NCP Mumbai President Sachin Ahir has sought compensation for the 12-year-old boy’s family who fell into a pit which was dug for the construction work of coastal road. He has also demanded a thorough investigation and strict action against officers who were responsible for the negligence at Coastal road site.
“We have seen that every alternate day someone is falling into the pits or manholes in the city. Many people have lost their lives due to the irresponsible behaviour of the BMC officials. Since the arrival of monsoon, till today, 43 people have lost their lives. BMC is solely responsible for the said death,” alleged Ahir.
Ahir further said, “Death of 12-year-old Bablu Paswan is unfortunate. If Barricading should have been done around the pit, we could have avoided the tragedy.”
In the previous week, Divyansh Singh, a 2-year-old boy had died falling into a manhole near Goregaon. The BMC workers, after carrying out two days search operation, failed to find out the body of Divyansh.
Ahir said, “Police had beaten up a friend of Divyansh’s father who was helping the officers to find out the body. As a human being, such incident always hurts me.”
Age old Congress party is facing leadership crisis and that continues to haunt the party very much. Though party seniors have shortlisted either Ashok Gehlot or Malikarjun Kharge for the top post. A part of the section is banking on a youth leader to head Congress and threw a spanner into the seniors plan. Thus the stalemate continues. Tweets and suggestions once again brought to fore an in fight among the old and the young and that sounds very bad for a depleted party. The old and new tug of war will continue forever in a shattered party like Congress.
Nikhil Akhilesh
Make Calendar Year as Financial Year
Expert-committee chaired by known economist LK Jha which was set up by Union Government to suggest new financial-year, had suggested systematic calendar-year of January-December to replace current system of April-March financial-year due to multiple advantageous, and also to be in tune with most other countries of the world. But as usual, recommendations of LK Jha committee set up at high cost were dumped by the then political rulers without being implemented. It is time that both financial and working year for the complete country may be unified as the systematic calendar year to replace present financial-year of April-March which is being in continuation as a British legacy even after seven long decades of the country having achieved independence.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
Standardize consumables in car-industry
Too many variants of any car-model confuse customers. There may be just two variants apart from the third with automatic gears, one basic Lx for economy customers and the other Vx with all company-fitted extra accessories and luxuries for affording customers. There is no sense in having too many confusing variants like Lx, Lxi, Vx, Vxi for same model. India being biggest consumer-market amongst nations with free economy, it has certainly power to dictate its consumer-friendly terms for global market-leaders collaborating car-manufacture in India.
Union government should induce standardization of common accessories like tyres and batteries so that same parts may be used in different models of cars produced by various car-manufacturers. It will heavily bring down cost of consumables through their bumper production in extra large numbers in some limited sizes and specifications. It can be achieved by merging some nearing sizes and specifications. Such guidelines though also mentioned in auto-policy of Union government, are never followed in actual practice.
Madhu Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Around 50 people are feared trapped under debris after a four-storey building collapsed in Mumbai‘s crowded Dongri neighbourhood on Tuesday afternoon.
Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have reached at the site, looking for survivors. Ambulances and fire trucks have also arrived there.The area, full of dilapidated buildings, was also flooded in heavy rain in the past weeks. The rescue operation has been stated.
As per Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster management cell, 4-storey Kesarbai building collapsed at Tandel street in Dongri, Mumbai. The rescue operation has been stated with support of local people.
Twenty six years old Danishta Idrees Khan a resident on Govandi was admitted to KEM hospital. She succumbed to suspected H1N1 virus after she stopped responding to treatment. The woman was also diagnosed with Leptospirosis and was undergoing treatment at MICU department. The KEM hospital management had declared her dead on July 13. H1N1 has so far claimed four lives in Mumbai and 191 in Maharashtra this year. Has the state government been unable to control the spread of H1N1 virus? Did the health department take adequate safety measures to control the spread of the disease? Every alternate year has seen an increase in the number of swine flu cases in monsoon. Last July, there were zero cases of swine flu.
Dr Hemant Deshmukh dean of KEM hospitals said, “She was treated in MICU ward for swine flu. She died on 13th July. Her reports for the leptospirosis ELISA test were also positive. We are in the process of confirming if she died of Swine Flu.”
