The Indian Panorama

Month: November 2021

  • Kalpa: The Land of Gods

    Kalpa: The Land of Gods

    Kalpa, the main village of Kinnaur, in the Sutlej River Valley is a place to remember and cherish. Known for its many beautiful temples and monasteries, this town is also famed for its apple orchards. The majestic Kinnaur-Kailash range peeking from across the Sutlej River makes for a blissful break.

    An early morning walk through this paradise will give you a chance to experience magic and mystery with the sunrise. The pinkish hue on the peaks that slowly gets tinted with the golden glow is a sight to behold. Adorned with rich flora and fauna, this small hamlet is a must visit destination.

    Kinnaur Kailash

    Kinnaur is percieved to be a magical land aka the land of fairy tales and fantasies which has a spectacular terrain of lush green valley, orchards, vineyards, snow clad peaks and cold desert mountains. It is a border district of Himachal Pradesh. Kinnaur is also rich in flora & fauna. The culture and language is different from other parts of the state. Kinnaur, the tribal district of Himachal Pradesh, lies 250 kms away from Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh and is located on the Hindustan Tibet Road. The landscape of the area varies from lush green orchards of the scenic Sangla Valley to the magnificence of the Hangrang Valley. The massive snow laden ranges which provide a regal dignity to the scene are dominated by the peak of Kinner Kailash. Kalpa is one of the biggest and the most beautiful villages of Kinnaur. One can enter Kinnaur district at Village Chshora and go down the road built in vertical rock and it is a rare treat to travel on this road which is a great engineering feat.

    Camping/Shelter

    Guest houses are available at all destinations. Camping can also be adopted by trekkers on the trek because of the natural beauty that it boasts of.

    General tips and tricks

    1) Make sure you carry warm clothes along with you no matter during whichever season you are travelling in. 2) Be always prepared with your trekking gear and equipment. 3) Carrying your own medication and a good pair of shoes is a must. 4) Make sure you obtain all the permits well in advance required for trekking in the region. aingear along as weather at higher altitude changes at every moment. 6) Choose a well-qualified and professional guide and fix the rates in order to avoid any misunderstanding. 7) Carry spare batteries and film roll for camera as there maybe no electricity supply.

    Trekking to Chakka

    Adrenaline rushing adventure awaits you at Chaka! The Chaka peak with an altitude of 15000 ft above the sea level is an amazing trek up the hill along the gurgling water channel. The uphill journey is almost 2-3 hour long while it will take about 1.5 hours going downhill. Hire a local guide to explore the place to its best and if possible begin your trip to the place in the morning say around 9:00AM to 9:30AM.

    Suicide Point

    As the name suggest, Suicide Point is a place with dangerous trench and vertical slopes. Situated near Kalpa, a walk to this point will take you through delicious sight of apple orchards.

    Roghi Village

    This is a place where you can witness and enjoy the ethnicity and traditions of people of Kalpa. A small village located at a distance of 6-7 km. from Kalpa, it is famous for its simple lifestyle and customs of Himachal.

    Dotted with apple orchards, the area is a sight to behold enriched with flora and fauna. A small walk in the village will transport you to a place where the word tension is unknown.

    Narayan-Nagini temple

    A perfect example of Kinnauri craftsmanship, this temple is constructed in traditional Tibetan Pagoda style of architecture. Situated on the top of a hill at Chini Village, this temple is one of the major attractions of the village and a must visit.

    Hu-Bu-Lan-Kar monastery

    It is a perfect place for history buffs! This extremely old monastery was founded by Rinchensang-po (950-1055 AD) and is very ancient.

  • Instagram testing ‘Take a Break’ feature for better time management

    Instagram testing ‘Take a Break’ feature for better time management

    San Francisco (TIP): Instagram has started testing a new feature called ‘Take a Break’ to encourage people to take regular breaks from using the Meta-owned photo-sharing app. According to Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, the long-awaited ‘Take a Break’ feature will remind users when they have spent a long time on the platform.

    “It does what you think it does. If you opt in, it encourages you to take a break from Instagram after you spend a certain amount of time on the app; 10, 20, or 30 minutes,” Mosseri said in a video posted to Twitter.

    The new feature comes amid increased criticism that Instagram is harmful to its teen users. Recently, American whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed how popular social media apps can adversely affect young people’s mental health.

    Haugen said Facebook knows that kids in their most vulnerable moments are harmed by its systems. She said Facebook has figured out that around the age of 14, right before high school, is when kids are most likely to get sucked into Instagram’s emotional roller-coaster

    Meanwhile, Facebook’s Vice President of global affairs Nick Clegg, said that the photo-sharing platform will introduce new features to remove bad content.

    “We’re going to introduce something which I think will make a considerable difference, which is where our systems see that a teenager is looking at the same content over and over again, and it’s content which may not be conducive to their well-being, we will nudge them to look at other content,” Clegg said.

    Apple to let people pass on their iCloud data when they die

    Apple is launching a new digital legacy programme where its users can choose up to five people who can access the iCloud data after their demise. The Digital Legacy programme is arriving in the latest iOS 15.2 update where you can designate up to five people as ‘Legacy Contacts’ on devices such as iPhones, iPads and Macs.

    These people, after providing proof of death and an access key, can access the data like photos, videos, documents and even purchases of the deceased. “With ‘Digital Legacy’, you can choose to add one or more contacts to access and download certain data in your account after your death. If your designated contacts provide proof of death to Apple and have the required key, they will automatically obtain access to that certain account data and activation lock will be removed from all your devices,” according to Apple.

