Unscientific Construction of NH 66 in Kerala - Kooriyad, Malappuram

While the construction of National Highway 66 in the state of Kerala is in full swing, there are serious lapses observed in the execution of the work. Expert study has revealed that the norms laid down by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has not been followed in many of the stretches. It is also worth mentioning that Kerala receives heavy rainfall in the monsoon season. The heavy downpour will contribute to the deterioration of road very quickly unless construction work is  carried out with utmost quality.

Many of the stretches receives above average rainfall in monsoon which causes the soil to lose its integrity leading to frequent landslides. Necessary construction techniques suitable for such soil should be employed in these stretches to prevent this from happening. However, recent collapse of the side walls in Kooriyad, Malappuram District tells a different story. A committee, lead by former chief scientist of Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, Shri Kishor Kumar has been formed to evaluate the Kooriyad stretch as a result.

The committee has submitted that the collapse was due to the improper design of road. The soil is loose in the area and the vendor did not take this into account. Now, a bridge will be constructed in this section. There are also frequent landslides, cracks, collapse of embankment observed in various other stretches of NH 66.

 

This 600 KM road in Kerala is going to be a vital artery of Kerala’s transport network. Owing to the public outcry, NHAI is expected to implement stricter measures against the contract workers to ensure construction of proper quality roads in Kerala.

US President Donald J Trump hikes tariffs on India again | Total tariffs on India now at 50%

US President Donald J Trump has once again shocked the world by imposing another 25% tariffs on India over and above the existing 25% tariff proposed recently. The additional tariff would be implemented in a 21 days time giving India very little time to negotiate. Trump also hinted that some more countries are on his tariff hike list in which one of them could be China. Trump said that he is not singling out India for buying Russian oil. It is worth mentioning that China is the biggest importer of Russian oil.

These additional tariffs could hurt Indian exporters as similar products from countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan, Philippines and Indonesia could compete with them. The additional 50% tariff on Indian products would deeply affect the choice of buyers in United States as to whether to buy these products from India at such high costs.

India’s major export products to USA include pharmaceuticals, precious stones, jewellery, electronic items, petroleum products, textiles, automobile and its parts, chemicals, agricultural produce etc. The short-term impact of this tariff could be devastating for Indian exporters as they would see a sudden drop in the demand for their goods.

India has two options now. Either India can accept the main demand of USA which is stop buying Russian oil or maintain the status quo and face financial repercussions in Indian economy. The short-term impact of the later option would be huge. However, this is also an opportunity for India to diversify their export portfolio and end the reliance on USA

What is Novel Corona Virus or COVID-19 | The Origin of COVID-19

The great human race came to a standstill in the year 2020 due to the deadly Corona virus also known as COVID-19. The outbreak began in the wet markets of Wuhan city located in Hubei province of China. Though the origin of this outbreak is still a mystery, our best researches indicates the origin to be a wet market in China. There were as few as 40 infections during December 2019 in Wuhan. However, it has now spread to 213 countries and territories around the world resulting in 6,463,647 infections and 382,709 deaths.

COVID-19 has affected all forms of business around the world. There isn’t a single industry that hasn’t been touched by Corona Virus. Be it tourism, travel, agriculture, retail stores, there isn’t a single area that has been affected by COVID-19. However, most of the impact was borne by the health sector. It changed the way how we define human health.

 

For one, Nations understood that having superior medical infrastructure in their country is not enough as long as other nations are also able to resolve their medical deficiencies. Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, President of the European Commission urged all nations to pool their resources in fighting off COVID-19 as she understood that this is a world health issue and nations cannot succeed unless they all cooperate.

 

We do not know much about the Novel Corona Virus. Scientists are on a race to develop a vaccine for fighting off COVID-19. So far, an American company named Moderna has shown promise in the development of Corona Virus vaccine as they have entered phase II of their clinical trial. It has been an unprecedented rate of vaccine development as the process usually takes 10 to 20 years.

 

Although, the SARS CoV 2 is not airborne, it can linger in the air for some time. COVID-19 spreads through droplets coming out of an infected person’s nose or mouth while the person talks, breathes or sneezes. Infection from large droplets can be avoided easily by maintaining a minimum distance from other person as these droplets fall to the ground quickly. However, the small droplets can reach further distances and can be carried by the wind. That is why it is essential to wear face masks for preventing COVID-19.

 

A study conducted by German scientists in the small city of Heinsberg, also known as Wuhan of Germany, revealed some facts about the SARS CoV 2. They found out that traces of Corona Virus was still present in the many of the items used by the infected persons even though it was not enough to start a new infection. American Homeland Security Department, Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) all came to the conclusion that Corona Virus is less likely to spread through non genetic material as they become inactive once they get exposed.

 

As much of the world is still trying to control the spread of COVID 19, a vaccination seems to be the only way out of this. However, it will be foolish to not to look into the development of treatment methods for COVID -19 as vaccination may not be 100% successful.