Danishta was admitted to the hospital on July 8. She succumbed to the disease while undergoing treatment at KEM. She became the first casualty of the viral disease since the monsoon’s onset. A senior health official stated that the civic death review committee will probe the matter and report will be submitted within seven days. City physicians said that they also have been treating many cases of fever and respiratory infections. A south Mumbai doctor said, “Cases of dengue and malaria are also there but numbers are not as alarming as yet.”
A health official said, “Swine Flu cases are increasing but people should not panic. The situation is under control and we are keeping strict supervision. Since it is monsoon season people should take care of their health.”
The first two deaths from H1N1 virus were reported in March 2019 with the BMC confirming the demise of a 30 year old woman from Agripada and a 65 year old woman from Mazgaon in March. “She was a diabetic patient and suffering from co-morbidity including severe breathlessness which is medically termed as Acute Respiratory Down Syndrome (ARDS). As of now death is being suspected due to leptospirosis or H1N1. This will be confirmed after the epidemiology cell of the BMC vets the case and arrives at a conclusion on the actual cause of the death,” said a senior health official.
Atul Joshi a Kandivali resident said, “Cases of swine flu are increasing in the state. As a result of this, people are worried about their health. Citizens want the BMC to improve health care facilities in the city. They also need to take proper precaution and have vaccination to prevent themselves from H1N1.”
BMC’s executive health officer Dr Padmaja Keskar said that the woman’s death can be attributed to H1N1 or leptospirosis only after an investigation by death review committee. Just like the rest of the state Mumbai too began witnessing H1N1 cases since February when 39 confirmed cases were reported.
With rains causing a rise in respiratory infections, doctors caution that not just people with underlying health conditions but also healthy individuals must consider vaccination. An analysis of 188 deaths showed that more individuals without any associated diseases died due to H1N1 induced complications compared to those with co-morbid conditions like hypertension and diabetes.
In spite of tall claims of Maharashtra Health department, recently 1,705 people had tested positive for the contagion in the state since the beginning of the year. Swine flu has begun to raise its ugly head over Maharashtra, with the state already registering 11 deaths in June this year. The state’s public health department has assured that preventive measures are being taken to curb the menace but they failed in controlling the deaths so far. They said that they have intensified the surveillance by taking up vaccination drive but still they are not able to reach the maximum of rural areas. Urban areas and its slums have different challenges altogether. As per the recent data shared by the state public health department, few patients are on ventilator. At least 139 deaths have been registered between January and June this year. Pune has recorded the highest number of deaths (44) followed by Nagpur (34), Nashik (31), Kolhapur (12) and Mumbai (04). Sixteen deaths have been recorded in rest of the state. The rainy season has spurred transmission of viruses, including the swine flu virus.
People should exercise caution. Over 21,286 people were given Oseltamivir pills, an antiviral medication used to treat influenza A and influenza B between January and June 2019. However, there is no check whether the medicines are consumed or not, just distribution of medicine is not enough. There is dearth of staff and surveillance team to keep check and records. More than hundred patients are admitted to the hospitals, around 1,411 patients have been discharged. Over 23,000 hit by H1N1 this year in 2019.The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has stated that H1N1 influenza, considered a winter disease, is affecting patients irrespective of season, geography and age group. The virus has already affected more than 23,000 people across India in 2019 itself, stated NCDC officials. The NCDC comes under the ministry of health and family welfare. There were at least two seasons for the virus. One season considered to be January-March and the second one is August-October. Seasons are called a ‘major peak’ and August-October would be a ‘minor peak’. Now, this has reversed.
June and July this year seems to be the major peak. The influenza virus has trans-equatorial transmission — that is it moves from the Northern Hemisphere to Southern Hemisphere and vice-versa. Fifty-two people have died in Maharashtra due to swine flu till this week, revealed data provided by the state’s public health department. Also, a drastic change in weather sparked off the cases. The highest number of casualties has been reported from Nashik district (15 deaths), followed by Nagpur (nine deaths) and Pune (six deaths). According to the recent data released by the Health Department, around 5,28,414 people have been screened for swine flu of which 675 patients were confirmed. Around 11 people from Pune and two from Nagpur were put on ventilators. With dominant flu strains frequently changing, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a new vaccine each year against the most dominant influenza strains. For 2018-19, WHO, a specialised agency of the United Nations, has recommended the quadrivalent vaccine, which protects A (H1N1) pdm09, influenza A (H3N2), and among B viruses, B-Yamagata lineage and B-Victoria lineage.