  • SpaceX returns 4 astronauts to Earth, ending 200-day flight

    SpaceX returns 4 astronauts to Earth, ending 200-day flight

    Cape Canaveral (TIP): Four astronauts returned to Earth, riding home with SpaceX to end a 200-day space station mission that began last spring. Their capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, in darkness. Recovery boats quickly moved in with spotlights. Their homecoming — coming just eight hours after leaving the International Space Station — paved the way for SpaceX’s launch of their four replacements as early as Wednesday night. The newcomers were scheduled to launch first, but NASA switched the order because of bad weather and an astronaut’s undisclosed medical condition. The welcoming duties will now fall to the lone American and two Russians left behind at the space station.

    Before Monday afternoon’s undocking, German astronaut Matthias Maurer, who’s waiting to launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, tweeted it was a shame the two crews wouldn’t overlap at the space station but “we trust you’ll leave everything nice and tidy.” His will be SpaceX’s fourth crew flight for NASA in just 1 1/2 years.

    NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide and France’s Thomas Pesquet should have been back Monday morning, but high wind in the recovery zone delayed their return.

     “One more night with this magical view. Who could complain? I’ll miss our spaceship!” Pesquet tweeted alongside a brief video showing the space station illuminated against the blackness of space and the twinkling city lights on the nighttime side of Earth.

    From the space station, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei — midway through a one-year flight — bid farewell to each of his departing friends, telling McArthur “I’ll miss hearing your laughter in adjacent modules.”

    Before leaving the neighbourhood, the four took a spin around the space station, taking pictures. This was a first for SpaceX; NASA’s shuttles used to do it all the time before their retirement a decade ago. The last Russian capsule fly-around was three years ago.

    It wasn’t the most comfortable ride back. The toilet in their capsule was broken, and so the astronauts needed to rely on diapers for the eight-hour trip home. They shrugged it off late last week as just one more challenge in their mission.                 Source: AP

  • Apple-I computer sold for $500,000 at auction: Report

    Apple-I computer sold for $500,000 at auction: Report

    A super-rare Apple-I computer, hand-built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, was sold at an auction and fetched $500,000 (about Rs 3.7 crore), media report says. More than doubling its $200,000 starting bid, the Apple-I Personal Computer was bought by a professor at Chaffey College in 1976. The Apple-I was famously originally sold for $666.66, or the equivalent of approximately $3,211 in 2021 money, reports AppleInsider.

    That original price is therefore 0.64 per cent of the half million dollars achieved at is auction by John Moran Auctioneers and Appraisers, in Monrovia, California, as per the report.

    The auctioneer’s final listing confirms the $500,000 successful bid, and states that the estimate was between $400,000 and $600,000. Alongside the computer with its original “NTI” motherboard, the lot included cables, programming manuals, handwritten index cards, and a 1986 Panasonic monitor.

  • Twitter’s Blue subscription to allow undo tweets, read ad-free news

    San Francisco (TIP): Micro-blogging site Twitter has announced that its subscription service Twitter Blue is now available in the US and New Zealand for iOS, Android and web users for a monthly price of $2.99 in the US. The company’s subscription service is also adding new features, including an undo button, which lets you recall tweets before they are sent. “With Undo Tweet, subscribers can preview and perfect Tweets before they are sent,” the company said in a blogpost.

    “Subscribers also have access to Reader, which turns long threads into an easier-to-read experience. They can also change the text size within Reader to tailor their experience even further,” it added.

    One of the features also lets people view ad-free articles on participating websites and gives a portion of revenue from Twitter Blue subscriptions to those sites.

    “This is just the beginning for Ad-free Articles with much more ad-free content to come as we continue to build more partnerships, with more publishers, in more markets,” the company said.

    According to the company, a portion of the revenue from Twitter Blue subscription fees goes directly to publishers within their network in continuing our commitment to strengthen and support publishers and a free press.

  • Padma Awards 2020: Kangana, Karan Johar among awardees, Swaraj, Jaitley honoured posthumously

    Padma Awards 2020: Kangana, Karan Johar among awardees, Swaraj, Jaitley honoured posthumously

    President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday, Nov 8,  bequeathed the prestigious Padma awards on recipients qualifying from all walks of life, including actor Kangana Ranaut, singer Adnan Sami and head scientists at ICMR Dr Raman Gangakhedkar among other notable personalities.

    India’s highest civilian award, Padma Awards, are given in various disciplines and walks of life, such as art, social work, sports, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education. The Padma awards are given for distinguished service of a high order. Among the well-known awardees from the field of art are artist Shyam Sunder Sharma, actor Savita Joshi, content creator Ekta Kapoor, filmmaker Karan Johar, and late singer SP Balasubramaniam. In sports, Mary Kom, Zaheer Khan, PV Sindhu are presented with the Padma Awards.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also attended the event. Modi tweeted, “Attended the first of the Padma Award ceremonies for the years 2020 and 2021. I felt extremely happy to see grassroots level achievers being recognised for their exemplary efforts to further public good. Congratulations to all those who have been conferred the #PeoplesPadma.” The second-highest civilian award of India, after the Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan is given for “exceptional and distinguished service”. For the year 2020,  Indian politicians Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj have been given the award posthumously.

