GUWAHATI: Assam and Arunachal Pradesh will lose massive forest cover
by 2028 even affecting the ecology of neighboring country Bhutan.
Predicting such loss, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing
(IIRS) has identified increasing human population and subsequent demand
on land for cultivation as the major reasons for forest cover depletion
in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
A study carried out by the IIRS
has predicted a depletion of 9,007.14 square km (2.94 percent) of
forests in parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by 2028. It says
deforestation and loss of wildlife habitat in Assam and Arunachal
Pradesh will not only affect both the States but also adjoining Bhutan.
Scientists
involved in the study said they monitored the depletion of forest cover
in parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh over 42,375 square km in an
elephant landscape falling in the Lesser Himalaya region in the North
East.
“More districts of Assam than Arunachal Pradesh and more plains than
hills faced deforestation. We have identified increasing human
population and subsequent demand on land for cultivation as major
reasons for forest cover depletion. With the highest rate of
deforestation (in the Assam-Arunachal area) in India, the study area can
also be addressed as the deforestation hotspot of India,” the study
says.
According to the study the annual rate of deforestation was
found to be higher in Assam than Arunachal Pradesh primarily due to the
latter’s inhospitable mountainous terrain. Barpeta district in lower
Assam has witnessed the highest deforestation followed by Dhemaji,
Tinsukia, Lakhimpur, Darrang, Dibrugarh and Sonitpur during the study
period.
Area-wise, the largest amount of forest cover loss was noticed in
Dhemaji (1,419.99 square km) followed by Sonitpur (825.85 square km),
Lohit in Arunachal (820.61 square km), Tinsukia (662.28 square km) and
Lakhimpur (635.15 square km).
Wildlife activists said lack of forest cover will bring further chaos from food and water security point of view in Assam. (Source: The Sentinel)
The Spanish couple had adopted the child from special adopti ..
BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Protection for Child Rights Commission on
Thursday initiated an inquiry into the reported abandonment of a
13-year-old girl adopted from Bhopal by a Spanish couple earlier this
year. Sources say the couple has written to Central Adoption Resource
Agency (CARA) that they were misled on the child’s age and she is
13-and-a-half years old, not seven as her papers said at the time of
adoption. The teenager is now in a protection home in Spain, awaiting
rescue by the women and child development ministry.
The Spanish couple had adopted the child from special adoption agency Udaan in Bhopal on January 1, 2018.
TOI had reported it then+
. According to the couple’s complaint, they took her for age determining
tests on learning that she was already menstruating. A medical check-up
and bone ossification test in Madrid revealed that she was above 13
years, say sources.
The couple wrote to CARA, New Delhi, on March
28, 2018, saying they had been misled on her age. CARA forwarded it to
ministry of women and child development for investigation.
Udaan
director Apoorva Sharma told TOI on Friday that the adoption agency has
no role in specifying age of a child. “All the documents of children who
come to live with us are processed by Child Welfare Committee. We do
not decide the age of the child as CWC only completes the paperwork.
Besides, all the documents are verified by CARA and Authorised Foreign
Adoption Agency before adoption of a child is confirmed,” she said over
telephone.
Coordinator of CARA Madhya Pradesh, Durgesh Keswani,
protection officer Sanjay Nagar, District Child Protection Unit (DPCU)
official Ram Gopal and assistant director of state WCD department
Manglesh Singh visited the Udaan centre on Friday. They met Sharma and
asked her for documents, but she allegedly refused.
‘Agency hasn’t replied to CARA notices’
Keswani
said, “While she refused to show us the documents concerning details of
the child, her husband Ajit Kumar threatened us, saying he will send a
notice from the high court to anyone getting involved in the matter.
CARA had sent two notices to Sharma on January 5 and January 10,
pointing out violations made by Udaan, but she did not respond.”
An e-mailed reply to TOI from ‘manager, Udaan org’ also said that they would approach high court.
“This
publication affects child’s best interests and rehabilitation of other
children residing in different agencies is also affected. The agency is
also going to the honourable high court for this matter,” it said.
