Nitish : Known as the Sushan Babu of Bihar, Nitish Kumar is one of the few leaders who managed to keep his corruption free image . As a young boy Nitish was good in academics and pursued engineering as a career to join the electricity board in Bihar as a Junior Engineer, from his childhood Nitish was  inspired by many senior leaders of the times like Jayprakash Narayan and Anugrah Narayan Singh. It was during the JP movement that Nitish formally entered politics and since then he has never looked back. He is not only known for his exceptional developmental work as the chief minister of Bihar but also as a Union minister during the NDA government he did make some important decisions which revolutionised those departments forever. In situations where a lot of politicians might feel uncomfortable taking decisions Nitish proved that he is one of the best decision makers whether it was resigning from his post of the chief minister in 2014 and leaving NDA or breaking the Mahagathbandhan alliance Nitish has done what he feels is right for his politics and future and even his core enemies would agree that there is no one better than Nitish in contemporary politics who can make quick decisions even if they might seem difficult.From being a Jr. Engineer in the electricity department to the Chief Minister of the state Nitish has come a long way proving that he is no less than anyone else in the evil game of politics.

The very idea had been implemented as early as the 1990s. A riveting concept which had been bought into life in hopes to ease the process of voting system and enhance technology and politics altogether. But what is i-voting?

According to the California Internet Task Force, in 1999 the definition adopted by them was “Casting of a secure vote and secret electronic ballot that is transmitted to the officials over the internet.” It had been accepted that i-voting is a sub type of e-voting. Now what is e-voting? Electronic is simply the means to cast a ballot via broader range of electronic telecommunications technology including telephones, cable, and satellite and computers without the internet.

To advance this piece of technology, bills have been passed to initiate the study of i-voting, the countries included Washington and Minnesota, Australia, France, Switzerland, and these bills were passed in the 1990s. Soon after, in 2005, Estonia finally became the very first country to implement the system of i-voting for their general elections. Did the mock trials turn out to be cost effective? The answer would be a big no, for the reason even though an infinitesimal group was involved in the testing, giving birth to what seemed as a hypothetical project requires large investments as well as piloting the new system.

So, when does India come into the picture? Gujarat was one the states in India to conduct mock trials for e-voting in 2015 but unfortunately did not turn out to give the expected success rate. In fact, recently, the Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Mr. Sandeep Saxena claimed “the concept of ‘blockchain’ technology is a two-way electronic voting system, in a co trolled environment, on-white-listed IP devices on dedicated internet lines, enabled with biometric devices and a web camera". Unfortunately, this did not indicate the freedom of voting from home. It was quite the opposite, the voters still had to be physically present on the day assigned as well as the Time and Venue. The Deputy went on to explain "two-way block chain remote voting" consisted of a two-step verification and authorisation process using a multi-layered IT enabled which would be working on the EC's e-Governance award winning Electoral Registration Officer Network (ERO Net) using biometrics and web cameras.

Upon approval, a personalized e-ballot paper will be generated which will be encrypted generating blockchain hashtag. Even though the technology is advancing for the greater good, it still needs a way to reach the expatriates and military personnel.

The advancement of technology can be seen as a boon or a bane. It can be a boon for those who do not continue to live in their hometown, expatriates and military personnel. There is a possibility the voter turnout may increase effectively. But the issue which stands in the way of its adaptation are the security concerns. The very channel or medium is prone to cyber-attacks, which is the reason why it’s commencement should include a small sector of people, which may include, Universities, Private Organisations etc. Restricting the votes to a certain section of people may reduce the possibility of cyber-attacks and in fact turn out to be a boon, especially amidst the pandemic.

With the government reportedly taking a look at more than 275 Chinese apps for a potential ban, after a ban on over 100 apps has already been ordered, rumours are that PUBG Mobile could finally be banned in India. Many in the country seem set to welcome the new move, though Gadgets 360 is yet to receive a clarity on the matter. However, many fans of the game have been requesting the authorities to not include PUBG Mobile in any fresh list of banned apps.

What is PUBG Mobile?

PUBG is a battle royale game developed by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole. The game is available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Mobile. The game was created by Brendan Greene (PlayerUnknown) and released back in 2017.

The game starts with 100 players jumping onto an abandoned island and turning it into a battlefield. The last player left standing wins the match and gets the metaphorical ‘Chicken Dinner’. The game is quite fast-paced with the safe zone collapsing and wild elements like the Red Zone. It is the game that is credited with popularizing the battle royale genre of gaming.

Apart from installs, there are many Indian gamers who actively stream PUBG Mobile through their channels on Twitch and YouTube. Niko Partners Senior Analyst Daniel Ahmad tweeted that while the game has a large base in India, it doesn't generate revenue at the same scale, making around $2-3 million (roughly Rs. 15-22 crores) on a monthly basis.

Craig Chapple, Mobile Insights Strategist, EMEA at Sensor Tower, told Gadgets 360, citing the data from Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates, that despite receiving close to 450 crore new installs from Apple App Store and Google Play in the first half of 2020, India ranks low for player spending, generating approximately $94 million (roughly Rs. 704 crores). "For comparison, the United States' mobile games market generated close to $10.1 billion from player spending during the same period," he said.

The disparity in installs and revenues reflects in case of PUBG Mobile as well. However, Chapple said that it is still a leading example that this type of games can monetise in India.

BANNING PUBG

Although the government didn't provide the list of apps it had banned under the new decision, it is said to be considering prohibiting PUBG Mobile among some other China-backed apps and games, including AliExpress, Ludo World, Resso, ULIke, and Zili, Other developers such as LBE Tech.

It could be a part of the list of over 275 apps that will reportedly be examined for any user privacy and national security violations. However, ahead of any official announcement, the arrival of PUBG Mobile's name in the news reports has taken social media by storm.

In India, the game has generated 180.3 million downloads to date, and generated $38.6 million [roughly Rs. 289 crores in lifetime revenue. In the first half of 2020, it was India's top grossing mobile game.

Is PUBG Mobile really a Chinese game?

With the reports suggesting the potential ban of PUBG Mobile, some people have started raising comments that it's a Korean game and not a Chinese one. This is indeed true for PUBG that is meant for online gamers and is developed and published by PUBG Corporation, which is a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole. However, PUBG Mobile was created in a collaboration between PUBG Corporation and Shenzhen-headquartered Tencent Game. It, thus, has some relation with China.

Nevertheless, some industry watchers feel PUBG Mobile's China connection is weak, and Chapple of Sensor Tower says, "I would note that the PUBG IP is owned by PUBG Corp, which is part of Krafton Game Union, a South Korea-based holding company."

Would India get any impact from the PUBG Mobile ban?

One of the popular alternatives to PUBG Mobile is Fortnite. But since the latter requires more powerful hardware and doesn't perform well on entry-level Android devices, India is chiefly a PUBG-country so far. This is a major reason why many people are demanding the government to exclude PUBG Mobile from its banning plans. Many gamers are upset about its potential ban and expressing their views on social media.

 

Let us talk about SEX: Moving Beyond Birds and Bees

Sexual Education, or as we like to address it with its PG euphemism, Family Life Education, is far from being accepted as a necessary component of education.

Sex education is high quality teaching and learning about a broad variety of topics related to sex and sexuality, exploring values and beliefs about those topics and gaining the skills that are needed to navigate relationships and manage one’s own sexual health. Sex education may take place in schools, in community settings, or online. Planned Parenthood believes that parents play a critical and central role in providing sex education.

In a country that reports high rates of teenage pregnancies and sexual abuse, one would think that the need for a curriculum focusing on gender equality, the importance of consent, and boundaries, would not be a matter of debate.

The reality, however, is that sexuality education for adolescents is a highly controversial topic in India. It is seen as offensive to Indian values, and concerns that it might lead to risky sexual behaviour and promiscuity.

Take the reaction when the central government in 2007 announced the launch of the Adolescence Education Programme in schools, along with the NACO, NCERT and UN agencies. Thirteen states called for an immediate ban as they felt that comprehensive sexuality education was against the Indian culture. Little has changed in the last 10 years. There is still a ban on Adolescence Education Programme in at least five states across India, and there is no uniformity in the way the subject is approached.

Sexuality education, as the UNESCO defines it, “provides opportunities to… build decision-making, communication and risk reduction skills about many aspects of sexuality…. encompasses the full range of information, skills and values to enable young people to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights and to make decisions about their health and sexuality”.

Indians, sometimes even the well-read urban kind, often tend to attach a whole lot of sensitivity to the topic of sex, regarding it with the most vicious taboo. It is thus a natural consequence that education that teaches their children about sexual well-being is met with the highest resistance possible – from parents, teachers, lawmakers and nosy neighbors, especially nosy neighbors.

Despite propaganda, and repeated favourable policies, it has been constantly rejected in various states in India. A deep-rooted sense of morality binds the sentiment of a large population from seeing the benefits and necessities of launching such an education program throughout the country. It is largely believed that talking about sexuality and its awareness may instead corrupt young adolescents.

A study was conducted in collaboration with UNICEF and the Population Council India about adolescents (the pimply teenagers between 10 and 19 years of age comprising nearly 250 million of India’s population) based on research conducted and published between 2002-2013.

They went to incredible details, but to summarize, adolescents face challenges in various aspects. Lack of education, child labor, lack of nutrition, substance abuse, child sexual abuse and a lack of understanding of their sexual and reproductive health are only some of the glaring shortcomings in their well-being.

The lack of comprehensive data on all adolescents makes it difficult to exactify the impact these problems have on them. However, here are some of the direct consequences of these issues, among the Indian youth.

Quality sexual education is imperative to a society of young adults making smart sexual health decisions and valuing consent in college where hookup culture can be prevalent. Adolescents making safe and smart decisions in their sex lives comes from having reliable information on protecting themselves and their partners.

Sexual education courses is to provide clear and accurate information to help young people make these good choices.

One of the most notable trends is that sexual education seems to be covering broad topics such as abstinence, awareness of sexually transmitted infections, the importance of respectful relationships and the need for protection from pregnancy and infection.

The many myths of sexual health commonly linger into late adolescence and adulthood, never being addressed in a classroom by a qualified teacher. Instead, they are debunked in a BuzzFeed article or after extensive Google searches. It can be a harsh reality check when you really actually experience the gravity of making decisions about your sexual health. This experience leaves many overwhelmed and confused as they enter adulthood.

Research shows that comprehensive sexuality education delays sexual initiation and leads to a fall in sexually transmitted diseases. This is critical in a country like India where rates of sexual violence against women are high and discriminatory attitudes towards women persist. For a meaningful social change, reaching out to boys and girls on issues like consent and gender equality becomes critical.

We have to go beyond looking at controlling adolescent fertility from the perspective of reducing unwanted pregnancies.

A return to how life was at the start of 2020 is some way off. Even when lockdown restrictions are eased, coronavirus will affect our lives in many ways. What will struggle to get back to how it was before, and what might change for ever?

