February 6, 2020
Front page
Trust for Ram Temple construction formed
The Prime Minister announced that the formation of the trust for Ram Temple, as mandated by the Supreme Court. Mr. Parasaran, noted legal luminary and former Attorney General will head. The 15-member body will have one Dalit member. The government kept RSS and VHP out of the Trust, apparently due to their propensity to squabble, and vitiate the atmosphere.
Good words used .. Vitiate, Propensity, Squabble
Land allotted to Muslims for mosque construction
The UP government allotted a 5-acre plot for construction of a new mosque. The site is about 25 kilometers away from the site where the Babri Masjid stood.
10 defector-MLAs will get ministerial berths in Karanataka cabinet
Yediurappa will induct into his cabinet 10 MLAs who defected from the ruling coalition and brought down the Congress – JD (S) government, ultimately paving the way for the formation of the Yediurappa-led BJP government. Other old party loyalists will have to wait longer.
AAP goes to polls showcasing its performance
The Kejriwal-led AAP government will base its campaign on its performance in the last five years, steering clear of communal and other peripheral issues. By adopting this, AAP wants to diffuse the highly polarizing election strategy of the BJP.
Good words and phrases used .. Steer clear of, Diffuse, Polarize
Nirbhay death row convicts get seven days reprieve to exhaust all their legal options
The Delhi High Court has given the death row convicts a week more to exhaust all their legal options before they are led to the gallows.
Good words used .. Reprieve, Gallows
Suburban railway project gets a paltry one crore allotment
The project will inevitably be delayed. This has dismayed the commuters.
Auto show lights up with induction of electric vehicles
This year’s Auto Show being held in Greater Noida will have novel electric car models brought by Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra. Auto enthusiasts are agog with excitement to see these models. Other participants include Audi, Hero Motor Corp, TVS, Honda Motorcycles, BMW, Ford and Fiat.
Sadly, India’s current auto sector slow down has cast a shadow on the event. Many auto companies have chosen not to participate.
Good words and phrases used .. Cast a shadow, Agog
National
Terror encounter leaves a CRPF jawan, and two militants dead
The daring encounter happened in Srinagar’s outskirts. The police have discovered how the terrorists are misusing the Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to organize their activities. Restoration of the long-suspended 2G network brought some respite to the common Kashmiris, but provided an easy mode of communication to the terrorists to plan their activities.
Odisha government notifies house-listing exercise, but remains intriguingly silent on NPR
Both house-listing and NPR exercises are usually conducted simultaneously. Non-mention of NPR in the government notification has surprised many as Naveen Pattanaik was one among the very few non-BJP CMs to tacitly accept the NPR.
Good words used .. Tacit, Intriguingly
Sajjad Lone and Parra released, but will remain confined to their homes
The government appears to be walking a tight rope in the matter of releasing political detenues in J&K. Sajjad and Parra, though freed, will be confined to their homes for the time being. The other prominent leaders, however, will remain in confinement.
Good words and phrases used .. Walk the tight rope, Detenue
14 Thermal plants face CPCB wrath
The Central Pollution Control Board has taken 14 coal-burning plants for missing the deadline to install machines to limit Sulfur Dioxide emissions.
The matter assumes significance as New Delhi has become infamous for its poor air quality. At the root of this malaise is the contaminants released to the atmosphere by thermal power plants in 300-kilometer radius of the capital. These plants burn huge amounts of coal, and release large quantities of Particulate matter (pm), Sulfur Dioxide, and Nitrous Oxide to the atmosphere.
Air India debars Kunal Kamra mistakenly, but it was the comedian’s namesake
The ban imposed on Kunal Kamra took a comical turn today as Air India mistakenly de-boarded the famous comedian’s namesake. The mistake embarrassed Air India
PM implores India to push hard on arms export
Defense exports should be one of the key goals of the MSME sector, the Prime Minister told the gathering of delegates. India could reach an export target of Rs.35,000 crores, and emerge as a big player in the global arena. The PM was speaking at the Defense Expo being held in Lucknow.
Navy will get its third Scorpene submarine by this year.
The Scorpene are French submarines being procured from France, but built in India. By the end of 2022, the full number of six subs could be inducted into the Navy.
SC firm on women being given command posts in army
The army, however, feels that women could not match the men in physical prowess, and psychological impair the fighting morale of the subordinate ranks. The SC does not concur with such views.
