CPEC and Agriculture

CPEC and Agriculture

Introduction:

CPEC has been called a game changer and has many aspects one of which is the agriculture component. The CPEC plan reveals, thousands of acres of farmland will be leased out to Chinese enterprises in Pakistan.  Chinese enterprises will be allowed access to large tracts of Pakistani farmland, either by lease or purchase. On that land, they will allegedly be permitted to operate their own farms and processing facilities, backed by robust capital grants and loans from Beijing and the Chinese Development Bank. Keeping in view the fact that agriculture sector accounts for around 20 per cent of Pakistan`s GDP and employs over 40pc of the country`s labor force, both Pakistan and China have agreed to enhance cooperation on agriculture under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),

China and Pakistan have an agreement to promote the transition from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture in the regions along the CPEC to effectively boost the development of local agricultural economy and help local people get rid of poverty and become better off, strengthen the up-gradation of agricultural infrastructure, promote the construction of water saving modern agricultural zones, and increase the development and remediation of medium and low-yielding land to achieve efficient use of resources

Due to shortage of arable land and freshwater resources in China, the country needs to import land-extensive crops (such as wheat and rice) to feed its population. Further, with rising living standards, the Chinese demand for agricultural imports is gradually moving up, which is likely to create agro-based trade opportunities in countries having substantial potential in agriculture produce. China`s demand for cotton yarn and rice imports is met by the emerging economies of Asia, such as Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand and India.  

The recent trade war between USA and China will possibly hurt both parties but it does present opportunities to others Chinese imports from the US are mostly agricultural produce. Pakistan is a natural agricultural country. Its climate and hard-working workforce are a blessing for the nation. China faces a decreasing agriculture output per capita since there is a rural to urban migration, economic growth has brought about significant increase in family food budgets, urban wages are significantly higher than rural wages, and the levels of demand are not being met with by domestic sources.

Trade Balance between Pakistan and China:

Trade between Pakistan and China is lopsided. To address this gap the agriculture potential can be utilized .The low volume of trade between Pakistan and China is not reflective of the economic size of two neighboring countries. This indicates there is a huge untapped trade potential in both countries.

China is the world’s largest importer of agricultural products. In 2015, China imported $160 billion worth of agricultural products. However, Pakistan’s share in these exports was minuscule — less than half a percentage point — despite having a large agrarian base and a shared border with China. With a population of 1.3 billion people, China consumes almost $1 trillion worth of food every year. With increased urbanization and rising incomes, Chinese consumption patterns are also changing, and demand for high quality imported food items is growing at a pace much faster than population growth. Therefore, the domestic consumption is expected to grow by another $500 billion in the next 10 years. it takes about one acre of arable land to feed an average US consumer. With present population, China only has about 0.2 acre per citizen, which is going to be far short of future requirements, considering the evolving demand.

China, the world’s largest importer of vegetables, gets 50 of these imports from the US and Brazil. In the world of international trade, shorter distances can provide a strategic advantage through lower transportation costs. But for perishable items like food, such proximity can translate into yet another edge. During transit over long distances, food items face higher risk of spoilage and contamination. Because of this, not only additional cost is incurred for preservation and packaging but often exporters have to make use of extra pesticides to increase shelf-life of food. Pakistan, being China’s neighbor, therefore enjoys a unique advantage and CPEC provides an unprecedented opportunity to capitalize on that.

Initiatives already under way:

Various agricultural projects have been initiated to get maximum benefit of the CPEC initiative, which include: Fruit processing industry in Gilgit-Baltistan: The climate and fertile soil of Gilgit-Baltistan offer ideal environment for producing fruits like apples, peach, cherries, almonds, apricot, etc. According to an article published by the Asian Development Bank, farmers in Gilgit-Baltistan produce over 100,000 tones of fresh apricots a year. Setting up the fruit processing industry in the region would help boost the country`s fruit exports.