From Zooming clients to neighbourhood WhatsApp groups, digital platforms have become the only way for many of us to work, get fit or be educated and entertained. 

We're more relaxed about screen time hours for us and our kids, a huge culture shift from just a few weeks ago. It feels unlikely that'll disappear overnight. 

But key to a recovery will be job creation and keeping down living costs. The former means that, however uneasy, governments may have to tolerate China's continued investment around the globe. 

As for the latter, businesses need to keep costs low, and overseas sourcing of non-essential will continue. Some of the biggest brands, including H&M, have committed to helping workers in factories thousands of miles away to keep supply chains functioning. 

Those companies were already looking beyond China to lower cost nations such as Vietnam, Ethiopia and Bangladesh - countries which will work even harder to attract foreign customers. 

There'll be a lot less money in defence budgets for shiny new weaponry - with security being redefined because of the extraordinary weaknesses revealed by the pandemic. National security capability will be judged by stockpiled medical equipment and preparedness for the next pandemic or environmental catastrophe, not just on how many tank brigades can be deployed. 

For anybody whose once normal everyday life was suddenly shattered by an act of sexual violence– the trauma, the terror, can shatter you long after one horrible attack. It lingers. You don’t know where to go or who to turn to…and people are more suspicious of what you were wearing or what you were drinking, as if it’s your fault, not the fault of the person who assaulted you…We still don’t condemn sexual assault as loudly as we should. We make excuses, we look the other way…[Laws] won’t be enough unless we change the culture that allows assault to happen in the first place.

- President Barack Obama, September 2014

It isn’t news to hear the skepticism a victim of rape or sexual harassment faces. There’s no perfect world but what I expect from this world is sympathy/empathy for the person who has gone through a traumatic experience. Everyday hundreds of reports are filed with the police of rape or sexual assault and unfortunately, this has been normalised to an extent that the news fails to astonish us. The question is, why is this being normalised?

 

Research on sexual assault and victim blame typically focuses on one of two perspectives. The first perspective focuses on the features of the observer as they influence victim blaming tendencies, which is referred to as individual factors. The “rape perception framework,” is the second perspective focus where the aspects of the victim, perpetrator, or characteristics of the assault are focused on as they influence victim blame. This is referred to as situational factors. One critical factor affecting victim blame is the societal and institutional factors. These forces refer to the border cultural influences which include gender roles, media, and rhetoric surrounding sexual assault that contribute to an overall environment promoting victim blame.

The researches, while conducting their study, a sexual assault had been divided in three categories: stranger rape, date/acquaintance rape, and marital rape. As the name suggests, stranger rape is where the perpetrator has no prior connection to the victim, not even of an acquaintance, where if the perpetrator turns out to be someone of whom the victim had a prior relation to, such as a friend, classmate, or someone she has gone on a few dates with, then it is classified as an acquaintance or date rape. Please note that “date rape” is also used to describe assaults that occur in established relationships. Finally, the sexual assault which occurs in a marriage, i.e. a forceful physical relationship consummated by the husband is deemed as marital rape.

Although Victims of stranger rape are the least likely to be blamed for their assault; victims of marital rape are much more likely to be found culpable. Even though blaming a victim of sexual trauma may seem straightforward but it varies in terms of literature. Researchers typically present participants with a scenario of a sexual assault case, accordingly, some researchers assess blame, others assess perceived responsibility, others utilize a combination of both blame and responsibility, and still others assess related constructs. Blame is defined as a value judgment of the extent to which one should be held accountable for (and perhaps suffer from) a negative event.

Some judgements were influenced by gender. The researched came up with two possible hypothesis which are contradictory, to explain the reason of discrimination. On the one hand, because rape is mainly a concern of women, they might be expected to blame less as a function of ingroup solidarity. On the other hand, “just world” ideology might suggest they might blame more: Precisely because of the greater threat that sexual assault poses to women, victim blaming may help women distance themselves from the reality that they could be victimized themselves. In a study, women were found to blame the victim significantly less than men.

Rape Myth Endorsement is problematic because rape myth scales focus on stranger rape and assesses beliefs about rape at a general rather than specific level. RME is used to assess (in some matters) the blame suffered by the victim in particular rape cases. Rape Myth Endorsement is significantly correlated with restrictive beliefs about women’s roles and rights. According to Simonson and Subich’s study, they found that after controlling for gender role endorsement, their finding that men blamed the victim more than women was eliminated; gender role attitudes may be a stronger predictor of blame than participant gender Kailash Vijayvargiya, "It [rape] is a social crime which depends on the man and the woman. It is sometimes right and sometimes wrong," Mr Babulal Gaur claimed.

It is desolating to hear from the people who are elected to improve their respective regions for good. Blaming the victim for not wearing appropriate clothes, defaming them just because they were intoxicated, judging her character by the time of night the person reaches home is not acceptable. The fact the victim experienced “frozen fright” during the incident and wasn’t in the right state of mind to defend themselves is not called asking for it. Her clothes don’t justify the statement that she had it coming, her intoxication doesn’t justify the statement that she had it coming, the time of night when she’s out doesn’t justify the statement that she had it coming. The sentence “she had it coming” is absolutely wrong in itself. She doesn’t have a significance only by being a daughter, mother, sister, she has her own identity. RESPECT THAT INDIVIDUALITY.

picture reference- http://www.thestorypedia.com/news/short-clothes-do-not-cause-rapes-men-in-short-clothes-make-the-point/">http://www.thestorypedia.com/news/short-clothes-do-not-cause-rapes-men-in-short-clothes-make-the-point/<;/a>

The normalcy till December 2019 is dearly missed by the people across the globe, with no restrictions, stepping out at any time of the day, be it to simply hang out with friends or to sit and have a little “me time” at the café. The sudden outbreak of the deadly virus has affected people of all age groups. The normalcy was an excuse for some to escape the toxic environment of home and take a break from the reality. Alas, 2020 wasn’t in their favour.

Since the lockdown had been implement worldwide, the aim was to eradicate the spread of the virus and eventually, the virus itself. Confining themselves at home, the mental health wasn’t given much of a thought, with the routine life coming to a halt altogether.

For children, they found comfort and pastime in extreme exposure in front of Television screens, and gadgets supporting the usage of internet. In a study it was found for such a prolonged exposure can lead to lower the child’s self-esteem with the internet proving out to lead in an addiction disorder in many. With limited external interaction, the “indoor pollution” can affect the development of a child and hence results in limited cognitive abilities. Internet is a home to cyberattacks as we as cyber bullying, henceforth, affecting the mental of a child. Therefore, the children plunge themselves in an ocean of depression, anxiety, avoidance behaviour and even PTSD. The same set of problems are faced by children who have been confined in the hospitals from being infected by the deadly virus, especially with the rise of reports in children being sexually harassed during the confinement, the child lives through a traumatic experience without anyone to turn into, apart from their family takes a toll on the child.

A drastic impact proved to be on students and adults living away from home and migrant laborers stranded in their temporary homes, for those living on rent, it put them in a tough situation for them to pay the rent before the regulation of work from home came into effect.  Most adults drove into the decoy of satisfaction by online pornography. The disruption in most people’s sexual lives persuaded the individuals to use such platform to cope up from the on-going stress of rendered jobless with a deadly virus outbreak, living afar from their beloveds, which sadly could lead to depressive symptoms.

Another age group drastically affected by this were the elderly and sick. For those who were assigned caregivers to look after the sick, now were rendered helpless and alone in their homes. Such people are also known to have a higher risk of acquiring an infection, and for those who continued with their jobs were left in wonderment if they weren’t the carriers of the infection which could affect them and their families.

This year also saw an alarming rise within the cases of Domestic Violence alone. Between March 25 and May 31, 2020, 3,11,477 complaints were recorded which were made by women. The complaints recorded within a 68-day period were higher than those recorded between March and May in last 10 years. Delhi and U.P. saw the highest number of complains, followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. According to the data, 86% of women who were victims to the violence during that period never sought help, 77% victims didn’t mention the dreadfulness of the situation to anyone.  Women faced Physical, Sexual and even both. The highest number of sufferers documented were the ones who faced Sexual Abuse, which summed up to about 80.6 who never dared to tell anyone. For those who had reported the incidents were 14% but only 7% reached out to relevant authorities, but more than 90% of the victims sought help only from their immediate family.

A study was conducted by a team of researchers via an online survey which was proliferated over the social media between May 9 to May 15, 2020, using an anonymous Google form. The team used items like anxiety, depressive symptoms, symptoms of internet addiction, pornography addiction, experiences of hostility, changes in food and sleep habits, social empathy and relationship quality, to construct the overall picture of social and psychological experience during the lockdown period. They also conducted 14 qualitative interviews from May 10 to May 17, 2020. The subjects were self-selected by broad social media invitations. The survey included a total of 282 Indian adults, in which ¾ of people belonged to the age group of 30 years and younger. Following the figures, 88% were educated beyond the 12th standard about 81% were urban residents.

The concluded with depressive symptoms, higher amongst those who an addiction towards pornography. The presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms was expected and linked to a higher chance of self-reported sleep disorder and changes in food patterns. For those who were connected with their loved ones and shared their vulnerabilities shoed more social empathy and better social relationships.

The researchers concluded by stating, “To our knowledge, this is the first study to look at the differential psychological impact of the lockdown across different social groups in India. Our study also highlighted a few positive aspects of the lockdown, underscoring the increase in social empathy and strengthened social bonds among Indian adults.”

Image source-https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/hidden-symptoms-of-stress.html

Considering the loss of classroom teaching time due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, CBSE reduced the syllabus of classes 9 to 12 with the help of suggestions from NCERT.

This means that Class 11 students of political science will not study about federalism in the Constitution during the academic year of 2020-21. Political theory sections on citizenship, secularism and nationalism have also been removed, according to the details on deleted sections, available on the CBSE website.

In Class 12, the topic of India's relations with its neighbours has been deleted, along with sections on social movements, regional aspirations, the changing nature of India's economic development, and the Planning Commission. Business Studies students will not study the concept of demonetization, Goods and Services Tax, or the impact of government policy changes on business with special reference to liberalization, privatization and globalization in India. In History classes, students will not study chapters on understanding the partition, or on peasants, zamindars and the State.

Some of the excluded topics in Maths are Properties of Determinants, Consistency, Inconsistency, and Number of Solutions of System of Linear Equations by Examples and Binomial Probability Distribution.

The revised Physics syllabus for Class 11 omitted portions from Newton’s Laws of Motion, Kepler’s law of planetary motion and the Doppler effect in waves, while chapters on anatomy and morphology of flowering plants were dropped from the Biology syllabus.

Science teachers have questioned the rationale behind these choices, and say this will not only affect a student’s understanding of key concepts but also impact them when they attempt entrance exams such as the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for engineering colleges and National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for medical colleges.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was "shocked" by the decision to drop subjects like democratic rights, federalism and secularism from the Economics and Political Science syllabuses of Classes 9 to 12.

