6 Situations in Which Mobiles Come to Our Rescue

Introduction

We live in a diverse society in which good and bad things happen simultaneously. At one place, good things happen while bad things happen at another place in the same time. We do not have control over the behavior of people with whom we meet regularly during the course of the day. Some people take it in sportsman spirit while some others give back in the same coin after some time.  The most vulnerable members of the society are children and women. They have to move around independently at different points in time. Always the eagle-eyed predators are on look out for the vulnerable people in the society. Moreover, the untoward incidents happen at any point in time. That is why the companies have brought certain applications that help the users to convey the latitude and longitudes of their location when such an event strikes in their lives. Many of the applications have customizable features that anybody can use to his or her advantage without much effort. In this blog, we will see when users can make use of these installed applications in mobile to seek help from the authorities and local people whenever a distress comes in their lives.

1. Pool: While swimming in a water body near your house, sometimes you get entangled in an undercurrent. You can use the application to make distress calls to the people who are trained in rescuing life nearby.





2. Toddlers: When your child gets trapped in a room in your house not knowing how to open the door room from outside and crying for help. The mothers can make the distress call for help from nearby.





3. Girls: When young girls step out of their office premises, they can use the mobile applications to keep in touch with the people who are their well-wishers. This is true when they take cabs to reach their homes. They can use the applications to send their position to let know the people concerned about them whether they are being transported in the right direction.





4. Accidents: Sometimes while traveling, you might face with an accident. In such a situation, you need to get a number of the nearest hospital to seek help from the people working there. This time also the mobile applications come handy.





5. Travelers: If you are a frequent traveler, your car may become non-functional. You need a guy from the nearest workshop or garage to look into the problems afflicting your car at the earliest. This is more relevant if you are traveling with your family. Now, you can do this with the help of a button on your mobile.





6. Aged: If you have old people at home, there is every possibility that they fall ill. If the illness strikes in the midnight, you are left to go nowhere. In such situation, you use the mobile applications to reach out to the health authorities to arrange an ambulance to take your near and dear one to the hospital at the earliest.

Read More

Are New Codes for NEET Aspirants Justified in Light of Hardship Endured by Them?

Introduction

After a protracted battle between states and center in the apex court, the stage is set for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical and paramedical courses in the country. The honorable Supreme Court made it mandatory a pass in the NEET exam a mandatory condition to get admissions in medical and paramedical courses in the country. In order to offset the chances of cheating in mass-scale, the exam conducting authority Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) made sweeping changes in the schedules for the code of contact for the aspirants. The centers were given strict instructions to adhere to the code to avoid the controversies. In the light of the severe criticism from various quarters, let us see what these codes meant in the first place and how the authorities should execute them with discretion.

NEET Codes of Contact Surprised the Aspirants

As per the new codes of contact issued by CBSE for conducting NEET exam, the candidates had to remove earrings, abandon closed shoes, cut shirt sleeves, and avoid taking a calculator, unwanted papers before entering the examination hall. Apart from the restrictions listed above, the aspirants were not allowed to wear full sleeve shirts, and not allowed to take pencils, pens, closed or high-heeled shoes, metal buttons and big brooches inside the examination hall. Though CBSE gave instructions on the codes of contact, many of them were not clearer enough. As a result, the aspirants had to run between pillar and post in the 24th hour, risking their chances for appearing in the exam. Keeping in mind the confusion, some authorities at the test centers kept a stock of two dozen T-shirts ready for the use by those students who came with full-sleeve shirts on.

Candidate Hardships

Many candidates around the country were not prepared to meet the NEET codes of contact at the examination centers despite their listings in the leaflet accompanying the hall ticket.

1. A girl student at Army Public School in Bengaluru faced an unexpected crisis when she was unable to remove earrings in a hurry.





2. In another incident, a girl in Kannur district of Kerala was asked to remove her underwear before entering the examination hall.


3. Students wearing closed shoes were asked to remove them and asked to walk into the examination hall barefooted.


4. Girls with the long flock of hair nicely combed and set were asked to untie their hair before their entry into the venue.





5. Authorities in some exam centers asked even asked the girls to remove the nose stud before entering the exam center.





6. The candidates who came wearing the black dress were in for a shock. They were asked to remove them and change into new clothes with lighter colors.