A new strain of influenza virus, officially named the “new H1N1”, first identified in April 2009, and commonly called “Swine flu” initially spread in Mexico and then globally by transmission. It is thought to be a mutation of four known strains of the influenza A virus, subtype H1N1: one endemic in (normally infecting) humans, one endemic in birds, and two endemic in pigs (swine). Experts assume the virus “most likely” emerged from pigs in Asia, and was carried to North America by infected persons. The virus typically spreads from coughs and sneezes or by touching contaminated surfaces and then touching the nose or mouth. Symptoms, which can last up to a week, are similar to those of seasonal flu, and may include fever, sneezes, sore throat, coughs, headache, and muscle or joint pains.
The first death was a 14-year-old girl in Pune, Maharashtra. On 8th and 9th August, 2010 a 43-year-old man in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, a 42-year-old teacher in Pune and a 53-year-old woman in Mumbai died. On August 10, 2009 a 53-year-old doctor in Pune and a 4-year-old in Chennai died. On August 11, 2009 a seven-year-old girl in Vadodara, Gujarat died. On August 13, a 26-year-old woman became Bengaluru’s first victim of swine flu. An eleven-month-old boy, a 75-year-old woman and a 37-year-old woman died taking the toll in Pune, severely hit by the virus, to 15 and across the country, to 24. A lady having a young daughter of five yrs died near Mumbai in Khopoli on August 14, 2009. On August 13, three people died at different hospitals in Bengaluru, according to the reports. The death toll of the H1N1 flu in India is rising in leaps and bounds. Within the short span of a little over three months, the mortality figure has shot up to 503.
The whole country is suffering with dengue deaths swine flu; each year government makes tall claims but there is no control over rising issues. I wish at atleast one minister, MP or MLA dies with such fever. In this country ministers never suffer with any natural calamity or terror attacks. Even in riots common man gets killed but they are safe. Unless and until politicians of this country won’t lose their lives there is no cure for the common man. In Pune city in October 2012 year, a total of 34 people have died of dengue fever in the state, between January and October 20. Among them, 16 dengue deaths were reported in October alone, said officials from the state health department. The state government has issued directives to authorities to take preventive steps to check the spread of dengue. Every year they issue such directives on paper and solutions are marked on papers but issues remain in files. From January to October 20, 2012, 931 people were found positive for dengue. Among the 34 dengue deaths so far, the highest number of dengue deaths, seven, were reported from Jalgaon alone. State surveillance officer of state health department is busy counting the death records but no one is there to save lives.
Another state health official attributed the rise in dengue cases to shortage of water leading to storage, rapid urbanisation and burgeoning construction activities. Unplanned growth and construction activities are some reasons for dengue cases in urban areas. In the rural parts, the state has a team of 12,000 multipurpose workers who go door-to-door and take stock of the situation every fortnight. As many as 16 sentinel centres for diagnosis of dengue were set up in the state in 2008. It is among the reasons why more cases are being detected.
(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)
Vishal Gupta, a renowned author, and a well established criminal lawyer, always believes that every situation can be encountered with a solution-based approach and that’s the only way to move forward in life. With immense faith in the goodness of love, life and people, Vishal in a chat with Editor-in-Chief Dr. Vaidehi shared his inspiration behind penning down ‘Happyness Bank’, his idea of happiness, how to find it, how to celebrate the life, and future plans.
Why “Happyness Bank” when there are hundreds of blogs by various bloggers and somewhat similar to what you have written?
Happiness Bank is a radical new idea and concept, given to the world by the authors. The idea stems due to the dismal present situation mankind is passing through. War, terrorism, poverty, climate change, etc., are increasing every year and there is no one idea to reverse this death spin of self-destruction. No government or organisation has any idea of how to stop a man from destroying himself.
It is now a question of “whether” rather than a question of ‘when’ mankind will destroy itself.
The only way we can stop all the unwanted problems mentioned above is when man himself changes from inside – his inherent nature.
The Happyness Bank is that idea, which when implemented will create an irreversible, long term, inherent, positive change in man, thus stopping the death spin which mankind is caught into.