  • Indian-American Narinder Singh Kapany who laid groundwork for high-speed Internet gets Padma Vibhushan

    Indian-American Narinder Singh Kapany who laid groundwork for high-speed Internet gets Padma Vibhushan

    In recognition of his contribution in the field of ‘fibre optics’, the Government of India bestowed Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, upon Indian-American Narinder Singh Kapany posthumously on Tuesday, Nov 9. Known as the ‘Father of Fibre Optics’, Kapany coined the term fibre optics, Rashtrapati Bhavan said in an official release, adding he “laid the foundation for today’s high-speed Internet technology”. Kapany, born in India’s Moga in 1926, died last year. His daughter Kiran has said the family was “truly humbled” and “overwhelmed”. She thanked the Government of India for bestowing the honour on her father. On his work on fibre optics, Kiran is reported to have said: “We realise how deeply he touched so many lives and how he laid the groundwork for so many to know that they could also reach for the stars. We thank you with all our hearts.” Narinder Singh Kapany has also been honoured in the past with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Government of India.

                    Source TNS

  • India in history this Week- November 12 to November 18, 2021

    India in history this Week- November 12 to November 18, 2021

    12 NOVEMBER

    1936       The temples of Kerala are open to all Hindus.

    1946       Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, founder of Banaras Hindu University and honored with Bharat Ratna, died in Uttar Pradesh.

    1927       Mahatma Gandhi made his first and last visit to Ceylon.

    2009       To promote tourism in India, the ‘Incredible India’ campaign of the Central Government was awarded the World Travel Award.

    13 NOVEMBER

    1780       Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab was born in Gujranwala, Pakistan.

    2009       In Jharkhand, Naxalites have killed seven people including outgoing MLA Ramchandra Singh.

    1892       Storyteller, prose writer Rai Krishnadas was born.

    14 NOVEMBER

    1681       East India Company announced to become a separate princely state of Bengal.

    1889       India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was born. Children’s Day is celebrated on the occasion of his birthday.

    2006       The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan agreed to create an anti-terrorism mechanism in New Delhi.

    1955 Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) was inaugurated.

    1958       Children’s Day was officially announced on the occasion of the birthday of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

    2009       15 coaches of the Mandore Superfast Express derailed near the Banskho gate in Jaipur, killing 6 passengers.

    15 NOVEMBER

    1949       Mahatma Gandhi’s assassins Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were hanged on this day.

    1982       Acharya Vinayak Narhari Bhave alias Vinoba Bhave died on this day.

    1986       The country’s female tennis player Sania Mirza was born.

    1777       Confederation article adopted by Continental Congress.

    1830       Social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy left for England.

    1989       Former veteran Indian player Sachin Tendulkar made his Test debut against Pakistan. He played the last Test on 14 November 2013 against the West Indies.

    2000       Jharkhand became the 28th state of India.

    1875       India-born freedom fighter fighter Birsa Munda, a tribal leader, was born.

    16 NOVEMBER

    1846       Akbar Ilahbadi, the famous poet of Urdu, was born.

    1973       Batminton player Pullela Gopichand was born.

    1996       Mother Teresa received honorary US citizenship

    1995       Vasudev Pandey Trinidad and Tobago of Indian origin became the Prime Minister.

    1931       Indian cricket umpire R. Ramchandra Rao was born.

    2007       The severe cyclonic storm ‘Cedar’ from the Bay of Bengal caused severe devastation in the country of Bangladesh.

    1930       Mihir Sen, the famous long distance swimmer of India, was born.

    17 NOVEMBER

    1931       Among the freedom fighters and Punjabi writer Lala Lajpat Rai were martyred.

    2012       From the sketch of the cartoon, the founder of Shiv Sena Bal Thackeray, who made his strong identity in the field of politics, died.

    1525       For the purpose of conquering India, Babur entered here for the fifth time through Sindh.

    1966       Rita Faria of India won the title of Miss World. She was the first Asian woman to become Miss World.

    2009       T. S. Thakur was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court.

    2006       The US Senate approved the Indo-US nuclear treaty.

    18 NOVEMBER

    1727       Maharaja Jai Singh II founded the city of Jaipur. The architect of the city was Vidyadhar Chakraborty of Bengal.

    1772       Peshwa Madhavrao I died and his younger brother Narayan Rao succeeded him.

    1901       The famous Indian film director V. Shantaram was born.

    1948       500 people drowned after the steamer ‘Narayani’ crashed near Patna, the capital of Bihar.

    1972       The tiger was chosen as the national animal.

    1993       The first meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit took place in Seattle.

    2017       Manushi Chillar of India won the title of Miss World.

    1910       One of the famous revolutionaries of India, Batukeshwar Dutt was born

  • Ye West says Kim Kardashian is still his wife and there’s been ‘no paperwork’

    Ye West says Kim Kardashian is still his wife and there’s been ‘no paperwork’

    Kanye West, now known as Ye, says that Kim Kardashian is still his wife, and there has been no ‘paperwork’. Ye recently appeared in an interview on Revolt TV’s ‘Drink Champs’ where he talked about music, money, fashion and family. He touched upon his fraying relationship with Kim, and that seemed to cause the most buzz. According to TMZ, Ye says Kim is still his wife because there “ain’t no paperwork”.

    After six years of marriage, Kim filed for divorce from Ye on February 19, 2021 and is seeking joint legal and physical custody of their four children. Though the two have been going through a divorce, they’ve remained on cordial terms with each other, and supported the other in career endeavours. Kim cheered for Ye at Donda events, and Ye joined Kim at NYC when she hosted Saturday Night Live.  Yet, despite all these things, the divorce appears to be moving forward. Recently, Kim bought their Hidden Hill’s estate from Ye for USD 23 million.

