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Ockhi continues to batter Kerala; 2,700 evacuated from Ernakulam

News Network
December 2, 2017

Ernakulam, Dec 2: The coastal areas of Ernakulam district in Kerala on Saturday faced the wrath of raging sea in the wake of cyclone Ockhi. Nearly 2,700 people from 718 families were evacuated to seven shelters spread over five villages in Kochi taluk as on Saturday afternoon.

The first casualty in connection with the natural calamity was also reported from the district as 42-year-old Rexon was found dead near his inundated home at Maruvakkad in West Kochi’s Chellanam area on Saturday morning. After being moved to a shelter the previous evening, he had returned home in the morning to take stock of the situation. It is suspected that he had collapsed and died unnoticed since all families in the neighbourhood were in shelters.

Hundreds of families at Chellanam had to be evacuated overnight to safe shelters after unprecedented sea incursion flooded their homes and then breached the road nearby. There was no respite for the residents of Chellanam as an already rough sea turned worse during the time of high tide late on Friday evening.

“Big waves started lashing the shore around 8 p.m. and it continued till around 11 p.m. The sea turned relatively calm thereafter but again turned rough around 2 a.m. People belonging to older generation said that they had not seen anything similar during their lifetime,” said Milton Antony, a local resident.

The stretch between Maruvakkad Velankanni Church and Bazaar areas where the seawall had not been built was the worst-affected. “The receding waves have deposited black mud along the shoreline clearing, which would need extensive cleaning,” said A.X. Antony Sheelan, a former block panchayat president from the area.

He said with the increase in the depth of the harbour, areas up to 22 kilometres to its south had become susceptible to vagaries of sea rage as was seen in Chellanam and nearby areas now.

St. Francis Church Parish Hall in Kumbalanghi village, which shelters 200 families and 800 people, has the largest number of evacuees. Devi Vilasam LPS at Veliyathamparambu in Kumbalanghi has 156 families and 595 occupants; GHSS Puthenthodu in Chellanam village 139 families and 494 members; St. Mary’s HS in Chellanam village 130 families and 425 members; Government UPS, Edavanakkad 38 families and 164 members; Government Fisheries School, Nayarambalam, 40 families and 110 members; and St. George Church Parish Hall at Kumbalanghi village shelters 15 families and 60 members.

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News Network
July 2,2020

Jul 2: Democratic presidential candidate and former US vice-president Joe Biden has said that if he wins the November elections, strengthening the relationship with India which is America’s "natural partner", will be a high priority for his administration.

"India needs to be a partner in the region for our safety's sake and quite frankly for theirs," he said in response to a question on India-US relationship during a virtual fundraiser event on Wednesday.

At the fundraiser hosted by Chairman and CEO of Beacon Capital Partners Alan Leventhal, the former vice president said that India and the United States were natural partners.

"That partnership, a strategic partnership, is necessary and important in our security," Biden said when asked by an attendee whether India is critical to the US' national security.

Referring to his eight years as the vice president, he said, "In our administration, I was proud to play a role more than a decade ago in securing Congressional approval for the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, which is a big deal".

"Helping open the door to great progress in our relationship and strengthening our strategic partnership with India was a high priority in the Obama-Biden administration and will be a high priority if I'm elected president,” Biden said.

Both as the vice president and a senator from Delaware, he was a big supporter of India-US relationship.

About the November polls, Biden said that the character of the country is on the ballot. The upcoming election is the most important poll of a lifetime and that the country is currently engaged in a battle for its soul, he claimed.

Biden also slammed President Donald Trump and his administration over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Trump ignored warnings from the very beginning, refused to prepare and failed to protect the country. Not just now but throughout his presidency, undermining the very core pillars of ours, what I would argue, moral and economic strength.

"I really do believe that our country is crying out for leadership and maybe even more important, some healing. Today, we have an enormous opportunity not only to rebuild but to build back better than before. To build a better future. That's what America does," he added.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Mumbai, Aug 6: Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that overly focusing on what sovereign rating agencies think can take one's eyes off what needs to be done for the economy.

"It is also important to convince both domestic and international investors that after the crisis associated with the pandemic is over, we will return to fiscal responsibility over the medium term, and the government should do more to convince them of that," Rajan told the Global Markets Forum.

India was placed under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world in late March for more than two months to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but cases have continued to rise steadily since the government eased restrictions in June, stymieing hopes of an economic recovery.

The government has announced several initiatives to help the poor and small- and medium-size businesses, but actual cash outgo from the government's measures has been estimated at just about 1% of GDP.

Several attribute the fiscal prudence to fear of a downgrade after Moody's cut India's rating and outlook in early June followed closely by a change in outlook from Fitch.

The central bank on its part too has reduced the key lending rate by 115 basis points on top of the 135 bps last year and is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 bps later on Thursday.

"The RBI and government have certainly been cooperating, but it seems like it is elsewhere, the ball is in the government's court to do more," Rajan said.

He said the RBI needs to focus on whether credit is reaching the stressed areas of the economy and also if the viable firms were able to access credit and not the unviable ones.

"And I think that's where it has to focus its attentions, because resources, as you well know, are limited in India today."

Recently analysts, however, have cited the growing possibility the RBI may prefer to pause and cut rates only at its October meeting.

Government officials too have suggested the possibility of any more fiscal stimulus being announced, would only come in the second half of the fiscal year, once a recovery has taken root and coronavirus cases have peaked.

"What India should focus on at this point is protecting its economic capabilities, so that when it has dealt with the virus it can go resume activity in a reasonable way. That should be the focus," Rajan said.

"And if it does that, there is no reason why the rating agencies will not see that as an appropriate policy".

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News Network
February 27,2020

New Delhi, Feb 27: The death toll in the communal violence in northeast Delhi over the amended citizenship law reached 32 on Thursday, senior officials said.

It was at 27 till Wednesday night.

"Five more deaths recorded at GTB Hospital, so death toll at that hospital has gone up to 30, taking total toll to 32," a senior Delhi Health Department official told news agency.

The Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital had reported two fatalities on Wednesday.

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