Vistara to discontinue its Bangalore-Calcutta-Guwahati route from June 16

Vistara, owned by the Tatas and Singapore Airlines, have decided to discontinue its Bangalore-Calcutta-Guwahati route from June 16 because of lack of patronage of business class traffic between the eastern cities and one of the most popular destinations in the country. Analysts point out that the discontinuation was a telling sign of the lack of corporate traffic from and to Calcutta.
This is reported in telegraphindia.com dated 31 May 2017.

Incidentally, the lack of demand for premium seats has been one of several reasons that international airlines had dropped Calcutta from their radar. However, low-cost airlines have not lost heart. This is because they operate all-economy class flights that depend to a great extent on students and patients on their way to educational institutions and healthcare facilities in the south. Techies do travel in and out of the city but this type of traffic is usually confined to weekends and the holiday seasons.
Vistara had started operations from Calcutta a year ago in June 2016 and the Bangalore services later last year - it operates two flights on the Bangalore-Calcutta-Guwahati route on a daily basis.


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New outlets for fresh fish from Chilika

The Great Indian Bustard makes a comeback

Trekking options open up in Uttarakhand


Another boss who understood my feelings

My boss rode a scooter and wore a wig

The man who loved his work


Airstrikes kill at least 27 ISIS militants in Iraq

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Gunmen disguised as doctors shoot dead 38 persons in a Kabul hospital


Sequel of ABBA's hit musical Mamma Mia on the cards

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Unqualified men pose as doctors in reputable hospitals in Kolkata

It came as a rude shock to the people of Kolkata to learn that unqualified men were occupying seats as doctors in reputable hospitals in the city. CID has zeroed on a person who claims to be a registered Unani practitioner and police are investigating whether it is true or not. In fact, all his educational qualifications, beyond his secondary school certificate, are under the scanner.
He is not the only one - as per police reports, there are at least six more suspects who are believed to working with fake certificates.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 30 May 2017.

The police are in touch with officials of the Medical Council and are investigating these cases that reveal a sordid picture of the health services in the city. The CID sleuths have started questioning one of the the accused to ascertain his wealth.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

New outlets for fresh fish from Chilika

The Great Indian Bustard makes a comeback

Trekking options open up in Uttarakhand


Another boss who understood my feelings

My boss rode a scooter and wore a wig

The man who loved his work


Airstrikes kill at least 27 ISIS militants in Iraq

US police arrest serial killer of Phoenix who had killed at least nine people

Gunmen disguised as doctors shoot dead 38 persons in a Kabul hospital


Sequel of ABBA's hit musical Mamma Mia on the cards

Hackers demand ransom for Disney’s latest Pirates film

'Wonder Woman' with Gal Gadot arriving in India in June

Floods in Sri Lanka leave a trail of 164 dead and 104 missing

The devastating floods and landslides which hit Sri Lanka have left at least 164 dead with another 104 still missing as per information furnished by the Disaster Management Centre. More than 400,000 people have been affected by the severe rains and strong winds that began on May 24. Over 100,000 people have been relocated.
Those who were residing in low lying areas towards southern Sri Lanka were advised to evacuate because of threats of rivers overflowing because the Met department had warned on still more rains accompanied by strong winds.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 28 May 2017.

The Met Department clarified that the depression in the east central Bay of Bengal had intensified in to a Cyclonic storm "MORA" and was gradually moving away from the island. However, under its influence, thee would be cloudy skies, and windy and showery conditions all over the country. The winds could reach up to 80kmph.
Aid has continued to pour into Sri Lanka and rescue teams continue with their search and rescue operations while other teams were engaged in distributing dry ration and food to those who were stranded in their houses that had been inundated by water.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

New outlets for fresh fish from Chilika

The Great Indian Bustard makes a comeback

Trekking options open up in Uttarakhand


Another boss who understood my feelings

My boss rode a scooter and wore a wig

The man who loved his work


Airstrikes kill at least 27 ISIS militants in Iraq

US police arrest serial killer of Phoenix who had killed at least nine people

Gunmen disguised as doctors shoot dead 38 persons in a Kabul hospital


Sequel of ABBA's hit musical Mamma Mia on the cards

Hackers demand ransom for Disney’s latest Pirates film

'Wonder Woman' with Gal Gadot arriving in India in June

Dehradun railway station reopens after 40 days

Railway authorities have announced that the train services through Dehradun would be resumed after it was suspended for 40 days carrying out construction and maintenance work on one of the platforms. The traffic block started on April 17 and is now ready to be thrown open. The closure affected at least 16 trains that crossed Dehradun or originated here and were rerouted to Haridwar creating in this period.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 27 May 2017.