Realising
the gravity of the issue, Madhya Pradesh Protection for Child Rights
Commission took immediate steps to investigate the case and will write
to WCD ministry on Saturday. “We will take strict action against anyone
who plays with a child’s future. This is a grave offence as no adoption
agency has the right to pass off a teenager for a seven-year-old child.
Now, the girl is suffering in a foreign land and we have no idea what
she might be going through. We will not let the adoption agency go away
scot-free. We will ensure that the girl gets justice,” said Brijesh
Chouhan, member of MPPCRC.
By Suchita Jha, TNN
The Spanish couple had adopted the child from special adoption agency Udaan in Bhopal on January 1, 2018.
The teenager is now in a protection home in Spain, awaiting rescue by the women and child development ministry.
This photo taken on 23 August, 2017 shows Chinese workers on a power transmission tower built at an attitude of 5,548 metres on Mengdala mountain in Luozha in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. (STR / AFP Photo)
by Brahma Chellaney :
Asia’s future is inextricably tied to the Himalayas, the world’s tallest mountain range and the source of the water-stressed continent’s major river systems. Yet reckless national projects are straining the region’s fragile ecosystems, resulting in a mounting security threat that extends beyond Asia. With elevations rising dramatically from less than 500 metres (1,640 feet) to over 8,000 metres, the Himalayas are home to ecosystems ranging from high-altitude alluvial grasslands and subtropical broadleaf forests to conifer forests and alpine meadows. Stretching from Myanmar to the Hindu-Kush watershed of Central Asia, the Himalayas play a central role in driving Asia’s hydrological cycle and weather and climate patterns, including triggering the annual summer monsoons. Its 18,000 high-altitude glaciers store massive amounts of freshwater and serve in winter as the world’s second-largest heat sink after Antarctica, thus helping to moderate the global climate. In summer, however, the Himalayas turn into a heat source that draws the monsoonal currents from the oceans into the Asian hinterland. The Himalayas are now subject to accelerated glacial thaw, climatic instability, and biodiversity loss. Five rivers originating on the Great Himalayan Massif – the Yangtze, the Indus, the Mekong, the Salween, and the Ganges – rank among the world’s 10 most endangered rivers. From large-scale dam construction to the unbridled exploitation of natural resources, human activity is clearly to blame for these potentially devastating changes to the Himalayan ecosystems. While all the countries in the region are culpable to some extent, none is doing as much harm as China. Unconstrained by the kinds of grassroots activism seen in, say, democratic India, China has used massive, but often opaque, construction projects to bend nature to its will and trumpet its rise as a great power. This includes a globally unmatched inter-river and inter-basin water-transfer infrastructure with the capacity to move over 10 billion cubic metres (13 billion cubic yards) through 16,000 kilometres (9,940 miles) of canals. China’s reengineering of natural river flows through damming – one-fifth of the country’s rivers now have less water flowing through them each year than is diverted to reservoirs – has already degraded riparian ecosystems and caused 350 large lakes to disappear. With these water-diverting projects increasingly focused on international, rather than internal, rivers – in particular those in the Tibetan Plateau, which covers nearly three-quarters of the Himalayan glacier area – the environmental threat extends far beyond China’s borders. And dams are just the beginning. The Tibetan Plateau is also the subject of Chinese geo-engineering experiments, which aim to induce rain in its arid north and northwest. (Rain in Tibet is concentrated in its Himalayan region.) Such activities threaten to suck moisture from other regions, potentially affecting Asia’s monsoons. Ominously, such experiments are an extension of the Chinese military’s weather-modification program. Moreover, as if to substantiate the Chinese name for Tibet, Xizang (“Western Treasure Land”), China is draining mineral resources from this ecologically fragile but resource-rich plateau, without regard for the consequences. Already, copper mine tailings are polluting waters in a Himalayan region sacred to Tibetans, which they call Pemako (“Hidden Lotus Land”), where the world’s highest-altitude major river, the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo to Tibetans), curves around the Himalayas before entering India. Last fall, the once-pristine Siang – the Brahmaputra’s main artery – suddenly turned blackish grey as it entered India, potentially because of China’s upstream tunnelling, mining, or damming activity. To be sure, the