"Shocked to know that the central government has dropped topics like citizenship, federalism, secularism and partition in the name of reducing CBSE course during the COVID-19 crisis," Mamta Banerjee tweeted.

A section of academicians claimed the move appeared to give importance to "political considerations" than academics. 

Elucidating on how its sole motive on the revised CBSE Syllabus was to relax the stress on students by reducing the syllabus by 30%, the ministry wrote that the decision has been falsely politicized.

Facing criticism over its decision to revise the syllabi for classes 9 to 12, which saw many important chapters getting axed from the curriculum, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Wednesday said the portions have not been “deleted”.

It said all these chapters have been covered in the “alternative academic calendar” launched by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) earlier this year.

The clarification comes in the backdrop of CBSE facing criticism for its decision to drop key chapters like Democratic Rights, Federalism, Citizenship and Secularism from school courses

The education board also clarified that no question shall be asked from the reduced syllabus in the Board Exams for 2020-2021only

Withdrawal of Chinese troops in Hot Springs complete

Indian and Chinese armies continued with the troop withdrawal process on Wednesday clearing patrol point-15 – another friction zone in eastern Ladakh that was on the knife-edge during the nine-week long stand-off in India’s northernmost union territory.

The disengagement has been completed at PP-15 (Gogra Post/Hot Spring areas) where the troops have moved back by nearly two km from the line of actual control, government sources said. At PP-17 and PP-17A in the same area, it would take another day or two to finish the task.

The Chinese military removed all temporary structures and completed withdrawal of its troops from the face-off site in Hot Springs in eastern Ladakh on Wednesday even as the Indian Army kept a close watch on the pull back and maintained a high-level of combat readiness in the region, PTI reported quoting sources.  The news report said the two armies are expected to carry out a joint verification in the next few days to assess the implementation of the disengagement process once the dismantling of the temporary infrastructure and withdrawal of troops by China are completed at the friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. There has been thinning out of troops from Finger areas in Pangong Tso as well, they report said. Pangong Tso has been a major face-off site between the two sides. 

Amidst reports of withdrawal of Indian and Chiese soldiers from the contested Galwan Valley, a statement was issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. China has said that both countries are working to reduce border tension but did not clarify whether its army had retreated or not.
News agency Reuters asked Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian “According to Indian media reports, China has retreated with tents and equipment from the Galwan Valley, where there was a clash between the two countries.” Can you confirm it has happened?

In response, Zhao Lijian said – “there is progress made on front-line troops taking effective measures to disengage and ease the tensions.” He said the Chinese and Indian troops held commander-level talks on June 30 as the two sides continued to work to implement the consensus reached at the two previous rounds of talks.
Anti-China sentiment has been growing in India since the high-altitude clash, with the government banning Chinese mobile apps including the wildly popular TikTok.

The symbolic disengagement of Indian and Chinese armies from few areas in eastern Ladakh has shown their intent to resolve the border standoff peacefully ahead of another round of military talks on Wednesday. The gesture explains that the dialogue between the two countries was successful and China too understood that bullying tactics will not work against India.

While laws may not evoke compassion that a person feels for innocent and mute creatures, they can be a deterrent for offenders any time they come close to harming animals.

Here is a list of laws that you can use to protect them.

1. Section 11 (i) of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 says that abandoning an animal, leaving it in a situation that it suffers pain due to starvation or thirst, is a punishable offence.

2. Killing, poisoning, maiming or torturing an animal is a cognizable offence under Section 428 and Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code. The punishment for such an act is rigorous imprisonment which may extend for up to 2 years or a fine or both.

3. As per the Govt. of India, Animal Birth Control Rules 2001, no sterilised dogs can be relocated from their area. If the dog is not sterilised, the society can ask an animal welfare organization to sterilise and vaccinate it, but they cannot relocate them.

4.Keeping, or confining any animal chained for long hours with a heavy chain or chord amounts to cruelty on the animal and punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to 3 months or both.

5.If an owner fails to provide its pet with sufficient food, drink or shelter, he/she shall be liable for punishment according to section 11 (1) (h) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 is a punishable offence.

It is out there to be serious about mental health these days, specially with the numerous cases of suicides which been rising. But how aware are the citizens of India about the exodus of children who have been victims of PTSD amidst the political insurgency for decades?

Kashmir, a pulchritudinous state of India, now declared as a union territory (UT) has been a victim of the political skirmish which has, in turn, diddled the indigenous beings of Kashmir leading to death of thousands of people including family members, sexual abuse, damage to property and various natural disasters, namely- earthquake and snowstorms. According to reports, majority of the people suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). As the name suggests, the psychiatric disorder arises in wake of traumatic events. The events are digested and affect each person differently. 

In Kashmir, majority of the children are diagnosed with PTSD. The age group to which these children belong to were above 6 years of age and maximum belonged to 11-15 years of age. The children diagnosed with Abnormalities in brain electrical activity on electroencephalogram were also noted. Children with PTSD were found to perform poorly by affecting their attention, abstract reasoning and executive functioning. Children diagnosed with PTSD were detected in schools because of their behavioural changes and their deteriorate performances. Maximum minors affected belong to rural areas as compared to the urban areas.  Following the figures, 75% of the children belonged to the lower middle class, followed by middle class which entailed 25% respectively. 

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder consists of risk factors which affects the children to a great extent; lower educations, lower intelligence, absence to social support, sexual harassment, lower socio-economic status, family history of psychiatry illness, multiple traumatic events- are some of the risk factors. Unfortunately, 49% of the children have been witnesses to death of a family member or close friends, followed by arrest, torture of a close relative or being caught up in cross-firing and hearing about the death of a close relative. It is absolutely unimaginable as to what the future of this country has to go through. Kashmir has been regarded as the place called “heaven on earth” but the heaven contains a hell within which largely ignored. Amidst this turmoil , the emphasis ought to be put on the psychological distress, a scar invisible yet the power of changing the entire personality of the human being, affecting the course of their actions and changing the outlook of life, for life.

The destruction of educational infrastructure, in addition to the unlawful detentions, leaves a lifelong impact on children, perpetuating a cycle of trauma, fear and bitterness. The literacy rate in Kashmir is 54.4% as compared to some parts of India, which have resulted in 65% 

The following 3 dimensions which were focussed were shown by the affected for a month which proved them to have paediatric PTSD- 

1. The affected re-experienced the event with deteriorate recollections in the form of dreams, flashbacks, with psychological and psychical distress.

2. They persistently avoided the stimuli associated with trauma that might recall the memories or events of the trauma.

3. There was also an increase in arousal in the form of hyper vigilance and exaggerated startled response, experienced difficulty in sleep, irritability.

In children older than 6 years, there was a repetitive play occurred in which themes or aspects of traumatic events were expressed. They also experienced frightening dreams without recognizable content, a dream which the minors aren’t able to express and even dissociative reactions (eg flashbacks) in which they felt the traumatic events were recurring. Such reactions may occur in continuum, and the most extreme expression of their feeling is expressed by complete loss of awareness of the present reactions.

The unfortunate events lead to persistent and exaggerated negative beliefs about the oneself, others and even the world. In other words, they express themselves by stating, “I am Bad”, “The world is bad and dangerous”, “My whole life is ruined” or “My entire nervous system is ruined”. This leads them to have distorted cognition about the cause and consequences of the events which leads them to blame themselves or others for it.

In order to recover from this the children are subjected to maladaptive method of coping. It was recorded that females prefer for maladaptive method of coping more than males who were associated with PTSD in Kashmir. Most of these patients were even aware what they suffering from and indulged in self-medication, for even somatic issues which included headaches, stomach aches, palpitations, breathlessness, anxiety, panic attacks, loss of appetite etc, which eventually leads to addiction. Popularly benzodiazepine, opioids, and cannabis. In contrast to world reports, alcohol was the used the least (4.8%).

Amidst this turmoil, the children residing in a place regarded as “heaven on earth” go through hell every single day. Not a single day can they have a goodnight’s sleep, a sleep without the fret of being a victim to the worst thought of never seeing the face of a family member anytime. three-year-old boy described the sequence of events leading to the killing of his grandfather. The minor had been subjected to extreme events, events from which even veterans aren’t able to cope up from.  

Picture reference: https://medium.com/@ovaiskarni /psychological-impact-of-armed-conflict-on-kashmiri-children-97c76e77bef1

Pandemic and Digital Divide: Sparking Mental Trauma among young minds.

The lack of technological resources in the hands of the poor has challenged remote-learning which can create a big - learning gap between the rich & poor. We can't imagine the physiological trauma of a child who craves to study but can't.

Online Classes through the gifts of technology has bridged the gap between the educators and the students but has also mirrored “ Digital-Divide” in India.

The Digital Divide: The non-accessibility of gadgets has created a historic wave of mental-health problems like suicide, depressions etc.

According to the 2017-’18 National Sample Survey report on education, only 24% of Indian households have an internet facility. While 66% of India’s population lives in villages, only a little over 15% of rural households have access to internet services.

 

Giving a global perspective, UNESCO noted, “Half of the total number of learners — some 826 million (82.6 crores) students — kept out of the classroom by the Covid-19 pandemic, do not have access to a household computer and 43 percent (706 million or 70.6 crores) have no internet at home, at a time when digitally-based distance learning is used to ensure educational continuity in the vast majority of countries.”

The psychological trauma of the class 10 student who committed suicide as she was distraught by not being able to access classes online is unimaginable. Think about the students who used to go to school for the “Mid-Day Meal”.

Web-based learning in the Indian market has increased gigantic footing as of late. Beside simply scholastic content, they likewise empower students to pick up abilities and even get ready for serious assessments. Yet, there are different sides to each story. E-learning too has a considerable amount of advantages and disadvantages.  Let’s check some points

Almost sixteen lakh kids from poor households studying in government and municipal schools within the Delhi are watching disruptions of their studies without access to mobiles, net and laptops or desktops, at the same time privileged students from private faculties are taking online classes amid the coronavirus lockdown.

From coping with basics like internet connectivity and India’s notoriously undependable power supply to more structural issues such as curriculum and teaching methods, educators have come under tremendous stress.

A teacher from an SDMC faculty in Sarvapriya Vihar said the first actual problem in implementing the plan is: “We do not even have the database for the students or the parents’ contact numbers as a way to reach out to them.”

The teacher said there isn’t even a computer in the school for teachers to feed contact details into.

A mathematics teacher from a North Delhi municipal faculty agreed that executing the plan is a huge hassle. “At the same time as my faculty hasn’t received any orders, several others I recognize had been instructed to start WhatsApp class. But subjects like maths can't study on those applications, even for those who use WhatsApp. How will one take a look at calculations?”

