Danushkodi to Get Road Connectivity

Introduction

Till recently, people found it difficult to go into the ghost town of Dhanushkodi, near Rameshwaram. They have to pay the hefty amount to travel in jeeps that are suitable for the rough terrain in Dhanushkodi. Mostly, the road has a number of humps and gutters, shaking the occupants of the vehicles traveling to the ghost town. Despite this, the number of people flocking this lost town has only increased with time. Taking into the view the immense tourist potential, the Tamil Nadu government has laid a new road to this ghost town. The 9.5-kilometer road connects the tip of the land formation with the Tamil Nadu mainland.  In this blog post, we will look at the new development in some detail so that the readers get some benefit out of it.

New Road

The district administration and the state government have understood the tourist potential of Dhanushkodi, and it's historical as well as mythological significance only too well. That was the reason why the work on laying of new road to the Dhanushkodi rubble had begun two years back. The length of the new road is about 9.5 kilometers. While executing this project, every effort was put in to conserve the remains of this old port town. According to the Highways Department, the 9.5-kilometre road has been constructed in two stretches. The first stretch has a length of 5 kilometers, and it connects Mukuntharayarchathiram and Dhanushkodi. The 4.5-kilometre second stretch connects further the old port town to Arichalmunai, the farthest point from the mainland. In order to protect the newly built road from the ravages of the sea, the gabion boxes have been installed on the either side of the road. The authorities believe that these boxes protecting the road will become boulders over a period of time and protect its sides.

Delayed Opening

In the mid of November 2016, the newly laid road to Dhanushkodi had suffered damage due to the banging of strong tidal waves on the land. This has further delayed the opening of this new road to the public. Since the road was well fortified with gabion boxes, the extent of the damage to the road was minimal. It will take another 3 months before the road is thrown open to the general public. The Highways Department will construct a one-kilometre seawall from Mukuntharayachathiram towards Dhanushkodi.  The department will also construct a half kilometer protective wall at the end point – Arichalmunai.  The Public Works Department (PWD) of the Tamil Nadu state government has further proposed to construct a 3.5-kilometre seawall from Mukuntharayachahiram towards the old port town to completely protect the road from the sea.

Dhanushkodi Port Town

This old port town was bustling with various activities till December 23, 1964, when a super cyclone struck it with its destructive force. As a result of this catastrophe, all the government and private institutions in the town, including a port that connected it to Sri Lanka through a ferry service, were washed away. This super cyclone also ruined many structures that were present there. Hence, the place was declared unfit for living. Despite this, a small number of fishing families still live there without any basic amenities.  They interact with the tourists who visit the old port town and earn their sustenance, apart from their routine fishing activities. 

Video Presentation

For the benefit of readers, we are just adding a video presentation on what to expect at the old and abandoned port town near the Sri Lankan island. This video comes from Incredible India.

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10 Facts Revealed by RBI to Parliamentary Panel on Demonetization

Introduction

Even after the time sought by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was over, things did not fall in place, creating more panic reactions among the citizens of the country. Many even tried to question the implementation logic followed by the Central government and the central bank Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Many political parties and their Members of Parliament (MPs) launched a scathing attack on both the implementing parties for their poorer planning. In this context, the MPs from both the houses of parliament decided to take the issue on their hands and asked the Parliament panel to look into the issue to get a larger picture. This forced the RBI to respond to a questionnaire prepared by the panel. In this blog post, we will look at the facts the RBI had revealed to the Parliament panel.

RBI Response to Parliament Panel

After the sought time for normalization of Indian economy post demonetization had lapsed on December 30, 2016, the political parties and their MPs had decided to question the Government and the RBI to know the circumstances in which the said policy was implemented. The panel really wanted to know whether the government and RBI had done enough homework on it. RBI had issued as many as 60 notifications at different points in time to make the corrective measures to ease out the currency crunch in Indian Economic system. After the careful deliberation, RBI had come out with a list of 10 important points for submission to the panel. They are listed below for the readers’ reference.

1.  Joint Decision: High-value currency demonetization was taken jointly by both Indian Government and the central bank RBI.