Happyness Bank is an idea where every human being will be given a free Happyness Passbook and a list of pre-defined “Good Work List”. As people will complete the activities in the list, their good work will be Recognised, Recorded and Rewarded (3 R’s). This idea when implemented from a young age within the impressionable minds of children will create future men and women who will co-operate and grow together, rather than compete and destroy each other. Happyness Bank will tap into the inherent goodness of man which presently remains dormant due to the current education system.
Happyness Bank is a 100 per cent original idea. To the best of our knowledge, such an idea has never been suggested before by any individual/organisation.
The book is unique because not only does it give an idea but even gives the entire procedure of execution on 3 levels, – a village, a corporate and a nation. The point system given in this book is very unique as it gives equal opportunity to the poor v/s rich, man v/s woman, and young v/s old.
How has ‘Happyness Bank’ changed the world?
The Happiness Bank concept has been introduced through this book recently and it is hoped that organisations/schools/corporate and countries will take notice of this idea and implement it in their respective Jurisdictions.
The complete benefit and change that Happyness Bank will bring about is a matter of time and implementation. It is yet to be implemented and seen.
However, the authors have envisaged the future and predicted that if it is successfully implemented across organisations and countries, then by 2047, it is possible that, HAPPYNESS BANK will change the lives of billions of people around the world since almost a hundred countries would have chosen to adopt the scheme into their system. The authors envisage the United Nations will actively support the idea and form a separate committee that would assist countries in the implementation and execution of the HAPPYNESS BANK.
The earth would have become a better place to live in, as the death spin of mankind towards self-destruction would have been reversed. The simple yet effective idea of the 3 R’s— RECOGNISING, RECORDING and REWARDING good work, with a simple passbook, would have brought about unfathomable amounts of positivity in people.
Global terrorism and other criminal activities would be at their lowest, resulting in an obvious increase in the HAPPYNESS INDEX. The last three decades would be the first decades where progress would be made by co-operation, love, and goodness, instead of annexations, war and destruction.
Through the HAPPYNESS BANK, mankind will, at last, discover a way to harness its most potent energy—the energy of LOVE and GOODNESS, and achieve its most cherished goal—the goal to be HAPPY.
Tell us something about the idea of Happiness.
Happiness cannot be defined in words or symbols. It is a state of ‘Being’ and a state of experiencing.
Unfortunately, it cannot be expressed in any language. Analogies, Metaphors, idioms, examples, Anecdotes, similes can be used as signposts or guidelines to describe the state. However, no exact definition can be given.
Every person may have his own personal definition of happiness and they all are right. The authors found our ‘Real’ happiness through ‘Giving’ and ‘Serving’, and the idea in this book is a reflection of our own experiences and evolution in life.
Tell us about Cyrus Gonda’s contribution to this book. Whose Brainchild Happyness Bank is and how you both emerged with the topic!
This book is the brainchild of Vishal Gupta. Cyrus has edited the book, polished the language and given valuable inputs to develop the concept.
Have you reached the state of joy? What were your efforts to achieve the same?
Joy and happiness is a very personal thing and it is a state of being which can be lived but cannot be described in words.
However, we would like to take this opportunity to differentiate between some words and concepts to give the reader food for thought. Some people consider temporary euphoria, temporary possession of an expensive asset as a happy thing. Some people consider gain of money/power/fame as a happy thing. However, time and again it has been proved without fail that money/power/fame and expensive assets do not bring in happiness. They bring a temporary sense of euphoria which within a few days turns into sometimes a burden or sometimes a vice.
On the other hand, there is a state of ‘Being’ where you are satisfied with whatever you have, you are always in a mode of giving and helping, you accept difficult situations with courage, and you are calm and steady under all situations. You love and care for people unconditionally, you expect less from other people and so on and so forth.
I have seen and been on both ends of the spectrum, I have swung to both extreme of the Pendulum. I have experienced both the states of being and living. I have found my own middle path, my own balance between the two extremities.
I enjoy and celebrate every moment for whatever, it brings to me. The central concept of Happyness Bank of “Doing good work” and “Helping others” has played a crucial part in my life in achieving this state.
So – Yes, I have achieved a state of ‘Anand’ or ‘Joy’ and this book is a reflection of one of the things, I have done to attain that state. In fact, this book itself is a living proof that I have reached a state of Joy because it is only in such a state of ‘Joy’ that such an idea can take birth and manifest itself.