Chinese government claimed that an earthquake that struck south-eastern Tibet in mid-November “might have led to the turbidity” in the river waters. But the water had become unfit for human consumption long before the quake. In any case, China is not letting up. It has, for example, eagerly launched large-scale operations to mine precious minerals like gold and silver in a disputed area of the eastern Himalayas that it seized from India in a 1959 armed clash. Meanwhile, China’s bottled-water industry – the world’s largest – is siphoning “premium drinking water” from the Himalayas’ already-stressed glaciers, particularly those in the eastern Himalayas, where accelerated melting of snow and ice fields is already conspicuous. Unsurprisingly, this is causing biodiversity loss and impairment of ecosystem services. Across the Himalayas, scientists report large-scale deforestation, high rates of loss of genetic variability, and species extinction in the highlands. The Tibetan Plateau, for its part, is warming at almost three times the average global rate. This holds environmental implications that extend far beyond Asia. The towering Himalayan Highlands, particularly Tibet, influence the Northern Hemisphere’s atmospheric-circulation system, which helps to transport warm air from the equator toward the poles, sustaining a variety of climate zones along the way. In other words, Himalayan ecosystem impairment will likely affect European and North American climatic patterns. Halting rampant environmental degradation in the Himalayas is now urgent, and it is possible only through cooperation among all members of the Himalayan basin community, from the lower Mekong River region and China to the countries of southern Asia. To bring about such cooperation, however, the entire international community will have to apply pressure to rein in China’s reckless environmental impairment, which is by far the greatest source of risk. Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research and Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, is the author of nine books, including Asian Juggernaut, Water: Asia’s New Battleground, and Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis
A scientist said Kerala floods can’t be attributed to climate change only. India’s average annual temperatures are set to rise 1.5 C to 3 C
Once-a-century rains that have pounded Kerala and displaced 1.3 million people are in line with the predictions of climate scientists, who warn that worse is to come if global warming continues unabated.
The monsoon rains upon which farmers in the southern state depend for their food and livelihoods dumped two-and-a-half times the normal amount of water across the state last week, according to meteorologists in the country.
It is difficult to attribute any single extreme weather event — such as the Kerala flooding — to climate change, said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pashan, near Mumbai.
At the same time, “our recent research shows a three-fold increase in widespread extreme rains during 1950-2017, leading to large-scale flooding,” he told AFP.
Across India, flooding caused by heavy monsoons rainfall claimed 69,000 lives and left 17 million people without homes over the same period, according to a study he co-authored, published last year in Nature Communications.
In Kerala, all 35 of the state’s major reservoirs were brimming with rain water by August 10, forcing local authorities to open the sluice gates on the Idukki Dam for the first time in 26 years.
“These floods that we are seeing in Kerala right now are basically in line with climate projections,” said Kira Vinke, a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
“If we continue with current levels of emissions — which is not unlikely — we will have unmanageable risks,” she told AFP.
The weather patterns behind these destructive downpours are well understood, even if the fingerprint of global warming is still hard to distinguish from what scientists call “natural variability”.
Rapid warming in the Arabian Sea and nearby landmass causes monsoon winds to fluctuate and intensify for short spans of three-to-four days, Koll explained.
During those periods, moisture from the Arabian Sea is dumped inland.
South Asia’s ‘hotspots’
“Over the last decade, due to climate change, the overheating of landmass leads to the intensification of monsoon rainfalls in central and southern India,” said monsoon expert Elena Surovyatkina, a professor at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a senior scientist at PIK.
The changes observed so far have occurred after an increase in Earth’s average surface temperature of only one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
On current trends, India’s average annual temperatures are set to rise 1.5 C to 3 C compared to that benchmark by mid-century, according to a World Bank report entitled “South Asia’s Hotspots”.
