21st february 2021
Shorts:
News at a glance
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Protests in Myanmar
-Grace Treesa
Protesters voicing their disapproval
Source: NPR
The minorities of Myanmar joined the protests to save democracy on Saturday, 20th February. The protests, against the military coup recently removing Aung San Suu Kyi from power, reinstated the faith in democracy, even though she didn’t have much support for their independence. Members of the LGBTQ community are among the most visible, expressing their disagreement through costume. Hundreds chanted slogans while standing behind police barricades.
More recent developments include Indonesia, their neighbouring country to intervene and suggest a meeting to restore democracy. China’s State Councilor has also reported having held a phone call with Indonesia’s representative to discuss the situation The protests have been taking place since the 1st of this month, continuing despite the fact that the military has promised to hold another election and hand over their power to the winner.
A young girl, along with a policeman, have died in the violence of the protests, the first few deaths of the coup.
Source: Tribune India, Business Line
Displacement of people in Jakarta due to floods
-Grace Treesa
Jakarta residents have come to face a new crisis with the monsoon; heavy floods. Rescue operations are underway, but more than a thousand people have been forced to flee their homes. Sabdo Kurnianto, acting mitigation head, reported no casualties.
The rains seem to have stopped, but water from surrounding areas still affects the capital.
The meteorology agency, however, says otherwise, warning citizens to expect heavy rain and thunder throughout the coming week.
They say that Jakarta and its surrounding districts still are at the peak of the rainy season usually continuing till early March.
Photos show residents wading through shoulder-high murky water, and search teams helping the elderly escape in rubber floats or dinghies. The floods cannot have chosen a worse time to arrive, with the country with a growing death tally from COVID-19 and a crippling recession. A representative mentions that scientists say these floods happen almost every year, but should not be normalised.
A prime reason for the floods causing so much destruction is due to extensive concrete and lack of green space. This also makes Jakarta one of the fastest sinking cities.
“The governor is also more focused on the aesthetics of the city rather than the practicalities, and hasn’t focused on river normalisation,” says Jessica Washington.
Source: independant.co.uk, Reuters
People trying to survive the flood in Jakarta
Source: Scroll.in
Another wave?
-Akshaj Balaji
In several Indian states such as Maharashtra and Kerala, the cases of COVID-19 are seeing a steady rise. This comes after the number of confirmed cases has been drastically reducing each day all over India for about two months. Some possible reasons for this reduction are effective policies by states, herd immunity or even a lack of testing to exaggerate the effectiveness of the fight against Covid-19 in India. However, as schools, colleges and offices start to open up physically, the count of cases is seeing a steady rise again in states like Maharashtra. In certain cities there, the government has imposed a lockdown for the weekend, hoping that it will inhibit any further spread of the virus. In Bangalore, especially as everything has started to open up again, extreme caution is necessary. The pandemic is not gone, it is just taking a break, waiting to strike us once more when we are vulnerable but we must not let it overcome us yet again. If we aren’t cautious, it is very likely that there will be another lockdown. To prevent a rise in cases, obeying social distancing norms is necessary. We must wear a mask at all times.
Source: India today
Lost Life:
A mission of perseverance
-Devansh Mishra
Imagine you are preparing for the journey of your lifetime, the one and only job you were ever meant to do. Suiting up, you sit comfy in your cosy little corner at the edge of the craft, and you await your launch. Steam bubbles out the back of your ship as you head skywards unto a remarkable and intellectual journey to benefit all humankind. BAM! Seven months later, you have landed on Mars to do the mission you were destined for. This was the Perseverance rover’s journey, which landed on the surface of the red planet on Thursday, the 18th of Feb.
A virtual model of the rover
Source: Spectrum
An unmanned rocket headed towards Mars on 30 July 2020 carrying the Perseverance rover aboard. Designed in order to collect samples to examine the possibility of ancient life on the red planet, the touchdown of the rover was celebrated with much pomp and delight in the monitoring room of the NASA headquarters. As of now, it has been successful in collecting a plethora of pictures scaling the Martian landscape, evaluating the optimal place to collect a sample for scientists back home to experiment with.
Many rovers have attempted to run over the rocky and bumpy surface of the fourth planet from the sun, but the $2.7 billion rover deployed last year has been the most promising of them all by far. In its 2-year long mission commencing in the Jerezo crater, the site of its landing, the Perseverance rover is in charge of collecting samples of rock and regolith to return back to the Earth so that we can analyse them to seek possible signs of prehistoric life.
