More than 400 television news channels and the highly growing newspaper market driven by various regional languages have the second-highest number of internet users in the world. The journalism in Indian can appear to be vibrant and thriving, but over time the quality of journalism has grown fainter in the face of aggressive nationalism, a vigorous state and corporate power. The news outlets not only need financial stability but also legal support and greater credibility with their readership.

However, since the 2014 election won by the Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP, the journalism in India has faced an addition in the unkind climate. The journalists are now threatened, arrested or detained more frequently than ever. Some of the journalists who have spoken against the government or were known for their investigative work or criticism have been killed. They are also abused, trolled or even marginalized based on their religion.

https://mediaimpactfunders.org/corporate-and-political-power-diminishes-quality-journalism-in-india/

Journalism in India is going for a toss. The mainstream media is officially endowed in the hands of powerful people and hence do not question the authority about the actual issue. In the last few years, the media has lowered the quality of India’s public discourse. The expansion of media has shrunk the public sphere and has resulted in the spread of the elitist and socially conservative values.

Rebecca Mammen a criminal lawyer told, “The true test of a robust democracy is the independence, of its media. Over the past few years, our media has become the mouthpiece of the party in power. Coupled with the fact the corporate owners of media houses share close links with the government, the Indian media has tragically lost its voice.”

In 2007, the then Chief Minister of Gujrat and the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited for an interview by Karan Thapar. Modi left the interview in the middle, as the questions asked by Thapar were too direct and Modi preferred not to answer them. Ever since then, the BJP had boycotted Thapar and no BJP minister has ever accepted the invitation for an interview by Thapar.

The Arnab Goswami led Republic TV, has been consistently focusing more on the denounced issues rather than the real ones. For instance, the Sushant Singh Rajput case, which began with an allegation on Rhea Chakraborty for murdering Sushant had now been diverted to mental issues, drugs and Kangan Ranawat. They have unstoppably spoken on issues that should be of least of our concerns citing the current scenarios. They have never questioned the BJP government for the -24% GDP, or that 42,480 farmers and migrants workers have committed suicide or even the loss in employment during this pandemic. The real issue today isn’t the ban on PubG or TikTok but is more about the 46 lakh Coronavirus cases and the Chinese Intrusion in our Country. Republic TV has always supported the BJP Government.

In recent events, Arnab Goswami has allegedly insulted the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray and has also violated the Indian Constitution by running a parallel court on the channel.

On Thursday, a letter warning all the major cable television operators was sent saying that if they don’t stop airing the channels immediately, they will have to face a protest. This letter was signed by the Sena MLA Sunil Raut brother of the party MP Sanjay Raut and the general secretary of the Shivcable Sena, Vijay Patil. The Chief Advisors of the Union are Raut and the Transport Minister Anil Parab. “The CM is a constitutional post and its disrespect would not be tolerated. Thackeray has asked us not to take the law into our hand. But in this case, the law is on our side,” said Patil.

The Shivcable Sena said the Republic TV has been breaking the ethical code of journalism and conducting media trials repeatedly. The letter further added, “Maharashtra is blessed with a great tradition of journalism. It is expected that journalists put people’s problems before the government to find a solution while staying within the code of ethics of journalism. Since some time now Arnab Goswami, the editor-in-chief of Republic TV has been violating this code and the Indian Constitution and running a parallel court on his channel.” Patil further added that any kind of defaming remarks against Thackeray would not be tolerated.

The Shivsena leader said that Goswami has made several derogatory remarks about CM Uddhav Thackeray in the past. “Goswami has similarly disrespected State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Sanjay Raut and the Mumbai Police and its chief,” Patil told in an interview. He moreover questioned, “Why should cable television operators here broadcast such news for the state and rest of Maharashtra?”

Nevertheless, on Friday, the Bombay High Court refused to meddle in this matter or to pass any orders on the plea submitted by the ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd, which runs the Republic TV. The network had to pursue the court’s intercession in limiting cable television operators from taking the network’s channels down after receiving threats from Shivcable Sena.

The court discarded the plea by the Republic TV and said that they can come up with a plan to deal with the problem put before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) and can approach the law enforcement agencies in respect of the threats by a private organization which is not a legal authority.

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Zimbabwe’s Government has banned mining in its national parks. It was in response to the protests that took place after the Chinese companies were permitted to explore for coal in one of the world’s premier elephant reserves.

