The Latest: Top stories of the day
1. The BJP faces rout in Gujarat panchayat polls but retains urban share
2. 14 killed in mass shooting at California social service agency's party.
3. Pakistan planned to nuke India during Kargil war, says former White House official.
4. COP21: India says developed world must walk the talk, rich-poor divide dominates Paris climate talks.
The Big Story: Water woes
Chennai is facing a crisis as heavy rains have battered the city as well as other coastal parts of Tamil Nadu for more than a month now. After about four weeks of showers, the city had experienced a break of four days. However, heavy rains resumed by Monday. Tuesday also saw Puducherry and its suburbs affected significantly.
The impact of the deluge has been devastating. One hundred and eighty eight people have been killed in rain-related incidents till now. Flight and trains have been cancelled as power and telephone services through Chennai have been crippled.
In response, Tamil Nadu has sought military assistance from Delhi. The Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the National Disaster Response Force are now assisting the state fire and rescue services and the police.
The Navy has decided to deploy a rescue ship from its Eastern Command in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. With its helicopters stationed here unable to take to the skies, the Coast Guard is flying in choppers from Mumbai and Goa.
Chennai residents have also taken to social media to bail themselves out with many citizens coordinating help efforts via networks such as Twitter.
There is, however, even more rain to come: the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rains for the next three days right till December 5.
The Big Scroll
It might seem like a natural disaster but the Chennai floods are very much man-made. And it’s a massive one: Chennai got twice the rain in two days of December than it expected to get all month. However, in the face of this calamity, citizens of Chennai are reacting with remarkable fortitude and comradeship, some even using Twitter to reach out to help.
Politicking and policying
1. Supreme Court rules that Rajiv Gandhi’s killers are going to stay in prison for life.
2. Parliament saw chaos as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley combatted a statement made by Congress leader Kumari Selja that she was asked about her caste on a visit to a temple in Dwarka, Gujarat.
3. A deal to end Nepal’s blockade has been reached, claimed the Nepal prime minster.
4. Government claims that there is no rise in inflation due to the Swachh Bharat Cess.
Punditry
1. Parliament would better celebrate Ambedkar by declaring war on unconstitutional evils like untouchability says Upendra Baxi in the Indian Express.
2. In recent decades Mumbai's myth has grown larger than its lived reality and its taste for modesty has soured argues Altaf Tyrewala in the Hindu.
3. Mukul Sanwal, writing in the Business Standard, explains that in the case of climate change negotiations, the underlying issue is distribution, not scarcity, of a global natural resources.
Don't miss
Anjali Mody on the common thread that links all so-called spontaneous attacks on free expression, from the protests against Salman Rusdie's Satanic Verses in 1989 to the weekend's vandalism of the offices of Maharashtra's Lokmat newspaper.
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1. The BJP faces rout in Gujarat panchayat polls but retains urban share
2. 14 killed in mass shooting at California social service agency's party.
3. Pakistan planned to nuke India during Kargil war, says former White House official.
4. COP21: India says developed world must walk the talk, rich-poor divide dominates Paris climate talks.
The Big Story: Water woes
Chennai is facing a crisis as heavy rains have battered the city as well as other coastal parts of Tamil Nadu for more than a month now. After about four weeks of showers, the city had experienced a break of four days. However, heavy rains resumed by Monday. Tuesday also saw Puducherry and its suburbs affected significantly.
The impact of the deluge has been devastating. One hundred and eighty eight people have been killed in rain-related incidents till now. Flight and trains have been cancelled as power and telephone services through Chennai have been crippled.
In response, Tamil Nadu has sought military assistance from Delhi. The Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the National Disaster Response Force are now assisting the state fire and rescue services and the police.
The Navy has decided to deploy a rescue ship from its Eastern Command in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. With its helicopters stationed here unable to take to the skies, the Coast Guard is flying in choppers from Mumbai and Goa.
Chennai residents have also taken to social media to bail themselves out with many citizens coordinating help efforts via networks such as Twitter.
There is, however, even more rain to come: the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rains for the next three days right till December 5.
The Big Scroll
It might seem like a natural disaster but the Chennai floods are very much man-made. And it’s a massive one: Chennai got twice the rain in two days of December than it expected to get all month. However, in the face of this calamity, citizens of Chennai are reacting with remarkable fortitude and comradeship, some even using Twitter to reach out to help.
Politicking and policying
1. Supreme Court rules that Rajiv Gandhi’s killers are going to stay in prison for life.
2. Parliament saw chaos as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley combatted a statement made by Congress leader Kumari Selja that she was asked about her caste on a visit to a temple in Dwarka, Gujarat.
3. A deal to end Nepal’s blockade has been reached, claimed the Nepal prime minster.
4. Government claims that there is no rise in inflation due to the Swachh Bharat Cess.
Punditry
1. Parliament would better celebrate Ambedkar by declaring war on unconstitutional evils like untouchability says Upendra Baxi in the Indian Express.
2. In recent decades Mumbai's myth has grown larger than its lived reality and its taste for modesty has soured argues Altaf Tyrewala in the Hindu.
3. Mukul Sanwal, writing in the Business Standard, explains that in the case of climate change negotiations, the underlying issue is distribution, not scarcity, of a global natural resources.
Don't miss
Anjali Mody on the common thread that links all so-called spontaneous attacks on free expression, from the protests against Salman Rusdie's Satanic Verses in 1989 to the weekend's vandalism of the offices of Maharashtra's Lokmat newspaper.
"These are but a few examples of what happens somewhere or other in India almost every year. 'Hurt sentiment' is the usual explanation, but a grossly insufficient one. These examples speak of a society that is uncomfortable with itself and insecure in its own beliefs, where self-affirmation comes from attacking rather than engaging with those who challenge the existing order or conventional ways of thinking. But the common thread in all these stories of violence is the role of party political organisations in playing on social insecurities, fomenting or sustaining the violence and the sense of grievance or 'hurt sentiment'."