  • Salma Hayek cried after putting on her Eternals costume

    Salma Hayek cried after putting on her Eternals costume

    Movie star and Eternals actor Salma Hayek got extremely emotional when she saw herself for the first time in the superhero costume, the actor said in a recent interview with Despierta America. Salma plays the Eternals leader Ajak in the Marvel Cinematic Universe feature. “When I put it on, I burst into tears. Not like in telenovelas, but the tears came out and I said, ‘What happened here?’ The image of it did something to me and I said, ‘Why?’ I saw my brown face…I saw my brown face in a superhero suit,” Hayek explained through tears.

    Hayek added that upon seeing her reflection, she could see the dreams she had as a little girl of making it big, and how this eventuality can now further impact other Latinos, their choices and their careers.

    “And in seeing my face, I saw your face. I saw my face as a little girl, who had to have a lot of courage to dream big. I saw the face of all the little girls…and I realized that a door had opened where I didn’t enter alone — but inside that suit were all the Latinos who waited so long for this moment,” the actor added.

    Salma was accompanied by Marvel Studios’ Victoria Alonso who elaborated on why this moment in MCU history is so significant. “This moment is so important because — don’t forget, I’ve been at Marvel for 16 years trying — and I told her this the first time I met her…that she had no idea just how long I’ve waited for this moment. The moment I saw her in that suit was a moment that changed everything in my head, because if that’s possible, many other things are possible,” said Victoria, who is the president of physical, post production VFX, and animation at Marvel Studios.

  • ‘Star Wars: Rogue Squadron’ delayed

    Filmmaker Patty Jenkins’ ‘Star Wars’ movie ‘Rogue Squadron’ has been delayed after initially planning to start the production in 2022. According to the reporter, the film was set to begin pre-production by the end of this year but has been taken off the production slate for next year due to scheduling conflicts with Jenkins.

    The ‘Star Wars’ spin-off movie was originally announced in December 2020.

    Matthew Robinson, best known for co-writing and co-directing the 2009 comedy ‘The Invention of Lying’ with Ricky Gervais, is on board to pen ‘Rogue Squadron’. The film will be the first feature project in the long-running ‘Star Wars’ franchise to be directed by a woman.

    As per the official plotline released by Lucasfilm, it will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy. ‘Rogue Squadron’ would also be the first feature since the end of the ‘Skywalker Trilogy’, which concluded with 2019’s ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’.

  • First poster of Spider-Man: No Way Home drops clues about so many villains

    Actor Tom Holland and Zendaya-starrer, Spider-Man: No Way Home’s first official poster is finally released on social media. Sharing the first look on Instagram, Spiderman’s official handle wrote, “The Multiverse unleashed. #SpiderManNoWayHome is exclusively in movie theaters December 17! @spidermanmovie.” The first look also features Doctor Octopus’ tentacles, Electro’s lightning bolt, a tiny Green Goblin and even the Sandman’s sand.

    Tom Holland shared the posted on Instagram and wrote, “This movie is gonna blow your minds. Trust me!” As soon as the first poster arrived, people started commenting on it. On Twitter, one fan wrote, A fan said, “The world is gonna go crazy.” On Instagram, many fans showed their excitement, as one fan said, “Wow! Just can’t wait for the film to release.” Another fan asked, “Please tell us more.” In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tom talked about how the cast felt about shooting the possible last film of the franchise, “We were all treating [No Way Home] as the end of a franchise, let’s say. I think if we were lucky enough to dive into these characters again, you’d be seeing a very different version. It would no longer be the Homecoming trilogy. We would give it some time and try to build something different and tonally change the films. Whether that happens or not, I don’t know. But we were definitely treating [No Way Home] like it was coming to an end, and it felt like it.”

  • Nawab Malik’s allegations against Fadnavis, and the fake notes case he referred to

    Nawab Malik’s allegations against Fadnavis, and the fake notes case he referred to

    Mumbai (TIP): Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik on Wednesday, Nov 10, claimed that former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had protected a fake currency racket busted in October 2017 following demonetisation of currency notes in 2016 with help from NCB zonal director, Sameer Wankhede, who was then with Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

    What has Nawab Malik alleged?

    Malik has alleged that on October 8, 2017, the DRI seized Rs 14.56 crore of fake currency in BKC Mumbai. But the matter was brushed under the carpet by Fadnavis and was reported as a fake notes case of Rs 8 lakh only. He alleged that the key person arrested by the DRI was the brother of Haji Arafat Shaikh, who was later made the Minority Commission chairman by the Fadnavis government.

    What is the fake notes case file by the DRI in 2017 that Nawab Malik has referred to?

    October 7, 2017, the DRI seized Rs 10 lakh in fake Indian currency notes and arrested Haji Imran Alam Shaikh, then general secretary of North Central district Congress committee, his uncle Zahid Shaikh, a Khar-based real estate agent Mahesh Alimchandani and a Pune resident Shivajirao Khedekar in connection with circulation and distribution of fake notes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 in the city. The DRI found that the fake notes were smuggled into the country from the Indo-Bangladesh border and were of high quality as about 20 of the 31 security features of the new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes were copied in the fake notes. Subsequently, the DRI also arrested a man named Rehan Khan, a key accused in the case from Kalyan in Maharashtra, and seized good quality fake notes of Rs 9.75 lakh and fake Rs 2,000 notes which mentioned Children’s Bank of India in place of Reserve Bank of India, with a face value of Rs 6 lakh.