The government declared to put a halt in the mining process because of the weeks of campaigns that were conducted to stop the Chinese coal-mining grants in Hwange, Zimbabwe’s largest national park.

The Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association, on Wednesday, welcomed the government’s decision to ban all mining activity there.“The important thing for us is to get an interdict which is legally binding,” Shamiso Mtisi, the association’s deputy director, said.

According to the court case filed by the Zimbabwe Environment Law Association, the permits in the Hwange National Park were apparently given without the required environmental permission.

On Tuesday, Zimbabwe’s mines minister, Winston Chitando told the reporters, “All special grants held in national parks will be cancelled.”

Hwange is home to around 50,000 endangered species, out of which there are 45,000 elephants and other animals such as black rhinos and African wild dogs which make up to other 5 thousand. This park is situated in north-western Zimbabwe which forms a part of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area that spans the borders of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia containing about half of the world’s elephants.

The Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association’s Richard Ncube said that despite the win they are going ahead with the court challenge.“The reason is that we still have a valid argument to make, as long as there are still valid authorizations that allow the mining company to continue mining in the national park, we still have a case to make and we have to get an order before the court so as to stop the mining companies from the mining,” he added. The association’s main concern is that the mining inside Hwange National Park risks permanent damage to the ecology.

“The mining concession was granted in 2015 to Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) who have held that mining concession since then. They haven’t done much work on the concession and they proceeded to get a partner to undertake mining in the particular area,” Winston Chitando said. The ZMDC was permitted before President Emmerson Mnangagwa came to power, he further added.

In the High Court’s petition against the mining in Hwange, Chitando and ZMDC act as defendants by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association. It also names Zimbabwe’s Environmental Management Agency and two Chinese mining companies.

However, these environmentalists fear that without the court’s order, the government could exempt the companies or easily reverse this ban on mining in national parks.

Simiso Mlevu a spokeswoman for the Center for Natural Resource Governance said, “We don’t think there is any tourist who would visit Zimbabwe to check on production of any mine. Tourists are attracted by wildlife. We hope the government will genuinely stay by its word.”

Tourism is one of the industries that Zimbabwe hopes, will revive the country’s struggling economy. Besides, a group that represents the tourism industry made a direct appeal to President Emmerson Mnangagwa to halt the mining. “Please choose to protect this place where elephants gather to drink,” Blessing Munyenyiwa, said on behalf of the group. “Only you have this power,” he added.

Nevertheless, China is a major investor in Zimbabwe and that investing in coal mining will surely help Zimbabwe to become a net energy exporter by 2023.

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Many celebrities have decided to take an initiative of saving this planet in whatever way they can, like Anushka Sharma vowing to protect the nature on ‘World Nature Conservation Day’ or that Juhi Chawla has planted 1,000 trees or Dia Miza, who has consecutively worked to protect the environment.

Another actor has been added to this list. The ‘Bahubali’ star Prabhas Raju has decided to adopt 1,650 acres of a reserve forest in Khazipally located near Dundigal, 20kms from Hyderabad. He decided to take up this initiative as a part of the Green India Challenge by the Rajya Sabha MP, Joginapally Santosh Kumar.

The Telugu Superstar has donated Rs. 2 crores to the forest officials for the development of this reserve forest into an eco-park. This eco-park will be named after Prabhas’s late father Uppalapati Surya Narayan Raju. Prabhas, along with the Forest Minister Allola Indra Karan Reddy and Santosh Kumar, set up the foundation stone for the urban forest park. They noticed the entire reserve forest from a temporary watchtower and then planted a few saplings in the reserve forest region. He also thanked the Telangana government for their support.

The forest department will be converting a small part of the land into an urban eco-park while the rest of the forest is going to be a conservation zone.

Khazipally reserver forest is especially known for its medicinal plants and is extended in 3 compartments.

The forest department is first going to fence the entire 1,650 acres and then start developing the eco-park. In the first phase of the project, construction of the park gate, see-through wall, walking track, viewpoint, gazebo and medicinal plant centre will take place.

All precautionary steps to prevent encroachment of the forest land has also been taken by the Forest Department.

The Saaho star confessed that he was inspired by his friend Santosh Kumar to adopt the Khazipally forest area. He said, “I am inspired by the Keera forest development initiative of Santosh Kumar where he adopted the forest. His philosophy and his polite manner of execution have impressed me a lot”. He would also give more instalments, depending upon the progress of the work, he further added. He pleaded to the Forest Department to develop the reserve forest as it would create an additional lung space in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) limits and develop an eco-park.

