Today in History (December 5^th, 2013)

• Nelson Mandela was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 1990 for his role in the anti-apartheid, he died in 2013.

Summary of Today’s News

• Cyclone Michaung-triggered rain brings Chennai to a halt, loss of 6 lives
• reviving haunting memories of the December 2015 floods.
• The Chennai airport shut down for arrival and departure operations.
• Nearly 300 flights were cancelled and more than 1,500 passengers stranded.
• Southern Railway cancelled many long haul trains and trains coming to the Chennai
• Power supply suspended, around 10k people were relocated
• Michaung landfall in A.P. expected today

2) Says NCRB report that— India reported a total of over 1.7 lakh suicides in 2022

• One third of all 2022 suicides were of
  1. daily wage earners,
  2. agricultural labourers
  3. farmers,
• the crime report shows that there is an overall increase in crimes and atrocities committed upon Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST),
  • with Rajasthan,
  • Madhya Pradesh,
  • Chhattisgarh, and
  • Telangana,
• all seeing an increase in such cases in 2022 compared with the year before.
• Mizoram, which had reported no cases of atrocities against either SCs or STs in 2021, reported five cases of atrocities against SCs and 29 such cases of crimes against STs in 2022.
• Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan continued to figure in the top five States with the highest incidents of crimes and atrocities committed upon SCs and STs.

3)  The Post Office Bill

• The Rajya Sabha passed the Post Office Bill on Monday, which repeals and replaces the Post Office Act of 1898.
• Section 9 of the Bill gives the power to intercept, open or detain any item or deliver item to customs authority by the post office officials.
• “This new legislation will transform the post offices into a service delivery institution from a mail delivery mechanism,

4) Navy Day-4 December

• The ranks in the Indian Navy will be renamed according to Indian culture.
• Navy appointed India’s first woman commanding officer on a naval ship,”
• Commander Prerna Deosthale is presently the First Lieutenant of warship INS Chennai,
• She hails from Mumbai and joined the Indian Navy in 2009
• Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar 
• Indian Navy got new sign

5) Journalist bodies write an open letter

Freedom of press or media refers to the rights given by the Constitution of India under the freedom and expression of speech in Article 19(1)(a).

• Freedom from Censorship: Journalists and media outlets should be able to publish or broadcast news and information without government-imposed censorship.
• Access to Information:A free press should have access to information and sources to investigate and report on matters of public interest.

Independence: Editorial independence ensures that news reporting is based on facts and not influenced by outside interests.