“If no corrective measures are taken, changing rainfall patterns and rising temperatures will cost India 2.8 percent of its GDP and will drag down living standards of half its population by 2050,” the World Bank said in a statement.
The 196-nation Paris climate treaty calls for capping global warming at “well below” 2 C (3.6 F), and 1.5 C if possible.
But voluntary national pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even if respected, would still see temperatures rise at least 3 C.
Flooding is not the only problem India’s burgeoning — and highly vulnerable — population will face as a consequence of global warming.
“What we will see with climate change in India is that the wet season is going to be wetter and the dry season drier,” said Vinki.
“Already we are observing that the monsoon is becoming harder to predict with traditional methods.”
If manmade carbon emissions continue unabated, some regions in northeast India could literally become unlivable by the end of the century due to a deadly combination of heat and humidity during heatwaves, recent research has projected.
Indeed, larges swathes of south Asia, including the Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin, could approach the threshold for survivability outdoors.1 COMMENT
Coastal cities, meanwhile, are especially vulnerable to sea level rise, driven by melting ice sheets and expanding ocean water, on the one hand, and subsidence due to over-development and the depletion of water tables, on the other.
(Kerala has to rebuild itself after the worst floods in over a century. Hundreds have died and lakhs are homeless. You can help.)
This growing desertification has become a big threat to the ecosystem along the Brahmaputra. It is assumed that moraine carried by water may create problems in paddy fields in India and dams in Tibet.
Stone, mud and sand have been deposited along the river the Brahmaputra from Tibet to Assam. The areas covered by moraine and sand along the river are expanding every year. Flash floods and Glacier melting and glacial lakes causes Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) carry moraines to the lower part of the river and the river bed becomes shallow.
The changing landscape of the Brahmaputra River is clearly evident in the state of Assam in India. The river banks on both sides are inundated with large deposits of sand – an indication of desertification spreading throughout the region. Once famous for its abundant run off the flow of the Brahmaputra is now reduced to a shallow level particularly in winter.
Located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Tibet has an average elevation of more than 13,125ft above sea level, meaning its ecological system is vulnerable and sensitive. Moreover, the plateau, home to a number of lakes and rivers that are the source of major bodies of water including the Yangtze and Yarlung Zangbo River, has a crucial impact on global climate.
Fortunately, over the past four decades, the Shannan people have made achievements in desert control by building a 1.8-kilometer-wide “green Great Wall” that stretches 160 kilometers. More than 30,000 hectares of desert land in the middle reaches of Yarlung Zangbo River has been reclaimed.
The Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China has been making great success in preserving its environment and pursuing sustainable development in recent years. The autonomous region’s environmental protection efforts have won great support from the central government.
Tibet should safeguard its ecological security and maintain its role as the country’s water tower, President Xi Jinping said at a seminar in January 2015, when he was talking to Nan Pei, Party chief of Tibet’s Shuanghu county. With a longsighted vision he said – “Ecological damage cannot be compensated with economic gains.”
Shannan, Xigaze and other prefectures along the Yarlung Zangbo River used to suffer from severe sandstorms in winter and spring. In 2006, the autonomous region launched afforestation projects to deal with the issue. As a result, the number of days with disastrous sandstorms in the area has been reduced from 85 days in 2000 to 32 days in 2014.
Local residents with economic difficulties have been benefited from the environmental protection efforts. The regional government has hired more than 300,000 farmers and herdsmen as security staff to protect wild animals, with each of the residents earning about 2,000 yuan per month.
Photos taken on July 23, 2018 shows the scenes of desert control measures along the Yarlung Zanbo river in Zhanang County of Shannan, southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
Aerial photo taken on July 23, 2018 shows a shelterbelt forest along Yarlung Zangbo River in Naidong District of Shannan, southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
A villager works at a shelterbelt forest in Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, July 23, 2018.
Villagers plant saplings at a nursery base in Zhanang County of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, July 23, 2018.