Indian Railways have informed that the work was necessary to improve facilities and cleanliness at the station and the objective was to provide a cleaner railway station to the travelers. The work on the tracks are over and only the finishing touches on the platform remain.
The shopkeepers at the station premises were happy because their business had suffered and earnings had dropped for the period of closure.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

New outlets for fresh fish from Chilika

The Great Indian Bustard makes a comeback

Trekking options open up in Uttarakhand


Another boss who understood my feelings

My boss rode a scooter and wore a wig

The man who loved his work


Airstrikes kill at least 27 ISIS militants in Iraq

US police arrest serial killer of Phoenix who had killed at least nine people

Gunmen disguised as doctors shoot dead 38 persons in a Kabul hospital


Sequel of ABBA's hit musical Mamma Mia on the cards

Hackers demand ransom for Disney’s latest Pirates film

'Wonder Woman' with Gal Gadot arriving in India in June

More than seven lakh devotees visit Char Dham

This year nearly seven lakh devotees visited the Char Dham or the Himalayan shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. This figure is three lakh more than that of last year as informed by the Garhwal Commissioner.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 23 May 2017.

The increase in the number of devotees is a pointer to the fact that there is growing confidence of people in the reconstruction work that has been carried out in the area and renewed infrastructural facilities that have been created on the route following the massive devastation as a result of the 2013 flash floods.
It may be recalled that Uttarakhand had witnessed a devastating natural disaster in the form of torrential rains of unseen magnitude on June 16-17, 2013. This led to widespread destruction and heavy losses to physical infrastructure, agriculture fields, human and animal lives and roads.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

New outlets for fresh fish from Chilika

The Great Indian Bustard makes a comeback

Trekking options open up in Uttarakhand


Another boss who understood my feelings

My boss rode a scooter and wore a wig

The man who loved his work


Airstrikes kill at least 27 ISIS militants in Iraq

US police arrest serial killer of Phoenix who had killed at least nine people

Gunmen disguised as doctors shoot dead 38 persons in a Kabul hospital


Sequel of ABBA's hit musical Mamma Mia on the cards

Hackers demand ransom for Disney’s latest Pirates film

'Wonder Woman' with Gal Gadot arriving in India in June

New outlets for fresh fish from Chilika

Odisha is setting up fresh fish stalls in different locations to sell fish from the Chilika Lake. The fish will be sold at rates stipulated by the government. The fisheries and animal resource department is about to complete work on these two Chilika Fresh shops at Kharavela Nagar and Rasulgarh. The first such shop was set up at Siripur in 2014 and, subsequently, two more came up at Nayapalli and Saheed Nagar in the following years. Once the two new outlets come up in Kharavela Nagar and Rasulgarh, the city of Bhubaneswar will boat of five such fish shops.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 18 May 2017.

These shops will sell fresh fish, crab, prawn, shrimp and other related products at reasonable prices. Later, there are plans to start selling dry fish, canned fish and fish pickle very soon. It seems the fisheries and animal resource department would open 100 such outlets in various parts of the state within six months.
Such an action would benefit the consumers and also the fishermen. Fishfed, an apex body of all primary fishermen's cooperative societies in the state, is the brain behind the concept of Chilika Fresh. Fishfed has more than 300 societies comprising 70,000 fishermen.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Barack Obama enters the league of top US Presidents with ranking of 12

Public tours of the White House will begin again from March 7

Explosion in French nuclear power plant in a non-nuclear zone


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Mumbai will get to see Justin Bieber in action on May 10

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Shakti Kapoor holds his audience spellbound in the Khandagiri Yatra


ISIS carries out car bombing in Baghdad - kills at least 55

Suicide bomb attack kills at least 72 in a Sufi shrine in Pakistan

Mayor of London worried about ISIS attacks on the city

The Great Indian Bustard makes a comeback

In a latest census, as many as 43 Great Indian Bustard have been spotted and 18 were in the Ramdevra closure in Jaisalmer. Recently, one of the birds was electrocuted when it came in contact with high tension wire of windmills in Jaisalmer.
The wildlife census was done at Desert National Park (DNP) in Jaisalmer-Barmer at 147 watering holes and it went on for full 24 hours. The number of water points are in DNP is 53 and forest department officers built machans at these spots with a dozen cameras to record the activities of the birds.
This has been reported in indiatimes.com dated 14 May 2017.