Online education is not equal or the same or easy for everyone. When others are discussing the technical disadvantages of E-learning like lack of interaction, less cost-effective etc, while others don’t have a phone at least, this is the hidden truth of the society. It is the condition of the Nation’s capital.

According to a study conducted by scholarship ed-tech platform Buddy4Study, of the 25 crore students affected by the lockdown, 80 percent fall in the Economically Weaker Section category. Let’s read some stories:

Kartik and his sister Mansi are students of class5 and class 1, respectively, in distinct MCD schools in Kapashera. Their mother and father sell vegetables for a living. Kartik, who wants to be a police officer, said that they've no longer received any assignments from school on their father’s phone for the reason that lockdown started out. “We haven’t been given any work; on the grounds that schools closed, it’s been a holiday for us.”

Shyam Singh, a labourer in Samaypur Badli, had no clue what WhatsApp meant while he received a call from his son Sohan’s class teacher at an NDMC school. “Madam called five days ago, and I didn’t have WhatsApp installed on my phone. Now my son has explained it to me and I’ve downloaded the app, but no work has been assigned through the school yet,” he said.

Tarun, son of a domestic employee in GK-II, cannot now use his father’s second-hand phone as it has broken. The father’s employer offered to shop for him a simple phone but realized delivery of non-essentials online wasn’t possible amid the lockdown. The owner explained: “I felt depressed, that’s why I allow Tarun to take a class with my smart hone every morning.  I feel that’s was the sole thing I could do.”

A visually-impaired pupil at a Delhi government school, who didn’t want to be diagnosed, stated: “Assignments on WhatsApp were now not possible for me. I don’t have parents and my grandparents too antique to use WhatsApp.

The interaction with school students, their parents, and teachers from government schools revealed how everybody was suffering to bridge the virtual gap — many families do not have smartphones, not to mention computers or laptops. Some said they don’t understand how to use WhatsApp, even as some parents are engaged in vital services and need to take their only smartphones with them on work.

The humanitarian crisis has brought all the officials under the microscope. How to ensure a sound transaction of online classes to students, especially poor across the country?

The Mirror of lockdown has reflected how the rooted structural imbalances are between rural & urban, rich & poor even in the digital world.

Taking a strict action against the country's online security matters, India has recently banned around 59 Chinese origin apps which included popular apps like TikTok, Cam Scanner, Xender etc.

This has triggered a sort of digital cold war between the two countries who are already having tension on the borders. 

Weibo was one such app to be banned by the Indian Govt. To give momentum to the drive, The Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi has deleted his personal Weibo account.

PM Modi's Weibo account was created back then in 2015 and he was quite active on the platform with around 100 posts and 200,000 followers.

It is to be noted that China has negligible presence on Non-China based apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp etc.

PM Modi was one of the few international leaders who was using this platform apart from some of the Chinese leaders.

The government of India on Monday, June 28, 2020 announced yet another astounding news across the country. All Chinese app which are available for android as well as iOS users will be banned, effective immediately, as a result of which a day later, one of the most installed apps; Tik Tok has been taken down from Google Playstore and Apple’s Appstore.

Considering the uproar against Tik Tok which was a result of the CarryMinati’s video which has been eradicated from the popular platform of YouTube, titled “YouTube vs Tik Tok.” The war between content creators comparing the mediums and unity within the community while CarryMinati’s video was reported for harassment and cyberbullying. Following this, the content was critically analysed on the app and hence, brought on a huge negativity on the platform. All this while the apps functionality was also analysed which revealed the Chinese apps were engaged activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and of India, Defence of India and security and state of public order.

For those who have installed the app “Tik Tok” have received an alert which read “Dear users, we are in the process of complying with the Government of India’s directive to block 59 apps. Ensuring this privacy and security of all our users in India remains our utmost priority.” It has also been claimed by some users that they’ve been facing difficulty whilst scrolling through their feed or they’re unable to it at all and some are even unable to upload videos and a pop-up flashes “network issue.” One explanation to this can be that the telecom operators must have blocked Tik Tok until the government’s next order.

This has also resulted in a moment of cheer for Carry’s fans who had helped trend a hashtag fancied in his name #justiceforcarry  following the removal of the video. Many also felt that the 21-year-old YouTuber predicted the End of Tik Tok.

According to the Digital Forensics, an Open Technology Fund contracted Cure53, which a Germany based cybersecurity firm, examined the Chinese apps by disuniting the app and determining its capabilities. The researchers investigated the Android version of the app, used in smartphones manufactures by Oppo, vivo etc. as in iOS does not allow the type of “superuser” surveillance to be conducted. Although it wasn’t possible to assess the apps functionalities due to the code designed to thwart the attempts to dissect the app, It managed to expose that the code manages to open a back door to the users phone, this, in turn grants the developer of the app tantamount right to the users phone, allowing to download any software, modify files and, install a program to log key strokes, have access to all the messages as well as pictures and even allows them to turn on the microphone as per their will.

This study was reported in the United States of America.

In India, the recommendation of the intelligence agencies backed by the National Security Council Secretariat supported the take of the decision which could be detrimental to the country’s security, a report which was claimed by an unnamed government official. The Ministry of Information Technology received complaints from various sources regarding the misuse of some application in transmission of data in an unauthorized manner to servers with location outside India. The Indian Intelligence agency red flagged these Chinese apps as it challenged the privacy concerns of the users. They were left with two choices, either advice people to not to use the apps or ban the use of it once n for all.

Official press released on the ban of these apps, the Ministry of Information Technology claimed, “invoking it’s power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 and in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 59 apps ( see Appendix) since in view of information available they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.” Adding to their statement, “upon receiving of recent credible inputs that such Apps pose threat to sovereignty and integrity of India, the Government of India has decided to disallow the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet enabled devices. This move will safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users. This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.”

The step has proved to the assurance that India is not only on the verge but it is going to prove it is “atmanirbhar.” The ban on the applications also imply the intensive invasiveness is unacceptable by India and that the relation between the two countries cannot be mended. India has officially made it’s relations with the country loud and clear.

The list of the apps banned is as follows-

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has become the first Indian firm to hit a market cap of $ 150 billion as of Monday, June 22nd, 2020.



While the company's market value had jumped to Rs.28, 248.97 crores that is equal to US$ 150 million, Its shares closed 6.23 per cent higher at Rs 1759.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange and it rose by 2.54 per cent to an all-time high of Rs 1,804.20 on the National Stock Exchange.

Mukesh Ambani's net worth has increased to a high 6,460 USD.



According to an Equity Specialist at Angel Broking, Ms. Jyoti Roy, “The company has built up a dominant presence in refining, petrochemicals, telecom and retail businesses. We believe that the digital and retail business will be key growth drivers for the company going forward and the proposed listing of the retail business over the next few years is along expected lines and will lead to a rerating for the company. We also expect a similar move by the company for its digital business in the future.”



Mukesh Ambani also announced that his oil-to-telecom conglomerate has become net debt-free after raising a record Rs 1.69 trillion from global investors and a rights issue in under two months. As it is well known that it had a net debt of Rs 1,61,035 crore as on year ending, 2020.



This enormous growth of the RIL has led to a growth of 19% in the stock market.

Following presented are some interesting facts which a school curriculum does not cover-

• The first U.S gay rights organization, “The Society for Human Rights” (SHR) was founded in 1924 by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant, which was disbanded in 1925 by police raids.


•  The first newsletter which gave voice to the obstacles faced by the community was “Friendship and Freedom”.


• Similarly, the first lesbian rights organization were formed was called “Daughters of Bilitis” with San Francisco being claimed as its birthplace on September 21, 1955.  

But what about India? In India, post-independence. Light was thrown on the community of the people of LGBT when the famous Mathematician Shakuntala Devi published the first study on homosexuality called “The world of Homosexuals”.

In 1977, All Inida-Hijra Conference was held in Agra where 50,000 members travelled to attend the conference!

Another day and yet another year in which the colours of the rainbow flail with pride, bringing a new perspective everyday of every month of every year. Then why is the entire month of June known as the Pride month?

The story behind the name travels back to 1960s, the time when same-sex relations were illegal in The United States of America. The history of this is particularly linked with the New York City. Since the relations were banned all around, the members of this community flocked to bars, clubs which were specifically designed for them, where they could express their true selves without any fear and restriction. Although the New York State Liquor Authority penalized and closed these bars, the activists legalised the rights for these bars to serve liquor, unfortunately, they were not allowed to display their affection publicly. Even though all bars couldn’t receive the liquor license, they still functioned with zeal as a major reason behind this was, they were backed up by the Mafia.

During this period, the Genovese crime family hegemonized the almost all the bars located in the Greenwich Village. One of them was the Stonewall Inn which was renovated into a gay bar in 1967. History states that the Genovese crime family bribed the sixth precinct of the NYPD to ignore the activities being effectuated. Because of the bribery, the family cut off costs which were required for the maintenance of the club. Which also lacked fire exits.

The very club stood out as it welcomed drag queen which faced prejudice in most of the clubs. The bar was only one of a few which allowed dancing.

The morning of June 28 changed the entire course of future thereafter, it was the day the NYPD raided the bar which came to the people as surprise. The raided ended up arresting 13 people which in turn included employees and people who manifested the courage to stand up against the gender appropriate clothing statute. The arrested were aggressively manhandled. This sparked an infuriating protest against the very riot, which also ended up in igniting the place. Numerous gay rights organizations which included GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), PFLAG (formerly Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), etc. Therefore, thousands marched to the streets of Manhattan which was named “Christopher Street Liberation Day” with its official chant being: “SAY IT OUT LOUD, GAY IS PROUD!” The intensive street riots brought on by the enraged members of the community hoped to bring about a change and put an end to the discrimination faced by them for years, as a result of which June 28, 1970 marks one-year anniversary.

America’s 44th President; Barack H. Obama claimed the site of Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surrounding streets and sidewalks as a national monument in 2016, in respect to the contribution made for the gay rights.

Gradually, to commemorate the very sacrifices, the month experienced a series of events, each year to even more successful than the last, with youth finally accepting their true selves. Unfortunately, they still have a long way to go worldwide.

“The right to say no was a right he ought to exercise if he wanted his yes to mean something.” 

― Alex Beecroft, Blue Steel Chain.

Sex, a word which is feared to be used out in the public amidst the grossly overpopulated country like India, ironical isn’t it? The word consent means the “permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.” A meaning of which anyone can google, yet no one knows how to apply the meaning practically in their everyday lives. The evidence is the rise in the number of cases of sexual assault, harassment, and rapes. 

The society needs a variance in the idiosyncrasy that there is huge difference between rape and consensual sex. If a person has indulged in consensual sex it does not mean (mostly in the case of women) that the person has brought upon shame to the family name. Think of it this way, we have bodies and it has physiological needs, a human has been created or evolved in such a way and it’s our job to cater those needs. This certainly does not imply to rape a person. 