Hereafter, won’t there be any sad things in life? How do you define overcoming sadness?
Sadness is the absence of happiness. Sadness is not the opposite of happiness. Sadness is like darkness.
Let me give an example to explain. Darkness by itself is not something. You cannot catch darkness and bring it into a room or you cannot contain darkness in a box and move it from one place to another. Darkness is just simply the absence of light. If you want to remove or overcome darkness, you simply bring in light. Similarly, sadness is the absence of happiness. If you want to overcome sadness, bring in happiness.
We are neither in control of external situations nor we can change people. Every morning when we wake up, life greets us with challenges. So, life is daily throwing challenges at us. We have no control over what challenge is thrown at us but how we have control over we perceive and react to these challenges and situations.
Happiness may not be found in the flow of life but may be found in the change of attitude and perception towards life. Every hurdle can be converted into a stepping stone, every loss can be converted into an opportunity, and every failure can be converted into a lifelong learning experience.
Can happiness be achieved by reading a book?
First of all, happiness is more about losing many things rather than achieving. Losing what? Well, losing our big fat egos, our fears, our expectations, our desires, etc.
Happiness is a journey. This journey is full of experiences which come from our own life experiences, other people’s life experiences, interaction, and communication with other people, and of course reading books.
Books, which are written by people who share their own personal experiences, are a very good source of information which can be understood and imbibed by a reader in this pursuit for happiness. However, books written by authors based on their shallow knowledge and cut copy paste from other books cannot bring a genuine and life-changing experience.
After “Happyness Bank”, what’s next?
Well, my second book is about “Blissful Breathing” (How to breathe correctly to cure all your Mind and Body problems).
95 per cent of the population breathes incorrectly and this causes most of our health problems from depression and anxiety to blood pressure and diabetes.
The 5 per cent people who breathe correctly are babies between ages 0–5. After that age, they develop various kinds of fear and perceptions which leads to incorrect breathing. This book will give readers various different breathing techniques for insomnia, depression, anger, hunger, agitated mind, etc.
Any message to our readers?
Presently, the most rampant diseases which are spreading like wildfire are depression, stress, and anxiety. In fact, 90 per cent of our health problems can be traced back to our minds. People are unhappy, agitated, angry, and miserable.
Therefore, it becomes very important for us to think about what things/activities bring about happiness in us.
The authors do not intend to force upon the reader any one idea of happiness and they don’t want to preach that only their idea can lead to happiness. In fact, the authors want the readers to start thinking and experimenting and acting upon things which they think can create happiness in them.
So, our advice to the readers is – Be Happy and Celebrate Life Every Second.
The extremely disturbing fact about attempts of Islamic State (ISIS) of entering the US soil and create economic chaos has been recently exposed by Anne Speckhard and Ardian Shajkovci in the Homeland Security on June 3, 2019.
In this report they wrote, “The vulnerability of the U.S. borders to possible exploitation by terrorists – particularly in light of the heavy migration flow toward our southern border, either by those claiming asylum or relying on smugglers to cross into the country undetected – has been a border enforcement and policy concern since at least 9/11. While the administrations of both President George W. Bush and President Obama took a series of executive immigration and border enforcement actions to respond to the flaws of our immigration and border enforcement system, such as placing emphasis on deporting individuals considered national security risks, gang members, and other dangerous felons, a huge controversy erupted, especially among Democrats, in response to the Trump administration introducing a number of more restrictive immigration measures, namely the prospect of building a wall along the border with Mexico and instituting a travel ban against countries from which terrorists might arrive”.
Regarding attempt of ISIS and other jihadist forces of entering Europe, the writers said, “In the past, terrorists have managed to infiltrate Europe through irregular immigration routes, such as in the case of the November 2015 Paris and 2016 Brussels airport and metro attacks. The nature and the extent of such threats in the United States, including measures put in place to address them, remains a point of contention for many. For instance, in January, the White House said 4,000 “known or suspected terrorists” were prevented from crossing into the United States via the U.S.-Mexican border in 2018. A later report disputed such claims, noting that they were based on 2017 data, that the number refers to the total security stops made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and that these were primarily made at airports versus at the southern U.S. border. While figures remain speculative, we have learned in our in-depth research interviews with over 160 ISIS defectors, returnees and imprisoned ISIS cadres to date about multiple individuals who knew of, or were themselves offered, or pressured by the ISIS Emni (intelligence) to return to Europe to mount attacks at home. We have not, however, found in our research interviews, until now, any instance of ISIS cadres who were prepared to be sent by ISIS to attack inside the U.S. This may be because there were so few Americans who made it all the way to Syria and Iraq, many being stopped by the FBI before departing the country, or because we simply had not run across those with such knowledge”.