7. Students coming with full sleeves were asked to make it half-sleeves before entering the hall by the authorities.

Response from Parents

Though many parents acknowledged the good intentions of the CBSE in removing the menace of mass copying, they were against the way these codes were executed across the country. They were of the view that the codes should have been enforced depending upon on the context and sensibility of the situation. They also added that blind enforcement of codes would deter the aspirants from undertaking similar examinations in the future if the authorities were not forthcoming in understanding the feeling of the student community. In certain cases, the children were made to do what that was not listed in the list of not-dos.

Read More

10 Reasons Why You Should Always Book a Window Seat on Plane

Introduction

Nowadays, people travel in the plane to overseas destinations for various purposes. Sometimes the period of travel by air may extend up to a day. If you book a non-window seat, you might feel as well bored. On the other hand, the people who have opted for the window seat would be able to watch the natural wonders happening through the transparent windows. This is why primarily people opt for the window seat for a plane journey. In this article, we would be listing out 10 reasons why you should opt for a window seat while doing the air travel.

1.     You might be able to see Kerala skyline reflected in Lake Vembanadu while traveling over Kollam district of that state in India.

2.     While sitting on the window seat, you could see an approaching rainstorm from some distance and marvel at the beauty of transformation the system brings to the environment. You can even enjoy small sprays of water cooling the airplane when it passes through the rain-forming clouds.

3.     At higher altitudes, the visuals of a solar eclipse are pretty cool as there is no turbulence of atmosphere. Hence, the full duration of the eclipse can easily be seen while traveling at higher altitude.

4.     While traveling to the African continent, you can see the breathtaking view of the highest point in the continent through the window from the top.

5.     When seated in the window seats of an airplane, you might see the spectacle of sunrise and the change it brings to the atmosphere. The color of rising sun seen through the clouds gives a totally different experience for the passenger.

6.     An air traveler sitting on the window seat might be able to see even the sunsets coloring the horizon, courtesy cnn.com.

7.     While passing by waterfalls, you can see it from the top in all its splendor. This aerial view might take your breath away. The rising drops of water scatter the light and give a milky white color to its top.

8.     If you pass over the Australia or USA in the night during the summer, you could witness forest fires raging below through the plane window.

9.     You can finally understand why everyone thinks Norway is so beautiful with its panoramic aerial view when you are traveling by plane seated on a window seat.

10.   You could ride an endless sea of clouds and at times even pass through them with some jerks. The window seat lets the passenger enjoy the cloud shapes and the horizon.

Read More

US Drops ‘Mother of All Bombs’ in Afghanistan

Introduction

According to the latest news available in the public domain, the United States (US) forces have dropped what the defense analysts call as ‘Mother of All Bombs’ in Afghanistan. This was disclosed by the sources close to the ground forces operating in this war-torn country. The sources say that the said bomb was used to blast the ISIS tunnels in Nangarhar province in Afghanistan, bordering Pakistan. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is expected to talk about this development in his upcoming brief. In this blog post, let us see what has prompted the US to drop this bulky bomb in Afghanistan.

Understanding ‘Mother of All Bombs’

The explosive device used this time in Afghanistan is the largest non-nuclear device in the US Air Force arsenal. This was reported by the reputed news gatherers in the globe, as quoted by the US ground forces operating in Afghanistan.  This precision-guided device was developed in 2003 by US Air Force. It belongs to the GBU-43 class of bomb that uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) to precisely hit the target. This bulky explosive device was code named as MOAB, which stands for Massive Ordnance Air Blast. In the defense quarters, MOAB is fondly called as the ‘Mother of All Bombs’. The total weight of this explosive device is 21,000 pounds. It is for the first time the US Air Force is using this bulky ordnance. According to the defense analysts, this device is a ‘concussive weapon’ that does not penetrate the ground. Instead, MOAB destroys tunnels and a large surface area.

Likely Impact

As told above, this bomb creates a huge shockwave, apart from a huge fireball, over a large surface area. Though the impact seen from above will be minimal at the surface, it completely pulverizes the underground tunnels and bunkers, thereby making them useless in the future. Hence, it is the most optimal arsenal to use against the terror groups. Due to its precision nature, the collateral damage would be minimal, the defense sources privy to this development claimed. The blast impact would cover a radius of 300 meters. The shock impact was felt even in the neighboring Pakistani province as well. This bombing is expected to impede the free movement of terrorists through this tunnel without getting noticed.