Aerial photo taken on July 23, 2018 shows a nursery base in Zhanang County of Shannan
Rangers patrol at a shelterbelt forest in Shannan, July 23, 2018.
Photo taken on July 23, 2018 shows the scenery of a shelterbelt forest in Zhanang County of Shannan (Liu Dongjun)
Yang Yong , a Geologist from China said desertification had already started in the source of many rivers including Yarlung Tsangpo. The sand carried by the Tsangpo has turned many downstream stretches into sandy patches. The river has also become shallow and narrower at certain stretches. The primary source of the mighty Brahmaputra river, the Jima Yangzong and Angsi glacier, are retreating in Tibet, China, at an alarming pace. In an interview Yang Yong, who is an adventurer also, said that if global warming continues at the current rate, the source glaciers as well as other glaciers located at the same height will disappear within few decades. The Jima Yangzong and Angsi glaciers give birth to the Yarlung Zangbo (Tsangpo)) and when it enters India it is called the Brahmaputra. Under such a circumstance, Yang Yong said the Yarlung Tsangpo could become a seasonal river severely affecting the water flow or it could see a lean water flow in winter. The melting of Himalayan glaciers threatens 1.3 billion Asians living downstream. It could bring drought and disease to large swathes of the continent. It is a matter of grave concern that almost 1,000 sq km area of Himalayan glaciers has disappeared from total area of about 5,000 sq km. Yong, a scientist from Hengduan Mountain Research Institute and Deputy Director of Expert Committee of China Foundation for Desertification Control said the Jima Yangzong area at 5,500 meters has decreased substantially within last few years. Like the Angsi and Jima Yangzong glacier, other glaciers which feed water to the Yarlung Zangbo are also melting and retreating rapidly. It has been noted that the Himalayan region is warming about three times the global average with temperature increase of an average of 0.3 degree Celsius measured for the past half century. The Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), which has conducted research on Himalayan glaciers for 30 years, warns of an urgent need for more research on the impact of climate change. With changing temperatures, current trends in glacial melt suggest flows in major Asian rivers will be substantially reduced in the coming decades.The Siang ( The main source of Brahmaputra) and other Himalayan rivers flowing through Assam likely to become dry in winter within another five decades if nothing is done about the soaring global temperature. The Siang ( The main source of Brahmaputra) and other Himalayan rivers flowing through Assam likely to become dry in winter within another five decades if nothing is done about the soaring global temperature.
(C K Duarah, an Assamese Journalist, former Robert Bosch Fellow (Germany) and ) is an independent researcher too.
Rahul Gandhi in London: “If India was punching above its weight, Doklam wouldn’t have happened,” the Congress chief said.
NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an interaction today in London on a range of subjects including India’s border standoff with Chinese troops last year, said the “Chinese are still in Doklam”. PM Modi could have stopped it had he kept a careful watch, the Congress president added. “Doklam is not an isolated issue. It was a part of a sequence of events, it was a process. Prime Minister is episodic. He views Doklam as an event. If he was carefully watching the process, he could’ve stopped it,” Rahul Gandhi said at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. Implying that the government was obfuscating facts on Doklam, Rahul Gandhi said: “The words used are very interesting – the Chinese have withdrawn from the point of contact, they have withdrawn from where the altercation happened. The truth is that the Chinese are still in Doklam today.” He added that “if India was punching above its weight, Doklam wouldn’t have happened.” Doklam is a strategically important area which is claimed by Bhutan. A standoff over Doklam saw Indian and Chinese soldiers standing eyeball to eyeball for 73 days over Beijing’s attempt to build a road in the area, which New Delhi viewed as a serious security concern because of the access it provides to Beijing. Chinese military positions in Doklam would have been in a position to strike targets in the “Chicken’s Neck” — a strip of land in West Bengal’s Siliguri, which connects India with the states in the north-east. The two sides “disengaged” on August 28. Earlier this month, Rahul Gandhi had attacked Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj for stating in parliament that the Doklam face-off was resolved through “diplomatic maturity” and there was “not an iota of change” in status quo on the ground. In a caustic tweet, the Congress chief attached a news report that quoted a top US official as saying China has quietly resumed its activities in the Doklam area and neither Bhutan nor India has sought to dissuade it. COMMENT “Amazing how a lady like Sushma ji has buckled and prostrated herself in front of Chinese power. Absolute subservience to the leader means our brave jawan has been betrayed on the border,” the Congress president tweeted.
