Kerala: Twin Tragedies

 At least 15 people, including five women and two minors, were killed after incessant rains triggered a massive landslide near Munnar in Kerala in the early hours on Friday. Sources say, at around 2 am a river of mud and debris flattened the settlement of tea plantation workers at a Tata Group estate at Pettimudi, about 10 km from Eravikulam National Park along the Western Ghats, about 25 km from Munnar, officials at Devikulam taluka office said.

Over 50 people are still missing as the rescue teams had to call off the search mission for the day in the evening due to low visibility caused by heavy fog and rains. The remoteness of the area and disrupted communication lines also hampered the operations all day.

Many of the 12 who were rescued sustained serious injuries and have been admitted to a hospital nearby.

Nearly 80 people, most of them from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, were living in shelters meant for Kannan Devan plantation workers where the landslide hit.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced a solatium of Rs.5 lakh each for the kin of the dead. Treatment expenses for the injured will be borne by the government, he said.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a tweet that an ex-gratia of Rs.2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the kin of the deceased. Rs.50,000 each would be given to those injured.

The state has been on alert for the last one week following weather forecasts predicting heavy rainfall in the state. The death toll in rain-related incidents since June 1 this year has risen to 51.

At least 16 people were killed Friday when a passenger jet overshot and skidded off the runway as it landed in southern India, breaking into two pieces.

Dozens of people were injured, 15 of them seriously, after the Air India Express Boeing 737 originating from Dubai touched down in Kozhikode in heavy rain.

The airline said more than 190 passengers and crew were on board the plane that, according to the aviation ministry, plunged 10 metres down a slope off the end of the raised so-called table-top runway.

Television footage showed the fuselage of the jet ripped apart and surrounded by emergency personnel working in the dark, spraying the wreckage with water although there was no sign of any fire.

Aviation regulator DGCA said the plane skidded off the end of the runway and “fell down in the valley and broke down in two pieces”.

Four people were still stuck inside the plane. media reports said.

One television channel reported there had been a problem with the jet's landing gear.

Air India Express said in a statement that there was “no fire reported at the time of landing.”

It said there were 174 passengers, 10 infants, two pilots and five cabin crew on board the aircraft.

The plane was one of dozens in recent weeks to repatriate some of the thousands of Indians left stranded abroad by the coronavirus pandemic, many of them in Gulf countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences.

“My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest... Authorities are at the spot, providing all assistance to the affected,” Modi said.

The last major plane crash in India was in 2010 when an Air India Express Boeing 737-800 from Dubai to Mangalore overshot the runway and burst into flames.

The crash killed 158 people and left eight survivors.

Kerala has been battered by heavy rains in recent days.

At least 15 people were killed on Friday after a landslide triggered by heavy rains flattened a row of huts elsewhere in the state.

Around 50 other people were feared trapped in the debris. The dead included two children. 

Ram belongs to all: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya in a religious extravaganza that marked the culmination of a campaign that fuelled the rise of the BJP and the fulfilment of one of its core poll promises.

Amid the chanting of shlokas, Modi consecrated the very first bricks for the temple at the spot where many devout Hindus believe Lord Ram was born.

The wait of centuries has ended, he said after performing the groundbreaking ceremony, made possible by a Supreme Court verdict last year allowing the construction of the temple at the site where ‘kar sevaks’ demolished a mosque in 1992.

The day also coincided with the first anniversary of the abrogation of provisions of Article 370, scrapping the special status for Jammu and Kashmir.

Modi described Ram as the common thread in India’s unity in diversity, and drew a parallel between the country’s independence movement and “centuries” of people’s struggle to build the temple at Ram Janmabhoomi.

He cited values associated with Ram and said, “We have to take care of everyone’s sentiments.”

“We have to join stones for the construction of the Ram temple with mutual love, brotherhood,” he said.

Modi started and ended his speech with chants of “Siyavar Ramchandra Ki Jai” and “Jai Siya Ram”.

Some Ram Janmabhoomi movement leaders, including former deputy prime minister L K Advani, were not in the list of invitees that included 175 people.

