AMRI continues to be target of people's seething anger

Kolkata, Dec 11 (IANS) The people's anger over the AMRI hospital fire tragedy which so far has claimed over 91 lives continued to rise with angry protestors Sunday putting up posters in the premises demanding exemplary punishment for its officials Local residents also demanded that a playground 'snatched forcibly' for setting up a park adjacent to the medical facility by the management be returned. 'The hospital, using police force, snatched the land. We want back this land which was a playground for us,' read some posters put up by some residents of Panchanantala in South Kolkata's Dhakuria where the hospital is located. Another poster shows locals holding several trophies they won playing on the said field and accusing the authorities of acquiring it 'forcibly in 2006'. Hospital officials were unavailable for comment. Several political parties including the Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist (SUCI-C) pasted posters on the hospital walls demanding exemplary punishment for the wrongdoers along with scrapping the private-public partnership (PPP) modelled hospitals. Several political parties including the Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist (SUCI-C) pasted posters on the hospital walls demanding exemplary punishment for the wrongdoers along with scrapping the private-public partnership (PPP) modelled hospitals.In the worst fire tragedy in any hospital in India, 91 patients and staffers were killed when a blaze started in the basement of the annexe building early Friday and quickly spread, trapping hundreds of people. While most nurses, doctors and other staffers were able to get away, many critically ill patients died in their hospital beds.

Parliament attack: 10 years on, any lessons learnt?

COIMBATORE: It's been 10 years since the attack on Parliament, which was the biggest attack on the Indian democracy. The attack left a trail of evidence behind, that pointed to Pakistan. A number stuck on the back of all the phones the terrorists used led to Afzal Guru who is a prime accused in the attack and now on death row. Twelve people died in the attack and the number of accused is also 12. The conspirators Md Afzal Guru has sought mercy pardon, Shaukat Hussain Guru, Afzal's cousin, was freed after completing his 10-year term in December 2010, Shaukat's wife, Afsan Guru, was acquitted and Delhi University Professor SAR Geelani was also acquitted. Maulana Masood Azhar and co-conspirator of the attack Tariq Ahmed is at large in Pakistan. The five terrorists who carried out the attack were killed in the counter attack and the main conspirator Ghazi Baba was shot dead in Kashmir in 2002. The question which still remains is whether India managed to retaliate finally? NIA officer Narendra Dubey said, "The attack did strengthen the security around Parliament but has that made India a more secure nation?" Dubey was shot at eight times as he fought and killed Ghazi Baba, the man who planned the attack on Parliament. The operation is till date the biggest counter-insurgency operation that was carried out in the Valley. Baba's plan was to assassinate the Prime Minister who was on a visit to Srinagar along with his Cabinet colleagues. "Actually we were expecting something very big from the terrorists because August 27 was the day when the Prime Minister of India, the Deputy Prime Minister of India and the complete Cabinet, few Chief Ministers of our country, were in the Srinagar city. We apprehended the person who was basically nailed the Gazhi Baba's coffin. He was the deputy chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed and ultimately culminated into killing of Ghazi Baba on the 29th/30th August 2003," Dubey said. Former director of Intelligence Bureau Ajit Doval said, "We did leverage our position diplomatically. Pakistan accused now of state sponsored terror but little else has changed domestically." The December 13 attack turned international opinion against Pakistan with parallels being drawn with 9/11. Ten years later, India might have managed to put the state sponsor of terror tag on Pakistan, but little has changed. Earlier this year, in the wake of news coming in that Afzal Guru could be hanged, came September's Delhi High Court blast. The message coming in from terrorists that they can strike at will whenever, wherever, world opinion not withstanding. #Parliament #Parliament #attack #Afzal Guru #Narendra Dubey #Maulana Masood Azhar #Pakistan #Terrorist

India's amazing railway bridges

The Indian Railways has 114,500 kilometres of total track over a route of 65,000 kilometres and 7,500 stations.