Words used .. Prowess, Impair, Concur
WHO moves in to counter the torrent of fake cures and myths around nCoV
There has been an explosion of fake news about possible cures and symptoms of the coronavirus. Such un scientific and unproven information have exacerbated the anxiety of the victims who already reel from a lot of fear of the infection.
Good words used .. Exacerbate, Reel from
International
State of the Union address by President Trump sees an ugly tit for tat
Nancy Pelosi tore the copies of the President’s speech after he walked away without shaking her hands
The occasion was the annual State of the Union speech by the President. Before the president starts his speech, it is customary for him to hand over a copy of his speech to the Speaker of the House. Nancy Pelosi was in the Speaker’s chair. Perhaps nursing grudge against her for her role in the impeachment proceedings, the President walked away without shaking her extended hands. Nancy Pelosi repaid the snub by tearing copies of his speech to pieces behind his back. Almost the whole world watched this unseemly exchange of insults.
Buttigieg and Sanders emerge as provisional top runners in the jinxed Iowa caucus
The Iowa caucus was a fiasco that frayed the nerves of scores of Americans. A computer glitch threw the process of counting to utter confusion. Now, the organizers facing brickbats from all quarters, and are laboriously piecing together the data from the hard drives of computers used in the polling booths to arrive at the correct voting outcome. The process has turned out be excruciatingly slow. However, from the 60% or so vote re-counted Sanders and Buttigieg have emerged as top runners. Joe Biden seems to be lagging at fouth position.
Good words used .. Jinxed, Excruciating, Caucus, Fiasco, Fray the nerves of,
The juggernaut of nCoV rolls on shutting down one Chinese city after another
These are bleak times for China and its leader Xi. The second biggest economy of the world appears to be grinding to a halt as the nCoV spreads like wild fire. For President Xi Jinping, the challenges are many. He faces an unpredictable U.S. president, a festering student protest in Hong Kong, and now, a cataclysmic pandemic that has defied all attempts to be reined in.
China can’t afford to lose its economic momentum, and its international clout. The inscrutable nCoV seems to challenge Xi every step of his way. China must restart its factories, transport networks, and businesses at the earliest and regain the confidence of the world. For Xi, the times ahead looks dark and uncertain.
Good words used .. Pandemic, Inscrutable, Bleak, Cataclysmic, Fester
Finance
Cooperative banks come under RBI watch
When a cooperative bank shows signs of stress, the RBI can move in, superseded the bank’s board, and out its men in control.
Bill to fast-track long-drawn Income Tax disputes
The government will bring in the Vivad se Viswas bill in the parliament that will have provisions to resolve the long list of tax cases. Humongous amounts of tax arrears, some genuinely due to government, have remained mired in disputes causing avoidable distress to both the assesee and the government. The new Bill will enable summary resolution of such chronic disputes.
Next Wipro CEO selection: difficult challenges for the incoming candidate
The company has its own management culture and the long shadow of Rishad Premji falls on the entire company. The new CEO has to quickly learn to align themselves to these two challenges.
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Read the following two passages and answer he four short questions at the end. ….
A passenger plane broke apart after skidding off the runway at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen International Airport on Wednesday evening, killing one person and causing dozens of injuries, Turkey’s transport minister said.
The plane was operated by Pegasus Airlines, a low-cost carrier, and had landed in Istanbul after traveling from Izmir in western Turkey, the airline said. It carried 177 passengers and six crew members, according to Turkish media reports, and landed in difficult conditions, with strong winds and heavy rain lashing Istanbul on Wednesday evening.
Speaking to reporters in the eastern province of Van, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said one person had died in a hospital after the crash but that none of the other injured were in critical condition, according to a Reuters report. Koca said 157 injured passengers were taken to hospitals, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Television footage showed the plane separated into three pieces, with the nose almost completely detached from the rest of the fuselage and flipped over. Early footage of the crash showed what appeared to be a fire near the rear of the plane.
Pegasus Airlines said in a statement that the airplane “experienced a runway excursion” after landing at the airport.
“Some of the injured left the plane by their own means and for others, our emergency teams are trying to get them out of the plane,” Turkey’s transport minister, Mehmet Cahit Turhan, told Anadolu. (Courtsey: WP)
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Comprehension questions ..
- Why did the Peagasus Airlines flight break up?
- What was the casualty?
- What do the television footages show about the ill-fated plane’s final moments?
- How did Pegasus Airlines describe the accident?
[Answers will be posted tomorrow.]