Saturday, April 25, 2020

Central Vista Beautification Cost , statue of unity and No future SPR

As the nation braces for the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, the government’s ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project in Lutyens’ Delhi is under the scanner with several opposition leaders slamming the Rs 20,000 crore venture as a vanity project and a postponable luxury in times of crisis.

Constructed at a cost of Rs 2,989 crore, the 182-metre sculpture statue of unity has been dedicated to the nation.

Now the bigger question is , India doesn't have budget to boost its SPR oil reserver capacity from 39 Million Barrel to its competitive countries like Japan, US and China their alone capacity is more than that.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is a supply of petroleum held by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for emergency fuel. It is the largest emergency supply in the world, and its underground tanks in Louisiana and Texas have capacity for 797 million barrels (126,700,000 m³).^[1] The United States started the petroleum reserve in 1975 after oil supplies were interrupted during the 1973–1974 oil embargo, to mitigate future supply disruptions.

India’s Asian peers China and Japan are way ahead in creating crude storage capacity.

US storage capacity = 797 million barrels

India storage capacity = 39 million barrels,

China storage capacity = 550 million barrels

Japan storage capacity = 528 million barrels, ensuring a supply of over 190 days in the event of a supply disruption.

Though India approved construction of two new caverns in 2018, as part of its phase two expansion, in Chandikhol in Odisha (4mt) and Padur II in Karnataka (2.5mt), work is yet to commence on these projects.

While building these caverns has a budgeted cost of around ₹15,000 crore (as of 2018), filling them would cost at least an additional ₹20,000 crore.

Coronavirus Pandemic Some states begin to reopen as US death toll passes 50,000

Three US states have allowed some shops to reopen after measures imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as the country's death toll passed 51,000.

He has faced criticism after suggesting that injecting household disinfectant into patients could be beneficial.

In Georgia, which has one of the fastest reopening timetables in the country, bowling alleys, spas, hair and nail salons, tattoo parlours and other personal care businesses will be allowed to resume operations.

Customers visiting the newly reopened businesses in Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska will be expected to continue adhering to social distancing measures. But some cities and areas have decided to keep their lockdowns in place.

The US has by far the highest death toll and case count in the world. But despite recording more than 890,000 cases, the US population of 330 million is much higher than other countries badly hit by the virus, such as Spain and Italy.

On Friday, President Donald Trump walked out of a shorter than usual briefing, refusing to take questions.

He has faced criticism after suggesting that injecting household disinfectant into patients could be beneficial.

Mr Trump said on Friday that the comments - made at a news conference one day earlier - were sarcastic and taken out of context.

NRI stuck in India for long time amid the lockdown

In the absence of any word from the government of India regarding opening up of the airspace and resuming international air travel, hundreds of NRIs with the US work visas are a distressed lot.

While possible loss of employment, existing financial burdens like loans, mortgages, lease agreements; and debts possibly arising out of the loss of income, are a major cause of worry, the lockdown-induced travel ban has left many separated from their families.

The latest executive order from President Trump’s administration, which also states that non-immigrant visas such as H-1B will be reviewed after 30 days, has only added fuel to fire amid the global Covid-19 crisis. They feel they are only a step away from losing jobs if they do not make it back on time.

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Why I suggest children reading BBC news on a daily basis?

The structure of a sentence well articulated .
The information is well compiled and proof reading
Vocabulary carefully chosen and used to prevent miscommunication or open for wrong or ambiguous interpretation.

If I say this what do I mean ?

Here is the breakdown.

Covid 19 and UK statistics

Part 1

Deaths in England and Wales have nearly doubled above what would be expected, hitting a 20-year high.

Sentence formation

Deaths in England and Wales have nearly doubled

Above [ Comparison]

what would be expected

=[Result] hitting a 20-year high.

Part 2

Use of when ,which and Since

Experts point to a separate analysis by NHS England which showed since 8 April the number of deaths in hospitals have been falling when you look at the date of death.

The daily figures presented by government just show when hospital deaths are announced - there is often a delay in recording and reporting which masks when a drop in deaths starts happening.

Use of BUT

On Tuesday 823 new deaths were announced, but most of these happened in the previous days and weeks. Some even date back to March.

Check this report in particular

How bad was the 'peak'?

The figures presented by the ONS are different from those used by the government on a daily basis and the NHS England analysis.

Those rely on hospital cases confirmed by tests, whereas the ONS has used death certificates which show both fatalities in hospital and in the community on a weekly basis.

The figures show that the overall number of deaths topped 18,500. That is the highest since January 2000 when there was a bad flu outbreak.

It is also much higher than the recent bad flu season of 2015.

Use of BECAUSE

How many are dying outside of hospitals?

There has been growing concern about the impact of coronavirus outside of hospital.

Care homes have begun reporting outbreaks among residents that have been difficult to control, they say, because of a lack of testing and protective equipment.

The ONS - because it relies on death certificates rather than testing - can capture the scale of deaths.

The majority of deaths happened in hospital, but since the start of the pandemic more than 1,000 have died in care homes.