2.  Demonetization Objective: RBI submitted to the Parliament panel that it was to crack down on counterfeit notes.


3. RBI Suggestion: Few days after Modi came to power at the center, RBI had suggested the introduction of Rs. 5000 and Rs. 10000 notes in the month of October 2014.


4. New Currency: RBI revealed that Rs 2000 note was introduced looking into the currency figures.


5.  Printing Date: RBI submitted that the printing of new currency was started in June 2016.


6. Reasoning:  RBI claimed that it did not introduce the new currency in a phased manner to keep the surprise factor and catch the fancy of the public on its design.


7. Final Push Factor: According to RBI, the final decision on demonetization was taken when the new currency stock in the chest had reached critically low level.


8. Deliberation: When panel questioned about the outcome, RBI revealed that it had weighed in the cash crisis and understood that it might not be possible to replace notes completely.


9. Digital Payment: After it understood the ramification, RBI had initially floated the digital payment option to partially offset the cash crunch load.


10. Impact on Balance Sheet: RBI claimed that its balance sheet was not impacted by the demonetization policy at all.

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Tale of China Freight Train Going to England

Introduction

The People's Public of China has sent its first freight train from Beijing to London. The journey commenced at commenced at Yiwu West railway station in Zhejiang province in China. The Chinese government wanted to reopen the old silk route to help the freight movement across the continents. It wanted to develop this rail route as the sustainable mode of transport of goods to different parts of the world. In this article, we will look into the specifics and the reason of starting this business by the Chinese government.

China Railway Express

In an effort to rekindle the hopes of reviving old silk route that used to transport the goods to European countries, the Chinese government has begun a freight train service from Beijing to London. The journey of the train commenced from the Yiwu West railway station in Zhejiang province in China. The train will complete the journey in the course of 18 days. This is the first direct train link that traverses through different countries in Asia and Europe before terminating in the capital city of Britain. This train carries household goods, suitcases, bags, garments and other things to the London city. It will pass through the countries such as Russia, Germany, Belarus, Poland, France and Belgium before halting at London railway station for offloading the freight there.

Genesis of China Railway Express

This project is part of Chinese President XI Jinping's vision for "One Belt-One Road". Drawing inspiration from the older silk route concept that fuelled the Chinese growth, the state government has designed it as a driving force to boost the country's export in a cost-effective way. Hence, many consider it as the new silk route of the modern times. The authorities are executing the Chinese freight train project to improve the country's economic ties with different countries in Asia, Middle-east, and Europe. The new route unravels a new option for the exporters and importers to carry their goods across the world. At present, the freight movement is either through cheaper and slower sea route or faster and costlier air route.

Old Silk Route

The old silk route commenced in 200 BC. It was majorly used by Chinese traders to various silk products to ancient countries of Europe and Africa. The Chinese caravans used to take the wears to different countries across the continents to fuel the ancient country's economy. This trail in fact provided enormous wealth and prestige to the ancient Chinese Empire. Since then, this silk route became the symbol of Chinese prosperity and might.

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Hyperloop One - Trivandrum-Bangalore Corridor Among Semi-finalists

Introduction

Hyperloop One is a futuristic mode of transport that may carry the things and men to different far off destinations at far lesser costs. The experts in this field believe this mode of transport as the fastest mode of transport conceived by the humanity. They claim that it happens immediately, safely,  and efficiently. A company has come forward with a way to generate ideas to make this concept a reality. If it becomes operational, the authorities can transport people and cargo at the speed of an airline at a bus ticket price. In terms of numbers, a Hyperloop One transport system can theoretically cover 1100 kilometers in a matter of 30 minutes. In this blog post, we will look at this mode of transport and the efforts put by the company to generate ideas to make it commercially viable.

What is Hyperloop One?

