Demonetisation effect in Varanasi - daily sale of Banarasi saris down from Rs 20 crore to Rs 4 crore

One of the items associated with Varanasi is its Banarasi sari and, this famed product has seen its business shrink from Rs 20 crore to Rs 4 crore per day and this city is the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The familiar sight of wholesale buyers has practically died down in the localities where the sari are made ever since the note recall was announced on November 8 and curbs placed on withdrawals from bank accounts.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 26 December 2016.

Varanasi has nearly one lakh-plus handloom weavers and they are not able to find buyers any more because it's a cash market. The saris would sell for anything between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 and, now, the weavers are ready to sell them for as low as Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500, without any profit.
The art of creating Banarasi saris thrived during the Mughal period because the nobles and the rich loved to cover themselves in silk, gold and silver. Way back in the 14th century, artisans from Iran and Iraq came to Varanasi and settled down here.


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Stampede in Varanasi during a religious event leaves at least 19 dead

Mad rush to attend a religious ceremony at the Rajghat Bridge in Varanasi led to a stampede in which at least 19 people have been killed and 60 others injured. The toll may rise since many of the injured are in serious condition.
This has been reported in indiatoday.intoday.in dated 15 October 2016.

Rajghat bridge lies between Varanasi and Chandauli and a large number of people had gathered there for a religious event. A total of 19 people were confirmed dead and 15 of them were were females, and 4 were males. The incident happened when thousands of followers of religious leader Jai Gurudev were on their way to Domri village on the banks of the Ganga to participate in the two-day camp.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the kin of those killed in the Varanasi stampede, and Rs 50,000 each for the those who have been critically injured.


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Swachch Bharat campaign in Varanasi sees only cosmetic changes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had selected the city of Varanasi as his constituency in the Lok Sabha elections and, after coming t power, had selected the city to be an exemplary one in respect to cleanliness. He had even led a Swachch Bharat campaign at Assi Ghat in Varanasi. There has been changes with the silt having been removed and, today, it is probably the cleanest ghat in Varanasi. Workers from Sulabh International are deputed to clean the ghat five times a day.
However, other ghats have not got similar treatment. At Ravi Das Ghat there are tonnes of garbage and sanitation workers struggle to take out big plastic bags from the river. They are ill equipped for the task.
This has been reported in news18.com dated 12 June 2016.

A machine has been deployed - it is called trash skimmer. The operator says he collects five tonnes of garbage every hour. And, these are only cosmetic changes because the problem goes much deeper. There are at least 1,000 factories in and around Varanasi which discharge harmful chemicals into sewage lines.
According to a professor who heads the Ganga Research Centre at Banaras Hindu University, the waste that is generated is at least three times the capacity of the three sewage treatment plants in the city. The River Ganga passes through five states and each of them has its own rules and regulations. There is a lack of coordination which is contributing to the failure of the mission.
Apart from industrial wastes, the burning of human bodies at the ghats is another major source of pollution. This is a religious practice and has been going on for centuries. Unless the government is serious and controls the flow of factory waste, garbage and human remains, cleaning of the ghats of Varanasi will witness only cosmetic changes.


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Modi's plan to sell Gangajal hits a roadblock - Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati objects

The government has recently announced its plan to sell Gangajal through its post offices but it has come in for severe criticism from holy persons. The principal disciple of the seer and convener of the campaign Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati has penned a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi - in the letter he has demanded that the government immediately stop the plan.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 2 June 2016.

In the letter, the seer has said that Indians revered Ganga as mother. He has also said that the Prime Minister himself believes that Ganga is the soul of India. Tat is the reason that he chose to contest Lok Sabha election from Varanasi and had remarked that 'Maa Ganga ne mujhe bulaya hai'.
Hence, when the ministers are planning to sell Gangajal, it amounts to selling the mother.
The seer has added that if there is any formal order of the government on the subject, it must be withdrawn immediately. He has cautioned that if the government wants to earn money by selling Gangajal, it could lead to an agitation.


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Prime Minister Modi to flag off a fleet of 11 e-boats in Varanasi to make the city pollution free

Prime Minister Modi to flag off a fleet of 11 e-boats in Varanasi to make the city pollution free Varanasi is the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and, in order to make the holy city free of pollution and also free from congestion, he will be dropping in on the city to distribute e-boats to the boatmen – it will be a first for the country.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 28 April 2016.

