, decorated verandahs, large halls, rooms and much more. People came here to celebrate festivals and for programmes of music and dance.

Children came to study in the school on the ghat. The talab belonged to everyone and everyone took care to keep it clean.

Rainwater collected in this lake spread over many miles. It was made in such a way that when the lake was full, the extra water flowed into another lake at a lower level.

When that too filled up, the extra water flowed into the third lake and so on  filling nine such interconnected lakes. The collected rain water could be used throughout the year and there was no shortage of water.

Today, Ghadsisar is no more in use. Many new buildings and colonies have come up in between those nine lakes. Now the water does not get collected in these lakes but just flows away and is wasted.

Through the eyes of Al-Biruni :

One of the most famous of the historic accounts of India is that written in Arabic by al-Biruni nearly a thousand years ago. 

Al-Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed  in   physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural science, and also distinguished himself as a chronologist, historian, and linguistic.

He spent a large part of his life time in  ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan and the capital city of the   ghaznavid dynasty.which was based in what is now central-eastern Afghanistan.

In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and authored “Tarikh Al-Hind” -History of India,  after exploring the Hindu faith practised in India. He is given the titles the "founder of indology ".

More than a thousand years ago, a traveller came to India.The place that he came from is now called Uzbekistan.

Al-Biruni carefully observed and noted down the details of all that he saw. He wrote especially about those things that he found very different from his own country. Here is a part of what he wrote about the ponds of that time. The people here are very skilled at making ponds. My countrymen would be surprised to see them. They pile up huge

rocks and join them with iron rods to build chabutaras (raised platforms) all around the lake. Between these, there are rows of long staircases, going up and down.

The steps for going up and coming down are separate. So there is less crowding. Today when we study history, we can learn a lot about those days from the writings of Al-Biruni. (This stamp came out in 1973, one

thousand years after his birth.)

Drop-by-drop:

Jaipur is the capital and largest city of the state of Rajasthan, India. Jaipur became the capital of Rajasthan after Independence in 1956.

Jaipur is currently experiencing growing water scarcity and diminishing drinking water sources, relying extensively on groundwater and a single surface water source, the Bisalpur Dam, which is shared with Ajmer and villages in the Tonk District and located 120 kilometers southwest of Jaipur.

Scorching heat coupled with water crisis has made life very difficult for people in Rajasthan. In at least 24 many cities and towns of the state including Barmer, Jalore, Makrana, Rajgarh, Balotra water is being supplied only once in four days.

Camels are being used to pull water tankers instead of ferrying people. At every boring well in the state rows of camels with water tanks are seen.

Besides Jaisalmer, many places in Rajasthan, get very little rainfall. Here it rains for only ten to twelve days in the entire year, sometimes not even that much. The rivers here do not have water in them all round the year.

And yet, most of the villages in these areas did not have a shortage of water. People knew that every drop of water was precious. Lakes and johads were made to collect these precious drops of water.

Water was everyone’s need. One and all came together in this work – be it a businessman or a labourer. Some water from the lakes soaked into the ground and reached the wells and bavdis

(stepwell) in that area.

The soil of the area also became wet and fertile. Every house had a system to collect the rain water. Look at this picture.

How do you think the rainwater that falls on the roof will reach the

underground tank?

Draw the path:

Have you ever seen a stepwell? Look at the picture. Can you imagine by looking at the picture that the steps go down several storeys deep?

Instead of drawing the water up from the well, the people could go down the steps and reach the water. That is why they are called stepwells.

Long ago, people used to make long journeys with their caravans of animals and goods. People felt it was a good thing to give water to thirsty travellers. Thus, they built many beautiful stepwells.

Customs related to water:

Even today people get water from very old lakes, dharas, stepwells and naulas. Many customs and festivals are related to water.

At some places, whenever lakes get filled up with rainwater, the people

gather around the lake to celebrate.

See the bride of Uttarakhand in this picture. After getting married she has come to the new village. She bows to the spring or the pond. In cities

one can see an interesting form of this custom.

The new bride worships the tap in her home. Can we even imagine life

without water? Devraj

Think over it:

In 1986, there was no rain in Jodhpur and the surrounding areas. People remembered the old and forgotten stepwell (baoli). They cleaned the stepwell and more than two hundred trucks of garbage was taken out of it. People of the area collected money.

The thirsty town got water from the stepwell. After a few years it rained well and again the stepwell was forgotten.

There are two old wells in the area where Punita lives. Her grandmother says that about fifteen - twenty years ago there was water in these wells. The wells could have dried up because:

Water is being pumped up from under the ground, with the help of electric motors.

