'Wanting to see the bright side of things, we always told ourselves, 'It could have been worse!', when the situation got tough.' Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd), who helped rebuild the IAF's Car Nicobar air base after the 2004 tsunami, recalls the devastation on United Nations World Tsunami Awareness Day.
Rescuers on Monday fished out bodies of five Hyderabad-based engineering students, who were washed away in the swirling waters of Beas River along with 20 classmates whose fate is not known as Chief minister Virbhadra Singh ordered a magisterial inquiry and suspension of Resident Engineer of Larji hydropower project.
The earthquake epicentred in the Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan struck at around 2.40 pm, sending ripples across several states like Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi- National Capital Region, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.
'On November 8, two women activists were assaulted and left for dead because they were following the illegal mining trail. This is how bad the coal mafia is in Meghalaya.' 'Most politicians own coal mines, some policemen own coal mines and some in the administration own them.' 'So what you have is a nice cocktail and everybody is protecting each other.'
The Delhi high court on Tuesday said that economic interests cannot override human lives and in view of various hospitals in the national capital running low on oxygen, the Centre should immediately implement the ban on industrial use of oxygen instead of waiting till April 22.
India is only the fourth country to acquire such a specialised and modern capability after the United States, Russia and China.
US President Donald Trump identified New York, California and Washington as the three major coronavirus hot spots.
Modi assured to extend all required assistance to the state to face the situation, the Chief Minister's office said.
Nepali labourers are not only the backbone of the state's apple economy but also part of the highly grounded manpower in the orchards, setting an example for other states struggling with the migrant labour question, reports Ashwani Sharma.
'We will see a kind of disaster which the country has not seen in the last 100 years.'
'Nitish Kumar's government has proved during these floods that it is a helpless government.'
'Like General Patton, possibly the greatest exponent of the art of war, Vajpayee had the ability to be always on the offensive,' assesses Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Hospital authorities said of the deceased at the GTB, at least nine received gun shots. One of the deceased is also a woman, they said.
A fearless competitor who used brain and brawn in equal measure, Subhas Bhowmick was one of the most fascinating characters in Indian football through the 1970s with his muscular built and equally expressive carefree opinions.
Men and women, young, old all came together to save lives where they could and provide succour -- some by providing food, while others provided medicines and a shoulder to cry on.
The torchbearer's face will likely be seen by hundreds of millions of people watching around the world.
Four decades of federal evolution made India more secure, but coronavirus is reversing that. Modi's central government has tasted power again and is unlikely to give it up, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Rescuers raced against time to search for survivors still feared trapped under mountains of debris in quake-hit Nepal where over 5,000 people have been killed, even as heavy rains hampered global humanitarian efforts in remote areas of the battered country.
The Sikkim government is planning to convert an artificial lake, formed by a massive landslide in the state's northern part in August last year, into a tourist spot.
The army of the future needs a system of transparency and research. An open sociology of the army is a democratic necessity. An openness of information is a necessity of the army of the future fighting the next peace and next war on behalf of society, says social scientist Shiv Visvanathan.
Fresh guidelines were issued by the government on Wednesday for enforcing the second phase of the coronavirus lockdown, with the Union home ministry barring all kinds of public transport and prohibiting opening of public places during this period.
A home ministry official said while 9,000 Tablighi Jamaat members and their primary contacts have been quarantined till now across the country due to "massive efforts" to check the outbreak, the Centre has written to all states and union territories that "the lockdown measures should be implemented in letter and spirit".
'One hopes that it is for the better that this disaster alters our reality from the morning of May 4,' notes Aakar Patel.
'Since each chief single-mindedly pursues his service's interests in the competition for turf and in core matters such as budget share. The CDS, therefore, must act as an "honest broker" whose decisions serve the broader national purpose, rather than narrow service interests,' says Ajai Shukla.
State Health Minister K K Shailaja told reporters that the government has declared the epidemic as a 'state calamity' to take all necessary steps to ensure that the outbreak is effectively controlled. A medical bulletin issued by the government said the health status of all the three students, who tested positive for the virus, was 'satisfactory'.
'China's opaque defence allocation processes are shrouded in mystery and have triggered security dilemmas among its neighbours and others,' notes China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
The death toll in the US due to coronavirus on Sunday crossed 9,500, which is three times more than the number of people who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The health system is trying to ensure that it isn't caught by surprise -- the way it was last time. So, hectic preparations are on.
More than 3,000 squads under health and local self-government departments have started the process of cleaning houses and public places, official sources said.
'Why should the people of Odisha divert water from the Mahanadhi when 13 out of 32 districts are chronically drought prone?' 'Water is a state subject. Can you really nationalise rivers for which you need drastic amendments in the Constitution?'
At least 155 people have lost their lives and over 80 lakh people affected in fresh floods due to excessive rains in worst-affected Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Odisha.
'Attempts at long-term rapprochement have been rather feeble from both sides. The primary cause of the lack of progress is that these efforts do not appear to have the support of the Pakistan army,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the nation on the eve of 72nd Republic Day.
'If the government was serious about co-opting the corporate sector meaningfully in the fight against COVID-19, it could have specified activities beyond cheque-writing,' notes Kanika Datta.
Other strong men have stopped Modi and his hordes in states before, but none of them with a footprint or battle cry to shake up New Delhi, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Around 90-100 people received burn injuries, and the condition of some of them was serious.
Cities are setting the rules that now carry life and death implications for their residents, and most of these rules are sought to be set by the municipal authorities who have never wielded such power, reports Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
To avert another Uttarakhand-type catastrophe, we must change course. We should stop pandering to the Indian elite's insatiable appetite for electricity, which is driving reckless dam construction, says Praful Bidwai
Life in Mumbai was on Wednesday slowly coming back on tracks as rains subsided and hundreds of stranded commuters headed home with the partial resumption of suburban train services.
'I am proud of Maharashtra and the city of Mumbai, that this is a state which has done more number of tests than any state in India.' 'The more you test, the more number of cases you will pick up.' 'If you do not do the tests, then you are groping in the dark.'
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