Bullet trains in India – railway officers getting trained in Italy on the nitty-gritty of the new era

India has mentally prepared to welcome bullet trains into the country and, in order to learn the system of handling such a sophisticated setup, officials of the Indian Railways have been sent to Italy to learn all there is to know about track maintenance, the security aspects and other infrastructure required for such trains.
The first batch of 30 divisional railway managers (DRMs) have left on 6 September for a 15-day specially-designed course at SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 18 September 2015.

The delegation, which includes DRMs of Izzat Nagar division, Bareilly, Lucknow and Firozpur, will gain expertise in running these trains at SDA Bocconi school of Management in Milan. Obviously, these are the areas where high-speed trains are scheduled to run.
It is understood that the decision of the government is to introduce high-speed trains on Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai and Lucknow-Delhi routes in the first phase. Subsequently, it would be extended to other routes.
Moreover, a site in Bareilly, along with two others in North India, have been identified for setting up a factory to manufacture high-speed train engines. 'Achhe din' on the cards for Uttar Pradesh.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Government schools in Bareilly do not have power so Modi’s ‘Man ki Baat’ will remain unheard

On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to share his ‘man ki baat’ with school children - but, government schools in Bareilly do not have any electricity and, hence, Modi-ji’s thoughts would remain unheard. Talks of a digital India sound so hollow!!
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 3 September 2015.

Our Prime Minister is an excellent orator and can hold millions spellbound by his oratory powers as he has shown in the past 15-months. He selects special occasions to share his thoughts like ‘Man ki baat’ with the masses and, sometimes, with children who are the future citizens. But, India being a land of misplaced priorities, the important aspect of ensuring availability of electricity everywhere has not yet seen the light of day.
The guidelines had been received only one day earlier. There are around 2876 primary and upper primary government schools across the district and a majority of them situated in remote areas and lack proper amenities. District education officials have revealed that they do not have resources to arrange for equipment, to accommodate the telecast, within a short span of time.
As indicated by Uniform District Information System for Education (UDISE), a total of 90,000 students across Bareilly would be listening to Modi's speech against a total of three lakh students enrolled in both primary and upper primary schools in the 2014-2015 session.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Theft of buffaloes is on the rise in UP. The latest victim now is BJP MLA Dharampal Singh from Awla. Thieves have taken away nine of his buffaloes from his farmhouse. This act of daring has, once again, raised serious questions for the UP government.
This has been reported in news18.com dated 24 June 2015.

As informed, Dharampal Singh has a resort in Siroli’s Gularia village under Bareilly district. There is a dairy in the farm and the thieves stole the buffalos after tying the caretaker of the farmhouse who doubles up as a guard as well. The thieves gained entry to the farmhouse and after tying the caretaker escaped with nine buffaloes. After the caretaker managed to untie himself, he immediately informed the minister about the theft. Singh’s brother has registered a complaint in Siroli police station and the police have begun investigation.
Incidentally, the police have managed to nab the thief who had stolen seven buffaloes belonging to UP Minister Azam Khan. The seven buffaloes, worth lakhs of rupees, had been stolen from a barn owned by the Azam Khan, UP Minister for Minorities and Urban Development on January 31, 2014. Subsequently, search was launched by the police using dog squads, crime branch sleuths and police personnel.
The thief has now been nabbed as reported in ndtv.com dated 24 June 2015.
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Baheri to paint normal dogs in blue to differentiate from killer dogs

Baheri in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, has witnessed attacks by killer dogs that have devoured as many as five children in the last 40 days and, hence, the authorities have devised a unique plan to tackle the menace. They want to paint all the normal dogs in blue to identify the killers which would, obviously, not be having the blue identification. This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 26 February 2015.
It is, no doubt, a fantastic idea but the question is of how to catch the animals and paint them in colors that would remain for at least 10 days. Hence, a suggestion has been put forth that villagers pour buckets of blue paint on the dogs.
Accordingly, a team consisting of a group of 15 villagers along with officials of the forest department and Nagar Palika will begin the painting operation. Moreover drugs will be administered to the canines to induce behavioral changes in them. These dogs would also be sterilized to control their population.
The animal activists have raised objections by saying that the villagers might end up painting the wrong set of dogs. Moreover, when buckets full of color are poured on dogs, the paint could get into their eyes – then there could be blind dogs around!!
Wonder why no one wants to catch the rogue dogs – their numbers would be much less than the normal ones.