Youngest pellet Kashmir's victim may not regain sight

Agencies
November 27, 2018

Srinagar, Nov 27: Eighteen-month-old Hiba Nisar, the youngest pellet victim in Kashmir, has been discharged from hospital after surgery on her right eye but doctors are not sure if her eyesight will be restored completely.

Hiba was playing inside her house in Shopian when clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in the wake of an encounter where six militants were killed on Sunday, the infant's mother Marsala Jan said.

"The encounter site is quite far from our house but clashes broke out in our neighbourhood. First, there was tear smoke all around us which caused coughing in Hiba and then there was a sudden bang. My daughter was hit in the eye by a pellet fired towards our home," Jan said.

Doctors at the SMHS Hospital here said Hiba underwent surgery as she had suffered corneal perforation, an anomaly in the cornea resulting from damage to the corneal surface, due to the pellets.

"Like most cases, the kid will be able to see but there is no guarantee that her eyesight will be restored completely," the doctor, who treated Hiba, told PTI.

The doctor said the treatment is a long drawn process and Hiba's parents will have to take a lot of precautions to ensure that she does not get any complications.

"She will have to be brought here for follow-up treatment regularly. Her first appointment is next week," the ophthalmologist said.

Two human rights activists have approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to take cognisance of Hiba's injury.

In their plea before the rights body, the activists – Syed Mujtaba Hussian and Mirza Jahanzeb Beg – have sought Rs 10 lakh compensation to the victim.

They also sought an independent investigation into the incident and action against the personnel involved in the firing of pellets.

Thousands of Kashmiris have been injured due to the use of pellet guns as a crowd control non-lethal weapon by security forces during law and order situations.

While few deaths have been reported due to use of pellets, a large number of injured persons have lost eyesight in one or both eyes, leading to demands from various quarters to discontinue the use of this weapon for law and order situations.

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News Network
January 22,2020

New Delhi, Jan 22: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has assets worth Rs 3.4 crore, an increase of Rs 1.3 crore from 2015, according to his election affidavit.

Kejriwal's total assets were worth Rs 2.1 crore in 2015.

The cash and fixed deposits of Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal increased from Rs 15 lakh in 2015 to Rs 57 lakh in 2020.

A party functionary said Rs 32 lakh worth cash and fixed deposits have been received by Sunita Kejriwal as voluntary retirement benefits while the rest are savings.

The cash and fixed deposits of the chief minister increased from Rs 2.26 lakh in 2015 to Rs 9.65 lakh in 2020.

There was no change in the value of immovable assets of his wife while Kejriwal's immovable assets' worth increased from Rs 92 lakh to Rs 177 lakh.

The party functionaries said increase in Kejriwal's immovable assets' worth is due to the increased valuation of the same asset as in 2015.

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Agencies
March 12,2020

Mumbai, Mar 12: In what appears to be the worst trading session in the Indian stock markets, the benchmark BSE Sensex crashed over 2900 points to end below the 33,000-mark.

The Sensex crashed 2,919.26 points to end at 32,778.14. So far it has touched an intra-day low of 32,530.05 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange also lost nearly 850 points so far. It plunged 868.25 points to 9,590.15.

The plunge was in line with the global markets as all Asian indices also traded in the red after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic following which the Dow Jones Industrial Average also slumped significantly on Wednesday.

The bear run in both the global and domestic markets has continued off late on concerns of the coronavirus outbreak severely impacting the global economy. It has also raised calls for government intervention and support.

Central banks in several countries, including the US Federal Reserve have announced emergency rate cuts to boost sentiments. However, the concerns have only deepened in the past few days as the number of COVID-19 cases across the world has increased.

Further, following the rout in the global markets oil prices also fell on Thursday with the Brent crude trading around $34 per barrel.

The Indian rupee also felt the pressure and touched a 17-month low of 74.34 per dollar in its initial trade.

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News Network
June 20,2020

New Delhi, Jun 20: A rare celestial event, annular solar eclipse, which is popularly known as the "ring of fire" eclipse, will be visible this Sunday in India.

It will be the first solar eclipse of this year takes place on the summer solstice, which is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere.

While people living along the path annular eclipse passing through Anupgarh, Suratgarh, Sirsa, Jakhal, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Dehradun, Tapowan and Joshimath will be able to see the annular phase, people in rest of India can witness a partial eclipse, said the Ministry of Science and Technology.

When Moon comes between the Sun and Earth, the shadow falls on the surface of the Earth. The Sun is entirely covered by the Moon for a brief period. Those places that are engulfed by the dark, dense umbral shadow of the Moon experience the total solar eclipse. In the regions that plunge into the soft diffused penumbral shadow of the Moon experience the partial eclipse.

"Annular solar eclipse is a particular case of the total solar eclipse. Like the total solar eclipse, the Moon is aligned with the Sun. However, on that day, the apparent size of the Moon happens to be a wee smaller than the Sun. Hence the Moon covers the central part of the Sun, and the rim of the Sun appear like a 'ring of fire' in the sky for a very brief moment" explains Samir Dhurde of The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune.

During the solar eclipse, the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun by 1 per cent, the expert said.

Allying rumours that the eclipse will mark the end of coronavirus, Aniket Sule, Chairperson, Public Outreach and Education Committee of the Astronomical Society of India, said: "Solar eclipse is caused when the Moon comes in front of the Sun for a short time. As seen from Earth eclipses occur somewhere in the Earth 2 to 5 times a year. Eclipses do not impact microorganisms on Earth. Likewise there no danger in eating of stepping out during an eclipse. No mysterious rays come out of the Sun during an eclipse."

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