The lakes in which rain water used to collect are no longer there. The soil around trees and parks is now covered with cement.

This is how we get water:

A Jal Board water tanker comes to our colony twice a day. We have to stand in a long queue to get water from the tanker. People at times We fill water from the well.

The nearby well dried up a year ago. Now we have to walk far to reach the other well.

We are not allowed to take water from some of the wells because of our caste. have fights over water. We get water at home for half an hour. We fill this in the tank to use all day. Sometime it is dirty.

We get water from our taps, all day long.

We have put a pump directly in the Jal Board pipeline. Now we don't have any problem! We have put a motor to pump up the water from the borewell. But there is no electricity, so what do we do!

There is a handpump nearby, but the water that we get from it is salty. We have to buy water for drinking.

We get water from the canal itself.

It can be done:

There are some groups that work hard to bring water to the people of different areas. They ask the elders about the water arrangement in their times.

They rebuild the old lakes and johads, and also build new ones. Let us see how the group called Tarun Bharat Sangh helped Darki Mai. This is Darki Mai. She lives in a village in the Alwar district of

Rajasthan.

The women of the village used to spend the entire day looking after their home and animals. Sometimes, it took them all night to pull water from the well for the animals. In the summer, when the wells dried up, they had to leave the village.

Darki Mai heard about this group and asked for help. Together, the people from the group and the village decided to make a lake. The problem of food and water for animals is now less. People get more milk. They have started earning more.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA AKUNURI

REACHING GRAND MOTHER'S HOME- TEXT

REACHING GRAND MOTHER'S HOME

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CLASS IV – CBSE

After our long train journey we reached Kottayam in the night.  Valiyamma’s house was not far from the station and we had to take two auto-rickshaws to get there.

By then I was very sleepy and did not even wait to eat anything. I took a bath and slept. I thought, I had just fallen asleep when Amma woke me up again. We got ready, took our luggage and went to the bus stand. Valiyamma’s family also came with us. We were ten people, and had a lot of luggage too!

The bus conductor came and Appa bought tickets for all of us. We managed to get seats. As it went along, the bus got very crowded. People were sharing the seats. We also had to share our seats.

After a long ride, the bus reached the last stop, I was happy to get off. My legs were stiff. I could hardly stand. I thought that we had finally reached Ammumma’s village.

But no! Our travel had not ended yet. The bus had dropped us by the water side. “Look”, Amma pointed across the water. “That is where we have to go.” “But how will we get there?” I wondered.

Just then I saw a boat coming. “There is the ferry,” Amma said. Immediately a big crowd of people started getting off – school children, men, women, all with their own packets and luggage.

Amma explained that the ferry was used by people to cross the water and reach the other side. As soon as the ferry got empty, the big rush started from our side. Everyone had to pay the fare before getting on. Very soon the ferry was full. It started off again.

I managed to get a place to stand along the railing. I saw the rippling of the still water as the ferry moved. It was moving smoothly on the water. 

There were rows of coconut trees on the banks of the river. As we moved swiftly, I could see people, fishing, washing, bathing along the banks and working.

Just before the sun disappeared into the water, the ferry reached the island and stopped. It was time for us to get off. At last, we reached Ammumma’s place. What a long and interesting journey it has been!

A railway time-table gives details about the route of every train – the stations along the route, what time the train will reach and leave each station, the distance covered, etc. We can buy a railway time-table from a railway station.

 THANKYOU,

N.NANDITHA

NOTES - NO PLACE FOR US - ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES- V (CHAPTER -18)

NO PLACE FOR US?- CHPATER-18 (EVS-V) GOOGLE FORM WORKSHEET

NO PLACE FOR US? : (Activities) CHAPTER-18 (EVS-V)

 

A TREAT FOR MOSQUITOES-TEXT

 A TREAT FOR MOSQUITOES

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

Mosquitoes are small, midge-like flies which comprise the family Culicidae. Females of most species are ectoparasites, whose tube-like mouthparts pierce the hosts' skin to consume blood. The word "mosquito" is Spanish for "little fly".

Mosquitoes have six legs.  They also have a head, thorax and abdomen.   Mosquitoes can't fly very far or very fast. 

The Anophelesis a malaria carrier, and the other two are known to spread various forms of encephalitis. Only female mosquitoes bite and suck the blood.  

Both male and female feed mainly on fruit and plant nectar, but the female also needs the protein in blood to help her eggs develop. Once she's had her fill of blood, she'll rest for a couple of days before laying her eggs.

