Tutorial on farmers...

Indian National Lok Dal senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala also strongly condemned the police action. Swaraj India president and key leader of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha Yogendra Yadav said the lathicharge had exposed the true face of the Haryana Police. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha – the umbrella farmers’ body – has threatened it will block all the roads in the state, unless those detained were released immediately.

US claims IS planner...

Many Afghans, afraid that they will be hounded, are reportedly now trying to leave the country via the border with Pakistan.

With that, the great Afghan escape also ends for the British troops. The last British flights will leave Kabul shortly, leaving up to 150 Britons and more than 1,000 Afghans behind as time ticks down to the Tuesday withdrawal deadline.

The British ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, said: ‘‘It's time to close this phase of the operation now, but we haven't forgotten the people who still need to leave. We'll continue to do everything we can to help them. Nor have we forgotten the brave, decent people of Afghanistan. They deserve to live in peace and security.’’

City flooding: Man-made...

By 2050, large portions of the city’s suburbs and south Mumbai may be underwater if emissions are not kept in check, stated an international study by the American scientific research organisation, Climate Central. The study was published in October 2019 in a journal, Nature Communications. The study projected that due to anthropogenic climate change and absence of quick and significant action, by 2050, Mumbai will look like what it did in the 1700s, with the sea reclaiming most of the land. Most of the southern parts of the city may sink at least once

a year below the projected high tide line by mid-century, the study stated.

A February 2020 report by McKinsey India stated that by 2050, Mumbai will see a 25 per cent increase in the intensity of flash floods and a 0.5-meter rise in sea level, which will affect two to three million people living within a 1km radius of the coastline.

Even a study released by a researcher from The Asian Institute of Technology, Malay Kumar Pramanik, in February 2021, stated that about 20 per cent of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s coastline is highly vulnerable to flooding during natural disasters such as cyclonic storms and due to a gradual rise in the sea level. The study revealed that south Mumbai and eastern suburbs were highly vulnerable to rise in sea levels and storm surge due to unplanned development. Some low-lying areas of central and south Mumbai, including Haji Ali, Worli and parts of Nariman Point and Marine Drive can be completely submerged.

What environmentalists say

“There are two theories--there is development or sustainability. I have always believed that there should be a midway path, which is sustainable development. Our policymakers are doing a good job on planning. However, it doesn’t end there. The important task is implementation and execution. Unless this is executed, we cannot achieve anything. Climate change and its effects are evident and proven scientifically. What steps are being taken to mitigate these is important. We are too many, we produce and consume too much. The challenge before us is how do we tackle this responsibly? Not only the government but every individual must think on how he or she can reduce their carbon footprints,” said Afroz Shah, a lawyer and environmentalist. Meanwhile, D Stalin, Director of NGO Vanashakti, accused the government and civic body of trying to mask their failure under the excuse of climate change. “The floods that Mumbai faces are 90 per cent manmade and 10 per cent due to climate change. It is true that many areas in south Mumbai and other parts of MMR will be submerged underwater in a few decades, however, it absolutely nonsense

when this is being blamed on climate change alone. My only question is when we reclaim lands for projects like coastal roads, where is the water in that area going? As more and more haphazard reclamation continues, the displaced water is being pushed onto the other landmasses, including Thane creek, threatening it and surrounding areas. Mumbai and Mangalore were both put on high alert in 2016 on the effects of climate change, then why the effects are aggravating in Mumbai? If you do not make space for the sea, it will make space into your homes.”

BOORISH TO FOOLISH

No, he didn’t need England to be weak, to make mistakes, for India to triumph. They would beat Root’s team in any conditions, any time, any place, anywhere. That delusion proved their undoing. All eyes were on Kohli yet again: all he needed was a king of the world innings to save his team. But his last Test hundred was in November 2019 against Bangladesh, and it may remain that way for some time. ‘‘It never gets any easier, this game,’’ concludes Samuel. It was clear India never had the stomach for a long drawn out fight. It was a match that England won by executing their strategies to perfection.

ED calls Mamata's nephew

Tripura will witness ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at doorstep) and not ‘Duare Gunda’ (goons at doorstep),” he said. On February 21 morning, a CBI team had visited Banerjee’s residence and summoned his wife and sister-inlaw in connection with the scam. The CBI officials later said that they were not satisfied with his wife’s replies.

CBI had earlier claimed Abhishek is the direct beneficiary of the scam.

Bring back ‘Draupadi’...

“Everyone has a right to know about the weaker sections of the society. Very few people can articulate how deprived a section is and the way Mahasweta Devi depicted it falls short of words. This piece of literature should be again included in the syllabus,” said Amal.

At another level, Dopdi is about rape as an instrument of oppression. An officer,

known as Senanayak, instructs his men to “do the needful” to extract information. The ‘needful done’, she refuses to ‘cover’ herself as an act of defiance against those wishing to ‘shame’ her into submissiveness.

Calling the omission ‘unfortunate’, the ace educationist also said that the officials of the English department should give an explanation for their decision, which was taken without consulting anyone.

Another educationist, Pabitra Sarkar, claimed that women empowerment stories like ‘Draupadi’ should be encouraged rather than being spiked.

Incidentally, teachers of Delhi University have voiced raised their concerns.

Students opting for...

The trend of opting for a far away junior college seems too risky. So, I have opted for a college that is in my vicinity.” Meanwhile, junior colleges said the pandemic has affected the choices preferred by students for FYJC. A professor of a South Mumbai college, Madhura Nair said, “This year, students are opting for Commerce and Arts at nearby junior colleges. Also, the number of students from private boards seeking admission has dropped.”

Out of 1,17,883 students who have been allotted seats in the first merit list, around 89.8 per cent are from the state board. As per data released by the office of the deputy director of education, 1,05,868 students are from the state board, while 7,167 are from the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), 3,810 are from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), 571 from Cambridge (IGCSE), 164 from NIOS, five from International Baccalaureate (IB) and 298 from other boards.

Uploading of profile on...

On the basis of this, it can be inferred that she wanted to leave her husband.”

The bench also noted that the family court had observed that “cruelty is not of such a nature which would cause reasonable apprehension in the mind of the husband that it would be harmful or injurious for him to live

with the wife”.

“In our opinion, if the family court had taken into consideration the documents produced on record before its judgment, whereby the wife had uploaded her marriage profile on two websites, it would not have recorded such a finding. This evidence clearly indicates that the wife had no wish and desire to remain in the company of her husband,” the bench said, adding, “If she had a sincere wish and desire to save her marriage, she would not have taken a conscious decision to perform the second marriage even before the final outcome of the divorce petition.”

“In our opinion, the husband on the basis of cogent and concrete evidence has made out the case that he was made to suffer mental cruelty of high degree and therefore, he took a conscious decision to get separated from his wife,” the bench ruled.

US intelligence agencies...

However, there was no unanimity among the intelligence community (IC) on the origins of the coronavirus.

"The virus was not developed as a biological weapon. Most agencies also assess with low confidence that SARSCoV-2 probably was not genetically

engineered; however, two agencies believe there was not sufficient evidence to make an assessment either way," said the unclassified version of the report.

The report did not name the intelligence agencies. The IC also assesses that China's officials did not have foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of COVID-19 emerged, it said. "After examining all available intelligence reporting and other information, the IC remains divided on the most likely origin of COVID-19. All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident," the report said.

Acknowledging the receipt of the report, Biden in a statement said his administration will do everything it can to trace the roots of this outbreak that has caused so much pain and death around the world so that they can take every necessary precaution to prevent it from happening again.