On the other hand, most of the rape cases reported turn out to be false accusations made by women. According to Delhi Commission for Women published a report in 2014 which stated that 53% of the rape cases reported in the city in 2013 were false. “Today the definition of rape has changed so much and anything and everything is reported as rape”, a statement stated by Partha Sadhukhan who is a Men's rights activist. The allegations are made by the family of the females to avoid that badge of dishonour, ergo, normalizing the attitude towards rape. A family could accept the girl getting raped than choosing to accept her as a normal human being with needs.

A case of Pavan Gupta, who was involved in a relationship soon turned 24 in 2019 and refused to marry his girlfriend. The following statements were made by Pawan. ““I liked her but I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with her. I always told her I was an only child and would have to go along with my parents’ choice.” While Pavan was preparing for his wedding in March, his ex-girlfriend accused him of raping her and stated she had slept with only on the promise of marriage. Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled that the consensual sex cases cannot be invoked as rape cases and a distinction a clear distinction shall be drawn between the two. But the damage had already been caused as the accusation led to Mr. Gupta’s mother’s death, his fiancé had called off the wedding and it also cost him his job and the discrimination he faced throughout is tacit. 

When heard of the word rape, it is automatically linked to a girl which is tacitly speaks of the injustices against men and transgender being completely ruled out of one’s mind.

A case involved of domestic abuse a husband and father of a child, faced from his wife in the U.K. His wife faced a mental issue and the instances involved of his wife punching him hard on his nose and running away while giggling, another involved to an extent where he dreaded her wife turned in after work. She cuffed him to the and hit him with him with a loudspeaker of the stereo system and demanded sex and his partner force-fed him Viagra and gagged him.

There are numerous such cases which when reported, are often met with disbelief. The victim stated "We're scared to talk about it and embarrassed, and when we do talk about it, we're not believed, because we're men. How can a man possibly be abused? Look at him, he's a man."

On the other hand, such cases put the cases of women in genuine of help at risk. The question which often arises is whom to believe? The citizens demand gender equality, but in order to introduce the concept, a ground of it has to be set, which will not happen anytime soon if these pseudo feminists and male chauvinists continue to proliferate the toxicity in others.

With the cases rising every day, its mark tends to reach a new height of 2,76,583 confirmed cases in India, surpassing Italy and Spain, reaching to the new limits of 5th most affected country by the virus worldwide. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister has alarmed Indians regarding the rise of covid cases which is likely to reach the 5.5 lakhs limit by the end of July. Now that’s not what Indians were expected to excel at.

According to the experiences of a few people, the hospitals are left with hardly any beds to treat new patients affected by the virus and simply not allowed to get admitted. Rumours has it that it is being done to alter the number of registered cases. Following this very fact, there’s a possibility that India is very close to surpass the United Kingdom.

A meeting was called by the Lt. Governor Anil Baijal with all the political parties. The aim of this meeting was to discuss the prevailing situation amidst Covid-19 and come up with an explication to combat the current scenario at 3pm on Tuesday. The all-party meet was called after reversing the order of the Government of Delhi by the Lt. Governor. It reversed the restrictions on testing for covid-19, and now the testing will take place within the parameters set by the apex of the health research body, i.e. ICMR. As per the Government’s order, asymptomatic patients will be excluded of who weren’t aged and have no co-morbid conditions. The decision has my full support as “it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

According to the claims made by Anil Baijal, he emphasized on the importance on the need to expand Delhi’s infrastructure as to meet with the rapid rise in the cases of the pandemic. One of the solutions which had arisen was to temporarily convert the stadiums like Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Tyagraj Stadium, JLN Stadium, Pragati Maidan, a centre of medical facilities. Following this notion banquet halls, marriage places, were also being discussed into being utilized.

With people ratcheting in their respective towns, finally embracing the environment outside their homes, the relaxations have made people forget about the grave dangers the virus possess and how easily can it affect someone. With citizens belayed into the thinking everything will gradually enter the stage of quo ante, one shouldn’t forget that the biological war isn’t over and with every ignorance, it will claim lives of thousands of people.

India is a home to millions of people; one should remember it is not easy to contain the rapid spread of the virus in an overpopulated country. It is a tacit of playing your part to help control the spread. Yes, it is tough to stay at homes, longing for the long walks we took for granted, but it ought to be understood the willingness to step outside other than a necessity is a decoy one should learn to avoid.

It’s June and probably not the best start to yet another month of the year 2020. The western coat had been hit with yet another severe cyclonic storm since May 20, 2020. Nisarga is said to be the strongest cyclone to ever hit the coast of Maharashtra since June of 1891.  

The name “Nisarga” was suggested by Bangladesh. The in Bangla means “Nature”

According to the reports of the Metrological Department, a low pressure was created on May 31, 2020. Due to this low pressure, it went on to create a depression to the east of the Arabian Sea on June 1, 2020. The depression gradually intensified giving rise to a cyclonic storm which was centred about 340 km south-west of Goa and 630km south-southwest of Mumbai and 850km south-southwest of Gujrat. Alerting the authorities and the citizens of the cyclone, on June 1, 2020, 33 National Defence Response Force (NDRF) were deployed in the region. It was predicted to the most destructive cyclone and its wind speeding up to 80-90 kmph. Speeding upto 120 kmph with a radius of 60km, it caused a landfall at Murud in Murud in Raigad district of Maharashtra on June 3, 2020.

Consequently, when the cyclonic storm hit the cost, it made a landfall in Alibag at 12:30pm. Videos of the destruction caused due to storm went viral, one of which depicted a banner falling into an empty plot with flowing traffic beside it. The storm claimed 2 lives and while 3 were injured as it made its way towards Pune. It was the cause of a landfall in the coastal Rigad district of Maharashtra at 1pm. The strong gusty winds made the heavy tin sheets blow away which was a roof over a few resident’s head. In Gujrat 18 teams of NDRF and six teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were sent for rescue operations.

The cyclone is said to have damaged 8,000 hectares of crops in the Rigad district of Maharashtra along with the seven districts of Konkan (including Raigad) and Nashik, Jalgaon and Dhule in north Maharashtra. According reports, the MP of Rigad and NCP leader has demanded a package of whopping 5,000 crore as a relief aid. However, the decision on the relief package is expected to be announced in the coming week. The farmers usually receive 6800 rupees to 18000 rupees per hectare for losses as a compensation while the compensation for repairs, construction of the destroyed buildings ranges within 6000 and 6 lakhs. The state has decided to pay a lumpsum of 4 lakhs as ex-gratia for those who’ve lost their lives battling for survival through the cyclonic storms.

HOME SCHOOLING: Rejection of the cookie-cutter approach to education

“The philosophy of Home Schooling is, you take real life and then you turn that into schooling.”

“Tota Kahani” by Rabindranath Tagore narrates the story of a free-spirited parrot who would hop, skip, fly and sing all day. A king ordered that the bird be 'civilized', and so it was put in a golden cage. In the flood of restrictions and instructions, it soon forgot to sing, and then, couldn't even squawk. When it tried to fly, its wings were clipped. Soon the parrot died, with not a sound except for the rustle of books in its stomach.

The same story is painted on the walls of Shikshantar in Udaipur, which calls itself a people's institute for rethinking education and development. In the mural, trapped in its gilded cage, this parrot, too, forgets how to sing. But unlike in Tagore's story, the narrative in Shikshantar has been tweaked to accommodate hope. Here, the parrot breaks free instead, snapping, as it were, the shackles of 'formal schooling'.

Homeschooling is home education. In many ways, homeschooling is a more organic form of education that focuses on getting out of traditional classrooms that focus on a one-to-many, generalist education. A homeschool-styled learning environment is more personalized to the student, with individual attention. If your son is struggling in reading or writing, parents can take the time necessary to make sure he masters the concepts. In fact, unlike a traditional classroom where curriculum and resources are predetermined, a homeschool program can change curriculum and tactics to ensure a successful outcome. Likewise, if your daughter is excelling in math or science, there is no need to proceed at a slow pace or continue using a curriculum that may not be challenging enough.

In short, homeschooling is about one-to-one learning.

Homeschooling has gained popularity in the new millennium with a small minority of households abandoning the rote learning and exam-obsessed mainstream school system to provide their children individualized primary-secondary education at home to develop their creative, critical thinking and problem solving cognitive capabilities.

Broadly speaking, home educators divide into three major groups: those who are motivated by religious and moral reasons; those who have philosophical or pedagogical reasons; and those who turn to home education because of problems their children experience in school, both academic and social.

Home Schooling in India lays down its root from the ancient gurukul schooling system which was based on parent/teacher-led education in home environments. Rabindranath Tagore's Visva-Bharati University, Sri Aurobindo's Sri Aurobindo International Center of Education and Mahatma Gandhi's ideal of "basic education had the element of home-schooling.

Homeschooling in India does not require any registration, recognition or regulation by any agency or authority. Most parents who choose to do so either follow the CBSE curriculum or opt for the state board syllabus. Home schooled children can appear for the IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams as private candidates, or write the Class 10/12 examinations of the National Institute of Open Learning (NIOS), which gives students the option to get a degree or certificate and is conducted at centres across the country. Sahal Kaushik, the youngest pupil to not only crack IIT but also topple in Delhi with AIR 33 at the age of 14 is the gift of Home-schooling.

In the United States — inevitably the pioneer of homeschooling — an estimated 2.3 million children are being educated at home with this number growing by 7-12 percent annually. According to Brian D. Ray, president of the Salem (Oregon)-based National Home Education Research Institute, homeschooling “may be the fastest growing form of education in the United States”.

Expansion of the notion of learning

The truth is, children are born learning; it’s a survival skill that comes naturally to them. Genuine learning can go beyond core educational topics. The proponents of Home Schooling argue that school is a monoculture which limits the learning process of children and formal schooling forces to study only specified subjects, play prescribed sports, and mingle with children in their own age groups in strictly controlled environments. Such regimentation is contrary to the natural growth cycle of children. Home Schooling children learn socialization skills by interacting with people of all age groups and elements of nature such as animals and plant life.

 Following interests

So, if your kid loves video games, play with them. Read a graphic novel on Minecraft. If they’re interested in knights and superheroes, read books on the subject. Draw them on construction paper, or in sidewalk chalk outside. Talk about what it means to be a hero.

Flexibility.

If your child is struggling with a subject or a specific concept, you do not need to skip it and move on. Instead, you can work with your child until she/ he has mastered the material. Homeschooling allows you to take all the time you need to ensure learning is taking place. Likewise, if your child is ready to move on, you do not need to waste time on redundant or repetitive lessons. Homeschooling children can move through educational materials at a faster pace than their peers.

Practical Learning

Kids who are homeschooled also may get out in their communities more than other kids. They might get to experience hands-on education at museums, libraries, businesses, marinas, and other community resources. They also might volunteer or participate in "service learning" where they take on local projects.

 The pathway to unlocking your child’s potential.

