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Dam Safety in HP: Himachal floods have spotlighted the problems with hydropower dams. https://www.newsclick.in/hp-malana-dam-gates-still-not-operational-govt-must-ensure-safety-hydropower-projects

 Malana hydropower project in Kullu district is currently in the news for still being unable to open the dam gates, which have been blocked by the considerable muck and debris upstream. It has been over a week, but the gates are still not operational.

There are several hydropower projects in Himachal Pradesh being run by private players;  Then there are micro-hydropower projects constructed by private players, also called Independent Power Producers(IPPs). All the IPP hydropower projects are run with a run-of-the-river dam technology, which means these are not large dams. However, malfunction of the dams or their gates being locked can create a cascading effect downstream.

Indians Must say no to Hate-Filled News  https://www.newsclick.in/indians-must-say-no-hate-filled-news SN Sahu, the former Officer on Special Duty to ex-Indian President KR Narayanan . 05 Aug 2023, delves into the perilous intersection of media, hate, and violence.

Five days before India’s independence, on 10th August 1947, Mahatma Gandhi, speaking at a prayer meeting at Sodepur, warned, “If this wretched spirit of communalism had entered the police force, the prospect was bleak indeed”. Therefore, he said he “hoped that the police would realise the dignity of their profession”.

Seventy-six years after Gandhi’s dire predictions about the poisonous communal spirit within the police, the nation is witnessing the horrors of communalism guiding this armed force—be it RPF constable Chetan Singh or the police personnel in Manipur who are being accused of having handed over three Kuki women to a hostile crowd that sexually assaulted and paraded them.

Communal hatred's alarming consequences are being exposed in the violent incidents in Haryana and Manipur. The media's role, particularly 'godi' outlets known for their divisive content, is under scrutiny.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy, while hearing a clutch of petitions on alleged hate speech via some TV shows, observed on 22 September 2022 that the visual media is the “chief medium of hate speech” and wondered why the government of India is treating it as “a trivial matter” and “standing by as a mute witness when all this is happening.”

The bench observed that hate speech in different forms “has the effect of ridiculing a community” and can have a “devastating effect.”

Universal Basic Income: Making Omelette Without Breaking Egg? Prabhat Patnaik | 05 Aug 2023 (https://www.newsclick.in/universal-basic-income-cooking-omelette-without-breaking-egg

 noted economist Prabhat Patnaik: If UBI is interpreted merely as a set of cash transfers, whether uniform or graded across individuals, then it does not necessarily achieve a real UBI, which is the objective behind instituting it.

a right to UBI, in real terms, cannot possibly mean anything other than a set of specific constituent individual rights, such as a right to health, a right to education, and such other rights.

 instituting they five universal rights . the right to food, the right to employment, the right to free quality healthcare through a National Health Service, the right to free quality education and the right to a universaold-age pension and disability benefits, would cost, in addition to what is already spent from the budget on these items, an additional 10% of GDP. ..To raise the government should be willing to tax the rich. This is virtually beyond the capacity of the bourgeois system, and hence beyond the conception of liberal economists.