The move is being seen as PM Modi's first direct outreach to the famed boatmen of the holy city. He will flag off a fleet of 11 e-boats on May 1. Before the flagging off, he will have an interaction at one of the Ganga ghats with boatmen from the nishad community.
Ultimately, all the traditional row boats in Varanasi will be replaced by 3,000 medium-sized battery-operated boats within the span of a year. The batteries would be solar powered and the boatmen can steer the boats with ease. At the end of the day, boats will be 100% green with diesel engines gone. Moreover, the e-boats will be noiseless.


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Bull goes missing in Varanasi - owner announces reward of Rs 50000

Bulls roaming on roads and streets of Varanasi are a common sight everywhere in the city and enjoy total impunity - no one can dare to hurt a bull hurt it because it is believed to be the symbol of Shiva, and is always treated with respect. But, one of them has gone missing and its owner has announced a reward of Rs 50000 to anyone who can locate it or give its whereabouts.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 11 April 2016.

The owner has not just announced the reward but has displayed posters with the bull's photograph with physical description and pasted them in the several localities. He has a;so lodged a missing report with Sarnath police station. It seems the three-year-old bull named 'Badshah' had gone missing a week back.
As the owner explains, 'Badshah' is not just an animal but is like to a family member and has full access to the kitchen and bedroom. It served those who brought cows for insemination and its owner feels that some people had come to his place with a cow for insemination and could have taken 'Badshah' away with them for selling it off.


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Namami Gange to take off from next month with surface cleaning of 10 cities

#Namamigange #umabharati #Haridwar #varanasi The Namami Gange is to take off in real earnest from next month with surface cleaning of 10 cities - the initial task would be to begin surface cleaning of the River Ganga by removal of solid waste like clothes and parts of dead bodies. AS indicated by water resources minister Uma Bharati, the cities identified are Haridwar, Garhmukteshwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Sahibganj, Kolkata, Nabadwip and Gangasagar.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 24 December 2015.

As revealed by the minister, trial of surface cleaning has already been taken up in Varanasi by Tata Projects Ltd under corporate social responsibility scheme. NTPC, ONGC and Petronet have also expressed willingness to fund the project.
Regarding progress of sewage treatment under Namami Gange, the minister has informed that 29 projects have been completed at a cost of Rs 463.58 crore with the treatment capacity of 123 million litres per day (MLD) and sewer network of 666.69 km. A total of 93 projects have been sanctioned at the cost of Rs 1,502.66 crore. Once complete, it will result in the creation of treatment capacity of 858 MLD and sewer network of 3,623.10 km.
On the subject of progress in river front/ghat development projects, it seems development of four ghats out of 20 in Patna was completed last month and work at Chandighat (Haridwar), Chhath Ghat (Delhi) and Sahibganj will start next month.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 18 December 2015.

Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal would flag off the first train which would carry more than 1000 devotees. The maiden train would be from Amritsar Attari segment and its destination would be Nanded Sahib.
These special religious trains would also leave for Varanasi and Ajmer Sharif from Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Malerkotla railway stations. The special train for Varanasi would leave from Jalandhar and Ludhiana on January 20 and 27 respectively and that for Ajmer Sharif would start from Malerkotla railway station on January 29, 2016.
Every month 8 special religious trains would be leaving for Nanded Sahib.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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There is a scarcity of water in Varanasi district which happens to be the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the blame is put on Coca Cola which is believed to be extracting groundwater for manufacturing the drinks at the expense of villagers who are left high and dry.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 28 November 2015.

Eighteen village councils in Uttar Pradesh, involving seven blocks of Varanasi district and particularly in Arajiline block, are demanding that a local Coca-Cola bottling plant be prohibited from extracting water from the ground. The reason is that over usage has led to water scarcity in the area as indicated by an environmental campaign group. These villages are in Mehdiganj area of Varanasi district, the constituency of the Prime Minister. It seems the water scarcity has been there ever since 1999 when the plant began operations.
Coca-Cola is an international brand and is supposed to be a responsible user of water. But, they are exploiting the ground water while the women, children, farmers and livestock have to live with less water because Coca-Cola mines groundwater in a water scarce area for profit.
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In the opinion of the Central Ground Water Board, this depletion was not due to withdrawal of ground water by Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd (HCCBPL) plant. In spite of the decline, there was enough water in ponds, dug-wells and good crops of wheat and mustard were observed in the fields.