Male mosquitoes indentify  females mosquitioes  by the sound of their wings.  Females can beat their wings up to 500 times per second.

Mosquitoes can smell human breatha. They have receptors on their antennae that detect the carbon dioxide released when we exhale. There are more than 3,500 species of  mosquitoes. 

 Malaria is caused by a parasite that lives in mosquitoes.  The parasite gets into mosquito saliva and is passed on when the insect bites someone. Mosquitoes are considered the deadliest “animal” in the world.  

The Anopheles mosquito, in particular, is dangerous because it transmits malaria, which kills more than one million people every year, primarily in Africa.

Blood test:

Rajat is back at school today. He had been absent for many days. “How are you now?” asked Aarti. “I’m alright,” Rajat replied softy.

Jaskirat: You must have played a lot while you were at home.

Rajat : Who wants to play when you have fever! On top of it I had to take a bitter medicine! I even had a blood test.

Jaskirat: A blood test? Why? It must have been very painful.

Rajat: Actually, when the needle pricked my finger, it felt like an ant bite. They took 2-3 drops of blood, and sent it for testing. That’s how we came to know that I had malaria.

Nancy: But you get malaria when a mosquito bites you.

Rajat: Yes, but we find out by the blood test.

Jaskirat: There are a lot of mosquitoes in my house these days, but I did not get malaria.

Nancy: Who says that every mosquito bite causes malaria? Malaria spreads only by the disease carrying mosquitoes.

Aarti: All mosquitoes look the same to me.

Rajat: There must be some difference.

Dr Maryam looking at the blood slide under the microscope. This miscroscope makes things look thousand times bigger. The details inside the blood can be seen clearly. There are some miscroscopes which make things look even more bigger  than this one.

Nancy: Did they take the blood from the place where the mosquito

had bitten you?

Rajat: Of course not! How do I know when and where the mosquito bit me?

Nancy: But how could they find out that you had malaria by your blood test? Do you think they could see something in the blood?

Medicine for Malaria

From early times, the dried and powdered bark of the Cinchona tree was used to make a medicine for malaria. Earlier people used to boil the bark powder and strain the water which was given to patients. Now tablets are made from this.

Anaemia–What’s that?

Aarti: You know, I also had to get a blood test done. But they took

a syringe full of blood. The blood test showed that I had anaemia.

Rajat: What is that?

Aarti: The doctor said that there is less ‘haemoglobin’ or iron in the blood. The doctor gave some medicines to give me strength. He also said that I should eat jaggery, amla and more green leafy vegetables, because these have iron.

Nancy: How can there be iron in our blood?

Jaskirat: There was something about this in the newspaper

yesterday.

Rajat (laughing) : So then you ate iron or what?!

Aarti: Silly! This is not the iron used to make these keys. I don’t know exactly what it was. After I ate a lot of vegetables and whatever the doctor had said, my haemoglobin went up.

Anaemia common in Delhi school -17 November, 2007 – Thousands of children studying in the Municipal Corporation schools in Delhi suffer from anaemia. This is affecting both their physical as well as mental health.

Due to anaemia, children do not grow well, and their energy levels are low. This also affects their ability to study properly. Now health check ups are being done in the schools and health cards are being made for all the children. Anaemic children are also being given iron tablets.

Baby mosquitoes

Jaskirat: There is a poster on malaria just outside our class.

Rajat: The poster says something about larvae. What are those?

Nancy: They are baby mosquitoes. But they don’t look like mosquitoes at all.

Aarti: Where did you see them?

Nancy: There was an old pot lying behind our house. It was full of water for some days. When I looked there I saw some tiny thread-like grey things swimming. I was surprised when Mummy told me that these had come out of the eggs which mosquitoes lay in water. They are called larvae. I also heard something about this on the radio.

Rajat: What did you do?

Nancy: Papa immediately threw away the water. He cleaned and dried the pot and kept it upside down, so that no water would collect.

Jaskirat: Shazia aunty told me that even flies spread diseases, especially stomach problems.

Rajat: But flies don’t bite. Then how do they spread diseases?

Survey report Some children did this survey. Here are some of their reports  We found something green around the taps in our school which is called algae. It was also slippery there. The algae spreads a lot during the rainy season. We think that they are some kind of small plants that grow in water.

There is a pond near the school. At first you cannot see the water in the pond as it is completely covered with plants. One aunty told us that t h e s e p l a n t s have grown themselves in water.

Around the pond there are pits full of water. We also saw some larvae in the water. As we moved around, lots of mosquitoes flew from the plants growing around. Jaskirat feels that there are so many mosquitoes in her house because of this dirty pond nearby.