The idea of demonetisation came directly from RSS
Congress president Gandhi arrived in London on Friday on his first official visit to the UK as party president. During his two-day visit, he is set for a series of meetings, including an interaction with parliamentarians in the House of Commons complex and a diaspora event.
Rahul Gandhi kicked off his first official visit to the UK since taking over as president of Congress with an address focussed on his foreign policy vision of India at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, which earlier this year played host to the Prime Minister’s speech on Indo-Pacific policy. During the speech the Congress President called for a re-evaluation of India’s approach to China, as the country sought to strike a balance between China, the West and Africa. “We can’t ignore the fact that China is our neighbour,” he said. “The opportunity is there is an Indian way of doing things that is completely different to the Chinese way or the America way…we have our own ideas that are old, tested by non -violence and listening…we specialise in reducing confrontation,” he said. He used the opportunity to attack the government’s approach to foreign policy, arguing that it lacked strategic vision, and would fail to gain momentum without unifying the country or solving the job problem. “You can’t run a foreign policy based on hugs,” he said. When “divisions” were created between people “you are reducing India’s power, he said. “You carry all those people together you punch at maximum weight.” Reiterating his attack on the government’s approach to job creation that he had made in Hamburg earlier in the week, Mr. Gandhi, also attacked demonetisation, arguing it had failed to serve medium sized businesses in the way that would have been needed to revitalise the economy and the formal jobs market.
NEW DELHI: Japan is making a push to develop flying cars, enlisting companies including Uber Technologies and Airbus in a government-led group to bring airborne vehicles to the country in the next decade, according to people familiar with the matter.
The group will initially comprise about 20 companies, including Boeing, NEC Corporation, a Toyota Motor-backed startup called Cartivator, ANA Holdings, Japan Airlines and Yamato Holdings. Delegates will gather August 29 for the first of their monthly meetings, the people said, asking not to be identified citing rules. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Transport Ministry plan to draft a road map this year, they said.
An Uber spokeswoman confirmed the company’s participation in the group, but declined to comment further. Representatives for Airbus, Boeing and others declined to comment, as did those for the trade and transport ministries.
Flying cars that can zoom over congested roads are closer to reality than many people think. Startups around the world are pursuing small aircraft, which were until recently only in the realm of science fiction. With Japanese companies already trailing their global peers in electric vehicles and self-driving cars, the government is showing urgency on the aircraft technology, stepping in to facilitate legislation and infrastructure to help gain leadership.
Many have already had a head start in the race. Uber, which will invest 20 million euros ($23 million) over the next five years to develop flying car services in a new facility in Paris, has set a goal of starting commercial operations of its air-tax business by 2023. Kitty Hawk, the Mountain View, California-based startup founded and backed by Google’s Larry Page, in June offered a glimpse of an aircraft prototype: a single-person recreational vehicle.
Other global companies envisioning this new form of transportation include Volkswagen, Daimler and Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings. Japanese carmakers have not yet announced their plans to develop flying cars.
Japan’s Economy Minister Hiroshige Seko told reporters this month that flying cars could ease urban traffic snarls, help transportation in remote islands or mountainous areas at times of disasters, and can be used in the tourism industry.
Japan pushes for flying cars, Uber and Airbus in the list
The technology, just like aviation, would need to win approvals from several regulators that can take many years. That would also happen only when safety standards are set by agencies, without which commuters won’t embrace the flying craft.
Japan wants to take a lead in writing the rules for this nascent industry, as policy makers think the current aviation regulations are mostly set by Europe and the US, one of the people said.
