July to October is considered the typhoon season in Philippines but the recent typhoon Rai that slammed the archipelago came late in the season on 16 Dec i.e. last Thursday. Bohol with 94 dead till last Monday was the most devastated islands. Survey of Ubay, a tourist town in Bohol gives a very grim picture of total devastation, it appears as if the town had been bombed in a war. Almost all the houses have been blown off or just flattened, hundred of fishing boats are lying totally ravaged. The toll till Monday stood at 375 dead, 56 missing and 380000 homeless. The survivors need drinking water, food and medicines desperately. The super storm broke tall trees, uprooted a very large number of trees, blew off roofs, up rooted and bent the electricity poles disrupting...
Read MoreMonomita Nag
People of Andhra Pradesh are divided over the location of state's capital conundrum. Confrontation between RIF (Royalaseema Intellectual Forum) and APS-JAC (Amravati Parirakshana Samithi - Joint Action Committee) is brewing over the demand for setting up three capitals as planned by the Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy against the demand for a sole capital at - Amravati, a brain child of Chandrababu Naidu an arch rival of the present CM. WHY ARE PEOPLE DIVIDED RIF members backed by YSRC govt are supporting the govt move of setting up three capital opposed to a single capital at Amravati. They justify govt's Initiative for decentralised development. They argue that in case of three capitals three different regions of the state can be developed instead of only one. As the RIF suppo...
Read MoreAmid the border tension with China and in response to their test firing of a nuclear Anti-ship Ballistic Missile last year, India had successfully flight-tested a new generation nuclear-capable ballistic Missile Agni-P on Dec18. It can cover a distance of 1000 to 2000 kms. It is also reported that the Missile has been developed to target war ship of an enemy country in the Indo- Pacific. It is a small version of Agni class Missile, lightweight, and can be moved anywhere in the country as it is needed. The Missile comes with excellent storage and launching facilities. While it can be stored for a prolonged period, its launching is possible by road as well as by rail. This being the second successful test of the Missile, it was first tested in June 2020. But this successful test fligh...
Read MoreIn an exercise of electoral reform, voter registration is supposed to be done on the basis of Aadhar number to find out the identity of the applicant. A new bill relating to the Election Laws (Amendment) 2021has been introduced in Parliament. However, it has also been made amplyclear that there will be no deletion of any electoral roll nor any denial to include any new name if an individual is unable to provide any aadhar no. However, any new applicant will be given the chance to present other documents such as a driving license, passport, utility bills, etc if he or she is not in a position to furnish aadhar no. The primary object of this integration is to curb the practice of a person voting at several places which have been detected as very rampant during elections. Again as o...
Read MoreSouth China sea has become a zone of conflict. China's hegemony, muscle flexing and sweeping control over the sea and certain islands have antagonised the littoral countries like Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. China claims of complete sovereignty of the sea , including some Islands together with huge untapped and even undiscovered maritime and mineral resources such as 11 billions of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. China claims that foreign militaries can not carry out any clandestine intelligence gathering activities in the areas which they claim are under their absolute control. However, the USA is not prepared to accept this claim of China. It says that under the UN Law all the littoral countries are free to navigate through the ar...
Read MoreAFSA (Armed Forces Special Power Act) has been in force in the North East for years. However, the people are fighting for withdrawal of the law which they consider 'draconian'. It is alleged that under the cover of the act, the security forces indulge in excesses with impunity. To justify themselves they point out to the recent incident in Nagaland in Mon district when security forces have gunned down 13 civilians very recently. The AFSPA is in force primarily in three states Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. However, Imphal Municipality council area is not being covered by the act. This apart, the act is also in force in three districts of Changlang, Longing and Tirap of Arunachal Pradesh plus areas coming under eight police stations of districts in Arunachal Pradesh boarding Assam. ...
Read MoreA bitter water war between AP and Telangana has escalated since the bifurcation of the states. Very recently the police forces of two states were drawn into a stand off at the common water reservoirs as a result of Jala (water) Jagadam (fight) between the two states. This is a sad repetition of an incident in 2015 - when the police of two states came to blows over the same dispute. Despite the improvement of relation between two states after Y. S. Jagan Mogan Reddy came to power in 2019, the politics of the region hinges on sharing of Krishna water and the issues related to that. THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM Telangana needs Krishna water for its projects such as - Jurala, srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala for hydropower generation. It is being alleged by AP that Telangan...
Read MorePradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was a significant scheme launched by Modi soon after coming to power in 2014. Primarily, it aimed at providing banking facilities to the multitudinal poor and the marginalized section of the society. It is true that since our independence banking facilities were not accessible to millions of the poorest of the poor. Therefore, It was undoubtedly a landmark decision taken by the govt. BENEFITS It was announced that the account holders would be provided with a debit card plus an accidental insurance amount of one lakh rupees. One could also open an account with zero balance. ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE GOVT After 7 years, it is recorded that 43.04 accounts have been opened and an amount of 146,230.71 crores have been deposited in the bank accounts.Of...
Read MoreOpposition parties such as Congress, CPM etc are organizing rallies all over the country against unprecedented rise in the prices of petrol and diesel. In fact the prices have reached such a stage that it has become a talking point even in the rural tea stalls.. The hike is pinching people more at a time when the economy has opened up after being dead for over one and half years during the pandemic. After the seventh hike, the petrol price stands at ₹110/- per litter in Delhi now and the current price of a litre of Diseal is ₹98/- in Delhi. It must be taken into consideration that the recent festival season has also contributed substantially to the heightening of economic activities. Government's Justification For Hiking The Prices Government needs huge fund to finance ...
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