The visit was Kalam's first official tour after being sworn in as President on July 25.

Kalam met a group of students at Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, and also met victims of the country's worst religious bloodshed in over a decade, which convulsed the state in February and March.

Officials say more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the communal violence, sparked when a suspected Muslim mob burnt 59 Hindus alive on a train. Human rights groups, however, put the figure at about 2,500 people.

More than five months after the riots, thousands of Muslims still remain in relief camps, too scared to return home. The 24-hour visit by Kalam comes amid opposition party calls for early state elections to be delayed to give Gujarat time to recover from the violence.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi dissolved the state assembly on July 19 and called elections ahead of their due date of early next year. Critics accuse the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state, which also heads the federal coalition government, of calling the snap poll to exploit a deep religious divide created by the unrest.

The state government, controlled by the BJP, was also accused of turning a blind eye as Hindu mobs went on a rampage in the state where Muslims make up nine percent of the 50 million people. The Election Commission also visited the state to determine if elections can be held in the state.(ANI)

Alarm over thick pollution cloud over India Go to top

New Delhi, Aug 12 (ANI): Indian environmentalists have sounded alarm bells about a three-kilometer thick cloud of pollution hovering over southern Asia.

According to a United Nations sponsored study, the cloud which is a toxic cocktail of ash, acids, aerosols and other particles is threatening the lives of millions of people in the region. The study also claims that the cloud, which is roughly seven times the size of India, was damaging agriculture and changing rainfall patterns across the region which stretches from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka.

The lives of millions of people were at risk from drought and flooding as rainfall patterns were radically altered, with dire implications for economic growth and health. Director of New Delhi's Centre for Science and Environment Sunita Narayan believes the study has major implications for policy makers. "Their study is talking about the cloud being formed of aerosols which are of anthrogenic sources which means of human made sources. It means that the pollution that we are seeing in the cities does not end in our cities only, it then forms a huge cloud over the Indian Ocean. So I think it has major implications for policy," said Narayan.

UN Environment Programme chief Klaus Toepfer has said that there are global implications as a pollution parcel like this, which stretches three km high, can travel half way round the globe in a week. The United Nations study says the cloud was the result of forest fires, the burning of agricultural wastes, dramatic increases in the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, industries and power stations and emissions from millions of inefficient cookers.

Narayan said that formation of such clouds is a part of the industrialisation process, experienced by different countries at different times.

"You have to understand that Europe has created such clouds over Africa in the past as well. Every country as it goes through the process of industrialisation uses a lot of very dirty technology which is the stage we are in today", said Narayan. "It is a process of industrialisation in India wehere we are using very outdated technology very dirty fuel creating a pollution problem which is impacting on our health but now scientists are showing is that not only is it making a difference to our daily life bit it's also going to change the regional climatic system," added the director. The shadow the cloud has cast over local weather patterns is its greatest impact, especially at a time when several parts of India are reeling under severe drought conditions.

The study says the cloud's heat-absorbing properties were warming the lower atmosphere considerably, and the combination was altering the winter monsoon, leading to a sharp reduction in rainfall over parts of north-western Asia and a corresponding rise in rainfall over the eastern coast of Asia.

The report calculated that the cloud -- 80 percent of which was man-made -- could cut rainfall over northwest Pakistan, Afghanistan, western China and western central Asia by up to 40 percent. Environmentalists say that it was necessary to phase out fossil fuels and replace them with clean, green, renewable energy and tough laws.

"You will need cleaner fuels across the country. You will need to move to gaseous fuels whether it is in thermal power stations or in cars. But one thing that we will have to differentiate is between the emissions of the rich and the emissions of the poor. We have to be clear that when we are talking about this large cloud of aerosols over Indian Ocean we must always recognise that the first most important step is to check the emissions of the rich because these are luxury emissions. The poor who burn biomass because they need cooking material they need firewood to cook their food. They can not be called culprits they can only be called victims," said Narayan.

Apart from drastically altering rainfall patterns, the cloud was also making the rain acid, damaging crops and trees, and threatening hundreds of thousands of people with respiratory disease.

The report called for special monitoring stations to be set up to watch the behaviour of the cloud and its impact on people and the environment.(ANI)