1) Rigid laws responsible for tree fall deaths!
Yet another citizen lost his life as he became victim of tree fall and such incidents are on the rise in the city. Rigid laws are responsible for trees falling as people don’t trim trees regularly as the BMC have strange laws when it comes to cutting or trimming trees and the assigned contractors ask for lot of money which doesn’t fit into the budget of cooperative societies. Trimming trees regularly must be made mandatory and the BMC which collects enormous property tax from citizens should cut or trim dangerous trees free of cost as people pay taxes to the government.
Also, societies should be given a free hand to trim trees on their own without permissions though cutting trees should be governed by certain laws to prevent deforestation. BMC should also assign special vans to collect trimmed branches for disposal. Wood is precious and a lot of tree wood can also act as a revenue earner for the government to meet tree cutting expenses.
– S.N.Kabra
2) Welcoming weather forecast
The prediction of meteorological department of forecasting few spells of rains is a good news. As per the weather reports, there is a chance of rains. The onset month of June and the withdrawal month of September give a promising picture in terms of good country wide rainfall distribution. Normal rainfall in the State is critical for rice, cane, corn, cotton and soybean cultivation. To start with, the month of June will have moderate rain fall and they may not cause anxiety of delay in monsoon setting up in the state in general and the country in particular. Now it is time to manage water resources available to our advantage instead of playing blame game about floods.
– Jayanthy Subramaniam
3) A gift for Mumbaikars
Coastal road project to get Centre’s green light finally and it gives much relief to the road users of Mumbai. The much awaited coastal road plan is a boon. The road from Nhava Sheva to New Airport through coastal belt is a good initiative. It is indeed a dream come true project for the Mumbaikars. Though it is not a new idea, the coastal freeway has received an impetus under the present government in the state of Maharashtra, which feels that the freeway road is desperately needed to improve movement of Mumbai’s traffic. This thinking echoes the recommendations of a technical committee set up by the government whose report, submitted in 2011. It is indeed a gift for the Mumbaikars. It is a welcome move and a right step in the right direction.
– Akhilesh Krishnan
4) Catch them young
Prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, who missed out on the chance to become the game’s youngest-ever Grandmaster in March this year, completed the technical formalities to become the world’s youngest GM at present, and the second youngest on the all-time list. Praggnanandhaa has thereby emulated compatriot Parimarjan Negi, who became the second-youngest GM on the all-time list in 2006.
Chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, who missed out on the chance to become the game’s youngest-ever Grandmaster in March this year, completed the technical formalities to become the world’s youngest GM at present, and the second youngest on the all-time list. The Chennai-based youngster made the third and final norm in style by winning the ninth and concluding round of the Fourth International Chess ad Gredine Open at Ortisei, Italy. Making heads turn and sometimes even give him a second look on an international arena. The young lad makes a good ambassador for lots of things. Congratulations to Master Praggnanandhaa for achieving the GM norm. May this achievement fuel him to achieve many more titles.
Praggu, as he is fondly called by his coach and mentor GM R.B. Ramesh, defeated Dutch GM Roeland Pruijssers in 40 moves to tie for the title with Croatia’s Ivan Saric at 7.5 points before settling for the second spot. After beating Italian Luca Moroni Jr. in the eighth round, Praggnanandhaa had to wait for the final-round pairing to know whether he had already done enough to make the final norm or needed at least a draw to become a grandmaster. Had Praggnanandhaa faced a player below the rating of 2485 in the final round, he would have required at least half a point more. As it turned out, the pairing with Pruijssers, rated 2514, meant even a defeat would not have hurt the youngster’s norm prospects. With the pressure off, Praggnanandhaa demolished the Dutchman.
Top-five youngest GMs
- Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine) – 12 years, 7 months, 0 days (2002)
- R. Praggnanandhaa (India) – 12 years, 10 months, 13 days (2018)
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) – 13 years, 1 month, 11 days (2017)
- Parimarjan Negi (India) – 13 years, 4 months, 22 days (2006)
- Magnus Carlsen (Norway) – 13 years 4 months, 27 days (2004)
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa should continue to play like Vishwanathan Anand and others. Winning and losing is part of the game. He should play undeterred by the results. He should be provided with adequate facilities. Kudos to the young grand master winning global reputation and his trainer! He will prove his caliber in future and there is no doubt that chess master Anand finds his heir in chess. Now the focus, according to his coach, is to find sponsorships and support to travel abroad and compete in tournaments there. He has all the qualities and became a GM but we just need the resources and the encouragement to go further in his chess career.
– C.K Subramaniam