A scientist peeps into a mosquito’s stomach

This interesting incident took place almost a hundred years ago. A

scientist found out that mosquitoes spread malaria. Let's read about

this discovery in his own words.

“My father was a general in the Indian Army. I studied to become a

doctor, but what I really liked was reading stories, writing poetry, music

Ronald Ross and drama. In my free time I enjoyed doing all this.

In those days, thousands of people used to die from a disease that we now call malaria. The disease was found in areas where there was a lot of rain, or in swampy places.

People thought that the illness was caused by some poisonous gas that came from the dirty swampy areas. They gave it the name 'malaria' which means 'bad air'.

One doctor had seen tiny germs in the blood of one of the patients, when he observed it under a microscope. But he could not understand how these had got into the patient’s blood.

My professor had some ideas about this. “I think that these may be carried by some kind of mosquito.” As his student, I spent all my time chasing mosquitoes, to catch and observe. We used to carry empty bottles and chase mosquito after mosquito.

Then we would put the mosquitoes into a mosquito net in which there was a patient of malaria. The mosquitoes would have a feast, biting these patients.

The patients were paid one anna for allowing one mosquitoe to bite them. I will always remember those days at the hospital in Secundrabad – how we used to cut open the mosquito’s stomach and peep into it.

I would spend hours and hours bent over the microscope. By night my neck would be stiff and my eyes could not see clearly! It used to be very hot but we dared not fan ourselves, as all the mosquitoes would fly off in the breeze! Once I also fell ill with malaria.

I spent months like this with the microscope, but could not find anything. One day we caught a few mosquitoes that looked different. They were brownish with spotted wings.

When I looked into the stomach of one of the female mosquitoes, I saw something black there. I looked closer. I saw that these tiny germs looked just like the ones that were found in the blood of malaria patients.

At last we had the proof! Mosquitoes did spread malaria!” In December 1902, Ronald Ross got the highest award for his discovery—the Nobel Prize for medicine. In 1905, even as he lay dying, Ross’s last words were, “I will find something, I will find something new.”

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA AKUNURI

WHO WILL DO THIS WORK -TEXT

WHO WILL DO THIS WORK

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

Have you seen such scenes around you? Have you ever thought of people who do this work? Can you imagine how they would feel?

Why do you think people need to do this kind of work?

Our friends spoke to some staff who do cleaning jobs. Here are some of the things they told us.

Since when have you been doing this work?

A. About twenty years. Since I completed my studies.

Q. Why did you not study further? You could have got some other job?

A. You need money for studies. And even after that most of our people continue to do this kind of work.

Q. What do you mean?

A. Since our great grandfathers’ times... or even before that, most people of our community have been doing this work. Even after getting a college degree, our people do not get any other kind of job. So they have to do this work.

Q. Why is that so?

A. That is the way it is. In the entire city, all the people who do this kind of work are from our community. It has always been so.

Interview (adapted) from the documentary film ‘India Untouched’ by Stalin. K.

Imagine

What would happen if nobody did this work? If nobody cleared the garbage lying outside your school or your house for one week, then what would happen?

Think of some ways (machines, or other things) so that people would not have to do the work they don't like to do. Draw a picture of what you thought. (These pictures are also made by children)

Do you think that anyone has ever tried to change this situation? Yes, many people have tried. People are trying even today. But it is not easy to change this.

One such person was Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji had a friend Mahadevbhai Desai. Mahadevbhai’s son Narayan also stayed with Gandhiji when he was young. This incident is from Narayan's book.

Teacher’s Note

Remembering those days

When Narayan (Babla) was about 11 years old, he was staying in Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram. Like everyone else in the Ashram, he had to do various kinds of work. One of his jobs was to teach the guests how to clean the toilets.

In those days, the toilets were not what we know today. There used to be holes under which baskets were kept. People sat on the holes. Later the baskets had to be lifted by hand, to be emptied.

It was the usual practice that people from a particular community would do this work. But in Gandhiji’s Ashram, every person had to carry the basket to the compost pit and empty it there. No one was excused from this task - not even the guests. Narayanbhai remembers how some people used to try and avoid this work. Some even left the Ashram because of this.

Some years later Gandhiji went to stay at a village, near Wardha in Maharashtra. Gandhiji, Mahadevbhai and others started to clean the toilets in the village. They did this for some months. One morning a man coming from the toilet, saw Mahadevbhai.