Teach for India fellow Harshad Tathed, who worked on a documentary film titled Project Nomad about alternative education including homeschooling in India, believes this alternative schooling system is becoming increasingly popular because of its mix of basic elementary education and propensity to develop the special intelligence of children. “Children learn best when they are encouraged to question, investigate and research. This transforms them into creative and innovative problem solvers. According to a study conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA, in 2017, at age three, 98 percent of children are creative, but by the time they reach the age of 15, only 2 percent remain creative. This shocking revelation prompted me to work on the documentary film to educate parents about the benefits of homeschooling and other alternative education options,” says Tathed, chief executive of Swayam Bodh Gurukul, a learning centre in Pune which tutors children who fail in school or “don’t like going to school at all”.

Special Care

Parents of children who have learning disabilities are another set who opt for homeschooling because they feel schools are unable to cater to the special needs of their kids.

 Lack of Socialization

The standard notions that home-based education leads to socially ill-adjusted children and limited career opportunities for them. Effects on social life can be another possible disadvantage for homeschooled kids. All kids need to have friends and be around other children. Some homeschoolers may feel cut off from kids their age or feel like they spend too much time with their families.

Lack of Infrastructures

 A kid who's homeschooled doesn't have the convenience of school facilities, such as a gymnasium, science lab, or art studio. The child may be taught at the kitchen table or at a "school" area in the home. He or she might do science experiments in the kitchen or go outside to work on an art project. Some parents who homeschool their kids form groups so their kids can go together to take art classes and take part in other group learning activities, like field trips.

With home education gaining momentum and respectability worldwide, suspicion about the academic proficiency of homeschooled children is waning.

Some of the disadvantages of homeschooling include, homeschooled children tend to be pampered mother’s darlings who can’t take the heat of competition in adult life. There’s also a good chance of their transforming into self-indulgent and undisciplined spoiled brats grown fat on extravagant meals.

Home Schooling has washed up on Indian shores, it’s a tiny minority movement because it requires extraordinary investment in terms of time, dedication, patience and relearning capabilities on the part of one or increasingly, both parents — a difficult proposition for two-income households.

At least one parent has to sacrifice her career ambitions or place them on hold. Therefore, despite widespread dissatisfaction with factory-style exam-oriented primary-secondary education, the overwhelming majority of the country’s 60 million middle-class households can’t afford to homeschool their children.

How is homeschool socialization different?

For one thing, homeschoolers do not have the same exposure to peer pressure and bullying, both of which are tied to poorer academic performance and lower self-esteem.

Homeschooling also means less daily interaction with large numbers of kids in a child’s age group. And homeschoolers can end up spending less time each day participating in organized sports and activities with their peers.

However, this does not mean that homeschoolers have no access to their peers, or have no ability to play sports or socially interact with others outside their family. In fact, on average, homeschoolers participate more in their community, are less sedentary, and socialize with a wider mix of adults (especially professionals) than their public school counterparts. As part of its flexible nature and focus on one-on-one / personalized learning, homeschooling involves more field trips, real-life experiences, and hands-on learning. When it comes to sports, homeschoolers often participate in recreational leagues or homeschool sports classes offered in their community. Some students are homeschooled because their athletic or artistic talents have them engaged in sports and activities at a higher level.

Josh Frydenberg, the first treasurer in around three decade to preside over a recession remarked that a recession was an inevitable reality after national accounts show the gross domestic product falling by 0.3% in the March quarter. A report was released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The nation had a successful growth which was hampered by the recent coronavirus crisis and the impact of wildfires that Australia has been facing. Over the past twelve months the growth rate was only 1.4% , the weakest performance since the global financial crisis.

While Frydenberg said the contraction in Australia was less severe than many other countries battling the economic shock associated with the coronavirus pandemic, he warned people to brace for “difficult days ahead” because the June quarter results would be worse than the impact felt in March. According to Frydenberg “an economist’s version of Armageddon” was avoided during the pandemic in Australia.This was a result of the public health restrictions accompanied by significant income support which led to the  successfully flattened the curve of Covid-19 infections.The impact of the bushfires and the pandemic indicates a household consumption fall by 1.1%, a first since December 2008 according to the national accounts. The government is set to provide an extensive update on the matter by July end.

Frydenberg said the government would provide its own comprehensive economic update in late July after the review of the wage subsidy job-keeper. The wage subsidy is first of tis kind Australian policy to support businesses and workers through the coronavirus crisis. The rolling out of assistance also led to the rise of disposable incomes during the quarter, by a 6.2% .The government is looking at possible modifications in the wage subsidy policy, hinted Frydenberg. There are prospective wage reductions ahead from a flat payment of $1,500, or  provisions of differential rates depending on a worker’s income.

The social distancing restrictions and travel bans introduced February and March paved way for a spending pattern change. With hoarding and increased consumers spending on goods anticipation of a lockdown of all non-essential services spending on services fell 2.4% ,while the hospitality industry saw a major loss during the March quarter .This prompted the household saving-to-income ratio to rise two points from the December quarter to 5.5%.

A 3.9% fall in imports of consumables, with services imports crashing by 13.6% the pandemic has created tremors in the Australian economy.Goods exports were down 0.7% and services exports plunged by 12.8%, impacted by the the travel ban on education-related travel and tourism.Elective surgeries are rendered postponed by most and consumers fear of healthcare facilities proving fatal have also triggered a 0.1% fall in spending on healthcare and social assistance.

Government expenditure was up 1.8% in the quarter and 6.2% in the year, stimulated by the bushfire relief packages measures for COVID-19 making the government spending profitable for the economy.While Frydenberg feels the situation could be worse , Labor claimed the need for government responsibility .The shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was quotes saying “the economy was weak before the virus hit, with below-trend growth, stagnant wages and paltry business investment.”

Upon landfall, Cyclone Nisarga is Ek is  to have a speed of 105-110 kmph and is likely to cause heavy rains in south Gujarat and coastal Maharashtra.

Rains in Mumbai, South Gujarat as cyclone nears land:

Cyclone Nisarga has led to constant drizzling in parts of Mumbai. Areas like Parel, Mulund, Goregaon Vasai Road, Navi Mumbai reported drizzle since early evening. Districts including Palghar, Greater Mumbai, Raigad and Mumbai have been put on alert.

Meanwhile, areas like Valsad, Bhavnagar, and Amreli are also likely to receive showers overnight.

Measures taken by Government to control Nisarga:

As a precautionary measure, people living in non-pucca houses are being shifted to safer locations and slum-dwellers in low-lying areas been asked to evacuate. As many as 50 patients were relocated from the Bandra Kurla Complex COVID-19 hospital to the Goregaon NESCO hospital during the day. The state government has implemented stringent measures along the coastal Konkan region along with Mumbai in view of the approaching cyclone.

"Care is being taken to prevent power outages. Precautions are being taken at chemical units and nuclear power plants in Palghar and Raigad," Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said in an update on the cyclone.

NDRF deploys 33 teams in Gujarat and Maharashtra

Meanwhile in Gujarat, the Valsad and Navsari district administrations have started evacuating nearly 20,000 people from 47 villages located close to the state coastline.

Maharashtra prepares for Cyclone Nisarga:

Flight operations in Mumbai were partially hit due to the cyclonic storm approaching the west coast. Vistara put out an advisory saying, flights to/from Mumbai and Goa are likely to be impacted.

After storming the Maharashtra coast with wind speeds of up to 120 kmph in the afternoon, the cyclone has started weakening and its intensity will reduce further by evening, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The cyclone is expected to make landfall by early Wednesday. The storm is expected to move towards north and recurve north-northeast later to cross north Maharashtra and south Gujarat coast between Harihareshwar (Raigad) and Daman by Wednesday afternoon.

China's legislature has approved a proposal to impose a highly contentious national security law in Hong Kong, in an unprecedented move that critics say threatens fundamental political freedoms and civil liberties in the semi-autonomous territory.

The country's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), nearly unanimously approved the resolution Thursday to introduce the sweeping security legislation, which bans secession, subversion of state power, terrorism, foreign intervention and allows mainland China's state security agencies to operate in the city.

Only one delegate voted against the proposal, while 2,878 voted for and six abstained.

The law will drastically broaden Beijing's power over Hong Kong, which last year was roiled by anti-government protests calling for greater democracy and more autonomy from mainland China.

It is every person’s dream to celebrate their love and tie a knot with the person they love. Unfortunately, most of them are judged and are treated as an inferior because of their sexual preference. But this is not the story of Alexandra Quiros and Dunia Araya, the two Ticos as they tied a knot on MAY 26, 2020.

A ray of hope glimmered on July 1, 2018, where the President made a public apology to the members of the LGBTQ community who had faced a dire situation of descrimination and eventually the issue of same sex marriage was finally raised in August 2018 the constitutional court underlined that ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and discriminatory, and within a span of 18 months, the ban was overruled.

“Empathy and love should from now on be the guiding principles which will allow us to move forward,” said the tweet of Costa Rica’s President Carlos Alvarado Quesada shortly after the announcement. Costa Rica became the sixth country in Latin America to legalize the law with Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay and parts of Mexico and the first country in Central America. It is the 28th UN Member state to legalize same-sex marriage.

According to a survey which was conducted in 2013-14, it was found that non-religious communities , non-practicing Catholics and non-Christian minorities ware in support of the LGBT rights than most of the people who practiced Catholics, Mainline Protestants and Neo-Pentecostals which they believed it to be morally Incorrect and a “curable” disease. Left-wing party Broad Front was one of the first main parties to support the same sex-marriage.

Even though the homo sapiens have progressed through these years with new inventions on every field, we fail to transform to the Homo Novus. Despite these laws, the LGBT community faces discrimination on a daily basis, which isn’t shocking, females have been refused to be accepted an equal. Even though the discrimination against women is a whole another issue in itself, but what’s common between the two issues is that both the genders have the right of acceptance and equality.

The world needs a change in the custom societal idiosyncrasy. Marriage shouldn’t be about shoving the custom down one’s throat, neither Love can ever be forced. Sexuality is the path to self-knowledge which isn’t accepted in the 21st century. Alan Rickman, one of the brilliant master minds, a British mathematician who joined a cryptography team to decipher the German enigma code was homosexual and was convicted to “gross indecency” in March 1952 and was sentenced to 12-month hormone therapy.  Giving in, he finally took his life. Moral of the story being, one does not have the right to own one’s life.  Love isn’t a “curable” disease. Eventually, one either has to let the person embrace their true self or wave them a goodbye.

A dessert locust, which the citizens have been noticing all over India, belong to the grasshopper family of Acrididae. These are highly mobile creatures which feed on green vegetation, therefore, proving to be one of the most devastating creatures on the planet. As the name suggests, they usually breed in semi-arid/desert regions.