Meat production and processing facilities in KP: Setting up of meat production and processing facilities in KP would help increase Pakistan`s meat exports to China, as well as, to Afghanistan and Central Asian market. KP-China Sustainable Donkey Development Program: To increase the donkey population in Pakistan so as to ensure interrupted backward supply for export of live animals and raising income of donkey breeders and traders. 

Under CPEC, efforts are being made to strengthen drip irrigation technology for water efficiency, strengthen cooperation in the fields such as crop farming, livestock breeding, forestry and food growing, and aquatic and fishery, with the highlight on technical exchange and cooperation in the fields of development of comprehensive agricultural production capacity, construction of farmland water conservancy facility and agricultural products circulation facility.

The CPEC Agri sector is also focusing on improving post-harvest handling, storage and transportation of agricultural products and innovates in marketing and sales models, Improve water resources operation and management, strengthen development of pastoral areas and desert, and promote application of remote sensing technology.

The key cooperation areas focus on strengthening production of agriculture inputs particularly pesticides, fertilizer, machinery and support services including agriculture education and research, collaboration in forestry, horticulture, fisheries and livestock medicines and vaccines as well as strengthening production of horticulture products.

Rationale of Intervention:

Pakistan is among the top 10 producers of many crops such as rice, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, milk, meat, mangos, chickpeas, and citrus fruits. But because of a poor economy and lack of modern techniques and technology, it has not been able to exploit its strength in the agriculture sector fully. However, China’s experience in agriculture has been very successful, and the progress it has made in this sector during the past four decades is amazing.

China was facing food shortages just 40 years ago, but with its reforms in the agriculture sector from 1978-84, it successfully turned shortages into surpluses, and began exporting produce to other countries and generating foreign exchange. China pulled around 500 million people out of poverty within just six years of its reforms in the agriculture sector. Chinese scientists, technologists and farmers worked very hard, developed new varieties and new techniques, and the country modernized its farming patterns. Now Chinese agricultural enterprises are mature, experienced and financially strong.

They could enter Pakistan’s huge untapped huge market and make joint ventures with local entrepreneurs to exploit the real potential of Pakistan’s agriculture sector. This would help Pakistan’s economy to take off and would also be a good opportunity for Chinese entrepreneurs to make good profits as well as compensate for any disturbance caused by US export of agricultural produce  

Coordination Efforts:

Sino-Pakistan Hybrid Rice Research Centre at Karachi University: Both countries have recently initiated research to produce high-yielding and high-quality rice. Setting up a rice research centre is a right step towards achieving the objective.

The basmati rice grown in Pakistan’s Punjab province is long and slender-grained. It is aromatic, fluffy when cooked and, in classic Pakistani dishes, pairs well with lentil and gravies made from chickpea flour and spices. At market, it draws double the price, if not more, of non-basmati, long-grain rice varieties.

In recent years, however, basmati revenues have slumped in Pakistan amid low-yield harvests and uneven quality. At the Sino-Pakistan Hybrid Rice Research Center in Karachi, Chinese and Pakistani scientists are working to reverse this trend. Using state-of-the-art genetic technologies, they are developing high-yield, high-quality, and pest-resistant rice varieties, for both domestic sale and export.

The $1.3 million research facility is a harbinger of many changes soon to come to Pakistan’s agriculture sector under the ambitious development scheme known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC  For agriculture, CPEC promises technology transfers, infrastructure upgrades, and extensive cooperation between Chinese and Pakistani farming enterprises.

 A group of Chinese hybrid-rice researchers and experts along with local scientists has visited more than 100 rice farms across the country under the `Travelling Rice Seminar `initiative.
The travelling seminar was designed by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and Chinese Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Company and aims to boost hybrid rice cultivation in the country.

According to Program Coordinator and Member Plant Science PARC Dr Anjum Ali, the experts also visited research stations, agricultural universities and seed outlets of different companies to exploit the cultivation of hybrid rice. The Chinese experts travelled to Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan in order to create awareness about the cultivation of hybrid rice among growers. ‘This was a month-long activity in which a group of hybrid rice researchers from China comprising 12 scientists trained the local scientists, seed producers and field extension departments of the provincial governments,` he added.