    Did the DRI report the case to RBI, NIA and CBI?

    Sources in the DRI said it is mandatory to report every fake Indian currency seizure by the agency to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Central Bureau of Investigation. (CBI). The NIA and the CBI then decide if they want to pursue the case. The DRI, sources said, had informed the RBI, NIA and the CBI of the case booked by it in October 2017.

    According to a top DRI official, the allegations of Nawab Malik are incorrect. While Wankhede, a joint director at DRI, was in-charge of the case against Haji Imran Alam Shaikh – the brother of Haji Arafat Shaikh- and others, the total fake currency recovered from Haji Imran Alam Shaikh was Rs 10 lakh.

    What is the status of the DRI case?

    The case booked by the DRI against Shaikh and others is pending in the court for prosecution, said a source. All the accused in the case are currently out on bail.

    Source :The Indian Express

  • Working on nasal vaccine as booster: Bharat Biotech

    Bharat Biotech chief and the developer of India’s first indigenously made Covid 19 vaccine, Covaxin, Krishna Ella on Wednesday said six months after the second dose was the best time for a booster adding that the company was working to see if their under development nasal vaccine could serve as a booster as it would be easy to scale up. Ella said negativity and politics over Covaxin which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to take “hurt the product and delayed its WHO emergency use listing approval.”

    “When the PM took the vaccine it was called a BJP vaccine. People’s negative projections of Covaxin hurt the product. Politicians should take up different battles, not on the front of science,” Ella said at a television channel’s event today.

    Noting that he was happy India was the fourth country worldwide to manufacture a Covid vaccine, Ella said, “Negative perceptions about Covaxin delayed approvals and publication. But I am happy we finally won the game. Negativity also put WHO in an awkward position. WHO wanted to review Covaxin much more extensively. Covaxin was the only shot to go through so much WHO scrutiny.” Ella said although a million pregnant Indian women had received Covaxin and its safety among them is proven, the WHO had sought results of Covaxin safety among pregnant women in a clinical trial mode. The WHO is yet to approve Covaxin for pregnant women.

    “We will do the science, although the highest number of pregnant women worldwide has been vaccinated in India and a million of them are on Covaxin with proven safety,” he said.

  • Govt decides to resume MPLAD fund scheme

    The Union Government on Wednesday announced it had decided to restore the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) Scheme for the remaining part of the financial year 2021-22 and would continue it till 2025-26. Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Anurag Thakur said this was being done in view of the “green shoots” in the Indian economy. “Funds under the scheme would be released at Rs 2 crore per MP for the remaining period of fiscal year 2021-22 in one go and at Rs 5 crore per annum per MP during FY 2022-23 to FY 2025-26 in two installments of Rs 2.5 crore each,” he explained.

    The government had suspended the MPLAD Scheme amid the Covid-19 pandemic early last year to use the funds to fight the deadly virus. The decision had evoked a sharp reaction from the Opposition.The Congress had argued that it would undermine the role of MPs. The TMC had called the step “whimsical” and “undemocratic”.

  • Active Covid cases in country lowest in 9 months

    Active Covid cases in country lowest in 9 months

    New Delhi (TIP): India added 13,091 new coronavirus infections in a span of 24 hours taking the country’s total tally of Covid cases to 3,44,01,670, while the active cases declined to 1,38,556, the lowest in 266 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday, November 11.

    The death toll climbed to 4,62,189 with 340 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

    The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 34 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 137 consecutive days now.

    The active cases comprise 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national Covid recovery rate was recorded at 98.25 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

    A decrease of 1,127 cases has been recorded in the active Covid caseload in a span of 24 hours.

    The 340 new fatalities include 259 from Kerala and 17 from Maharashtra. Of the 259 deaths, 48 were reported over the last few days and 211 were designated as Covid deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and Supreme Court directions, a Kerala state government release said on Wednesday.

    A total of 4,62,189 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,40,447 from Maharashtra, 38,131 from Karnataka, 36,247 from Tamil Nadu, 34,621 from Kerala, 25,091 from Delhi, 22,904 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,267 from West Bengal.                 Source: PTI

  • ‘But we’re tax-paying citizens’: Anger, desperation in flooded Chennai

    ‘But we’re tax-paying citizens’: Anger, desperation in flooded Chennai

    Chennai (TIP): It’s a mess inside Godwin Ebenezer’s house, as he returns to check three days after Sunday’s (Nov 7) 21 cm of rain flooded his home at Chennai’s Periyar Nagar in Chief Minister MK Stalin’s Kolathur constituency. As he opened the door, the damage unfolds with a stink and the sight of ruined furnishing and furniture. Although this has been a day-long annual ritual for years, he had to leave his house for three days in 2015 when floods struck the city. Now it’s a repeat of it, he says. “So far the governments didn’t address our concerns. We hope at least the new government will do something for us. We are tax-paying citizens,” he added.

    The low-lying neighbourhood is in knee-deep waters. Developed thirty years ago, the concrete jungle stands on the catchment area of a few lakes. During the monsoon, water has nowhere to go. As a result, streets and roads get flooded, residents say. The storm water drains also reportedly get inundated.

    Padma Prasad, another resident, says the corporation doesn’t give much thought to the science of storm water drains. “This requires a scientific solution. It’s not rocket science. We can’t bring back water bodies because of infrastructural development. Let’s fix it,” he says.

    Rs 5,000 crores have been invested to build storm water drains after the 2015 floods in the city, much of it funded by the Smart City project. Chief Minister M K Stalin blames the previous AIADMK regime for a shoddy job as it was in power for six years after the 2015 disaster.