In the past few days, the internet has been flooded with videos depicting swarms of these locusts have been covering the entire roof, walls of buildings of the Indian states of Katol (in Nagpur) on Monday morning, eventually, they made their way from Madhya Pradesh into Amravati district on May 24 as a result of current wind direction. They were also spotted on Jaipur, Rajasthan, Gujrat, and Uttar Pradesh. A swarm of locust entails 150 million per hectare square, and at present these insects can cause major damage to crops.

These species are usually sited along the India-Pakistan Border during the months of July-October. The question which arises is that what conditions have led them to appear before their time, and importantly, why have fled to the urban cities?

According to reports this is due the cyclonic storms and Luban that struck Omen and Yemen in 2018. Consequently, the deserts were transmogrified into lakes, which led the breeding to continue to 2019. These swarms attacked East Africa where in November they reached its peak and the heavy rains in East Africa allowed the breeding to continue. According to Kuldeep Srivastava, Head of IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre, he stated that “Currently, the winds in Delhi are blowing from Rajasthan side. However, from May 28, the wind pattern may change to easterly. If the wind patterns change continuously to Delhi, the swarms will attack the city.”

What’s even more astonishing is that the attacks of these species have been recorded in dramatic ways in every major religious text. According to the story of Mahabharat, they appear when Karna provokes Arjuna during the battle in Kurukshetra. The Book of Exodus in the Bible, which is the tenth chapter mentions locusts as the eight plague, “They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.”

So, is it all just a bad omen or only the scientific explanation is to be believed? In a philosophical aspect, this is something the humans brought up themselves. The climate change has indeed brought about a drastic change in the lives of the homo sapiens. But what is not to be forgotten is that we are just a part of an ecosystem. This is a transgression against the rules of nature. The year of 2020 has surely challenged us with many more obstacles ahead of us. A few pieces of paper for which people are ready to claim each other lives is not the answer to survival in the long run. Money cannot ensure the survival of nature, the earth which we vontinue o live on.

Greetings everyone, 

We find an immense pleasure to announce that *_JIMS VK's Model United Nations(MUN)_* is going to  be held by, *Rotaract Club Of JIMS Vasant Kunj and Prabandhan, the Management Club Of JIMS Vasant Kunj.*

*DATE- 6th-7th June'2020*

*PLATFORM- Zoom App*

The following *committees* are being simulated at E- MUN 2020

• *UNHRC -*

Violation of human rights in conflict areas with special emphasis on women and children.

• *WHO -*

Discussing the roadmap for containing and conquering the Global Pandemic , COVID-19.

• *AIPPM -*

Discussing the Possible economic reforms in India with special emphasis on self reliance.

*Perks/Inclusions Of E-MUN:*

*•Guide Books/Study Material*

*• Training Seminar* 

*• Awards and Cash Prizes worth INR 9000*

*• Participation Certificate for all the delegates*

*Registration Fee: ₹300/- per delegate*

*GooglePay/Paytm:*

*+91 7042334112*

*Mansi Arora*

Link to the *Individual Delegate Application:*

https://bit.ly/2XdF38h

*Instagram page:* https://bit.ly/2LKngAy

Link to the *Country/Portfolio Matrix:* https://bit.ly/36eVxRL

We hope to provide our delegates an unparalleled experience by organizing a highly personalized and engaging E-MUN

For further queries, contact: 

Vibhor Kataria

+91 7838062099

Secretary General

Sakshi Chhabra

+91 9013059465

Director General

Rishel Puri

+91 8800271274

Chief Executive Officer,

Organizing Committee

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany held up a cheque written by President Trump for $100,000 — his contribution to COVID-19 relief efforts. While doing so, she accidentally revealed his bank account details.

In a press briefing on Friday, McEnany announced that Trump contributed this “to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain and combat the coronavirus”.

Experts have said it is unlikely that Trump’s account will be hacked into as it will have additional security measures in place due to his post as President of the United States. McEnany was appointed as Press Secretary of Donald Trump’s administration in April, this year.

Even though it's unlikely for his account to get hacked, keeping in mind such small details is necessary, to prevent any chance of such incidents from occurring. As we all know, 2020 has been so unpredictable.

Dear Trump, hope your account is extra secured now that the whole world has your details ;)

“AMPHAN”, EVACUATION AMID CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC

Know about How India braced to fight the “Virus from Air”

AMPHAN pronounced as “UM-PUN” is the super-tropical cyclonic storm with a speed of 240 km/h, a minimum pressure of 925 hPa. A tropical cyclone is a weather phenomenon that is essentially a rapidly rotating storm system with characteristics such as a low-pressure centre, strong winds and thunderstorms that produce heavy rain, among others.

“AMPHAN” like giant engines uses warm, moist air as fuel from the area of low pressure over the southern Bay of Bengal.

 Aman initially grew powerful because the waters it passed over were exceedingly warm, as high as 88 degrees in parts of the Indian Ocean. Warmer water provides more of the energy that fuels such rotating storms. Cyclones have become stronger worldwide during the past four decades supporting what theory and computer models have long suggested: climate change is making these storms more intense and destructive. The authorities acted quickly to move people from the cyclone’s path, but worried they might be putting them into the path of the coronavirus. The Assam government on Tuesday issued a "high alert" over cyclone 'Amphan' and directed the state disaster management authority to set up a control room to deal with the situation. Quoting the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna said there is a strong likelihood of widespread effect of the cyclone in Assam, especially in west Assam districts.

Protecting people from becoming infected by the coronavirus while they are packed inside emergency shelters. Around three million people in India and Bangladesh have been evacuated to cyclone shelters. Some of these structures are huge, holding up to 5,000 people. In Nedhuali, a village on India’s coast, police officers moved from mud house to mud house with folded hands, urging residents to get to the emergency shelters. But many villagers refused, saying they were afraid of becoming ill.

Kolkata sat directly in cyclone Amphan’s path. The precautions taken to reduce the spread of the coronavirus may have helped the city ready itself for the storm. Many of the 15 million or so people who live in the Kolkata metropolitan area had already been staying at home, obeying India’s lockdown rules.

The Odisha government officials estimated that the cyclone has affected around 44.8 lakh people in the state. Farmers in Odisha found their fields unfit for the coming Kharif crop as about two feet of saline water was standing on the land. Odisha, which has been ravaged by a string of cyclones over the last few years, including the cyclone Fani last year, has made arrangements to shift 11 lakh, people, from vulnerable areas, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P.K. Jena said. Twelve coastal districts—Ganjam, Gajapti, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurda and Nayagarh—are on high alert. He said of the 809 cyclone shelters in the 12 coastal districts, 242 are currently being used as temporary medical camps for the returnees from different states amid the COVID- 19 lockdown.

"We have 567 cyclone and flood shelters available to house the people in case evacuation is required. In addition, we have arranged 7,092 buildings to keep people if required," Jena said. "Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), NDRF, and fire service personnel have already been sent to the districts. We are also in constant touch with the Indian Coast Guard, IMD, and NDRF for any requirement," he said, adding "saving lives is our priority".
Officials were not taking any chances. They cleared out storm drains, shored up slum shanties with bamboo poles, and removed objects like potted plants from roofs and balconies so they wouldn’t turn into missiles.

More than 73 people were killed by the powerful cyclone that slammed into India. Thousands of homes were wiped out. Many of the dead were crushed by falling trees, electrocuted by downed wires or buried inside collapsing buildings as Cyclone Amphan pummelled the region, leaving a wide swath of devastation and grief. Heavy rains and flooding could have deadly consequences for rare animals there, pushing them out of their habitats and into areas populated by humans.

MANGROVE FOREST: Buffer against the Cyclone
Sundarbans acted as a buffer against the cyclone by slowing wind speed & protecting the villagers. Heavy rains and flooding could have deadly consequences for rare animals there, pushing them out of their habitats and into areas populated by humans.

“The Sundarbans will bear the brunt and soften the blow,” said Prerna Singh Bindra, a conservationist and the author of “The Vanishing: India’s Wildlife Crisis.”
Anand Sharma, the director of the India Meteorological Department, told NDTV that the bulk of the typhoon had moved a little further away from Kolkata, but that winds would batter the city until it reached Bangladesh on Thursday morning.

Well, we still don’t know the extent of the damage caused by Mr Amphan. India has always been appreciated by the world for its evacuation and saving humanity. The present situation of the two viruses attaching from all the ends challenged the potential of India’s warriors. According to me, We have fought a long 6 hours of war on Wednesday by following instructions, rescuing people along with “ social- distancing” but what we lacked is health equipment ranging from masks and sanitizers and enough emergency rooms for the evacuated people. We have always set an example to the world and will keep on inspiring the world. For now let us just pray for the humanity and especially for the all warriors fighting out there, our doctors, nurses, migrants, patients, reporters, officers, police and the administration, the cyclone survivors, social workers and cheers to all the liberators of the unending list of “fighters”.

Residents of Bengaluru, who are still trying to figure out lockdown 4.0, were distracted on Wednesday afternoon by an unusual sound that rattled windowpanes and caused every ear to hear normally again.
Confirmation that it was, in fact, a sonic boom caused by an Indian Air Force (IAF) jet came late in the evening. Putting all speculation to rest, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was a “routine IAF Test Flight involving a supersonic profile which took off from Bengaluru Airport and flew in the allotted airspace well outside City limits”.
The test flight was carried out by the IAF’s Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment which is based in Karnataka’s capital city.

“The sound of a sonic boom can be heard and felt by an observer even when the aircraft is flying as far away as 65 to 80 kilometres away from the person,” the MoD added on Twitter.

Sonic booms are not uncommon. They sure are unnecessary.

Following the 2-month shutdown nationwide, the economy had come to a halt with absolutely nothing and no one working. This led to believe everyone that they finally had time to themselves and that it had stopped where they could, for once do sit in the comfort of their homes and not worry about the deadline on which the reports had to be submitted. Unfortunately, the vacation has ended and it’s time to go back to school.

According to recent reports, the domestic commercial passenger flights will resume effective May 25, 2020.  According to the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri’s tweet, he claimed that the domestic flights across India would resume in a “calibrated manner”. The tweet also mentioned “All the airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25. SOPs for passenger movement are also being separately issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation”

The Ministry of Home Affairs amended its guidelines by expunging domestic air travel from the list. The aim is to finally get the country on a move. It’s true that the world can’t simply sit down and do nothing; this might be a good start to finally resume and get things back on track and adapting to the “normal.” Top airline executives were scheduled to have a meeting the minister officials to finalize the modalities of resumption with SOPs for flight operations .Although some states gave expressed their concerns over the transportation among the red zones, on the other hand, the airlines don’t find it viable to only become operational only in green zones and it may also reduce the demand.

According tp the proposals from Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the passengers are suppose to reach the airport 2 and/or 3 hours prior to their scheduled flight. Delhi, Mumbai, Hydrabad and Bangalore are one amongst the many airports which are setting up thermal screening counters at arrival and departure gates respectively, but since Delhi is one of the busiest airport across the country, the authorities have also decided to set up a system for UV disinfection of all baggage’s and trolleys as well. Mumbai and Banglore airports have created markings, making sure to keep a gap of 1.5 metres between every passenger, the cities have also reshuffled the seating arrangements in food courts to maintain the notion of social distancing.