He said the main aim of this joint initiative is to enhance per acre crop productivity, increase profitability and produce surplus commodity for exports enhancement. ‘In order to further enhance the local rice output, China and Pakistan have decided to work together for conducting joint awareness programs to adopt hybrid rice seeds,` he added.

The Chinese scientists trained 30 Pakistani agriculture scientists who were selected from across the country. Dr Ali said the Chinese experts will also impart training to the members of the provincial field extension departments on hybrid rice cultivation. In addition, the activity will also help in capacity building of local experts from all over the country in order to promote hybrid rice techniques.

Road-shows and field visits were organized across rice-growing areas to address issues and challenges faced in promotion of hybrid rice seed, he added. He further said a revolutionary hybrid rice seed has been developed recently by the Chinese researchers, which would help Pakistani farmers to enhance significantly their per acre yield, hence the country would be able to export more rice, he added

Challenges Faced by Pakistan Agriculture:

Firstly, the fertility of soil is decreasing day by day. The thickness of fertile layer of soil in Pakistan is more than 6 inches but the average yield is lower than other countries where layer of fertile soil is only 4 inches; water wastage is very high in our country. The archaic method of flood irrigation is still in practice in whole of the country which wastes almost 50 to 60 percent of water; owing to old methods of cultivation and harvesting, Pakistan has low yield per acre that means the average crop in Pakistan is just 1/4th of that of advance states.  Nepal, India and Bangladesh, are using modern scientific methods to increase their yield per acre. For this purpose, these states are using modern machines to improve their yield; small farmers are increasing in our country as the lands are dividing generation by generation. So, there are large numbers of farmers who own only 4 acres of land. These small farmers do not get credit facilities to purchase seeds, pesticides, fertilizers etc; water logging and salinity is increasing day by day. As the storage capacity of the dams is decreasing so the water availability per acre is also decreasing. Therefore, the farmers are installing more and more tube wells to irrigate their crops. This is why salinity is becoming the major issue in most parts of Punjab and Sindh; focusing more on land, crops and yield problems the man behind the plough is always ignored. While formulating the 5 or 10 years plan, no emphasize has been laid on the importance of solving the problems of farmers. Most of the farmers are illiterate, poor and ignorant.

Infrastructural problems:

 Inadequate rail and road networks are one area of concern.. Pakistan is also facing grain storage problems at large scale throughout the country. The people often store their grains in godowns, which cause time to time damage to the seed. Thus, hundreds of thousands of tones of crops have to be stored in temporary facilities that afforded inadequate protection and pilferage. The hazards may occur because of improper ventilation, lack of control over temperature and humidity, high moisture content in seeds, lack of control over rain due to broken walls, floors and ceilings, spoil and un-cleaned godowns, lack of spray and fumigation etc. That results in increase number of dormant seeds, sprouting and rotting, increase of insect damage and bird contamination.

Cold storages:

All fruits and vegetables require specialized post-harvest treatment, appropriate temperature and relative humidity for their storage. Establishment of cold storage provides refrigerated storage and preservation facilities for different fruits, vegetables as well as flowers. Special licenses are required for food items like milk, meat etc & can be studied in the. Because of technology advancements and logistic strategies, the cold storage of perishable items has become an important stage in the distribution between manufacturers / processors and retail locations. The cold storage will ensure the increased availability and improved quality of high value perishable fruits and vegetables for both export and local sale, which would otherwise perish or deteriorate.

Value added Sector:

Livestock revolution enabled Pakistan to significantly raise agriculture productivity and rural incomes in 1980s. Economic activity in dairy, meat and poultry sectors now accounts for just over 50% of the nation's total agricultural output. The result is that per capita value added to agriculture in Pakistan is almost twice as much as that in Bangladesh and India. Although Pakistan's value added to agriculture is high for its region, it has been essentially flat since mid-1990s. It also lags significantly behind developing countries in other parts of the world. For example, per capita worker productivity in North Africa and the Middle East is more than twice that of Pakistan while in Latin America it is more than three times.

