Rooksha

So, can we say that the next time you decide to grab your bag and your spouse, you will get to roam around the city in the metro? Seems very near and sounds good. Last time when I visited Agra to see The Cemetery of Mumtaz Mahal, popularly called The Taj Mahal, with my spouse, I had little chance to think about the wheres and hows of reaching there, plus a place to stay, since we were thronged by The State-Licensed Travel Assistants, as they called themselves. Though we were a bit confused and doubtful of him, we had no other choice and had to go after seeing his price sheet. Maybe the next time you go, you won't see any such people who are more than happy to help you. The BJP-led state government has started to work on the Agra metro project which costs more than Rs. 8,379 crores (think how luxurious a palace you can build for yourself with this). The Phase I was inaugurated virtually on 7th December 2020 by PM Narendra Modi. The project covers a distance of 29.4 km and has two co

  കേരള കര്‍ഷക തൊഴിലാളി ക്ഷേമനിധി അംഗങ്ങളുടെ മക്കള്‍ക്ക് 2019-20 അധ്യയന വര്‍ഷത്തെ വിദ്യാഭ്യാസ അവാര്‍ഡിന് അപേക്ഷിക്കാം.  www.varunastr.blogspot.com സര്‍ക്കാര്‍/എയ്ഡഡ് സ്‌കൂളില്‍ എന്നും എസ് എസ് എല്‍ സി/ടി എച്ച്‌ എസ് എല്‍ സി പരീക്ഷയില്‍ എല്ലാ വിഷയത്തിലും 80 ശതമാനം കുറയാതെ മാര്‍ക്ക് നേടിയിരിക്കണം. 2019-20 അധ്യയന വര്‍ഷം ഹയര്‍ സെക്കണ്ടറി അവസാന വര്‍ഷ പരീക്ഷയില്‍ 90 ശതമാനം കുറയാതെ മാര്‍ക്ക് നേടിയവര്‍ക്കും ഡിഗ്രി, പി ജി, ടി ടി സി, ഐ ടി ഐ, ഐ ടി സി, പോളിടെക്‌നിക്, ജനറല്‍ നഴ്‌സിംഗ്, പ്രൊഫഷണല്‍ ഡിഗ്രി, എം ബി ബി എസ്, പ്രൊഫഷണല്‍ പി ജി, മെഡിക്കല്‍ പി ജി തുടങ്ങിയ അവസാന വര്‍ഷ പരീക്ഷയില്‍ 80 ശതമാനം കുറയാതെ മാര്‍ക്ക് നേടിയവര്‍ക്കും അപേക്ഷിക്കാം.(മാനദണ്ഡങ്ങള്‍ അറിയാന്‍ വെബ്സൈറ്റ് സന്ദര്‍ശിക്കുകയോ,ക്ഷേമനിധിയുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെടുകയോ ചെയ്യാം.) പ്രത്യേകം ശ്രദ്ധിക്കുക : യൂണിയന്‍ നേതാക്കള്‍ക്ക് അറിയണമെന്നില്ല. ആയതിനാല്‍ നേരിട്ടന്വേഷിയ്ക്കുന്നതാണ് ഉചിതം. അപേക്ഷ സെപ്തംബര്‍ 10 ന് വൈകിട്ട് മൂന്നിനകം ജില്ല എക്‌സിക്യൂട്ടീവ് ഓഫീസര്‍ക്ക് നല്‍കണം. അപേക്ഷ ഫോം www.agriworkerafund.org വെബ്‌സൈറ്റില്‍ ലഭിക്കും.

History is made on 1st July 2020 with railways achieving 100% punctuality rate. Second highest record was made on 23rd June with 99.5% punctuality as just one train arrived late. Now this is not a small achievement given all the constraints that railways face while running a train on it's designed path and in the given time slot. The point to be noted is this achievement is made during Covid-19 pandemic. In Pre-Covid times, 13,000 passenger trains and 8,000 freight trains used to run every day. And on 1st July, just 220 passenger trains along with 3,000 loaded freight trains and 2,200 empty ones had run. Now this is a good sign as the "starting trouble" has been overcome. Why trains are always late to reach u? Now why should the trains delay at all? There are mainly two types of issues which the railways face. 1. Internal-  This includes unforseen situations like signalling problems which make trains wait in outskirts. There can be power issues or even track b