According to New Zaeland’s reports, they are currently at level 2 alert with 380 Auckland buses running with foreign nationals being granted the permission to take domestic flights. New Zealand is in a state to allow the transportation as according to recent statistics, there hadn’t been any new cases of covid-19 reported in the last 48 hours.

Although extreme precautions are going to be taken and it may not seem viable to only operate in the green zones, but it is extremely important to safeguard the lives of their burgesses. This could be a good start to getting back on track gradually and safely. It is important to get the economy going soon but this could also be taking a huge risk since India has crossed a ballpark of 1 lakh cases overall. One could only hope that everything is administered as planned, And the flights keep making happy landings.  

The Shramik trains are an initiated by the Government of India for the migrant labourers who’ve migrated from rural areas in search of jobs in urban cities. With the poverty conditions touching the roof, the labourers in hope of providing a better future for their family move to the cities. The corona virus attack was so sudden and its impact was extremely high that it left no options to the workers to travel back to their homes. 

The number of migrant laborers crosses a mark of 40 million. As soon as the government announced the commencement of the lockdown whilst the outbreak of a deadly virus, the first gripping thought amongst them was finding a way to their sweet home. The rules of lockdown 1.0 strictly claimed for the citizens of India to remain in the comfort of their homes, but they refused to accept the shelter homes provided by the government and the fear of being quarantined a made them decide to go back to their homes and a mass exodus of set out through whatever means possible, so much so to travel by foot refusing the government’s attempt to stop the migrant flow, determined to reach their destination. 

With job opportunities diminishing due to the shutdown across the country, the labourers had only 2 choices left, either to stay put in the urban cities or to find a way back to their respective hometowns. In the turn of recent events, they gave the government no choice but to behest an order in their appeal, as a result of which the registrations for the Shramik trains kicked off. 

The incident which took place in Gurgaon was a classic example of how poorly the situation was handled. While the people climbed over one another just to get their registerations done, it could’ve been handled in a civilized manner, afterall the determinant workers of the government; the police has been working effortlessly and putting their lives on line just to maintain an order and discipline. The situation could’ve been handled by allowing a certain number of workers to stand in a queue, following the notion of social distancing and providing sanitizers in order to maintain hygiene and a good number of counters would’ve resulted in a much better posse for the government than they are in now.

According to reports, around 55000 workers have been sent back to Bihar, and till May 15, 2020, the helpline number provided by the government of Uttar Pradesh (1076), the administration had received around 50,000 applications with more calls pouring in. In totality, till date, 9 lakh migrant workers have been back to UP. In a broader perspective, around 15 lakh labourers have been sent back while India contains a whopping number of 6 crore migrant labourers, that’s simply 2.5% of the workers successfully sent back. 

According to recent announcements, Ministry of Railways in consultation with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have agreed upon the decision to operate 200 Shramik trains successfully from June 1, 2020, to fulfill the wishes of the stranded workers, hoping to be in the comfort of their homes and family, however the current politics being played by the congress and other political parties, giving false hopes to the migrant workers is higly despicable and is playing with the lives of the helpless.

In my opinion, the workers could’ve bid their time as the once the lockdown ends, various factories, companies, construction sites would post the vacancy of a job opportunity which the workers could’ve availed. Keeping in mind various houses require domestic help, their jobs would’ve resumed in no time, and the ruckus could’ve been avoided.

A cyclone is a large scale of mass that rotates around a strong centre of low atmospheric pressure, characterised by strong winds, thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. Storms developed over the Indian ocean, are referred to as tropical cyclones or severe cyclonic storms. Amphan is the first severe cyclone of the area in over 20 years and is expected to cause severe flooding, mudslides and deadly storm surges with being equivalent to a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane. It's named Amphan since cyclone names are started with the first alphabet for the first cyclone of the year. Amphan is forecast to hit the densely populated, low lying area in coast in the Ganges River Delta, the world's largest river delta with unreliable infrastructure.The cyclone could bring storm surges of up to 5 meters (16.4 feet).Its centre is approaching Kasafal in the easters coast of the state of Odisha, India. The cyclone is set to make landfall between the town of Digha in India's West Bengal state and Bangladesh's Hatiya Island, near to the Sundarbans, the department said in a Twitter post.The Sundarbans are an ecologically fragile cluster of low-lying islands spread across India and Bangladesh, known for mangrove forests and rare wildlife, including the endangered Bengal tiger. The cyclone has started making landfall in India and will take four hours to move fully over land, India's Meteorological Department has said.The Indian government said the storm's impact was already being felt and that rescue crews were working to move uprooted trees in West Bengal. Bangladesh has evacuated around 2 million people and set up 12,078 cyclone centre's, the country's state minister for disaster management and relief Md. Enamur Rahman said. The Indian Coast Guard has deployed 20 disaster relief teams along the country's eastern coast to carry out search and rescue operations at short notice.More than 300,000 people have been evacuated in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, removing them from the path of Cyclone Amphan, according to India's National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF).Relief teams are still rushing to evacuate people in low- lying coastal areas, which are most at risk from a storm surge and heavy rains that could cause flooding. COVID-19 has led to another challenge in the active response to this cyclone. With the nature of this pandemic and the necessity to follow social distancing it puts the risk management of this dual catastrophe at a difficult spot. Landfall on the western side of Bangladesh, will likely bring heavy rains to Cox's Bazar the world's largest refugee camp in the east of the country thus causing huge challenges to the prevention of COVID-19 transmission in the densely populated region of the refugee camp. The NDRF chief said that keeping in mind the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, all NDRF teams have been equipped with PPE kits. It is another form of new normal, we have to handle disasters considering the COVID-19 pandemic too,”he added. The pandemic definitely poses barriers to efficient disaster management putting millions of lives at risk. The evacuation protocols and shelters along with the other stages of rescue protocol are in jeopardy due COVID-19. The photographic images seen of the impending cyclone as it affects everything it passes show the disastrous impact it could have. Waves crashing the sea walls, a Childs death and trees snapping are all photographic evidence of the cyclone.The cyclone is being tracked at every stage and given the multitude of difficulties ahead it can only be hoped that it doesn’t lead to increasing the gravity of the situation.

When the world is battling against Coronavirus, DU students are battling against online exams. The university whose site barely works, will take online examination of third year students. 

Delhi University, rolled out a press release stating that examination will be conducted for final year students in the month of July. The first reaction of final year students’ were “what about my last semester results?” And I have seen many memes regarding DU conducting online exams. Honestly online exams might turn into a big failure. Many students don’t have their study materials and I know you all will agree when I say online classes can’t cover up for offline classes. Many students feel that the study material shared by teachers hasn’t helped to understand the syllabus fully. I remember I had trouble during my admissions because Delhi University’s site wasn’t working, listening about online exams by DU is a big shock for me. Many students don’t even have access to laptop and a broadband connection at their home.

Instead of taking online exams Du should ask for assignments. The assignment should be innovative, innovative in such a way that students have to work hard on their assignments and it will be better for all the students. Many Students are also demanding a “common academic calendar for all universities.” Which in my opinion is better. Lockdown is affecting our career especially last year students’. Their placements and internships have been stopped. I think a new academic calendar should be made for all universities.

“To me, there is only two stans – Hindustan and Foujistan.”

       -Field Marshal K.M Cariappa

Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa who was the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army. KM Cariappa was born in a family of farmers, on January 28, in 1899, in Coorg. The man who made Leh part of India.  Cariapppa’s life has been a fascinating combination of character, luck, and circumstances. He had a little hand in speaking Hindi, so people often called him ‘brown Saab’.

In 1942, when he was promoted as the acting lieutenant colonel and the commanding officer of 7th Rajput Machine Gun Battalion, KM Cariappa became the first Indian to do so, in the Indian Army. KM Cariappa was the officer-in-charge of the division of Army and its assets during the time of India’s independence in 1947.

The Indian Army celebrates the formal appointment of Cariappa into their domain on the 15th of January, 1949 as Army Day which is commemorated all over India annually.

‘Jai Hind’, which was the slogan of Subash Chandra Bose-led Indian National Army (INA), was adopted by KM Cariappa, and has since then been the formal phrase to greet each other in the armed forces.

KM Cariappa was also honoured with the Legion of Merit by American President Harry S Truman – one of the rare feats. In 1986, the government conferred the rank of Field Marshal on KM Cariappa as a mark of honour and recognition of his illustrious career spanning over three decades. He, along with Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, are the only people who have been accorded this honour, till date.

There’s a story that when his son, KC Cariappa was captured as a prisoner-of-war (POW) in the Indo-Pakistani War 1965, KM Cariappa was contacted by Pakistani General Ayub Khan informing him about his son’s safety, and even offered his release. However, KM Cariappa proudly replied, “He is my son no longer. He is the child of this country, a soldier fighting for his motherland like a true patriot. My many thanks for your kind gesture, but I request you to release all or release none. Give him no special treatment.”

During the Indo Pak war, he was successful in capturing the areas of Naushera, Jhangar, Poonch, Zoji La, Dras, and Kargil. But orders from the US prohibited him from removing the Pakistani Forces out of the entire area. This led to a troublesome situation in the areas of Leh, Kargil which would subsequently put India’s security at stake. He disobeyed the Army HQ’s orders and continued with his offensive in Ladakh  and gained control to the entire region. The important thing to mention here is that any lapse in the operation would just pose a severe threat to the Indian forces and territory. For this move, he was appointed to the post of the commander in chief of the Indian Army post-independence, which was the highest post in the Armed Forces.

After the end of the India-Pakistan war, Cariappa went to the Indo-Pakistan border to boost Indian soldiers. During this time, he crossed the border and entered ‘No Man’s Land.’ Nandu Kariyappa writes in his father’s biography, ‘On seeing him, the Pakistani Commander ordered that he stays there. Otherwise, he would be shot. Someone shouted from the Indian border, saying he is General Cariappa. Pakistani soldiers lowered their arms on hearing this. His officer came and saluted General Cariappa.

Apart from his exemplary services in the Indian Army, Cariappa also had a formidable reputation as one of the boldest, revolutionary, principled and bravest officers in the Indian Army. He strongly advocated for better conditions of the Indian soldiers during the Indianisation of the British Army. He also made special provisions to ensure better living conditions for the prisoners of the Indian National Army and even spearheaded a campaign for the release of innocent prisoners who were a part of the INA.

KM Cariappa breathed his last on May 15, 1993. After suffering from arthritis and heart problems, he died in his sleep at Bangalore Command Hospital. As India observes today the 27th death anniversary of the decorated soldier of the Indian Army, lets be inspired by his patriotism and valour.

Rest in Peace, Sir! India Remembers you.