    Reviewing dewatering works in low-lying areas today, the Chief Minister blamed the earlier AIADMK regime. He said, “Shoddy job and corruption are the reason for losses in T Nagar. We have done up to 60 per cent of the work in just six months. After the rainy season, we will set the rest of Chennai right and avert further loss.”

    The Chennai Corporation says storm water drains are not designed for heavy rains, only for the average annual rains. With extreme weather events becoming more frequent, the city needs to be redesigned to become climate-resilient.

    Heavy rains pounded several regions of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday as the well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal concentrated into a depression, which is likely to cross the coast by November 11 evening. It’s likely to reach the North Tamil Nadu coast tomorrow morning and cross between Karaikal and Shriharikota by evening says the India Meteorological Department.

    “It is very likely to move west–northwestwards and reach near north Tamil Nadu coast by the early morning of November 11, 2021. Thereafter, it is likely to continue to move west-northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Karaikal and Sriharikota close to the north of Puducherry by the evening of 11th November 2021,” the weather department said.

                    Source: NDTV

  • 2002 Gujarat riots: SIT failed to probe properly, Zakia counsel tells SC

    Zakia Jafri, wife of Congress MP Ahsan Jafri who was killed during 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, on Wednesday, November 10, contended that the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT), whose closure report gave a clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and others in riot-related incidents, had not properly investigated the matter and even ignored evidence given to it.

    Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Jafri, told a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar that the SIT “never seized any phone, never examined Call Data Records…never checked why police was standing by, never checked how bombs were manufactured…” The “fact of matter is”, Sibal told the bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar, “there was to be an investigation…. If there is no investigation, what was the purpose of the Supreme Court constituting the SIT?”

    The “most disconcerting evidence is the sting operation. It was to be authenticated by CBI. It was authenticated by CBI…treated as extrajudicial confession to convict people in Naroda Patia case, but not even looked at by SIT (in Jafri’s complaint). They did not arrest those who accepted commission of crimes,” Sibal said.

    Justice Khanwilkar pointed out that the SIT was to investigate or proceed on the basis of preliminary report and look into Jafri’s complaint and decide whether further action is required. “If SIT, after looking at your material…feels there is no credible material, then it’s at the discretion of the SIT not to present supplementary chargesheet,” he said.

  • November 5, 2021 New York & Dallas E – Edition

  • Ranveer Singh shares how he impressed Deepika Padukone

    Ranveer Singh shares how he impressed Deepika Padukone

    Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh revealed while dancing with contestant Divyansh on ‘Lungi Dance’ that he was trying to impress Deepika Padukone while shooting for this track. He was interacting with the contestant in the show ‘The Big Picture’, hosted by Ranveer. During the weekend episode, Divyansh will be answering the questions asked by the host Ranveer Singh and also they will be having conversation about their fathers. As Divyansh opens up to Ranveer about how his father has supported him in his struggles, the host also reveals how his father has deeply contributed to his success. Divyansh also told Ranveer that he is the first person from his village to become a Civil Engineer. He hails from Uttar Pradesh. Both Ranveer and Divyansh in a conversation opened up about their life struggles. Divyansh shared about the hardships his father faced to get him a good education. Ranveer also told how his father struggled financially when he went to study in America. He further mentioned how his father never made him realise the troubles he and his mother went through and can relate to Divyansh’s story. Ranveer also danced with Divyansh on ‘Lungi Dance’ song. Ranveer revealed that he was trying to impress Deepika Padukone when she was shooting for this song. Ranveer said: “During the shoot of this song, I was on the sets as I was trying to woo Deepika.” ‘The Big Picture’ airs on Colors.

                    Source: IANS

  • Nushrratt Bharuccha-starrer Janhit Mein Jaari shoot put on hold as crew tests Covid positive

    Nushrratt Bharuccha-starrer Janhit Mein Jaari shoot put on hold as crew tests Covid positive

    Nushrratt Bharuccha started shooting for her movie, titled Janhit Mein Jaari, in the last week of October in Gwalior. However, things have come to a halt after four members of the crew tested positive for Covid-19. Reportedly, the makers decided to send everyone home without any further delay. The shooting is now scheduled to resume on November 27, post the mandatory 2-week quarantine for everyone present on the sets. The film will be completed by December 12. The movie is written by Raaj Shandilyaa and directed by debutant Jai Bantu Singh. Along with Nushrratt, the film also stars Anud Dhaka, Annu Kapoor and Paritosh Tripathi in pivotal roles.

  • November Election Results Ring Ominous Alarm Bells for Democrats

    November Election Results Ring Ominous Alarm Bells for Democrats

    • Phil Murphy defeated in a razor thin contest Republican Jack Ciattarelli.

      Eric Adams (66.5%) defeated Republican Curtis Silwa (28.9%)

    • Bruce A. Blakeman (52.25%) defeated incumbent Democrat Laura Curran (47.7%) in a keen contest.
    • Virginia goes RED
    • Republicans trounce Democrats in Nassau County
    • NJ Gov Murphy scrapes through
    • Eric Adams registers an authentic win for Mayor of City of New York even as Democrats prevail in the deep Blue City

      I.S. Saluja

      NEW YORK (TIP): The November elections have been a mixed bag for both the Democrats and the Republicans. However, the ominous signs for Democrats were there. Only they either could not or did not see. The result is a panic in the Democratic party post November 2 elections. Republicans, on the surge, on the other hand, appear to be regaining their confidence that they can wrest control of the House and the Senate in 2022. The only saving grace has been the NY City election results where all top positions have been won by the Democrats and most Council seats have also been bagged by them, giving them the hold on the City Council. The Indian Panorama has compiled all the New York City and the Nassau County and the Suffolk County election results which readers could go through on pages 10 to 14. Read more election related stories in the inner pages.