Conclusions

 Agricultural development is one of the seven areas of cooperation under CPEC, wherein China is specifically interested to explore areas like cotton productivity, efficient irrigation and post-harvest infrastructure along the CPEC route, a gateway for enhancing agriculture exports to China. Where infrastructure can undoubtedly serve in allaying the bottlenecks in the agriculture sector, this progression requires economic and political reforms by the government and private sector. The government should consider removing tariff and non-tariff barriers for agricultural trade with China, renegotiating the Pak-China Free Trade Agreement for better returns on its agricultural exports. The private sector and agriculture entrepreneurs should explore viable market opportunities and partnerships in the Chinese market and with international firms. Most importantly, a modern agricultural policy needs to be formulated to work in tandem with CPEC and support the rights of the local farmers.

  The private sector and agri-entrepreneurs should become the trailblazer and start exploring viable market opportunities in the Chinese market and forge partnerships with international firms to get a foothold. The government and private sector should jointly invest in research and development and post-harvest technology to improve product variety and quality. Last, but not the least, value chain expansion should be prioritized. Fruit processing, for instance, can fetch greater value with far simpler SPS requirements and more stable demand.

Update

During Prime Minister Imran Khan`s visit to China, Islamabad and Beijing inked a few initial agreements on agriculture; on the basis of which detailed frameworks of cooperation in the field of crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry will be developed and implemented. Officials say that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed during Mr Khan`s visit provides the basis for attracting Chinese investment and Chinese technical assistance in all sub-sectors of agriculture.

`From strengthening the seed sector, increasing crop yield, modernising livestock and fisheries and enlarging our forest cover, there is a long list of areas in which Chinese funds and technical cooperation will be coming in,` says a senior official of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

`Whereas it`s true that we`ll develop detailed frameworks for implementation of the PakistanChina cooperation agreement, it`s wrong to assume that none exists right now. A number of such frameworks are already in place since 2015 when the CPEC master agreement was signed and implementation on them continues,` he said.

Officials, however, are tight lipped about the critical issue of land acquisition in Pakistan by Chinese state-run or private firms for furthering cooperation in agriculture. That was an important feature of the CPEC long term plan.


Chinese companies have already been engaged in development of hybrid paddy and wheat seeds in Pakistan. Sinochem Group Agriculture Division, for example, has been running pilot projects at 200 sites in Pakistan including experimental bases and local farms.

A hybrid rice variety developed and cultivated by a Pakistan rice research and exporting company in collaboration with Yuan Long ping High-Tech Agriculture Co, has already been exported to the Philippines. In the seed manufacturing industry, Syngenta Pakistan is aggressively increasing its market share after China took over the Switzerland-based Syngenta in the middle of 2017, industry officials say. it would be naïve to expect that Chinese investment will start pouring into our agriculture sector automatically,` says a Sindh government official working on the province`s long-term agriculture policy.

`Chinese companies that are already here are all working in active partnership with local companies or federal or provincial institutions. They will continue to take this relationship one-notch further every time they decide to increase their level of cooperation. This effectively means we must prepare ourselves to work with them,` he opined.

Sindh is about to unveil its agriculture policy for 2018-2030 and officials working on it say that similar to Punjab, where Chinese and other foreign companies have been actively engaged in agricultural development, Sindh also wants to seek greater international cooperation. 

About three years ago, the Pakistani and Chinese governments had identified a couple of areas for cooperation in agriculture and China had promised to build agriculture demonstration centres across Pakistan and supply seeds and machinery to Pakistani farmers.

Authorities have so far not shared with the public how many of such demonstration centres have been built and the arrangement under which the Chinese are supplying seeds and agriculture machinery.

According to an MOU signed in this regard in October 2015, Pakistan was to use Chinese capital, technology and experience to improve irrigation, reduce post-harvest losses and enhance water use efficiency.