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This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 24 November 2015.

Both the leaders have apparently discussed about deepening of the Varanasi-Kyoto partnership on the sidelines of 13th ASEAN-India Summit here in the Malaysian capital of Kaula Lumpur. The two cities have already been declared as twin cities.
Obviously, there is a sense of urgency among the administration because Varanasi happens to be the adopted city of Narendra Modi.
Varanasi District Magistrate Rajmani Yadav has indicated that an initial intimation regarding the proposed one-day visit of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and PM Narendra Modi on December 12 has been received by the district administration. However, the detailed protocol for their proposed visit is still awaited, but all preparations has already began to host the duo in the temple city.
The visiting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to visit the Buddhist site Sarnath and also attend the Aarti on the banks of river Ganga along with Modi.

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Very soon there could be cruises on the Ganga in Varanasi

#InlandWaterways #Varanasi #NarendraModi #NitinGadkari If everything goes well, we could very soon see cruises on the Ganga, near Varanasi – the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It would probably bring Varanasi at par with London that has its famous cruises on the Thames. The tentative target to complete this project is 2018-19 – is it scheduled to coincide with the 2nd term of NaMo?
Along with focusing on developing a waterway for heavy cargo vessel navigation in the Ganga under Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP), the Indian Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is also exploring commercial viability of passenger cruise operations - keeping in mind domestic tourists and pilgrims.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 17 June 2015.

The project of developing Inland Waterways had been started way back in 1986. However, it was not a priority project when compared to road transport and rail project. So far, only Rs 1100 crores could be spent on the IW.
Moreover, the minimal depth of waterway was a major deterrent for attracting cargo vessel operators on this route since, only small cargo vessels could be navigated in and that was not commercially viable.
Hence, the project of capacity augmentation will end this problem. Once the DPRs are ready, the actual cost of project would be estimated. It will also help in setting a deadline for the completion of National Waterway-I from Haldia to Allahabad.
With two heavyweight (literally!) ministers assigned by the Prime Minister, one to clean the Ganga (dredging included?) and the other to organize the waterway, one can hope that the 30-year-old project will now be completed. (Image source wikimediacommons.org)

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The main branch of SBI Bhadohi is embarrassed no end because it has been revealed that the ‘gold’ it was guarding in its vault for the past several years was anything other than gold. It was a scam of the highest order and the bank has been caught on the wrong foot.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 25 March 2015.

The gold was in the form of jewelry, coins and gold bars amounting to nearly 4-Kg and was pledged to the bank against various loans that totaled around over Rs 1 crore. The loans had been given in 2012 under the Agri-gold loan scheme.
However, when the borrowers stopped paying the monthly installments, the bank issued notices and, subsequently, when the outstanding instalment amount crossed Rs 88.32 lakh the bank authorities became suspicious and tested the gold. It was only then that it was revealed that what had been pledged as gold was not gold!!
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Solar Impulse 2, the solar powered plane, leaves Varanasi and heads for Myanmar

#solarimpulse2 #varanasi #myanmar #BertrandPiccard Solar Impulse 2 (Si2), the solar powered aircraft which is currently on its maiden flight round the world has left Varanasi and is now headed for Mandalay in Myanmar as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 19 March 2015.
The Si2 had landed in Varanasi on Wednesday evening and the next leg of the flight would be piloted by Bertrand Piccard.
Solar Impulse 2 does not carry any fuel and had landed in Ahmedabad on March 10 around midnight. It was stationed there for six days and had maintained a minimum altitude of around 5,200 metres on its flight to Varanasi.
The Si2, built to fly around the world without using a drop of fuel, has also been designed to showcase the effectiveness of clean technologies and the importance of sustainability.
The aircraft had taken off from Muscat on March 9, flew over Pakistan airspace before entering the Indian airspace over the Arabian Sea towards Gujarat. The Aditya Birla Group had hosted the flight in Ahmedabad.
It is fitted with a total of 17,248 solar cells and four lithium batteries, the weight of Si2 is 633 kg. The batteries supply the electric motors with enough renewable energy for a 24x7 flight, up to an altitude of 8,500 metres. This altitude is less than the height of Mount Everest which stands at 8,848 metres.

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