When we hear of swine flu, most of the us think they are talking about a single virus. But in reality, swine flu is a family of viruses which originates from pigs. One of it's members is the very notorious H1N1 virus which has caused the 2009 pandemic. The new G4 virus is said to be a mutated form or the descendent of the H1N1 virus. The virus is found in Pigs and humans of China. As we know the food habits of the Chinese include all the animals one can ever imagine on the  surface of mother Earth. So one won't be surprised to find pigs on the dinner plate of a Chinese. In fact, the pork consumption in China is quite high. Hence, a lot of pig farms can be found in major cities of China. The sad truth is most of the pig farms in China have been contaminated with the G4 virus. 10% of the pig farm workers, which accounts in lakhs and lakhs, have been said to have got infected with the virus. Currently the virus is spreading only from pigs to humans but scientists have w

India has banned 59 Chinese apps. The declaration came from Union Minister for Law and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad who tweeted from his official Twitter handle, "for safety, security, defence, sovereignty and integrity of India and to protect data and privacy of people of India, the government has banned 59 mobile apps. Jai Hind!". The press release said that a few apps have been banned under the section 69A of Information Technology Act. The apps posed danger to the privacy of the people and the security of India. Plus there were many complaints of the apps stealing and then sending the data to servers outside India. The security system of apple had earlier warned that it caught tiktok secretly spying on millions of iPhone users. Can India ban Chinese imports? India can't ban Chinese goods as it goes against the WTO norms. Internet service providers ( voda, airtel etc) and playstore have been instructed to block these apps. The step adopted by India is

On 24th June, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, who is also the MP from Doda-Kishtwar region of Jammu, declared that two new BRO bridges were inaugurated in Udhampur and Bhaderwah through a virtual ceremony.    The Doda Kishtwar region is backward in terms of development due to the surrounding mountains. The road which connects the rest of India with Jammu and Kashmir is Pathankot trunk road. It is a very big military base and passes through Jammu to meet Srinagar. The government requires an alternative way to travel between Jammu and Kashmir which passes through Doda and Kishtwar region. This passage will be beneficial during tough times(like winters) and it will be shorter by upto 100 km than the previous Jammu-Kashmir highway, which goes off-route, and will also consequently contribute in the development of the region. The first of these bridges is in Udhampur City. It is named Devika bridge. It is a mere 10 meter long bridge and costs around 75 lakhs. It will aid smooth

For those who asked why hospital couldn't be built instead of spending so much money on the largest statue 1.Statue of Unity The world's tallest “Statue of Unity” is a pride of India and a decent honor to the fearless who undivided and integrated India, our precious Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He was highly respected for his leadership in uniting the 552 states of India to form the single Union of India. ★ Advantages of Statue of Unity Increase in the transport, restaurants, accommodation, service sectors. It is estimated that this statue will remain as it is for 1000 years which implies that it will contribute to the national income of India through tourism for centuries. Local people getting employment. For those who asked why hospital couldn't be built instead of spending so much money on the largest statue: 2.Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Medical Science and Research  Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Medical Science and Research. It is a mult

I am looking at the arm of my chair. It's full of black dots here and there. Age has caused minor damage to it, the same way human face gets damaged with black patches all over. There are slight cuts here and there. And some holes to add to it's ugliness. I grope it's surface feeling the rhythmless bumps. Down I go and come across an edge. It's a design. I take my hand around the design but then feel it's roughness. Oh the children! They are always around, banging the fragile furniture at each other. It's definitely a crack. I have decided to take my hand back further. Aah, what with the wrist! How do I bend it? Should I take my elbow towards me or...away? Away thing works. I jump my fingers to another side of line. Down I go and reach my hip portion. My index finger needs to bend around a V turn and straight I go. The edges are sharp even after the rough usage all through the years. As they are rarely touched, children won't be affected by it's sh

The patient zero of COVID-19 has been identified from reports published in Chinese media and Wall Street Journal.          ✨ What is patient zero? It is the first discovered case of any epidemic. In medical terminology, it is called index case. It is the first documented patient in an epidemic within a population, i.e. it necessarily needn't be the first infected person but the 1st documented person. This term is generally used for epidemic but sometimes is also used for syndromes which doesn't spread from one person to another. ✨        Earlier, epidemiological studies were the methods to trace patient zero. Nowadays, genetic analysis can be used which can trace the path of the virus. But most of the time, epidemiological studies are used. It involves contact tracing and conducting interviews. Most of the work is done on ground. The term patient zero came into existence from AIDS.  Why identifying patient zero is necessary       It answers the basic questions l

By 28 March 2020, the number of Corona cases in the world has reached 5,91,802 and the United States leads with 1,01,657 cases. Till now 26,996 deaths have been reported. But a month ago, the situation was different. Till 27th February, China reported 79,251 cases which hasn't changed much till this date. Outside China, the number of cases were just 4,351 in 49 countries and 67 deaths. In a months time, China reported a little over 3000 new cases whereas the count in the rest of the world has reached 5 lakhs. The WHO is being held responsible for this situation. The WHO World Health Organization was established in 1948 and it has a big role in world healthcare.                      It's main role is that it provides leadership in matters related to health and engaging in partnerships where joint leadership is required. It brings the health ministries/departments of all the countries on a common platform and provides them a leadership. It leads