It is a futuristic mode of transport to mobilize men and material at the airline speed. The researchers have come out with this type of system theoretically. After learning about the early bird opportunities, a company has jumped on this bandwagon to make it commercially viable. In simple terms, it is a mode of transport of objects between two points immediately, cheaply, efficiently and sustainably. When this mode of transport becomes operational, the passengers and cargo are loaded into pods that can travel at the speed of a Passenger Jet. These pods are actually present in vacuum tubes. After removing air from the tubes, these pods get fired to generate the speed of a jet plane. The fired pods travel through these tubes without any resistance. Hence, this transport system requires lesser energy to transport people and freight. In realistic terms, a person can travel from Mumbai to Delhi in a matter of just 30 minutes. Usually, these pods can easily pick up speeds more than 1000 kilometers per hour in just a few minutes under vacuum conditions.

Generate Ideas

In pursuit of ideas to make this concept a reality, a company has launched a Global Challenge. This open competition is open to people, companies, universities and government bodies. The organizers asked the participants to make comprehensive proposals to develop a model to use this mode of transport. After going through a huge volume of proposals submitted, the company has released a list of 35 semi-finalist places. Amongst places selected, the US has 11 places, India has 5 places and the UK has 4 places. Fortunately, a place in Kerala appears in the list as part of Trivandrum-Bangalore corridor.  The other places from India that have come on the list include Chennai-Bangalore, Port connector, Mumbai-Delhi, and Mumbai-Chennai. A panel of experts in transportation, economics, technology and innovation will check the remaining proposals and prepare another list as well as part of Global Challenge showcase event at New Delhi on February 28, 2017.                              

For the benefit of the readers, we have just uploaded the functioning of the Hyperloop transport module that may revolutionize the way objects are transported in the near future.

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Features of BHIM Mobile Application

Introduction

Last week, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of a mobile application for the digital payments. It is christened as Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM). Another interesting fact is that this application gets its name from the name of the architect of Indian Constitution Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. For now, the mobile app is available only for the Android operating system. In other words, the users of mobiles with iOS and Windows operating systems cannot use this application. It supports Aadhar-based payments. The app uses finger impression to authenticate the users. In this blog post, we will walk the readers through the important features of BHIM mobile application.

BHIM

This mobile application uses the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) developed by National Payments Corporation of India, which is the umbrella organization of all retail businesses in India. In order to do the transactions using this application, the users need to have just a UPI-linked bank account that has a registered mobile number. Currently, almost all banks support this mobile application.

Features of BHIM

BHIM application lets the users send the money to other UPI accounts or addresses. It is also designed to send money through Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) and Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) Code to those users who don’t have UPI-based bank accounts.

1. Quick Response Code: The users also have the option of generating and using their own Quick Response (QR) Code to transfer a fixed amount of money at business outlets. The merchants have to scan this code to deduct the amount from the customer’s account.
2. UPI-based App: Unlike other mobile wallets, the BHIM application is directly linked to the customers’ bank account. On the other hand, the common mobile wallets like Paytm and MobiKwik can some amount and transfer that to the people who use the same wallet. Being UPI-based, BHIM uses the payee’s Virtual Payment Address (VPA) to pay that account. Hence, the users don’t have to remember the account number use this application.

How does the App Work?

After mobile verification, the Android mobile application lets the users to choose their preferred bank. For verification purpose, it sends an SMS. Hence, it is better to use the bank-registered mobile number for verification. In the same SMS, it will ask the users to set their four-digit passcode. Hence, they should use easily memorable number to set the passcode. They have to use this passcode every time to open this mobile application. On choosing the preferred bank, the application either beams the relevant number if the account is UPI-activated or the users have to key in the last six digits of their debit card number and the expiry date. Depending on the type of account, suitable features will come on the screen. In order to send the money, the users need to either type in their mobile number or the VPA address to let the application find them. After verification, the app prompts the users to type in the amount and hit the payment button. If the users don’t have the UPI-linked account, they need to tap on the three dots just above the send money option. In response, the app comes with a window with IFSC and account option. They need to just add the relevant details to pay the amount using this option.

Live Demo

For the benefit of readers, we are also adding the video link to know the BHIM application in close quarters. The first-hand information will help the readers to know more about this wonderful application.