Officials with background knowledge of agricultural programmes under CPEC say work is progressing on the above-mentioned and several other areas of agriculture development and poverty alleviation. Currently it is difficult to say how much of the Chinese funding we can expect in state grants and loans, and how much through foreign direct investment of Chinese companies,` a federal government official explained.

Some projects like those of farm-to-market road networks that are connected with storage, packaging and processing units, fall under infrastructure development in CPEC wherein long-term state funding can rightly be expected.But both state-run Chinese institutions and companies will be involved in other projects like construction of modern slaughter houses or pulses, tea and oil seeds crop cultivation or deepening of agricultural research programmes

Impact of Wind turbine vibrations on Ground water and Shale

Impact of Wind turbine vibrations on Ground water and Shale

Ground water contamination has been reported from Canada, from areas where the bedrock is comprised of shale,. This needs to be investigated as in Pakistan we have areas where wind is feasible and the bedrock or geology is shale based. Large wind turbines are getting larger and therefore require a large pylon to support the machine. This requires to pile-drive a massive steel beams into the bedrock. The problem is that the bedrock may be  made of shale and is known to contain uranium and arsenic. Vibration from the pile-driving breaks up this toxic shale below the groundwater and contaminates it. Area residents can’t drink, bathe, or wash their clothes because of this. Water wells are being poisoned  . Construction of wind turbines continues even though scientific tests at several farms show that well water has been contaminated.

Canadian users of ground water, attribute contamination of ground water to the wind turbines being built nearby and the companies developing them.  A large number of local rural residents who believe the problems with their well water owe to the interaction between local wind farm development and the area’s unique geology. The sedimentary bedrock — dark in color and fine-grained — lurks beneath most of Chatham-Kent. It’s known to contain sulphur, carbon, and toxic heavy metals. A resident says that his well was drilled by his father half a century ago and had always run clear — until sediment clogged it last October. Now, the water is the color of tea and when poured and small particles sink to the bottom of a glass. 

Ensuing government research debunked some of the claims. A 2014 health federal health study, for instance, showed that “annoyance” was the sole condition found to increase as levels of wind turbine noise increased. (The report did note that community annoyance was statistically related to health effects such as migraines, blood pressure changes, tinnitus, and stress.). But events in Chatham-Kent raise the possibility that the massive wind catchers pose unique and under-considered risks to the region’s environment, and the health and safety of its residents.  

Spokesman for Water Wells First and an area farmer says the concern is that vibrations — either from pile driving during the construction phase or, eventually, the everyday operations of the turbines — might disturb the fragile Kettle Point black shale bedrock and contaminate the ancient aquifer that serves as the local source of well water. The worry was justified: It is well established that vibrations from pile driving can damage nearby structures. As for ordinary turbine operations, one recent Canadian study found a relationship between the vibrations and ground material within 100 meters of the structure.

Moreover, Water Wells First contends that the company and ministry didn’t take the special characteristics of the local geology into account. Residents realized their worst fears as the project began the construction phase last summer. Nineteen wells began to experience sediment problems, nearly a third of the 64 wells that the group members had tested at their own expense. Bill Clarke, a hydro geologist for Water Wells First who gathered and analyzed the samples, says follow-up testing showed the affected wells experienced changes in water turbidity, amount of particles, color, and rate of flow. While he says some of the changes were marginal, others were alarming. In one instance, the black shale particle count jumped from 47 particles per milliliter to 681,939 — with nearly half of the particles being as tiny as those found in cigarette smoke.

Tiny particles are potentially dangerous because they can be too small to settle to the bottom of a well, nor can they be controlled using conventional water filtration systems. A medical geologist based in Ingersoll, says the acidic atmosphere in the stomach can break down the binding between a clay-based shale particle and any heavy metals attached, allowing the metals to settle in other areas of the body rather than to pass through our digestive system.

“What is actually happening out there as best as I can put together,” Clarke says, “is that there are vibrations that are happening down around the 20-metre level, where the top of the shale is taking place.” The vibrations  from pile driving, and later, from the turbines’ operation create waves like the ripples that fan out in water when people throw rocks into a pond. When the waves from different turbines intersect, they can either cancel each other out, he says — or amplifies the effect.

