Why havent we learnt from the Beas Tragedy?

Over the past month India has witnessed some of the worst tragedies including that of the Beas river tragedy where 24 students of an Engineering college from Hyderabad who were on a holiday trip to Manali, were swept away on the evening of June 8 .The Larji hydro-power project authorities suddenly released water from the Dam allegedly without prior notification and the unsuspecting students who were in the middle of the river were washed away by the river. So far 21 bodies have been recovered and four including that of the tour guide are yet to be recovered. An excruciating and painful wait for the parents of those not found, as they are yet to trace them.   Not soon were we to recover from this ,about 2 days ago five  cousins from a same family from Telangana who had gone for their grandfather's death ceremony, went for a small dip in the Dindi project near the Srisailam – Hyderabad Highway and were swept away by the heavy waters. It was also alleged that due to extensive sand mining the river bed had further deepened the river and unaware of this they got in to the water and were swept away by a surge of water. Their bodies were found with help of the local fisherman. Today in yet another incident two students of a Vedic School of Malkajgiri in Hyderabad went missing in the river Serayu near Ayodhya. The students were identified as Chakrapani and Kiran. They were apart of  50 Vedic  students  who went to Ayodhya for a pilgrimage. They had apparently got into the holy river to bathe and were washed away by the strong currents.Efforts are on to locate their bodies. Either the youth are not aware of the dangers that lurk in the fiery waters or are being left unattended by any proper adult supervision. It becomes imperative for us to give them precautions when they go to new places. First of all sending them so close to the rivers and that too in the evening hours can be quite dangerous and is not recommended. Water can be finicky and you never know when it can show its might and fury. Parents and teachers have to see to that they don’t go about alone in to the river banks or beds. With these three tragedies which are like a wakeup call to prevent future tragedies we hope that parents and children alike now at least learn that the fury of  nature is mightier than man.

Modi Protest Joke on NSA

Lodging a protest is a joke.. water of a duck's back as the US is insensitive and cares two hoots about any ruffled feathers even among important allies... and India is not even considered a nation that needs to be mollified. Modi should do what Dilma Rousseff, the Brazilian President did (that too a woman) who stood up to the US, cancelled a scheduled state visit and has ordered social media to host content on local servers if they wish to continue doing business in Brazil. India can and must openly post surveillance on all US staff and even US persons working in a `private' capacity as a measure of retaliation using the justification of monitoring any breach of privacy of Indian people and institutions which is nothing less than espionage and every country has a right to deem it a hostile activity. In fact, India should downgrade the relationship and call a spade a spade. Are we kidding ourselves when we let ourselves be deluded by phrases, like `special relationships / partnerships’ by a country who strips our women diplomats, puts hurdles in our exports, openly sides with Pakistan whom they consider an `ally’.. They should be told in unequivocal terms that friends do not spy and humiliate one another.. and hostile acts can suspend or even end friendships.. To those who think we need to be diplomatic in order to protect our economic interests and not displease a economic and military superpower, we would remind them that the US has passed the peak of its prime and is a power on the wane, fully stretched in resources and steeped in debt and the dollar as world’s reserve currency holds it together and prevents it from becoming a failed state.