Earlier, Prabhas had vowed to adopt 1,000 acres of land under the ‘GreenIndiaChallenge’ in June 2020. He has not only kept his promise and adopted more than 1,000 acres of land but has also donated more money for its development.

The actor on his official Instagram handle had also uploaded a video related to this project and how he urged the Forest Department for the development of the reserve forest.

Prabhas further added that his participation in this project of helping society and preserving the environment has given him immense satisfaction.

However, due to the COVID- 19 restrictions, the program which was held at Khazipally forest took place in the presence of very few numbers of guest.

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told the Supreme Court (SC) that they need additional reclamation of six hectares for the Coastal Road project in Mumbai repeatedly and has now filed a fresh affidavit, to pursue 15 more hectares from the sea.

The BMC, on Monday, filed an enhancing affidavit to the Supreme Court and petitioners reclaiming its need of a total of 111 hectares instead of 96 hectares that was stated in the previous affidavit for the road coastal project.

On 28th August an additional affidavit was filed by the BMC informing the court and petitioners that the original reclamation for the project was estimated to be 90 hectares and it needs an additional of six-hectares. The latest submission of the BMC that came after the SC on 18th August and asked the civic body to file an affidavit characterising the land that it is acquiring.

The civic body in the past 10 days has filed two affidavits expanding the requirement of repossession from 90 to 111 hectares. This increase in the reclamation was due to the construction of the partially submerged sea wall which will protect the coastal road from high waves and erosion.

The latest testimony stated that this design for the partially submerged inclined sea wall, whose construction has already been started will lead to the repossession of the estimated 15 hectares in addition to the 96 hectares.

The 15 hectares foundation of the sea wall will mostly be submerged. The construction of the sea wall will be done using armour rocks that would help in the enhancement of the marine biodiversity and will be eco-friendly, the BMC added. The BMC also said that they have the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for the reclamation of the 90 hectares and the repossession for the addition will be done only after receiving permission from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

However, the civic body has already reclaimed 52.35 hectares for the 9.98 km coastal road that begins from Princess Street Flyover till the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.

Many activists are objecting for this project stating that it will cause irreversible damage to the marine life near the fishing areas and on the western coast. They are saying that the civic body has violated the CRZ norms by doing an excess reclamation at Haji Ali and Worli. On the 4th of September, however, the BMC had filed an affidavit before the apex court who denied the claim.

Shweta Wagh, the urban conservationist and a petitioner against the coastal road said, “Why can’t the BMC decide how much area they are actually planning to reclaim? It seems the BMC is unable to calculate areas properly, or they are carrying out reclamation beyond what they have permission for. This is a very serious issue of transparency and accountability.”

She also said that when the BMC’s new maps were compared with their maps they found that the BMC carried out some reclamation without clearances at Haji Ali and Worli.

Initially, while endorsing this progressive coastal road project, the BMC had said that the reclamation in the sea will give the city an addition of 90 hectares of open spaces.

Nevertheless, according to the BMC’s documents of 2017, out of the 90 hectares, 20 hectares will be used for the road carriageway. It will include an avenue towards the sea and the rest 70 hectares has been shown as green spaces, out of which 56 hectares will be used for facilities like bus stops, police stations and substations. The rest 3.96 hectares of the area will be used as an area of the median.

However, the Deputy of the Municipal Commission, R S Kuknoor was not present to reflect on this. Hoping that this coastal project is actually beneficial to marine biodiversity and the people.

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This COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world to pause. The lockdown caused due to this pandemic has turned the tables for on the professors working on a contract basis in self-financed colleges, which do not receive a government grant.

The past few months, their salaries have vanished obligating the professors to break their saving for homespun purchases and are taking up any available job like painting or baking for making their ends meet.

On condition of anonymity, a professor from Shahad in Thane district told that he had to take up the job of a painter at Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. He is a PhD and NET qualified professor, who did not receive any salary from April to July. He had received the half payment of his salary of Rs.40,000 for August.

Despite working for years with an official sanction to his post from the Mumbai University, he has not been paid well as per the pay scale set for the degree college professors.

“I have been living off a piece of farmland I have in my village. During the lockdown, I have been going to the MIDC area to look for work. I am doing mol mazuri [working as a labourer]. There were some painting jobs I took up. What’s the option?” he added helplessly.