The term “flying car” is often misused to describe passenger drones, which are simply aircraft at their core, but the term is appropriate for Terrafugia, which makes vehicles that can both drive on roads and fly in the sky.
Now Geely, the Chinese automotive company behind Volvo, announced that it acquired the company in order to bring their technology to market.
Terrafugia was founded by 5 MIT graduates and they have been working on their flying car technology for a decade during which time they’ve built several prototypes.
They first started with internal-combustion engine vehicles, but they also unveiled an electric version last year: the TF-X.
“Terrafugia’s vision for the future is the TF-X™: a mass-market flying car with the potential to revolutionize the way we all get around. An all-electric vehicle with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities and computer-controlled flight, the TF-X™ is the flying car of the future”
The plug-in hybrid vehicle has a range of 500 miles (800 km) according to the company.
Geely wants to leverage its own knowledge and technology through its other subsidiaries, which are also going electric, like Volvo and Lynk & Co, in order to bring Terrafugia’s flying cars to market.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Founder and Chairman Li Shufu commented on the acquisition:
“The team at Terrafugia have been at the forefront of believing in and realizing the vision for a flying car and creating the ultimate mobility solution. This is a tremendously exciting sector and we believe that Terrafugia is ideally positioned to change mobility as we currently understand it and herald the development of a new industry in doing so. Our investment in the company reflects our shared belief in their vision and we are committed to extending our full support to Terrafugia, leveraging the synergies provided by our international operations and track record of innovation, to make the flying car a reality.”
They didn’t disclose the terms of the acquisition, but they say that in anticipation from Geely’s support, they are already tripling their engineering staff and plan to bring their first vehicle to market in 2019 – followed by their first VTOL aircraft, like the TF-X, in 2023.
Electrek’s Take
Obviously, there are a lot of problems with flying cars or any of those new types of “passenger drone” personal aircraft being unveiled lately.
It’s a nightmare from purely a regulatory standpoint. What kind of course or license do you need to have to operate those vehicles? Where can you operate and land them? And then even if you have the right to operate them, is it safe to significantly increase the number of flying objects over our heads?
Nonetheless, those technologies have just so much potential to reduce traffic and traveling time that it’s still worth exploring and it’s certainly interesting to see a large and serious company like Geely getting behind a startup like that.
The affidavit said that the Kerala government, till the release of water from the 13 shutters, was managing the spate.
The Kerala government on Thursday claimed in the Supreme Court that sudden releases of water from the Mullaperiyar dam was a cause for the floods in the State.
In an affidavit, Kerala slammed Tamil Nadu for allegedly ignoring its repeated entreaties for controlled release of water from the reservoir to facilitate the evacuation of thousands living downstream.
Kerala said communications from its Water Resources Secretary and the Chairman of the Supervisory Committee on Mullaperiyar dam to gradually release water “at least” at 139 feet evoked no “positive assurances” from the Tamil Nadu government.ALSO READKeep level under 140 foot, says Mullaperiyar panel
“The request was made to facilitate the district administration and State Disaster Management Authority to get sufficient time to evacuate people so that they would not be hit by the flash floods in their sleep in the stealth of the night,” Kerala Chief Secretary Tom Jose informed the Supreme Court.
Instead, water from the Mullaperiyar reservoir was “suddenly discharged by opening all the 13 shutters to Idukki downstream at 2.40 a.m. on August 15. Around 9,000 cusecs of water was let out between 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 21,450 cusecs at 2 p.m. on August 15.”
“The sudden releases from the Mullaperiyar dam forced us (Kerala) to release more water from the Idukki reservoir,” Kerala submitted.
The affidavit said that the Kerala government, till the release of water from the 13 shutters, was managing the spate by controlling spill and letting a major portion of the flood waters to escape to the sea by implementing a strict operational control over the spill of the two largest reservoir systems of Idukki and Idamalayar in synchronisation with eight small other reservoir systems in the Periyar basin.