It has the world's fourth largest railway network after the United States, Russia and China.
The Indian Railways has some of the best railway bridges in the world.

Chenab Railway Bridge

Chenab River Railway Bridge is a 359 metres high arch bridge at Katra in Jammu-Kashmir.

It will be the tallest railway bridge in the world, after completion in 2015.
The 1.3-km-long bridge is a part of the 73-km-long Katra-Dharam section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project being executed to provide rail connectivity to the Kashmir valley.

Vembanad Rail Bridge

Kerala has the longest rail bridge in India. Stretcing across a distance of 4.62 kilometres, the bridge is part of a 8.6-km railway link connecting Edapalli to the International Container Transhipment Terminal at Vallarpadam in Kochi.

Pamban Bridge

India's first sea bridge, the Pamban Bridge is a cantilever bridge on the Palk Strait. It connects Rameswaram on Pamban Island (Tamil Nadu) to mainland India.

It is the second longest sea bridge in India at a length of about 2.3 kilometres.

Saraighat bridge

Saraighat Bridge is the first rail-cum-road bridge constructed over the Brahmaputra river in Guwahati, Assam.

It was opened to passenger traffic in June 1963.

Godavari Arch Bridge

Also called the Kovvur-Rajahmundry Bridge, it is built across the Godavari River in Rajamundry in Andhra Pradesh.

The single-track railway bridge is designed to run trains at a speed of 160 miles (260 km) per hour.

Vivekananda Setu

Also called Willingdon Bridge, it is built over the Hooghly River in West Bengal.

It links the city of Howrah to Kolkata. Built in 1932, it is a multispan steel bridge built to provide road-cum-rail link between the Calcutta Port and its hinterland.

Jubilee Bridge

Jubilee Bridge is an important rail bridge over Hooghly River between Naihati and Bandel.

The bridge is flanked on either side by Garifa and Hooghly Ghat stations. The bridge was opened in February 1887 during the jubilee year of the reign of Queen Victoria.

Panvalnadi Bridge

Stretching across a length of 424 metres, the bridge on the Panval river in Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra is currently the tallest bridge in India.

The tallest pier of the bridge is 64 metres above bed level.

DISCOVERED: A second earth in our galax

A 'habitable' earth-like planet, which is orbiting around a sun-like star 600 light years away, has been discovered in our galaxy for the first time, researchers say.

A team of researchers from NASA's Kepler Mission has discovered what could be a large, rocky planet with a surface temperature of about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, comparable to a comfortable spring day on earth.

The discovery team, led by William Borucki of the NASA Ames Research Centre, used photometric data from the NASA Kepler space telescope, which monitors the brightness of 155,000 stars.

Earth-size planets whose orbital planes are aligned such that they periodically pass in front of their stars result in tiny dimmings of their host star's light dimmings that can only be measured by a highly specialized space telescope like Kepler.

The host star lies about 600 light-years away from us toward the constellations of Lyra and Cygnus.

The star, a G5 star, has a mass and a radius only slightly smaller than that of our sun, a G2 star. As a result, the host star is about 25 per cent less luminous than the sun.

This new exoplanet is the smallest-radius planet discovered in the habitable zone of any star to date. It is about 2.4 times larger than that of the earth, putting it in the class of exoplanets known as super-earths.

"This discovery supports the growing belief that we live in a universe crowded with life," Carnegie's Alan Boss said.

"Kepler is on the verge of determining the actual abundance of habitable, Earth-like planets in our galaxy," Boss added.

The study will be published in the Astrophysical Journal.

Dravid, Wadekar get top BCCI honours

Veteran India [ Images ] batsman Rahul Dravid [ Images ] and former captain Ajit Wadekar were on Saturday honoured with the Indian Cricket Board's (BCCI) top recognitions, the Polly Umrigar Award and the C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, in Chennai

Dravid, who made 1,285 runs from 15 Tests at an average of over 53, including six centuries, during the period October 2010 to September 2011, said in a video message, "I think a lot of my good performance is down to the hard work I put in. I think it has all paid off this year."
"It was a mixed year, with the disappointment in South Africa and then the (stellar) series against England and the West Indies. But it is an honour to be recognised by your own board for being the best player of the year," he said.