Another college professor said that he was forced to start a bakery and dairy business in June when he did not receive his salary for three months.

He said that in the first month he started the business from home and then slowly moved to a small shop. He had to pay a rent of Rs. 10,000 every month, but at least he earned something. He wasn’t paid for almost three months by the college as they were also facing a financial crunch.”A part of the payment came in before the Ganpati festival, but about Rs 60,000 is still pending. I had to do something to keep the household running and something was better than nothing,” he further added.

The professor said that he used to even run a private coaching class, which also shut during this lockdown. He said, “Whenever the college starts and I am able to get back to teaching, I plan to continue my bakery business.”

Some other professor said that he was tested positive for COVID-19 in June and that he is living on the money of his extended family’s earning. He said, “For May, July and August we were not paid any salary. For April and June, we got half the amount. The only answer we get from the management is that there is no money.”

The educators said that the pandemic has led to a fall in the number of admissions which have in turn depleted the funds of the institutions. A college in Thane that would on an average has around 340 students every year, has only got the admission of 40 students so far.

These self-financed colleges do not receive the government grant and hence depend upon the fees from the students.

The general secretary of the Bombay University and College Teachers Union (BUCTC), Madhu Paranjpe said that the contract and ad-hoc teachers at unaided colleges were already given the short shrift from the Mumbai University and had to make it work with the lower salaries.

A question regarding the non-payment of the salaries was made last month during the varsity’s senate meeting but it was rejected.

Madhu Paranjpe added by saying, “When a question is raised in the Senate, the university has to send it to the colleges to get their response. But when the question is rejected without giving any reason, then we don’t get a clear picture.”

She further said that this lockdown is being used as an excuse not to dig out information.

“There are colleges which are paying salaries, but a large chunk of them are not paying and that information is not coming to us. Teachers are too scared to talk as it is construed as going against the management. The lockdown has made them more vulnerable. It’s a huge issue,” she concluded.

However, everyone should be able to have a healthy livelihood. The colleges must pay a sum of the amount to the teachers, so that they may continue to live a stable life.

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The Vice-Chancellors committee of all the universities in Maharashtra has recommended in its report to the state government that each final year examination paper of professional and non-professional courses can be of 50 marks with a duration of 1 hour each, for completion. The viva or oral examinations can be held through Skype or other such applications or over the phone.

The VCs have been asked by the state government to submit their exam timetable and other such details by the 7th of September, following which the recommendation will be placed before the state disaster management authority for the final approval, Uday Samant, the state higher and technical education minister confirmed.

The Suhas Pednekar led committee, which was formed after the ruling of the Supreme Court that no student should be promoted without examinations, was responsible to suggest how the exams could be conducted safely. On Friday, the committee submitted its report with 11 recommendations to the state higher and technical education department.

Samant said, “The committee has recommended that the students should be allowed to appear for exams from home. It has also recommended that each paper can be of 50 marks with a duration of one hour to complete. Oral exams or viva can be held through Skype and other such application or over the phone. The format of exams will have to be decided by the Board of Examinations and Academic Council of the universities.” Further, he added that they have various available options like an open book exam, multiple-choice question (MCQ), optical mark recognition (OMR) or assignment-based exams.

The committee also advocated pursuing extension up till the 31st of October from the University Grants Commission (UGC) to complete the examination process.

Samant added by saying that offline or physical exams will only be taken where the students are incapable of appearing for the online exams.

However, as per the reports, almost 90% of the students have access to mobile phone or desktops which can be used for the online exams. The remaining 10% who do not have access to either of them or have connectivity issue will be allowed to appear for the exams physically at the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) centres, the officials pronounced.

The report also mentioned that the examination process, including the declaration of the results, can be complete by the 31st of October and the admission for the next academic year can begin from the 1st of November, an official added.

The practical exams can be held between 15th to 30th September, the report further continued.

Nevertheless, Uday Samant has already been declared that the final year examinations can begin from the first week of October.

Image Credits- The Indian Express

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By: Archita Srivastava

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected lives and institutions around the world. From global disruptions in production to supply chains to a new era of work and study from home, our lives are shifting to a new unknown.

The education sector is no different, having been one of the most severely impacted by schools and universities around the world shutting their doors in line with social distances as recommended by WHO. 

