Floods in Seoul take lives, paralyzes the city – another instance of climate crisis

Torrential rainfall led to floods and landslides as Seoul witnessed death of at least nine persons. Forecasters cautioned about more rain to come. Three died when they were trapped in a flooded semi-basement. Many others suffered injuries and whereabouts of at least seven more are not known. Record rainfall kills at least 9 in Seoul as water floods buildings, submerges cars. The authorities have evacuated hundreds of people and made available aid in the form of tents, blankets and other essentials. They have also launched cleanup and rescue operations. This is because of damages to houses, shops, retaining walls and other pieces of infrastructure.

The rainfall recorded was the highest since authorities began keeping records in 1907. Photos in social media showed people wading across roads up to their thighs in water. In parts of Seoul, there was blockage of drains. These led to travel problems in the streets and subway stations. The Seoul Metro suspended services in some portions because of the floods. Damages included crumbling of parts of pavement apart from damaged vehicles that were swept up by floodwater. Loss of power left many without power in some areas south of the Han River. Yoon Suk Yeol, president of South Korea sent condolences to the victims. He also assured about conducting an on-site inspection and work to prevent additional damage. He realized the need to review the disaster management system. This is necessary in view of increasing instances of climate crisis. Countries in East Asia are experiencing more intense rainfall. The summer monsoons could grow stronger and more unpredictable due to global warming. This is according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Parts of Japan also faced similar situation as parts of Hokkaido reporting floods with possibilities of flash floods and landslides.

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Rajasthan tourism feels the pinch of new tourist destinations cropping up

Rajasthan tourism is getting affected by the new tourist destinations that are cropping up regularly because every state wants to grab a cut of pie of tourism. New tourist destinations and circuits are spoiling Rajasthan's share of foreign tourists and the state is now ranked in fifth spot in foreign tourist visits (FTVs) even though it is linked to golden triangle which attracts 35% to 40% of tourist inflow.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 4 December 2015.

With arrival of 15.2 lakh foreign tourists, Rajasthan had 6.76% of country's share of total FTVs in 2014. In absolute figures, there has been an increase of about 88,412 foreign tourists over the previous (2013) where it was 14.3 lakhs. But percentage wise, it fell from 7.20% to 6.76% in the same period.
UP has nearly double inflow of foreign tourists with more than 29 lakh FTVs while Delhi received 2.31 lakhs tourists in 2014.
Tamil Nadu tops the chart, followed by Maharashtra. Other states particularly in the south are now attracting foreign tourists in a big way.
Tamil Nadu has the advantage of tourists coming from South East Asia because of better connectivity with other countries. Rajasthan, unfortunately, is missing out on a lot on Asian tourists. Obviously, there is need to improve the infrastructure, particularly air connectivity , in order to to promote tourism in the state.
Agra-Varanasi-Khajuraho is now giving tough competition to Golden Triangle that connects Jaipur with Agra and Delhi.

Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Taj Mahal loses its sheen – number of foreign tourists drops drastically

Taj Mahal, the well-known tourism destination is no longer in the list of foreign tourists who are now preferring to visit it for short duration – reason being pestering by touts and lack on infrastructure. The latest figures of those who stay in Agra for two days or more has fallen drastically this year. It has plummeted by 32% when compared to figures of 2014.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 2 September 2015.

It has been revealed by a Local Intelligence Unit that 53,113 foreigners stayed for more than one day in Agra between April and July in 2015. The corresponding figures for 2014 was 78,202. The reason is attributed to the prevailing tout culture apart from the generally shoddy tourism infrastructure.
Moreover, as per figures of the Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI), out of 3.02 lakh foreigners who visited the Taj between January and May this year, 1.6 lakh (53%) left the city the same day. In 2014, there were a total of 3.23 lakh tourists out of which 1.36 lakh (42%) went back on the same day.
There is no airport in Agra and tourists have to get down at Delhi and travel by road or rail to Agra. Obviously, the occupancy in Agra hotels has taken a beating and, unless these are resolved, Taj Mahal would drop out of sight of the itinerary of foreign tourists and that will adversely affect the economy of the region.
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The city of Melbourne in Australia continues to remain the most liveable city in the world for the 5th year in a row – the ranking is given by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) which assigns the Global Livability Index.
The EIU annual rankings focus on living conditions in 140 cities across the globe and marks are allotted based on certain parameters that cover five broad categories like stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 19 August 2015.

Melbourne scored perfect 100 in healthcare, education, and infrastructure and within the culture and environment basket. It also scored a perfect 100 on sport. These highlight that the Victorian Government is committed to continued investment in these priority areas.
The rankings began in 2002 and Melbourne has remained in the top five cities continuously – and, for last 5-years, it has been in the top spot.
Other rankings are – Vienna (2), Vancouver (3), Toronto (4), Adelaide and Calgary (5) At the other end of the spectrum are the last 5 - Tripoli (136), Lagos (137), Port Moresby (138), Dhaka (139) and Damascus (140).
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Fish and rice keep the Bengalis happy

There is no disputing the fact that fish and rice are two items that can keep the Bengalis happy. This is because Bengal is a state where there are innumerable villages and small bodies of water that go by the common nomenclature of ponds. Fish thrive in these waters and are easy pickings for the locals.
Moreover, many landlords had their own ponds in which fishes were grown especially for the families. Hence, dependency of Bengalis on fish existed from time immemorial and it kept growing.
As long as the villages existed, fish was available in abundance but, with the gradual destruction of the environment due to construction work in the name of development and infrastructure in the form of roads, the water bodies began to disappear. But, not the hunger for fish of the Bengalis and, this led to them to go outside the state for the procurement of the fish.
Right now, fish meant for Kolkata come from adjoining Orissa and Andhra Pradesh - however, the range of fish that Bengalis are accustomed to do not always come from neighboring states. While fish like pomfrets, lobsters, crabs and prawns apart from carps and fish from the catfish family do arrive, the varieties of small sweet water fish are absent. There are many Bengalis who have a soft corner for such fish and, obviously, the local fishermen from the villages exploit this weakness and sell off their catch at a premium.
The method of cooking the fish depends on many factors and, thanks to the Electronic media, one can get hundreds of ideas from the TV shows hosted by men and women who are experts in coking – some of them are housewives others are chefs of hotels.
Broadly speaking, Bengalis like their fish either fried or steamed or wrapped in plantain leaves and roasted. Fish like prawns and hilsa are the tastiest and most favored. Even the lobsters have their fans as do the carps and catfish variety. However, sea fish like pomfrets do have followers but are not in any great demand.
Unfortunately, in spite of what people may say, the average consumption of fish in urban Bengal is hardly 1.032 kg per head per month while in Lakshadweep, it is 3.801 kg of fish a month.