Archives for October 2023

Mangaluru: In light of the ongoing war tensions in Israel, Dakshina Kannada District Deputy Commissioner Mulai Muhilan has issued a notice urging Indian citizens from the district who are currently in Israel for various purposes such as business, education, or employment to immediately provide their information.

Citizens are requested to contact the control room at the D.K. District Collector’s Office in Mangaluru at Phone No: 1077/ 0824-2442590 to provide the required details without delay.

Additionally, individuals can also reach out to the state government’s emergency numbers at 080-22340676 and 080-22253707 to provide the necessary information.

Gangtok: Nearly 400 tourists, including 13 from Bangladesh, were rescued by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Army from the Lachen and Lachung towns in North Sikkim on Monday, officials said.

The MI-17 and Chinook helicopters of the IAF conducted 10 sorties, moving 354 tourists out of the disaster-hit areas, they said.

These tourists were brought to Pakyong airport, they added.

The Army shifted 45 tourists from Lachen to Mangan on helicopters, officials said.

These tourists were stranded in Lachen and Lachung after a cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in Mangan district on Wednesday caused a flash flood in Teesta river, devastating several towns and villages across the Himalayan state, they said.

The operation to rescue tourists stranded in the affected areas will resume again on Tuesday, officials said.

Mumbai: Federal Bank, the largest and the oldest private sector lender in Kerala, will completely stop funding for thermal power projects by 2030, according to a senior bank official.

As a first step towards its de-carbonisation initiative, the Kochi-headquartered bank will halve its exposure to the thermal power sector by 2025.

The bank’s green power sector exposure is Rs 5,083 crore across seven to eight projects, mostly solar and wind areas.

“We have internally set a target of completely stopping funding thermal power projects/traditional energy sector by 2030. As a first step towards achieving our decarbonisation efforts, we will be halving our exposure to this polluting sector by 2025,” Ashutosh Khajuria, the chief mentor at the bank, told PTI here.

Currently, the bank’s green loan book is Rs 5,083 crore and the sanctioned book of Rs 7,490 crore. “We see our green book crossing Rs 13,000 crore by 2025,” Khajuria, who retired recently as an executive director of the bank, said.

On the overall growth, he is confident of the bank continuing to clock 20 per cent credit disbursal growth this fiscal driven by home, business and gold loans.

The bank’s home loan and LAP (Loan Against Property) books are worth Rs 35,000 crore. Out of the total, around Rs 15,000 crore is LAP and the gold loan book is Rs 22,000 crore, which is more than 10 per cent of its Rs 1.96 lakh crore assets.

According to Khajuria, the fall in remittances in the first quarter was nothing but reflection of the exchange rate fluctuations and expressed confidence in continuing to maintain the more than 20 per cent market share in the segment.

Last year, the country netted USD 107 billion in remittances and 21 per cent of the total amount was through the bank’s channels, Khajuria said.

The market share remains same despite the marginal fall in the inflows due to the exchange rate volatility of recent months and that the year will close with over USD 100 billion inflows.

Khajuria also said a funding of Rs 980 crore from the IFC will be reaching the bank’s coffers anytime as all the approvals, including that of the RBI are in place now.

The World Bank arm IFC was awaiting RBI nod to invest Rs 980 crore in the bank for some time now.

In July, the bank had concluded a successfully Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) issue for Rs 3,000 crore, Khajuria said.

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann Monday said players from the state, who won medals at the recently concluded Asian Games in China, will be given cash incentives after their return.

Punjab gives Rs 1 crore for gold medal, Rs 75 lakh for silver and Rs 50 lakh for bronze.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games, 33 players from Punjab won 19 medals — eight gold, six silver and five bronze.

Addressing a gathering during interaction with coaches here, the chief minister said earlier governments had “not bothered to felicitate medal winner players” but his government will give top priority to it, according to an official release.

Mann said his government will ensure that the medal winners get the cash and other incentives soon after their arrival in the country.

It is heartening to note that out of 48 players from the state, who participated in the Asian Games, 33 won a total of 19 medals, the chief minister said, adding that this is the biggest tally of Punjab in the history of Asiad during the post-Independence era.

Lauding the coaches for their roles in a player’s life, Mann said they also play an important role in grooming the players for the national and international events.

Players excel in fields due to the hard work and confidence infused by coaches, he said.

