Op-ed

As the number of corona virus cases growing by leaps and bounds the overall atmosphere in the country is quite tense. Going by the opinion of health experts, the situation is alarming. But do we have complete information about the pandemic?

So far, there have been around 9,900 deaths from nearly 3.5 lakh positive cases for covid-19 established through 50 lakh tests (approx.). This brings the death rate from the pandemic to around 3 per cent. (Source: https://www.mygov.in/covid-19)

नई दिल्लीः देश की राजधानी दिल्ली और एनसीआर में लगभग दो महीने के अंदर भूकम्प (earthquake) के कई झटके महसूस किए जा चुके हैं। भूकंप की निगरानी करने वाली देश की सर्वोच्च संस्था द नेशनल सेंटर ऑफ सीसमोलॉजी (The National Center of Seismology) ने बताया है कि 12 अप्रैल से 29 मई तक दिल्ली-एनसीआर (Delhi/NCR) में 10 भूकंप के झटके (Tremor) महसूस किए गए हैं।

Tensions along the  India-China border in Ladakh-Himalayas in the northern part of India rise once again in recent weeks. Defense experts believe that this action is part of China's well-thought-out strategy. Today, when the whole world is grappling with a serious humanitarian crisis in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, it is not difficult to discern the power politics of China. 

‘Earthquakes do not kill people; buildings do’ goes an old saying. Indeed, earth earthquake is the only natural disaster where we can be certain of containing the damage. However, every time hundreds and thousands of people are killed in the wake of an earthquake, rather than taking into account human failings, people tend to pass the catastrophic consequences off as a natural calamity. The same has been repeated in the aftermath of the powerful quake, 7.9 at Richter scale, in Himalayan state of Nepal on May 25.

With an increase in English medium public and international schools; the emphasis on English as a spoken medium of interaction in the educational institutions is increasing like never before. Parents too are keen on seeing their little ones chatter away in the much preferred language, just as they hop out of the cradle. It all might sound good, the fact that this whole concept of English speaking has a less noticed yet strong flip side as well.