He pointed to him and said “There is a lot of dirt over there. Go and clean that!” When Babla saw this, he was very angry. He thought, the villagers felt that this was not their work. This was for Gandhiji and his team to do. He asked Gandhiji why this was so. Gandhiji replied, “Untouchability is a serious matter.

Lot of hardwork will be required to change this.” Narayan knew that the people who usually did this work were thought to be untouchable. He asked “What is the use if the village people do not

change their thinking? They have become used to someone else doing this work for them.”

Gandhiji replied, “Why”? Don’t you think the people who clean also benefit from it. They also learn a lesson. To learn something is like learning a new skill. Even if it is a cleaning job.”

Little Narayan was not convinced. He again argued, “Those who make a place dirty but do not clean it should also learn lessons.” Gandhiji and Narayan continued to argue about this. But when he grew up Narayan always followed the path shown by Gandhiji. From the book in Gujarati by Narayanbhai Desai – Sant-Charan-Raj, Sevita, Sahaj

A childhood story

This story is almost a hundred years old. Seven-year old Bhim went to Goregaon

in Maharashtra with his father to spend his holidays. He saw a barber cutting the long hair of a rich farmer’s buffallo.

He thought of his own long hair. He went to the barber and asked for a hair cut. The barber replied, “If I cut your hair both my razor and I will get dirty.” Oh, so to cut human hair can be dirtier than cutting an animal’s hair, wondered little Bhim.

Later this little Bhim was known as Bhim Rao Baba Saheb Ambedkar.

He became very famous across the world. Baba Saheb fought for justice for people like him. After India’s freedom the Constitution was prepared under the leadership of Baba Saheb.

Narayan and Gandhiji discussed all this many years ago. Have

things changed now? A conversation in school - the reality today

Hetal : I am Hetal, and this is Meena. We both study in Class III.

Q: What all do you do in school.

Meena: We clean the ground

Q: Do all children clean

Hetal : No, not all.

Meena : We also have to clean the toilets. We do it on different days. I

clean on Monday, she does on Tuesday, and she on Wednesday … All

the children from our community do this.

Hetal : We have to carry twenty buckets of water for this. We have to

sweep and wash.

Q : Why only you? Why not all the children?

Hetal : Only we have to. If we don’t we get beaten.

Interview (adapted) from the documentary film ‘India Untouched’ by Stalin. K.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA AKUNURI

Poonam’s Day Out TEXT

ENVIRONMENTALSTUDIES

Class III-CBSE

Poonam’s Day Out

Ma, please let me go to school today, I have been at home for the past two days. 

I am getting bored – said by Poonam. But you still have fever. Go outside and lie down on the cot replied Ma.

Poonam fell asleep on the cot. Suddenly, something fell on her face. Poonam woke up at once and touched her cheek. Oh no, whose mischief is this? Is it the crow’s or the pigeon’s? It seems it’s the crow's.

Poonamlooked up. She saw many animals on the tree. Some animals are jumping from one branch other and playing  some animals are building their nests with leaves. some animals are sleeping on the branches.

Poonampicked up a leaf from the ground and wiped her cheek with it. But her cheek was still sticky. She thought  Let Me go and wash my face in the nearby pond.

While going to pond she saw some animals on the groud. Animals live in different places. Some animals live in the trees, some in water. Some live on land, some live under the ground and some fly in the sky. Some animals even live in our houses.

She saw some more animals in the pond she noticed that different animals move in different ways to go from one place to another.

Some animals walk. Example: dog cat, cow, tiger etc.

some move by  crawl. Example: snake, lizard, anaconda etc.

some can  fly  to move from place to another. Example: birds. some swimin the water to move from place to another .

For this, some animals use their feet, some use their wings. Some animals even take the help of their tail.She observed that some animals make different kinds of sound .

Crow

Koel

Dog

Frog

Sheep

Etc

 

In the lesson  the word ‘animal’ is used for insects, birds, reptiles and mammals. Let us know the meaning of insects, birds, reptiles and mammals.

 

Insects- insects are a small invertebrate animals. Their body is covered with external skeleton segments. Some insects have two, three or six pairs of joined  legs .

Birds are a warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrate animal. Birds have feathers, wings, a beak, and they are able to fly.

Reptiles a cold-blooded vertebrate animals. snakes, lizards, crocodiles, turtles, and tortoises are include in this class. They have  dry scaly skin, and they laying soft-shelled eggs on land. animals which lay eggs are called oviparous

Mammals are a warm-blooded vertebrate animals. of they have hair or fur on the body, females that secrete milk for the young ones , and they directly give birth to young ones.animals which give directly birth to young ones are called viviparous  

N.NANDITHA