On the performance of the state players in the Asian Games, Mann said Punjab is blessed with immense talent which has been proved in these games where players won various medals.

On one hand the credit goes to dedication of players and on other, the role of coaches cannot also be denied, he noted.

Mann congratulated players and coaches for this display of remarkable sportsmanship in the Asian games.

He said the state government is committed to revive the sports culture in the state for which coaches can play a pivotal role.

The state government is making concerted efforts for wiping out the menace of drugs from the state for which sports is being encouraged, he added.

Coaches can act as a catalyst in making Punjab a drug-free state by promotion of sports, he said.

He said the state government is incentivising players with cash awards and other facilities to encourage them to perform in national and international events.

For the first time, the state players are being given financial assistance to prepare for international events, the chief minister claimed.

New Delhi: If global temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, around 2.2 billion (220 crore) people living in the Indus River Valley in northern India and eastern Pakistan may experience extended periods of heat that exceed human tolerance, according to a new research.

The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), indicates that in such a scenario, northern India, eastern Pakistan, eastern China and Sub-Saharan Africa would predominantly encounter high-humidity heatwaves.

Heatwaves with higher humidity levels can be more perilous because the air cannot efficiently absorb excess moisture. This limitation restricts the human body’s ability to evaporate sweat and affects the moisture content of certain infrastructure like evaporative coolers.

These regions are also home to lower-to-middle income countries, meaning that many affected individuals may lack access to air-conditioning or effective ways to mitigate the adverse health effects of extreme heat, the researchers explained.

Humans can endure specific combinations of heat and humidity, but when these thresholds are surpassed, individuals become susceptible to heat-related health issues, including heatstrokes or heart attacks. With climate change driving global temperatures upward, billions of people could find themselves pushed beyond these limits.

The Earth’s global surface temperature has already increased by approximately 1.15 degrees Celsius, with the rise closely linked to the release of carbon dioxide (CO2), primarily by developed countries, into the atmosphere since the onset of the industrial revolution.

In 2015, 196 countries signed the Paris Agreement, aiming to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

However, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organisation composed of the world’s leading climate scientists, the world is on course for a temperature increase of around 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century under a business-as-usual scenario.

The IPCC emphasises that to avert extreme, destructive and likely irreversible effects of climate change, the world must cut emissions by half by 2030 compared to the 2019 levels to limit the rise in the global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels.

According to global agencies, the last four months (June, July, August and September) have been the hottest on record, with 2023 poised to become the warmest year ever.

The research team conducted modelling for global temperature increases ranging from 1.5 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius, the latter considered a worst-case scenario where warming would accelerate. This allowed them to identify areas where warming would lead to heat and humidity levels surpassing human tolerance.

“To understand how complex real-world problems like climate change will affect human health, you need expertise in both planetary science and human physiology,” said co-author W Larry Kenney, professor of physiology and kinesiology and the Marie Underhill Noll Chair in Human Performance at the Pennsylvania State University.

The research suggests that the ambient wet-bulb temperature limit for young, healthy individuals is approximately 31 degrees Celsius, as indicated in a study published last year by Penn State researchers. However, the specific threshold for any individual at a given moment also depends on factors, such as exertion level and other environmental variables, including wind speed and solar radiation.

In recorded human history, instances of temperatures and humidity exceeding human limits have been limited and occurred only briefly in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, according to the researchers.

If global warming continues to reach 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the researchers argue that areas such as the Eastern Seaboard and the middle of the United States — from Florida to New York and from Houston to Chicago — would begin to experience heat and humidity levels exceeding human tolerance. South America and Australia would also face extreme heat at this level of warming.

While the United States is projected to experience more heatwaves at current warming levels, these heatwaves are not expected to consistently exceed human limits as frequently as in other parts of the world.

To halt the rising temperatures, the researchers stress the need for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion. Without these changes, middle-income and low-income countries are likely to be the hardest hit, the researchers cautioned.

Nasheman news

Are you someone who revels in the beauty of mathematics, possesses the wizardry of statistics, or
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December 22 and 23, 2023.

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 Abstract submissions: The deadline is October 15, 2023.
 Full-length paper submissions: Due by November 15, 2023.
 Camera-ready submissions: The final submission deadline is December 20, 2023.
ICRTMSE 2023 is not merely a gathering of brilliance; it is a grand celebration of intellect and a
compelling testament to the perpetually advancing horizons of Mathematics, Statistics, and Engineering.