  • The bipartisan infrastructure bill is finally on its way to President Biden’s desk

    The bipartisan infrastructure bill is finally on its way to President Biden’s desk

    House Approves $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill in the bipartisan 228-206 vote

    I.S. Saluja

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): After months of intense debate between Democrats’ warring factions, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday, November 5, secured passage of an approximately $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to upgrade the nation’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports, broadband, and other public works. The bipartisan 228-206 vote marked the final milestone for the first of two pieces in the president’s sprawling economic agenda. The outcome sends to Biden’s desk a sprawling initiative that promises to deliver its benefits to all 50 states, a manifestation of the president’s 2020 campaign pledge to rejuvenate the economy in the aftermath of the coronavirus and “build back better.” The infrastructure proposal, nearly half of which constitutes new spending, marks one of the most significant investments in the country’s infrastructure since Congress responded to the Great Recession. It seeds new funding in the hopes of delivering urgently needed fixes to the country’s outdated inner-workings while setting the U.S. on track to tackle more intractable future challenges, including the fast-worsening climate crisis. The bill includes more than $110 billion to replace and repair roads, bridges and highways, and $66 billion to boost rail, making it the most substantial such investment in the country’s passenger and commercial network since the creation of Amtrak about half a century ago. Lawmakers provided $55 billion to improve the nation’s water supply and replace lead pipes, $60 billion to modernize the power grid and billions in additional sums to expand speedy Internet access nationwide.

    Many of the investments aim to promote green energy and combat some of the country’s worst sources of pollution. At Biden’s behest, for example, lawmakers approved $7.5 billion to build out a national network of vehicle charging stations. Reflecting the deadly, costly consequences of global warming, the package also allocates another roughly $50 billion to respond to emergencies including droughts, wildfires and major storms.

    The bill now heads to the White House for Biden’s signature more than two months after Senate lawmakers approved it on a rare and overwhelming 69-30 bipartisan vote. Its success reflected Biden’s considerable toils alongside Democrats and Republicans — including Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), two of its lead negotiators. In the end, though, it was the Democratic Party’s unexpected struggles in two key elections Tuesday that provided the most resonant catalyst for action. A loss in Virginia’s gubernatorial race, and a tighter-than-expected victory in the fight for the governor’s mansion in New Jersey, left Democrats reeling and ready to forge ahead on their long-stalled priorities.

    Taking to the House floor, some Democrats even appeared to acknowledge that their rare and narrow majority remains at risk unless they can deliver on their wider array of campaign promises before the 2022 midterms. “This legislation will mean that our majority will have delivered a major victory for the American people in a bipartisan way,” House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a speech.

    House lawmakers had hoped to adopt the infrastructure bill sooner. But it quickly became a critical bargaining chip in a broader battle between liberal and moderate Democrats over the scope of Biden’s spending vision and the future of the party itself. By holding up infrastructure, liberals hoped to force moderates including Sinema to accept more spending than they otherwise might have as part of a second, still-forming package that aims to overhaul the country’s health care, education, immigration, climate and tax laws.

    On one hand, the strategy appeared to work: After months of public sparring, Biden helped marshal a compromise that Democrats later turned into a $2 trillion tax-and-spending plan. That opened the door for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to try to bring both to the floor on Friday — though the process that proved more politically treacherous than first anticipated.

    The Senate approved the measure on a bipartisan basis in early August, but the legislation then languished in the House as liberal lawmakers refused to back the measure without assurances that Biden’s broader social spending package would be approved.

    The infrastructure package contains $550 billion in entirely new investments, including money for electric-car charging stations and zero-emission school buses. The spending is mostly paid for — without raising taxes. The bulk of the funding comes from repurposing unspent coronavirus relief money and tightening enforcement on reporting gains from cryptocurrency investments. The bill would add about $256 billion to the debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

    This is how the money will be spent.

    $550 billion in new investments

    Almost half of the $1.2 trillion package is going toward new investments in transportation, utilities and pollution remediation.

    TRANSPORTATION: $284 billion

    1. Roads & Bridges: $110 billion
    2. Railroads: $66 billion
    3. Public Transit: $39 billion
    4. Airports: 25 billion
    5. Ports: 17 billion
    6. Electric Vehicles: $15 billion
    7. Road Safety: $11 billion
    8. Reconnecting communities: $1 billion

    UTILITIES: $240 billion

    1. Power Infrastructure: $65 billion
    2. Broadband: $65 billion
    3. Water Infrastructure: $55 billion

    Resilience: $47 billion

    1. Western Water Structure: $8 billion
    2. Pollution Remediation: $21 billion
    3. Additional $5 billion is made up of small provisions to aid different groups.

    (Source: Congressional Budget Office)

    (With inputs from Agencies)

  • Biden, Harris send Diwali greetings

    Biden, Harris send Diwali greetings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): US President Joe Biden and Vice-president Kamala Harris have sent Diwali greetings to the people across the world. In a joint statement, President Biden and First Lady Jill said in the wake of the Covid pandemic, this year’s Diwali carries even a deeper meaning.