Commenting on this very important scoop, Todd Bensman, who is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and a senior national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies and who had previously led counterterrorism-related intelligence efforts for the Texas Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division (ICD) for nearly a decade said, “As I have often documented, too, (also here and here), the capacity for ISIS operatives to travel from Syria to the southern border is well-established. Smuggling organizations routinely bridge the Atlantic Ocean to link Middle Eastern countries like Syria and Iraq to the U.S. southern border through as many as a dozen Latin America countries. Numerous reputed Islamist terrorists have made the journey, such as a Somali who crossed into California and went on to conduct a 2017 vehicle-ramming attack in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.”
Bensman further said, “Whatever becomes of the inevitable investigation or Abu Henricki, the published report about what he said should serve as a wake-up call to American decision-makers and voters, regardless of partisan sentiment, to look at the border crisis as about much more than Central Americans with children”.
This revelation is extremely crucial as the United States is going to go into electing the next president as well as members of the Congress, especially when all of us are aware of disturbing activities of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib who openly are making frantic bids in compelling the US administration in opening borders to the immigrants. We also are aware of similar attempts by the members of the Democratic Party and of course Nancy Pelosi.
It may be mentioned here that, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even has crossed all the limits by condemning President Donald Trump’s actions against Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro or even her extreme attraction towards the illegal immigrants.
It is beyond my understanding as to how these elected representatives are openly voicing in favour of the illegal immigrants, who pose a grave threat to the national security of the US. Such statements certainly cannot be accepted simply as the right to freedom of expression. Rather, these are clear cases of sedition and high treason. In the name of applying their right under the 10th Amendment clearly is an abuse of this privilege. In today’s world, no one has the right to doing anything that would ultimately go in favour of ISIS and other jihadist outfits or place the lives of the American people vulnerable to these notorious outfits.
With my understanding of the jihadist entities as well as activities of terror-patron nations like Iran and Qatar and billions of Qatari money flowing into the media outlets, politicians and think-tanks, I would definitely question whether these American politicians are under the payroll of Iran or Qatar.
ICSVE Director and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine Anne Speckhard and ICSVE Research Director Ardian Shajkovci interviewed the operative on May 12 in Syria as part of a four-year ongoing project for which ICSVE has already recorded conversations with 169 ISIS defectors, returnees, and imprisoned cadres. They paused long enough from their work to write the article.
Among intelligence community agencies, ICSVE’s reporting would fall under a category known as “raw information”, meaning it is by nature unevaluated and uncorroborated when presented just as it was heard. But make no mistake: Raw information is highly coveted. That’s because professional intelligence practitioners, through the collection and investigative techniques over time, can develop raw unevaluated leads to learn about real threats and to thwart real plots. It’s doubtful that enough time has elapsed for Speckhard’s raw information to be verified and that its relative validity would ever be made public once it was since intelligence is rarely used to publicly corroborate research findings as suggested in an editor’s note only a couple of weeks later. Therefore, the observation that the report should be disregarded because it is “uncorroborated by intelligence sources” is invalid on its face.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
The first Union Budget 2019 was tabled in the Parliament by newly elected Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Everyone’s eyes on that day were on Finance Minister to see how she would deal with twin challenges of a slowdown in GDP and increase in unemployment. These were indeed the two key challenges are in desperate need to be addressed. However, the question is, did her budget address them or not?
The Economic Survey which showed that GDP growth had fallen from 8.2 per cent in 2016-17 to 7.2 per cent in 2017-18, the year of demonetisation, and further decreased to 6.8 per cent in 2018-19 and the projection for 2019-20 is 7 per cent. For the 8.27 crore organised sector employees (NSSO 2011-12) and more than double that number of non-agricultural unorganised workers (ILO 2016 estimates) who create the bulk of this GDP, this budget has come up as a big let-down for them.
