Wayanad death toll crosses 200 ,slush , debris slow down search
Death toll in landslides in Chooralmala and Mundakkal areas of Wayanad district crossed 200 . Search and rescue operations gained momentum on Wednesday .
Personals of army , Defense security corps ,
As many as 191 persons reported missing , National Disaster Response Force , Forest Department and Fire and Rescue services picked through the debris searching for alive or dead with the help of earthmovers .
TamilNadu also has sent its rescue team to assist in the Search and Rescue operation .
A total of 175 bodies , and 61 body parts were retrieved by Wednesday evening . 191 persons were still missing . At least 1592
Chief Minister Pinyari Vijayan said 1592 persons were rescued from ravaged sites and were shifted to hospital for treatment and to security camps .
Wayanad high in landslide atlas
Wayanad ranked 13 in ISRO 2023 map of exposure to landslides on “key socio economic parameters’ ‘ .
The map released in 2023 ranks 147 districts from 17 states and UTs .
Thrissur , Palakkad , Malappuram and Kozhikode are ranked third , fifth , seventh and tenth respectively . Rudraprayag in Uttaranchal was ranked first in the ranking .
The report says that vulnerability in the western ghats is more significant than in Himalayas , as population density in Western ghats is much higher than Himalayas .
Shah , Pinyari spar over disaster warning
In Parliament Home Minister Amit Shah said that the Kerala government did not gauge the severity of the situation properly even after early warning was provided to them .
He said that the centre had sent 9 teams of NDRF to Kerala on July 23 .
“ On July 26 ,it was informed that there will be heavy rainfall of more than 20 centimetres , there is possibility of landslide , there could be rush of people and people could die “
In a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram , Kerala CM Pinyari Vijayan said that the forecast by Indian Meteorological Department ( IMD ) , Geological Survey of India ( GSI ) , and Central Water Commission were widely off the mark . “ None of these agencies had issued
a red alert for Wayanad ahead of July 30 landslides . “ He said .
In Rajya Sabha , CPI ( M) MPs from Kerala later approached chairman Jagdeep Dhankhad requesting him to direct the Home Minister to clarify his statement .
MP V Sivadasan moved a privilege notice with the Rajya Sabha secretary general alleging Mr Shah had misled the house .
Controversy over failure to expunge Thakur’s remark ; Privilege motion against PM Video
Controversy erupted in Parliament over a remark related to “ caste “ of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi by BJP MP Anurag Thakur during debate on the Union budget .
The chair Jagdampika Pal said that the statement by Anurag will be expunged .
Despite assurances , his remarks were not expunged from the parliamentary record .
Congress MP Charanjeet Singh Channi filed a breach of privilege notice against PM Narendra Modi for posting the link of the video on his X account .Congress said that the link contained the “ expunged “ portion of the speech .
Mr Rahul Gandhi was demanding caste census . In his speech Mr Thakur had said that those who had no idea of their own caste were demanding caste census.
A privilege motion is a formal procedure used by MPs in Parliament , when parliamentary privileges are breached .
SC to decide if states can demand taxes on mines retrospectively
On Wednesday , A nine Judge bench of the Supreme Court reserved order for a query raised by centre on whether its July 25 Judgement upholding the power of legislature to tax mines and minerals rights would be taxed retrospectively .
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for centre urged court to clarify this and asked to apply its orders prospectively . He said that allowing the states asking for retrospective tax will have a “ cascading effect “ which ultimately will affect the common man .
On July 25 , A nine judge constitution bench with 8:1 order had held that the power of state legislatures to tax minerals bearing lands and queries could not be limited by parliament .
The judgement freed states from restriction by centre and is in tune with the federalist principle of governance , as held by court .
Railways forms panel to decide working hours of loco pilot
Railway has constituted a high level committee to decide on working hours of loco pilots.
This has been seeing a recent surge in accidents .
The Railway Minister said in a reply in parliament .
India ,China hold 30 th round of border talk ; both agree to uphold peace , tranquillity
India and China on Wednesday held 30 th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination ( WMCC ) , on India China border affairs in New Delhi .
MEA later said that the discussion was “ in depth , constructive and forward looking “ , and both sides agreed to maintain the momentum through established military and diplomatic channels .
The recent discussion between foreign ministers of the two countries had called to expedite the talk to resolve border issues in Eastern Ladakh .
Currently Depsang and Demchok are the two regions in Ladakh where disengagement is still to occur .
IAF’s largest Multilateral exercise to begin this month
Indian Airforce will be hosting its largest Multilateral exercise Tarang Shakti in August and September .
Eighteen countries will be participating in the exercise . With invitations sent to 51 countries .
The Exercise will be held in two phases .
Phase 1 will be held between August 6 -14 at Sulur in TamilNadu .
Phase 2 will be held between September 1 -14 at Jodhpur .
The information was shared by Air Marshal AP Singh on Wednesday .
The exercise is the largest Multilateral exercise hosted by IAF .
World
Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh killed in airstrike in Iranian capital
Hamas leader Ismail Haineyeh was killed in a predrawn air strike in Iran’s capital Tehran on Wednesday .
Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for the airstrike .
Haineyh had just attended the inauguration of the new President in Tehran .
This has brought fears of ending the ceasefire deal that is going between Israel and Hamas .
No immediate comment has come from the Israeli side over this . Israel had pledged to kill Hainey after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas .
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini said
“ We consider his revenge as our duty “
He said Israel had “ prepared a harsh punishment for itself “ by killing a “ dear guest in our home “
Ismail Haineyeh was the top leader of Hamas , he had ruled over Gaza for a long time before leaving the command to Yahya Sinwar and Mohmmad Deif and moving himself to exile in Qatar .
It was safe for him in Qatar , a US ally .
But when he moved to Iran for the inauguration ceremony of newly elected president Mahmoud Pezeskian , Israel attacked .
If Iran strikes Iran it can further move the Middle East into turmoil .
Venezuelans persist with protest after 12 die
At least 12 persons have died and hundreds arrested in the protest against the electoral win of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela .
Thousands of protesters came to the streets in protest .
The electoral result has shown Mr Maduro getting 51 % votes while Mr Gonzalez Urrutia getting 44% votes .
Mr Urrutia has claimed that he got double the votes than Mr Maduro .
The US has said that the results were rigged . The EU also has said that results cannot be said to be recognized unless voting results are verified in public .
Junta extends emergency by six months in Myanmar
Myanmar Junta on Wednesday extended the emergency by six months again delaying the fresh polls.
Junta took power in a military coup in 2021. It has said that election will possibly will be held in 2025 .
Bangladeshis protest authorities excessive use of force
Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has asked the UN and other international organisations to conduct a proper investigation into the excesses by police during recent protests .
More than 150 had died in protest against the quota . Police and authorities were blamed for using excessive force .
Editorial
Problem Power
Small modular reactor must deal with the cost of proliferation resistance
To move away from fossil fuels , the Indian government in this year’s budget has talked about research and development in the field of Small Modular Reactor ( SMR ) .
Bharat Modular Reactor will be developed with participation of the Private sector in research and development .
SMR has power generation capacity between 10 MW to 300 MW .
The editorial says that SMR needs not to be necessarily cheaper than large reactors unless their commercial viability is properly checked .