“If you have a well at that intersection where waves are really reinforcing each other,” it means the shale at the base of the well is being shaken as hard as it would be in an earthquake. That kicks up the particles, and you’re “going to see your water go a [dark] color.”The water: ‘certainly unappealing,’ but is it also dangerous?

Pattern Development, which is developing the farm with Samsung Renewable Energy, defends the preparatory research on the project. Jody Law, a Pattern project developer, says the environmental assessment to obtain the renewable energy approval was rigorous. The developer monitored wells and vibrations during the construction phase, which Law says is a new requirement from the ministry. Sensors were used to monitor vibrations on some (but not all) turbine locations as they were being planted into the ground. The developer inspected all of the complaints it received (16, according to North Kent Wind’s website), and has determined pile driving isn’t to blame for any problems local residents are having with their well water.

This month, the ministry supported those conclusions  and also declared the water was safe to drink despite the sediment. “Water containing fine particles could appear cloudy or turbid,” a ministry representative wrote in a Feb. 1 letter to Paul and Jessica Brooks, the property owners with the especially high black shale particle counts. “Turbid water is certainly unappealing but according to the Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health, in the absence of bacterial contamination there is no health hazard from un-dissolved particles in water.”

In an email responding to TVO’s written questions, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change responds in part: “The ministry takes concerns about groundwater quality very seriously and we are actively holding the company accountable for addressing complaints related to changes in well water quality and/or quantity.”

Jakubec says there are ways to fix the problem — if the group can ever convince the ministry the vibration issue exists. Adding dampeners to problem towers is one way, or, once a well is affected, specialized filtration equipment that can handle small particles could be installed.

Three days after his water disappeared, North Kent Wind’s developers began supplying him with huge water containers of non-potable water and jugs of drinkable water. Law says that Pattern has been delivering the water to other residents who have complained about well water quality since construction began. They’re being good neighbors, he says. After the ministry sent its letter to the Brooks, however, Pattern announced it would stop the water deliveries.

Vibrations from wind turbines, a phenomena known as seismic coupling, is being blamed for sedimentation in more than 20 water wells in this southwestern Ontario municipality. More than 460 rural residents have signed a petition, which was presented to the municipal council Aug. 22, asking for a moratorium on further development. The controversy concerns those in the former Township of Dover just east of Lake St. Clair and a new project, North Kent Wind One, headed by Pattern Energy and Samsung Renewable Energy.Jakubec said developers were informed of the concern at a public meeting last November but have yet to respond.

Ontario’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has acknowledged there may be concern. Under the Renewable Energy Approval, Pattern and Samsung are to test well water if residents complain, offer an opinion as to whether turbines are to blame, and supply bottled water until the issue is resolved.  Jakubec said well water issues are often first noticed when piles are driven into the earth to anchor the giant machines. In some instances, problems clear up but in others they continue. There have even been cases of turbidity levels fluctuating in relationship to the direction and intensity of the wind

Wade said turbines can be retrofitted to dampen vibrations and alternative anchoring systems are available, but those would cost more. The water table is fragile in Dover, part of a geological area stretching from Lake Huron to Chatham-Kent. There are just 50 to 70 feet of overburden in most places covering black shale bedrock.  

Jakubec and Stainton said there are studies from Scotland and Italy that have identified seismic coupling. Jakubec, a green energy researcher, said impacts tend to be felt from 1.5 to five kilometers away from turbine locations. Geological engineer Maurice Dusseault wasn’t surprised to hear that Chatham-Kent water wells were contaminated in the wake of pile driving for wind turbines.“Pile driving emits a lot of low-frequency energy, and it is not at all surprising to me that there could be related groundwater effects. The concept of large-amplitude, low frequency excitation as an aid to liquid flow is reasonably well-known,” the University of Waterloo professor said. “Low frequency deformation waves are absolutely known to lead to fluctuation in ground water levels as well as changes in the particulate count in shallow groundwater wells.”