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Trivandrum Medical College Hosts Medex

Introduction

Trivandrum Medical College hosts Medex on its premises for the benefit of public. The seekers of knowledge in science can easily see the working of human body. The visitors can even see the structure of internal organs and their physiology in real terms. The exhibition also showcases the latest development in the medical field and explains in the layman’s language to the visitors. Many regard this as a first-of-this-kind artistic and comprehensive medical exhibition. It is basically a travelogue from cell to brain. The authorities have arranged on a total area of 2 lakh square-feet. In this blog post, we will walk the readers through what all one can see in this informative exhibition for the benefit of its readers.

Medical Exhibition

Dubbed to be the first-of-its-kind, the Medex is an artistic and comprehensive medical exhibition held on the premises of Trivandrum Medical College. It presents the real-time and virtual presentations of human body and its physiological functions. There are video presentations of live surgeries for the benefit of public. Hence, one can have a real experience of things happening in the medical field. The month-long exhibition will come to an end on January 31, 2017. It is jointly organized by the Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS), the Students Union of KUHS and the Trivandrum Medical College. This exhibition is being organized at the Medical College premises as part of its 65^th Anniversary Celebrations.

Salient Features of Medex

 It showcases the practice and science of Modern Medicine through over 1000 exhibits. They have been broadly classified into normal and pathological variants. The visitors can see even the specimens of various disease conditions, and the video and animation presentations of various treatment procedures followed by the medical fraternity. There are even the presentations in virtual and augmented reality formats for the benefit of the visitors. Taken together, all these specimens will show the original human body and its internal organs. The visitors can walk through the live replicas of operation theatres, intensive care units, organ systems and transplantation units to get the first-hand account of things happening in them. There is a separate section for the forensic labs where the visitors can see various procedures being displayed in various presentation formats. In this lab, the visitors get the real-time account of various forensic procedures that led to the solving of the recent Soumya murder case that rocked the consciousness of the state.

The visitors get to see the models of various internal organs and animals. The volunteers posted at the stalls displaying these exhibits give fully narrate them for the benefit of visitors. This is for the first time the replicas have been showcased to attract the visitors.

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Kerala Hackers’ Tit-for-Tat Response for Hacking of Indian Site

Introduction

A few days back, a group of Pakistani hackers had trespassed into the server hosting official websites of major Indian airports, including those at Trivandrum and Cochin, and defaced the sites with bad comments. The defaced sites had even threats for the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a tit for tat response, a group of Malayalee hackers went past the firewall of Pakistani International Airport and posted similar comments about that country and its rulers. In this blog post, we will look into the interesting befitting response to the hacking by people from the hostile and neighboring country.

Hacking by Pakistan

A group of Pakistani cyber criminals hacked into the server hosting the websites of important Indian Airports and defaced them with some bad comments. The affected sites include those of Trivandrum and Cochin International Airports. Fortunately, the authorities were able to restore affected websites within hours of the reported attack. Though it is not for the first time Indian websites have come under the attack of Pakistani cyber criminals, it poses the larger threat to the national security. If this situation continues, the data on our critical assets would be leaked to the foreign hostile country. Sensing the backlash on the kind of preparedness by the national aviation agency, it has claimed that the affected website was actually developed by some regular passengers. It also claimed that the affected ones are not the official websites. The Director of Trivandrum International Airport George G. Tharakan has in fact claimed that a private agency is responsible for hacked website. He further added that the official details of Airports in India are posted on the website maintained by Airport Authority of India.

Tit-for-Tat Response

Instead of settling things there, the tech-geeks from Kerala attacked Pakistani airport website and posted similar bad comments and placed the troll images on it. Through this hacking exercise, the Indian hackers have given the strong message to the Pakistanis “Do not touch Indian website, you script kiddies of Pakistan”.  The Kerala hackers have proudly assembled under the banner Mallu Cyber Soldiers. The patriotic cyber soldiers have claimed that they have pasted the message loud and clear on the hacked site to convey the cyber miscreants from the hostile neighboring country. This attacks and counter attacks by hackers have happened in the past as well. Every time when the Pakistani cyber criminals manage to hack Indian websites, the Indian hackers have managed to inflict considerable amount of damage on Pakistani websites.

These responses were meant to tell the inimical country to desist from doing the business of hacking Indian websites. However, authorities concerned should take adequate steps to further firewall such attempts in the future to protect our vital defense data.

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