The budget presented by honorable Finance Minister Sitharaman does not seem to address the problems of private sector workers in crisis while the labour laws are considered the main constraints on the growth of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). 63 million MSMEs-employing around 111 million people and according to for 30 per cent of the GDP and 40 per cent of total exports of the country but there is widespread sickness among them and they are now reeling under a debt burden of Rs 37,000 crore.
Unemployment is one of the major problems of our country that cannot be avoided. According to the State of India’s Environment (SoE) In Figures, 2019 India’s rate of unemployment doubled in past two years as it has gone up from four per cent to 7.6 in the only last two years (May 2017-April 2019). This has particularly affected young graduates. The report reveals that the unemployment rate among the youth (between 20-24 years) who constitute around 40 per cent of India’s labour force, has an unemployment rate of 32 per cent. This rate among the educated is even worse.
The World Bank recently estimated that India needs to create at least 8.1 million jobs every year to maintain its employment rate which has been declining. But what about the emerging danger of tech-induced job losses? According to a new study by the McKinsey Global Institute in June 2019, men could lose roughly up to 44 million jobs and women up to 12 million in India due to automation by 2030. The report comes even as joblessness touches a 45-year high and female labour force participation rate remains a low 27 per cent.
This means at least 50 lakh jobs on an average would be lost per year over the next decade. This has been reiterated by many other studies by international agencies like World Bank and ILO and all of them call for serious mitigation. The Union Budget 2019-20 shows the government ignored the problems. Automation has become a threat to workers around the globe, especially in economies that rely heavily on manual labour in manufacturing and services.
These surveys are highlighting the alarming factors and are in direst need to be solved. So the government must put some measures in practice to prevent this rapid growth in unemployment and downfall in GDP.
By Faheem Usmani Qasmi
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
The launching of Chandrayaan 2 was called off just 56 minutes before blast-off early this morning due to a technical snag. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it will announce new date for it later.
According to the ISRO, the powerful GSLV Mark III rocket was set to go up from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 2:51 am with a rover that would land on the moon in about two months’ time. After first being put on hold 56 minutes before blast-off, the Chandrayaan launch was called off because of a technical snag. President Ram Nath Kovind was present at the space port for the launch.
As per reports, the countdown was halted 56 minutes and 24 seconds before the planned liftoff at 2:51 am. The snag was in the cryogenic stage or last stage of the rocket before it separates. ISRO had announced one hour before launch that the filling of liquid hydrogen fuel had been completed.
ISRO tweeted around 3 am, “A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at 1 hour before the launch. As a measure of abundant precaution, #Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today. Revised launch date will be announced later.”
A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at 1 hour before the launch. As a measure of abundant precaution, #Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today. Revised launch date will be announced later.
ISRO chief K Sivan said that the space agency has another lift-off opportunity tomorrow if it were called off today. But launch windows have to meet several technical criteria and so it could even take weeks or months for a new date.
“It was the right decision to call off Chandrayaan 2 launch. We could not have taken any chance in such a big mission, former Defence Research and Development Organisation’s director of public interface, Ravi Gupta, told news agencies.
It is notable that the 3.8-tonne Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft comprising an orbiter, the lander and the rover was to lift off on the 640-tonne GSLV Mark III (nicknamed “Baahubali”). GSLV Mark III is India’s most powerful rocket. It is as high as a 15-storey building. Once it is launched, Chandrayaan 2 has to separate from the rocket and orbit the Earth several times before being slung towards the moon, a 3.84 lakh-km journey. The orbiter is to circle the moon for about a year.
When the spacecraft reaches the moon 54 days after lift-off, it will engage Vikram, a 1.4-tonne lander. It will in turn set the 27-kilogramme rover Pragyan down on a high plain between two craters on the lunar south pole. After touchdown on the moon, the rover is expected to conduct experiments for one Moon day, equal to 14 Earth days, primarily to check if the lunar south pole has primordial water reserves.
The moon mission’s success will propel India to an elite league; it would be the fourth country to soft-land a spacecraft on the lunar surface after the US, Russia and China. Israel had tried earlier this year but failed. All the equipment involved in the Chandrayaan 2 mission have been designed and manufactured in India. It is the sequel to the successful Chandrayaan 1, which helped confirm the presence of water on the moon in 2009.