In the sense of global school closures, it has become painfully apparent that children at risk of falling out and those likely to suffer the most severe learning losses are those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Poverty, ethnicity and place converge with the exclusion of pre-marginalized children. Current data sources help to assess the size and complexity of the challenge. 

Then comes the key role of governments to alleviate the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery and outcomes of education. Effective government response guidelines are to stress the need to plan long-term disruptions and strategic adaptation, and to coordinate, communicate and support the education workforce, including, and in particular, the academic staff and faculty. 

Pakistan’s emergency education figures indicate that 25 million children do not attend school. While introducing these children into the formal education system must be a priority, and even greater priority is to ensure that those children who attend school receive a quality education. 

The low quality of public education in Pakistan, corruption in exam boards, and widespread cheating have contributed greatly to our nation’s decline. The central challenge that cannot be ignored at the time of pandemic is of education reform in Pakistan, that has to improve education quality — measured by ‘student learning outcomes’, or what students are expected to know or be able to do — rapidly, affordably, and at large scale. 

The Digital School: A Challenge 

“ROTI, kapra, makaan — aur internet,” is how former Google executive Tania Aidrus underscored her vision for Digital Pakistan: a tech-driven society in which all citizens are connected. However, it will take many years for that dream to become a reality. The internet continues to remain a luxury accessible to a relatively small percentage of the total population, with even fewer able to access good-quality connections, particularly in the periphery regions of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and former Fata as well as Balochistan. 

Accessing opportunities and initiatives at this time becomes more complex and unequal if priced technologies such as cable channels or internet and smartphones are used: Less than 1% of the poorest households sampled for Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) 2017 owned a computer, and while 82% of them owned a cell phone, only 4% had access to the internet. 

Children further away from cities are much less likely to have access to instructional content sent through smartphones and internet access. Officials distinguish between parents who own smartphones and those who do not, a divide that is significant because many government school teachers in Punjab are relying on WhatsApp for communicating with parents. Parental occupations directly impact the opportunities children can take advantage of; during the crop-cutting season, many in rural areas are likely to be helping their parents harvest crops. 

Higher percentage inequality inhabits where access to education or primary right is worsening for girls in rural areas and those in the poorest households. The increased burden of care in the households during the pandemic is much more likely to have hit girls the hardest, making it much more likely that they are effectively excluded from accessing COVID-response measures around education. As COVID-associated health and economic shocks threaten to push millions into extreme poverty, girls are more at risk of dropping out of schools. 

Pakistan already has a high dropout rate from both primary and secondary schools, while millions of others have never even stepped inside a classroom. Prolonged breaks and disruptions in education may lead to even more dropouts. And how many Pakistanis can even afford to make it to higher education in the first place? 

The Headway

Being in school is a matter of learning. Research on teaching and learning in rural government schools in Pakistan shows 10% of the year-on-year learning gains for children in grades 3, 4 and 5. These advances are challenged by school closures for the reasons set out above.

The World Bank has outlined three scenarios of learning losses that governments should prepare for when schools reopen:

1. There is a loss of learning for all students due to school disruptions;
2. The lowest-performing children fall further behind while the well-performing children move ahead – this is predicted based on the ability of the families to support children in keeping up with reading and writing and access to assets such as televisions and a good internet or cable connection;
3. There is a sudden and large increase in the numbers of children for whom learning falls because of an increase in numbers of dropouts.

Government schools in Pakistan are likely to find themselves facing the second or the third scenario. Furthermore, provinces stand at various levels of capability for testing and also delivering learning gains. Pre-pandemic learning data show much less variation in children’s ability to read in local languages in the early grades across provinces (between 72 and 80% in grade 1 were able to read letters); there is much higher variation in skills in higher grades (68% children in rural Punjab could read a story in the local language, while only 40% in Sindh could do so). This is true for Maths and English literacy as well.

It will be imperative to assess children when they return to school to establish learning losses, which are likely to vary for children given differential access to home support, technologies and differential exposure to health and economic shocks.

In view of the scale and extent of the disruption, teachers and school leaders must be supported by a dedicated, large-scale, coordinated public awareness campaign when schools reopen after the COVID closures. This can be combined with targeted text messaging and personalized visits for children living in locations or households identified as high-risk.

Decision-makers also need to strategically utilize and allocate resources in a manner that allows smaller institutes to utilize expertise from larger universities. As Pakistan moves on from its deadliest day yet of the novel Coronavirus pandemic, there exists a genuine opportunity for the higher education sector to turn a new leaf and use this opportunity to move forward towards a sustainable future.