Kerala urged the Supreme Court for the need for sufficient flexibility of operation of the Mullaperiyar gates during moderate to high floods. It is imperative that Mullaperiyar reservoir should have enough manoeuvrability to avert loss of human lives in floods and other crisis in the future, Kerala submitted. It said the current gate operational protocol was deficient and its requests since 2014 for an overhaul has not produced a response.
It said gradual releases should start when the water level reaches 136 feet itself, so that there should be at least 1.548 TMC space, which translates into 17,917 cusecs for 24 hours. “Thus we would get at least 24 hours response time to evacuate people and can avoid flash flooding of the downstream area,” the affidavit said.
The Supreme Court has fixed the permissible water level of Mullaperiyar dam as 142 feet.
Kerala said a Supervisory Committee, headed by the Chairman, Central Water Commission (CWC) and secretaries of both States as members, should be formed with authority to take decisions by a majority opinion regarding operations during floods or similar calamities.
Further a Management Committee, reporting directly to the Supervisory Committee, should be formed to manage the day-to-day operations of the Mullaperiyar Dam. This Committee should be headed by a Chief Engineer/Superintending Engineer of the CWC with both Chief Engineers/Superintending Engineers of the two States, Mr. Jose proposed.
The affidavit was filed in response to a petition filed by Idukki-resident Russel Joy highlighting the perils of a dangerously-high water level in the British-era dam, made worse by the utter lack of co-ordination between the two State governments and a non-existent disaster management plan. Mr. Joy submitted that this was the biggest flood to hit the southern State since the Great Flood of 1924. He said people residing downstream to Mullaperiyar dam live with a constant sense of fear.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra is scheduled to hear the case on August 24. By
Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, said the “American people would revolt” if the president is impeached.
Impeachment is a rare, complex procedure, and Giuliani said he believes it’s unlikely to occur in Trump’s case.
Trump had a tough week in the courts as his former personal attorney implicated him in campaign finance violations and his former campaign manager was convicted on eight counts of financial crimes.
Recent polls over whether Trump should be impeached have been mixed, suggesting Americans are largely split on the issue.
Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, on Thursday said the “American people would revolt” if Trump were impeached.
Speaking with Sky News on a golf course in Scotland, the former New York City mayor said he “hardly” believes Trump would be impeached.”I think it’s inevitable that he won’t,” Giuliani said.
Only two US presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Both were acquitted in the Senate. President Richard Nixon resigned while facing the prospect of impeachment over the Watergate scandal.
Between the rarity of impeachment and the fact Republicans control Congress, the likelihood of Trump being impeached in the near future appears slim. Moreover, even Democrats in Congress seem reluctant to discuss impeachment at this point.
Trump’s legal woes
Giuliani’s comments come after a tough week in the courts for the president.
Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, on Tuesday implicated the president in campaign finance violations related to payments to two women who have alleged affairs with Trump. Cohen, who said he made the payments under Trump’s direction with the intention of influencing the 2016 election, faces up to five years in prison.
The president has since lambasted Cohen and mocked his legal skills.Meanwhile, Lanny Davis, the lawyer representing Cohen, said Wednesday his client has information that would be of interest to the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
On this subject, Giuliani on Thursday called Cohen a “liar.”
“You have this Cohen guy. He doesn’t know anything about Russian collusion, doesn’t know anything about obstruction,” Giuliani said. “He’s a massive liar. If anything, it’s turned very much in the president’s favor.”
Trump continues to deny collusion with Russia
Addressing the topic of impeachment during a Fox News interview earlier in the day, Trump said he didn’t know “how you can impeach somebody who has done a great job.” The president also suggested the US economy would tank if he were impeached.
Trump is unpopular nationwide, but Americans seem to have mixed feelings on impeachment
Recent polls examining whether Trump should be impeached have found mixed results, suggesting Americans are largely split on the issue.
Trump currently has a 42% approval rating, according to Gallup.But a Quinnipiac poll from April showed just 38% of Americans would like to see impeachment proceedings begin if Democrats win back control of the House in November’s midterms. Comparatively, a June poll from CNN found 42% of Americans believe Trump should be impeached.