Reason for Afghan Bombing

It was dropped in Nangarhar province in this war-torn country, bordering the eastern region of Pakistan.  The attack was launched in an area where the US ground forces had faced small arms firing when they were searching there to flush out the ISIS militants and destroy their targets. As a result of this Saturday firing, one US Green Beret was killed. This Afghan province has been in the limelight for all wrong reasons, as it has become the operational base of terrorist groups like al Qaeda, Haqqani Network and ISIS (Afghan branch). Even the Osama Bin Laden chose this region to hide from the public glare after the infamous 9/11 terror attacks.  

Read More

US Court Grants Divorce Through Facebook

Introduction

In a recent past, the US Court granted a divorce for a couple through Facebook as a last resort. While passing the judgment, the honorable court had said that a woman could divorce her husband through Facebook if she failed to go along with him. This ruling had come after the husband of a New York woman was not physically traceable even after repeated serving of notices to him.

Landmark Judgement

The Judge of Manhattan Supreme Court Matthew Cooper had to pass this ruling in favor of the New York woman Ellanora Baidoo as her husband remained untraceable during the course of the trial at the family court. The court allowed the woman to send divorce summons to her missing husband Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku. The honorable court instructed her attorney to send him the petition on her behalf through the Facebook messaging system so that it could reach the man. The New York women' attorney Andrew Spinnell passed the news about this landmark judgment to the media. He told a media house in New York that his client wanted to become free. He further added that his client was very happy to hear the judgment as it had provided a mechanism for her to get the judgment of divorce from the legal authorities. The woman’s attorney would try to contact Blood-Dzraku once in a week for three weeks or until he acknowledges the receipt of the judgment. After the Facebook method of reaching the man fails, the woman would be granted the default divorce decree by the honorable court. The court had reasoned that the non-receipt of the court summons cannot become a premise for not giving divorce to a person who deserves to go out-of-wedlock.

Modern-day Judgement

In his judgment, the Justice Cooper opined that the social media platforms offer novel and non-traditional ways to communicate with people who cannot be contacted. This is because such people have no permanent house or permanent place of employment. He was referring to the case of the husband of the New York woman. He further added that summons could be served physically on those persons who present themselves readily before the court or whose whereabouts are known. If a person has no permanent place to live, the social media platforms help the authorities to pass on the softcopy of the judgment to him.  He also noted that courts in the USA had passed the judgments through emails in similar cases in the past.

Read More

Community Radio – Rural Way of Information Sharing

Introduction

Rural folks have been listening to community radio in Sanga Reddy district of Telangana everyday evening. They either just sit on an easy chair or cook in the kitchen listening to different programs from the community radio. This has become a daily routine for the people who come home tired from the field after a day’s hard work. This radio station is manned by the ladies who work in the fields by the day. These part-time employees painstakingly collect information from the ground and compile it into programs in interesting ways to woo the rural folks. In this blog post, we will be looking into this unique way of information dissemination practiced in our rural villages when the urban dwellers go Hi-Fi.

India’s First Community Radio

Our country’s first community radio was commissioned in 2008. It was realized after a decade-long wait. The rural institution of information Sangam Radio sharing was established with the purpose of disbursing the information in their own colloquial language and slang. It is located in a place called Pastapur in Zaheerabad district, and it caters to people from Jarasangam, Raikod, and Zaheerabad. It also partly covers Kohir and Nyalkal. It broadcasts a variety of programs from 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM every day. Each village that this radio station covers has a population of between 600 and 1200 people. In short, the radio station has a coverage diameter of 30 kilometers, whereas the All India Radio nearby covers a distance of 100 kilometers. If anyone visits the Sangam Radio, he or she would get surprised looking at the simple setup that has become the household name in the villages surrounding Zaheerabad. The broadcasting tower is placed on top of a tree near the building housing the studio complex.

Employees of Radio Station

The facilitator for this community radio is Deccan Development Society (DDS). This is a Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) working on the issues relating to farmers. All the employees of this community radio station are on the payrolls of this NGO. After getting the required license, DDS established FM radio station, a transmission tower and program recording facilities. These facilities are partly funded by UNESCO. The villagers work part-time as the station employees. They work in the field by the day and in the radio station by the night. It runs with eight persons – three men and five women. Meet Hyderabad Narasamma and Nalugandila Narasamma who have been regularly doing the regular transmission of programs that have been compiled by other staff members.