The guest list was short because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the invitees sat on chairs placed apart to maintain social distancing.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust head Nritya Gopal Das were on the dais along with the PM.

Sending out the message that “Ram is everywhere, Ram belongs to all”, Modi said the temple symbolises India’s rich heritage and will be an inspiration to all of humanity.

“Social harmony was the core principle of Lord Ram’s governance,” the prime minister said.

The construction of the Ram temple is an instrument to unite the country, he said, adding that it will lift the economy of the entire region.

He released a postage stamp to commemorate the event.

The ceremony marked Modi’s return to Ayodhya 28 years after he accompanied the then BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi on his “Tiranga Yatra”. He also played a role in Advani’s ‘rath yatra’ to mobilise support for building the temple in Ayodhya.

Last November, the Supreme Court ruled that a Ram temple can be build at the site where the 16th century mosque was demolished in December 1992.

While allotting the Ram Janmabhoomi site for a temple to be built by a trust, it ordered that a five-acre plot should be found elsewhere in Ayodhya for a new mosque.

When PM Narendra Modi chose to hail Lord Ram with the ‘Jai Siya Ram’ chant instead of the popular ‘Jai Shri Ram’ after the bhoomi pujan, it left many curious. “First let us remember Lord Ram and Mata Janki ... Siyavar Ram Chandra Ki Jai… Jai Siya Ram,” the PM said in his speech.

Since the launch of the Ram Temple movement in 1984, ‘Jai Shri Ram’ has been the most popular mode of greeting among the saffron forces. It took the form of a war cry in the heat of the temple moment. However, votaries of ‘Jai Siya Ram’ believed that Jai Shri Ram was a militarised way of greeting and took away the benevolence and benign nature. It also deemphasised the role of Sita.

They felt that Jai Siya Ram represented the benign character of Ram — who is known as ‘maryada purushottam’. “While Jai Shri Ram reflected belligerence, the driving sentiments in Jai Siya Ram are love and submission,” said Mahant Girishpati Tripathi of the Tewari Mandir. Jai Shri Ram supporters, however, say there was no difference between the two usages.

Incessant rains, 100-kmph winds batter south Mumbai

Heavy rains and strong winds battered south Mumbai, causing flooding in several areas - including Girgaon Chowpatty, Colaba and Byculla - that normally remain flood-free even when the rest of the city is submerged. BMC officials told Mirror that south Mumbai received more than three times the amount of rain than the suburbs on Wednesday. While Colaba recorded 229.6 mm of rainfall between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm, Santacruz recorded just 65.8 mm. Areas such as Malabar Hill (280.7 mm) and Dongri (260.3) recorded even higher rainfall than Colaba. The BMC also reported 101.4-kmph winds at Marine Lines at 4.15 pm.

Officials said that in south Mumbai, heavy rains coincided with the 4.41-meter high tide at 1:19 pm. The tide receded only around 7:30 pm, leading to heavy flooding across the island city. “There is a major outfall (which brings all the rainwater from the area to the sea) opposite Wilson College near chowpatty. The tide was so high that it was above the outfall, so there was no chance of the rain water going into the sea. There was unprecedented rainfall through the day,” said Prashant Gaikwad, assistant municipal commissioner, D ward.

The BMC recorded six incidents in which houses collapsed - three of which were in south Mumbai. It also recorded 112 incidents of trees and branches falling in the island city, and only 13 in the western suburbs and 16 in the eastern suburbs. Fallen trees were reported at Marine Drive’s D and F roads, Babubhai Chinai Marg, and opposite the Air India building on Cama Road. Some of the trees damaged cars but no one was hurt in these incidents.

The winds were so strong that a traffic pole was uprooted near Garware Junction at Marine Drive in the evening. According to BMC officials, there was sea water on the road at Girgaon chowpatty. A part of the protective wall along the chowpatty at Babulnath Junction was washed away. Parts of Colaba, Fort and Byculla also reported flooding, as did the state-run JJ Hospital.