Gangtok/Jalpaiguri: Thirty-three bodies, including those of nine Armymen, have been recovered so far from the slush and debris of the flash flood in Teesta river that devastated Sikkim, while the search continued for the over 105 people who are still missing, officials said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Jalpaiguri district administration in West Bengal has said they have so far recovered 40 bodies from the downstream of the Teesta river. Officials said 10 bodies have so far been identified.

Since bodies are still being found from the slush and debris left behind by the river in both the states, the exact casualty count will be clear in the next few days after collating the details, officials said.

The flash flood, which was triggered by a cloudburst in the early hours of Wednesday, has affected 60,870 people. So far, 2,563 people have been rescued from different areas of the state, most of which have been cut off from the rest of the country, according to the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA).

Search was underway for 105 people who are still missing. Sixty-three people are missing in Pakyong district, 20 in Gangtok district, 16 in Mangan and six in Namchi, it said.

Special radars, drones and Army dogs have been deployed for the search operations, officials said.

So far, 21 bodies have been recovered in Pakyong, six in Gangtok, four in Mangan and two in Namchi, they said.

National Highway 10, the lifeline of Sikkim, has been rendered unusable due to damage to the road surface and many bridges across the Teesta river. The opening and widening process of the stretch between Rangpo and Singtam is in progress, they added.

Alternative routes to the state capital Gangtok are open via the East Sikkim district. However, in North Sikkim, roads beyond Mangan are cut off, officials said.

The ITBP said that 56 people were rescued in North Sikkim’s Chungthang, one of the worst affected areas in the flash flood. Among those rescued were 52 men and four women.

A total of 6,705 people have taken shelter in 30 relief camps set up across the state, most of which have been cut off from the rest of the country.

The disaster also damaged more than 1655 houses and washed away 14 bridges in the four districts of the picturesque Himalayan state.

New Delhi: With the Congress winning several seats in the elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil, the party said it is a direct impact of Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also took a swipe at the media saying “the national media will blank it out, but trends coming in show Congress leading convincingly in the elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil with an almost complete wipeout of the BJP.”

“This is a direct impact of Rahul Gandhi continuing Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ladakh last month,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said the party has registered a resounding victory in the Ladakh hill council elections after 10 years.

“Along with our INDIA partner National Conference, we have swept the entire region in its first election after the abrogation of Art. 370.

“Rahul Gandhi ji’s Bharat Jodo Yatra last month across the region has given people of Ladakh and Kargil the faith that the Congress and INDIA have a deep concern about the issues they face, and the need for their democratic sentiments to be given a voice,” he said on X.

“Congratulations to all victorious candidates,” Venugopal said, adding “I am confident this will usher a new democratic dawn in Ladakh and Kargil”.

Another Congress leader P Chidambaram said the LAHDC poll result is a “resounding victory for I.N.D.I.A. and a crushing defeat for the BJP”.

“The results show that the people have totally repudiated the misguided agenda of the BJP, the revocation of Art. 370 and the creation of Union Territories out of a State. “If elections are held in the Kashmir valley, the results will not be different,” he said.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also said the people of Ladakh-Kargil have spoken decisively.

“A resounding mandate for us in the Ladakh-Kargil Autonomous Hill Council elections – the first electoral exercise since abolition of Art 370.

“In August Rahul Gandhi ji’s Bharat Jodo Yatra all across Leh-Ladakh met and assured the people of the region that their voices matter,” she said.

The National Conference and the Congress together won 22 seats in the LAHDC polls, officials said on Sunday.

The elections to the LAHDC-Kargil was the first poll to be held after Ladakh was carved out as a Union territory following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.

Twenty-six seats of the council went to polls on October 4. The administration nominates four members with voting rights to the 30-member council.

According to the officials, the National Conference (NC) won 12 seats, making it the single largest party, while its ally Congress registered victory in 10. The BJP won two seats, while two independent candidates also registered victory, they said.

The existing council headed by the NC’s Feroz Ahmad Khan completed its five-year term on October 1. The new council will be in place before October 11.

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said his government is working closely with Ministry of External Affairs to ensure the safety of Kannadigas in Israel, where a war has broken out.

He also appealed to Kannadigas in Israel who are in need of assistance to contact the state emergency operation centre.
“In view of the current situation in Israel, we are closely working with @MEAIndia towards ensuring safety of our citizens,” Siddaramaiah said on social media platform X.