Variety of Programs

Villagers eagerly wait for the programs aired by this radio station every day. They relax listening to the variety of programs in the evening. They listen to songs or discussions or anything that is informative in their own dialect and colloquial language. The medium of communication is Telugu.  Sangam Radio offers the opportunity for the villagers to share their views through discussions and interview.

1. Songs: The song the community radio airs depends upon the seasons. Over the period of years, the station has collected over 2500 songs sung by the members of the community. Often those songs are recorded with the instrumental accompaniment.







2. Discussions: This program talks about the issues and tips about plowing, plant seeds, plant care, water irrigation and harvest.






3. Interactive Sessions: Every day, the last 30 minutes of the program is dedicated for listeners who would like to call the station to clear their doubts. In these call-in sessions, the people report about the missing cattle, new findings while working in the fields are shared or asked questions to the experts in the field of agriculture. The listeners even trace the missing cattle and pass the information to the radio station for information dissemination.






4. Other Programs: They often feature farming practices, health tips, festivals, birthday wishes, etc.

Read More

Cool Microclimate Systems in Nevada Desert

Introduction

We Indians are under the impression that the amount of heat we are exposed to is unparalleled in this world. Hence, we think that we can survive in any hot climate. This is the viewpoint of people living near the Indian desert. This belief falls flat just like a castle of cards when one goes through a road in Nevada in the United States of America. This state is home to a desert where the temperature soars to over 45 degree Celsius. This temperature is unbearable when there is little moisture to support it. This is what one would finally conclude when he visits that state in the US from the subcontinent. Only a few people knew that there are oases in this desert. In this blog post, we will learn about two such places where cool microclimate prevails when compared to the other places in that US state.

Microclimates

When one travels through Route 50 from Ocean City, Maryland on the Atlantic coast, different flavors of climate can be experienced. The travelers will experience the moderate shore climate to extremely hot conditions while traveling by this road. This 3000-mile road has a 300-mile stretch that passes through this desert state. This part of the road is called The Loneliest Road in North America. Passing through this desert state, this road ultimately touches Sacramento in neighboring California, which is just a stone throw away from the Pacific coast. From the main arterial road arise certain serpentine roads that grace past the mountains to some hidden gems in that desert state. Only very few visitors know about these hidden gems or microclimates that offer majestic views of nature in otherwise barren terrains of the desert in Nevada state. These hidden gems are Great Basin National Park and Lamoille Lake Park. These are microclimate systems that remain embedded in the Great Basin Mountain Range in the Nevada state of the US. Hence, they are nicely insulated from the sweltering hot climate that surrounds them.

1.  Great Basin National Park: This microclimate has alpine forests and lakes ringed with glaciers that feed them. To the visitors, it would seem like enchanted forests that are just coming out from the pages of fairytale books. They can park their cars inside the National Park. This microclimate system is located at a height of 4569 feet from the sea level. They have to trek for another 1 hour to reach beautiful lakes that make the place famous. While standing near the lake, the visitors would experience an epoch of a totally different time zone. There are two big lakes that warrant our attention. They are Stella, situated at a height of 10,400 feet, and Teresa, situated at a height of 10,275 feet. The wild animals such as deer are present in this habitat. Though the visitors reached that place in the mid-summer, the atmosphere and air are cold. Hence, they would start shivering if they have not gone with proper precautions. The majestic mountain range in the backdrop makes the lake shores more beautiful. The travelers can take in cool and fresh air to rejuvenate both body and soul.

2.  Lamoille Lake Park: This place is seen in the Ruby Mountain Range. It is part of a canyon named after this mountain range. This beautiful place is very near to a small town by the name Elko. It also has a microclimate that is different from the whole of Nevada. While traveling to the destination, the people will have to pass through Ruby Canyon that portrays a totally different scenery that can best be compared to that coming from a magical portal. The visitors have to park their vehicles at the Lamoille Lake Car Park, before embarking on a trekking trail, negotiating a steep gradient to reach the lake. After the four-hour trekking, the visitors are treated to a visual treat with the lakes at the foothills of the Ruby Mountains in the canyon. Most often, the visitors may have to walk across the snowdrifts and logs thrown across the streams that have layers of ice on them. In this microclimate system, the visitors can find Dollar Lake and Lamoille Lake. The photography enthusiasts will have plenty of opportunities to take snaps of nature in different colors.

Read More