Wadekar was honoured with the C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award on the 40th anniversary of the iconic tours of 1971, when he led the Indian team to series victories in the West Indies and England.
While collecting the award from BCCI president N Srinivasan, Wadekar dedicated the award to his teammates of the legendary tour.

"I am overwhelmed. I really don't know if I am worthy of this award, the BCCI's highest award. I was the 12th man in my college cricket team. I was carrying drinks for them, that's how I got into the team!"

Sachin Tendulkar, who is in Australia to prepare for the upcoming Test series Down Under, recalled Wadekar's stint in the Indian team as manager during his recorded video message.

"He understood the player's psyche. It's important for any coach to get the best out of players. He was good at man management. Thank you for everything you have done for me and the Indian team," Tendulkar said.

'Kolaveri Di' makes it to Time magazine

Anirudh, who is making his debut as a music director with '3', couldn't have asked for a better start to his Kollywood career. For, 'Kolaveri...', the very first song of his first film, has now started winning awards, after having taken the nation by storm.

Yes, 'Kolaveri' has just won the YouTube Gold award, which is presented to viral videos from across the world. Beams Anirudh, "It is true. The record label has received official intimation. I don't know if they will have a function to present the award but yes, 'Kolavari' has been chosen for the award."
And that's not all.
An article on the song, the lyrics of which have been penned by Dhanush, has also been featured in this edition of the Time magazine. Get Anirudh to react to this piece of information and he smiles yet again.
"I'm not sure about this fact but someone I know told me that it is after 20 years after it featured a story on Roja that the magazine is running such a story again," says Anirudh.
Roja?
The similarities are hard to miss. Will he turn out to be another Rahman and Anirudh responds immediately, "Oh no, Rahman sir is my inspiration. I will happily retire if I manage to accomplish even five percent of what Rahman sir has achieved. I'm just one song old and have a long way to go."
The song's success has lifted the spirits of the entire team of '3'.
Tweeted Dhanush, "To all my north Indian Kolaveri fans, thanks for receiving a Tamil song with a warm heart and making it a global song. God bless."
#Dhanush #Anirudh #Kolaveri #Tamil Films

Longest total lunar eclipse leaves enthusiasts spell bound

New Delhi: This year's last total lunar eclipse on Saturday presented a celestial spectacle for people all over the country, including those in the national capital, in the pre-dusk hours.
In a clear sky over the national capital, the full moon slowly slipped into the earth's darker shadow starting just after 5:02 pm.
"The lunar eclipse started at 5:02 pm and could be seen with naked eyes," Director of Nehru Planetarium, N Rathnasree said.

Astronomy enthusiasts and sky-gazers gathered at the Nehru Planetarium and India Gate to watch the moon's bright white glow giving way to a cerise red.
Amateur Astronomers Association, in association with the Nehru Planetarium, had set up telescopes and cameras to enable people watch and take photographs of the celestial phenomenon.
"It was a memorable experience. I saw the moon slipping into the darker shadow," Shreyansh, a school student, said.
The maximum eclipse was seen at 20:01:50 pm IST. The eclipse began at 5:02 pm and will end at 11:02 pm. While the noticeable Umbra phase began at 6:15 pm, it will end at 9:48 pm.
The sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere gave the lunar surface a deep reddish hue.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth in course of its orbit around the sun, comes between the moon and sun in such a way that moon is hidden in the shadow cast by earth.
This can occur only when the sun, earth and moon are aligned in a straight line, C B Devgun of Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) said.
People living in eastern Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and western Australia will also able to watch the entire eclipse, from beginning to end, Arvind Paranjpye, scientific officer of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, said.
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#Lunar Eclipse #India #Pacific Ocean #Moon #Earth