Nipah Virus Outbreak in Kozhikode, Kerala, India

On May 5th, 2015, in a village area of Kerala, India, a person named Mohammad Sabith(23) died of fever. He was admitted in the hospital. The Health department of the State of Kerala did not expect what was coming to hit them. Two weeks later, his brother was also seen showing the same symptoms. He too was admitted in the hospital. One of the elder lady in the family also got sick. This time the Health department became alarmed and they took the blood samples of the patients. They did not collect the blood sample of the first patient since they had no clue about the cause behind his death. They send the samples to Department of Virus Reasearch, Manipal Academy of Higher Education. The Health Department did not stop there. They took extreme care in isolating the patients and stopping any chance of spreading this virus.

On May 20th, 2018, the result from Manipal came which showed that the outbreak was nothing but Nipah virus. By this time the death toll has increased. One of the nurse who attended Mohammad Sabith also died from the infection. This caused massive fear in the people. The outbreak happened in Changroth Panchayath, Perambra, Kozhikode district of Kerala. Kerala has one of the finest Health care system in India. It was because of this standards in Health Care at grass root level that the outbreak was stopped at an early stage.

Nippah Virus is a deadly virus. NiV spreads from animals to humans, animals to animals and humans to humans. It spreads through body fluids. However it is never reported that it spreads through air making it easier to quarantine the patients and stop further spread.

There is no doubt that the Outbreak of Nipah virus has caused tremendous fear and panic in people. It was seen that the staff working in Health Departments were treated differently by the public fearing they could be infected as well. People were seen to avoid Nurses and Doctors in public transport. It was such a bad scene as this reduces morale of these Nurses and Doctors.

What is more alarming is that the Health authorities are yet to determine the source of this Nipah virus. They first thought that the virus came from bats just like the case in Malaysia which happened decades ago killing hundreds of people. Now they are yet to prove that the virus outbreak was indeed caused by bats.  

How Donald Trump became President of the United States of America ( USA )

              On 8th November 2016, Americans took part in general elections to elect their new President. This year the battle for Presidency was a different one. The election favored Donald Trump, the Republican candidate. Trump beat the opposition leader Hilary Clinton, the Democratic candidate despite the fact that Hilary Clinton won the popular vote. How is it possible to become President of USA even if you don't have the majority of vote ? The answer lies in the working principle of Electoral College. 

                Electoral college is a house of representatives. The citizens of Americans does not directly elect their President. They elect representatives to Electoral college. These members of electoral college in turn elect the new President. So its not the people's majority of votes that matter rather the number of representatives favoring a particular Presidential candidate that matters. Each state has a certain number of seats allocated to Electoral college. The bigger states have more seats while the smaller states have less seats. However a minimum of 3 seats are allocated to any state. Let's take a state where 30 Electoral seats are allocated. If the Republicans win 16 seats in that state, they have the majority of seats in that state. So they automatically will get the other 14 electoral seats too regardless of the fact that they lost in that 14 seats. This means that Republicans now have 30 seats from a single state. In this way you only need to win the biggest states where there is a lot of electoral seats. Hence we see the Presidential candidates running most of their campaign in big states such as Florida, California etc. Trump took advantage of this system and hence won the Presidential election. 

Exit Polls - Kerala Legislative Assembly Election 2016

The Kerala Legislative Assembly election was held on 16th May 2016 along with three other states and an Union Territory. The three other states were Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal. The Union Territory is Puducherry. This is a much awaited and contested election in recent times because of the political parties involved. Congress ( UDF ) is now ruling Kerala. If they were to win the election, they will retain power for another 5 years. This will be a tremendous blow to the opposition which is LDF.
         However reports from exit poll suggested that LDF led by communist party of India (Marxists) or CPIM will storm the Kerala Assembly Elections 2016. Exit poll suggested that Assam might come under the rule of BJP. In Tamil Nadu, it is expected that DMK will rule again. Congress will be finding some form of grace in their alliance with DMK.

Out of the 4 elections conducted, it is expected that BJP will clearly lead in the number seats. This election is also seen as the return of CPM led LDF (Left Democratic Front) .

Watch Copa America Chile 2015 Live in TV | How to Watch Copa America Chile 2015 in Dish TV

      Copa America Chile 2015 kicked off on 12^th July 2015. The final of  Copa America Chile 2015 is scheduled to be held on 5^th June 2015. That’s about one month of nonstop football matches. Matches are telecasted through the new channel of Sony Television – Sony Kix .

How to Activate Sony Kix on Sun Direct Dish Tv

To activate Sony Kix on Sun Direct you can either call the customer care and tell them to activate it for you or you can manually activate by sending an SMS. The SMS code for activating Sony Kix in Sun Direct SD+ is :

      SMS ADDON<space>SMARTCARD NO.<space><516> to 96000 58585

Customer Care number is

24 Hour Service Hotline - 07601012345

Kerala – 0484 3940757

In either of the above choices you need to have a minimum balance of Rupees 44 in your account. The subscription charge for Sony Kix is Rs 44 for one month. The minimum recharge amount for Sun Direct SD+  via online is RS 100.

Sony Kix is now available on other DTH services as well. Channel numbers are ;

Airtel Digital TV -242

Videocon DTH – 425

Dish TV -699

Sun Direct -516

Reliance -512