July 2020: Services Activity Shrinks for 5th Month

India’s services sector activity shrank for the fifth consecutive month in July even though the pace of contraction slowed compared to June, a clear indication of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns taking a toll on the services sector. July witnessed drops in new business and job cuts. The IHS Markit Services Business Activity Index was 34.2 in July against 33.7 in June. A reading above 50 indicates expansion and below that shows contraction in activity.

The latest reading remains close to the lowest recorded in nearly 15 years of data collection, surpassed only by the unprecedented falls in the previous three months.

With overall demand severely muted, service providers made further job cuts in July. The rate of job cuts was the fastest on record, with panellists blaming weak client demand and temporary business closures.

“Services firms remained pessimistic with regards to activity over the year ahead for a third consecutive month in July, with the proportion of survey respondents expecting a decline in activity levels outweighing those anticipating a rise,” IHS Markit said.

A sister survey showed manufacturing worsening in July. The Composite PMI Output Index signalled a further rapid contraction in private sector business activity in July as it fell from 37.8 in June to 37.2.

The latest IHS Markit estimates point to an annual contraction in GDP of over 6% in the year ending March 2021.

Trains set to run at 160 kmph from Delhi to Mumbai, Kolkata by 2022

The railway ministry has instructed its zones to complete the upgradation work of tracks and other associated facilities by March 2022, to enable passenger trains to run at 160 kmph on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes.

Most sections of these railway corridors are likely to get barbed fencing which is required for allowing trains to run at that high speed, sources said.

The respective divisional railway managers have been asked to avail longer blocks on tracks considering that currently very few passenger trains are being operated. They have been asked to start the work from next month. Currently, the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors have potential speed of 130 kmph.

It is also probable that in the near future not many new passenger trains are announced as majority of the 230 trains being run currently have less than 80% occupancy.

The instruction from the railway ministry came days after prospective private bidders for operating express trains had raised questions on how they could be expected to run trains at 160 kmph when the tracks are not ready. The second pre-bid meeting is scheduled this week.

In August last year, the Union Cabinet had approved plans to upgrade the speed of trains on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata by 2022-23. The railway ministry has also announced that private operated trains would be operational by April 2023.

Favipiravir: Sun Pharma launches drug at ₹35

Triggering another round of price wars for a potential Covid-19 drug, Sun Pharma launched antiviral Favipiravir at an “economical’’ price of Rs.35 per tablet for the treatment of mild to moderate cases.

With this, the company’s version ‘FluGuard’ becomes one of the cheapest brands in the market, joining nearly a dozen players which have announced or launched their own generic versions.

The antiviral drug was approved by India’s drug regulator as ‘restricted emergency authorisation’ under the accelerated approval process. Emergency use authorisation is a provision that allows countries to use drugs urgently needed in an emergency situation or healthcare crisis.

Meanwhile, a month after its launch, Glenmark Pharma had announced reduction in the price of its Covid drug, FabiFlu, by 27% to Rs.75 from the earlier Rs.103 per tablet. This was possible, it said due to better scale and yield with a larger quantity of tablets being manufactured. A host of companies had also entered the market with more affordable versions, leading to price cuts. Jenburkht and Briton versions are priced between Rs.35-37 per tablet, while the rest are priced at around Rs.60 per tablet.

It is learnt that last week certain companies had reduced prices of the drug again.

Industry experts say the price reductions may continue due to intense competition and economies of scale. Companies are also planning to commence exports to countries where the drug has been approved like Turkey, UAE and Gulf Cooperation Council.

New domicile law gives women in Kashmir a reason to celebrate

At 10, Aaliya Tariq can’t understand the fuss over her becoming the first J&K resident to receive a domicile certificate online. But 40-something Baby Gul (name changed) can. She has waited all her married life to reclaim the feeling that she belongs.

“For all the trials and tribulations of the past year, this August 5 will be a reiteration of the one good thing to come of it,” Baby, a resident of Srinagar, said. “I am back to being a Kashmiri with the same rights as anyone else, irrespective of my status as the spouse of a UP native. I can finally accept the inheritance my father bequeathed me.”

Amid the debate over the implications of the new domicile law that was set in motion a year ago, women like Baby – and their daughters – are quietly celebrating what they see as a blow for gender equality in the Valley.