We are in a critical stage of fighting the Wuhan virus. For this, a nation requires resources and to collect the resources, PM Narendra Modi has launched a very important fund called PM-CARES (Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation) fund. Every ordinary citizen can contribute towards it  The fund will help the nation stand against the pandemic, the details of which are as given:                    Importance of the fund today COVID-19 has engulfed the whole world. Lakhs of cases have been reported. The coming two to three weeks are crucial in containing the virus. In most of the countries, it has been observed that when the number of reported cases cross 1000, there is a sudden spike in the number of cases. Now suppose the number of cases couldn't be contained, then the one thing which would be required in huge numbers are the ventilators. The SARS CoV2 virus infects the lungs of a human when his immune system isn't strong

You must have read my earlier blog related to how the SARS CoV2 infects the lungs and causes death. This is a continuation to that article. You would get a vaccine that contains faint version of a virus. The vaccine then exposes you to a version of virus (yet to be developed) that is too weak to cause an infection but just strong enough to stimulate an immune response. Within a few weeks, cells in your immune system would make markers called antibodies which would be specific for only the Coronavirus or specifically for it's spike protein. Antibodies then attach to the virus and prevent it from attaching to your cells. Antibody attaching to the virus                     Your immune system then responds to signals from the antibodies by consuming and destroying the clumps of viruses. Immune system responding to the virus If you then catch the virus at a later stage, your body would recognize it and then destroy it. In other words, your immune system is now immune

SARS-CoV2 causes COVID-19. It is a contagious viral infection that attacks primarily one's throat and lungs. It belongs to the family of Coronaviruses. It is named for the crown-like spikes on it's surface. Electron Microscope image of Coronavirus What happens in the body when you contract coronavirus? It is the primary task of every living creature to look for ways to maintain it's existence. This can be done by reproducing. In order to reproduce, the coronavirus must infect living cells. Inside a virus, genetic material contains information to make more copies of itself. Parts of a Virus    A protein shell provides a hard protective enclosure for the genetic material as the virus travels between the people it infects. An outer envelope allows the virus to infect cells by merging with the cell's outer membrane. Projection from the outer membrane are spikes made of protein molecules. Both influenza and n-coronavirus use their spike

The Chinese Virus 2019 originated in China but at present, the epicenter of the disease is not China but Europe and United States. There is a huge population of Chinese people who live in the US for either Job or educational purposes. They want to return to their home country. So there is a sudden increase in traffic which led the Chinese government to cancel visas. As a result of this, no one can enter China after 28th March 2020. There is a complete ban on foreign visitors plus the Chinese non-residents of China. Once a week, flights have been allowed from each country but with a few restrictions; flights shouldn't be fully loaded due to social distancing norms (75% full). China said it is being done due to rapid spread of Covid-19 across the world. As no foreign visitors would plan a tour now, the decision won't affect them. It's only the Chinese airlines  which are flying between the routes. The entry for people with diplomatic, service, courtesy (ones called by

Once there was a hare and a tortoise (yeah yeah, your primary school friends). Now they are no longer in UKG, have grown up and now have started star-gazing. Hare: Do you see that torti? Look there! There's the moon. Tortoise: Yeah! He's all shiny and bright. Ready to be eaten with bread and butter. Hare: And do you see the shiny star beside it? It's actually not a star. It's Venus. Hare: Wo...ho Harry! Do planets too shine like stars? Hare: They reflect, like the big shiny bright moon. Tortoise: Aha...and do you see that Harry? The one over there. The tortoise pointed his index finger towards a faint star in the deep sky. Hare: Where? Is it over there? Hare too tried to point towards exactly the same star as the tortoise. Tortoise: Yeah! That one.      I, the author, projected their tiny arms on the astronomical scale. It passed through deep space and when they finally reached the destination, lo, it was like one pointed in the east and one in the wes

Today (14 february 2020) 68th birth anniversary of former External Affairs minister, First woman opposition leader , first BJP Woman President and People's Minister and Leader Sushama Swaraj. We remembering Sushmaji and here are some Lovely tweets of her,.  And her last tweet was     '''Narendra Modiji - Thank you Prime Minister. I was waiting to see thisday in my lifetime''.She was  referring Govt's move on Article 370. This last tweets of Sushamaji and the words used by her left scores of her crores of supporters and admirers in shock and grief.