In addition, Dusseault said affected residents were well-advised in having their wells baseline tested prior to construction last summer. It’s the type of evaluation he recommends. Before and after tests sent by the Water Wells First citizens’ group to RTI Laboratories in Michigan show an exponential increase [in] turbidity among the 14 affected wells, including [a] large proportion that can be attributed to Kettle [Point] black shale particles that are known to contain heavy metals, including uranium, arsenic and lead.

That’s not the conclusion reached by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, as outlined in letters recently sent to affected well owners living near the North Kent One project in the northern part of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. Whilst there’s been an admission that wells have indeed been contaminated.  That contamination can only be attributed to “unidentified factors.” Pile-driving activities associated with wind turbine development are not to blame, the MOECC maintains.

The MOECC, in coming to its conclusion, relied upon the vibration evaluations prepared for the developers Samsung and Pattern Energy, by Golder Associates Limited. Golder measured changes to particle velocity as a measure of vibration intensity created by pile driving.

“The ministry has reviewed Golder’s assessment and agreed with the conclusion that any pile driving -induced vibrations at your well would have been much lower than those created during common daily activities around the homes,” a letter to one of the affected families states. The parameters used by Golder, however, may be flawed….

“This is a complicated issue because there is reason to believe that it is the very low frequencies that may perturb the aquifer, whereas higher frequencies have no effect. Thus, if their vibration sensors are not picking up the low frequencies (lower than one Hertz), it would be difficult to make general comment about the vibration,” Dusseault said.

Heavy equipment was used to drive steel beams to the black shale bedrock, located 50 to 70 feet below the soil surface, to anchor each of the North Kent Wind turbines. The aquifer from which most well owners in the area draw their water is located just above the shale. The same type of vibration could be created by the operation of the turbines, “if there are continued low frequency but reasonably large-amplitude excitations set up by the wind turbine through the connection to the foundations seated in the rock … and of course this is based on direct evidence (earthquake-induced effects), not indirect inference (peak particle velocity) for which there is not a proven causality,” he said.

The concerns have been dismissed by Chatham-Kent’s Medical Officer of Health who concluded that there is no health risk from undisclosed particles in water when no bacteria are present. Jakubec, however, said there are at least two potential pathways through which the heavy metals in black shale particles can enter the human body.

The Article 370

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The Article 370

The Article 370 is a temporary and interim arrangement in light of Instrument of conditional Accession. With respect to J&K, the India’s strength and weaknesses are based in “Instrument of conditional Accession” and Article 370 is the reflection of the same. The relationship of Jammu & Kashmir with Indian Union is based on the “Instrument of conditional Accession” proposed and signed by the Maharaja on 26th of Oct. 1947 and letter of acceptance Dated 27th Oct 1947 of Lord Mountbatten Governor General of India. The conditional Accession has two most important features.

1.    The letter of acceptance as a collateral document forms an indispensible part of Accession and it reveals that the Accession was termed as subject of “dispute” making its acceptance “provisional” subject to ratification by “Reference to the people”

2.    . 2. Maharaja Hari Singh in accordance with the proposed terms of Accession, agreed to be part of Union of India, allowing it to make laws for this state only with respect to Defense, External Affairs and Communication.

 The Accession also vide clause 7 made it categorically clear that “Nothing in this instrument shall be deemed to commit mean any way too acceptance of any future constitution of India or to fetter any discretion to enter into arrangements with Govt. of India under any such future constitution”. Thus at the time of Accession Jammu & Kashmir was the only state to declare its intention to have its own constitution, to be drafted by its own Constituent Assembly.

