Facts about mountains

• Occupying about 20% of the world's land area, mountains are home to about 10% of its population.
• Mountains supply more than half of the fresh water requirements of the world. Hence they are named as "Water Towers of the World"
• Mountains harbour some of the world's richest biological diversity as well as some of the world's poorest people.
• Of the 20 plant species that supply 80% of the world's food, six originated inmountains. Among them the potato first appeared in the Peruvian Andes, corn in the Sierra of Mexico and sorghum in the high Ethiopian plateaus.
• Eighty per sent of the world's population relies on traditional medicines, yet one in every eight species of plants, many originating in mountain biomes, faces extinction.
• In some mountian regions, agricultural diversity and cultural diversity go hand in hand. in the Hindukush Himalaya Mountains, for example each region's many ethnic groups grow their own varieties of vegetables and spices.
• The world's greatest land mountain range is the Himalayas, which contains 96 of the world's 109 peaks of over 7315 m(24,000 ft).
• In India, the two mega biodiversity hotspots - the Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas are mountainous regions.
• The 'Quenal' is the world's highest growing tree, found at an altitude of nearly 5,000 meters in the Peruvian Andes.
• While forests in the mountains of developing nations are generally decreasing in area, those in many industrial nations are expanding.
• Mountain tourism acconts for about 15 to 20 persent of the global tourist industry.this activities like skeing and mountneering.
• More than half of humanity depends on mountains for water to drink, to grow food, to produce electricty and to generate industry, as well as for transportation.
• In humid parts of the world mountains provide 30 to 60 persent of the freshwater downstream.
• All the major rivers of world depend on mountains for water.

Sanjay Dutt's sentencing and afterwards

Congress party openly coming in support of Mumbai Blast TADA court convict Sanjay Dutt is deplorable. One can agree to the plight of the sister Priya who is congress MP, but bringing in party machinery to get out a convict out of judicial process in certainly not understandable.

Convictions in TADA cases have disturbed many in state and at center so that they are making a issue to implement Shrikrishna commission, which is a step to please the minority. These people very well understand the distinction between these two crimes. Shrikrishna commission is set to enquire the post babari riots which were spontaneous as in the case of every other riot, wherein the TADA court convictions are for the planned crime against society.

But those who look at every decision from votes garnering point, are difficult to understand the implications in taking the things to turmoil.

The best mileage production car in the world

Volkswagan Lupo 3l TDI is the most fuel efficient car in the world at the moment. The car has completed world tour of 33,333 KMs in 80 days using just 793 liter of diesel.
That means an average consumption of 2,38/100km at an average speed of 85km/hour.

The 80 days trip was based on Jean-Jules Verne's famous book, "Around the World in Eighty Days", in which Englishman Phileas Fogg took a bet that he could go around the world in eighty days. The VW team traveled through South Africa, France, Thailand, Australia, North America and many west European and Scandinavian countries before making it back to Wolfsburg, covering 33,333km in the process.

More information and photographic material is available on www.Lupo80days.com