  • Bill to make Diwali a federal holidayintroduced in the House

    Bill to make Diwali a federal holidayintroduced in the House

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Democrat Carolyn Maloney has done it again. After having the Diwali commemorative stamp issued in 2016, she has now asked for a greater recognition of Diwali. It is a federal holiday on Diwali.

    A few influential members of the US House of Representatives unveiled legislation that would make Diwali a nationally recognized federal holiday.

    Flanked by colleagues in Congress, Democrat Carolyn Maloney of New York announced the introduction of the Deepavali Day Act on the eve of the festival of lightscelebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and some Buddhists all over the world. Looking on were Indian American community activists who braved a cold morning in early Fall to witness the historic event held in the Rayburn House Office building on Capitol Hill.

    “I am very proud to celebrate with you the victory of light over darkness, the triumph of good over evil, and the pursuit of knowledge over ignorance as we do every day”, Maloney told the gathering. “It is truly appropriate that Diwali this year symbolizes our nation’s continuing journey out of the darkness of Covid-19 and the terrible effects that the pandemic has had on the people of our nation”.

    The lawmaker who chairs the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee noted, “Celebrations like Diwali speak to the core of what we all desire our nation to be: a beacon of happiness, healing, learning and light in uncertain times. There is no better time to enshrine Diwali as a federal holiday than in the wake of this terrible, dark pandemic”, she affirmed. “It’s very appropriate that the world’s largest democracy and the world’s oldest democracy are such good friends and allies”, said the legislator, a staunch supporter and tireless advocate of strong India-US ties. In September, Maloney re-introduced a bill, HR 5022, to posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Mahatma Gandhi in recognition of his contributions to the nation by the promotion of non-violence. On Wednesday, she told the gathering on Capitol Hill, “We must go even beyond and continue efforts in Congress to enshrine that the significant cultural contributions of Indians and the Indian American community are given honor and the importance and respect as appropriately as any that have come before in our 200-year history. Now, it is time to grant the festival of lights, and by extension our Indian-American community, the recognition it so rightly deserves by having Diwali observed”, she said. “It is a testament to the incredible cultural vibrance, intellectual leadership, contributions of the Indian-American community to the United States. It deserves recognition as a federal holiday”, she underscored. On hand at the unveiling of the historic Act was Congressman Gregory Meeks, chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), about who Maloney pointed out, “his leadership will be critical in passing this bill”.

    A fellow Democrat from New York, Meeks thanked the congresswoman “for her hard work, her diligence, her vision of who we are as Americans and the diversity that we have in our great nation. She is doing this because it is the right thing to do, to make sure that we are celebrating Diwali, light over darkness which is what we are about — history and culture of individuals who have come from India and are now great residents and citizens of the United States of America. And what the United States is it’s about the collectiveness of all of us, the acknowledgment of all of us, the celebration that we should all share collectively together the lighting of lights. That’s what this is all about”, he said. Speaking for his colleagues on the HFAC, Meeks pledged, “We will be supporting this bill, advocating and moving forward”.

    Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi noted, “Diwali is about celebrating the holiday, but it is also about celebrating Indian-Americans”. The Illinois lawmaker is among four Democratic members of Congress who trace their roots to India, along with Ami Bera and Ro Khanna of California, and Pramila Jayapal of Washington.

    Referring to the 4 million Indian-Americans, he told the gathering, “Like my family many of you came to this country with nothing in your pockets or very little. But, because of your education, your culture and your work ethic, you have now become some of the most successful people in the greatest country the world has ever known: the United States of America”. He added, “You have become the pride of one of the greatest civilizations of the world: India”. “Every year, I join more than 6 million Americans in celebrating Diwali, a festival of lights, signifying the victory of light over darkness”, stated Khanna in a press communique. “I am proud to cosponsor this bill with Representative Maloney to recognize Diwali as a federal holiday and know how meaningful this will be to many families across the country”, he said.

    Dr. Sumita Sengupta, author, educator and community leader based in New York, urged the House and Senate “to pass this landmark legislation allowing all Americans and future generations to come to be able to observe this important holiday as it signifies the democratic values of light and truth triumphing over darkness and untruth as well as strengthening the bonds between the citizenry, families and communities across our nation”.

    Uma Sengupta, District Leader at Large in the Queens borough of New York, told the gathering, “As the first Indian-American elected official in the state of New York, I understand the importance of communities being able to celebrate the festival of lights freely and through the passage of the Deepavali Day Act, all Americans will be able to fully observe the holiday without discrimination or persecution”.

    “Diwali, the festival of lights, is recognition of the light within all of us”, said Sanjeev Joshipura, executive director of Indiaspora, a non-profit community of global diaspora leaders, which has been spearheading the annual Congressional Diwali celebration on Capitol Hill. “Observed by a plurality of faiths including Sikhs, Jains, Hindus and Buddhists”, Diwali, he noted, “is an acknowledgment to pursue the good that is there in all of us, and we hope that is a message that can be universally shared”.

    It is noteworthy that Maloney led the efforts on Capitol Hill to push the United States Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp honoring Diwali. She was rewarded for her hard work in 2016 when the USPS released a resplendent Diwali stamp. “It has become one of the most successful in our nation’s history raising money for the US post office”, the lawmaker told the gathering on Capitol Hill. “Now, I am ready to put the same hard work into advocating, as I did for the stamp, to enshrining Diwali next to Christmas, Memorial Day, Martin Luther King Day, Juneteenth Day, as a federal holiday”, she said.