The terms of Accession of Kashmir with Union of India were maintained till the Constituent Assembly of India was charged with tasks of framing a constitution. Earlier to this the political leader ship of Kashmir and Government of India had agreed that “in view of the special problems arising in respect of this state and the fact that the Government of India have assured its people that they would themselves finally through a “plebiscite” determine their political future” and till then for running day to day affairs a temporary special position should be accorded to Jammu & Kashmir in the future constitution so that a limited field of the Union over the State is ensured. Four representatives were nominated from the Jammu & Kashmir State to represent in Constituent Assembly of India. It was at this stage that the constitutional position of the State was made temporary as defined “Article 370” in the Constitution of India. It was made clear that, till the right of ‘self determination’ is exercised by the people, the state shall be governed temporarily through Article 370 and the Autonomy of the state with regards all other subjects outside the ambit of the Instrument of Accession should be preserved. 
Thus Article 370 mentioned as temporary provision in the Constitution of India, thus does not mean that is it capable of being abrogated, modified or replaced unilaterally. In actual effect, temporary mater of this article arises merely from the fact that the power to finalize constitutional relationship between the state and the Union of India was specifically vested in the Jammu & Kashmir Constituent Assembly. It followed that whatever modification’s, amendments or exceptions that may become necessary either to Article 370 or any other article in the Constitution of India in their application to the Jammu & Kashmir State shall be subject to the decisions of this constituent body only. Thus with the dissolution of constituent assembly on 25th of Jan 1956 in terms of its resolution dated 17 Jan the constitutional relations between union of India and Jammu & Kashmir stands sealed and were final.

The powers of the president to extend other provisions of the Indian constitution to Jammu & Kashmir also stands seized as the Jammu & Kashmir Constituent Assembly vested with concurrence powers is non-existent. But unfortunately till date through various Presidents orders, which are unconstitutional and illegal, as many 94 of the 97 entries in the union list were extended to Jammu & Kashmir as were 260 of the 395 articles of the constitution, thus rendering the Article - 370 in present form as lifeless. 

 Kashmiri political leadership of all shades should demand in one voice conducting of “One time Special Election” not for governance, but for creation of the Jammu & Kashmir Constituent Assembly once again to debate the “temporary nature of Article – 370 in light of Conditional Accession”. This body shall provide an opportunity to one and all, to put forth their perception and possible solution of Kashmir issue be it Azadi, Autonomy or Self-Rule

Article 370 of the Indian constitution is an article that gives autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The article is drafted in Part XXI of the Constitution: Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions. The Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, after its establishment, was empowered to recommend the articles of the Indian constitution that should be applied to the state or to abrogate the Article 370 altogether. After the J&K Constituent Assembly later created the state's constitution and dissolved itself without recommending the abrogation of Article 370, the article was deemed to have become a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution.^[

Text: Temporary provisions with respect to the State of Jammu and Kashmir

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution,—

(a) the provisions of article 238 shall not apply now in relation to the state of Jammu and Kashmir;^[a]

(b) the power of Parliament to make laws for the said state shall be limited to—

(i) those matters in the Union List and the Concurrent List which, in consultation with the Government of the State, are declared by the President to correspond to matters specified in the Instrument of Accession governing the accession of the State to the Dominion of India as the matters with respect to which the Dominion Legislature may make laws for that State; and

(ii) such other matters in the said Lists as, with the concurrence of the Government of the State, the President may by order specify.

Article 35A of the Indian Constitution is an article that empowers the Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and provide special rights and privileges to those permanent residents. It was added to the Constitution through a Presidential Order, i.e., The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 - issued by the President of India on 14 May 1954, exercising the powers conferred by the clause (1) of the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, and with the concurrence of the Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir

Text: Saving of laws with respect to permanent residents and their rights. — Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, no existing law in force in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and no law hereafter enacted by the Legislature of the State
(a) defining the classes of persons who are, or shall be, permanent residents of the State of Jammu and Kashmir; or

(b) conferring on such permanent residents any special rights and privileges or imposing upon other persons any restrictions as respects—

(i) employment under the State Government;

(ii) acquisition of immovable property in the State;

(iii) settlement in the State; or

(iv) right to scholarships and such other forms of aid as the State Government may provide,

shall be void on the ground that it is inconsistent with or takes away or abridges any rights conferred on the other citizens of India by any provision of this part."