States Chronicle - Latest Breaking World News

Sunday, January 17, 2021
Log in

India Reached Mars, becomes the First Asian Nation to Enter Mars’ Orbit

By Leave a Comment

On Monday we reported on how the NASA Maven Explorer has reached Mars’ orbit and now another spacecraft has entered the orbit of the Red Planet and the nation who sent it is India. India reached Mars and became the first Asian Nation to do so. Let’s take a look at how it managed to achieve this amazing feat.

Many would call India lucky for reaching Mars, because the fact that India reached Mars with only $72 million is something quite incredible. Think about this: it cost less than making the movie Gravity with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock about space. Also, more than half of all the missions ever headed to Mars have failed and India was just at its first try. So yes, the fact that India reached Mars is something quite amazing.

The Mars Orbit Mission, or MOM how it’s fondly called by the Indians, entered Mars’ orbit after having been launched from Bangalore in November of last year. The spacecraft in called Mangalyaan, which means Mars-craft in Hindi.

India Reached Mars

Sandip Bhattacharya, the assistant director of B.M. Birla Planetarium, had this to say about the event:

We kept it low cost, high technology. That is the Indian way of working. Our goal was to reach Mars and send few pictures and scientific data. Now in the coming years, this will give us leverage to plan for newer Mars missions in a more aggressive manner with heavier payload with larger exploration goals.

Of course there had to be criticism of the mission. Some voices are saying that the project, which cost $72 million, is a luxury for a country where one third of its population still has no access to something as basic as electricity.

What are your thoughts on the fact that India reached Mars? Share them in the comment section below.

Indian Parents Demand Safer Schools Following Child Rape

By 2 Comments

After the rape of a 6 year old girl in a school from India, parents demanded a change in schools’ lax security planning.  According to Washington Post, the school chairman tried to cover up the story and after his attempt, he was arrested facing allegation of trying to suppress the incident. The rape took place on 2 July, but parents found out only days later and they filled a paper for charges only on 14 July. According to his previous employer, the rapist has been fired in 2011 following suspicions he had inadequately touched his students. At the time of his arrest, the police also discovered he was storing child pornography on his computer.

Indian Parents Demand School Management to be Responsible

Following the rape, Indian parents demand that not only the instructor who forced himself upon the child be charged, but also the irresponsible management. Parents are angry over this affecting their children. According to some studies, sexual abuse has overwhelming longtime consequences, with children losing ability to control emotions .

Indian parents demand higher degree of safety for school children

The private school where the incident happened is one of the most appreciated in Bangalore by IT business families and the allegations come as a surprise, being considered one of the better available private schools. Some analysts suggest the incident might be an indicator of these schools’ interest in money more than in a good management of teaching procedures and staff.

Bangalore’s police chief made a public statement on Wednesday, saying that Rustom Kerawalla, the chairman of Vibgyor High, has been arrested.  He was suspicted of delaying the reporting of the incident and of destroying evidence against the rapist, Washington Post states.  There were obvious delays in investigation, according to protestors, but the police commissioner assured the parents they were not trying to delay any charges.

There is an overwhelming social tension around issues related to sexual assault because India is one of the countries with a high increase in rape reported, 50% from 2012, with 12000 case of minors being assaulted. Following the recent incident, a parent initiated an online petition demanding the imposition of mandatory security measures in school in order to decrease cases of child rape. According to this petition, Indian parents demand the following:  the installation of CCTV cameras in order to be in control of instructors’ behavior towards children, the inclusion of safety education programs in the school curricula, so that “good touching” and “bad touching” be differentiated, a sexual harassment committee to assess possible cases.  Overall, these demands insisted that prevention is a better option in schools than punishment.

Southeast Asia is Polio-Free: India Beats Polio

By Leave a Comment

India's last polio caseThis is probably some of the best health news in the last decade, the fact that India has managed to beat polio! There have been lots of great health news lately, such as the one about remote-controlled nanoparticles which destroy cancer cells and it seems the good news keeps on coming.

India Beats Polio – Rukhsar Khatoon

Young 4 year-old Rukhsar Khatoon is the last person in India, a country of 1.2 billion people, to have been sick with poliomyelitis. She is the last documented case of polio in a country that has made great efforts to rid itself of the crippling disease that has been made obsolete in the majority of countries.

On Thursday, the WHO (World Health Organization) has made the official announcement: India beats polio and is now polio-free.

The global effort to end the awful disease was launched in 1988, when over 200,000 cases of the disease happened in India. In 2009, half of the world cases were still found in India. That is why the fact that India beat polio is such fantastic news. Many health experts didn’t believe that this could happen in such a short period of time, but they were wrong; young Rukhsar Khatoon is the last person to have developed the disease, three years ago.

With this news, WHO proclaimed Southeast Asia free of polio. Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan are the only three countries that have not eradicated the disease. What is the key to the success? One word: immunization!

The young girl’s parents blame themselves for their daughter’s disease. They said she’s always been a sick child and they didn’t want to put her through more vaccinations and hospitals. Her father knows that his child will never walk again. But she will live a life in India, a country without polio.

The last great news about polio was shared with the world by WHO in 2002, when Europe was declared polio-free. What are your thoughts on the fact that India beats polio? Do you know anyone who’s battled the disease? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

 

Categories