Resumption of 'Char Dham yatra' after a gap of two Covid-marred years is a welcome development for thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on it, but the death of 78 pilgrims on way to the Himalayan temples in less than a month is causing concern.
The water level rose above the danger mark in Haridwar and Delhi and the level at Bhakra dam was a foot above the permissible mark.
Brave, empathetic to the pain in the world, yet professional about his and his family's safety -- this is how Danish Siddiqui's father remembered him, the day he won his second Pulitzer prize.
The campaigning for phase one of Uttar Pradesh assembly election on February 10 ends on February 8 evening.
'For lakhs of people in the flood-afflicted state, battling against the elements is taking a huge toll. This is the time of the year that apples ripen, rice starts being harvested and preparations start in full swing to put aside some of the food stocks for the long winter months ahead. At this moment, though, people there believe if they can succeed in coming out of this calamity in one piece they will have won the war,' says Rashme Sehgal.
The temples committee has already posted a request to devotees on its website to contribute towards the rebuilding.
The focal point of the multi-agency rescue operation for the last over four days remains the more-than-1.5-km-long "head-race tunnel" of the total 2.5 km of the tubular structure, as every passing minute is mounting concerns over the safety of those trapped inside.
This is also the base of the ITBP's Battalion No. 1, tasked with guarding the Line of Actual Control with China that runs along the state.
A Rs 195 crore-package was announced by the government on Friday for reconstruction of the 'Char Dham' pilgrimage circuit, which was badly affected by the Uttarakhand rain disaster.
The Chinese navy's growing aggression in the Western Pacific is bringing together a range of allies.
'This is probably why the late General Bipin Rawat, who hails from the Garhwal Himalaya, said that the existing roads are fine with the army.'
The sordid details of the FIR filed against these companies for issuing fake certificates only reconfirm why the second Covid-19 wave in India came like a storm in the midst of the Kumbh Mela.
The experts said that climate change is not only raising temperatures and making India's heatwaves hotter, but also changing weather patterns that further drive dangerous weather extremes.
Twenty bravehearts, who died in Tuesday's chopper crash while rescuing stranded people in flood-ravaged areas of Uttarakhand, will be given a 'guard of honour'-- a ceremonial mark of respect-- by the government on Friday in Dehradun.
As politics played out over Uttarakhand floods, Congress on Sunday targeted Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying he wants to become a "Rambo", dismissing reports he had helped in evacuation of 15,000 stranded people from Uttarakhand in two days.
As bodies are being continually pulled out of the muck-filled power project tunnel in Tapovan, the atmosphere outside is getting grimmer with families of the missing people losing hope of seeing them alive.
According to reports from the states, several congregation participants are yet to show up before authorities.
'When I said the Gandhi family had to step aside, it was because we have consistently seen that the public has not accepted them.'
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
Even as the Uttarakhand floods are being referred to as man-made disasters, experts say such disasters are waiting to happen at places like Ooty and Munnar.
The government has decided to deploy more helicopters in Uttarakhand to rescue over 60,000 people still trapped in the rain-ravaged hill state and expedite relief operations.
Congress on Monday appeared to claim credit for effective handling of cyclone 'Phailin', saying all steps are being taken under its rule to make the country "disaster-resilient" which was evident from the Indian Meteorological Department's accurate prediction and "record" evacuation of over one million people in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
There were no immediate reports of any loss of life or damage to property.
On till February 21, the 'Surya Kiran' series of exercises are aimed at enhancing inter-operability between the Indian and the Nepalese Army units in jungle warfare and counter terrorism operations in the mountainous terrain. The training also focuses on humanitarian aid and disaster relief, including medical and aviation support.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' speaks to Shishir Prashant on the situation after the recent cloudburst and floods in the state.
The SC asked the Kerala government to file its response during the day on an application against the three-day relaxation in COVID-19 restrictions in the state in view of the upcoming Bakrid festival.
Pilgrimage to Kedarnath shrine in Garhwal Himalayas, which was suspended in the wake of the June calamity in Uttarakhand, will be resumed on October one, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Thursday said.
The work of manually extricating the bodies from heaps of rubble in Uttarakhand's worst flood-hit Kedarnath area was stopped on Sunday as no more body was visible to the teams engaged in the operation.
Child protection groups are worried about unaccompanied children in Uttarakhand, reports Kavita Chowdhury
Disaster in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh can be blamed on myopic industrialisation, urbanisation and tourism policies.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday paid an ex-gratia relief of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of Bhim Singh, a member of the National Disaster Management Force team, who perished in a chopper crash in Uttarakhand while carrying out rescue operations.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the National Disaster Management Authority to apprise it within two weeks about the status of rescue operations in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand.
Three more bodies were recovered from the debris in the cloudburst-hit villages of Pithoragarh, raising the death toll in rain-related incidents in the state to 18 while searches were on for as many missing people by the army, para-military and police personnel.
Mihir Bhatt, founder of the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, a community-based, action research and advocacy organisation engaged in disaster risk management, tells Vicky Nanjappa that India needs to start learning from its flood experiences and innovating for future responses.
As large parts of the nation reel under incessant rains and floods, leading to breakdown of communications, the army is helping in disaster management efforts.
The Bal Puraskar was conferred by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gave digital certificates to the awardees using blockchain technology developed by IIT Kanpur.
The three districts are among over a dozen in the state that were lashed by incessant rain for close to 48 hours bringing normal business to a grinding halt and disrupting rail and road traffic in most places.
Nine persons were on Sunday killed and five others injured as several houses caved in following a series of cloudbursts in different areas of Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district, taking the death toll since Friday to 47.
Rescue of pilgrims stranded in Badrinath came to an end on Tuesday with about 150 of them being safely evacuated even as the administration struggled with the task of supplying relief to remote parts of Uttarakhand where foodgrain shortage has been reported in 170 villages.
India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.
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