Chandrayaan-2 will go to the Moon’s south polar region. The mission’s aim is to improve the understanding of the Moon – discoveries that will benefit India and humanity as a whole. The Moon is the closest cosmic body at which space discovery can be attempted and documented. It is also a promising test bed to demonstrate technologies required for deep-space missions. Chandrayaan-2 attempts to foster a new age of discovery, increase humans’ understanding of space, stimulate the advancement of technology, promote global alliances, and inspire a future generation of explorers and scientists.
Comparison between two moon missions
Chandrayaan-1 was launched by India’s Polar Satellite launch Vehicle- PSLV-C11 – on October 22, 2008 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. On the other hand, Chandrayaan-2 was slated be launched by the GSLV Mk-III on July 15, 2019. The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft made more than 3,400 orbits around the Moon. Chandrayaan-1 was operational for 312 days till August 29, 2009. Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter will continue its mission for around a year. The Chandrayaan-2 was originally planned as a collaboration with Russian space agency Roscosmos.
There were 11 scientific instruments onboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Five of them were Indian while the others were from European Space Agency (ESA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter carries eight scientific payloads for mapping the lunar surface and to study the exosphere (outer atmosphere) of the Moon. The lander carries three scientific payloads to conduct surface and subsurface science experiments. All the equipment involved in the Chandrayaan 2 mission have been designed and manufactured in India.
* Lander capable of ‘Soft Landing’ on the lunar surface.
* Algorithm wholly developed by India’s scientific community.
* Rover capable of conducting in-situ payload experiments.
TIMELINE OF CHANDRAYAAN-1
August 15, 2003: Chandrayaan programme is announced by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
November 8, 2008: Chandrayaan-1 enters a Lunar Transfer Trajectory.
November 14, 2008: The Moon Impact Probe ejects from Chandrayaan-1 and crashes near the lunar South Pole – confirms presence of water molecules on Moon’s surface.
August 28, 2009: End of Chandrayaan-1 programme.
TIMELINE OF CHANDRAYAAN-2 MISSION
September 18, 2008: Then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission.
July 9, 2019: Launch window opens.
July 15, 2019: The launching of Chandrayaan 2 was called off just 56 minutes before blast-off.
September 6, 2019: Chandrayaan-2 was expected to land on the Moon.
The civic body has turned parking into a business by collecting Rs. 1.8 lakh by way of penalties in a single day for vehicles parked in ‘No parking zones’. The penalties seem to be unreasonable and steep in a city where parking is a problem due to lack of space though rules and laws need to be followed by citizens if they are in place. Parking zones and parking lots have been turned into a money minting business in the city as vehicle owners are charged exorbitantly which calls for a public debate before implementation.
If citizens are expected to pay exorbitant charges for parking and otherwise, is it not the duty of the state government and civic bodies to provide proper roads and infrastructure for people to drive their vehicles? Mumbai looks a war torn city pot holes and pits all around. The city floods even in a few inches of rainfall and this is a cause for concern. Citizens should not be considered as ‘cows’ who can be milked always and penalties as well as reasonable fines should only be charged after providing them facilities for the various taxes they pay to the govt.
S.N. Kabra
Rahul’s appointment as Head of operations of NCA
It is welcome to know about the recent nomination of Rahul Dravid as the Head of Operations for National Cricket Academy appointed by BCCI. Dravid is a highly talented professional while also being successful as Team India A Coach and is perhaps the best choice for the role. India ‘A’ has already won U-19 World Cup owing to Dravid’s mentoring capabilities and thus the youngsters have tasted success under his leadership as a Coach.
Apart from coaching young Indian cricketers at NCA, Dravid also has an additional responsibility of mentoring women’s cricket team, India U-19, U-23, Head Coaches and Coaches, and Support staff in order to prepare a strong and better products from the academy. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) should also be appreciated for taking a stand on possible conflict of interest in Dravid’s appointment to head NCA by strictly letting him to demit the previously held role. One hopes that under Dravid’s leadership mature and highly skilled cricket talents will emerge through effective key learnings under NCA as an umbrella body.
Varun Dambal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
NCP Mumbai President Sachin Ahir has sought compensation for the 12-year-old boy’s family who fell into a pit which was dug for the construction work of coastal road. He has also demanded a thorough investigation and strict action against officers who were responsible for the negligence at Coastal road site.
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