The breakup of the GIBs areawise is - 18 in the new closure of Ramdevra, four in the Loharki closure, in Sudasari closure there were 12 male and 4 female and in the Chauhani Myajlar area, there were one male and four females. Such a census is undertaken annually at DNP, and it is held during Vaishakh month on full moon night.
The birds come to the waterhole and a total 147 waterholes have been identified and 142 of them are in Jaisalmer and 5 are in Barmer. During the last wildlife census in 2016 on Vaisakh Purnima, only 30 godawans (another name for the Great Indian Bustard) were spotted.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Barack Obama enters the league of top US Presidents with ranking of 12

Public tours of the White House will begin again from March 7

Explosion in French nuclear power plant in a non-nuclear zone


Didi caught in the whirlpool of industries (satire)

Moody’s love hate relationship with the raincoat (satire)

The curse of social media – cold blooded murders committed


Mumbai will get to see Justin Bieber in action on May 10

Kangana Ranaut is 'fearless Julia' in Rangoon

Shakti Kapoor holds his audience spellbound in the Khandagiri Yatra


ISIS carries out car bombing in Baghdad - kills at least 55

Suicide bomb attack kills at least 72 in a Sufi shrine in Pakistan

Mayor of London worried about ISIS attacks on the city

Trekking options open up in Uttarakhand

Dronagiri in Chamoli district has been identified as the 'trek of the year' for 2017. This is the village from where Hanuman is believed to have procured the mythical 'sanjivani booti' to revive Laksman. Another location similarly identified is Chaainsheel in Uttarkashi. Environmentalists are worried about these spots can sustain tourism practices because these areas are considered to be ecologically fragile.
This has been reported in indiatimes.com dated 10 May 2017.

Tourists would not be allowed to carry tents or plastic bottles or eatables in plastic packets because food would be served in biodegradable crockery and there would be people stationed across the trek route to remove any debris or litter on the way.
The schedule of trekking -
for Chaainsheel will commence on June 10 and will be sponsored by the state government till July 6. The tourists will stay in the tents and camps provided by the state tourism department. Chaainsheel is located at a distance of 230-Km from Dehradun, state capital of Uttarakhand and is spread over a distance of 25- 30-Km and is surrounded by the mountain ranges of Bangad region of Kotigad valley of Mori block in Uttarkashi district. The trekking event will consist of several batches and the duration of each batch will be 6 days
Dronagiri trek is 23-Km long and will commence from May 21 onward from Joshimath. There will also be two smaller treks of 3.5-Km each to two religious places Dronagiri Parvat and Nandi Kund


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Barack Obama enters the league of top US Presidents with ranking of 12

Public tours of the White House will begin again from March 7

Explosion in French nuclear power plant in a non-nuclear zone


Didi caught in the whirlpool of industries (satire)

Moody’s love hate relationship with the raincoat (satire)

The curse of social media – cold blooded murders committed


Mumbai will get to see Justin Bieber in action on May 10

Kangana Ranaut is 'fearless Julia' in Rangoon

Shakti Kapoor holds his audience spellbound in the Khandagiri Yatra


ISIS carries out car bombing in Baghdad - kills at least 55

Suicide bomb attack kills at least 72 in a Sufi shrine in Pakistan

Mayor of London worried about ISIS attacks on the city

No more junk food in Maharashtra schools

The government of Maharashtra has banned sale of junk food in school canteens. This is based on the recommendations the Centre that was issued more than two years ago. Schools should not sell food in the `High in Fat, Salt and Sugar' (HFSS) category but should go in for healthy alternatives in order to check childhood obesity and related diseases.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 9 May 2017.

The alternatives that have been suggested are chapatis, rice, vegetables and pulses, rajma, wheat upma, khichdi, payasam, idli and vada sambar, coconut water, lemonade and jaljeera. The government resolution (GR) that bans junk food in schools would include vendors who sell prepackaged or pre-cooked food on campus during breaks. Food in the category of HFSS (High in Fat, Salt and Sugar) lead to obesity, diabetes, and dental and heart problems and schools have been asked to create awareness among children about healthy eating.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Barack Obama enters the league of top US Presidents with ranking of 12

Public tours of the White House will begin again from March 7

Explosion in French nuclear power plant in a non-nuclear zone


Didi caught in the whirlpool of industries (satire)

Moody’s love hate relationship with the raincoat (satire)

The curse of social media – cold blooded murders committed


Mumbai will get to see Justin Bieber in action on May 10

Kangana Ranaut is 'fearless Julia' in Rangoon

Shakti Kapoor holds his audience spellbound in the Khandagiri Yatra


ISIS carries out car bombing in Baghdad - kills at least 55

Suicide bomb attack kills at least 72 in a Sufi shrine in Pakistan

Mayor of London worried about ISIS attacks on the city