Development: November 2004 Archives

(PNA, Siliguri, Nov. 25, 2004) - A powerfully diverse socio-cultural fair and conference, Barendra Sammelan, marched more than 10,000 people and threw light on the glorious past and pathetic present of the people of much neglected Siliguri and greater North-Bengal.

The Barendra Sammelan highlighted the potential of people of Siliguri and North Bengal for re-connecting to its roots in order to emerge as a self-reliant socio-economic unit, strong in its culture, and with a bright future.

By Garda Ghista

The seed of human life began one million years ago in the land of Rahr, West Bengal. Then, 100,000 years ago the human population had reached one million, and those human beings were in the midst of the tool-making era. This was followed 10,000 years ago by the agricultural era, when the global population increased to 500 million. By 1000 AD the world population was still approximately 500 million, and maintained this figure until the Famine of Europe when it took a sharp dip. Population growth resumed through the Mongol invasion until the mid-1300s when the Black Death killed millions of people. From the 1400s onwards a steady growth in world population ensued, with numbers growing exponentially from 1800 onwards. During this period we saw the industrial revolution, accompanied by the transportation revolution, medical revolution and agricultural (Green) revolution. These technological advances brought momentous changes to the lives of the common people, and caused birth rates to rise and death rates to fall dramatically, such that by the year 1999 the world population crossed the six billion mark.