Thursday, December 9, 2021

Government accepts demands, farm stir may end soon

: On Tuesday, sources said the centre had indicated it is willing to offer a written assurance on a number of the farmers' demands, including a committee on MSP.

Farmers who have been protesting farm laws and demanding a legal guarantee for MSP for the past 15 months are on the verge of ending their agitation after receiving a second draught proposal from the government that contains assurances on MSP and the removal of police cases. "We have approved the center's revised draught in response to our demands regarding farmers' protests against three farm regulations. We'll meet again tomorrow as soon as we have a formal letter from the centre. The demonstrations are still going on "On Wednesday, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni remarked.

At 12 p.m. on Thursday, the conference will make a final decision on lessening the level of protests, which might include thousands of farmers camped out outside Delhi returning home.

Omicron may have a higher risk of reinfection

The World Health Organization said early data indicates that Omicron, the latest variant of the SARS-CoV-2 first found in South Africa, may easily infect people who have either been infected earlier or vaccinated. But the disease will be milder than what the Delta variant led to, WHO said.

The new variant was found in the last week of November and since then it has now spread to around 57 countries. No death has been linked to this variant and patients are recovering without hospitalisation, without requiring oxygen support.

General Bipin Rawat, India’s first CDS, Dies In Chopper Crash

Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat died on 8/12/2021 after an Air Force helicopter carrying him and 13 others crashed shortly after take-off in Coonoor Tamil Nadu. General Rawat's wife Madhulika Rawat was killed.

The Russian-made Mi-17 V5 chopper crashed shortly after taking off from the Air Force base in Sulur, Coimbatore, for Wellington in the Nilgiri Hills.

The chopper was already on its way down and would have landed in about 10 minutes. According to news agency AFP, it fell down around 10 kilometres from the nearest road, forcing emergency responders to hike to the accident site.

Around 12.20 p.m., reports of the crash surfaced.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Agni-1 successfully test-fired

India on  12-Sep-2014 successfully test-fired it’s indigenously built nuclear capable Agni-I missile, which has a strike range of 700 km, from a test range off Odisha coast as part of a user trial by the Army.

The surface-to-surface, single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, was test-fired from a mobile launcher at about 11.11 hrs from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island, about 100 km from Balasore, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spokesman Ravi Kumar Gupta said on Thursday.

Describing the trial as fully successful, Gupta said the ballistic missile was launched by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the army as part of a training exercise.

"The entire exercise was conducted in a perfect manner and the trial was totally successful," he said

EC reprimands Adityanath for hate speech

Two days ahead of bypolls in UP, the Election Commission on Thursday reprimanded controversial BJP MP Yogi Adityanath for "provoking feelings of enmity" during a recent speech in Noida and asked the state poll officials to ensure filing of an FIR against him.

The EC's rebuke for the Hindutva hardliner for allegedly invoking "religion" and making "appeal on this ground to secure votes" for his party came a day after he was booked for defying a ban on election meeting in Lucknow.

The poll body in its order also cautioned the BJP leader to be careful in his future public utterances.

Asking the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Uttar Pradesh to ensure that an FIR is lodged against him for violation of the Model Code of Conduct in his speech last week, if it has not been filed till now, the EC demanded a compliance report by 5 PM tomorrow.

Bypolls will take place on Saturday in Noida and other assembly constituencies of UP and Adityanath is BJP's lead campaigner.

The Commission also expressed its displeasure with the MP for not addressing his reply to the EC in this regard and rather marking the communication vaguely as "What So Ever It May Concern".

One lakh evacuated in J & K flood

One lakh people in flood- hit Kashmir Valley were evacuated so far in rescue operations as authorities today shifted focus to relief supplies to lakhs of stranded victims and prepared to combat possible spread of waterborne diseases with flood waters receding.


With many stranded people reluctant to leave their homes, authorities said they are concentrating more on providing them food and water.

As a tragedy of epic proportions unfolded in the worst-ever floods to hit Kashmir in 109 years after heavy rains from September 2, the death toll was stated to be around 250.

Authorities fear that the number of dead could be higher.

Kamal Bawa gets 2014 Midori Prize in Biodiversity

The founder president of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bangalore, will receive the prize with a cash award of $100,000 during the Oct 16-17 Conference of Parties (COP-12) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in South Korea.

The prize also honours his contributions to research in ecology of tropical forests, sustainable use of tropical forests, promoting engagement of civil society in conservation efforts, and for his leadership role in setting up ATREE.