Of course, nobody has foreseen the pandemic, and both students and teachers are trying their best to do what they can under difficult circumstances, but authorities will need to chalk out a long-term plan if the current situation continues beyond the winter starts. Otherwise, the health emergency may just turn into an education emergency, which will bring its own host of problems, from a higher number of early marriages to more children working to support their families. 

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Around 42,480 farmers and daily wagers have committed suicide in 2019. There has been an increase of around 6 per cent compared to the previous year, as the number of farmer’s suicide fell marginally while that of daily wagers rose by 8 per cent.

As per the data reported by the National Crime Records Bureau (NRCB) on inadvertent passing and suicides, around 10,281 farmers have committed suicide in 2019, down from 10,357 in 2018, while the number of daily wagers went up to 32,559 from 30,132.

In a report by the NCRB containing the most recent data said that the suicide rate in the strongly stressed cultivating part accounted for 7.4 per cent of the total suicide in the nation resulting in the demising of 5,957 farmers and 4,324 agricultural labourers.

The total number of suicides in the nation has increased from 1,34,516 in 2018 to 139,123 in 2019.

The NCRB has distributed elaborated information on farmer suicides, including the reasons behind it, in 2015. However, on Monday, a report was released by the bureau omitting these classifications and giving a break-in in terms of males and females.

In 2019, a total of 5,563 male farmers and 394 female farmers committed suicide while agricultural workers included 3,749 males and 575 females, as per the report. States and Union Territories like Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Delhi Lakshadweep and Pondicherry have reported zero cases of farmers and agricultural workers committing suicide.

29,092 males and 3,467 females are among the daily wage earners who have ended their lives.

According to the report by NCRB, the states and UTs that have shown an increment in the suicides in 2019 than 2018 were Bihar with 44.7%, Punjab with 37.5% Daman and Diu at 31.4%, Jharkhand at 25%, Uttarkhand with 22.6% and Andhra Pradesh at 21.5%, respectively.

Among cities, the suicide rate was higher (13.9) than the national rate (10.4), with Kollam in Kerela and Asansol in West Bengal reporting the highest suicides rate of 41.2 and 37.8 separately. “Out of the megacities, the four metropolitan cities – Chennai (2,461), Delhi (2,423), Bengaluru (2,081) and Mumbai (1,229) have reported higher numbers of suicides. These four cities together have reported almost 36.6 per cent of the total suicides reported from 53 megacities,” said the report.

The highest percentage of suicide victims which is 23.3 per cent belonged to the educated group of up to matriculation while barely 3.7 per cent were graduates and above, the report added.

Image Credits- The Indian Express

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Coming from different walks of life, everyone has faced criticism and failure. But what defines us is not how we failed but how we get back after the hit.

Through the passage of life, there have been many people who might not be our teachers but might have taught us a lot of things in life. They not only have inspired the adults with their noble deeds and hard work but also kids.

History has a glut of the phenomenal list to propound when it comes to the inspirational people. From various fields like literature, science, religion, technology and many more narrowing it down to five no mean feat.

Here is a list of five people who we think have taught and inspired us in all these waves of life-

• Rabindranath Tagore 

Rabindranath Tagore from an early age was a noted Bengali wordsmith that India had introduced to the world. He would always put his thoughts to paper with eloquence and ease. He created an avid influence on the minds of his passionate readers and hence was known as the ‘Poet of poets’. Tagore wrote his first poem at the age of 7. Indian Culture and literature drew his attention like a magnet. His literature and music work has been translated into various global languages like German, Dutch, Spanish and English. His contribution to the India literature is enormous but his biggest contribution to India would be writing the National Anthem “Jana Gana Mana”. Tagore always taught what he believed. He said that if you have the strength, never disown the poor and show everyone respect, regardless of who they are. Treat others as you would like to be treated. We shouldn’t bow down to someone just because they ask us to.

• Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda was an original youth icon. He has always inspired the youth and hence his birth anniversary is declared as the ‘National Youth Day’. He inspires generations to strive for success and meaningful life. Vivekananda believed education is the manifestation of perfection already in men. He believed that the education given to young people was always negative and hence they don’t gain confidence or self-respect from it. He said if young boys and girls are encouraged and are not unnecessarily criticized all the time, they are bound to improve in time. He said, “Whatever you think, that you will be.” He taught people to be honest, even if it is difficult, to be focused, not to discriminate on basis of caste or religion dare to face all your problems and many more. His message for the youth was, “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.”

• Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa believed that the world could be changed with love and compassion. She lived her life with a load of love, kindness, sacrifice and devoting it to help others she was committed to the upliftment of the society and empowering the deprived in way that only a few leaders have been able to in centuries. She used to work for the poor providing them with medical facilities as a loving nurse. This led to the formation of Missionaries of Charity; a charitable brethren for the neglected and orphaned class. She welcomed the poorest of the poor with open arms and sheltered them here. Mother Teressa believed in sharing love, staying humble, being committed to a cause and have principles. She also suggested to always choose the most strenuous task and said: “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

• A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is known as “The Missile Man of India”. He was the 11th President of India and was also the greatest scientist with the most humble personality. He had an ample amount of love for students and eductions. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was a PhD holder and was appointed as the project director of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). At the time of his occupancy as a director, he led many successful missile and launching projects. He said “My message, especially to young people is to have the courage to think differently, the courage to invent, to travel the unexplored path, courage to discover the impossible and to conquer the problems and succeed. These are great qualities that they must work towards. This is my message to young people.” He was a simple man and was very hardworking and dedicated. These two qualities are very inspiring for adults as well as children.

• Steve Jobs 

Steve Jobs is the chief founder of Apple Computers and grew up with a strong interest in electronics. He started Apple Computer in 1976 from his family garage and today it is one the leading companies in the world. He aimed to make computers which were cheaper, smaller and accessible to the common man. Jobs said, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” He felt that it is important to trust yourself and laugh at the face of failure, also surround yourself with successful people. Jobs entire life is an epitome to his beliefs and that it is only through great work that one can lead a truly satisfying life.

In the end, it is just important to adapt to these life-changing thoughts. They all focused on a similar concept of listening to your heart to fulfil your dream. They also propagated the importance of hard work and the strive for success. Don’t be afraid to try just because you think you might fail, just keep trying. Everything is a lesson if you’re willing to learn it.

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The water level in the seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai, rose to 97 per cent on Thursday after receiving tremendous rainfall in the watershed. Tulsi, Bhatsa, Vihar, Tansa, Modak Sagar, Upper Vaitarna and Middle Vaitarna are the seven lakes and dam reservoirs that supply drinking water in Mumbai.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on 28th August, decided to remove the cut of water supply in the city of Mumbai from 29th August, after the stock of water in dams exceeded till 95 per cent. The BMC had forced a 20% cut in Mumbai from August 5th because of the decline of 34 per cent in the city’s reservoirs. On 22nd August the cut in the water supply was reduced to 10 per cent to improve the water level in the lakes.

According to the data recorded, on Thursday, by the BMC, revealed, that the seven lakes have 97.21 per cent or 14,06,987 million litres of water corresponding to the full capacity which is approximately 14.47 lakh million litres. During the same time, last year the water stock was at 98.02 per cent with 14,14,755 million litres. However, the water stock was 96.01 per cent with 13,89,587 million litres in 2018.

Currently, the Modak Sagar has 99.99 per cent of water stock available while Tansa has 98.85 per cent, Middle Vaitarna has 96.48 per cent and Upper Vaitarna has 95.75 per cent. Bhatsa has 96.90 per cent and Tulsi has 99.71 per cent of useful water level, respectively. Vihar is at the topmost level of the water stock with an absolute of 100 per cent.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the country has received 27 per cent more rainfall than the normal rainfall in August and is the fourth-highest amount in the last 120 years. The official rainfall season in India starts from June 1st and end on September 30th. The IMD on Monday said that the overall rainfall recorded in Indian from the 1st of June to the 31st of August was 10 per cent more than the average.

The rainfall recorded is also the highest in the last 44 years. August 2020 has proved to be one of the rainiest months that August has ever recorded.

However, August of 1926 saw rainfall of 33 per cent more than usual and is the highest precipitation recorded for this month, so far. On the other hand, in 1976 it recorded 28.4 per cent more rainfall than average while in 1973 it recorded 27.8 per cent more than usual.

However, the 27 per cent increase in the rainfall in August 2020 was greater than the constant and with the help of this rise, the issue of the shortage in the supply of water in various parts of Mumbai would be solved.

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