ELECTIONS// Results of elections in five states were announced on March 11 and it was a 4-1 win for the Bharatiya Janata Party which now runs governments in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand. Its only loss came in Punjab where the Congress political party won the elections. When the results were announced, the BJP had clear victories in two states-Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. In Goa and Manipur, it had in fact won fewer assembly seats than the Congress. But acting quickly, the BJP formed a combination with smaller political parties to form the governments in those states. The Congress, slow to act after the elections, is the one left looking foolish.
The state elections were all about Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP. Modi led the campaign in important states like Uttar Pradesh and it was clear that people were voting for him rather than any state level leader. The BJP also feels the result shows people agree with Modi’s demonetization programme
There were some surprising choices of Chief Ministers. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP picked Yogi Adityanath as the CM. Yogi Adityanath is a monk and a priest who heads the Gorakhnath temple in the state. His pick has surprised many as he is a priest and Uttar Pradesh is a state that has seen many fights between people of different religious groups.
Manohar Parrikar, who was Defence minister in Delhi, went back to his home state as CM as the BJP’s partners wanted only him. In Punjab, an old Congress leader Amarinder Singh is back as CM after a 10 year break. Uttarakhand will be run by TS Rawat while in Manipur, N Biren took over after 15 years of Congress leadership.
VERDICT// The Ganga and Yamuna Rivers are living entities declared the Uttarakhand High Court on Monday. This is the first time that a non-human has been given this tag in India.
By recognizing the rivers as living creatures, the Court has given the rivers powers to stop the damage caused to them by humans. Dumping of pollution and construction of dams that block their flow are just some of the things that have been done to these rivers.
Lawyers who fight environment related cases in courts say that the Uttarakhand High Court’s view could be used to fight against the construction of dams across the rivers as dams disturb the flow of the river. It would also make it difficult to disturb the river through construction projects along its banks.
The decision of the Court comes soon after New Zealand gave a living status to the Whanganui, its third largest river.
BLOCKADE// The newly formed government in Manipur has managed to end the four month long blockade of major highways in the state by Naga groups. The blockade had affected the life of the common people of the state with many things needed for daily life costing double the regular price. Trouble began in November 2016 when Naga tribal groups started protesting the move of the Manipur government to create several new districts in the state. The Nagas said that the new districts divided the ancestral land and wanted the government to reverse the decision. As part of their protest, the United Naga Council (UNC) blocked two national highways leading to the state-NH2 and NH 37. Now, Manipur, like other north-eastern states, is heavily dependent on supplies of goods from other parts of India-this is for many things from cooking gas cylinders to food. With the supply of goods choked, items of daily use became very costly in Manipur. Things have changed with a new government taking charge. The new Chief Minister N Biren is looking into the demands of the Nagas. Hopeful of an agreement, the Nagas have lifted the blockade.
DISCOVERY// The world’s oldest plant fossil has been found at Chitrakoot in the Uttar Pradesh state of India. The fossil is believed to be around 1.6 billion years old
Fossils are remains of plants and animals that are preserved inside rocks. These fossils were found within sedimentary rocks in Chitrakoot, a region that is known to be rich in fossils
Before this discovery, the oldest fossils were 1.2 billion year old remains of red algae found in Canada. The Chitrakoot fossils also appear to be remains of red algae. Red algae are water plants found in coral reefs.
This discovery at Chitrakoot was led by a team of Swedish researchers. One of the scientists speaking of the discovery said, “The fossils show us that advanced life in the form of eukaryotes (like plants, fungi and us humans/animals) have a much deeper history on Earth than what we previously have thought.”
DISCOVERY// The archaeology department of Telangana has discovered the world’s largest capstone after excavating an ancient human burial site in Siddipet district, department officials said.
The efforts to lift this massive capstone was coordinated by S S Rangacharyulu, archaeology consultant and K Padmanabha, assistant director (museums), as this mission requires great precision and caution, Department officials said.
A large crane lifted the huge capstone at the excavation site in Narmeta village on March 21, department officials said. The capstone of the menhir burial reportedly weighs about 40 tonnes. The archaeology department is all set to undertake DNA testing of various artefacts that have been discovered at this site which will help in tracing the lineage of pre-historic humans, their food habits, lifestyle, and how their population later became extinct, the officials said.
Last year, team of experts from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) discovered a signet made of clay with ornamental design was among the about 3,000 ancient artefacts at the Keezhadi Pallai Sandhaipudur village in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu during an excavation. According to ASI officials, the ancient settlement at the village, which was on the highway travelled by traders all over the world once, had an underground drainage system which was on par with the Harappan system. The sewage drains had been laid with “baked clay pipe lines”. —
REPORT// India is one of the world’s least happy nations in the world, according to the World Happiness Report, an international report that was released on Monday to mark the International Day of Happiness. The report was released at the United Nations, the international organization that consists of almost all the countries in the world
India was ranked 122 in a list of 155 countries and we have actually slipped four places, down from 118 in 2016. The world’s happiest country is Norway, followed by Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and Sweden. The United States is at rank 14. China is also ahead of India at No 79
The bottom five countries on the list where people are the unhappiest are Burundi (154), Tanzania (153), Syria (152), Rwanda (151) and the Central African Republic (155). To create the ranking, the authors of the report took into account income earned by people, their health, support from the government and community and freedom enjoyed by people. One of the most important factors in making someone happy was that he or she had a job and earned money. So, countries where more people had jobs were happier.
TERROR// Police in Britain arrested seven people in overnight raids in London, Birmingham and elsewhere in connection with the Wednesday attack on the Houses of Parliament by a knife-wielding man who first drove a vehicle down a crowded sidewalk. The death toll in the attack increased from four to five, including the attacker, on Thursday night, when a 75-year-old man was taken off life support, London’s Metropolitan Police said. An American man was also confirmed to have been among the three civilians killed in the first stage of the attack, on Westminster Bridge over the River Thames.
A woman in her 40s and a man in his 50s — were killed, along with a police officer and the attacker. Hours later, the family of Utah resident Kurt Cochran said he had died from the injuries he sustained as the attacker’s SUV careened down the sidewalk of the bridge. Cochran’s brother-in-law Clint Payne confirmed his death in a statement released by the couple’s church, adding that Cochran’s wife Melissa was being treated for serious injuries.
British media quoted witnesses as saying the suspect had lived at a home raided in Birmingham, which is about 120 miles north of the capital city. The suspect, who police identified as 52-year-old Khalid Masood, was fatally shot by an armed police officer after he stabbed the first officer he encountered just inside a gated entrance to the Parliament campus. Police Constable Keith Palmer died of his stab wounds
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack, but offered no evidence of any prior communications with or links to the attacker. The claim was made in a simple statement posted on the website of ISIS’ pseudonews agency, AMAQ, saying the man “carried out the attack in response to calls for the targeting of citizens of coalition countries.” The statement did not include any details of the attacker’s identity or imagery of him. ISIS similarly claimed responsibility for a December attack on a Christmas market in Berlin