Interestingly, it was not only the Perseverance rover but also Ingenuity, the rover’s small helicopter friend, which touched down along with its larger companion. Known as the rover’s sidekick, Ingenuity was able to call home by sending signals via NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. If its test is successful, it will prove to be an ‘extraterrestrial Wright Brothers moment’, as termed by Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
"Ingenuity, the Mars Helicopter I carry, is working as expected. I'm currently charging it, but once I set it down, it'll rely solely on its solar panels. If it survives the brutally cold Martian nights, the team will attempt flight," read a tweet from the Perseverance Twitter account.
From the pictures it has sent back, noticeable dust clouds and storms have seen to ravage the Martian atmosphere. "You can see the dust kicked up by the rover's engines," said Adam Steltzner, Perseverance's chief engineer. The area patrolled by the rover currently is believed to have been flooded with water almost 3.5 billion years ago, making it a giant river delta.
The discovery of extra-terrestrial life is right around the corner and disbelievers saying that other intelligent life doesn’t exist will not make it true. The Perseverance rover is precisely on that mission of rediscovering signs of lost life on the red planet, and fingers crossed, let’s hope there’s nothing up there.
Source: CNN, NDTV, nasa.gov, Wall Street Journal, space.com
THe auction:
Remarks from a cricket-crazy fan
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-Devansh Mishra
Since the month of March last year, unemployment has ravaged every economy of the world, as nation after nation has been plunged into a recession due to a virus smaller than a grain of sand. Lack of resources continue to fluster governments, and only recently have they been able to keep up with the social needs and wants. However, in a small bio-bubble in a lavish hotel in Chennai on Thursday, all the talk of the pandemic and world hunger and poverty went out the window, as savage bidding wars and wild millionaires flushed lakhs of rupees down the drain. The IPL auction had commenced.
Hugh Edmeades, the IPL auctioneer
Source: Hindustan Times
Eight tables neatly aligned with peculiar tablecloths adorned the main hall of the Kurukshetra battlegrounds to welcome the people who sat at the helm of their own affairs. CEOs, analysts, scouting managers, head of cricket operations all poured in to take their respective seats, and thus began the cut-throat wars and races to the finish line.
Highlights:
Coming into the auction, the newly rebranded Punjab Kings had the highest purse of over 50cr to spend in the upcoming bids. A majority of teams had to fill up 8-9 spots available in their squad.
Fast bowlers were in high-demand at the IPL 2021 Auction, as 3 out of the top 4 players sold in terms of money were kings of pace. Additionally, many teams shelled out a large chunk of their purse in search of all-rounders, which were the main focus of teams like RCB and CSK.
Top buys in the auction broke several, previously-unsurpassable records, as the Rajasthan Royals stole the honours by snapping up Chris Morris for a gigantic 16.25cr. He became the most expensive player to be bought at an auction. K Gowtham and Riley Meredith also became the most costly uncapped players in an auction, both going for 9 and 8cr respectively. A surprising buy from RCB was an out-of-form Glen Maxwell for 14.25cr, which certainly succeeded in raising eyebrows.
As expected, the Punjab Kings dictated terms most of the time, as they got the players they were looking for most of the time. Franchises of KKR, RR and DC hurriedly tried to fill up the spots they were lacking in, while SRH sat back and watched the show.
Analysis:
The three big quicks - Morris, Jamieson and Richardson - had a ubiquitous demand, as they went for 16, 15 and 14cr each. The likes of Moeen Ali and Shivam Dube got attention, as lower-order batsmen were also picked up expensively. Youngsters and unknown talents were also able to turn heads towards them, but many were snapped up for just their base price. The nepotism in the cricket industry really showed when an inexperienced Arjun Tendulkar was taken by MI, Sachin’s former franchise.
The eight tables in the battleground
Source: Amarjula
Remarks:
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A gross overestimation of the actual value of players was shown by the teams on Thursday, as people were willing to pay double the amount a certain player was actually worth, and this was just to out-do a competitor. A conceited tale of lies unfolded in the auditorium as if the IPL was all that mattered. I understand that the teams got to do what they have to in order to win the eluding trophy, but if the amount of money spent on the IPL in our cricket-centric nation is used someplace else, it can go a long way in helping our society with the problems it faces. However gripping a bidding war between MI and CSK is for spectators, it is unethical to use a majority of our resources in such a wasteful manner.